Chapter 12

"Congrats, Astrid!"

"Great race, Astrid!"

"You were like lightening out there!" The hallways of Berk High School were filled with congratulatory commendations as Astrid walked about to her classes. She smiled self-assuredly and gave a slight nod to each compliment. Astrid loved being in school after she had won a race over the weekend. She normally got a lot of positive attention from her peers, but this was bonus. She loved the feeling of being important, and being recognized for being at the top of her sport.

As Astrid visited her locker to retrieve her books for the day, she saw Scott standing haphazardly against her locker. The girl tried to shove her way past him, but his large body would not budge. She really didn't want him to ruin her good mood that had endured with her since she crossed the finish line on Saturday, so she decided to be civil to him. "So I saw you had a good time at Ruff and Tuff's party Friday night."

"Did I ever!" the muscular boy exclaimed. "Well…what I can remember from it." Despite the fact that Astrid knew that Scott really only cared about himself, she still half expected him to make a comment about her race from that weekend. After all, pretty much everyone else at Berk High School had heard how she did and sent their congratulatory statements her way. Not that she really cared either way. When made no mention about the race and instead rambled on and on about the party and his miserable headache the next day, Astrid decided to try again to get into locker.

"So, do you mind if I could get my books out from my locker."

"No one's stoppin' you, babe."

"Um, well, actually your arm kinda is." Scott didn't even hear her passive aggressive comment as he continued rambling about the party.

"…and so then, Tuff called. He had stuck his face in a bowl of jalapeños! His eyes were still swollen the next morning! Bahahaha!" Astrid's lips tightened into an annoyed frown. Seriously she really didn't care about the stupid party- she just wanted to get to her damn books!

Just as the warning bell rang and Scott was still blabbing, Hiccup clumsily rushed down the hallway and to his locker, only a few down from Astrid's. Thankfully for the girl, Scott turned his attention away from Astrid's locker and fixated on the nerd rushing to grab his books. The large boy didn't do anything, he just glared at the smaller one menacingly. This gave Astrid the opportunity to slip by him and get what she needed for class. Without exchanging any further communication with either of the two boys by the locker, she raced off to her history class. As she arrived in class just moments before the late bell rang, Astrid suddenly found herself thinking what Hiccup would have to say about her race that weekend. It was stupid to care, but she just wondered what his reaction would be. She should have at least said hi to him at the lockers, especially after what she did for him over the weekend. Honestly, she didn't know why she didn't say hi. She wasn't mean- she just supposed she got a little flustered by the mere presence of Scott.

Astrid spent the majority of chemistry class trying to decide how to approach Hiccup and let him know again how much she appreciated his help on Friday. She turned around a few times, careful not to make eye contact with him. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea, like she still needed him or something; she was a strong girl who could take care of herself… just not her car. Finally when the bell rang, Astrid's legs unconsciously walked over to where Hiccup was still packing up his things. She stood there awkwardly for a moment, hovering with book to the chest, before she opened her mouth to address him. "Hiccup?" she said tentatively.

"Um hmm." She swayed a little, uncomfortably.

"I um just wanted to um thank you again for everything you did for me over the weekend."

"It was no problem, Astrid. Really." Then, her mind did another unconscious move- she stuck her hand out in Hiccup's direction.

"Friends?" Astrid really didn't know what had come across her. Hand-shaking was definitely not something she did. And asking someone to be friends? Hell no. That was what five year olds do! Hiccup was silent for a moment.

Finally, he took her hand lightly, "friends." The contact felt strange. Long after their hands parted ways, she could feel the weight of his in hers. She instinctively touched her right palm with her left as if the boy left behind a trace of slime.

"Alright, alright, listen up e'ryone. I know you lads had a great weekend at yer first meet of the season." Gobber was interrupted by a roar of cheers from the runners. He let the noise die down to a whisper before he started again. "Jus cuz yew had sussess in yer firs' meet dunt mean yew get to stack off now. We still have a lot of work to do. Starting with today's workout." A series of groans rang from the crowd. "I know, I know but today's workout int that bad." Gobber always said that. It didn't matter if it was a fartlek, a tempo, or a marathon. Astrid still felt great from her race over the weekend so she was ready for whatever Gobber threw at her. She stretched her legs slightly as Gobber went over instructions for the day's workout. Ossie fartlek, that shouldn't be too bad at all! Astrid thought happily to herself.

