It's Hard to Explain

by Sarah the What

Jack is a boy suffering from memory loss who would be willing to do anything to remember his past. Hiccup is his new friend who would be willing to do anything to forget his. During their many adventures involving dangerous bikes, cute girls, and protective parents, both boys learn through each other that they can't continue living their lives in the past.

6. Learning From the Best

And here's the moment you've all been waiting for!

Jack's section this chapter is waaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than poor Hiccup's, but that's because I thought the whole learning-to-ride-a-bike experience would be interesting to see through Jack's eyes. And yes, only one paragraph for each boy this time. This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I expected by the time I got to the end, so yeah.

Hope you all enjoy reading! And don't be afraid to write me a review ! I love hearing back from you guys!

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That next morning, it's Emma that wakes me up instead of my internal alarm clock. She seems rather enthusiastic, despite the early hour and the fact that I'm groaning about wanting to go back to bed as she drags me downstairs. I quickly understand why she's so excited though as we enter the kitchen. Apparently, while looking around for some breakfast to eat, she stumbled upon our mother's colossal cook book and took it upon herself to flip through its numerous pages. While doing this, she found a recipe she had been desperate to find.

"Chocolate chip pancakes!" she exclaims, grabbing the book from off the counter and shoving it towards me as I stumble through the kitchen threshold. "We're going to make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, okay, Jack?"

I can't think of any reason to say no, so I sent her a sleepy smile and say, "Sure thing, kiddo."

Making the pancakes takes some time we discover, seeing as neither of us have ever had to legitimately cook anything before in our lives. Besides all the confusion over the cooking terms I'm not aware of and the horrible mess we leave behind, our chocolate chip pancakes are a thousand times better than our usual Cheerios and toast.

After eating and cleaning up our cooking chaos, we get ready for the day and wander outside to soak up some sun. We get out some chalk our father had bought for us over the weekend and play some hopscotch, a game that Emma's very fond of that's also grown on me. Once the heat proves to be unbearable though, we go lay in the hammock under our oak tree.

"Maybe we can bring a board game out," Emma suggests, curled up in my arms as we sway gently back and forth. "We can set up under the umbrella on the patio so we don't get too hot and sweaty and gross."

I ask her for the time, and she looks down at her little purple watch, telling me it's nearly noon now and asking me why I ask.

"I promised someone I would hang out with them today," I explain. "He's supposed to be coming over here at around two."

"Oh." I can tell by her tone that she's a little bummed to hear this, and I try to assure her that we can play all the board games she wants tomorrow, but she stops me. "It's okay, Jack," she tells me with her sweet smile. "I'm actually going over to a friend's house to play anyways, so it's fine."

"Oh yeah?" I say, surprised to hear this. After two weeks and a half of us living in Berk, not once as Emma ever told me she has a friend. I wonder where she met them…

Emma gives me this look, like my surprised tone is greatly unappreciated. I have a hard time not letting out a smile as she says, "Yeah, I am going over to a friend's house, thank you for asking, dummy pants. Her name's Hannah and she lives down the street from us."

"What time do you need to be there?"

"One o'clock."

"How are you going to get there?"

"I was just going to walk. It's really not that far away from here."

"Are you sure? I could walk-"

"Jack, it's fine!" She wraps her small arms around me, encasing me in a hug, her soft hair rubbing up against the bottom of my chin. "I can take care of myself. You go have fun with your friend."

I smile and kiss her lightly on the top of her head. "If you say so."

After a brief moment of enjoying the sounds of the peaceful summer surrounding us, Emma asks me about my new friend, and I tell her as much as I can about him. As I explain the quirky boy I only met a couple of days ago to her, I realize that I honestly don't know as much as I thought about him - at least not personality wise - which bugs me for some odd reason.

He's a little short, I tell her, but I don't know how old he is, so he may be of average height for his age. He enjoys bike riding and he's rather good at it - mostly when it comes to speed though. He strikes me as shy, but I feel if you get to know him, he opens up. He's covered in freckles from head to toe, he has gaped front teeth, really, really green eyes, and his name is Hiccup.

