How To Hack Your Dragon

Take it from me; running into the front doors of school for the first time since the first day of school and closing them with a slam was much less than logical way to enter the school. But if you're the ironic type in search of trouble, then go ahead, it's a perfect idea.

So, as I was standing there like an idiot, giving off a wide-eyed blank stare to anyone who caught it, Snotlout, Astrid, and the "gang" were swiftly approaching me. That was not good. Not good at all. Astrid, in which had normally ignored me while these run-ins took place, was giving me that judging look with her arms crossed and lips pursed. Very intimidating. I wish that were sarcasm. I really do...

Snotlout looked evilly gleeful (yes, I said evil), and Tuffnut and Ruffnut had their hands dangling in front of their bodies, making them seem both maniacal and ready to do some damage. I was doomed. So, so doomed...

Brrrring!

Or maybe not. It would be really cheesy to say saved by the bell... which is why I'm going to say "saved by the bell".

.:.:.

I was late, but, since we had a sub, it wasn't too much of a hassle. Of course, I always hated subs because of... (Dun, dun, dun)... role call. It may seem like, of all the things, the dumbest thing to fear, but we hardly ever had subs, but when we do I always got stares because...well...

"Princeton L. Haddock?"

Murmurs of confusion went around the classroom. They were all along the lines of 'who's that'.

That.

"Here," I said reluctantly.

As I'd expected, a few glances were shot in my direction, and Snotlout went on about how my nickname suited me much better.

"He's not a 'Princeton'. Ya, know, everyone in this town's got our nicknames, and he's a hiccup. They're in-violent-ary. Like he is."

Astrid spoke up in a snide voice, " 'in-violent-tary' isn't a word. The word would be 'involuntary'. Now shut up before you say something else equally idiotic."

Snotlout reached his arm over Astrid's neck, in which made my teeth clench and Astrid's hand give a good slap.

"Hey, babe, don't be like that. I'm just trying to give Hiccup some leverage since, you know, brains are all he has."

"As you do not," I muttered under my breath.

"Enough!" The teacher called out to the class, and continued with role call.

I merely pulled out my notebook and doodled away. The substitute teachers never taught anything new anyway. By the time the bell rang, I nearly jumped at the picture I drew.

It was a profile view of the left side dragon.

I blinked at it a few times as I packed up my stuff. It wasn't that I was surprised I'd drawn it, it was just something I'd drawn that I hadn't consciously noticed during my stupor in the alley way.

It's left tail fin. It wasn't there.

Maybe I'd just forgotten it. But why would I do that? An hour and a half left me plenty of time to go over detail, why would I forget something as simple as a left tail fin. I shook my head. It didn't matter. I wasn't going to see that thing ever again. Ever. Not if I could help it anyway.

And I probably couldn't help it.

On the bright side, my headache was 30% better and the ache in my body was 40% better. Did I say bright side? I meant, brighter side. I walked into the hallway in which I pulled out a small bag of Advil I'd packed (against school rules) and a water bottle. I was swallowing the pill when Astrid popped out of nowhere in the now empty hallway.

"Uh, Astrid! Hi Astrid, hi," I said awkwardly (partially due to the water in my mouth).

"Might want to calm down before you choke on that," she said.

I cringed at the words and swallowed the pill.

"So, yesterday, computer lab, Snotlout's homework disappeared. I'm sure you knew about it. There's not a secretive bone on his body. I wonder how in the world that could have possibly happened?" Astrid said, obviously sarcastic.

Deep down, I did not like the idea of being treated like this. But, right now, I was hiding away in my hermit crab shell.

"Y-yeah. I wonder..." I replied. Gods, I was an awful liar.

"Hmm," Astrid said, her eyes narrowing, "And, afterwards, you seemed really engrossed in something. May I ask what?"

Suddenly, defense mode switched on and I became Super Sass-Hiccup.

"Well, there was, you know, the homework. Or maybe a video game. Or, maybe, I was doing something that implied, oh-I-don't-know, me using a computer. Like a, dare I say it, normal human being."

I was laying it a little bit heavy. Actually, so much so that I was stifling a cringe. Astrid, however, did not seem fazed by my outburst.

"Listen, Princeton, I know you're a hacker. And I know what you hack into. You give me that remote or so help me I will find it and make sure that the monster it comes with goes after you."

I rolled my eyes.

"Uh, yeah. I think the what-ever-it-was had the exact same thing in mind. You failed to mention my disgruntled mood this morning. Have the remote for all I care. I don't want it."

Astrid held out her hand expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

She snapped, "The remote!"

"D-don't have it."

The adrenaline was faded and I was beginning the stutter again. Looked like Super Sass-Hiccup was going for a rest, meaning Fishbone Hiccup was going to stun Astrid with his stuttering powers.

"What do you mean you don't have it," She said, her voice shrill.

"What I mean by 'I don't have it' is 'I don't have it', because I Don't Have It!" I exclaimed, my hands thrown up in the air. I was exhausted. I was sick, chased by a dragon, been called Princeton twice, had my name been used as an insult twice, and to make matters worse my food from last night felt like it was coming.

This time, Astrid did look taken aback.

"Fine," she said, flattening her jean skirt over her black leggings, "Come to school tomorrow with it."

Astrid walked off to who-knows-where (certainly not to class, she would have been at least ten minutes late), leaving me feeling like I had run a 10-mile marathon at my top speed.

You throw up after a marathon... right?

A/N: I'm tired. No exhausted. And depressed. I think those to go together actually. The characters were really OOC, which I've been trying to avoid, but, oh well, down the drain that goes. Also, I tried to make this over 1000 words... I made it, but not by much. Sorry.

R & R

~ Sam