Chapter 5

The night was young; astrid had just arrived in the Jorgenson residence. Scott's parents invited her for dinner as a token of gratitude for getting their son safely back home time and time again, astrid was happy to accept the offer, she'd jump at a chance not to go home and honestly she misses having real parents, and the whole dinner event somehow made her feel like she had a family again. She rings the doorbell, the dinner was nothing fancy so a dress code wasn't really necessary, and astrid was dressed accordingly with nothing but tight jeans and a t-shirt that hugged her body, scott on the other hand was dressed in casual home clothes shorts and a jersey, who could blame him it was his house why would anybody dress up to go to their house. Scott's mother opened the door and welcomed her with open arms, a cheerful greeting followed by a peck on both cheeks. The night was evidently fruitful, everyone except for scott joined the conversation, because they were mostly talking about the future, their plans for college and scott had no knowledge on the subject matter whatsoever, mostly cause his parents handled everything, from enrollment to the interviews and more importantly the scholarships, astrid was too interested on the topic at hand, so she asked both Scott's parents for advice and tips on how to make the major universities take notice or even just glance at her. Scott's parents reassured her that with her current athletic status, being captain, and her overall grade point average, she'd surely get scouted, that made astrid genuinely happy, the dinner ended when scott falls asleep on the table, making his parents groan at their child's rudeness, but scott cleaned the table and washed the dishes when he was told to do so, it was funny seeing scott like that, the school quarterback was just any other son at home, following his parents orders running their errands and helping out around the house, he wasn't a bad guy he was just extremely tactless and self-absorbed. After cleaning the table twice, scott yawns and looks at astrid, obviously signaling her to stay the night. Astrid just groans but accepts none the less, she asked his parents if she could stay the night and they happily agreed, it was clearly written on Scott's face what they were about to do, his parents quickly read the situation and their son's intention, so they asked astrid to sleep anywhere else but Scott's room, which surprises him and makes him sulk and pout at his mother. Astrid just laughed and declined their offer, she respectfully tells his parents she's ok with sleeping in Scott's room, clearly sex wasn't a big deal for her, to her is what just a means to an end, the end being a happy relationship. His mother just sighs and tells her to keep the fun to a minimum and his father just went upstairs probably tired from work. Scott's giddily says goodnight to his mom and dad and held Astrid's hand, grasping it tightly and tugging her to the basement where his room was, it was a complete mess but she was used to it, it was a typical boys room, bed untidy, bed sheets nearly on the floor, underwear lying on the ground and tissue, lots of tissue in the trashcan. Scott kisses astrid as soon as he locks the door but astrid avoids his lips and just asks him to take off his clothes, and so the night went on and they slept together, there was nothing special about it, it should be, but it doesn't really feel special at all, it was just normal to her by now, after scott finishes early which he always does astrid just lies on scott, as much as she hated being smothered by his muscles, it makes her feel small, she admits to feeling a little bit of comfort when she lies on them, she falls asleep soon after...

Astrid woke up to the sound of her alarm, it was already Sunday morning, she forcibly raises Scott's big arms off her stomach, and stood up, Scott wakes up noticing Astrid's movement

"..Yawn.. Mornin bab-" he is stopped by a pillow to his face thrown by astrid

"I told you, when were alone it's Astrid" she calmly says, scott removes the pillow and stretches his arms, flexing them by habit

"Why? Are you embarrassed or somethin?" He trails off while still firmly lying on his bed, astrid on the other hand is getting ready to take a shower but finishes the conversation before leaving

"Like hell i-i mean.. save it for the others, ok scott? Say it when there's more people around" she says calmly while putting on her shirt and jeans, scott laughs

"Oh i get it, cause you want everyone to hear me say it, not just you right, got it bab-... Astrid" he winks and flashes a smile in her direction

"Riiight, you got it.. now go back to sleep you'll break your brain if you use it to much" she sarcastically says while giving him a fake smile, a really fake smile only an idiot would believe in its authenticity, luckily scott was a genuine idiot

