Chapter 6

"Cmon, Hofferson. Focus." Astrid mumbled to herself. It was the first track practice of the season, she had to be mentally 100% into this practice. But a certain auburn male sitting in the bleachers made it rather difficult.

Astrid was stretching with the other girls while they waited for their coach to join them from her office. Classes officially started today, and just as Astrid had thought she was more than prepared for the day. Starting from her 8:00am class to now, her day went just as she planned. The only thing that had thrown her off her course was the moment Hiccup walked into her Calculus class class. She knew her degree requirements overlapped the Computer Engineering program but not in a million years would she thought they would be sitting together in the same class. Hoped and wished, maybe, but never actually thought it would happen.

They hadn't seen each other since their date to The Egg Basket for breakfast. She invited him over for Sunday dinner, but he said that he was going home to Georgia for the weekend. They had texted a bit here and there, but nothing crazy.

And then today happened. After class Hiccup asked if she was free that night to hang out, and she of course was. He had looked so genuinely happy to see her that all of her past negative thoughts went away with one of his famous smiles. One thing lead to another and now they were going to have dinner in The Circle at sunset-a grassy area of campus where most of the students go to hang out in between classes. Her memories are a little fuzzy after that, because she's not sure how he ended up in the practice field bleachers. But, he was there. Sketch book, laptop and all.

Astrid continued to stretch when Jess, one of her track mates, walked over and asked how her summer was and what her big plans are for this year. Jess was a chatter box so she really did most of the talking while Astrid's mind drifted other places. She snuck another glance in his direction and Jess noticed her doing so. "Oh my, you're the one who brought the hot auburn guy, aren't you?" Jess gasped. It took her a second to realize Jess was talking to her.

"Mmm?" Astrid raised her eyebrows. "Oh. Yeah, he's my neighbor." She said with a shrug. It wasn't a big deal he was here, was it?

"He's so handsome. All the girls noticed him when he first sat down, but he hasn't taken his eyes off of you." Jess wiggled her eyebrows.

It took everything in her power to not look over her shoulder. "I'm the only one here he knows, it would make sense." She mumbled. Astrid stood up and bent down to stretch her legs, accidentally giving him a perfect view of her backside. She caught his eye and she couldn't help but grin at the intense blush that suck onto his face. She shook the unwanted thoughts that were creeping into her mind away, "Where is Coach? I'd like to get started this season." Trying her best to change the subject. She wasn't exactly sure what she and Hiccup were considered and didn't want everyone asking a million questions.

"Alright, ladies! Let's gather around!" Their coach's voice sounded with impeccable timing. She sighed with relief and jogged over to where the rest of the team was gathering. Thankful for the distraction, she and her team mates split off in ranks they thought they were going to be put in. "Hofferson!" She turned to see her Coach standing in front of her.

"Yes, Coach?" Astrid started to feel nervous even though a smiled played on her coach's face. She was not an intimidating woman once you got to know her, but at first looks she looked like she could throw you across the track if she wanted too.

"You had quite the impressive season last year, what I expected when you were pulled for a full scholarship here. I'm expecting a lot from you this season. I just know you're going to break records this year!" A hand clamped on her shoulder and she tried to not buckle under the sudden weight.

"Thanks Coach, I'll try to not let you down." She threw her best smile she reserved for teachers and athletic supervisors.

"I know you won't, Hofferson." She gave her a proud smile and a slight gleam her in eye, but it went away as soon as she addressed the team, "alright ladies, let's start with a quick mile for a warm up.

Once practice was over she left with a proud looking Coach and a best personal record from the 60m and a pretty impressed and pumped team. Smiling to herself she walked over to where Hiccup was sitting and he was already gathering his stuff, looking way too exited for someone who just watched a first season track practice.

"Wow, you were amazing! I mean, I didn't know people could run that fast! How do you do it?" He asked as he tripped over his feet trying to climb down the few steps to get to talk to her face to face by the fence.

Her heart swelled, for more reasons than one. She never really had anyone but her parents and her coach look so proud of her for something in her mind was a small victory, looking at him made her feel like she was back in middle school after her first track meet. All the excitement for the sport itself came back, not just going through the motions to keep a scholarship. That and when he gets exited he looks like he was just told he's getting to go to Disney World, an expression she could watch all day. "Thank you!" She laughed, "it was nothing really, I've been trying to beat my best for a while. You just came on a good day."

"Still! That was amazing, you are amazing." He was beaming until the last bit, "uh-I mean, very fast. And very athletic, I couldn't do that in a million years." He stammered over himself, trying his best to not make this awkward. Astrid however thought it was adorable.

"I'm sure you could, just takes practice and determination." She glanced at her watch, "I should probably shower off first then we can go?" He blushed a slight shade of pink at the mention of her showering.

"Yea-yeah, sure. That's great, that works for me." He grabbed his bag and down the stairs to where she was standing. "I'll meet you back home, then?"

"No need, there's a locker room in that building." She pointed in the direction of the field house/gym area that was close to the practice fields. "That is, if you don't mind waiting another 15 minutes?" She glanced at him with hopeful eyes.

"Of course not, I'd wait another hour if it meant to spend time with you." He shot his crooked smile over his shoulder at her, and now it was her turn to flush a shade of pink. They walked across the track field towards the gym and she couldn't help but notice all the girls were clumping and whispering and glancing at the two of them. In an effort to distract Hiccup from noticing she asked how the rest of his day went.

"It went alright, I learned that I was way over prepared for pretty much everything. I don't have to do any homework for the next two weeks so that's a plus, I guess." He chuckled. "What about you?" He mused.

