Just a short one-shot of Hiccup and Jack causing chaos at high school (modern au)


"FROST! HADDOCK!"

Astrid, along with the whole class, jerked upright in their seats and tried to blink themselves awake at Mr Mildew's grating voice. It had been directed at the only two people in the class who hadn't moved a muscle but it had the added benefit of getting the attention of the whole class. Astrid looked over to the two boys who had been yelled at and had to supress a snort when she saw them.

Hiccup Haddock and Jack Frost. They were inseparable and two of the biggest trouble makers in the school, even trumping the Thorston twins although Jack and Hiccup's troublemaking was much less of a occupational health and safety hazard than the twins'. Whilst the whole class had been slumped over their desks, Jack was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and mouth slightly open. Hiccup, who was sitting directly behind him, was slumped forward with his head face-down inside the hood of Jack's hoodie. Astrid was sure that they would have had to have been woken by Mildew but if they had, their acts were pretty convincing.

"I'm waiting!" Mildew demanded loudly.

Slowly, the two boys began to shift in their seats before blinking their eyes open, Jack plastering a look of mock surprise on his face when he saw the whole class staring at him and his best friend who'd also sat up straight. "Sorry Mr Mildew, did we miss something important?" Hiccup asked with what sounded like genuine sincerity, almost.
"You've missed the last 20 minutes of my class Haddock."
"So that's a 'no' then?" Jack asked innocently, making Mildew fume and the rest of the class snicker as quietly as they could.
"Watch your tongue, boy," Mildew spat. "If I catch you two sleeping again or hear one more disrespectful comment from either of you, then its detention and a trip to the principal's office. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mr Mildew," Hiccup and Jack responded much too enthusiastically, Jack trying to supress a smile which Astrid knew could only mean trouble.

The last half hour of the class took what felt like three hours and was relatively uneventful, unfortunately. When the bell finally rang, it took Astrid and the rest of the class a good few seconds to register the sound of their temporary freedom and to begin packing away their books. Astrid and her friends filed out of the classroom behind Hiccup and Jack who were whispering and laughing about who knew what. Astrid just hoped that she wouldn't get caught up in whatever they were planning, it was their final year after all and she didn't need anything tarnishing her clean record. As the class dispersed to go their own individual ways, Astrid yet again, found her eyes following the auburn head that was bobbing next to the slightly shorter silver one.

-o0o-

The rest of the week passed as every week does; moderately interesting classes, homework, trying to stay awake during Mildew's not so interesting classes, trying to not to get distracted by Hiccup (which she'd never admit), work at the cafe, Ruff and Tuff 'accidentally' setting fire to something in the chemistry labs, you know...the usual. So of course, the following week just had to be anything but the usual.

Hiccup and Jack had apparently decided that Hiccup's cousin, and unfortunately one of Astrid's friends, Snotlout, needed to have his ego taken back down to a manageable level as he'd become quite full of himself since being appointed the school's Sports Captain. Positions had been announced two weeks ago and Astrid along with Fishlegs had been given the position of School co-captains. Heather, one of Astrid's friends, won Arts Captain whilst Camicazi and the Thorston twins, the remaining three that made up their friendship group, hadn't applied for anything.

Back to the events of Hiccup and Jack reducing the size of Snotlout's head, Astrid had been walking to lunch when she noticed Jack and Hiccup coming out of the boys change rooms trying to stifle their laughs. Glancing suspiciously between them and the change rooms, she continued behind them as they made their way to the senior lunch room. The seniors had the privilege of a sort of staff-room but just for the year 12's where they had access to a kitchenette with a fridge, microwave and sandwich press, and a sitting area with couches and tables with a study room off to the side. Putting her sandwich in the toaster, she stood waiting for it to be ready, but also for Jack and Hiccup's actions to come to light.

