A/N: Hi all! I know I technically said this would come out last weekend, but my timing is unpredictable. Sorry bout that :/ As such, I really don't know when A New Kind of Different's new storyline will come out. Anyways, this was inspired after listening to "The Lonely Biscuits – Ma'am" This one might be a little rough since I have written in a while. Hope you guys enjoy!
The joys of summer only last so long for students. As the school year is starting back up, teachers are trying to settle in with their teaching plans and students are figuring out which of their classes they have friends in.
Every high schooler is plagued with the initial fear of "what if I have no friends in any of my classes?" It's just a part of the social structure of high school: people like to have friends with them. But, quite possibly, no one was as nervous as freshman Hiccup Haddock was. The way that Berk organized its school system was in such a way that there were five middle schools that shared one high school.
So for the average freshman, they might only recognize a fifth of the people in the grade. Only problem for Hiccup was that he only had a few friends. Well, he could only really call Fishlegs an actual friend. Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut were mostly just people that decided to bring Fishlegs and Hiccup into their social group. It was quite shocking for Hiccup and Fishlegs when the most popular people at their middle school decided that they wanted them around.
But they figured it was only because Snotlout and the twins wanted punching bags.
So as the five freshmen meet on the bus, Hiccup and Fishlegs take their usual seats together at the front with Snotlout occupying a whole seat behind them and the twins fighting for the window seat next to them.
"Hey Hiccup, mind if I check your schedule? Hopefully we have Honors Pre-Calculus together this year," says a hopeful Fishlegs.
Hiccup rummaged through his backpack to find the crinkled up piece of paper he was given at the freshmen orientation.
"Ugh, I don't think we do," Hiccup sighs as he hands his beefy friend his schedule.
As Fishlegs starts to go through the schedule, Snotlout reaches behind them and snatches up the schedule.
"Hey!" Fishlegs objects.
"Relax, Fishface. You can have your butt buddy's schedule back once I check it out."
As Snotlout scans over the schedule, he shouts, "Hey fishbone! We got first period Norse together!"
"Oh that's just great," sighs Hiccup, " This day just gets better and better."
As the teens get to school, Snotlout and Hiccup end up walking together to their Norse language class. Hiccup can hear Snotlout blabbing about how he's just going to copy all of his homework and how they're gonna be partners for every project so that Hiccup can just score them an A.
All Hiccup can think about is how stupid it is that common education requires them to take a foreign language. Why do I need to learn a completely different language? I've already learned English. But they're still making us take English classes anyways. What's the deal?
But as soon as they walk into the classroom, Hiccup's mind blanks and his eyes widen at the sight of the most beautiful girl he's ever seen in his life. Sitting in the front left corner is a girl with vibrant blue eyes, a beautifully made French braid, and a light blue tanktop.
"Uhh, Hiccup? Come on what's the hold up? Let's get a move on!" shouts Snotlout as he gives Hiccup a bit of a push. Hiccup stumbles over himself and out of the corner of his eye he can see that beautiful girl look over their way. He blushes profusely as the pair walks to their assigned seat.
He could hear Snotlout blabbering about something that had to do with how big his biceps are, but all he could think about was the girl sitting just a few seats in front of them. He had to know her name. It must be something angelic. Raquel? Sophia? Emily? It could be anything. He just had to know. He couldn't take his eyes of her. Unfortunately, someone else noticed where his attention was directed.
"Why do you keep staring at that chick, Hiccup?" Snotlout asked as he popped into Hiccup's line of sight.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled in response.
"Come on, I'll show you how it's done!" Snotlout boasted as he dragged Hiccup over to where the girl was sitting.
Hiccup could hear him whisper, "Snotlout, Snotlout, oi oi," as they walked over to her.
The girl looked up as the pair stumbled into her view. With a brow raised in suspicion, she asked, "Do you need something?"
Snotlout chuckled and shook his head.
"How's it goin, babe. The name's Snotlout. Do you work out? You look like you work out. That's pretty hot too. You should come over sometime. My parents have some equipment downstairs. And if you get tired of working, out, there are other things we can do."
The girl had a surprised look on her face. For a second, Hiccup thought that Snotlout's method might have actually worked. But then her expression changed into a stern look that made Hiccup want to hide away into a corner. Before he realized what had happened, she punched Snotlout square in the face.
"Ow! My nose!" Snotlout yelped as he covered his face. The boy quickly started crying as he ran out the door.
Hiccup's jaw had dropped to the ground. Once the whole chain of events had processed in his mind, he gave off a bit of a snicker before turning back to the girl.
"Wow. That was just…wow."
"Are you friends with that jerk?" she asked in an annoyed voice.
Hiccup looked back at the dooryway, then to her, then back to the doorway, then back to the girl again before stating, "Not really. We just…went to the same middle school."
"You better not be. Otherwise I'd have to punch you too," she said. Hints of a smile were starting to form on her face.
"Well I better watch out then!" Hiccup joked as he held up his hands in surrender.
The girl in front of him snickered at his expression.
"In all seriousness, that was pretty funny uh…" Hiccup began. He didn't know what to call her since he didn't even know her name. Luckily, she finished his sentence for him.
"Astrid. Name's Astrid," she said.
Astrid. She sounds like an angel, looks like one, and has the name of one, he thought.
"Nice to meet you, Astrid. I'm Hiccup," he responded.
The girl smiled at him. There was a bit of a sparkle to her eyes. She seemed… nice. In Hiccup's mind, Norse might not be so bad afterwards.