"Hiccup?" Emma asks, a series of giggles coating her words. "His name is Hiccup?"

I nod.

"Well, that's a funny name."

"It's not his real name," I explain to her. "It's just a nickname. Kind of like his friend, who goes by Fish. Just a childhood nickname that stuck."

"Hiccup has a friend named Fish?"

I nod again.

"Wow," Emma goes under her breath. "The teenagers here have weird names."

"Tell me about it."

I feel her roll on to her stomach beside me, now nestling her chin into the crock of my armpit. "Do you think I could meet him?" she asks, her brown eyes brimming with curiosity.

"Maybe someday," I tell her. "Probably not today though."

She pouts at me, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why can't I meet him today?"

"Because you have a friend's house to go to, that's why," I remind her, reaching out and pinching the tip of her nose, causing her eyes to squint up and a smile to form on her face.

"When can I meet him then?" she continues through giggles. "You gotta remember that I'm leaving for camp at the beginning of July, so I'm gonna be gone soon!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. When are you coming back?"

"I'll be gone aaaaaall month."

"Well, if you're not able to meet him before you leave, you can just meet him once you get back. I promise."

"But Jaaaaack-"

"Hey, hey," I laugh, pulling my fingertips through her hair to shush her. "You'll be able to meet him one day, okay, kiddo? He lives here too, so it's not like he's going anywhere."

She just stares at me, her eyes squinted as she searches my face to make sure I'm not lying to her. I'm about to reassure her that I said I had promised she'd be able to meet him one day, when she lets out a sigh and simple says, "You better not be playing any tricks on me, Jack."

It's hard to not smile at her comment. "Would I ever trick you?"

She replies with sticking her tongue out at me.

At that point, I hear Emma's stomach begin to growl and suggest we go inside to get something to eat. Without a second thought, the little girl jumps up from my arms and begins skipping towards the back door, singing something about having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, which I know is her favorite.

Luckily for us, making our sandwiches proves to be less of a challenge than our pancakes earlier that morning, but that's mainly because I have more practice with slicing bread and spreading peanut butter and jelly. Emma pours both of us glasses of lemonade as I finish up, and we enjoy our lunch together on the back porch in the shade, playing a few games of Twenty Questions, in which Emma beats me brutally at.

As one approaches, we head back inside and I clean the dishes with Emma's help with drying. She tells me about her new friend Hannah as we work, telling me she ran into her while playing out in the front lawn the day my mother took me to the dentist. Apparently the two girls bonded instantly and are now on the friendship level of being able to have play dates.

"Is that what you and Hiccup are having today?" Emma asks me as I walk her out to our mailbox, the beginning point of her journey to Hannah's house. "Are you guys having a play date?"

"I… don't think that term works for kids my age," I explain, running my hand through my hair.

"Well, what term would work for 'kids your age' then?"

I shrug, unable to think of a proper term. "Em, you know I'm not good with words."

She shoots me a smile. "I know."

After kissing her on the top of her head and telling her to be safe, she marches off down the dirt street towards the small ranch house that I can barely see on the horizon - this house, Emma told me, being Hannah's. Once I'm barely able to tell it's Emma I'm watching, I head back towards the garage. I know Hiccup isn't due here for another hour or so, but I may as well get ready for when he arrives.

I take my bike down from its rack, being extra careful to not drop or scratch it. Walking out of the garage and into to the driveway, I head towards this huge tree on the edge of our lot; its branches fan out in all directions, its leaves large and thick, great for blocking out sunlight. As I wheel my bike over to it, propping it up against its thick trunk and taking a seat at its base, I remember that I should've probably put on some sunscreen, since my naturally white complexion has recently turned into more of a light pink due to all the sunlight I've been getting lately. My mother lectured me about this the other night after coming home from my skate park adventure, saying something about how "people like me" shouldn't be getting as much sun as I've been getting, since we burn easily. I didn't quite understand what she meant by "people like me", but I didn't question her - I just nodded and said I would remember to put this sunscreen substance on next time I went out.