Shortly after she'd sat down on one of the couch's with her friends to eat her lunch, Snotlout and the rest of his P.E. class came in looking sweaty but pleased with themselves, Snotlout more so than the others. She glanced over at Hiccup and Jack who were sitting at a table in the corner and trying to keep a straight face and not draw attention to themselves. Once Snotlout had fully entered the room, it didn't take long for people to start whispering and pointing at the sports captain who seemed oblivious to what was going on, the idiot just enjoying the attention. Astrid's gaze followed to what people were pointing at and had suppress a laugh when she saw the dark stain on the back of Snotlout's pants.
"Oi Snotface! I think you might want to change your pants, it looks like you shat yourself!" Jack called out over the room and making sure that everyone had noticed the brown leeching through Snotlout's pants.
"What-?" Snotlout seemed confused until he twisted around and saw the mess, his complete confusion making everyone laugh. "I didn't shit myself!" he yelled over the laughter, his face going red. Astrid almost felt bad for him, public humiliation was a good way to create unnecessary insecurities. Everyone watched as he cautiously swiped some off his trousers and gingerly sniffed his fingers, a bad move in Astrid's opinion.
"Don't sniff it Snotty!" Hiccup called out and making everyone laugh harder and Snotlout's face turn a brighter red.
"It's chocolate! You put chocolate in my pants while I was in class!" Snotlout tried to accuse the auburn and silver haired boys.
"Oh yeah? Prove it!" someone yelled over the crowd as others started making fart sounds. Even though it was Snotlout, Astrid decided that this had gone on long enough and needed to be ended and as school captain, unfortunately it was kinda her responsibility to look out for everyone, including Snotlout.
Sighing to herself, she spoke up, "ok that's enough! It's clearly chocolate, and who honestly thinks that an eighteen-year-old would actually shit themselves, let alone not realise it?"

Silence.

"I mean...it is Snotlout we're talking about," someone said who Astrid recognised as Thuggory, one of the only people she ever saw around Hiccup aside from Jack and occasionally Cami. Thuggory would also aid Jack and Hiccup when they needed a third set of hands to pull off whatever chaos they were trying to cause.
"Really?" she asked, her exasperation definitely seeping through.
"Come on Astrid, don't ruin the fun!" Jack called out which was met with a few nervous laughs. After she gave the room the Hofferson death glare, people went back to minding their own business. People knew not to mess with Astrid Hofferson. Well...most people anyway, she thought as she saw Hiccup and Jack high five as they made their way out the door and disappearing into the hallways.

She needed to talk to them. They were known for harmless pranks that just caused mild chaos and confusion, public humiliation was not their typical style and Astrid didn't want to see it become that. Or she just wanted an excuse to talk to Hiccup for some odd reason.

She didn't want to approach the two trouble makers when they were together because she would be out numbered and they'd most likely make some smartarse comment before walking off. But also because she wanted to talk to Hiccup alone. Maybe it was because she thought he'd be more receptive than Jack would to what she had to say?

-o0o-

Astrid could confirm that Hiccup and Jack did not go anywhere without the other whilst at school and it was beginning to really frustrate her. She'd been trying to corner the auburn haired boy but he was always accompanied by his partner in crime. She'd been trying to corner Hiccup for a month now and she honestly couldn't tell anyone why. They hadn't done anything malicious since the 'Snotlout' incident and Snotlout hadn't been too bothered by the event after a week had passed. Maybe she just wanted to talk to him?

No. Astrid Hofferson did not 'just want to talk to some trouble-maker'. But she couldn't help finding herself noticing his bright green eyes focussing on his work in class and his slender but lean frame weaving through the swarms of students and trying not to be jostled around too much between classes.

