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Astrid played with the strap on her book bag with her free hand as she made her way through the crowded halls. People were excited to see each other after a long summer, so she couldn’t blame them for being loud, even though it was annoying that they were blocking the way.A good handful of them had a few inches on her, and it made her even more uncomfortable than she already was. Most freshman didn’t have to go so far down the math hallway, as Algebra 1 and General Math had classrooms at the end of the hall closest to the main hallway, so she was an anomaly.She glanced again at her schedule as she approached the second to last room on the right. The crowd was thinner, so she drifted to a stop in front of the door, just to double check the blue number against the black typed ones on her folded, crinkled paper.A kind woman, no more than thirty years old smiled at her from the classroom. “You must be Astrid, come on in!”Astrid, confused as to how the teacher already knew her name, folded her schedule and shoved it back into her pocket as she stepped in the room.“Sorry, I should explain. I figured you were Astrid because most upperclassmen don’t have their schedule out and look so nervous before class starts. You’re my only other freshman this year. I’m Ms. Hallen, welcome to geometry! It’s nice to meet you.”“You too,” Astrid replied with a smile.“You can go ahead and take a seat anywhere, I don’t assign seats. The rest will come in just before the bell, so you have your pick.” Said the woman before turning back to her computer, where she was pulling up the syllabus on the projector screen.Astrid turned around to face the rows of empty seats. There was only one other person in the class so far as it was early, and Astrid recognized him right away even bent over a notebook, drawing.It was Hiccup.Well, Henry technically. But no one at school ever called him that.Hiccup was the son of Stoick and Valka Haddock. Stoick was in charge of the crew on their little town’s most well kept fishing vessel and Valka was the head veterinarian at the animal hospital downtown. Everyone knew the Haddocks, and all the kids knew Hiccup.He was a scrawny thing, awfully quiet, but sarcastic when given the chance. In elementary school, he was in the Gifted and Talented program and he was also pulled out for occupational therapy. If Astrid remembered correctly, Hiccup was autistic to some degree, although it was much more obvious when they were little.Because he was pulled out of class just about twice as much as anyone else, he was rather small, and would rather draw than try to talk to people growing up, mostly everyone had decided he was a bit of an outcast early on. Even as he grew up and his social skills developed and he tried to make friends, he was ignored at best, and bullied at worst. He kept to himself most of the time in middle school, but Astrid knew that he was as smart as ever.She decided to sit next to him, on his left, just off from the center. When she dropped her dark red backpack beside him, he looked up in surprise.“A-Astrid?” He asked. “Are you gonna… sit here?”“Yeah,” she replied nonchalantly as she dropped into the seat. “Is that a problem?”“N-no, not at all… just… curious.” He responded, the tips of his ears going red, before going back to whatever he was drawing in his notebook.Astrid fished a binder and a pen from her bag and set them in front of her before pulling her phone out of her pocket to check it. There was a text from her friend Ruffnut, complaining that her brother was going to make them late.Astrid smiled to herself and texted back a quick reply before Ms. Hallen appeared in front of both her and Hiccup. “Are either of you familiar with the building at all?”Hiccup shook his head no, but Astrid nodded.“I know a little bit, my big sister went here a few years ago. And I play soccer, so I’ve been around over the summer.”“Ah, well that’s handy. Before the rest of the students decide to come in, I can explain where your next classes are if you’d like, just so you’re not lost after class.”“That would be nice, I have no idea where I am or where I’m going.” Hiccup said to her before sliding his schedule out of the clear cover of his binder and turned it around so the teacher could see.Astrid was just planning on to winging it, but after Hiccup pulled out his schedule, she took her schedule out of her pocket.“Hmm,” mussed the teacher as she peered at Hiccup’s schedule. “You have English next… that’s down a ways… they should really give you maps! Okay so, you’re going to turn right out of this room, turn right into the main hallway, and walk past the science wing, which will be on your left, and your classroom will be the first one on the left side of the hallway just after.”