Astrid had not slept in three days. She sat at the counter, Her laptop open in front of her and a glass of water sitting next to it. Yes, water. After the incident in the coffee shop she was not taking a chance with anything else.

Her fingers remained frozen over the keys as she watched the blinking black line. Everything she had spent the last three nights thinking about, planning, seemed pointless. How was she supposed to tell her parents through an email that a stranger had gotten her pregnant? And that he came nowhere near the expectations they had set for her?

Astrid's mother, Ingrid Hofferson, was a kind woman. Loving, selfless, and proud. The picture wife and mother that you only see in magazines. But she still saw Astrid as the girl she had once been. Prom queen, varsity volleyball team captain, and teacher's pet. In a word, perfect.

Except she had not been that girl since Scott broke up with her for a pretty junior. She had realized that day that she didn't boys or money or popularity if she had friends that loved her for who she was. And then she had met the Thorston twins who, although crazy, accepted her.

Her father was an entirely different book. Astrid had always been closer to him than her mother because of how calm he was. He loved her, but he didn't set impossible standards that she had to jump to come even close to reaching. He had been at every game, taken her picture with Scott before every dance, and been her rock when the other girls had pushed her away. She couldn't bring herself to tell him and shatter the image he held of her. Her mother would be disappointed, yes, but her father would be genuinely hurt.

She closed the email and shut her laptop. There was no way to tell them without meeting in person. It would only hurt them more if she did it through an email. She would just have to find a way to break the news to them when she went back to Minnesota.

"You know, we should probably get going soon if we're gonna meet up with the guys," Ruffnut said as she came into the kitchen. The straps of her purple swimsuit were visible through the neck of her t-shirt and she held a bag filled with towels, water bottles, and sunscreen.

Astrid stood, nodding. She undid her braid as she walked into her bedroom. She undressed and threw all of her swimsuits on her bed. Each one seemed to taunt her, telling her that pregnant college students didn't deserve to have fun, that she was too fat to pull of a bikini.

She held up a black one piece to the mirror and sighed. No, she might have been pregnant but she didn't want to look like someone twice her age. She dropped it back on the bed and picked up a light blue two piece. It did go well with her eyes, but it highlighted the small bump where her toned lower abdomen had once been. But seeing as the only other swimsuit she had was a red and white striped bikini that had been tiny before she had gotten pregnant, she didn't have much of a choice.

She put her swimsuit on and pulled on a tank top and a pair of denim shorts. She left her hair down as it was still curly from being in a braid overnight and walked out of her bedroom.

Ruff was waiting for her by the door. She groaned and threw it open, stomping into the hall. "Finally. I thought you had freaked and climbed out your window or something.

"You know, when you're six weeks pregnant, I'll laugh when you get self-conscious about wearing a bikini," Astrid whispered as they approached 11B.

"Oh, don't worry. Hiccup will probably faint when he sees you in a bikini. And then he'll run away screaming when you tell him that you're pregnant with his kid," Ruff laughed.

Astrid punched her shoulder. "Shut up. Everyone is going to hear you."

"Ouch. You're gonna be one of those moms."

"What are you talking about?" Astrid hissed, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I can totally see it. When you drop your kid off at school, you're gonna give all of his teachers a death glare. And if your kid is bullied, you'll totally kick the other kid's ass yourself. Badass mom."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "So where's Heather?"

"Right here!"

They turned to see their roommate jogging down the hall towards them, her glossy black ponytail swinging. The long shirt she was wearing reached the middle of her thighs, her swimsuit visible underneath.

Astrid turned away and knocked on the door, hoping that Heather hadn't overheard their conversation. She really didn't another person, who wasn't Hiccup, knowing about her pregnancy. He was already going to be upset, and it really would not help if he found out that he was the last person to know.

She smiled when Hiccup opened the door, a towel slung over his shoulder. Scott, Tuff, and a blond boy followed him into the hallway. The blond introduced himself as Frankie, but told them that he proffered Fishlegs.

Astrid couldn't help but notice that Scott's eyes lingered on Heather for a little too long. She wasn't looking back at him though. Her jade eyes followed Hiccup, a small smile on her lips. Astrid resisted the urge to elbow the dark-haired girl and ran to catch up with Hiccup.

"Hey," she said.

He gave her a weak smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and nodded. One of his hands rose to rub the back of his neck before falling back to his side.