She had given up on cornering Hiccup Haddock until she found herself face to face with him in the empty hallways after hours. She'd been at a meeting with the other captains of the school and was heading back to her locker to collect her things when she'd almost walked straight into him, well the hand trolley stacked with what looked like desk drawers. She swore in surprise and that was when his head popped around the side of the load he was pushing around.
"Oh hey Astrid," Hiccup casually waved at her as if what he was doing was absolutely normal, "sorry, I didn't see you there. Have a good night!" he said has went to continue down the hall. The weirdness of the events finally caught up to her and she spun around to stop the trouble-maker in his steps.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked completely confused. He was obviously up to something but what, she didn't know.
"Hm? Oh this?" he asked gesturing to the stack of drawers on the hand trolley.
"Yes that, Hiccup, what else? Its nearly 5pm, what are you doing with all that at this hour?"
"Just a project," he shrugged innocently. He was absolutely ridiculous, she thought. But a perfect blend of hot and cute and smart and funny, she found herself thinking and immediately berating herself.

At that moment, Jack appeared around the corner with Thuggory and, to her surprise, Cami. They all were in the same situation as Hiccup, pushing along a stack of filled desk drawers. "Ready to go?" Jack asked. "Oh hey Astrid!" he smiled when he saw her with Hiccup. Hiccup and Jack were so similar it freaked her out at times. "Did Hiccup manage to recruit you?" Jack continued, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth and making eye contact with Hiccup who shot Jack a look somewhere between disgusted and annoyed but the amused sparkle remaining in his eyes.
"Uh no, Astrid hasn't been recruited," Hiccup answered for her.
"What are you guys doing?" Astrid tried again, "and Cami, what are you doing here?"
"You know me," she shrugged, "I'm more than happy to help out these guys to pull off an amazing prank."
"We're just doing a little rearranging," Jack answered her first question. "You aren't going to snitch are you?" his tone suggesting that he knew she wouldn't if the prank wouldn't hurt anyone.
Astrid sighed before responding, "if anyone asks, I wasn't here, got it?"
"Yes ma'am," the four of them saluted with a wild smile. As she grabbed her bag from her locker and headed back down the hallway to the door, she saw the four of them mixing up the drawers and restacking them before each of them went their separate ways with a trolley of drawers.

It wasn't until she got home that she realised that the drawers were from each teacher's desk and that they were most likely mixing them all up. She had to give them credit, it was a pretty creative idea that wasn't harmful but certainly bound to cause chaos. She only wondered how they'd managed to get into all of the staff offices as they were kept locked when there wasn't at least one teacher inside.

-o0o-

The next morning, Astrid decided she'd get to school a little earlier, purely to be witness to teachers frantically searching the school for their desk drawer. She was not disappointed. She couldn't help the smile that made its way onto her face at the sight of annoyed teachers and utterly confused students as she made her way to her first class which was with Mildew.

Taking her seat, she noticed Jack, Hiccup and Thuggory sitting at the back of the room seeming very pleased with their handywork. Hiccup noticed her watching them with a smile and grinned back, tipping an imaginary hat at her which made her stomach lurch in an uncharacteristic fashion. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him before turning away, hopefully before the blush became too obvious on her face.

Mildew came hurrying into the classroom with his usual scowl plastered on his wrinkly face right before the bell rang, everyone taking their seats and quieting down in response. Astrid found herself glancing back at Hiccup again, noticing how he and Jack seemed much too eager for the class to begin and immediately making her suspicious. As Mildew went to begin the class, everyone started to turn comatose, except for Jack and Hiccup. It took Astrid a moment to realise that Mildew hadn't actually begun the class yet and that he was still trying to bring up the powerpoint for today's lesson. Gradually everyone began to notice that the dull drone of Mildew's voice hadn't started and also looked up to see what was going on. He seemed to be struggling with his computer mouse and was moving it around the desk quite aggressively and muttering under his breath as well as unplugging it and plugging it back in. Even though Mildew was moving the mouse, she saw that the cursor wasn't moving on the projection on the white board. She also noticed Hiccup and Jack trying not to laugh at their teacher's brewing anger. This went on for close to ten minutes before Mildew announced he was going to get the IT help workers and that class was to remain put.

