Eleven: Worse

The afternoon was no better and though he tried to ignore the taunts, every hiss and whisper was like a blow. He was feeling so raw, so isolated and hurt that the whole day was turning into another nightmare.

Boy, I should be used to that by now, he thought miserably as they headed into Civics and Society and as he entered, he realised there was a problem. In the turmoil, he had forgotten he was paired with Cameron in the project and that was going to incredibly awkward. But he quietly sat in his usual place and waited for the gang to walk in-and then he saw Cameron's face. But she couldn't protest and she had to slide into the seat next to him, a scowl on her face. Miss Bannon turned to the whiteboard and began to write as Cameron leaned close to Hiccup.

"You need to tell her you want a change of partner," she hissed. He looked at her and gave a melancholy smile.

"But I don't," he said in a whisper. "I love working with a cheating, lying bitch. So my dream has come true. But you are perfectly at liberty to ask for a change of partner." She glared at him-then leaned over towards Snotlout.

"Snotty...can't you do anything?" she whined and Hiccup felt his stomach flip with nausea. It was exactly the tone she had used with him when she wanted something-it was so amazingly false and he was wondering how on Midgard he had fallen for it for so long. And his cousin fell for it as easily as he had.

"Anything my Princess wants," he said smoothly and kissed her hand in a nauseating display of affection. Then he stuck his hand up. The teacher rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Mister Jorgensen?" she asked briskly. Snotlout grinned.

"There's a bit of a problem with the assignments," he said. "Hiccup Haddock has been away all this time so Cameron hasn't really been supported. So I think she should join our group with me and Ruff." The teacher stared at them-and then at the shape of Hiccup, sitting still in his seat, almost not breathing.

"I was under the impression that she would have done her work to date and that she and Mister Haddock were 'in love' so would work together. She assured me that she was happy to continue alone until Mister Haddock returned. Is that now not the case?" the teacher asked pointedly.

"Um...no..." Cameron said, her blue eyes big and innocent. "He's been so horrible to me and I really can't spend time working so close to him when..."

"Hey!" Hiccup protested. "I'm not the one who dumped her boyfriend after cheating on him with his own frickin' cousin!"

"Mister Haddock!" the teacher snapped, walking towards him. "My class is not going to be disrupted by the vagaries of your teenage love life! First you refuse to work with Miss Hofferson and now you have apparently fallen out with Miss Bogthorpe..."

"I haven't fallen out with her," Hiccup argued. "She's dumped me for Snotlout-sorry, Simon...and she wants a change. I'm happy to carry on working with her." Miss Bannon looked over at Snotlout, who was pointedly holding Cameron's hand and then at Hiccup. She was still annoyed that she had been played by Hiccup earlier when he had clumsily tried to use his father's name to influence her. And it had been successful. But now...her brow furrowed.

"I don't see why you should benefit from Miss Bogthorpe's work when you have been absent," she said harshly. "So you can work on your own to catch up. Miss Bogthorpe-though it is unusual, your request is granted. You may join Mister Jorgensen's group."

"Hey-this is supposed to be pairs project!" Hiccup protested. "How can I do it on my own?" His eyes scanned the room and he saw a flash of icy blue. Astrid was looking directly at him, her expression unfriendly. "Can't I partner with Astrid? She hasn't got anyone..." The teacher turned and looked thoughtfully at the blonde, seeing her face move through shock and on to anger.

"Miss Hofferson, would that be acceptable to you?" she asked and Astrid's fists clenched.

"Why should it be?" she asked in a rough voice. "It was only a couple of weeks ago that he refused to work with me because he claims I'm horrible and a liar and that he hated me and that I would sabotage his work. Though that would be hard as he hasn't done any. So why should I now have to work with someone who humiliated me, who slandered me, whom claims to hate me and who just wants to parasitise my work when he has done nothing?" His eyes widened in shock: a couple of days ago, she had handed him a book of notes she had taken to help in their lessons-and he had humiliated her and been cruel to her with his then-friends so that she had withdrawn the offer. She clearly wasn't about to repeat the gesture.