I'm about to get up and run inside to apply the weird, white cream Emma introduced to me last night when I see a faint figure in the distance, moving faster than someone traveling on foot. As I get up from the ground, I can see auburn hair whirling around their head, and I smile.

"You're early," I tell Hiccup as he pulls to a stop a few feet in front of me.

"Yeeeeah. Woke up from my nap earlier than I expected," he explains. He uses his prosthetic leg to kick a weird metal rod out from the side of his bike with his foot. After dismounting, the bike doesn't tip over; I assume that this rod may have something to do with this.

"So, uh…" I hear Hiccup go. He claps his hands together, nervousness and maybe a little discomfort imbedded in his eyes. "We should probably get started." After I nod and head back to the tree to retrieve my bike, I hear him add on, "Do you have any gear?"

Turning back towards him, my bike in hand, I give him a confused look.

"Gear," he goes on, looking a little worried. "Like… a helmet and… knee and elbow pads."

I think for a moment, and when the image of all those kids at the skate park wearing those weird hard-hat looking things and Fish putting on those gloves while in his garage snap into my mind, I snap my fingers at him - something my dad does a lot when he remembers things. "

Yeah, yeah, yeah! I think we have something like that," I tell him. "Let me just go get them."

After running and gathering up all the gear that looks like it would be needed to ride a bike, I venture back out in the front lawn, where Hiccup is waiting for me.

"Is this everything I'll need?" I ask, showing him the gear in my arms.

He shuffles through the items and nods his head slowly, flipping his hair out of his eyes. "Yep. You got a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and gloves." He grabs a pair of huge, turquoise and white themed goggles that just so happened to be included the pile, and stares at them with a confused look on his face.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Why exactly did you bring out scuba goggles?"

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. He's giving me this weird look, and I get this constricting feeling in my chest as he places them back in my arms.

"I thought… I don't… maybe I would need them?"

He throws me this smirk and chuckles a bit, shaking his head. "Yeah. Maybe if we were taking a ride underwater. But, last I checked, we're not, so, uh… I think we can do without 'em."

"Okay." I toss the goggles towards the tree as fast as I can, like they're poison. Geez. Of course you don't need goggles for bike riding. How could I be so stupid?

After that fiasco, Hiccup instructs me on putting on my gear, helping me out a bit when one of the gloves doesn't appear to want to slip on to my hand as easily as we'd like. Now that I'm wearing this clunky helmet on my head, having to push the brim up so I can see, I'll admit, I feel kind of like a… oh, what's the word Emma always uses? Oh yeah. A dork.

"Why do I have to wear this thing?" I ask with a tone, pushing the brim up out of my face again. "You're not wearing one."

"Yeah, but that's because, unlike you, I already know how to ride a bike," he explains to me. "It's for your own safety."

I push the brim up again as it begins to slide down into my face. "I don't like it."

"Well, my deepest apologizes, your majesty. Now, if you're done complaining, let's get started."

Hiccup begins my first bike lesson by explaining each part of the bike to me, starting with the handlebars and the absolute importance of the brakes, to the chain wrapped around the pedals and moving to the back tire. He says something about knowing my bike will help me ride it better, and as peculiar as that sounds to me, I don't doubt him. Out of the two of us, he definitely knows more about bikes than I do, so who am I to question his words.

We then move on to me simply walking while on the bike, as to get a sense of balance. It feels odd at first, attempting to walk while carrying this lug of metal under me, the pedals every once and awhile pressing up against my calves annoyingly. After a few rounds of going back and forth though, with Hiccup constantly having to remind me to keep my handlebars straight, I grow more and more comfortable.

"Okay, so now we're going to practice gliding," he tells me once I get back to him from my last round. "Luckily this isn't a sloped area, so you'll be able to stop easily. Just gently push off the ground with your feet and… glide, I guess."