As soon as Mildew was out the door, Hiccup and Jack started chuckling before making their way over to the desk. No one stopped them, not even Astrid, as Jack removed a sticker from the bottom of Mildew's mouse and unplugged it and Hiccup changed Mildew's computer background to a photo from the previous year when they'd removed the nibs from Mildews whiteboard markers and ink had gone all over him when he'd gone to use them. The duo were playing with fire in Astrid's opinion but they were keeping the class entertained by the sounds of things since the class cheered when they saw the new screensaver. The class watched as the two boys taped an air horn underneath Mildew's chair that would always sink slightly when he sat down. To say that Astrid was surprised when Mildew returned, just as Hiccup and Jack had returned to their seats, to an alert and eager class and was not at all suspicious, was a gross understatement.

The class watched eagerly as Mildew led the IT support person over to his desk and had to try their best to not laugh when Mildew spluttered in shock and embarrassment when he turned his computer back on and came face to face with an undesirable memory for the man. Astrid had to say that she appreciated the look on the IT worker's face, they were trying so hard to keep a straight face but not really succeeding.
"So, what was the problem Mr Mildew?" the worker asked, trying to be polite.
"My mouse isn't working. I've tried restarting the computer, I've tried everything!" Mildew responded, his tone definitely giving away his irritation.
"Let me have a look then," they responded as they moved to the computer and Mildew moved out of the way. After not even ten seconds the IT support worker stood up with a smile and holding the mouse cord up in one hand, showing Mildew that it wasn't plugged in. "I believe your problem was that your mouse wasn't plugged in, sir," they said politely. "Yes, there you go, its working now," they smiled after they plugged it back in and checked to make sure it was working.
"But-what-how-no...," Mildew spluttered. "I swear it was plugged in!"
"Well it is now, Mr Mildew-"
"Nonsense! You can leave now, I have a class to teach," he snapped, the IT worker just rolling their eyes as they left the room. "Now, time to get started, we're very behind," Mildew growled at a very amused class that was doing their best to keep it together.
Finally, Mildew sat down on his chair, jumping straight back into the air when the blast of the air horn went off underneath and sending the class into hysterics at his expression.

As they were filing out of the classroom at the end of the lesson, Astrid couldn't help herself from going over to Hiccup, Cami and Heather giving her a knowing smirk and making her blush. "That was quite a performance today," she said as she reached him and Jack.
"Why thank you," Hiccup smiled as her stomach did a backflip. "Not here to tell us off are you?" he asked a little cautiously.
"My duties as college captain would think so, but no. I think that was one of the most entertaining classes I've had with Mildew," she laughed as they made their way down the hall. She noticed that Jack had disappeared.
"Well its a pretty low bar to clear but we'll take the compliment."

They continued to their next class in what was an awkward silence for Astrid. Feeling the need to break it, she took another stab at creating conversation. "I'm assuming you two have something big in the works for muck up day?" The way Hiccup's eyes lit up made part of her nervous of what would occur on that last day, but a bigger part of her felt her heart lighten with the spark in his eyes.
"We've got a few ideas but some we'll scrap, most likely the one we were planning on working with the twins to do," he responded.
"Not that I know what you're planning, but if it involves the twins then its probably a good idea to drop it," she grimaced good naturedly.
"Yeah, we'll see," he chuckled. "Might just make a few modifications," he added and then laughed when he saw her expression. "This is me, see you later Astrid," he waved as he stopped by the physics classroom.
"See you," she smiled with genuine warmth that seemed to catch Hiccup temporarily off guard before she continued to her biology class.

The rest of the semester seemed to fly by for Astrid and she didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. Yes, she wanted to be done with the rigorous process of teachers throwing information at them as they all tried to jam as much of it into their heads before the teachers tried to extract it all again from them. But she didn't want to have to say goodbye to everyone who she liked but wasn't close friends with or leave the structured way of life that school provided. And she wanted to keep seeing Hiccup Haddock everyday. Not because she liked him, she was Astrid Hofferson. She didn't have feelings for anyone let alone one of the school's greatest troublemakers. But she did and she could no longer deny that simple fact any longer.

