HEY GUYS, IT'S ME, AGAIN,NIGHTLIGHT. THIS IS A FUNNY STORY. I BET YOU TWENTY BUCKS YOU'RE GOING TO LAUGH.
SO I WAS DOING A LITTLE LATE REVISING FOR THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF "INERMIS", AND I FOUND OUT SOMETHING. YOU KNOW THAT SCENE WHERE THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT ACROBATICS? I TOTALLY MEANT FOR RUFFNUT TO SAY, "HOT ACROBATICS," NOT TUFFNUT! I'VE DECIDED TO KEEP IT THOUGH BECAUSE I KNOW I GOT A HOOT OUT OF IT, SO YOU GUYS MIGHT TOO.
YOU OWE ME TWENTY DOLLARS. PAY ME NOW.
I biked my way home that day when a thought occurred to me. You know, hey, I'm Inermis, that's Latin for toothless, I HAVE A DRAGON NAMED TOOTHLESS!
Right then, I cut down the street on my bike, taking a short cut to the woods. I dropped my bike behind a tree that nobody would see without looking for it. I ran, remembering the exact route to Raven's Point Cove.
I found the quick-route into the cove, and called out, "Toothless!"
He came running towards me from some unknown rarity in the world, smiling like a fool and acting like a cat crossed with a dog.
"Hey, buddy," I said, scratching him under the chin, "What 'cha been up to?"
He gurgled as a response, the typical response really. I decided today's gurgle meant, "Fantastic, sitting in a hole is wondrous, is it not?"
"I know, I know. You wanna go for a ride?" I asked as if talking to another human being.
He snorted as a yes. I quickly checked the harness, making sure all the wires and latches were correct. I never forget to cross my i's and dot my t's.
I stepped up into the saddle, making sure I was secure with my riding gear over my hoodie.
"Ready?" I asked.
With little warning, Toothless shot up into the sky. "Woohoo!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
I could see the whole town from up here. The sky was cloudy and gray, so I didn't concern myself with looking to see if they saw me. The people hardly looked to the skies. They were always busy being jerks and working.
Now was no time to be bitter though. Being with Toothless brightened my mood tenfold. Flying with him was just as good as dancing. He was my best friend.
We soared out over the ocean and passed several rock structures. We even passed a cave. As I saw it, an idea popped into my mind. If Toothless and I stayed there over night, what would my father, my class, the town think? Would they care that I was missing.
Certainly not Hiccup. But maybe Inermis.
Ugh, why do always compare myself to him?! He's just another form of me, a form that would be me if I had the guts to accept it. But I guess I didn't.
Toothless grumbled at me, and I looked up to see what the matter was. It turns out it wasn't Toothless; it was thunder. We were flying over a thunder cloud!
"Oh no..." I said.
Toothless flicked me in agreement. "I know bud, we need to get back... But how? We might get electrocuted if we go through the clouds." Just then, I saw an escape route.
"There!" I pointed. I adjusted my foot in the hold to allow Toothless to dive down through the opening in the clouds.
We shot through, narrowly avoiding lightning. After a few breathtaking moments of adrenaline, Toothless and I finally landed safely back in Raven's Point Cove.
"Whew," I said, rubbing Toothless's nose after jumping off his back. "That was close."
"You know Toothless," I began thoughtfully, "You are most definitely my best friend."
Toothless murmured happily and leaned into my hand like a dog/cat.
I scratched his scales a bit, and then said, "Bye, bud. See you soon. No, sorry, hasta luego!"
I ran out of the Cove. The one with Toothless. Not the club.
The next day, after music, I went to my language arts class.
"Good morning, class. Today we're starting a project," my teacher Mrs. Rite said.
The class groaned. "I know, I know. But it's a fun project!" Mrs. Rite said.
"Of course it is," I heard Astrid mumble under her breath.
"As some of you know, we're starting a drama unit. That is, if you don't take drama. But, of course, everyone in here doesn't have drama. Anyways, what we're doing is simple: you're acting out a scene from a randomly selected book."