I nod, lifting one my feet off the gravel. As soon as my other foot leaves the ground however, the entire bike shifts to one side, threatening to flatten me to the ground. My body reacts naturally, quickly planting my feet back at my sides. After gaining back my balance, I shoot Hiccup an embarrassed look, my eyes probably completely hidden under the bothersome brim of my helmet.

He opens his mouth as to say something, but then goes to biting on his lower lip as he studies me. "This, uh…" he finally says, "may take some time…"

Instead of letting me glide on my own, he tells me he's going to help keep my balance until I can do it on my own, which I'm thankful for. Placing one of his hands on my handlebar, right alongside my own hand, and the other on the back of my seat, he tells me to lift my feet off the ground. I do as I'm told, and the next thing I know, I'm gliding, not falling all over myself or anything.

"Put your feet on the pedals, Jack!" Hiccup reminds me hurriedly as he jogs me down the dirt road, and I quickly obey. We only glide for a good forty yards, but after I place my feet back on the security of the ground and Hiccup lets go, I definitely feel more confident.

"If you're going to bike slowly, which is what's gonna happen I assume, you'll need to learn to balance yourself using your handlebars," Hiccup explains to me. He walks up and places his hands next to mine on the handlebars again. "You can do this by gently swaying them back and forth. Like this." He begins to maneuver the handlebar to the left and then to the right, causing the front tire to move along with it.

"So… that'll keep me up?" I ask as he lets go.

"Well, it's not guaranteed or anything," he tells me. "You'll still need to, uh… use your body weight to balance yourself. But it'll help."

I nod my head and look down at my feet, sitting on the ground underneath the pedals. Without thinking of what I'm doing, I prop my feet back up on the pieces of metal and lean my weight forward, moving the handlebars like Hiccup just taught me, beginning to pedal gently.

"Jack!" Hiccup yells out, sounding surprised to see my going off by myself, but as soon he sees that I'm moving on my own, none of his assistance required, I hear him let out a laugh and a, "There ya go! That's it!" I concentrate on the handlebar in front of me, thinking about which way the bike's about to lean and quickly turning them in the opposite direction. Things are going fine and I'm beginning to feel proud of myself for getting the hang of this so quickly, until I hear Hiccup behind me yell, "JACK!" again, and I'm suddenly lying on the ground.

Blinking a couple of times, I find that I'm staring up at the leaves waving down at me in the tree I guess I just ran into. Hiccup's face appears in my vision after a couple confusing seconds, and when I smile up at him, he lets out a sigh.

"How'd I do?" I ask.

"You crashed."

"Yeah, but how'd I do?"

He puts out his hand and I take it, allowing him to help me up. Once I'm up, I straight my helmet as he bends down and picks up my bike.

"Number one most important rule of bike riding," he tells me, passing the bike to me. "Always - always - look at where you're going. I mean, come on, man."

After that, I'm not allowed to look down at my feet again, just to prevent any more accidents. I do, however, as the practice of gliding continues, find ways to fall off my bike anyways, being knocked off balance by annoyingly nothing. Each time as I hit the dusty ground though, I thank Hiccup in my mind for telling me to wear elbow and knee pads and, more importantly, gloves. Without these gloves, despite how uncomfortable they are, my hands would probably look like I just sent them through a fan on full speed.

It only takes me another five or so minutes to master gliding without falling off my bike or losing balance. As Hiccup announces to me that he thinks it's time to move on to the next step, I can barely control my happiness. I've almost mastered how to ride a bike; and to think that, just about an half hour ago, I hadn't the faintest idea how to. Hiccup may not be the best teacher when it comes to this - he sounds like he's making most of this stuff up as he goes - but at least I'm moving forward, right?

The next step is to move forwards at a faster rate, and Hiccup says he'll be biking alongside me as I do this. He claims it's so he can keep up with me as I go, but I honestly believe it's because he just wants an excuse to get on his bike.

