This chapter contains an OC. The idea was given to me by Kirsten Hertz. Thank you, Kirsten for the idea.
Back To School
Toothless was flying in the air with Hailey on his back. They were flying through the clouds. The fluffiness of the clouds calmed him, but he could feel Hailey trembling on his back. Though, he could not blame her. The battle at school seemed to have affected both of them, making them afraid to return to the school. Vorpent had sent out six of his evil dragons to the school in attempt to end the days of Toothless and his rider.
They managed to get rid of them, but not before one of the dragons were able to make a huge burn on Hailey's back. Thankfully, Toothless healed the burn. Unfortunately, there was still a large scar on the girl's back, left to haunt Hailey to the end of her days, reminding her of the terrifying battle. Luckily, that battle is over, no one was killed, and the two felt safe enough to return to school, though not without each other.
To Toothless' relief, Stephen Hanson, Hailey's father and principle to the school, had allowed Toothless to return to school alongside his rider. Toothless was glad to see her up and about, ready to come back to school, even after the traumatizing battle. Her scar had obviously not bothered her in the slightest, but Toothless could see the stress in her eyes. Before they took off, Hailey had strapped her bag on tight while securing her phone in the saddle. Toothless was getting tired by flying. He had not done it in a while and his wings were un-exercised.
"How far are we from the school?" Toothless asked loudly, having to roar because of the strong winds.
"We're almost there, bud!" his rider replied. Toothless could feel fear radiating off of his human.
"Are you alright?" Toothless made a quick glance at Hailey to see her eyes filled with fear as she met his gaze.
"Um, yeah." She gave Toothless a sad smile that broke his heart. He hated seeing his human scared or in pain. "Go down... here!" Toothless lowered himself to the ground, landing behind the school.
"Are you sure you're ready to come back here?" he asked as Hailey dismounted from the saddle. She took her phone out of the saddle, shoving it into her bag and zipping it closed. Then she turned to face the worried Night Fury.
"Not really, but I never miss more that one consecutive day. Besides, I have to face this place sooner or later." Toothless opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced as Hailey placed a gentle hand on the side of his head.
The dragon sighed, looking at the ground, then back at Hailey. "I'm just... worried about you. You've almost died three times now! That's too close for comfort. With those odds, it's just terrifying me to leave your side. If I leave, then something bad happens. It's hard for me to take my eyes off you. And when you try to shake it off, even though I can see you're scared, it breaks my heart." Hailey knelt down, pressing her forehead against Toothless'.
"It'll be alright, Tooth." she said, comfortingly. "You won't loose me. I'll try to be more careful. Okay?" She kissed the top of his head, earning a purr from him.
"Okay." Toothless gave her one lick before asking, "What do I do here?"
Hailey stood up, keeping her hand on the Night Fury. "I think the coach would like it if you helped the others with their training." Toothless tilted his head to the side, wondering if she meant training like hers.
As if reading his mind she added, "No not like my training. Stuff like running around the field, shooting the soccer ball into the goal. You know, motivating them." Finally understanding, he nodded.
"But when do I get to see you?" Toothless looked up with pleading eyes.
"At noon." The dragon again tilted his head to one side again, not understanding the human time terms. Hailey scratched the top of her head, obviously trying to remember a different time name.
Her face lighting up, she said, "Sunhigh! I'll be at the left side of the school. You know, the cafeteria with all of the big openable windows? I'll be at the nearest table to the window." Toothless nodded. He then shoved her toward the door. "Okay! Okay! I'm going. See ya later, Tooth!" He watched as Hailey ran into the school, along with a bunch of other people he didn't know.
He turned around to see boys running around the field, the coach blowing a small metal thing and yelling at the teens on the field. 'Might as well go help out the coach.' Toothless thought. He bounded over to the coach, slightly bumping his back. Turning around, the coach saw Toothless looking up at him.
"You here to help?" he asked. Toothless nodded, knowing that only Hailey understood his language. The coach nodded and told him to motivate the boys to run faster. Toothless had a mischievous plan forming in his head. He ran after the teens on the field, roaring at them, making them move faster. Some of them laughed as Toothless ran with them. The teens kept their pace with Toothless as they ran for as long as the coach intended.
# * #
Hailey was sitting in her desk in the math room, her workbook opened on her desk, ready for the teacher to check it. Though, the day had been weird for her. She would always catch this blonde dude staring at her. For a while, she thought it was Adam. But every class, he had moved a seat closer to Hailey. This time he was right next to her. The teacher passed by her, smiling as he did so. He put a check mark on her workbook. Then he walked to the next desk, doing his usual checking thing. Once he finished, he addressed the class, making them shut up.
"Today, I would like you to pair up and work on today's assignment. It's fairly easy so you'll be able to figure it out. Today is symmetry." As soon as he finished saying that, the class was chaos. But the teacher didn't seem to mind. He just went to his desk, beginning his paper work. Hailey shook her head, grabbed her workbook and walked over to Frank.