At the conclusion of Gobber's instructions, Astrid took off for her warm-up, leading a group of girls. After about a quarter mile in, Ruff caught up to Astrid. As soon as the two girls took the lead together and started talking, they began to pull away from the remainder of the team. Ruff did most of the talking. She was rambling on and on about her new boyfriend, Fishlegs. Astrid still thought it was quite strange that she chose him to date. She was a popular and pretty girl and had her fair share of guys to choose from; however, Astrid was pleased to hear that she appeared very happy. Ruff went on and on about the chivalrous way he treated her. They had very in depth conversations which Astrid was pretty envious of. And Astrid had to admit that Fishlegs would be somewhat attractive if he wasn't so overweight.

Lab went really well on Wednesday. Hiccup and Astrid spent the majority of the time laughing and shooting sarcastic comments at each other. At one point, Hiccup got Astrid laughing so hard at one of his snarky remarks that Ms. Lyser shot the pair a warning glare and threatened to take off ten points if they continued to goof off. Also, Ms. Lyser had the second lab graded and ready to hand back. Both Astrid and Hiccup were nervous to see their grade after the 82 on the first one. Nervously, they turned the paper over and took a peek at the red number on top. 95! With Ms. Lyser being as tough of grader as she is, they were both thrilled. "Great teamwork, Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, with giving her partner a congratulatory slap on the back.

Hiccup beamed, "thanks! You too! I think you did most of the hard work on it!" Astrid loved the way that he directed her compliment back at him. It wasn't the fact that she wanted praise of her work, but it was nice to not be around someone arrogant for once.

"We both did the hard work," she responded sweetly.

Just before the lab ended, Astrid didn't know what compelled her to say what she did, but she opened her mouth and asked Hiccup if they wanted to get together to work on the next lab report. Astrid found she really loved his sarcastic sense of humor and his quirky niceness. Besides, she reasoned, it would be easier than communicating over text and having to make loads of assumptions. She figured with two minds working together at the same time, they would be done twice as fast. Hiccup seemed a little confused with her suggestion. "You mean like meet somewhere and work together?"

Astrid laughed, "yes, that's exactly what working together means!"

Hiccup smiled, "I just was making sure since we had been dividing and conquering on the previous ones." He lifted up the graded lab, "obviously that worked out pretty well on this one!" Astrid was a little offended. Did he not want to work with her? Was he trying to avoid meeting up somewhere together?

Her voice became more timid, "I mean if you don't want to get together and prefer to just divide and conquer, that's fine…I guess."

"No, no! Meeting up would be great. It would be more efficient and we would get a lot done. We can meet up. Somewhere… to work…"

Astrid cut him off, "okay! Friday night okay?"

"Yup, not like I go out on Fridays or am actually social." She chuckled slightly.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Well my dad's away so I have the whole house to myself… or I mean we could go to Starbucks or Panera or somewhere else."

"Your house works. It will be much quieter there so we can concentrate better and not get easily distracted."

"Okay, my house Friday night! Where we work together on the lab report."

"See you then," she said with a slight grin.

Friday was the first football game of the season. The whole school was riled, especially Scott. He kept approaching Astrid and inviting her to a "special place" to watch the game. Again, the girl politely refused; however, that didn't stop the quarterback from excitedly screeching trash talk at her. "We're gonna crush them Meatheads! They've got nothing on us! No one can beat these guns!" he said over and over again. Astrid liked football, but she was sick of him going on and on about it, trying desperately to impress her.

It was tradition for the football team to throw huge parties after every away game, no matter what the final score was. This upcoming Friday was no exception. After the events of the previous Friday night, Astrid really didn't want to go to this party. She was glad that the lab report gave her a reasonable out. Besides, everyone would be so drunk that they wouldn't even notice she wasn't there. And she had another race Saturday morning that she would need to be rested for. After her stellar performance in the season opening meet, people were going to expect even more from the young athlete.