The next ten-ish minutes is full of momentarily keeping balance, looking ahead, and pedaling my feet, only to be met face to face with the ground again. As I fall for the who-knows-how-many'th time, I let out a frustrated groan.

"Hey, chill," Hiccup tells me, rounding his bike back towards me. "Don't expect to be a master at this after just an hour of practicing. I don't think anyone's that fast of a learner."

"Not even you?" I throw back at him, dusting off my knee pads and getting back on my bike.

"Definitely not even me," he says back, letting out a laugh. "I was, like, the most clumsy kid, alright. I mean, I still kinda am, but it was even worse back then."

I lift my feet off the ground and push forward, rotating my feet with the pedals for a good thirty yards before feeling the loss of balance and quickly planting my feet at my sides again.

"Dang it…

"It's okay," Hiccup reminds me. "You'll get it."

"When did you learn to ride a bike anyways?" I ask, trying at my balance again.

"Eigh, I think I was about seven or so. My dad was the one that taught me, though he wasn't very good at it."

"I guess you take after him then."

"Hey, you know, I don't have to help you learn how to ride. I could totally just let Lout cream you the day of the race."

The smile on my face fades a little as I realize this fact. "Oh… sorry…"

I hear Hiccup chuckle as I almost lose my balance, but quickly reposition myself, keeping me up right. "It's fine. But anyways. He wasn't very good at teaching me. He even forgot to make sure I was wearing gloves, so this one time, when I fell, I completely skinned up my hands. I didn't get back on that bike for, like… a month afterwards, I was so freaked out by it."

"Wow. Really?"

"Yeah. And, uh… my mom was furious at him for it too. Couldn't believe he would let me bike without gloves on."

Losing my balance again, I tip to one side, but quickly catch myself. Hiccup's telling me something about how focusing on something in the distance would help me keep up straight, but all I hear is an illegible version of his voice. I hadn't lost my balance this last time because, well, I had lost my balance, but because a thought that has never occurred to me before presented itself in my mind.

Hiccup had just told me the story of the first time he rode a bike. He elaborated on a specific detail that he remembers even to this day, and he even recalled other people's reactions to it as well. He had told a story that even I could picture in my mind; given I don't know exactly what Hiccup here looked like when he was seven, but it's not that hard to guess. By hearing this story though, I was able to actually imagine, to actually see, someone else's memory.

And I'll never be able to do that with my own.

"Hey. You alright?"

Coming back into reality, I see Hiccup looking over his shoulder, a somewhat concerned expression on as he studies me. The other half of his expression, however, seems impressed, because I've been gliding without somehow stumbling off my bike this entire time.

"Yeah," I assure him with my best attempt at a smile, which I can guarantee is weak and unconvincing. "Just, uh… just thinking… about something."

"Best to keep your mind clear when you race," he tells me, turning back towards the road. "Or, in your case, when you're just riding in general. Don't want'cha running into any more trees, now do we."

As I let out a laugh, recalling the earlier memory, Hiccup pulls to a stop, so I follow suit. Looking ahead, I see that we've just reached what appears to be the top of a hill, both of us sitting at the highest point, looking down the long slope.

"Wanna give it a try?" I hear Hiccup ask from beside me.

"What? You mean… go down this hill?"

Hiccup shrugs. "If you feel like you're ready. Most of it will just be gliding, but what you'll need to focus on more is brake control. You don't wanna go too fast, right? So-"

"I'll need to have my hands on my brakes the entire time," I finish for him.

He gives me a quick nod, impressed that I remembered that from the first portion of my lessons. "Think you can handle that?"

I let out a soft sigh, staring down at the decently slopped hill. Where the road begins to level out, there's a T-section, one end leading back into town a whiles off, the other appearing to be heading into a small patch of wooded area.

"Okay," I finally go. "I'll, uh… I'll do it."