What is it with randomness right now? Random song, random book... Sheesh!
"I know you want to choose your partners, and I would have let you if Theo and Sora hadn't been soon disruptive and abusive of their time last time. So, unfortunately, I had to pick. I tried to pick based on how well you work together. The pairs are-"
I tuned her out until I heard my name: "Hiccup and Astrid."
Okay, maybe the teachers had some sort of league against me. Where they had secret meetings, planning to make my life as miserable as they could.
Astrid's hand shot up. "Can I work with someone else?"
"Astrid," Mrs. Rite said, "that is extremely offensive to your classmate. Just for that, no."
She groaned and put her head on the desk. You could almost see the thought bubble: "They hate me, I know it."
"Class, line up. We're going to the library to get the books."
And we lined up, with Astrid as far in the front as she could get to stay away from me.
The way Mrs. Rite picked our random books was she had us hold a ruler, spun us around seven times, and whatever book the ruler pointed at was the book chosen. Of course, Astrid went for us.
She didn't look happy at all while she was spinning, unlike her classmates. She brought our book over towards us. Half Upon a Time, by James Riley.
"Alright, Useless. It seems we're stuck together. Let's get this crap over with."
I read the book in a day. It was wonderful. How all the broken pieces of fairy tale fit together in no way whatsoever. My favorite character was May. She was so sarcastic, and tough that she reminded me of Astrid and myself.
Astrid finished it in two days. I could tell that she enjoyed it, but she never admitted it.
We met at my house two days after the project had been assigned.
"I personally think we should use this part," she argued.
I put our pizza in the microwave. It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get her to come over and help with the project.
The part in question was the part where May- which would be Astrid's character- saves Jack's (my) butt from the witch who wants to eat him. Before he gets eaten by a giant.
"As much as I'd like to play the damsel in distress," I said sarcastically, "it would be too hard to pretend that we're at an exaggerated height. I'm sure the great Astrid could do it, but what about Hiccup the Useless?"
She seemed upset that I'd actually replied and shot down her idea, but she said, "Alright. What do you suggest?"
I had been thinking about this for awhile. One particular scene stuck in my mind, but I was afraid to suggest it.
I went for it. "What about that one scene where Jack and May are playing with the Eye's sword andtheyalmostkiss?" I rushed the last part, fighting to keep the blush off my face.
She raised her eyebrows, and to my surprise, said, "That actually would be one of the easiest scenes to do. Maybe."
I put my success in the back of my mind and said, "Pizza's ready," when I heard the ding.
"So," she said when I sat down her pizza. She took a bite and continued, "Want to explain your singing?"
"My parents gave me vocal chords, taught me words, and I learned to sing. Same as anyone," I replied, stating the obvious.
She rolled her eyes. "I meant why you sing well, idiot."
"Just for that, I'm not telling you."
"Then explain why you suddenly have gymnastics skills."
I smiled. "I told you, I had to get into this school somehow."
I took a bite and glanced at the clock. I nearly choked when I saw what time it was. I would be late for my gig as Inermis!
"I'm sorry, Astrid, but I'm late for, uh... My job! I'll be back in like an hour, so you can stay, or you can go, I don't care. Just don't go into my room," I said, grabbing my school bag and slipping on a hoodie.
"I wasn't going to until- hey! What's this?!" she said. She was pulling something sticking out from the corner of my bag. It was the scarf she thought she had given to Inermis.
"A... Uh, gift from a friend," I murmured trying for the door. She stopped me, examining the cloth with sadness.
"I made this for Inermis..."
I didn't like seeing her sad, so I said, "We're good friends, and he knew that I know you, and he knew that I would love it, so he gave it to me as a gift and said to be very careful with it because it was his favorite gift from a fan."
She smiled. "He said that?" Then her draw dropped as she realized what that meant. "You know him?!"
"Yep, gotta go!" And I bolted out the door.