"Oh, about the same, really. Though I did that on purpose, I always try to stay 2 weeks ahead of the curriculum at a minimum in all my classes. My dad always said "Hofferson's are always a head of the game, in every way", so it's embedded into me I guess." She said, looking down. Her habits can come across as tough and unconventional but, they were who she was so he might as well get to know them little by little.

"I think that's amazing, I wish I had that kind of determination. I usually start out the first semester in good shape, but by the second semester it always falls." He glanced over his shoulder, "do people always stare at you? Or do I have something attached to my forehead that I don't know about?" Astrid could tell he was getting a little nervous that people were starting to notice them, or more in-particular him, and he how doesn't know that is beyond her.

"We don't usually see new people at practice, probably just curious. I wouldn't worry about it." Astrid tried her best to brush off the fact that LITERALLY everyone was watching the two of them like hawks. Once they were inside she showed him a little corner of the lobby he could sit at to get the best WiFi signal and headed toward the ladies locker room with a quick "I'll be 15 minutes!".

Astrid quickly undressed and showered off, not wanting to waste much time. She dried off and put on a pair of light denim high waisted jeans with a white pocket shirt and wrapped her hair in a towel. Once she was in front of the mirror she took a deep breath and tried to keep the slight smile that was threatening to show off her lips. She dried and braided her hair and quickly applied a light amount of makeup. Once she was done she put her things away in her locker and started to walk out towards the lobby when her phone rang from her purse, and Heather's face came on her screen.

"Whatcha doin'?" She asked, knowing full well that she had plans with Hiccup.

"About to go skydiving, what about you?" Astrid replied sarcastically.

"Falling hard for a certain green eyed cutie, huh?" Heather's face wasn't on the screen but she could hear the smug smile in her voice. Astrid stopped walking, making sure she was far enough away so Hiccup didn't hear the conversation.

"Ha ha, proud of that one aren't you? And don't call him cute." Astrid tried her best to keep the jealous tone out of her voice.

"Why? Only you can call him cute, now?" Heather pressed.

"Can I help you with something? Why did you call?" She changed the subject and it seemed to work cause Heathers face appeared.

"The guys, Eret and I are going to the new bar close by, you and Hiccup should come!" Heather has propped her phone on something and she was touching up her makeup. She looked way more dressed up than Astrid was, and she didn't have time to go home and change.

"I don't know, H... we were just going to have a chill night in The Circle. He might not want to go to a bar." Astrid said, a little apprehension in her voice.

"C'mon, at least ask him! He might surprise you, and plus I need you there. I might do something drastic if you're not." Heather pleaded.

Astrid sighed, "I'll ask him and I'll text you if he says okay. What bar?" She wasn't the one to know what was new and popular, so she had no idea where Heather was referring too.

"It's called The Dead Dragon. It's on Raven street, you can probably walk and get there in 15 minutes from campus." Heather told her.

"Okay, I'll text you soon." She hung up with Heather and turned the corner back towards the lobby and spotted a girl that was new to the track team sitting very close to Hiccup and talking to him in a way that made her good mood turn sour really quick. The girl was a tall, skinny attractive brunette with shorts that didn't leave much to the imagination. She set her best Hofferson scowl on her features and walked over to where they were. As she walked closer she noticed that Hiccup was blushing a light shade of pink and rubbing the back of his neck looking very uncomfortable, which made her feel a little better that he clearly wasn't enjoying the obvious flirting. The girl had an obnoxious laugh and Astrid cleared her throat once she was standing right behind the girl (Hannah was her name?) and she turned around to one annoyed Astrid.

"What's so funny?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Hannah was touching Hiccups arm, which made her blood boil. When this happened, Astrid can be very dangerous. "Henry here was just showing me his sketches." She noticed she called him 'Henry' and not 'Hiccup', which means he didn't introduce himself as such which told her only certain people in his life get to call him 'Hiccup', and that made her happy.

"No, you took them from me." Hiccup mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Annoying girl asked, smiling sweetly over her shoulder.

"Nothing, can I have that back, please?" He asked, already reaching over to grab the small black book.

Astrid cleared her throat, "well, Henry, are you ready to go?" Both sharing the same "ready to be away from this situation" expression.

"Y-yes! Please, let's go. It was good to meet you, but we have plans. We're gonna go now. Bye!" Hiccup quickly shoved everything in his bag and got up before Hannah protest anything.

"Oh. Ok, will I see you around?" Hannah asked with disappointment in her tone.

"Probably not." Astrid and Hiccup said at the same time, which caused them both to blush a little. "I'm really very busy all the time, not much room for a social life." Hiccup quickly explained himself.

He started walking towards the door and Astrid followed behind him. She had a feeling he didn't want to be there any more than she did. Once they were outside he breathed a huge sigh of relief and turned towards her.

"She came out of no where!" He laughed, "I felt like a lions prey! That's never happened to me before, what did she even want?"

There were a few ways Astrid could answer that question but for some reason she asked, "that's really never happened to you before?"

"No! Girls usually avoid me, like by all means. Like I have the Black Plague." He cried, waving his arms around.

Astrid found this very hard to believe, but before she could say anything he kept on rambling. "I mean, I don't know how people do it. Take you for example, guys must talk to you constantly, I mean-look at you! You're gorgeous!" He must've noticed what he said, because his eyes went huge and his cheeks a deep shade of red. "I-i mean, what I'm trying to say is... well, um-i mean you're very attractive-" He stammered over his words while Astrid stopped on the sidewalk, laughing at how cute it was when he did that.

"Hiccup!" She stopped him before he hurt himself, "thank you for the compliment, but it doesn't happen to me. Like, ever. I'd be weirded out too." She smiled at him, and he relaxed a little though the blush still stayed.

"For some reason I find that hard to believe." He laughed a little. "So, where did you want to grab food?"

"Well, how do you feel about going to a bar instead?" She asked, hoping this night wouldn't turn out awkward.