So my computer's broken… Which means updating won't be every day, or every few days. This chapter was written with my phone, along with the next three… I'm going to put this story on a schedule to one update every Sunday. So every Sunday there's going to be an update.

Again thanks so much for all the attention this story has gotten. (Both positive and negative reviews were appreciated… no matter how nonconstructive some of them were) We're all entitled to our opinions, so I'm going to let the negativity keep coming. Not sure if that's a good idea, but I'm not gonna let the negative reviews get to me. Plz keep the trolling to minimum, if not nonexistent...Thx

Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3: A Game of Chess

Henry sighed. "This day can't possibly get any worse." He was sitting in one of the chairs outside the principal's office along with a very nervous looking Franklin. Franklin's his arms and shoulders were shaking. He continuously rubbed his palms together. He had beads of sweat rolling down his head, and he wouldn't stop whimpering.

"Would you calm down?" Henry asked slightly annoyed.

That only seemed to make him more nervous. "E-Easy f-f-for you t-to say." He whimpered with that severe stutter of his. "T-This is t-t-the f-first time that I-I ever g-got sent to t-t-the principal's office." He pulled his knees up around himself.

Henry sighed again before placing a gentle yet firm hand on the nervous guy's shoulder. "Look. Relax alright? You were the victim, so you're not in any real trouble."

That seemed to have some effect. Franklin put his feet back on the floor and stopped shaking. "You're...You're right." He breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Better?" Henry asked.

Franklin nodded. "Yeah. Much better."

Henry patted him on the back. "Glad to hear it. You're nervousness was making me nervous." Henry could hear the other two boys involved getting scolded inside Stoick's office. His dad sounded angry.

"I wonder what our punishment's gonna be." Franklin whispered. He was starting to shake and rub his palms together again.

"Relax. I already told you you'll be fine." Henry had to place another firm hand on Franklin's shoulder. "Once we explain our side of the story we won't be in any real trouble."

"I hope you're right."

Henry could hear his dad's scolding getting louder from the other side of the door. He could almost make out what was being said. From what he could gather the other two people were named Scott and Tony. Bullying was a regular occurrence that they almost always got in trouble for around the school. His dad seemed to get angrier and angrier with every word. "Yeah." Henry muttered. "Me too."

After another fifteen minutes of listening to Stoick and the bullies argue, the door finally opened and the two boys stepped out. The one with the chiseled chin stopped in front of Henry and smirked at him. "You got lucky this time, but next time-"

"There won't be a next time." Henry stood up to stare down at him. The guy was half a foot shorter so he was literally staring down at him. The guy backed off and left along with his blonde friend.

Stoick stepped out of his office. "Franklin your parents have been notified of the incident. You will receive no punishment. You may go."

Franklin breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly took on a look of worry. "What about Henry?"

Father and son stared at each other. "That's none of your concern." Stoick said. Franklin got the message that he should leave. He gave Henry an apologetic look before putting on his backpack and walking out into the hallway.

Henry smiled nervously, but his dad didn't return it. Instead he turned around and walked back into his office, waving Henry inside. Inside Henry realized that the principal's office looked just like his dad's office at home. On the walls hung degrees from various universities stating that he had acquired his degree in education. There were also various flags from universities across the country. There was one big oak desk right in the center, and on that desk sat three monitors along with various photos of friends and family. Stoick sat in a big black leather chair, while Henry chose one of the smaller wooden ones on the opposite side of the desk.

Stoick sighed rubbing his forehead. "Oh Henry, what are we going to do with you."

"Dad let me explain. I-"

"No." Stoick interrupted. "Here on school grounds I am not 'Dad.' Here you will address me as Mr. Haddock." Henry looked at him wide eyed. "Understand?" Stoick asked.

Henry looked down and sighed. "Yes sir."

Stoick nodded. "Good." He leaned forward resting his elbows on the desk. "Now first let me say that you are not getting punished for what happened today, but I do hope that you don't wish to continue picking fights with your classmates for the rest of the year.