"knew it, K, see you on monday" he says smugly, as soon as astrid shuts the door he's back to his pillow fast asleep. Astrid walks along the corridor and quietly enters the bathroom, fortunately there was a towel already hanged behind the door, she didn't even consider the thought of using Scott's towel, it already smelled like sweat and a whole lot of other things. After taking a warm shower she dresses up for practice, only astrid would still practice on a sunday that was how dedicated she was to her athletic career, a short shorts, a sports bra, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, when she got out of the shower she notices Scott's mom cooking breakfast

"Oh morning, dear" she cheerfully says while frying eggs

"Mornin Mr's J" she replies

"Going already? why not stay for breakfast?" She says, while turning to face astrid, she just smile and politely refuses her offer

"No thanks, have to go to school, i still have practice this morning" she replies

"Practice, on a sunday morning? I don't think that's hardly fair, you need to rest to dear" she says turning her back against astrid to flip the omelettes

"It's fine, really, it's what i want" she laughs slightly, while giving her an honest smile

"Well if you say so.. Here, take a couple of sandwiches for the road" she hands astrid a plastic zip lock with a pair of sandwiches inside

"Thanks Mrs J, I'll be going now, dinner was delicious" she says while walking out through the front door

"Come back soon ok, don't be a stranger" she cheerfully says while waving at her from the front door, astrid waves back and begins to jog to school.

Scott's house was fairly close to berk high, you'll arrive there after about 45 minutes of brisk walking, when she arrived at berk high she heads straight to the gym where she usually meets up with gobber for their one-on-one training session, but that's weird he wasn't there, i mean he's usually late but this is a new record, astrid was getting impatient and very irritated, meanwhile gobber was actually looking for hiccup in the forest, he thought hiccup would've already started looking the moment the gates reopened in the morning, so he decided to come to school early and get a head start on the search or maybe just stop hiccup from getting himself killed by a wild beast but little did he know hiccup was at home drooling over his pillow. It isn't until he falls out of bed that he fully awakes, and realizes he's already an hour late, he woke up at 10 am, astrid was already there walking and pacing in circles cursing at the wind since 8:43 am, and gobber started looking for hiccup around 8:22 am, none of them were making progress, none of them were getting things done, this would have never happened if gobber just bought himself a cellphone already, he always says it's not necessary and only teenagers required such gadgets, imagine how easily things would've been resolved if gobber just called hiccup or astrid and cleared things up, but there they were as scattered as ants after you break their line formation, one pacing in circles, another racing towards the colony, and the last searching for the line... Gobber was persistent and kept on searching, given that the forest was huge and hiccup could be anywhere, it never slipped his mind that hiccup might be at the gym waiting for him since he did tell him last time to be there. Anyways hiccup was exceptionally quick, not wasting any of his movements one arm was combing his hair and the other brushing his teeth, after getting ready in record time he opens the garage door and hurriedly sits on his car, an old hand me down car from his father, a gift for his 17th birthday, too him at least. He drives onto the highway and races through traffic, after 30 minutes of driving he parks near another car and runs towards the gym, he opens the two large doors and hurriedly makes his way inside, but he was confused gobber wasn't there. Gobber was replaced with a familiar blonde girl walking in circles, hiccup recognizes the girl and quietly tip toes back towards the door, but before he reached the exit the girl calls out to him..

