This is Berk. It has no idea what child rights are, and is a poverty stricken island nation. It snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three. Well, now because it global warming, we sometimes get a couple weeks of scorching heat. My name's Hiccup. Haddock. The Sixteenth. And that's literally as ridiculous as it can get. I'm starting middle school this year. I live in an unkempt apartment in an apartment block reserved for responsible orphans. I was a perfectly normal kid, and I did perfectly normal things. So obviously, things had to go downhill in the most ridiculously fantastical way possible.

Hiccup got up early, brushed his teeth, put on his (brand new) uniform, ate some breakfast, quickly made his bed and emptied the trash, before heading out. His apartment was nothing special. Three rooms and working hot water. That was all he needed. He weaved around the winding streets that was the Berk Unfortunate People's Complex. The neighbors weren't particularly nice, but he could deal. He joined up with his best friend Fishlegs Ingerman outside the gates. The young husky grinned nervously when he saw the auburn tween, "Hey, Hiccup, you're here! Are you excited?"

Hiccup grinned, "Course I am! Let's do this!"

They chatted amicably until they got to the middle school. Berk had low funds, and the middle school reflected that. The building had been touched up with whitewash, but no one could not take notice of the chipped and peeling paint. He had been here before, in the summers, for a photography competition. He had to say, the place looked loads better! Did they always try to give it a makeover at the beginning of the new school year to give a good impression to the beginners? The mahogany staircase looked new, quite a few of the lockers were shiny and polished. Hiccup leaned forward to look at the number on one of the lockers, before comparing it to the one he had written down. A-112, that's the one. He moved to unlock it, but a hand slapped his own away. He turned to look at the perpetrator exasperatedly, coming eye-to-forehead with one Snotlout Jorgenson. Odin, for someone that short, Snotlout could be really intimidating. If Hiccup remembered correctly, his dad used to brag all the time about them being related to the Jorgensons, and how in case of emergency, Hiccup's guardian would be Martha Jorgenson. But then he died, and the Jorgensons dropped Hiccup like a hot potato. Fishlegs eeped when Snotlout glared at him, and Hiccup glared right back. "What do you want, Snot?" he asked, resignedly. Snotlout was just a big crybaby.

Snotlout crossed his arms, "You can't take that locker!"

Hiccup just raised his eyebrow, unimpressed. Snotlout tended to throw his weight around a lot, since he was one of the only millionaire families of Berk, "It's mine, Snot." He said slowly, taking note of the situation. He wasn't much of a fighter, but he could talk his way out of sticky situations like this. But the Thorston twins behind him, cracking their knuckles, made it obvious that wouldn't help. He showed the locker number on his ID, "See? Why do you want this one anyway?" he needed to stay neutral, antagonizing won't help in this situation.

Snotlout scowled, "It's one of the new lockers, and its beside Babe's." he waggled his eyebrows at a blonde girl with a braid who was hanging back from the crowd –that he distantly recognized as Astrid Hofferson–, fidgeting uncomfortably, "My parents didn't pay for all these lockers just so I could get one of those rusty boxes!"

"That explains so much." Fishlegs whispered from behind him, nearly cowering.

"Thor, your parents aren't there to tend to your every demand, Snot. What does it matter?" Hiccup asked, thoroughly done with this.

Snotlout sneered, "You're just jealous that you don't have any parents! You're so Useless! No money! No power! Dirt poor!"

Hiccup looked right back at him, "At least I can take care of myself. You need everything to be done for you."

They continued glaring at each other, when Fishlegs tapped his shoulder nervously, "Uh…Hiccup, while you were arguing… they surrounded us."

Hiccup looked up to see indeed, aside from The twins, Dagur Oswaldson, Heather Oswaldottir, and Eret Eretson had crept up on them, "Surt." He swore. They froze, assessing the situation and did the only type of physical activity they were passable at doing; Run.

"Wait, get back here!" Dagur shouted, as the two weaved among the slowly growing crowd. The Red Sea of Berk middle schoolers quickly parted to avoid getting trampled by the extremely aggressive offspring of Berk's high elite.

Hiccup ran as fast as he could, but he could feel himself tiring. This was getting ridiculous! Had all those morning jogs been for nothing?! As, he and Fishlegs thundered along the hallway and kids immediately made way for him, even helpfully pointing out his path for Snotlout and his gang. Then, he ran headfirst into another kid. He blinked as he staggered back, to see a pale, black-haired girl looking at him in an amused fashion. She had her long hair tied up in a half ponytail and a black leather jacket several sizes too big over her uniform. The girl raised an eyebrow before stepping in between the two boys and the crowd of bullies, "What's this about?" she asked, in a no-nonsense tone. Tuffnut grinned, "We were about to beat up those guys for insulting Snot-Boss."

The girl snorted, "Snotboss?"

And Eret scowled, "Don't disrespect him."

That just made her giggle more, "You guys sound like you're some sort of gang, and he's the boss thug. Wait… is he? Do you have a black market of chewing gum and hall passes?" that thought just sent her on another stream of senseless giggles.

Dagur growled and struck hard and fast to punch her, before it was intercepted by her hand, which, coolly and clinically and devoid of the former laughter, turned his arm around and pinned it to his back, "Self-defense exists, you know? What's this about, anyways?" she asked humorlessly as she slowly released him from his grip.

"I'd like to know that as well." A cool clipped voice said from behind them. The crowd of kids turned around to see Principal Mala Wing standing behind them, an intense frown on her face, "My office. Now. All of you." He demanded.

The students just wordlessly followed. They stood in her office awkwardly as the Principal silently glowered at them for the next ten minutes. When she finally spoke, the tension hadn't eased a bit, it had only thickened, "Now, what was the reason for this ruckus?"

Snot spoke first, his voice whiny and complaining, "You didn't give me a new locker like Dad told you to. You gave this old rusty one that should've been in the dump."

Principal Mala typed something into her computer, "I don't understand… the one we gave you was definitely new. We bought it ourselves. And it was close to Miss Hofferson's as well."

Snotlout scowled, "Well, you messed up. Cause Useless ended up with the locker I wanted, on the opposite side of Astrid. So I told him to give it to me." He was about to throw a hissy fit. Principal Mala looked like she had dealt with way too many instances of this happening and Hiccup was just waiting for her to put them in detention, but she took one look at the computer screen, made a huge sigh, and turned her gaze to the black-haired girl, "So Mr. Jorgenson and company took chase of Mr. Haddock and Mr. Ingerman when he refused to give you want." She deduced, "So where do you come into this story, Ms. Light?"

The girl fidgeted, "Well, I saw those two being cornered by the posh kids, and thought they needed to settle things in a non-violent fashion. When I was hit by the redhead, I merely defended myself."

Principal Wing nodded slowly, "Two weeks detention, for you, Ms. Light, for striking another student. Eight days for you, Mr. Haddock, and Mr. Ingerman, for running in the hallways and disrupting normal conduct. Two days for the rest of you, and a reminder that violence isn't supposed to be your go-to solution."

Hiccup gave a resentful sigh as he walked out. Of course, nepotism. Its always nepotism. Well, at least he made a new friend from it, judging by the raven haired girl grinning at him. "Hi." She said, "I'm Luna Whiting-Light. Nice to meet you."

Author's Note: So... I don't have a set update schedule. But the chapters are infuriatingly short, just for nostalgia. That and the current situation means I've got lots of free time and it was about time I replace that awful scribble of a fanfic for something better. Stay Home and Stay Safe, everyone! Reviews are good, too.