"But da-… Mr. Haddock, I didn't start anything. In lunch some chick named Heather dumped her lunch on me-"

"After you spread the false rumor you two were boyfriend and girlfriend."

"God how fast does news travel around here?" Henry banged his head against the desk.

Stoick chuckled. "Trust me, when someone as popular as Heather suddenly starts dating the new kid nobody's heard of before, that's like 'breaking news' in the minds of folks around here."

Henry sighed into the desk. "I just hope that people will forget about it now that Heather has publicly set the record straight."

"I wouldn't count on it." Stoick looked at his computer screen and began to type. "Now about the incident that took place after school in the 400 hallway."

Henry lifted his head from the desk. He had a very noticeable red mark on his forehead. "What about it? I noticed someone getting bullied and put a stop to it while everyone else ignored it."

"I know Henry." Stoick stopped typing and clicked on something. Suddenly the printer behind him dinged before something began printing. "I'm going to have you sign a statement stating that you were not the bully and not the instigator."

"Just like that?" Henry asked.

"No, not for me. I get to file a bunch of paperwork and put marks on permanent records." The printer stopped. Stoick reached around to grab the statement.

"Does that include my record?" Henry asked taking the paper. He grabbed a pen from the cup next to the computer.

Stoick nodded. "Sadly yes, but it won't be as harsh as the ones Tony and Scott will be getting."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Henry handed the paper back and put the pen back into the cup. "I don't want my record saying I'm someone that beats up other people for fun"

Stoick sighed rubbing his forehead. "It's not going to be forever and that's not what it's going to say. It will sit on your record for about 90 days, and will disappear. I promise you, your future is not at risk."

Henry sighed relieved. "Thanks dad." Stoick glared at him. "I mean

Mr. Haddock."

Stoick nodded. "Now with all that out of the way, you should head home. I have a meeting tonight and will be home late." He went back to typing on his computer.

Henry stood up. "OK." He shouldered his backpack and walked out. "See you later then."

By now the school was relatively empty. He saw the occasional student or teacher coming out of a classroom or hallway. They would smile and wave and he smile and wave back. "Well I certainly didn't accomplish much today." He muttered to himself. "Managed to spread a rumor, got in trouble for helping someone, and I never got to talk to Astrid." He stopped at the exit, resting his hand on the push bar. He sighed, "There's no way this day can get any worse." He opened the door and was proven wrong.

He stood there mouth agape, eyes wide in shock. His sister's parking space was empty. Emma wasn't here. "She left me here."

He heard the exit open and someone approaching. They stopped next to him. "Oh hey Henry." Franklin said.

"She left me here."

"Listen thanks for saving me earlier."

"She left me here."

"And teaching Scott and Tony the lesson they deserved."

"She left me here."

Franklin frowned. Henry seemed to be in some kind of trance. HE just stared out into the parking lot. "Hey." He tapped Henry on the shoulder. "You alright."

"She left me here."

"Who left you here?"

Henry turned and looked at him. "Emma."

"Emma?" Franklin asked. He didn't know a lot of upperclassman, actually he didn't know any upperclassman, so he had no idea who Emma was. "Who's Emma."

"My sister." Henry angrily pulled his phone out. He found her name in the contact list and began to type. 'Hey!'

Franklin tilted his head. "Why would your sister leave you here?"

"Good question!" Henry shouted. His phone buzzed. He looked down at it, but all he got back for a reply was 'Hey :)'

Hiccup tried to keep his breathing under control. 'Did u forget something?"

'Don't think so.'

'REALLY!'

'I told u not to be late :p'

Henry let out an annoyed sigh. 'I was a bit preoccupied with other things.'

'What kind of things?'

Henry groaned. "I don't have time for this." Franklin looked at him but said nothing. 'I'll tell u later.'

'Can u tell me now?'

'CAN I GET A RIDE PLZ!'