"Hold it! Where do you think you're going!" She shouts with an irritated tone, she clearly heard the doors open and she automatically identifies him as gobber without even trying to look, i mean who else would go to the gym on a sunday. Astrid couldn't quite see his face clearly the shade was blocking her view so she just stands, arms crossed under her chest standing menacingly, hiccup flinches and tries to respond as best that he could

"Um.. N-nowhere" he says quietly, luckily the gym was empty so his voice echoed through to astrid, astrid was surprised hearing a voice she didn't recognize, it certainly wasn't Gobber's it sounded small and faltering, but its kinda familiar

"Wait, you're not gobber, Who the hell are you?" She demands to know

"I'm.. I'm not really sure i want to tell you" he says while trying to quietly escape the gym but astrid quickly stops him

"What? Hey! Stop moving, I'm still talking to you" she irritatedly commands, it seems waiting for almost an hour has put astrid in a foul mood, actually who wouldn't be upset after waiting for so long and then realizing the person you waited for still hasn't arrived yet

" ..sigh.. I'm Henry, now can i go" he says with a whiny tone

"henry? Wait.. Henry Haddock? The famous hiccup" she laughs rather loudly, she recognizes the name since it was a well-used school trend that's been going on since her first year in berk, whenever someone messes up they'd say "what a hiccup" or "look it's hiccup". She's heard dozens of stories about him mostly about all the times he'd fall flat on his face or ass and screws things up, but despite being a hiccup he was rather smart being top of his class almost every year, which simply meant he was a nerd too. Secretly astrid loathe hiccup even though she hasn't actually met him in person, since Hiccup's always number one in academics, she'd always end up taking second place, no one likes second place, especially astrid. Every year she tries to pick up her grades and get ahead of him but every year he ends up beating her again, now finally she meets her longtime rival and with the foul mood she's in, it's about time she pays him back. Astrid was about to release 3 years' worth of pent up frustration, well the plan was mostly bully him until he graduates but we'll see..

"Yeah, ..famous.. So, you happy now? Can I leave?" He asks slightly irritated at her response

"No, would you just stay put, it's not like you have somewhere else to be" she clearly replies

"And how would you know? Who knows, maybe I'm late to a party right now" he ask in an accusing tone but still tries to cover his face with the shade of the room, he tries to seem cool and nonchalant but astrid easily saw through his lies

"Yeah, maybe a kids party, besides why would anyone invite you, your hiccup" she smugly says clearly pointing out everyone's loatheness for his presence, she tries to catch a glimpse of his face but alas the shade was still blocking her point of view. Hiccup chuckles, three years of bullying kinda makes you immune to this sort of stuff.

"You got me, I forgot no one wants hiccup at their party" he laughs and gives himself a face palm "but believe it or not I've been to lots of parties" he smugly says almost begging astrid to ask

"Let me guess, was it by accident, maybe they invited everyone but forgot, Everyone included you" she replies "good guess, but it's not an accident if I've been invited 17 times" he answers back and astrid is visibly baffled trying to think of any reason why anyone would invite the least popular guy in school and do it 17 times it's like you don't want anyone to come to your party, or more like committing social suicide

"Give up?" Hiccup smugly says, and astrid sighs feeling somewhat defeated "fine, who is it? who's the loser who invites even bigger losers to their party?" She irritably asks

"No one" he says quite pleased with himself, "What? What was that?" She asks rather frustrated at his stupid answer

"N-no one" he repeats but with a smaller voice, stuttering at first, maybe second guessing himself

"No one!? Is that a joke? Are you an idiot? That doesn't even make sense" she shouts, scoffing at him from a distance, she was appalled at the thought of losing to this guy every year, only to find out that he's just an idiot in person, this? this is the guy that keeps on beating her?

"M-maybe you just don't get it" he answers back, again slightly stuttering at first but manages to pull through the whole sentence. hiccup already regretted opening his mouth in the first place, astrid snaps back and replies too quickly

"What did you just say? Are you calling me stupid!?" She angrily exclaims, voice echoing through the gym like a cavern

"N-no of course not, N-no one called you s-stupid, ok, s-so just calm down, and let me explain" he raises his hand and waves them, desperately signaling astrid that she misunderstood his intentions

"Please.. by all means, I'm all ears" she sarcastically says, still visibly irritated

"Ok.. When I said no one, I kinda.. really meant no one.." He says while gesturing random hand movements

"I KNOW.. and it's still the dumbest answer I've ever heard" she clearly points out arms still firmly crossed