“So it’s in the main hallway?” Hiccup clarified.“Yes,”“Thank you,” Hiccup replied.“Of course. And you?” asked the teacher, turning to Astrid, who handed her the schedule. “Hm, oh you have biology! Okay, so you’re going to go with Henry, but you’ll turn down the science hallway and I’m pretty sure your class will be on the right.”“Thanks,” Astrid nodded, taking her schedule back.At that moment, a few other students started to file in and the teacher turned to greet them. Hiccup slid his schedule back into the front of his binder before returning yet again to his drawing. Astrid sighed and flipped open her binder to the first binder tab. She wrote ‘Math’ on it before turning it to fresh page of loose leaf paper.More people filed in, the bell rang, and then attendance was taken.Astrid always found the first day of school to be mundane and repetitive. Going over expectations and passing out textbooks was only so interesting.Hiccup was jotting notes on his syllabus that was passed out and working on doodles simultaneously. Astrid twirled her pen as she listened.The teacher finished before the bell, allowing a moment to pack up and then a mad rush happened as the tone sounded throughout the school.Astrid hung back from the crowd, despite being already packed. She simply didn’t want to be trampled. It just so happened that Hiccup was ready just as she was planning on going, and she followed out the door after him.He walked briskly, with his head down, peering at the binder with his schedule that he hadn't put in his bag.They were jostled as they walked, and Astrid could’ve sworn she heard Hiccup whimper after someone yelled and slammed their locker, but she wasn't sure.When they got to the science hallway, Astrid turned down it, following her teacher's instructions.“Uh, have a nice day, Astrid.” Hiccup called over his shoulder as he walked on to his class.She stopped to a halt in the middle of the hallway in shock, making a senior boy walk right into her.“Watch it,” he snipped, walking around her.She shook her head before turning into her classroom.Why did Hiccup want to be nice to her? She had never been nice to him.
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Hiccup liked his History teacher a lot. She was calm and friendly and well-organized and was one of Berk High School’s most favorite teachers and Hiccup was happy to have gotten her class.She had a track record of being very kind and accommodating to people on IEPs and 504s of a similar nature, so he wasn’t sure if it was luck that he was placed in her class or he was placed because it was assumed their personalities would mesh well in general, or it was sheer luck, but either way, he was pleased.The classroom was set up where the desks were on either side of the room, and they were all facing towards a middle aisle. Hiccup’s desk was in the front of the row closest to the teacher’s desk. It was alphabetical, so it that had to be luck. It was also luck then that Astrid Hofferson was directly across from him, as there was someone named Dakota Hilliard behind Hiccup.It was four weeks into the school year, which meant progress reports were being sent out soon. Not that he was concerned. He liked school and was making good grades already. They were studying America post Civil War to the present this year. They had just wrapped up their unit on the reconstruction period and were moving to the Gilded Age. Their first assignment was to read a brief article about the Gilded Age and make a “travel poster” advertising late 1800s America to the rest of the world using any media they wished. Hiccup had hand-drawn his, but there were several digitally made posters, including Astrid’s.“Okay, you creative geniuses, we’re going to present our posters! We can use the document camera if you’d like. Let’s begin with the back-end of the alphabet today.”A girl named Faye groaned good-naturedly. Faye’s last name was Winslow. She was funny.The teacher laughed as Faye made her way to the front of the room to slide her poster under the document camera. She talked a little about it and then returned to her seat.Several others went and then Astrid’s name was called. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue short sleeved shirt. She had shoved her black hoodie into her bookbag in math in the morning. It was unusually hot for the end of September and though their school had air conditioning, everyone was definitely feeling it. Even Hiccup had dug back out one of the few pairs of shorts he owned.Like everyone else, Astrid slipped her poster under the document camera, showing her work up on the projector. It was a neatly made poster, using a lot of geometric shapes and vibrant colors. She too talked through her poster before sitting back down.The person behind Hiccup stood and went to the front of the room and Hiccup started to get nervous. He hated talking in front of people. It took him a long time to get comfortable raising his hand in class, but presenting was a different beast. He spoke very softly when he was young and because he had a thing with eye contact, his voice often went in the wrong direction, which lead to years of “speak up, I can’t hear you!” from teachers and therapists and doctors and it gave him anxiety.