'Calm down I'm on my way. LOL'

Henry didn't reply, instead he just angrily shoved his phone back into his pocket. He sighed rubbing his temples. A small migraine was forming. He would have to take some painkillers later.

"Is your ride coming?"

"I don't know." The two stood in an awkward silence for a few moments. Henry turned to Franklin. "What are you still doing here? I figured you would have gone home."

"Well when I got out here my mom wasn't here yet so I ran back to the club room to do something."

"What did you do?"

He shrugged. "Socialized. Played a quick round. If you want tomorrow I can introduce you to the crew."

Henry chuckled. "The crew?"

Franklin smiled. "That's what we call ourselves. The chess crew." he pumped his chest out with pride. "The best chess players this side of the district." A silver Hyundai turned into the parking lot. "Oh! That's my ride." The car stopped. He opened the passenger door, and climbed in. He rolled down the window. "Hey, you wanna come over? Play a round or two?"

Henry thought about the conversation he just finished with his sister. She said she was on her way. It would be easier on everyone if he just stayed there. But she left him here. She stranded her poor baby brother at the government institution known as Berk High School to fend for himself. If she wanted to make his life difficult, then he would do the same. "That sounds like a lovely idea." He climbed in the back of the Hyundai.

Franklin turned back to look at him. "Um. Shouldn't you text your sister to let her know your not gonna be here?"

Henry shrugged. "She'll figure it out." Franklin wasn't sure if that was such a good idea, but he didn't have any siblings so he didn't know how they treated each other.

Henry's phone buzzed as soon as they pulled into Franklin's drive way. 'I'm here. Where are u?'

'U were late so I hitched a ride.' "Payback's a bitch." Henry muttered.

'Are u serious?'

'Yes.'

'Don't do this to me bro! If dad finds out I lost u I'll be a dead woman!'

Henry chuckled. 'Relax I'm at a friend's house.' Henry followed Franklin and his mom out of the car and towards the house.

'What's the address?'

"Hey Franklin my sister wants to know your address so she can pick me up."

Franklin gave it to him and he relayed it to his ride. As soon as the door to the house was unlocked Franklin immediately led Henry up to his room. Henry had underestimated how much Franklin enjoyed chess. Not only did the door have a full sized wall paper of a rook on it, but inside the room was full of trophies.

There must have been at least half a dozen shelves and each one was filled up with trophies medals and ribbons of various shapes, sizes, and colors. "Wow." Was all Henry could say. He looked on the nightstand and saw a photo of what he assumed to be a baby Franklin making the first move of a game.

"Yeah wow." Franklin said. He pointed at one of the trophies. "I won this one at the city hall Chess Tourney three years ago." He pointed to another one. "This one was won during my first district championship. And this one," he put his hand down. He didn't look so excited anymore. "was the last trophy I ever won."

Henry frowned. "What do you mean the last trophy?" Franklin spaced out, obviously deeply thinking about something negative. "Hey." Henry snapped his fingers to get the boy's attention.

Franklin blinked, returning to normal. "It's not important." He moved over to his closet and pulled out a small folding table. "Wanna play a round while we wait for your sister to come get you?"

Henry shrugged. "Sure."

Franklin smiled. "Alright, let me get everything set up." He placed the table next to the bed before going back into the closet and grabbing what looked like a matching chair. Once the chair and table were set he went to the corner of the room adjacent to the door. There was a chest there. He opened it up and pulled out a boxed chess set.

Henry moved over and gazed into the chest. "Wow." In the chest there were multiple chess sets. Each a different color. Some were blue vs purple, some red vs orange, and then there were the standard black vs white. It also looked like different material went into each one. "Did you buy all of these?"

Franklin nodded. "My dad got me my first chess set when I was three years old. I keep it in my closet, it never gets played with. He taught me to play, my dad, said that I was going to be a chess master like him..." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, shall we begin?"

"Sure." Henry sat on the chair.

"What color do you want to be?"

"White goes first right?" Franklin nodded. "Then white."

