This chapter's a tad shorter than my last one (short a hundred words or so, give or take), but I was pleased with it wholeheartedly. :) Shout-outs:
silverwolvesarecool: Glad you like it so far! See ya later, Sil! :D Ahhh...it's good to be off hiatus. :)
She showed him around each and every corner, spurting off some random fact about each destination as they went. Hiccup seemed absolutely fascinated, yet spoke little. His freckles showed blatantly on his pale skin, and his black and red layered t-shirt looked out of place with his scarf.
"And this is the Thorston residence!" Astrid proudly announced, gesturing to a brick house.
"Only a few blocks away from my place," said Hiccup. "You know any of them?"
"Ruff and Tuff," said Astrid. "Strange names, I know."
"Almost as strange as Hadley," said Hiccup.
"So your name's actually Hadley?" Astrid asked, a slight smirk planted on her face. "You weren't just toying with me?"
"Yeah," said Hiccup. "Hadley."
"Hadley," Astrid repeated.
"Yeeeep," said Hiccup.
"So...like, on your birth certificate it says 'Hadley'," said Astrid.
"Just...stop talking about my name," said Hiccup.
Astrid laughed, but complied for his sake. She turned and walked on, Hiccup jogging to catch up with her. She stopped in front of a white house, looking very mad.
"This is the Jorgenson residence," said Astrid. "Scott Jorgenson lives here. That jerk."
"Um..." Hiccup coughed awkwardly and cleared his throat. "He'smycousin," he slurred, obviously trying to tell Astrid something and yet, at the same time, trying to keep it from her.
"What?" said Astrid.
"He's my cousin," said Hiccup. "And...his name isn't Scott. His name is Snotlout. He hates it, though, and calls himself Scott. Don't tell anyone I told you that, or it will be bad for both of us." He winked and laughed.
Astrid laughed right along with him, until she thought about it more. "He's your cousin?" she repeated.
"Yeah," said Hiccup. "Strange, I know, he's like two times my size, has three times the amount of strength as I do, but I'm also older than him by a few months. And...that's why Mom and I moved here, I guess. We kind of needed help from my Uncle, since my Dad just..." He paused and turned away.
Astrid understood almost instantly. "Hiccup..." she said, "I'm so sorry."
"I get that from everyone," said Hiccup, turning half-way so he could look at her. "I don't think I need to get it from you."
Astrid nodded, and fought to change the subject. She did so quickly. "I think we're done with the tour," she said. "Do you want to, I don't know...go back to my house?"
"Sure, I suppose," said Hiccup.
They walked back to her house and tried to think of something to do.
"Snowball fight?" Astrid offered.
Instead of answering, Hiccup scooped some snow off the ground and threw it straight at her. It turned into powder once it hit her face, and she brushed snow out of her hair and spat some out of her mouth while Hiccup laughed.
"Oh so it's going to be like that, is it?" she said. She grabbed some snow and threw it at him. The snowball shut him up once it made impact, and he tossed another one.
It went back and forth, until it turned into war. The snowballs flew across the yard in different bouts, Hiccup and Astrid laughing, being quieted each time the opposite person hit them with a snowball.
Astrid threw one at Hiccup, and it smacked him in the face. He fell backwards and moaned. At first, Astrid laughed, until she realized he wasn't trying to get up.
"Hiccup?" she hesitated. Then, she ran over to him. "Hiccup!"
"Ugh..." he moaned and squinted up at her as she knelt next to him. "Astrid...t-tell my family I loved them." Then, he fake-died.
Astrid stood up and kicked him.
"OWW!" he shouted, jumping to his feet. "Why would you do that!?"
"Get used to it," said Astrid. "Another one of those stunts..."
"Do you do that a lot?" said Hiccup.
"Yeah, that's kind of why I told you to get used to it," said Astrid.
"Well, obviously I have to!" said Hiccup, rubbing his forearm where she kicked him.
Astrid smirked and laughed. "So...Hiccup," she said. "Tell me more about yourself."
"Um...I have a cat," said Hiccup.
"What kind of cat?" said Astrid.
"Um...he's really little," said Hiccup. "My Mom got him for me at the shelter just before we moved. I named him Toothless, since he's so small his teeth haven't even grown in yet."
"Toothless?" Astrid frowned as she spoke. "What are you going to call him when he grows teeth?"
"Probably Toothless," said Hiccup. "Still Toothless. What about you? Do you have any pets?"
"I have a parrot named Stormfly," said Astrid.
"Pretty name," said Hiccup. "I like it."
"It's better than Hadley," said Astrid. As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to slap herself. That was NOT a good way to make friends. For a few seconds, she was afraid she had done something terrible.
Until Hiccup started laughing.
"Ooooh Astrid," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Anything's better than Hadley."
They both broke out laughing, and Astrid realized that this was just the beginning of a wonderful friendship.