“Henry? Your turn.” His teacher said.Hiccup slid out of his chair and up to the front of the room. He put his poster down under the camera.“Did you draw that?” His teacher asked.Hiccup nodded.“It’s fantastic, Henry! Excellent work. Can you tell us a bit about it?”“I, um, I drew a big city street with a gold road down the middle, but if you look carefully, there’s cracks in it. Same with all these buildings and houses. And I tried to make it look like the letters were falling off or peeling. It shows that America wasn’t as great as everyone said it was… and, yeah. That’s all.”“Very, very well done. I love the little hints to the truth in your poster. It’s got a lot of symbolism. That one definitely deserves a clap.”The class applauded, as they had for everyone, as Hiccup put his poster on the stack on his teacher’s desk, blushing bright red.After some note-taking, and a reading was assigned for homework, the bell rang signaling the end of the day, and in the case of it being a Friday, the end of the school week. Hiccup slipped his reading into his history binder and put it and his planner into his dark green bookbag before slinging it onto his back.His teacher wished him a good weekend and he smiled and waved politely before heading to his locker to gather his homework and lunchbox before heading home.Astrid was at her locker, two lockers to the right of his, with Freddie between them. Hiccup dialed his combination into his locker and pulled the lock open so he could open the door. His lunchbox was sitting on the top shelf of his locker and his books were organized on a locker shelf his mom had bought him, with his morning books on the top and his afternoon books underneath. A spare hoodie was hanging on one hook and a drawstring bag with his gym clothes was on the other hook.Hiccup unzipped his bookbag and took out his art notebook and his biology book and binder and put them in his locker. He pulled his math book and binder from his locker and put them in his bag and then grabbed his gym bag and shoved it in his bookbag before zipping it and standing up. When he closed his locker and turned, he was met by a set of blue eyes. Dakota was gone and Astrid was looking at him, bookbag on and soccer bag over her shoulder.“Hi,” she said, looking a bit uncomfortable.“H-hi,” he stumbled out, scratching at his wrist.“Um, I just wanted to tell you that your poster was really cool. I didn’t know you could draw like that.”“Oh, uh, thanks.”“Hey Hofferson! You comin’ or what?” called a voice from across the hallway over the hustle and bustle of kids leaving. Scott ‘Snotlout’ Jorgensen and Frederick ‘Fishlegs’ Ingerman were standing there, Freddie looking timid as usual and Scott looking cocky. Freddie and Scott were on the boy’s soccer team, and all the soccer people were friends it seemed. Hiccup knew Scott a little too well- they were cousins. And Scott didn’t like him much. Freddie was shy and nerdy, but since he could play soccer, he didn’t hang around anyone else much.Astrid turned to them. “Yeah I’m coming!” She turned back to Hiccup. “I gotta go. We’re practicing with the boys today for some reason. See you Monday.”“Uh-huh,” Hiccup replied, but Astrid had already started pushing through the crowd to get to the boys. “Bye,” he said quietly when she was already out of sight and earshot.He sighed and pulled his earbuds and phone from his pocket to listen to music on the walk home.As he turned his music on and joined the throng of people heading to the doors to leave, he heard Astrid’s laugh over the noise, clear as day. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, but couldn’t see her. He shrugged to himself and continued his way home.