Astrid frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. Great. It would already be hard enough to tell him about the baby, but knowing that he was already uncomfortable just walking next to her was definitely not helping.

Within a few minutes they made it to the beach, and Astrid helped Heather lay out a couple of beach towels. They talked as they laid down and watched the others, except Fishlegs, who was sitting next to Astrid and reading a book, dash into the water. Astrid's eyes lingered the longest on Hiccup, and she thought back to the pink box with three positive pregnancy tests in it sitting next to her sink back in the apartment.

Heather pulled her long t-shirt over her head, revealing a black bikini and a smooth, flat stomach that made Astrid's hand gravitate toward her own not-so-flat stomach. She glared at the other girl out of the corner of her eye as she followed them into the water.

Heather splashed water at Ruffnut, who then shoved her into the water. Her brother laughed and held his sister underwater until she punched him in the ribs while Hiccup bent down to help Heather up. She smiled and said something that made him blush.

Astrid fumed as she watched them. She didn't even know why she was upset. She had no right to be; they had not known each other long enough to be friends, let alone date. It must have been the hormones. Yes. Stupid hormones.

After a while Hiccup left the others, a lopsided smile on his lips. Her blue eyes flicked in his direction as he sat down on the beach towel Heather had abandoned.

"So…" he trailed off.

"Yeah?" Astrid asked.

"How are you, uh, how are you doing?"

Astrid sat up, her eyebrows disappearing beneath her bangs. If Ruff had told him about her condition she had better pray that someone stopped Astrid before she could get to her.

"What are you talking about?" Astrid asked too quickly, her voice wavering. She bit her lip, hoping that he hadn't noticed, and sat up straighter.

Hiccup looked over at Fishlegs, who was too interested in his book to notice that either of them were there. He looked back at Astrid, his green eyes speaking volumes more than words ever could. "Can we go somewhere else?"

She nodded and followed him to a picnic bench far enough away from the others that they couldn't overhear the conversation she had been dreading. She sat down across from him, her heart pounding against her ribcage.

"Um, well you see, the guys and I, sometimes we play this game. I-It's called- uh, Astrid?"

Her head snapped up. She nodded so that he would know that she had been listening. Well, trying to anyway. It was nearly impossible to hear over that angry voice in the back of her mind.

"It's called D-Dungeons & D-Dragons. I was just wondering if maybe you, uh, wanted come over and play sometime?" His eyes met hers as he finished.

She bit her lip. She was Astrid Hofferson, she wasn't one to be associated with nerds. But considering the fact that said nerd had knocked her up, she didn't have much of a choice. She nodded.

A wide grin broke out across Hiccup's face. His eyes lit up, and she found herself smiling back. "This is great! I have to go tell Fishlegs so we can help you with your character sheet-"

Her smile faded. "Hiccup, I need to tell you something," she said.

He sat back down, his eyebrows knit together over confused emerald eyes. He waited as she took a staggering breath and folded her hands in her lap.

"Before I can say this, I need you to promise that you aren't going anywhere," she said.

The shadow of a smile graced his lips. "Of course. We're friends now, right? Why? What's going on, Astrid?"

She remembered Ruff's words: Friend's don't get drunk and do each other. As vulgar as they were, their meaning struck something in her chest, leaving a cold, empty feeling in their wake.

"N-Nothing. We should probably get back to the others." She stood up and walked away from the picnic table, struggling to ignore the stirring in her belly as she rejoined their friends.

Astrid frowned at her melting chocolate ice cream cone. She watched the others talk and laugh out of the corner of her eye, but didn't join in. She sighed and licked her ice cream slowly, her mind racing.

Ruffnut noticed this and elbowed Astrid. The other girl glared at her. "Hey, what's got your panties in a wad?" She leaned closer. "Is it Hotcup? 'Cause I'd totally tap that if I were you, hands down. Then again, looking at you I'd say you already-"

Astrid shoved her away, and Ruff grabbed the edge of the table to keep herself in the booth. "I don't want to talk about it here," Astrid whispered.

"Did you tell him?"

Astrid ignored her and licked her ice cream cone. Her eyes remained downcast as she did so, even when Ruff called her name. The taller girl grabbed her ice cream cone and angled it so that ice cream was smeared all over Astrid's nose.