-o0o-

Before she knew it, the last day that the year 12s would be at school before they came back for their exams had arrived along with the day of the valedictory dinner. As Astrid and her friends walked through the school gates for one of the last times in their crazy dress-ups, they immediately noticed the evidence that Hiccup, Jack, Ruff and Tuff, and most likely Cami and Thuggory had been busy "decorating" the school. The first thing Astrid saw was what looked like over 200 garden gnomes on the front oval along with the biggest unicorn pool toy that she'd ever seen tied to school's front entrance. As they made their way deeper into the school to their nearly empty lockers, she also saw that every single locker had been cable-tied. There were close to 1500 students at the school so it must have taken them forever to tie them all. Astrid also noticed signs on a few of the classroom doors saying that a teacher's class had been moved to a different location. After she'd seen several of these signs, she realised that they were all for the same period and stating that the class had been moved to the same classroom so that multiple classes of students would turn up to the same classroom.

They only had half a day of classes today and unfortunately Astrid's first class was with Mildew. As she made her way into the classroom, she noticed that the desktop computers around the edge of the classroom had a different screensaver. Taking a closer look, she saw that it was a slideshow of all the times that Hiccup and Jack had pulled a prank on the teachers from the first day of year 7 right up to the one last week. She chuckled to herself when she saw a photo come up of Mildew jumping out of his seat when Jack had taped an airhorn to his chair. As she made her way to her seat, she greeted Jack and Hiccup who were sitting in their usual spot in the back corner of the room. "Looks like you two have been busy," she said to the two troublemakers with a smile.
"Sure have, Astrid," Jack responded happily.
"I'm guessing that you've got more things planned for the day then?"
"Yep!"
"Care to share?"
"Sorry, m'lady, you'll just have to wait to find out," Hiccup smirked and making Astrid's stomach lurch in a now all too familiar way.

It was getting into November so temperatures were starting to warm up so naturally, when Mildew stalked into the classroom, he flicked the fans on along with lights, Hiccup and Jack opening up an umbrella each and looking very odd as they smiled calmly from underneath the umbrella. As Mildew made his way to his desk and the fans began to increase in speed, glitter began raining down from the fan blades, covering absolutely everyone and everything in glitter and making Mildew yell and curse as he tried to stumble over to the fan switches to turn them off. Of course, Mildew being Mildew, accidentally turned the fans up instead of off, making the glitter rain down and swirl around even more.

By the time the class was over and everyone stumbled out into the hallway, they were all covered in glitter but grinning with joy. Well nearly everyone was covered in glitter, somehow Jack and Hiccup were glitter free as they slunk down the hallway no doubt to cause more chaos. As the day continued, Ruff and Tuff somehow set off a small series of explosions down the hallways which to Astrid's amazement, didn't set off the fire alarms or cause much property damage which she suspected was due to modifications by Hiccup and Jack. They'd also put life-sized cut-outs of various teachers around the school in obscure places that made Astrid jump a few times and of course, taken over the PA system. All in all, it was an amazing, fun filled first half of the day. But what Astrid was really looking forward to was tonight's valedictory dinner. They would all get dressed up in formal attire and attend a sit-down dinner with their families and academic awards would be handed out. The music students would provide entertainment for part of the night and they'd have the art students' work on display as well as getting to watch the media students' films.

-o0o-

As Astrid got out of the car with her family and made her way into the venue, she kept her eyes peeled for her friends and dare she admit it, Hiccup. Soon enough, she found her friends and her parents and younger sister went to sit down with the Ingermans, Jorgensons and Thorstons. The Berserkers, Bog-Burglers, Meatheads and to Astrid's surprise, the Frosts, were on the table next to them. She had yet to see anyone who looked like a Haddock but she assumed that Hiccup and his family would be sitting with Jack's when he arrived. As college co-captain, she would be making a speech with Fishlegs later on in the night which she was beginning to get very nervous about, but right now she wanted to enjoy spending time with her friends.