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Astrid had taken to watching Hiccup out of the corner of her eye during math class. She had learned just by watching him that he was interesting. At least, more interesting than learning about finding the area of a trapezoid.He was a studious and attentive note taker and he solved questions on worksheets quickly all in his head or scribbling numbers, hardly ever touching the blue calculator he had resting on his desk. He was left-handed and often had smudges up and down his hand and arm just by the end f first period. His handwriting was readable, but a bit messy as he wrote very fast, letters slammed into each other in his notebook and Astrid wondered how on earth he could make sense of it sometimes. When he was listening to the teacher give directions, he tapped his thumb against his pencil or rolled it in his hands. When he was taking notes or whenever he had a spare moment, he would draw in any blank space he had. Astrid could never tell what the drawings were from her vantage point, but sometimes they were rounded and curled and sometimes they were straight and pointed.They boy was always moving. Usually it was his hands, or his fingers, whether he was fidgeting or drawing. Sometimes though, he bounced his leg or swung his foot just a bit above the ground. They were all small movements, silent and not distracting whatsoever, but Astrid was paying attention to him for some reason. She had begun to notice a pattern. When he looked a bit sleepy, he would roll his pencil around in his hand. If he seemed to be in a good mood, he’d draw more and swing his leg. If he seemed particularly worried or stressed or focused, his leg would bounce.Astrid had no idea why she cared so much about what Hiccup was doing, why it mattered at all, but she could not ignore him. Her math was not suffering, so she wasn’t concerned when her eyes drifted over to Hiccup on their own accord.One day he came in wearing a light green shirt that she had never seen him wear and he had something small and multicolored in his hand that he shoved into his pocket as he walked over to his desk. The counselor had accompanied him into the classroom and asked Ms. Hallen to join her in the hall for a moment. As they walked into the hallway together, Astrid caught sight of a rainbow puzzle piece sticker on the counselor’ s water bottle. And everything clicked.Hiccup was autistic.Astrid hadn’t been in any classes with him since early elementary school, when all kids were fidgety and when he was pulled out of class every day for some therapy or something. When it came time for middle school, Astrid saw him around school and at lunch, but no one she knew had any classes with him. She had come to the conclusion (with the help of her big brother who was working as a paraprofessional in a different district) that he was moved full-time into the special education program, which happened sometimes to kids after elementary school.She hadn’t seen Hiccup in a mainstream classroom since they were eight years old when he never spoke and always kept his head down and was often seen sitting on the swings by himself at recess. In fact, Astrid had never really known anyone with a special need of any sort. In their painfully small town, there were a only a few adults Astrid could think of who she knew were disabled, and even then it was something more visible, like the war vet who used a wheelchair or the girl who had graduated with her sister who wore braces on her legs for cerebral palsy. Most of the special education kids stayed in their own classroom or wing except for assemblies or pep rallies and so, she had no contact with them ever. She had no contact with anyone like Hiccup since the last time she had a class with him, and back then she didn’t really understand what made him different.That was probably why, even though he could have filled out the whole worksheet, he never volunteered an answer or why it took him a moment to meet someone’s eyes when they started speaking to him or why he often went to the counselor’s office during lunch instead of the cafeteria. And for some reason, this fascinated her in a way she couldn’t explain.Halfway through the class period, Ms. Hallen gave them a worksheet to do, alone or with a group. They were allowed to talk and listen to music in headphones if they wanted. Astrid didn’t even bother turning around to find a group to join, none of the upperclassmen wanted to work with her or Hiccup usually. They were all friends and they didn’t care to work with a freshman, even though a lot of them were 11th graders who had failed the class the previous year. Astrid pulled out her phone and turned on her music, only using one earbud as Ms. Hallen asked. The teacher was walking around to observe and assist as necessary.Astrid had just started reading the third question on the paper when the high pitched shrieking beep of the fire alarm started to pierce through the air. It took her a few seconds to process the noise, but as soon as she did, she jumped to her feet and went to join the flow of students out the door. Ms. Hallen was calling out which door to go through to get out. The slight shake of her voice told Astrid that this wasn’t a planned drill.Hiccup was also standing, but he had his hands pressed over his ears, eyes wide and he was not moving.