Hiccup smiles as he lifts one of his feet off the ground and places it firmly on his pedal. "That's the spirit."

We push off together, and as soon as my bike inches forward, I can feel it picking up an immense amount of speed. I do as Hiccup taught me when we started the lesson and press lightly on the brakes encased in my fingers. To my relief, I begin to slow down, but not too much as to still be rolling at a decent speed down the hill.

"There you go," I hear Hiccup praise me a few yards behind. "Now, if you wanna pick up speed, release the brakes, 'kay?"

I do as he suggests and unwrap my fingers from around the brake. In only seconds, I can feel that I'm going a bit faster than before.

Looking away from my hands, I stare back up at the road, and that's when it hits me. Having all this wind whipping around my face and through my hair sticking out from under this helmet feels freeing, like I can do, oh I don't know, some weird bike trick right now if I really tried. I have to squint my eyes just in order to see Hiccup speeding down a head of me now, his body lifted completely off his seat, his prosthetic leg appearing to be doing as much worm as his real one, his arms straight above the handlebars, his auburn hair dancing as he practically stands on his pedals. For some reason, I have the urge to see his face, to see the expression he holds when he's just simply riding a bike like this.

Hiccup says something back to me, but he doesn't say it loud enough for me to hear over my own thoughts. I'm still looking at him when his head whips back towards me, the expression I was expecting to see on his face not there; instead of a bright smile, his eyes squinted over like me through his messy mane, his eyes are wide as he lets out a yell that I can now hear.

"Jack! Watch out!"

I look forward, and that's when I see it.

A car, heading straight at me.

Without a moment of hesitation, I jerk my handlebars as hard as I can to the right, causing my front wheel and everything else to follow. The car lets out a piercing honk as it swerves around where I had just been, and I even think I hear Hiccup curse out loud as I roll off the road. My front tire comes in contact with some sort of hole, leading to me falling off and landing rather roughly to the rigid, jagged ground, a shocking pain rocketing up my forearm.

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It had all happens so far.

One minute, we're both just gliding down the hill like it's no big deal, the wonderful wind blowing all around me, feeling like I'm about to take off from the ground and fly into the air. Then the next moment, I'm letting out every curse word I know as Jack somehow magically dodges the car that appeared out of almost nowhere, falling straight into a ditch on the other side of the road.

I launch myself off my bike, allowing it to skid to the ground without much care. I hear the car pull to a halt and the sound of a door bursting open reaches my ears as I sprint across the road and jump into the ditch.

Jack's just lying there, his helmet hanging slightly off the side of his head as he holds on to his forearm. I pay no attention to his abandoned bike, now covered in a thick layer of gravel, as I kneel down beside him, straightening the helmet on his head.

"Gods. Are you alright?" I ask through heavy breaths. "Ah man, that was really close, Jack! You could have died if you hadn't dodged that car!"

He looks up at me, his blue eyes still looking a little shocked with what had just happened. "Y-yeah," he tells me, his voice shaking as he speaks. "Yeah. I-I think I just got a little cut. No big deal." Lifting his hand from his arm, he reveals to me a series of about four to five lengthy cuts running down from his shoulder to the top of his elbow pad, trickles of blood seeping out of them.

"Oh, wow, man," I say, panic beginning to rise in my chest. I should've been paying more attention to him than I was. Instead of watching his back, I was too busy thinking about what I saw between my dad and Bertha last night; hell, that's all I've managed to think about today when I haven't been instructing Jack with his biking. Some teacher I am.

"Is it bad?" Jack asks, breaking my train of thought. "Am I going to die?"

"No, you idiot. You're not gonna die," I tell him. "We, uh… we really need to get-"

"Hey… i-is he okay?"

Both of us turn our heads in the direction of the higher sounding voice in sync, and I come eye to eye with a small girl with short dark hair, bright highlights trailing through certain strands. She's leaned forward, her hands propped up on her knees as she looks worryingly down at the two of us with her huge pink hued eyes.