As the night progressed, the last of the slow eaters could be seen finishing up their meals whilst the majority of the students had made their way to the dance floor while the music students performed. She'd stayed and watched one song but found herself needing a break from all of the people and noise, hence she found herself wandering the arts students' mini exhibition by herself and completely lost in thought. She'd glimpsed Hiccup with Jack and the Frost family from time to time but he'd always disappear before she got a chance to speak with him. So it was to her complete surprise when she turned and bumped straight into the auburn haired trouble maker. "I'm so sorry!" Hiccup yelped as they collided.
"It's ok," she responded once her brain had unjammed itself. Hiccup looked good. Like really good. He was wearing what all the other guys were wearing, a white shirt and black suit pants, but somehow it looked better on him.
"What are you doing here anyway?" he asked her. "I would have thought you'd be with your friends in the thick of the action."
"I uh...I just needed a break for a bit. What are you doing out here?" she asked, sounding slightly accusatory and making her wince at her own tone.
Based on Hiccup's response, he'd definitely picked up on her tone, "why? Am I not allowed to admire my fellow students' masterpieces?" he smiled. His response suddenly made her suspicious and she just stared at him waiting for him to elaborate. "Ok fine you got me," he sighed in mock exasperation. "I was looking for you-"
"You were?" Astrid asked way too excited and immediately cringed.
"Yeah I wanted to ask you if you had access to the slideshow for tonight's presentation?" Clearly Hiccup didn't pick up on her tone this time to her relief but also slight disappointment.
"Do I even want to know?" she sighed.
"Its not bad, Jack, Thugg, Cami, the twins and I put together a little video of everyone from year seven up to school today."
"Uh huh, sure. And what's this video of?" she questioned sceptically.
"I think you know," he smirked.
"Fine," she huffed as she rolled her eyes.
"Yes! You're the best, thanks so much Astrid."
"If it goes south, don't drag me into it."
"I wouldn't dream of it, m'lady." Astrid couldn't help laughing at Hiccup's excited expression as they headed to a room off to the side where the teachers had left the computer that they would run the presentation from. "Excellent," Hiccup muttered as he sat down and managed to log into Principal Mala's laptop without a hint of hesitation. Astrid couldn't help admiring his skills as he hacked into the principal's computer and inserted the video into the awards presentation and setting a timer on the slide so it could only be skipped once the video had finished.

"Is your family here tonight?" Astrid asked feeling the need to create conversation. She noticed Hiccup's actions falter slightly as his fingers danced across the keyboard.
"Uh...no, no they couldn't make it," he responded quietly.
"Oh..." she didn't know how to respond to that. "Were they working?" she asked dumbly.
"My godfather should hopefully be coming once he finishes work. There, all done!" he abruptly changed topics as he closed the laptop and stood up with the ghost of his usual smile and making Astrid immediately worried for him.
"Hiccup-"
"Thanks so much for your help, Astrid," Hiccup cut in and smiled before heading off and leaving her alone with her thoughts in the little room.

As Astrid was coming back into the main room where everyone was, she spotted Hiccup greeting a man around her own father's age with a long braided moustache and a limp. She watched as Hiccup lead the man, who she assumed was his godfather, to the table where the Frosts were sitting and noticing how Jack was just as excited to see the man as Hiccup. Sitting down with Fishlegs and Heather (who'd taken Snotlout's seat once he'd gone over to the dance floor), Astrid tried to pay attention to her friends' conversation.
"You ok, Astrid?" Fishlegs asked her.
"Yeah I'm fine, just got a lot on my mind. Thanks Fishlegs," she smiled back.
"Someone more like it," Heather smirked and earning a left over bread roll to the head. "What! Its true isn't it?"
"Potentially..." Astrid admitted.
"Well go and ask him to dance because he for sure is not going to ask you or make the first move."
"You say that as if you know him well."
"Of course I know him well, he's practically my brother," Heather laughed. "His mum was my dad's cousin so its a more distant connection but we've known each other since we were born and Dagur is just as overprotective of him as he is of me," she elaborated to Astrid's confused expression.
"Wait, what do mean his mum was your dad's cousin?" Astrid asked after a few moments of silence.
"It's not my place to tell you. Anyway, what do you say we hit the dance floor before you and Fish have to make your speeches and the awards are handed out."