“Come on!” Astrid urged Hiccup. When he didn’t move, she grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door. They were the last two out of their room besides their teacher, who shut the door behind her.Astrid didn’t let go of Hiccup until they were outside with their class. He hadn’t put up much of a fight being tugged, but he pulled his arm from hers as soon as they stopped, dropping his hands from his ears. He looked tense still and he did not look at the school or anyone as Ms. Hallen did a headcount.A sharp retort of him being a baby, that there was no reason to be scared, burned on her tongue. She figured he probably couldn’t help his reaction. Her brother had explained that some people with autism didn’t do well with loud sounds. She kept her mouth shut.When the whining of the first responder sirens came, Hiccup put his hands back up to his ears.“It’s okay,” Astrid said to him lamely after a moment.Some people had started chuckling at him it seemed and Astrid felt hot all over. It wasn’t his fault. The noise hurt her ears too. Well, ear. Her other ear was currently listening to a Fall Out Boy song.Her eyes widened and she pulled her earbud from her ear. She held the pair of wires out to Hiccup. “Here,”He dragged his eyes over to her, looking confused.“Put this in. It’s uh, I don’t know if you like, uh,” she glanced down at her phone screen. The song had changed to an Imagine Dragons song. “This, but there’s other stuff on there. You can skip ahead or back. Or whatever. It… it helps block the screeching.”Hesitantly, Hiccup took the earbud from her hand and put it in his ear. After a few seconds, he visibly relaxed and sighed. He scratched at his arm and smiled a bit at Astrid, who returned the smile.The alarm inside went off for twenty more minutes before they got the all clear to return to their classrooms to get their things and go to the next period. Someone left a box on a home ec. room stove and knocked into the knob to turn the burner on. The building reeked of burning, but it was safe to go in.Hiccup had kept her earbud in until they were let back in. He never skipped ahead or back. He had listened to five other songs ranging from Taylor Swift to Coldplay and Panic at the Disco. He pressed the earbud into her hand, thanked her softly, and scurried to pack up his things to head to English, looking a bit on edge.Ms. Hallen was opening the windows in the classroom, letting the crisp fall air take over the smell of burning cardboard. “Astrid?” she called.Astrid squeezed past a softball player on her way out to join her teacher by the windows.“I saw what you did out there, for Henry. It was a very nice gesture.” Ms. Hallen smiled.Astrid blushed a bit and nodded.“He’s a sweet boy, smart too, but I do worry about him just a bit. I know his parents do too. I’m glad he has a friend like you.”Astrid blinked. She wasn’t his friend. She was just being nice to him! She would’ve done it for anyone. She opened her mouth to respond, but Ms. Hallen shooed her out to her next class.Astrid had three more classes to think over what Ms. Hallen had said to her. Hiccup was a nice boy, but they weren’t friends. She had said maybe 20 words to him all year and he didn’t seem interested in having friends. He seemed to prefer to be alone.Astrid sighed as she headed to lunch. Should she talk to him more? He had been making an effort, but stopped a few weeks ago.Hiccup brushed past her, clutching a lunchbox like a lifeline as he shoved his way through the crowd towards the office.Perhaps that boy did need a friend.
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Hiccup turned down his street and instantly felt better. The fire last week had really shaken him up for the rest of the day and he had been anxious and distracted for hours and unfortunately, he had been anxious more than usual at school since then.But on his street, he felt calm at last.He was greeted by the familiar sounds of after-school chatter as the bus from the private school hissed to a stop at the corner. Off the bus came the people he had grown up with, in different amounts of disarray.They called out to him and waved, as they always did. And he greeted them in return, as he always did. An agreement to try and hang out over the weekend was made from shouting back and forth across the road. For some reason, they all lived on the other side of the street. Hiccup thought it was funny the older he got- the private school kids lived on one side and the rest of them lived on the other.One by one, they all ducked into their houses to change and get a snack and do homework probably. At least that’s what his plans were. Well, aside from changing. He didn’t have to wear a crisp white button-up with a tie. He smiled as he watched them go in. This was how it had always been. They hung out on the weekends and on break and they were close as ever.Hiccup stepped over the familiar bump in the sidewalk. It was exactly 217 steps from that bump to his front door, but he didn’t get to make it that far.A small entity barreled into him, blonde hair flying. “Hiccup!”Hiccup lost his balance and fell quite ungracefully to the concrete, pulling the person down with him. They both laughed as they looked over each other.