"It's not like it's going to help you." Franklin chuckled setting up the pieces across the board.

"We'll see."

Henry moved his first pawn. Franklin called it with his own. "I just noticed something." Henry said moving another pawn.

"What?" Franklin also moved another pawn forward.

Henry moved another pawn. "You're not stuttering anymore."

Franklin moved out one of his knights. "I only do that when I'm either really nervous or incredibly anxious."

Henry moved yet another pawn. "So what are you now?"

Franklin moved his other knight out. "Chess keeps me calm."

"You really like this game don't you?" Henry moved his left bishop out to take a pawn that had gotten a little to close to his side.

"I've been playing it for almost thirteen years now." Franklin moved his right bishop to a6.

"Wow." Henry moved out his right knight to a3.

Franklin castled his king. "Yeah my dad really wanted me to become a master at it."

Henry really wanted to find out who his dad was. Franklin obviously really looked up to him, but there weren't any pictures of him on the walls. Henry didn't ask anything about him because he figured it wasn't any of his business. He moved another pawn forward. "So are you?"

Franklin moved his left knight to f5. "Not officially. Though I consider myself to be pretty good."

Henry moved his left rook to a3. "How good?"

Franklin took Henry's bishop with his knight. "You're about to find out.

The game went on. By the time the middlegame began Franklin had taken one of Henry's knights, one of his bishops, one of his rooks, and four of his pawns. While Henry only had one bishop and three pawns.

Franklin moved his queen to d4. "So were you being serious?"

Henry retreated the rook that was in range. "What do you mean?"

Franklin kept his queen where it was and for the first time in the game moved his king forward. "This morning you said your plan for this year was to get revenge on someone."

"Oh that." He moved his own king forward. "Yeah I was."

"Is it safe to ask who?" Franklin moved his knight forward to e4.

Henry thought about it. Should he tell Franklin about his plan to get revenge on Astrid? What if he knew Astrid. What of he was friends with her and alerted her to it? "It's not important." He moved his queen forward to g3.

"What did this person do exactly?" Franklin moved his own queen behind Henry's battle line to a2. "Check."

Henry moved his king behind his rook. "Let's just say we were," he paused trying to think about what to call her.

Franklin moved his queen back so the rook wouldn't take it out. "Were what?"

"Good friends." Henry used his knight to take out one of Franklin's rooks.

"What happened?" Franklin moved one of his pawns forward.

Henry sighed. Man was this guy nosy. "Being the idiot that I was, I asked her out-"

"Her?"

"Yes her. Anyway I asked her out and instead of getting a simple 'no' or 'let's just stay friends' she proceeded to belittle me and called me a hiccup."

"You alright dude?" Franklin asked. "You're choking the life out of that pawn there."

Henry released the poor pawn and set it down on the table. "Sorry." Henry took out the pawn with his own.

"You gonna want any help with getting your revenge on this person?" Franklin moved his bishop forward, the way now clear thanks to Henry taking the bait and moving his pawn out of the way. "Check."

Henry moved his king back a space. "No, I think I've got it figured out." He moved his queen and took out the bishop.

"How about some advice at least." Franklin moved another pawn forward.

Henry though about it. What did this guy know about getting revenge on people? Then again it's not like Henry would lose anything listening to advice from someone. It would most likely go in one ear and out the other anyway. "Sure." Henry moved his king out of the pawns diagonal path. .

"High school is like a game of chess." He moved his knight forward.

"What do you mean?" Henry took out the knight with his queen.

"You've got to plan ahead." Franklin took out the queen with his rook.

Henry frowned. This game was about to end, and he didn't even come close to beating him. "Alright?" He realized his king was cut off from the rest of his pieces. He moved his king back a space.

"Coordinate your moves quickly and carefully, or else your opponents will gain the upper hand." He moved his queen back to a2. "Checkmate."

Henry was shocked. He had lost almost all of his pieces, while taking barely any of his opponent's. He looked at his watch, the game only lasted 15 minutes, and he just got his ass kicked. He did several double takes to see he could somehow get out of this. Nothing worked, he was trapped. "Well, good game I guess."

