Behind the mask

Abstract

The days passed and Hiccup felt himself grow more frustrated. His friends had all joined the Football Team and while Dagur was still promising to wreck the team's chances, he and the others were going to training and seemed to be enjoying training and the company of the other jocks.  Alvin was riding his ass and he had accrued three more days of detention for insubordination, otherwise known as general Hiccup sass.

Art was his only haven, where he didn't need to pretend not to care that he was considered worthless by everyone and where he was treated like a normal human being. Miss Sylvester went out of her way to encourage him and he had responded by producing the requisite five sketches two days after he had received his new book. Astrid glanced over them as the teacher flicked through with a smile and had gaped as she had seen the school, a black dog, the Team practicing, a blonde man with s very ornate moustache and herself all expertly captured on paper. She had snatched at the book as soon as she saw her image.

"How dare you draw me?" she snapped. Hiccup glanced at her in amusement.

"I wasn't aware your image rights were protected!" he teased her.

"If you think I want some scrawny troublemaker stalking me to..." she began in a rage but Miss Sylvester cut her off abruptly.

"Miss Hofferson! I will not tolerate this kind of abuse in my class!" she scolded her. Astrid's cheeks flamed with embarrassment.

"But how could he draw me if he hadn't been stalking me?" she asked angrily.

"I've been in your classes for years!" Hiccup protested.  "I drew you from memory..." There was a moment of silence as Astrid glared fiercely at him.

"Don't," she said tightly. "I don't want you looking at me or drawing me!" Creep, she added silently. Breathing hard, Hiccup nodded.

"Get over yourself!" he scoffed. "Why should I want to look at you? If there was a prize for being vain and up your own arse, you'd have no contest!"

"Enough!" the teacher snapped. "I think we've wasted more than enough time on Miss Hofferson's wounded sensibilities. Now...abstract views of the school! You may choose a view and sketch, crayon or paint but be back by the bell!"

As soon as they were dismissed, Hiccup had grabbed his bags and raced from the class, heading out to the bleachers to gaze across the school and the sports field. Grabbing his book, he had already sketched the outline when Astrid and Ruff arrived to start their sketches. Grumbling that he had occupied the best spot, they settled close to him and began to chat, not helped by Cami-who was supposed to be in Study Hall but had seen them wander out from her desk, bored-arriving five minutes later. Trying to ignore them, the boy continued his drawing until there were ten minutes left and it was obvious that neither of the girls had drawn a thing.

"Is your drawing so abstract that it doesn't actually exist?" he asked them shortly after they had been laughing and giggling so much it had broken his concentration. He erased the mistake he had made, deep indigo pastel smeared on the side of his hand where he had rubbed the colour away. "Sorry-some of us are actually trying to do our work!" Astrid flushed, casting him an unfriendly look at the reminder she had allowed herself to become distracted and not complete the assignment-while Hiccup Haddock actually had. She blinked and a look of horror covered her face: an F would really bring her grades down. She stared at the school and then at him in sudden dismay.

"Oh crap," she murmured. "I-I...quick-how do I do a drawing in ten minutes...?" He looked at her in shock.

"You asking me, Miss I'm So Perfect I Want You Cut From Class?" he asked her sarcastically. "And why on Midgard should I ever want to help you?"

"Because...because I am really asking you for your help!" she said urgently.

"And why should I ever want to help you?" he repeated.

"Please?" she asked softly. "I-I can't fail!" He stared at her coldly.

"Maybe it would be a good lesson for you to learn!" he suggested shortly. "Maybe you would learn to consider how it feels for everyone else?"

"My-my parents would be so disappointed!" she begged him, to the shock of her friends. "I-I have to maintain a straight A average..."

"Ast..." Cami murmured, surprised but Hiccup inspected her closely. There was a genuine plea in Astrid's wide sky-blue eyes. Hiccup snapped his book closed and rose.

"Hardly my concern," he told her coldly. "As I said, it would be a good lesson for you to learn..."

"I'm sorry!" she called as he turned to bounce down the seats. He froze.

"What?"

"I-I'm sorry," Astrid blurted out suddenly. "You're not worthless! You're really good at Art. I-I was unfair to you!" He lowered his head for a moment, then strode back up to her, grabbing her sketch book and her pencil and swiftly outlining the vista on the paper. Then he frowned and divided the picture up in blocks that still gave the illusion of the school. He threw the pencil and book back at her.

"Fill in the blocks-the wilder colours the better. Simplest abstract technique but at least you'll have something to hand in if you're quick at colouring in!" he told her, slinging his bag over his shoulder and bouncing carelessly down the steps to amble back towards the school. Astrid stared after him-and then grabbed her pastels and hastily filled in the colour blocks, astonished that such a simple technique produced such a quick result. She grabbed her books and sprinted back to class, arriving as the bell sounded.

Miss Sylvester looked up as she panted in and handed her book in. "Just in time," she said with a smile, flipping the book open and glancing at the image. "Hmm...much better than your previous efforts, Miss Hofferson. You shall all get your books back tomorrow. Dismissed!" Astrid breathed a sigh of relief as she rose and then she caught Hiccup's expression: he was smirking at her. And then she realised-he had something on her now.