“Cami! You’re home!”“Sure am!” replied the girl, leaning over a bit to give him a proper hug. “I missed you!”“Missed you too!” Hiccup said as they untangled their bodies and stood up.Camilla Boebrugler was Hiccup’s best friend. They were next-door neighbors and had grown up together. Even though she was a year younger, they had been practically inseparable since they were toddlers. As they grew older, their friendship changed shape a bit as Cami became a regional champion competitive gymnast. Her training was so often and rigorous that it all but required the girls in the program to be homeschooled. She was also away often during competition season and in the off-time, she still traveled a lot as Cami’s mom was a wealthy woman who was high up in the command of an international company. She had been away with her mother for some time.Cami was small, the top of her head met the bottom of his ears, and she was incredibly athletic, which made her a perfect gymnast. She was exceedingly good at what she did and adored it. Hiccup had seen her compete quite a few times growing up and he was always impressed that his wild, spunky, loud, smidge of a friend became such a poised and disciplined athlete when she put her leotard on for a competition. Apparently, even in practice, she was all over the place and a risk taker (which gave her the nickname of Camicazi), but Competition Cami was a totally different person.Cami beamed at him. “I got you some stuff from Europe!”“You didn't have to do that!” Hiccup complained.“Of course I did! You’re my best friend! I gotta find it though, it’s somewhere. We haven’t unpacked yet.”Hiccup laughed. “Okay,”“Speaking of which, I should go back in before my mom gets on my case about my room being a disaster. I’ll see you later!” Cami hugged him again.“See you,” Hiccup replied.Cami ran back into her house, blonde hair flying behind her. She was quite the ball of energy and lots of fun. He liked that she was back home.Hiccup fished his key out of the pocket of his bookbag as he approached his front door. He turned the knob and entered the house.He was greeted by a curious mwow as he kicked off his shoes.“Hi Cloudjumper,”The proud orange and white cat rounded the corner of the entry way, tail held high.Hiccup crouched to give him a scratch. Cloudjumper came over and rubbed up against him before allowing the boy to scratch him. Cloudjumper was his mom’s cat. She had fallen in love with him when he was just a kitten and simply had to keep him, much to Hiccup’s excitement and his dad’s disappointment (though he quite liked the cat now). He was a proud cat and he followed Valka around the house. Hiccup was his second favorite person.“Mom should be home soon, buddy.” Hiccup promised before standing up. “I’m gonna go do some homework.”Hiccup went up the stairs and pushed open the door to his bedroom. He loved his room. He had a bookcase that was full of books, a desk for homework and art that was stocked with paint and colored pencils and pens and scissors and anything else he could possibly need. He had his own laptop too, a new one. It was a present from his parents when he turned 15. There were posters and art tacked up on his walls and trinkets and picture frames on the top of his dresser and bookcase. The walls were a soft green, his bedding was green and blue. His favorite stuffed animal, a worn old dragon, sat on his pillow and a blanket from his childhood was folded on the foot of his bed. There were a few other stuffed animals around the room- an elephant, a sloth, a turtle, a bear- but he slept with that dragon beside him every night since he was a baby and he wasn’t about to stop now.Hiccup pulled out his math and history assignments from his bag and set them on his desk. He grabbed a pencil and went straight to work. After his homework, he opened his sketchbook.“Henry?”Hiccup looked up from his work. His mother was home? But it was only…He looked at his clock. The red numbers read 5:57.Oh, he had been working for nearly two hours.“Yeah?” he called in return.She stuck her head into his doorway, “Are you busy, dear one?”“No, I’m done with my homework.”“Would you like to help me with dinner?”“I’ll be right down!” He replied, starting to put his supplies away. He liked to help his mother with dinner, he always had. It was partially because he liked hanging out with his mother and partially because he was making sure she didn’t burn the house down (she wasn’t the best cook).