It was finally time for Astrid and Fishlegs to make their speech and to say that she was nervous was an understatement. As she took the stage with Fishlegs, her head began to malfunction and her ears began to buzz. The crowd was huge. It was the entire year level of just over 200 students with all of their families and their teachers. Before she knew it, her fear filled eyes landed on the only emerald orbs in the room. He gave her an encouraging smile and nod and that was all she needed to reboot her brain and suddenly Astrid Hofferson was back. Their speeches after that went without a hitch and found herself whispering a thank you to the auburn haired boy as she walked past him on her way back to her seat.

Next were the academic awards. Well the surprise video and then the awards. As they sat there, Principal Mala spoke about the achievements of the whole year level before she moved on to explain the school's academic awards and how all recipients should be incredibly proud. The next thing Astrid was looking at was Jack's mischievous year seven face projected onto the screen and a list of everyone's names in the year level held in his hands. Everyone was clearly confused as Mala tried to skip the video whilst Jack and Hiccup high-fived and the twins chuckled. The video then cut to a recording of what Astrid guessed was Jack and Hiccup's 'first victim' which happened to be a year-seven-Heather in food tech class who'd just been offered what looked like a spoonful of pasta sauce by Hiccup, but of course it wasn't sauce. Everyone laughed, including year-twelve-Heather at the expression she made as she tried the sauce which turned out to be a spoonful of salt with a thin coating of sauce. The video went through every single student in the year level being pranked over the years by either Hiccup and Jack or by the twins. Astrid had to admit that it was pretty funny to see and she was pleased to see that they'd chosen to use footage of relatively harmless pranks that didn't humiliate anyone, especially in front of their families. As the video finished with a year level photo of everyone dressed up from this morning, Astrid found herself smiling with happiness but also a bittersweet sadness at what was coming to an end tonight as everyone applauded and cheered.

The academic awards continued with Fishlegs receiving the maths award and Heather receiving the humanities award from her friend group and to Astrid's surprise, she received the chemistry award. After they'd gone through the academic awards, they then moved to the college awards which were for people who represented the school at various events or had excelled in one of the school's extracurricular activities. The final award that was presented was the College's Academic All-Rounder award which went to the person who had done incredibly well in all of their subjects. Mala began listing the subjects the recipient had taken; advanced maths, physics, chemistry english, art and global politics, and vaguely describing the person's personality. Astrid truly had no clue who the student was but apparently Heather did as she was smiling like an idiot. It was only when Mala mentioned the student's talent at causing trouble that Astrid's head whipped over to Hiccup in slight surprise as he was called to the stage to receive his award. "Weren't expecting that were you," Heather said in her ear as everyone applauded.
"I didn't know he was that smart in everything," she responded.
"He's a genius, already been accepted into several universities through early entry and we haven't even done our final exams yet," Heather explained with pride.
"That's incredible, I had no idea!"
"There's a lot people don't know about that kid."

-o0o-

As the night was coming to an end, Astrid was determined. She'd spoken to Hiccup a few times since she'd learnt he was basically the smartest in the year level. She'd managed to weasel a bit more out of Heather about Hiccup and she was sure now that she would have to be the one to make the first move, just like Heather had said. Heather had also said that he had zero confidence in himself even though it seemed like he did when he was with Jack and causing chaos. So Astrid was determined to at least get his number tonight or organise a time they could meet up since she hadn't been able to find him on social media. She didn't want their exams to be the last time she saw him.

Astrid found herself back in the room with the art exhibition but this time she wasn't alone. Hiccup was standing by himself and reading a piece of paper that he folded carefully and slipped into his pocket when he saw her. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she made her way over to him. This time, this time for sure, she thought as she opened her mouth to speak.