When We Meet Again

Chapter 11: You???

Time skip 6 years...

Astrid's alarm clock rang annoyingly. Today is the day. Being one of the top students of her university, she was appointed by the director to give a tour of the humongous campus to some foreign exchange students on orientation day. Being a final year student in her master's degree, she didn't need to attend the orientation and was hoping to have a whole week extra to sleep in just like Heather, until she was appointed just a week ago. The old fiery adventurous spirit in her gradually died down over the past few years, starting from the day Hiccup broke up with her.

Life didn't get any easier for Astrid. Not even two months after the Hiccup incident, she received the news of her father being diagnosed with leukaemia. He spent the rest of his life, the next three years, fighting for his life under the use of strong medication which had gradually overpowered him too. Astrid returned to Berk every opportunity she had just to be with her father. Those days, waking up every morning and receiving a random photo, video or news article from him was a blessing, knowing he's fighting just to watch her graduate.

In his last month, Astrid returned and spent all her days and nights by his side in the hospital ward watching over him as he slept, ate and watched M*A*S*H for the seventh time since the first season was released. Sadly, this time he could only make it to season four.

Braun Hofferson passed away at the age of 54, a week after his birthday in the hospital ward with his wife and daughter by his bedside. Astrid was due to depart for Australia a few weeks after his passing, which gave her time to spend with her mother to support each other through the funeral.

Unfortunately as soon as she left for Australia again, Ingrid fell into severe depression and anxiety due to her loneliness. No matter how much she wished Astrid would come back, she never wanted to stand in her daughter's way to her dreams. Her declining mental health and usage of antidepressants weakened her, and as her tolerance to her medication built up, she began taking larger doses. Slightly more than a year after Braun's death, Ingrid Hofferson joined her husband after having an overdose of medication. Astrid was left to survive on her own.

In their third year, Heather, Astrid and the twins rented an apartment together and they were inseparable. When her mother passed away, Astrid was miserable for months but thankfully she always had her second family to comfort her.

Heather had gotten Astrid a blue-and-yellow macaw after Astrid returned to Australia from her mother's funeral as a therapy pet. She named the beautiful parrot Stormfly and trained her well, often bringing her grocery shopping while perched on her shoulder. There will always be a ray of hope in times of darkness.

A brief flash of her past ran through her mind as she slammed her fist on the snooze button and rolled out of bed. Yes, she is over the heart break all through the years, but this doesn't mean she will never think of her family ever again. Astrid got herself ready for the day she wasn't looking forward to, slipped on her university's hoodie and lanyard, tossed some seeds into Stormfly's bowl, left Heather a note on the kitchen counter and skulked out the door as quietly as she could.

Ugh mornings. She used to love getting up early but that was high school her. The new Astrid was way more introverted than anyone imagined she would be. However, now the director seemed to be bursting her personal bubble deliberately by throwing her into a group of strangers. Brilliant.

On campus she signed her attendance with one of the staff members and was given a brief summary on her duties and the itinerary for the day.

"Your appointed group will meet you outside the cafeteria. They won't know your details so you'll have to conduct a quick ice breaking session with them before the tour. Once you're done with that, take them back to the cafeteria for lunch and spend some time with them, and also exchange contacts as we'll need you to assist them whenever they're facing difficulties throughout the year."

Just great. Now they're making me bring these idiots for lunch AND get their contacts. This is ridiculous. I'm sorry Heather, looks like lunch will have to be cancelled.

When she was prepared, she made her way to the cafeteria and waited with a sign displaying the group number and waited for people to gather. Yawn.

Being a girl with hardly any patience, Astrid started doodling on one of the scrap papers she had on the clipboard she clutched, not acknowledging the group of students gathering around her. When it was finally 9 o'clock, she checked the time and decided to get on with the tour, arranging her paper and snapped into her cheery project presentation attitude. She couldn't not be friendly to these people or she would chase them off.

Her eyes scanned the small crowd of people around her while giving them an introduction with a grin. Only about twelve of them. Meh, manageable. Suddenly she froze as she laid her eyes on one boy in particular. Her breathing hitched as she stiffened but tried her best to act as if everything was fine.

The boy. The tall lanky figure had a girl with blonde hair clinging onto his left arm like a baby monkey on its mother. He was clearly annoyed with her and shrugged her off, then proceeded to hide behind a huge stocky guy. That moment, the boy looked up at his tour guide and their eyes met. He froze too. He was so shocked and stunned he didn't notice the blondie tugging on his arm again.

Astrid took a deep breath and muttered under her breath, "oh sweet honey iced tea."