“Alright,”Hiccup put his things away and bounded down the stairs. He was greeted by the sound of the radio on his mom’s favorite station. He walked into the kitchen where his mother was pulling a pan out of the cabinet. She was already changed out of her work clothes, which was probably for the best. She was a veterinarian and more often than not she came home smelling of animals.Valka put the pan on the counter and turned around. She smiled when she saw Hiccup standing there. She came over to hug him. “How was your day, Henry?”“Good I guess,” Hiccup shrugged. “Nothing special,”“Do you still sit next to that soccer girl in math?”“Yeah, why?” He asked, going over to wash his hands at the sink.“Just asking, son. I don’t know if you moved seats or anything.”Hiccup hummed in response as he dried his hands. “How was your day?”“Oh, good, good. All appointments today, no emergencies.” Valka slid a cutting board in front of her son with some vegetables on it.“Oh, that’s good!”“We did have someone bring in a stray lab mix, though. She’s not terribly unwell, but she will need some extra attention until the puppies are born. We’re keeping her around until then.”“How many puppies will there be?”“It looks like seven perhaps, she was very anxious as you can imagine. We didn’t want to stress her too much.”Hiccup nodded in understanding.“Perhaps you can come visit her at some point. You do have a way with anxious animals. Would you like that?”“Yes!”“Alright, when I go up to check on her on Saturday, you’re welcome to come with me.”“Awesome. Oh! Cami’s home!”“Is she? Very good. Have you seen her?”“She came out when I came home from school. She knocked me down. She brought me stuff from Europe but she has to find it.”Valka laughed. “My, that sounds like Cami. I wonder what she brought you.”“Me too,” Hiccup replied with a smile, looking up from what he was cutting.Valka dropped a kiss on Hiccup’s head as she passed him. “We should have her over for dinner on Friday.”Friday was usually pizza night at their house, which was Hiccup’s favorite night of the week. Pizza night meant a very laid back evening that usually entailed ice cream and convincing his dad to race him in Mario Kart. His dad wouldn’t be home on Friday this week, he was still on the fishing trip, so having Cami over would ensure that Friday evening was not boring.“Can we?”“I don’t see why not. Once you’re done, why don’t you send her a message and ask? I’d say to go knock on the door, but I’m sure she and her mother are very busy.”“Okay,”Sometime later, Hiccup was dishes in the dishwasher after dinner while his mother straightened up the kitchen.Cloudjumper jumped up onto the counter.“Mom, Cloudjumper’s hungry.” Hiccup said.“How do you know? I haven’t heard him.”Hiccup swallowed a laugh. “Look behind you,”Valka turned around and saw her cat sitting elegantly on the counter, swishing his tail like he owned the place. Valka put a hand on her hip and sighed before swatting at the cat playfully with her hand. “Oh you! Get down you silly creature, I’ll feed you.”Cloudjumper lazily jumped from the counter and stood at Valka’s feet, meowing, as if asking nicely.“Goodness me, whatever did I do to deserve such polite boys, hm?” Valka wondered allowed as she poured food into the cat’s dish. She scratched Cloudjumper behind his ears and ran a hand down his back before the cat went to his dinner.“You’re outnumbered, Mom.” Hiccup mentioned. “Me and Dad and Cloudjumper.”“Oh yes, I know. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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Astrid rubbed the newly forming bruise on her arm before pulling on her coat.She loved soccer, but hated falling, so when she was 12, she just decided she wasn’t going to fall anymore. Gravity and probability had caught up to her at the grand old age of 15 though, and she was in a sour mood about it.She had landed hard on Rachel Thorston when they got all tangled up during practice. If they weren’t so close, Astrid might’ve given her a matching bruise, but Rachel was her oldest and dearest friend so she simply had to help her up and get over it, even though it was definitely Rachel's fault that they both tumbled to the ground in all the grace of two pubescent teenagers.Astrid tugged her hat over her ears just as Rachel came up beside her, a halfhazardly placed bandage on her chin.“Aren’t you going to be cold?” Astrid asked her friend simply.Rachel was just wearing jeans and her soccer hoodie from middle school. It was 40 degrees, not counting wind chill.“Aren’t you ever gonna learn that I’m never cold? We do live in Maine, it gets fucking freezing. This might as well be tank top weather.”Astrid gestured wildly to the other girls in the locker room who were putting on coats and hats. It was brisk outside, the coldest day of the school year so far. Their bodies had to readjust to the cold.