Friday after practice, Astrid drove home and showered. She stood in front of her closet, towel still wrapped around her skinny frame, trying to decide what to wear to Hiccup's house to work on the project. Should she look somewhat cute, or were sweatpants and a T-shirt the way to go? She really didn't know why she was making such a big deal over her outfit choice. After all, it was just her lab partner, her friend, and all they were going to do was work on some stupid lab report in the privacy of Hiccup's home. After much debate, she finally decided on jeans and a T-shirt. You can never go wrong with blue jeans.

Astrid checked the address that Hiccup had given her several times when she pulled up to his house. It was nothing like she had imagined or expected. The large stone structure looked like the size of a small hotel. The entrance way had a grandiose manner that reminded Astrid of European temples. The front lawn was a brilliant, emerald green that glistened like a cat's eyes. Leading up to that perfectly kempt lawn was a long, concrete driveway. She was still in awe as she walked up the granite steps to the front door. Hesitantly, she placed her finger on the doorbell and pushed. Moments later, the door swung open to reveal a skinny boy and an infinitely more lavish foyer. "Hey," she whispered softly.

"Hey," he replied. They stood their awkwardly in the doorway before Hiccup finally invited her in. It seemed as if he had never invited another person to step foot in his house. All of his movements were uncomfortable and forced. He appeared to not know what to do with his body. They lingered in the entryway before Hiccup finally took a seat at the edge of his brown, leather, wrap-around couch that took up the majority of the living room. Astrid followed his cue and did the same. She pretended to sift through her book bag, looking for her lab notebook, even though she knew exactly where she had placed it. After she could no longer acceptably stall, she took it out and placed in gingerly on her lap. While she flipped to the page, Hiccup suddenly jerked up. "I forgot my lab book upstairs. I'll be right back." Astrid took the moments of his absence to look around the extravagant house. The fireplace stood directly in front of the large, leather couch, and a ginormous flat-screen television was placed right above the marble mantle that hung over the pile of logs. Along the entire side of the house were a series of magnificent windows and allowed the sun to stream in like particles of gold dust. What Astrid found most striking was a large picture of a red-headed man with a great bead and a suit that hung next to the fireplace. Astrid assumed that this large, well-dressed man was most likely Hiccup's father. She was amazed that they bore no physical resemblance whatsoever. He must really take after his mother, the girl found herself thinking.

As Astrid continued to look around, Hiccup shuffled down the stairs and back to the couch, notebook and computer in hand. No sooner did Hiccup sit, then he bounced back up again. "Do you want anything to eat or drink? We have lots of food cuz my father gets a little hungry sometimes." Like always, Astrid was really hungry after cross country practice. There was never a time when the runner wasn't hungry, but she really didn't want to look like some disgusting pig in front of her lab partner.

"No thanks, Hiccup. I'm good." She quickly added, "but thanks for asking."

"Are you sure? I was going to grab a quick bite really fast because I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"What are you having?"

"Probably some left-over pizza."

Astrid laughed, "that actually sounds pretty good! I guess I have a piece."

"I hope anchovies and liver is okay!" Hiccup joked. It took Astrid just a moment to realize that this was another one of Hiccup's sarcastic comments.

"Make sure my piece has extra!"

Once they lab partners had gotten their pizza and water, they opened their books and laptops to begin work. As they plugged away at their data, Astrid began to feel more and more comfortable in the Haddock household; she eventually took off her shoes and propped her feet up on the fancy leather couch. She and Hiccup took turns making fun of each other and laughing at each other as they goofed off like five year olds, just like when they were in actual lab. They really weren't getting a whole lot of work done so it was going to take a long time. Neither of them minded. Surprisingly, being together made the lab report seem like it wasn't actually work at all.