"Frank, you wanna work on the assignment?" she asked. Frank nodded and she sat down in a chair next to his desk, pulling it over. The two took no less than 10 minutes to complete the page which had about 50 problems. As soon as they finished, Hailey went back to her desk as Frank began reading his dragon book. When she sat down, the blonde boy who had been staring at her, walked up to her and pulled up a seat.
It took Hailey a moment to realize his presence. She turned to look at him to see him staring at her, seeming to be in a daze. "Can I help you?" she asked warily. The boy shook his head, seeming to snap himself out of his daze. He then put out his hand, only to have Hailey stare at it for a moment, half expecting it to slap her in the face.
"I'm Dylan," he said, urging his hand forward. Hailey soon realized that Dylan wanted to shake hands with her. So she did. "You?" Hailey tilted her head before understanding he wanted her name.
"The name's Hailey." As she finished saying that, Dylan mouthed the words, and Hailey assumed he was making sure he heard right. She was about to ask if he needed anything before Adam came up to her, tapping her shoulder. She turned her attention away from Dylan and faced Adam, already half way out of her seat.
"Relax, I won't hurt you." he soothed. Hailey, who was still wary, relaxed slightly. "I only do that to show off. I promise I won't hurt you." Hailey, trusting Adam, nodded and turned around in her chair, turning her back to Dylan who she had just been talking to.
"What do you need?" she asked as he knelt next to her desk, placing his workbook on it.
"I need help with this math problem." he pointed to the math problem that had not been answered. It was a complex shape, but Hailey could see that it was symmetrical. It could be divided in more ways than one. "I don't understand. I thought it was supposed to have only one line, but it looks like it could have more."
"That's because it can. Look," she scooted her chair over, pointing to the unanswered problem. "this shape has to be rotated so it can be symmetrical. You're looking at it like it has to stay the same." Hailey took out a pencil. "If you rotate the shape to the right, you can divide it evenly, see?" Adam nodded and drew lines on it. Then he looked to Hailey, asking if it was right. She nodded, making Adam fist pump in the air.
"Thanks, Hailey." he put out his fist, making Hailey flinch. "Fist bump?" Understanding, Hailey returned by bumping her fist against his. Yep, this day had officially been the strangest.
Hailey hated Wednesdays for one reason only; her lunch was at two o' clock. Her stomach had grumbled its way all through English 101. She was in the hallway, grabbing her lunch out of her locker. She pulled it out, shifting her backpack on her shoulders. She then closed her locker, looking up to the left like she felt something move. And to no surprise, Dylan was leaning against the lockers, arms folded.
"Hey, Dylan," Hailey greeted awkwardly. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if I could sit next to you at lunch." He pushed off of the lockers, shoving his hand in his pocket.
"Sure, but don't you need a lunch?" She gestured at the empty handed boy.
"Oh! Yeah. Right, thanks for reminding me." he then ran off to the lunch room, leaving Hailey in confusion.
'Strange little man.' she thought as she walked towards the lunch room. When she got there, she saw Toothless' head poking out through the window at the far left. She smiled as she walked over there, sitting next to her dragon.
"How did you like helping with the boys?" she asked in Dragonese.
"It was awesome!" he exclaimed, shocking everyone in the cafeteria. When they saw it was just the Night Fury, they all shrugged and went back to eating. "Maybe I should whisper." he said in a lower voice.
"Yeah, that would be best." She chuckled and scratched him behind the ear.
"Anyway, the guys are awesome! They played this game called 'football'. And it was amazingly fun. I didn't know humans could have this much fun! I need to come here everyday." Toothless looked at Hailey with excited eyes. But his eyes soon softened when he saw Hailey's disturbance. "Are you okay?"
"Well, there's this guy Dylan. He keeps staring at me and it's sort of creeping me out." Hailey flinched as she watched Toothless growl lowly in his throat.
"Oh, he better not be hitting on my mate." he grumbled making Hailey smile. She rubbed his head appreciatively. "Well, you're mine. I don't want any other guy to have you."
"Not even my father?" she joked lightening Toothless up. Toothless chuckled. "You hungry?"
"Nah." the dragon shook his head. "I was able to catch some fish in the lake nearby, so I'm all fed." Hailey nodded, kissing his nose.
"Hailey!" a voice shouted across the room. Hailey recognized it as Frank. She turned to see Frank heading towards her, his lunch at hand. Hailey put her lunch bag on the table. She heard Toothless growl. So she put a reassuring hand on him, showing him that Frank was okay. Toothless nodded and gave the boy a gummy smile. Frank waved excitedly.
"Excited about seeing a real live dragons?" Hailey asked as he sat down across from her.
"Of course! So that picture you drew of a Night Fury, you keep it as a pet?" Hailey widened her eyes at the word pet.
"No! Toothless is not my pet! Nor will he ever be a pet." She shook her head. Frank nodded understanding.
"So if he's not a pet, then what is he to you?" Frank leaned forward in interest. Hailey knew she could trust Frank. But she wasn't sure if she should tell him or not.
As if reading her mind, Toothless whispered, "Go ahead and tell him." She looked at him questionably before he nodded. She turned to face Frank to see he was in his exact same position.