“You all are just freeze babies. It’s nice out.”Astrid rolled her eyes and put on her backpack and grabbed her soccer bag. Rachel was better known as “Ruffnut”, along with her twin brother Timothy “Tuffnut”. The two of them were quite rough and tumble, sort of dense at times, goofy, and over the top. No injuries or temperature ever seemed to bother them. They were wildly entertaining and both pretty decent soccer players. Astrid loved them.Astrid waved at the rest of the team and they shouted their goodbyes at her and Ruff as they headed out.Ruff excitedly chatted about some video game she and her brother were playing as they headed out the door. Astrid listened with interest.“Aren't you getting picked up today?” Ruff asked Astrid as they pushed the doors open. Sometimes they walked together after practice.“I should be, yeah.”“Where’s your mom?” Ruff asked, as they glanced over the short line of cars belonging to the parents of the soccer girls. Astrid’s mom’s maroon SUV was not in the line.Astrid was just about to get out her phone to call her mother, when she made eye contact with the driver of a decade-old gold car.“Selby!” Astrid shouted loudly. She slapped her hand over her mouth and blushed pink when she realized she sounded like a six year old.“Hey, Teeny!” Laughed the older woman as she got out of the car.Ruff smiled. “See you at the game tomorrow, Astrid!”Astrid barely had enough time to say goodbye to Ruff before Selby reached her and gave her a hug.“What are you doing here?” Astrid asked in amazement, returning the hug enthusiastically.“Well, I have to see at least one of my baby sister’s soccer games this year, huh?” Selby replied. “Let me look at you, girl! You’re so tall now! What happened?” Selby had graduated college a year ago and had moved out of state for her job. Astrid didn’t see her much any more except over video chat. Astrid was the baby of the family and Selby was her next closest sibling in age.Astrid shrugged. “Puberty?”Selby laughed and slung her arm over Astrid’s shoulder. “I missed you, Az.”“I missed you too,”Selby hugged her baby sister’s shoulders. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go get something to eat.”Astrid dumped her bags into her sister’s trunk and slipped into the front seat. When Selby got into the driver’s seat, she turned up the song on the radio and the Hofferson girls sang Imagine Dragons all the way to the restaurant. “So, kid, how’s school?” Selby asked Astrid. They were sharing an appetizer of mozzarella sticks. Selby had taken Astrid out for ice cream and dinner often growing up. It was sister bonding time for them and Astrid missed it. “High school treating you well so far?”Astrid broke her mozzarella stick in half and dipped one part into the marinara sauce. “Pretty good.”“Yeah? What teachers do you have? Do I know any of them?”Astrid listed off her teachers and Selby shook her head. “I don’t know any of those. All new, I guess.”Astrid shrugged.“You’re in geometry, aren’t you? With all upperclassmen?”“Uh-huh. Just me and… do you remember Henry Haddock?”“The vet’s son? Yeah, of course.”“He’s in that class too.”Selby took a sip of her iced tea. “I thought he was autistic.”“He is,” Astrid shrugged. “He’s so smart! I don’t think I’ve seen him touch his calculator yet.”“Is he… ya know, weird?”“Selby!” Astrid admonished. “Just because he’s autistic doesn’t mean he’s weird! He’s a little on the quiet side, but so is Freddie. He’s so smart and he draws all the time and from what I’ve seen, he’s pretty good.”“It sounds like you have a thing for him.”“I don’t have a thing for him!” protested the younger girl, though her cheeks tinged pink. She didn’t have a crush on Hiccup.“Yup,” Selby chuckled. “Come on, girl! You have to raise your standards. I can’t have my sister dating some weird little nerd.”“Says the girl who graduated college with a perfect 4.0.”“Touché, Squirt.”Astrid huffed and Selby flipped her hair over her shoulder. The Hoffersons all looked alike- blonde hair and blue eyes. Selby kept her hair shorter than Astrid, but usually styled it with a curling iron and did complicated things with it. Astrid’s hair was to her mid back and she kept it tied back in a braid most of the time. Their older brothers were blonde and blue-eyed too. Erik’s hair was longer than their mother would like, but it was neat most of the time. Troy’s hair had been short, he was the only kid in the family with curly hair.Selby pointed a bite of mozzarella stick at her sister. “Tell me more about your soccer team. Think you girls can bring home a win for the Vikings tomorrow?”“Against the Dragons?” Astrid grinned. The North High Dragons were their rival team and they were just as good in soccer as Berk was. “Of course,”