Hey, guys! Hope everyone had a good Monday. It's been cold and snowy where I am at. Was not ready to go be an adult today. I'm 30, another 30 or more years to go before retirement!
Antox - You had asked about how old they were in this story. I've got in my head they are somewhere between Sophomores and Juniors in High School. They are all able to drive (even though Hiccup doesn't have a car he can freely drive), which does put them to be in that age range. I should have been more clearer on that.
I was also re-reading this and realized I had a slight issue with maintaining what happened to Hiccup's mother, and with that I do apologize. I changed what happened to her in the first chapter from the main story line (said that she left) and in another I wrote that she passed away. If anyone can tell me how I can edit that in there (as in the already published piece) so it makes more sense to me I would appreciate that! It's the ONE thing other than some typos I never caught that has drove me batty.
Also, for anyone wanting some more Toothless views, I haven't focused on him at all during this story, and I probably won't. He just makes some minor appearances throughout the story.
Thanks for your support guys! I've never actually shared my stories with ANYONE up until now (well, other than creative writing class in college). It means a lot to get some great support, and even those critical reviews that I received from "The Stone Crumbles." I love practicing my writing.
Without any further chat, here is the next chapter in "Morals."
...
Hiccup overheard his father talking to the school over a bowl of what was now soggy cereal. It sounded as though he was arguing with them in regards to Hiccup's absences.
"Do you people NOT UNDERSTAND!" Mr. Vast said. "He's been in the hospital! Yesterday whipped him out-I don't care about your attendance policy! Check his school records. He's practically a straight A student-He had a blood transfusion on Saturday night-Are you talking about earlier this year? He had his leg amputated!-For crying out loud-How do I get a hold of the principal?"
Hiccup felt his stomach cave in as each passing moment went by. Even though his father was in his study talking to the school to have some privacy, his booming voice just filled the house. Hiccup abandoned his cereal where it sat on the table, and hobbled back to his room on his crutch.
Lying down just made his anxiety worse, so he decided to try to sketch again. He felt a smile come to his face when he pulled out his charcoal Astrid had bought for him. He decided to practice his shading skills on the cat again. Although this time he had to be creative since his muse wasn't in the original position.
A little while later his father came to his doorway and gave a gentle knock despite the fact that the door was open. Glancing up at his father, they both sighed at the same time.
"How many days of school have I actually missed this year?" Hiccup asked him.
"Including the three days this week-twelve. Which, isn't very many in my opinion. Outside of the flu you had back in November, the other days have been your doctor's visits and appointments, and your stay in the hospital. I am going to get your medical records from your doctors and go down and talk to the guidance office. You still have your medical excuse from the hospital, right?"
"It's in the pair of jeans hanging on the back of that chair," Hiccup replied.
His dad reached into the pockets and found it shoved inside the front. "You okay?"
Hiccup nodded. "I'm okay. Or, I will be. It isn't the end of the world."
Mr. Vast nodded.
"Dad, what are they going to do to me if they fight you on this?" Hiccup asked. "I didn't realized I'd missed this much school. The student guidebook said I could receive F's in all my classes-"
"Hogwash," his father said to him. "If I have to take this to the education board, I will. If you didn't have a 3.8 GPA and you were failing your classes left and right, I could understand their argument."
Hiccup had to hold back the tears from forming in his eyes. He was completely over everything. He felt his chest grow heavy for a split second, then he let out a deep breath and tried to push those worries away.
"I've got this, son," his father said. "You going to be okay for a few hours here alone?"
"I think so," Hiccup replied back. "Hey, just in case you don't get back before, would you care if Astrid came over?"
Mr. Vast leaned against the doorway, and crossed his arms.
"Okay, what is it with this girl?" Mr. Vast asked him.
Hiccup felt his face go red. "Nothing, really!"
"Hiccup, you've never been really good at lying to me." He took a seat on the bed across from his son. "Are you guys friends-or-or are you girlfriend and boyfriend, or-"
Hiccup took a moment to choose his words. Then he replied, "I don't even know, honestly. Last night, I told her some of my fears about her. She does scare me, Dad. Not in a bad way. I-I haven't had a lot of friends growing up, and she keeps coming back. We enjoy each other's company-but-"
"But what?" Mr. Vast asked when Hiccup didn't respond after a few moments.
"I told her I was afraid she would just-disappear-one day I'd wake up and-"
"Poof," said his father. "Hiccup, she isn't your mother-"
"I know," Hiccup replied. "I haven't dealt with this yet-"
"There's always a first," Mr. Vast said to him. "To answer your question, yes, she can come over. But, I'd prefer you guys stay in the living room or in the kitchen verses in your room-"
Hiccup paled. "Now you give me some rules about girls! Where were these three years ago when my voice cracked?"