"Alright, can you keep a secret?" Frank nodded as Hailey leaned forward. "Toothless, the dragon, is my mate." As she leaned back, Frank looked confused for a second before letting out a silent 'aah' and nodding. He dug into his food as Hailey pulled out hers. As soon as she started eating, Dylan came over. He sat down next to Frank, nodding his hello to him. But Frank just dug straight into his food, not even paying attention to the people around him.
"Alright then," Dylan said, turning to Hailey. He soon jumped back out of his seat, landing on his back. "What in Thor's name is that thing?!" He kept his eyes on the dragon.
Offended, Hailey snapped back, "Toothless is not a thing! He's my dragon!" She put one hand on her hip and the other on Toothless, who was trying not to laugh at Dylan. The boy scoffed.
"A dragon! Right." He stood up, brushing off the dirt on his shirt, trying to look as dignified as possible. "Hailey, you may be cute, but talking about things like a dragon? Come on." Hailey's eyes widened as Dylan slapped a hand over his mouth. Her face flushed red as the entire cafeteria went silent. All eyes were on her and Dylan. She looked around and caught a glimpse of Adam who looked like he was about to burst out in anger.
She heard Toothless growl and before she knew it, she was dragged out of the window and behind the school. She looked to Toothless as he set her down, him standing between her and the school. Toothless looked like he was about to explode in anger. Hailey had never seen him like this before and it kind of scared her.
"Toothless?" she asked warily. Toothless looked up at her and she saw emotions swirling about. But the strongest one was fear.
"Hailey, you're not going to leave me, are you?" Toothless asked, his voice cracked as if he were about to cry.
"What? Toothless, I would never leave you. Not for anyone." She knelt down to his eye level, holding his head in her hands. "I promise I won't leave you. And I don't intend to break that promise." Hailey could barely see the tears forming in Toothless' eyes. He stepped forward and hung his head over her shoulders. Hailey wrapped her arms around his neck, calming him. She felt cold water droplets drop on her back.
She looked up to the sky, expecting to see the clouds gray. But there were hardly any clouds at all. They had all disappeared. She turned her head to look at Toothless. She could faintly see it, but there were small water drops at the corner of his eyes.
"Aw, Tooth." Hailey soothed. She brought his head around to face her. "You know that I would never leave you." Toothless nodded, tears still coming out. He quickly buried his head into her chest. She rested her head on his as she patiently waited for him to calm down. Once he did, he lifted his head from her chest.
"Thanks, Hailey. I don't know how, but you always seem to know what to do with me." He let out a chuckle, making Hailey smile. She now understood why Toothless didn't like seeing her sad. It killed her inside to see him upset. No wonder he had always been so protective of her. She kissed his cheek softly.
"Hailey!" a voice called, making her look up. She saw Frank heading towards her, and he seemed relieved that he had found her. "It's 2:30! You have gym right now!"
"How do you know I have P.E right now?" she asked, standing up from her original position.
"Because we have the same schedule on Wednesdays." He showed her his schedule and he was right. They both had the same schedule on Wednesday.
"Thanks for telling me. I'll be there in a minute." Frank nodded and ran to the field where most of the class was going. She turned to Toothless who was looking expectantly at the field. "Let's go!" He nodded and they ran over to where the others were gathered. The coach was standing in the middle of the field, a soccer ball in his hands.
"Today," he shouted. "we will be playing soccer! Boys vs. Girls! Let's play!" He placed the soccer ball down and everyone figured out where they were supposed to be. The boys were high-fiving each other while the girls talked. But not all of them. There were some girls that fist bumped and stared at the soccer ball. "The guys will begin when Toothless sounds his roar." Moments later, Toothless let out a furiously loud roar, signaling the boys to start. The boys started, snapping the girls into reality and surprisingly, Toothless's roar did not.
Hailey had come in with the rest of the class. Most came in without a scratch. Others were covered in scratches and bruises. The soccer game had not been a friendly one. The coach insisted on playing until someone scored 20 points. Hailey was lucky. She only had a bruise on her arm, and a large gash on her leg. Thankfully, it wasn't deep. But to her, it hurt like being struck by Thor's hammer.
Probably not that much though. It was bleeding though. So, she went down to the nurse and had the cut wrapped up. She was at her locker, packing the books she needed. She closed it quickly and made her way to the principle's office where her father was likely to be found. She knocked on the door and heard her father say, "Come in!"
She opened the door to see her dad typing away on the keyboard. "Dad, I'm going to fly back to the house with Toothless alright?" she asked. Her father looked at her, then at her arm, then at her leg and stopped there.
"What happened?" he asked, gesturing to her leg.
"Um, soccer with the boys." Her father nodded understandingly.
"Alright, you may fly home with Toothless." Hailey reached over his desk and gave him a quick hug. Then she went out the door and outside to where she had left Toothless. He was currently sitting outside, baking himself in the sunlight. It was about 70 degrees Hailey guessed. It was unusual for it to be a good temperature outside.
"Toothless!" she called, grabbing the dragon's attention. He bounded over to her, sniffing for injuries. Then, Toothless crouched, allowing her to get into the saddle. She happily obliged. She clicked her foot into position and they were off into the air, heading for home.