"Would you just listen first" he exclaims, maybe a little bit louder than he would've liked

"What!?" Astrid snaps back and hiccup sheepishly replies

"P-please, listen first?" Astrid dials down the anger and signals hiccup to continue

"I said no one.. cause no one invites themselves to their own party, Get it?" He says trying to anticipate Astrid's response, she was initially surprised and confused but then ponders on the thought for a few seconds and then finally answers

"Ohh.. I see, then you must be 17 yrs old?" She laughs, maybe a bit pleased that she finally got it but a bit frustrated for not getting it sooner, she sighs in her head, relieved that he wasn't a complete idiot. Hiccup notices her chuckle and points it out "someone's surprisingly happy?"

"Happy? Please.. I'm just relieved, that, that.. made sense, guess you're not a total moron after all" she says still trying to make out his face in the darkness

"Thanks, I guess?.. Uh hey, as much as I enjoy not being a total moron, I'm gonna have to get going, i really need to find someo-" he turns his back and already he's grasping the door handle

"Hold it, You're not going anywhere.. Not until you show me your face first" she wanted to verify whether her mental images of him matches or if they were even worse than what she'd imagined. She always thought of hiccup as a complete and hopeless looking nerd, she pictured him as a small maybe just as tall as her 5,6, she wasn't small for a girl but 5,6 for a guy it's still quite lacking, then he'd have big thick glasses, acne filled face, hair messy as a dog and somehow dressed in the lamest outfit she can think of but so far his clothes was normal jeans and a shirt with a picture of blimp on the front, yup pretty normal but she reassures herself that his face would make up for the lack of nerdiness in his clothes

"Huh? What does my face have to do with anything?" He asks rather confused

"shut up, and stop hiding in the dark like a wuss" she demanded pointing her finger in his direction

"You do realize i could just walk away right? the doors literally just behind me" he says pointing to the door behind him

"then, go.. im sure you wanna know what happened to the last person who pissed me off" she asks while putting on a smile, hiccup flinches at the thought, it runs shivers down his back, it takes him a few seconds to answer back

"fine, I give" he replies depressingly while raising both of his arms at astrid "..sigh.. But I'm tellin you, you're not gonna be too thrilled to see my face" he slowly walks out of the dark and into the center part where light shown down his face, astrid quietly waited, probably getting ready for the big reveal, she was finally going to see his face, she was little bit excited, by the way he talked about his face it seemed as though it was really unpleasant and that's exactly what astrid had hoped for... hiccups face slowly became visible in the light, astrid upon seeing the all too familiar face shouts in disbelief "You!" her eyes shoot open and arms on her side

"yeah.. me.. hi, h-hows your butt?" he quietly says with an awkward expression while waving his hands to say hello

"my butts fi- wait shut up! you, youre hiccup?" she asks surprise written all over her face, hiccup just stands still, he didnt have a clue how to react to her question

"uh yeah.." he looks at himself and then looks to astrid awkwardly "Last time i checked, i was hiccup so.." he just stares at astrid confused, not really knowing what to do or say to her, astrid on the other hand slowly came to turns with the sudden discovery she composes herself and stares at hiccup again, still nerdy looking but not as nerdy looking as she would've hoped for. but then she realizes this is kinda great they're the same person, this just means she could hit two nerdy birds with one stone, she could make fun of the nerd who made her trip and at the same time bully the same nerd that keeps beating her. she lets out a smug laugh

"this is great, YOURE hiccup" she gestures to him and then laughs again, hiccup still quite confused on what exactly he should do, so he decides to laugh along with astrid, but after joining her for about two seconds astrid stops laughing and irritably asks him

"What's so funny?" Hiccup sees the dismay in Astrid's face and slowly stops laughing, he awkwardly laughs in the end "I-i really d-don't know" he Stutter's obviously confused on how to handle the situation he was in

