Wow this is waaaay late. I'm sorry, I'd love to blame it on planning, or really anything productive, but in all honest, I got kinda depressed, and was in a weird state of self loathing. It would have been absolutely horrible of me to subject you to the kind of amateurish, depressive writing I do when I'm like that, I just completely gave up on writing for a while. I know, I suck (lol) I hope you'll forgive me long enough to read this chapter :)

Hiccup couldn't help being slightly upset when it was announced that his friends would try to help him raise the money to support his business on their own. He felt like he was taking an easy way out of his deal with his dad. That, and he was a guy. The idea of spending hours alone with a pretty girl wasn't a horrible one.

"What about a bake sale?"

Ray suggested idly, making small circles on her paper with Fisher's pen, which he was frantically searching for.

"Does anyone know how to bake?"Scott scoffed.

Hiccup and Scott both nodded, unwavering even when Scott snickered at them.

"If they're the only ones, three's no point. What about a car wash?" Astrid countered.

Hiccup laughed out loud, only to be immediately hushed. "What a cliché," he teased quietly.

"It's a cliché because it works." She coughed defensively.

"It's popular because guys will always pay to see girls in bikinis." Scott smirked, and kicked him.

"We wouldn't wear swimsuits." She informed him pointedly.

"Your clothes would still probably get soaked." Hiccup bit the end of his pencil nervously.

"We could sell lemonade." Fisher's voice was small. Everyone was silent until he shrugged.

"If we were in grade school." Scott finally laughed.

Hiccup suddenly shook his head, pursing his lips and staring at the mountain of books piled between the girls. "You guys have to concentrate on your grades, right? It's okay if you don't help, I'll figure something else out."

"Are you kidding?" Ray groaned. "Thinking about just grades all the time is sooooo boring. Besides, if it hadn't been for the DA, Barf and Belch would still be, you know, wreaking havoc and living up to their names all over our house."

"I'm surprised you know the words 'wreaking' and 'havoc'," Astrid teased.

"Hey, I'm not the one failing English."

Hiccup wrinkled his nose at that, and the girls laughed at him.

"Why don't we hold a tutoring class?" Fisher tried again. "We can each teach the lessons we're best at it, and charge people."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to go with the original plan, them?" Ray rolled her eyes.

Hiccup groaned and let his head fall onto the desk again. "Real life isn't this hard on tv."

"That's because on tv everyone has problems perfectly tailored to work itself out." Astrid mused, grinning mischievously.

Scott drummed his fists on the table. "Nothing so far is going do get anywhere, huh?"

"We could try doing some odd jobs." Taylor shrugged. "In high school I charged five dollars to mow a lawn. We could each probably get a couple done in our pare time, and there's six of us, so..." he leaned back thoughtfully. "We could make five thousand in six weeks. I don't know if that would be enough or not."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, pressing his lips together and calculated his expenses. "It would definitely work out." He nodded with an excited smile.

"Are we having training today?" Fisher asked the instructor, absent mindedly doodling on his paper with the pencil he finally wrestled away from Ray.

Hiccup nodded, closing his English book and glancing at the clock. "Be at my house after class?" he grinned and stood up. "See you then." He waved awkwardly, his arms full of books, and jokingly adjourned the meeting.

XxX

Classes at the Dragon Academy went well as usual. Hiccup caught himself watching Astrid as she listened to him teach the twins to keep their kittens from jumping on the counters. He was amused at how attentive she was, even when the rest were completely relaxed.

The class ended after Fisher's turtle managed to crawl through an obstacle course meant for cats. They spent an extra half hour planning their work course with a directory map of the town.

Once it had been decided who would be attempting to mow which lawn, the group dispersed.

When the only ones left were him, Astrid, and the twins, Hiccup hooked his thumbs in his pockets and pressed his lips together. "Do you need a ride?" he asked as Astrid gathered her things.

"No, Taylor's driving me home." She nodded toward the blond with a grin. Ray called her impatiently and the bird owner picked up Stormfly's cage and waved good-bye. "Thanks, though!" she called before running off.

Hiccup stretched and yawned once the door slammed closed behind Ray. He smiled down at the cat sitting patiently at his feet. "Hungry, Bud?"

Toothless mewled expectantly and stood up to lead him to the apartment door.

The boy and his cat ate their dinner in silence before the phone rang, startling both. Hiccup nearly fell out of his chair, completely unused to getting calls on the landline.

He answered it, expecting a salesman, and was further shocked to hear a familiar female voice.

"Hello?" It came a second time when he didn't answer.

"Uh, yeah, hi? Haddock residence, may I ask who's calling?" he responded awkwardly. There was a snort of laughter from the other end, followed by poorly concealed giggles. "I'm hanging up." He threatened.

"Don't do that, Mr. Haddock," the girl teased, forcing her laughter to stop.

"I'm serious," He wasn't. Her chuckles were beginning to get on her nerves, though.

"Okay, Hiccup, wait." she coughed, a smile still evident in her voice, even when she stopped laughing. "It's Hofferson," she continued to mock him. "I think I left my cell at your place last night."

"Oooh, that sounds scandalous." The boy grinned when she giggled again, thankful it was with him instead of at him.

"I don't usually use it, so I only just noticed." Astrid explained, and Hiccup was thankful that the old church's landline was cordless as he wandered into the living room/his bedroom and lazily scanned the area.

"Know where you might've left it?"

"Uhh, the kitchen counter? No, not really, sorry." She laughed sheepishly.

The cat owner held the phone between his cheek and shoulder to dig his cell phone out of his pocket. "Tell me your number, I'll call it."

"Ahh, I see, this is a ploy to get my number, huh?"

"Of course. I've been planning this for months."

He succeeded in making her chuckle again before she spouted her number. He pressed the call button for the lost phone and listened attentively. "I hear it," he whispered to the girl on the phone when a sound like a muffled bell went off.

"Congratulations." she whispered back. Hiccup flipped over his pillow, and beneath it was a metallic blue flip phone.

"Found it." He announced, holding up the phone. "This is surprising girly." he grinned at a swirling flower design on the front.

"Can it, Haddock." Astrid scoffed.

"I'll get it to you in class tomorrow."

"Awesome, thanks."

The line went silent for a moment.

" 'Night."

"Goodnight."

Wowee I'm superbly sorry.

I love you? It's probably annoying to have such oddly spaced updates, huh?

Reviews give me the energy to press on! :D