At some point during the evening, Astrid realized that she had feelings for Hiccup. She had had them subconsciously, but this was the first time that she actually acknowledged them and didn't attempt to squelch them. It was weird that they sprung on this quick since they had only started being friends. She didn't know whether it was his sarcastic sense of humor or his gentle compliments or his general aura that made Astrid come to this realization. All she knew was that she had never met someone quite like Hiccup before. He was everything she wanted in a guy: kind, caring, funny, smart, empathetic, etc. She felt so at ease when she was around him. Finally she could be herself and could drop that façade she put on for the rest of the school that she was the best at everything. She could sense that he was not one to comment if she did or said something outside the social norm either. Most of all, she knew that he wouldn't care that she wasn't the perfect girl she had pretended to be for so many years. This realization made Astrid do something that she would normally never do- she admitted how confused she was in chemistry. She confessed that every day in class she felt like she barely had her head above water- each problem threatened to drown her. And how she had to work super hard just to make an average grade on a test. Hiccup looked at her with eyes of understanding throughout her whole rant. "Hard work will get you very far in life. And besides, this is notoriously the hardest class in Berk High School. There's absolutely no shame in not understanding something," Hiccup reassured.

At one point, Hiccup leaned in to look at the graph of data that she had made on her computer. She could feel the warmth of his body radiating onto hers. She looked up slightly towards his face, eyes fixating on his left cheek where she had kissed him only a week before. She remembered the tingly feeling that came about in her lips from the momentary contact of his skin; this made her chest bubble with a strange feeling that made her long for contact with Hiccup again. His lips were so close to his. All she had to do was lean forward just a smidge. Kissing just his cheek gave Astrid such a jolt of electricity that she couldn't even imagine what kissing his lips would be like.

Astrid suddenly stopped herself from acting upon her desires. How would he react to her suddenly kissing her? He would probably be freaked out and think she was out of her mind. Like most teenage girls, Astrid found herself wondering if he had similar feelings towards her. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced otherwise. Why would he like her? She remembered how hesitant he was to shake her hand at the friendship offering in chemistry. If it took thought and consideration to just be friends, there would be no way in hell that he would want more than that. And not to mention the fact that she was rude to him for years. She watched Hiccup get bullied for years, and only acted like the innocent bystander. So, in conclusion, kissing him was definitely out of the question. Oh well, at least as friends she would get to hang around him and be immersed in his exuberant personality. She really didn't want to ruin that.

Hiccup said something. Crap, I totally didn't hear what he just said, Astrid panicked to herself. "What?" she asked dazedly.

"Sorry, I was just asking if you took the natural log of the data on the y-axis."

"Ah crap, I completely forgot to do that! Stupid absorbance!"

"What's the activation energy to get you to do that?" Hiccup laughed.

"Dessert." Astrid absolutely loved his nerdy jokes and how he had taken the purpose of the lab report and turned it into humor.

"Oo, that's a high activation energy! Though I think our grade is worth that! What would you like to supply your chemical reaction?" Astrid was rolling laughing by now. She accidently let out a little snort which sent Hiccup into stitches. Neither of them could move for a while because they were laughing so hard. Finally, Hiccup collected himself and got up to go to the kitchen. "I'll be back!" he said in a shrewd tone.

As Astrid properly plotted the absorbance as the natural log of At-A∞, in order to calculate the activation energy of certain unknown compound to determine its thermal stability, Hiccup returned with two hot fudge sundaes. How did he know that she loved hot fudge sundaes? Astrid practically inhaled the delicious dessert the moment Hiccup set it down in front of her. Licking the last few drops of ice cream off her spoon, she glanced over at Hiccup. His bowl was still half-full and she couldn't help but smile as a drop of fudge escaped from the corner of his mouth. Astrid tried not to laugh as she looked at him. "What?" he asked grinning widely. Astrid let out a little chuckle.

"You have a little something there," she said as she gestured to her own mouth. In her own mind, she imagined him saying "I do? Why don't you get that for me," seductively. Instead, the boy in front of her laughed self-consciously and wiped the bit of chocolate himself. However, what he did next both surprised her and excited her.

"I see you have finished yours already…well more like inhaled. You can have some of mine if you want?" It was so sweet of him as she could tell he was enjoying the sundae as well. Astrid didn't know whether to accept of decline. She really did love hot fudge sundaes, but she also didn't want to seem rude or barbaric.

"It's okay, I don't want to take it from you."

"No, no, it's fine. I can go get more later if I want," he entreated as he pushed the half eaten bowl over to Astrid. At this Astrid didn't decline. She took her own spoon and delved in.