"Did i say anything funny? Huh?" She irritably asks, hiccup shrugs and sheepishly replies "N-no?" Still doubting his responses

"Then, why the hell were you laughing?" She loudly exclaims, hiccup flinches a little bit, then scratches the back of his neck and thinks

"Y-you were-" he sheepishly tries to answer stuttering at the words probably still second guessing himself but astrid couldn't make out what he was saying so she cuts him off and demands for him to raise his voice

"what!? Speak-UP" she angrily demands, hiccups voice was actually quite audible, the gym was empty enough to make the faintest sound of pen falling noticeable. Astrid just wanted to make up of for lost time and, well she's astrid, she relished the sight of hiccup the guy who constantly beats her squirm in her fingertips. Hiccup flinches at the sound of her voice and hurriedly obliged her demands

"Y-you Were L-laughing So.. I T-thought I should Laugh t-to.. You K-know Laugh w-with you?" He says while looking to astrid, checking if what he said made sense "Or maybe not?" He adds after seeing astrids face already slightly frowning, she scoffs and confidently replies

"Laugh with you?" She repeats his words against him and chuckles a little bit "let me make this clear, for you, Hiccup" she stresses on his nickname, obviously insinuating it's value

"I'm not laughing WITH you, I'm laughing AT you" she claims clearly pointing out her loatheness of him, hiccup on the other hand just stands still, he still had no clue how to respond, what should he say after being laughed at, it's not like it hurts or anything he's used to being laughed at all his life so what difference would one person really make.. The problem was he had no idea how to react to her statement without getting himself into more trouble, so he decides to go back to plan A which is getting the hell outta this gym

"Ok.. My bad so.. We good? everything's cleared up, you know who I am, you saw my face, you're laughing At me not With me.." He says rather calmly being bullied probably made him more relaxed in this sort of situations, it was different when he thought he was actually talking to someone, having a normal conversation it made him nervous, especially with a pretty girl, but talking to a bully, it's like second nature to him

"can I Finally take my leave.. mam?" He asks, maybe a little bit to formal for his taste but still its what he wanted to say, astrid was confused at his question, for the first time she didn't know what to say, should she just say yes and allow him to go, i mean what else is there to say.. She can't just bully him out of thin air that would be incredibly petty of her and besides it doesn't even seem to bother him that much, and even if she wanted him to stay what would've she said? No you can't leave because i still want to make fun of you, like anyone's gonna stick around just to get bullied. Astrid just tries to be cool and just crosses her arms

"whatever.. Your face's starting to get really annoying anyway.." She says while turning her back to him and heading straight for the bench hiccup just chuckles a little bit

"I'll take that as a yes" and heads towards the back exit of the gym instead, he remembered his missing ball after his little chat with astrid, the girl who got it lost in the first place, hiccup was never one to hold on to a grudge i guess he didn't really need an apology to forgive someone, not that He's expecting anything from her, the way their conversation was heading he'd be lucky just to leave the gym unharmed. so suddenly recalling his ball, he quickly changes his plans, from finding gobber to finding the ball instead, astrid notices the sudden change of direction and asks him out of curiosity

"where do you think youre going? the exit's that way" she smugly says while pointing her finger towards the front door, hiccup was slightly surprised why would she keep talking to me, i thought we were already done with the talking part, he thought. but never the less hiccup answers

"i just came in through that door.. wouldn't that make it the entrance? and this the exit" he says while walking towards the back door, astrid just realizes how pointless there conversation was, she just sits back and exhales, why would she even keep talking with this loser, well anything's more interesting when you're doing nothing, even hiccup

"..sigh.. Forget i even asked.. go where ever the hell you want" she calmly replies, closing her eyes maybe trying to catch up on some much needed sleep, but as soon as she closes her eyes she hears a loud thud noise coming from the back exit, she opens her eyes, and tries to find the cause of the noise.. augh hiccups still here? What's he doing on the ground hey who's that big guy? Wait i think it's... gobber?...

End of chapter Five