"But...it wasn't my fault that Dad and Mom were killed and I had to sort out my head because losing your entire family is pretty harsh," he began, his voice stunned. "And then I lose my home and I have been trying to store everything I was able to grab from there before I was evicted. So pardon me if this project wasn't the top of my list of priorities!"

"So maybe you should put your energies into doing the work you should have done in the last weeks instead of disrupting my class!" Miss Bannon told him impatiently. "I can see that Miss Hofferson has already made a significant effort and has made excellent progress in the Project, despite having no partner. I will insist that you work together-once you have done your part of the work. Until then, you will work alone. And if you do not make some progress, Mister Haddock, you will fail."

"But-but...this is a pairs project!" he protested.

"You did not seem to mind when Miss Hofferson was disadvantaged," Miss Bannon told him. "So you can see what it's like doing a pairs project alone." Hiccup gaped but the teacher turned away. "Miss Bogthorpe-move your chair so you can work better in your new group. Okay-today we will look at the issues of shared property ownership..."

Rub it in, Hiccup thought bitterly as he bent over his desk and scrawled a couple of notes. I own nothing. I am homeless, penniless and now partnerless. He heard Cameron giggle and felt physically sick. And I have to spend the entire lesson watching Cami flirt with Snot. Could my life get any worse?

oOo

Walking away from school, hot and exhausted from soccer practice, Astrid had time to think about the day as she headed home. Her friends lived in other parts of town so after practice, she always walked alone...and sometimes the chance to be alone with her thoughts was helpful in clearing her head. And sometimes, it was less pleasurable because as she considered what had happened, she felt a little ashamed about how she had behaved.

Hiccup's face featured largely in her memories as she recalled what she had seen and she reran the brutal episode in the canteen. There really couldn't have been a more humiliating and vicious way to break up than what had happened and it had been instinct to offer sympathy to Hiccup, knowing how horrible he would already be feeling from losing his parents. And she couldn't deny she had been very hurt when he had turned all his anger on her...though she could probably appreciate she probably caught him at the wrong moment. Yet she would have sought out the person she had yelled out and begged their forgiveness...but he hadn't and that had rankled. So she was still sore when he had appealed to her in class and she had allowed her annoyance and her hurt to overwhelm her sympathy and she had gotten her revenge for how she had been treated earlier that day and earlier in the class.

She felt horrible, mean and cruel. Just as bad as the gang.

She accelerated her steps and chewed the inside of her cheek. That was a horrible thought because she generally despised the gang as privileged, cruel and completely selfish...but she had hurt someone vulnerable and already wounded because she had been sore herself. He had been rejected by his friends, publicly dumped and humiliated by his now ex-girlfriend and then ostracised in class. She had made his day worse and that was something her father would have been ashamed of. Something she was ashamed of...because it was unkind.

Always be kind, Astrid. Kindness, even if not acknowledged, helps change the world. There are more than enough cruel people out there, people who will hurt you for no other reason than it's fun or they can't be bothered to be decent.

But doesn't being kind come over as being weak, Dad?

Sometimes, my daughter, kindness takes immense courage. To be kind to someone in the face of everyone else, against the prevailing wisdom, can be a dangerous thing. It can turn others against you...but ultimately, kindness is rewarded because it is infectious. It will protect you and bring others to you.

Isn't that just...wishful thinking, Dad?

Think what you wish, my love. I have always made very effort to be kind and found that it always brings rewards. Often when you least expect it. Those who are cruel and callous will end with no one while the kind person will have true friends who will go to the ends of the earth for them. At least that's what I believe...

She sighed. She had let her Dad down by slipping and she shook her head. It wouldn't happen again. When Hiccup was in trouble next, she would help him, no matter how snarky he was, because she owed him an apology for being mean and petty. Her life was hard enough: she shouldn't wish to make any else's any worse. That wasn't who she was-or who she wanted to be. So she turned the corner and smiled as she saw her home. Tomorrow, she would do better.

oOo

It was a weird sensation when he emerged from detention because there was no one there. Every other day of his High School career had ended with his friends waiting for him, laughing and joking and planning to go to one another's homes or head out for a snack. But the car park was depressingly empty and it just reinforced his sense of complete isolation. Gobber would still be at work and though he had a key, the apartment was small and it was hard enough to accept that all he had to look forward to was sitting there, staring at four walls and thinking over what had happened.