Mr. Vast laughed and rubbed the top of his son's head, making his already untidy, auburn hair even worse. "I didn't have to worry so much then. You weren't interested in girls then-and up until now, you weren't. Tell me, son, has she kissed you?"
"Dad, gross!" Hiccup said, putting his hands over his ears.
"Ha! She has!"
"Not on the lips," Hiccup said to him.
"Still, it's going somewhere," said Mr. Vast. "I'll text or call you once I talk to the school, okay?"
Hiccup nodded to him. When his father left the room, he leaned back against his pillows and sighed with exhaustion. That conversation took a lot out of him. Yet, he felt himself smiling. Astrid was coming over after school was out.
...
"When is your next board meeting?" Mr. Vast demanded. "This is ridiculous!"
Hiccup excused himself quickly from the meeting, and left the guidance office. Instead of leaving the building, he sat on the inside of the double doors, slid down the wall and sat. He didn't want to hear his father make a scene. He would remain there until his father was done with his meeting.
Glancing at his phone, school was about to let out. He felt himself grow antsy waiting. He didn't want to run into anyone, especially Snotlout. Five minutes before the bell rang, he pushed himself back up to his feet, and headed back towards the office. He could still hear is father having a heated discussion with not just one guidance counselor, but now the principal. Feeling his stomach cave in again, he decided he needed to go into the room to see what was going on.
"He's missed too much school," said the woman guidance counselor.
"He's been in the hospital and doctor's appointment MOST of that time. We have a doctor excuse right now for EVERY DAY, except when he had the flu in November-"
"So, tell me again WHY he has all these doctor's appointments-" Mr. Finnegan asked.
Hiccup could tell his father was about to lose it. He'd seen his father throw chairs before out of anger. This was not something he wanted to happen, then he'd really be in trouble. It was time for him to speak on his own behalf.
"Dad-" Hiccup said allowed, too loud for what usually came from the small young man's mouth. The trio of adults turned to look at him. With shaky hands, Hiccup decided himself to take a different approach at this. He thought his insides were going to spill over from the anxiety. He pulled his arm out of the sling and walked up in the middle of the three adults. "Mr. Finnegan, under this cast, you will find thirty-four stitches as a result of slicing my arm on a broken car window last weekend. Here, on this arm-" He rolled up his sleeves to reveal the bruises on his arm, which made their eyes widen slightly-"Are the three places I had IVs in me. I have to go back tomorrow to see if I can get my stitches out-and also to make sure my blood is corresponding well with the transfusion I had to get from my dad."
He wouldn't look the adults in the eye, but he continued on with what he wanted to say. Rolling his sleeve down, he grabbed a hold of his father's arm, and started unhooking his prosthetic. "This-this is why I missed so much school earlier this year." Unhooking his prosthetic, he lifted his leg and let the contraption fall out of his pant leg and let it stand on the floor. "I can roll my pant leg up if you'd like to see-"
"That won't be necessary," said Mr. Finnegan. He reached over and started flipping through the doctor's excuses Mr. Vast had brought in. Also in the paperwork he found Hiccup's X-ray from when he fell and broke his leg, along with the X-ray that was taken after Hiccup's surgery.
Hiccup placed his leg back into place, then his arm back into his sling. He took a few steps towards his principal.
"I'm not asking you to understand what is going on, sir," he said gently. "I am asking for you to take a longer look at what is in front of you. I don't miss school unless necessary. I'm nearly a straight A student. I don't cause trouble. And I haven't missed a day of school since November-other than an adjustment they needed to make to my bum leg here. If I need a teacher's reference to help you consider, I'll gladly go get Mrs. Vickerson-"
"No-no, Hiccup," said Mr. Finnegan. "I think I've got enough evidence here." The principal looked at him and gave a weak smile. He turned to Mr. Vast. "I'll put a note in our files that we have spoken regarding your attendance record. If we need to, we will look into this matter further-"
"You understand that we aren't asking for nothing more than an acception to the rule of attendance, correct?" Mr. Vast asked. His voice had softened. "We do not want any special accommodations made. Hiccup gets around well for what he's had going on these last 8 months. And will continue to get stronger with time."
Mr. Finnegan nodded. "Other than this week, do your foresee anymore days your son might miss?"
"Other than appointments that might come up, no," replied Mr. Vast. "If he was in trouble here or at home, I wouldn't be here speaking with you. Outside of living and learning, I think I've got myself a pretty good kid."
Hiccup looked over at his father and smiled gently. It meant the world to hear that.
"Tomorrow he has an appointment to see the doctor about those stitches. In the event that they feel they cannot remove them tomorrow, are we going to have any issues or concerns about another appointment to be made to remove them?" Mr. Vast asked.
"With a doctor's excuse, no," said Mr. Finnegan.
...
Hiccup stared blankly out the window on the drive home in the car. He felt worn out and weak. His nerves were a little shot. Picking up his phone, he went to text Astrid.