"Yeah," I reply, trying to get my voice steady again. "Yeah. He just took a-"

"Tooth?"

I look quickly over at Jack, who's now sitting up on his good arm, staring up at the girl with squinted eyes, like he's trying to make sure he isn't mistaken with who she is.

Apparently he isn't, because her eyes get big as she says back, "J-Jack? Wait… Jack?"

"You know her?" I ask him, and he gives me series of small nods, not taking his eyes off of the girl. Before I can ask how, he's up on his feet, still clutching on to his damaged arm. His legs are still shaking a bit from his earlier impact, so I wrap my arm around his thin waist as we climb our way out of the ditch together.

"A-are you okay, Jack?" this girl Jack referred to as Tooth asks as we emerge from the hole. "I… I didn't even see you. I mean, I guess I did… but I assumed you'd move out the way, and then you didn't and I totally panicked and-"

"Tooth, Tooth. It's fine," Jack assure her from beside me, somehow managing to put on a decently looking smile after what had just happened. "It's okay. It was my fault."

I look down at his arm to see that some of his blood as transferred itself on to my bare shoulder, leaving a couple small, red blotches on my skin. "So, it's great that you guys are all hunky dory and whatnot, but can we all agree that it doesn't matter who caused this and get this kid patched up?" I ask with a hurried tone. "He's getting blood all over me."

The Tooth girl pipes up then, saying she has a first aid kit hidden somewhere in her car, so we follow her to her old Volkswagen two-door just down the street a ways. She's got herself halfway in the car, ripping and tossing things around inside, as I lower Jack to sitting position against the front tire.

"Sorry about this," he apologizes softly. "I should've been watching where I was going."

"Like hell you should've," I let out with a laugh, and he smiles back at me.

"Sorry…"

"It's… it's fine. As long as you're alright, then it doesn't matter." I look over at Tooth, who's now completely disappeared into her car, rummaging through the passenger's seat. "How do you even know this chick anyways? I've never seen her before in my life."

"I think her dad's my dentist or something," Jack explains to me, looking briefly over at Tooth, stilling tearing through her car. "I meet her when I went in for a checkup a couple of days ago. We talked some."

"Is her real name actually Tooth?"

"Pfft. If her name's actually Tooth, then that means you lied to me and your name's actually Hiccup."

Giving him a hard glare, all he does is smirk back at me.

"No, her name's not actually Tooth. She, uh… she has a tooth on her necklace. I don't actually know her real name. It was just the first thing that popped into my mind."

"Here it is!" Tooth pulls herself out form the front seat, a small, white box with a red cross made out of duct tape printed clearly on the front. She crouches down on the opposite side of Jack, lifting the lid of the box open. "Do you think band aids will do?"

"I think we're going to need something a little bit bigger than just band aids," I tell her. She leans across Jack to take a look at his cuts, and when she sees them after he removes his now slightly blood stained hand, her eyes grow as wide as a deer's caught in headlights. The small girl instantly goes back to trifling through the box, mumbling something about maybe having some gauze strips somewhere in there. When she successfully finds the gauze and some antibiotic ointment, the two of us switch spots, making it to where she has better access to Jack's wounds.

"What's that?" Jack asks as Tooth rips open one of the antibiotic packets.

I give him a weird look, since who doesn't know what that horrid stuff is - I'm pretty sure every kid while growing up hated that stuff with a burning passion. Jack doesn't see me give him the skeptic look though, because Tooth is telling him it's to make sure his cuts don't get infected.

"Is it going to hurt?" he asks next, looking wearily at the opened packet in her hand.

Tooth looks hesitant, but answers truthfully. "A little."

"It's just gonna sting for a moment," I warn him.

He nods his head and allows his body to tense up as Tooth reaches out for his arm and begins to apply the ointment. He cringes, his pale hands turning into fists as he lets out a hissing sound. Tooth soothes him though with her words, telling him it'll be over soon. I wish there was something for me to do, since, I'll admit, it is partly my fault he's in this mess, but I can't think of anything to do rather than just crouch here and try and be supportive.