"Yeah," Franklin stood up and stretched. "You too."

Henry's phone buzzed. 'I'm here.'

'Be out in a sec.' "Well my rides here."

"Ok." Franklin opened the door and he and Henry moved downstairs.

Henry grabbed his backpack by the front door. "Well see you tomorrow."

"Yep. Hey you want my number so we can keep in touch?"

Henry shrugged. "Sure. Thanks for inviting me over Franklin."

"Call me Frank."

"Okay, thanks Frank." Once the numbers were exchanged Henry left the house and found Emma parked on the curb.

"So, what did you learn in school today?" Emma asked once Henry was in the car.

"That I need to find a better mode of transportation." Henry muttered.

Emma scoffed. "I told you not to be late."

Henry sighed annoyed. "Someone was getting bullied. I had to put a stop to it."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Good." They left the neighborhood and turned onto the main road. "So how's that revenge plan of yours coming along?"

Henry's mind went blank. How was his revenge plan going? Granted it had only been a day, but he didn't exactly accomplish anything that day. "Oh it's great. I kept a close eye on her, found out where she frequents, you know, met some of her friends-"

"And you're currently dating Heather."

Henry sighed once again banging his head on the nearest flat object. This time it was the window. "You know about that too huh?"

Emma laughed. "Honey I'm sure the whole school knows at this point."

Henry sighed. "I'm not dating Heather. I just needed some form of excuse to get the people off me."

"Well it's gonna be hard to get close to Astrid now that you're hated by one of her best friends."

Henry's head lifted from the window. Once again he had a noticeable red mark on his forehead. "Wait Heather is one of Astrid's best friends?" He figured they were friends because they were talking to each other during swim class today, but if they were best friends…

"Yeah, they're near inseparable. Whatever one knows, usually the other also knows."

"How do you know this?" Henry asked.

"You asked me to be your spy remember?"

"Oh yeah. Do you think you could help me?" Henry tried to put on his best puppy dog face.

"Aw." Emma patted his cheek. "Sorry buddy, but now that you're back in the picture, I'm retired. You're on your own."

Henry sighed. He looked out the window at the rapidly passing landscape. He had to find a new path to getting close to Astrid. High school is like a game of chess. Frank had told him. Strategy is the key. That's what he needed. A strategy. But what kind pf strategy? Getting close to Heather seemed to like the logical way to go, Astrid was like the king, and to get to the king, one had to take out the pawns.

Coordinate your moves quickly and carefully or else your opponents will gain the upper hand. Henry needed to think this through. How was he going to get close to Heather? She told him to never speak to her or mention her name again.

"So what are you going to do?" Emma asked as they turned into their driveway. She pressed the button on her garage door opener.

You've got to plan ahead. Henry smiled. He knew exactly what he was going to do. "Guess I'm gonna have to get close to Heather in order to get close to Astrid."

"How do you plan to do that? She told you to never talk to her again remember? After that lie you spread about the two of you? Being together and all?

Henry sighed. "Yes I remember. How long do you plan on bringing that up?"

Emma chuckled. "Until I don't find it funny anymore."

Henry gave an annoyed sigh. "Thanks... I think."

"Trust me," Emma continued "the whole school will be breathing down your neck tomorrow about it, so you'd best prepare for it now."

"Again. Thanks"

"Anyway. How do you plan on getting close to Heather?"

You've got to plan ahead. Henry gave a confident grin. "Guess I'll have to start with an apology."

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. To those wanting to know if this is going to be a Hiccstrid story, let me just tell you… You're going to have to be surprised! Before you all start making assumptions that I don't know either, let me say that I've planned this story out from beginning to end, and have all the major plot points written down.

Know that certain things will happen without warning that will make y'all hate me. And I will love all the hate I receive at those points because it will tell me I did it right.

Anyway again thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows. Till next time! Peace!