Chapter 3 - The New Boy
The Next Morning
Astrid walks downstairs in her favourite blue jeans and hoodie through towards the long hall, heading towards the basement. She opened the slider door of the basement and flicked on the light switch. The movement of two human figures emerged from the corner of the room, one ruffling their creased clothing while the other yawning and stretching their arm behind his head and rubbing his stomach. "I think that fish was expired" came a deep male voice from a big bulky man with ginger hair and beard with blue eyes also known as Harold Hofferson. "I can't believe you two, especially you dad, breaking out and raiding the bins" Astrid said while pulling an annoyed face towards her parents.
They all walked along one of the castle corridors towards the kitchen and Astrid continued to argue and comment about her parents' actions last night. "You're always saying how I have to stay hidden from humans and never give into our dragon selves. Yet the moment you get the chance, you're out the basement and away." Mr Hofferson rolled his eyes with a slight chuckle, heading towards the kettle to make his morning coffee to wake himself up from a long night. "You don't understand how powerful the pull of the moon is, especially after a sturgeon moon" (When the moon is orange from the atmosphere of the sun, I think XD). "When your old enough to take your dragon form..." came from a graceful voice from a tall, slender woman with bright blond hair, slight tinted freckles and bright blue eyes with a hint of green also know as Ingrid Hofferson. Astrid rolled her eyes and finished her mother's comment with "I won't be a hypercritic, who stays hidden and then breaks out at the first whiff of food". Astrid then looks at her dad with a sarcastic smirk, "And that fish that dad was eating" in which she pulled a face of someone wanting to vomit. Only for her father to turn around while drinking his coffee while trying not to remember his stomach making gurgling noises.
Mrs Hofferson noticed the bin in the corner of the kitchen was opened slightly while her daughter and husband continued to make mockery over each other. Now in a sterner voice, Ingrid looked at her daughter "Actually, your dad isn't the only one who has been eating things he shouldn't have, is he?" as she pulled an empty family bag of popcorn that was hanging out the bin. Astrid had a slightly guilty look on her face as she knew that she had been caught staying up longer that she normally world have to watch her favourite movie on the TV. "Yes, and you were very quick to come find us last night young lady, yet your bedroom is on one of the top floors and I don't think this was just a midnight snack." As her father gave her the same questioning look as her mother was, Astrid quickly grabbed her backpack with all her work in and refused to answer her parents question. She began to run to the main door of the castle shouting back "I'm going to miss the bus, I'm going to have to go, love you". With the main door shutting behind her and the wind brushing past her face and through her golden blonde hair, she walked off with a giddy smile on her face.
Astrid finally arrived at the university campus, it wasn't the biggest university as it was located at the end of the village, but it was the only one for miles. However, it was one of the most popular for students who wanted to travel and explore away from their hometown. Unfortunately for Astrid, it was her only choice as it was close to home and safer for her when she did finally transform on her 21st birthday, which was coming up closer with every day. She saw all the different 'friendship groups' or whatever the more popular and cool kids called it. Then through the crowds of makeup queens and ego boasting jocks, she saw one of her best friends waiting for her with his bright spiked up red hair, baggy jeans and ripped denim jacket in which you could see his tattoos that covered most of his body. Daniel (also nicked name Dagur) turned his head to see Astrid and a huge smirked smile appeared on his face. "Well well look who's arrived, the fearless Astrid Hofferson, here to join me in this suffering called the education system". All Astrid could do was laugh and roll her eyes. "Good morning to you to Dan, first question of the day where is miss adventure?" Dagur smirked and tilted his head to the side to see behind Astrid's head and nodded his head in the same direction.
Astrid turned her head with a smug smile to look and see a girl with raven black hair, wearing what seemed to be camouflage hoodie and green sports joggers heading their way. "My beloved little sister Heather, you've finally made it even though I could have given you a lift on my motorbike and got you here much quicker". "Thanks, but no thanks my 'amazing' big brother, I decided to take the more exciting and scenic route this morning" as she finally joined the group. "Besides, look what I found this morning on my adventure walk, it so shiny and smooth'. Heather pulled out what seem to be something in the shape of a scale which was pitch black which she put onto a piece of string like a necklace. Astrid continued to look at the object and began to feel some uncertainty as similarly resembled a dragon scale, similar to what her parents had shed over time, but it wasn't white and reflective. "I'm so going to look into this and see what type of creature might have dropped something so cool" Heather said in a high-spirited voice and walked into the entrance of their university building. Astrid and Dagur just looked at each other with a giddy smile and walked to follow Heather, but deep-down Astrid was still unsure about Heather's new treasure.
However, once Astrid walked into the corridor heading towards her study room, she could pick up a scent of something strong and see could see the scent trail heading in the same direction but was slowly fading away, as whoever had left that scent trail had been here before she had arrived. Dagur looked at Astrid as she had a concerned look on her face, but she shook it off and said she was fine. As they walked into the form room and Astrid walked over to her desk, the scent had got stronger, but she got distracted as the teacher began to quiet the class down and it seemed he was introducing a new student. Astrid sat down and looked towards the front and saw the scent trail leading to the new student. She looked up and silently gasped while looking at a boy who looked about her age, with messy auburn hair and emerald green eyes, which then looked directly towards her. "Alright everyone, I want to introduce you to the new member of our class, Hayden Haddock.