Author Note: This is the revised version of the first chapter. All the next chapters will have 2.0 in the name once they are updated.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Fifteenth lived in the small town of Berk. Ever since the Scourge of Odin struck the town a decade ago, many honest and hard-working families became poor while every family of scavengers took advantage of the dying people and prospered by taking anything they wanted. That was why everyone was extremely prejudiced towards 'ditch-digger' or amputees, working-class people and penniless orphans. Hiccup was one of them, his parents and grandparents had died in the aftermath of the Scourge. Now he woke up feeling excited, he just couldn't remember why. His eyes wandered over to his bedside calendar, it was August 1. Hiccup suddenly remembered why he was so excited; it was his first day of middle school. He got out of bed and surveyed the scruffy one room apartment in which he had shoved a small box TV, a sofa bed, a minute kitchenette and desk with a lamp and some writing equipment that he found discarded in a dumpster. He rapidly changed and then wolfed down some stale bread. Then he stepped out to see where his life would go on from now…
Hiccup came out on a dark alley with graffiti on the walls and dumpsters that were stinking the places to high heaven. Hiccup walked to the center of town, where the middle school was, and was joined by his friend Fishlegs Ingerman. When they got to the middle school, Hiccup had to say he was impressed, the walls were made of white marble and pristine white paint, there was a sweeping driveway with lush vegetation on each side and smartly dressed guards on each side of the carved mahogany door. When the two approached the guards shook their heads, "You can't come through here," One of them said, "you go through the back like all the other ditch-diggers." "Come on, Hiccup, I don't know what we expected." Muttered Fishlegs as they went to the back door. The halls were unswept, the plaster was coming off in places, the lockers were rusty and the books were older than then. "Either all that paint was for show or their hoping that we'll clean this place ourselves." Hiccup complained, as he took out his timetable and the books for his first class.
As the two walked over to the main lobby it became apparent that the rich kids were given more priority as the lobby and staircases were well cleaned and gleamed brightly with trophies. In the middle of the lobby, a short, stocky boy with black hair was spray painting a red line halfway through it. A blond girl was on one side painting something, while a raven headed girl was writing something on the side which Hiccup and Fishlegs were on. "Isn't that Heather?" Fishlegs whispered, "Yeah. She's changed though. Astrid and Snotlout are still the same." Hiccup breathed, "So are the Nut twins and Dagur, do you think he convinced Heather to join their gang?" Fishlegs questioned."Hey, Slip-up and Fish-breath, are you bad-mouthing us?" Snotlout demanded, furiously,"'Cause if you are you're gonna regret ever coming in my sight!" "Go on, Snotty!" Astrid cheered, "Beat 'em senseless!" Snotlout rose, his knuckles cracking ominously. Suddenly, the bell rang and the two ran to save their lives with Dagur and Snotlout at the tails.
One thing Hiccup liked about the classes was the fact that they were neutral. The teachers didn't side with the rich or disapprove of the poor, which meant that once he and Fishlegs had managed to get to homeroom, Dagur and Snotlout couldn't get to them. It also meant that he could study in peace, which was what he had wanted in the first place. The first half of the day was good, he kept a low profile and spent very little time in the corridors, but he realized that he would have to go to the canteen for lunch and Snotlout would take that as an invitation for him to bully. He was right, when he cautiously stepped out of the lunch line (There are two lines; one for rich, one for poor) Snotlout stepped out of his line and said,"Hey! Slip-up! Is that your lunch?" Hiccup looked down at his peanut butter and brown bread sandwich and casually answered,"Yeah, why do you ask?" "Looks disgusting, want me to improve the taste?" Snotlout offered. Hiccup narrowed his eyes then said, "I'd prefer if you don't." "I insist." He answered pompously then took out a big wad of gum and stuck it on the sandwich. Hiccup made a face and threw his lunch in the bin. He walked over to the table Fishlegs had gotten for them, "Aren't you gonna get a new lunch?" Fishlegs asked, Hiccup shook his head, "I don't have the money" Fishlegs blushed, he had both his parents and was more or less comfortable and he frequently forgot that Hiccup was dirt poor. "Aren't you gonna complain?" he asked Hiccup shook his head again, "I'll lose anyways." There was no way idiots like Snot were gonna ruin his fresh start for him. When he decided that, he knew it would be hard but two weeks later, it became much harder, especially when the new kid came...