Tooth plants one of the gauze strips to the top of Jack's wound, asking me to hold it there as she rips off some tape. She makes fast work of this, getting the entirety of the cut covered in less time than it would've taken me to just cut the first strip of tape.

In no time, Jack's all patched up and is as good as new.

"Thanks for all your help," I say to Tooth once Jack's wandered back towards the ditch to collect his probably brutally damaged bike. "How exactly do you, uh… know Jack anyways?"

The dark skinned girl lets out a small grin as she runs her hand through her wavy hair. "Ah. Well… I'm an intern at my dad's dentist office, you see, and he, well… Jack showed my little sis a magic trick." She lets out a laugh, like she can remember the incident like it was yesterday. "And uh… he asked me if I was the tooth fairy."

I try to fight from allowing a smile to spread across my face at hearing this, but it's useless. "That seems like something he would ask."

Tooth smiles in return. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. He's uh… he's kinda a weirdo… honestly."

We both look over as Jack emerges from the ditch with his bike all coated in dirt. Now that I look at it, I guess the "damage" done to it isn't all too bad; nothing a good hose down and a quick polish job can't fix.

"Ever since that day though, I've always wondered… why the tooth fairy?" I hear Tooth ask more to herself than to me. "I mean… I get that we were at a dentist's office, but…"

Remembering what Jack had told me earlier, I point at her necklace, the one Jack had mentioned held a tiny tooth on it. Looking at me a bit confused, her hand moves up and touches it.

"My… my necklace?"

"There's a tooth on it," I point out the obvious.

Tooth lifts the charm from her collarbone, a laugh coming from her grin as she looks back down at the tooth between her fingers.

"Of course. I should've thought of that…"

"Should've thought of what?" Jack ask as he approaches us, his bike by his side.

"Thanks again for all your help, uh… Tooth," I go, making it to where neither of us have to answer Jack's question, just to steer clear of any potential awkwardness." I was, uh… not gonna lie, but I definitely wasn't prepared for he to take a spill like that. So thanks for being here to, y'know… help out and stuff."

"Yeah, well, you two need to be more careful," Tooth lectures us, though she still has that toothy grin on from before. "Luckily Jack here was wearing the proper gear, so that helped him more than anything."

I nudge him in the arm, and he rolls his blue eyes.

"I'll be more careful, don't worry," he tells her. "Thanks though, Tooth."

By the look on her face, I can tell Tooth's in that awkward position where you can tell she was about to turn and leave, but then thought of something else to say, but is still contemplating on whether or not she wants to say it. Before I can ask her what's wrong, she simply says, "Ana."

"Hm?" Jack and I both go on cue.

"My name's… my name's Ana. Ana Farry."

I raise my eyebrows, surprised to hear that I actually have heard that name before somewhere at school. I think this girl was the valedictorian last year for the sophomore class or something, except, on the announcements, they introduced her as Tatiana Farry, not just Ana.

"I like Tooth more," I hear Jack say next to me with a shrug. "Suits you better, I think."

Tooth opens her mouth, but closes it before any words can come out. I probably would've had the same reaction if someone had said something like that to me, but by the way Tooth is smiling at Jack and nodding her head, I can't quite say that she disagrees with him.

"Yeah, well… see ya, boys," she says, reopening the driver's door of her car and flicking her hand in our directions. "Say outta trouble now, you hear?"

Jack replies first. "Can't make any promises."

Tooth gives him a knowing look, followed with an eye roll and a shake of the head. As I hear her put her car into gear and drive off down the road, I make my way over to where I had dropped my bike, hoping I hadn't done too much damage when I jumped off of it earlier. I pick up the bike, dusting off the seat, as Jack walks up to my side, his bike still in hand.

"You're turning into a real sass master," I tell him. "Talking to a girl you barely know like that."

"Well, you know," he says back, smiling. "I am learning from the best."