3:42 PM - IS IT GOING TO BE AN ISSUE IF WE DONT HANG TONIG
"Whatcha doing, son?" asked Mr. Vast.
"I'm mentally and physically exhausted after that," he replied.
"You were afraid your ole' man was going to start throwing stuff, weren't you?"
Hiccup laughed. "I was."
"Well, I don't think I convinced them," said Mr. Vast. "I think you were the key to that decision-"
"He just pitied me, Dad," said Hiccup.
"If he did, that isn't your concern. You are a strong person, in your own way, Hiccup," said Mr. Vast. "Your sincerity and kindness towards people go a long way. My temper often gets in the way of things."
Hiccup sighed. He looked down at his text message to Astrid, and decided not to send it. Feeling himself grow a little calmer, he deleted his message to her.
...
"So, you just told them what was going on?" Astrid asked Hiccup, taking a bite of her frozen yogurt.
"Not totally," Hiccup said to her. "I had to physically SHOW them what was under all my clothes. I even took the leg off for them-"
"You did?" Astrid said.
"Yes," Hiccup said. "It re-convinced the principal to take a closer look at my medical records."
"Hiccup-you do realize you stood up for yourself, don't you?" Astrid asked him.
He looked up from his ice cream. He studied her for a few seconds. Her braid wasn't done perfect, not every hair laid in place. In fact, her hair was still damp from a recent shower after track practice. He thought she still looked pretty. She sat across from him on the living room floor cross-legged. She was in a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Her knees were showing through the holes prefabricated for purchase.
"Hiccup-?" she said to him gently.
"Yeah-" Hiccup blinked a few times. "I did, didn't I?"
Astrid nodded. After taking a bite of her ice cream, she leaned forward and reached her hand out towards his face.
He pulled back from being startled at her advancement towards him, but paused and let her touch his chin gently.
"Where did you get this scar from?" she asked.
Up until she asked, he'd forgotten about it. He blushed as she rubbed her finger over it twice, then removed her hand from his face.
"Sorry, I just invaded your personal space," she said gently. He could see she was blushing as well.
"I think that was from the cat when I was little," Hiccup said. "Somehow my dad didn't murder him when he did it."
"You know-I think your dad is just a big teddy bear," Astrid said to him.
Hiccup snorted, nearly choking on his bite of ice cream. His eyes burned from the coldness that spread through his head, and it took him a second to shake the feeling. He'd never heard his father described like that.
"I'm being serious!" she exclaimed. "He cares. He's compassionate-"
"You barely know my dad," Hiccup said.
"Well, he did tell me before he left the house that he made a special trip to the grocery store today-"
Hiccup dropped his face into his hand. He felt warm again, but laughed with her at his embarrassment. He felt her reach up and touch his hand again, drawing it down so she could look at him.
"You can't tell me he didn't go buy that pasta for us for dinner, and this ice cream-"
"You got me," Hiccup said, laughing with her. He hadn't felt himself smile like this in a few days. When they stopped laughing, he realized she still had a hold of his hand. He squeezed it gently.
Astrid reached over and pushed the button on her phone to check the time.
"It's after eight," she said gently.
"Kinda late to start that movie," Hiccup said quietly.
"It is-" she said. "What about tomorrow night? Think you'll be up for it?"
Hiccup tilted his head back and forth, weighing his thoughts for a moment. "I think so. Question is: Can you deal with the gore and horror?!"
"Me?" Astrid asked. "I'm wondering if your stomach can take it yourself!"
"Oh, I can," said Hiccup. "Believe it or not, I've been able to push past the blood and guts. I can see how they make the props for the movies-well, most of them!"
Astrid sighed. "That takes all the fun out of a horror-suspense film!"
"Do I detect a hint of whine in your voice?" Hiccup asked her. "
She laughed at him again. "Seriously!"
"Yes, seriously!" he laughed. There was no use in trying to finish his ice cream. He was laughing too hard at her. He only hoped she realized that he was only laughing with her-not at her. "I think I just disappointed you."
Astrid bit her lip in thought for a moment. She took her thumb and pointer finger and formed a space. "Maybe-a little."
Hiccup laughed gently. "I didn't mean to disappoint you."
"I think we need to find a different movie," she said. "One that keeps you from analyzing every SINGLE piece of the movie." She suddenly had a bright idea. "We need a chick-flick-"
Hiccup felt his stomach cave in gently. "What-"
She busted up laughing. "The look on your face! I did it! I found your weak spot!"
"Weak spot!" he cried. Suddenly, he found himself grabbing her neck gently. She laughed louder.
"What is that?" he asked her.
"St-st-stop!" she cried, laughing a little harder.
He did stop after a few moments, and he found himself laughing with her. He'd just found a tickle spot they both shared.
...
Did I just make the a little awkward?