So he had got in the car and driven away from the school, his hands aimlessly moving the wheel until he realised he was on the south road, heading towards Shivering. And he blinked and pulled over. This was where his parents had died, where his father had lost control and driven off the road.

His father who always drove safely, at least five miles an hour under the speed limit.

He blinked, checked his mirror and pulled out, carefully driving up until he saw the signs of a car coming off the road...on the opposite side. Somehow, his parents's car had crossed both lanes and plunged down the slope almost at a right angle to the road. He pulled over again and stopped the engine, then got out, using his phone to take pictures of the skid marks on the road, the deep grooves in the soft verge that marked where his parents had left on their fatal final few yards. He frowned: the fact was it was a straight, flat piece of road with excellent view on both directions and no obstacles.

Nothing to cause them to lose control.

He snapped more pictures from the other way, ensuring he caught the whole scene as well as details, before they were all worn away. And then, hesitantly, he had crossed the road and stared at the tyre marks in the soft earth before he walked down the slope, to see the churned up ground and the scored and naked tree trunk where his parents had died. He froze, his throat bobbing as he saw the tree, the faintest trace of paint from his Dad's car smeared on the wood. Aimlessly, he photographed the scene, even as his eyes burned and he palmed away tears.

"Mom. Dad..." he breathed and stuffed his phone in his pocket. He walked down and rested against the wood. "Why couldn't you have taken me with you. Then I wouldn't have to deal with all of this shit. I wouldn't have to hurt all the time because you're gone. I wouldn't have to be made homeless and dumped by Cameron and the rest and treated like I'm a public enemy. I wouldn't have to know I can never see you again." He closed his eyes and felt tears slide down his face once more.

"But I know this wasn't an accident," he murmured gruffly. "I know there was no reason why you came off the road. I know your car was new and well-maintained. And I know...this road is nowhere on the way between Uncle Stefan's and home. This just doesn't make sense." He palmed his face dry and sighed. "And they have decided it's an accident and made Uncle Stefan Mayor and no one is interested in finding out the truth. So I will, Dad. Something happened and I know you and Mom should be alive now. Someone made this happen and stole you from me...along with the house and everything else. I know you gave me the cove to protect it...and I hope that upsets them."

He opened his eyes and stared at the scene. The sun was setting and he slowly walked away, scrambling up the slope back to the road and seeing a couple of large black trucks heading up towards the forest.

'GRIMBORN CONSTRUCTION," he murmured, idly snapping an image of the trucks as well and then he checked the road and trotted back to the car. There was the wail of a horn and he saw another of the black trucks heading straight for him, so he turned the key, threw the car into gear and floored the gas, racing away with the truck closing on him.

"What's going on?" he yelled as the truck filled the rear view mirror. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt and if the truck hit him...his wish to be reunited with his parents would be granted. But he really didn't want to die so he shifted down and pulled away, stamping in the gas and skidding left at an intersection and zipping up a small lane. He glanced anxiously in the mirror, knowing that that the truck couldn't follow him down the narrow, winding track but only relaxing as he vanished round the corner and the mirror remained empty.

Breathing hard, he slowed as he wound along the small track and eventually emerged on the main route from Berserk past the 'Valhalla Bakery'. And it was only then that he started to tremble as he pulled into the parking lot in front of the Bakery and leaned forward on the wheel.

The truck driver had tried to kill him.

At first he thought he should go to the cops and see if they could arrest the driver...and do what? He had seen a black truck, though he never saw a logo and he had assumed it was one of the Grimborn Construction fleet but he had no proof. He had no license plate-not even a partial number-and what would a driver say, even if they miraculously tracked him down? That he didn't see Hiccup? That it was a bit of fun?

Defeat settled over him like a heavy cloak but something else as well: a determination to find out what was going on.

Because he was more sure than ever that his parents' deaths were no accident.