"Rachel!" She yelled. She grabbed a handful of napkins wiped the ice cream away, some of it running down her neck. There was nothing could do about the stickiness, but at least the ice cream had been cleaned up. She threw the napkins away and the rest of her ice cream cone away and sat back down.

The other were watching them now. Astrid ran a hand over her face and looked back at them. "There's an early game tomorrow morning, we should probably get going," she said. She grabbed Ruff's wrist and glared at Heather until the dark-haired girl stood up.

Heather smiled at Scott as she followed Astrid. "I'll call you later," she said. Astrid rolled her eyes and pulled Ruff toward the door. The bell chimed as they walked through the door.

"What the hell was that?" Heather asked once they were a safe distance away.

"We have an early game tomorrow. You should know that; you were the one who sent out schedules," Astrid said. She let go of Ruff's wrist and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Since when is nine o'clock early to you? You've always been the one to wake me up for those games, not the other way around!" Heather quirked an eyebrow at her and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, her hands resting on her hips.

Astrid kept her eyes on the roof of their apartment complex, just visible over the tops of the trees beside the sidewalk. Only a few more minutes until she could take of her wet swimsuit and take a soothing hot shower, just what she needed after the week she had had.

Ruff's voice broke through her reverie, "Since Hiccup knocked her up."

"You're pregnant?!"

Astrid whirled on the dark-haired girl, livid. "Don't you dare say anything to Hiccup or anyone else, or so help me I will kill you with my bare hands," she hissed. The girl blinked her jade eyes owlishly at her.

"You haven't told him? Astrid, you can't keep him in the dark forever!" Ruff said.

"I will. I'm just… I'm not even sure if I'm keeping it," Astrid confessed. She turned on her heel and walked away from them.

"That's his kid too, Astrid. He gets just as much of a say in this as you do," Ruff called as she jogged to catch up.

"I know, I'll tell him. I just don't know how," Astrid sighed. They came to the familiar glass double doors and stepped into the cool air-conditioned building. The walk upstairs was antagonizing slow, with Ruff and Heather on her heels the entire time begging for answers that she didn't have.

"Astrid, you slept with Henry Haddock?" Heather asked slowly.

Astrid opened her mouth her mouth to correct her but snapped it shut. "I was drunk. Drunk people make stupid mistakes."

"Judging by the way you guys look at each other, it wasn't a mistake."

Astrid groaned as she slid her key into the lock. It clicked and she opened the door. "I've only known him for a month, Heather. It's not happening."

"You are pregnant with his baby, Astrid. Of course it's happening!" Heather laughed humorlessly.

"Not If I do something about it," Astrid mumbled. Neither of the girls heard her, and watched as she stormed into her bedroom and locked the door. She could hear them talking about her outside, but didn't dare open it.

Astrid took a deep breath before walking into her bathroom and turning the shower on. Steam clouded the mirror as she slowly undressed and stepped under the warm spray. She pushed her wet hair back from her face and closed her eyes, the hot water hitting her face and shoulders.

As much as she wanted to hide away from the world until the whole ordeal had blown over, She knew she couldn't do that to Hiccup. She had come so close to telling him at the beach until he had brought up Dungeons & Dragons and her progress had crumbled before her eyes. Somehow she had to tell him. But when?

She worked her vanilla-scented shampoo into her hair as she thought, her finger scraping against her scalp. Was she crying? She couldn't tell as warm water droplets pelted her cheeks.

Maybe she could mention it in a phone call. But then again, it was a bit too much for a phone call. It wasn't everyday that you found out that you were going to be a parent. The coffee shop was out of the picture, leaving only one other place in her mind.

Hiccup had mentioned that he played Dungeons & Dragons every Sunday with the guys. That meant that when she went over next Sunday, she could tell him then and his reaction wouldn't be nearly as dramatic because of the distraction the game provided. But until then the only thing she could do was hope that her roommates kept their mouths shut.

She stepped out of the shower when the water began to grow cold. A flash of pink caught her eye as she was wrapping a towel around her body. The First Response box was still sitting right where she had left it next to the sink, the tests inside untouched since last Saturday. She had thought about throwing them away, like destroying the evidence at the scene of a murder, but there was no use. Too many people knew and sooner or later Hiccup would find out.

Astrid shoved the box under the sink and stalked out of the bathroom.

Make sure you vote on the poll I have posted in my profile!