When We Meet Again

Chapter 14: Friends From the Other Side

Heather and Hiccup spent the entire lunch date telling their stories of the past few years, although Heather left out the part about Astrid's parents' heartbreaking endings. She knew Hiccup would be distraught if he were to find out and she didn't want to stress or worry him out even further. Hiccup accompanied Heather for the rest of the day at the mall with Toothless.

At half past five in the afternoon, both of them decided to make their way home, but Hiccup had to wait for one of his friends who was his roommate too. Heather really wanted to meet one of the guys who helped Hiccup with his life so she waited with him. A few moments later, a huge stocky man with short blonde hair approached them while carrying grocery bags.

Heather recalled Astrid describing this guy as the one who Hiccup supposedly hid behind while his "girlfriend" tried grabbing him. The huge guy stood before her, bending over to scratch Toothless' ears then greeting Hiccup.

"Ah Fishlegs, I want you to meet one of my childhood friends, this is Heather. We went to Berk High together. She's also a huge dragon fan," Hiccup introduced her with a wink. "Heather, this is Fred, who I call Fishlegs after that nerdy guy from Race To The Edge, if you remember."

"Of course I do! It's a pleasure to meet you Fred," Heather shook his hand with a warm smile.

"The pleasure is mine, I'm so glad to finally meet one of you. By the way, just call me Fishlegs. Any friend of Hiccup's is welcome to be a friend of mine," Fishlegs returned the smile. "Say, why don't we walk you back to your apartment on the way to ours?"

Both Heather and Hiccup agreed to his suggestion. "I don't see why not."

On their walk back, Heather and Fishlegs got to know each other better, making Hiccup satisfied. He was glad that his very first friend would still stick by him two decades later, and even get along well with his new best friend. The only thing he wished at that moment was for Astrid to be there with them, laughing and chatting with her angelic voice, and her sweet smile that never failed to melt his heart... wait what???

Sooner than they expected, they had arrived at Heather's apartment block, where she said goodbye to the two men and sweet dog. As she was about to step in, Hiccup remembered that they needed a favour.

"Hey Heather, I'm just wondering if you could help Fishlegs and I complete some tasks around the campus tomorrow? That is if you're free. We need to run some errands and we aren't very familiar with the campus yet," he asked as Fishlegs nodded in the background.

Heather thought for a moment before agreeing. "I should be available tomorrow, and I'm willing to help! See you guys down here at noon then. And Hiccup, please bring Toothless, try not to separate yourself from him ever again."

Hiccup smiled assuringly at her. "I will, don't worry. I've learnt my lesson, besides, tomorrow I'm going to apply for special consideration for him to be allowed into classes with me."

Before Heather could give her answer, a beautiful parrot flew down from a window on the building, followed by a shriek. "STORMFLY!"

The parrot squawked before landing on Heather's shoulder, asking for scratches on her chin. Knowing that her owner was probably freaking out, Heather looked up and shouted towards Astrid's room window. "Don't worry girl, I've got her."

"Jeez Stormfly don't do that!"

Heather chuckled as her attention turned back to the two boys. "Oh, this is Stormfly, Astrid's parrot. I got her for Astrid's birthday a few years ago, and as you can see, she loves pranking her owner."

As if she understood, the smart parrot repeated "Astrid! Astrid!" and whistled before nibbling Heather's ear.

Hiccup smiled. "I'm glad she has a such a smart and sweet girl to accompany her. Anyway we better get going. So tomorrow here at noon?"

"Of course, see you guys!"

*************************************

Heather didn't like lying to Astrid, but she definitely didn't want her to know about meeting Hiccup, and the stories that came with it. All she told her housemates was that she was told to assist some new students, and they just shrugged and said bye.

At the front door of the apartment block stood Hiccup, Fishlegs and a smiling Toothless by Hiccup's side. They greeted each other before making their way to the main campus. There, Heather brought them to the offices to ask questions and for Hiccup to apply for Toothless' special exemption from the pet policy. About two hours later, Heather showed them the way to get to one of the largest lecture halls on the university, where all other students from California gathered to organise documents. There were about thirty other students in the hall, including Hiccup's friends Eret and Snotlout.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet an old and dear friend of mine, Heather. This is Snotlout," Hiccup said as he pointed at the shorter guy, who winked at her, making her feel uncomfortable. "And this is Eret," Hiccup quickly added before Snotlout could say anything. Unlike Snotlout, Eret was tall and had a welcoming look as he smiled and held out his hand to shake.

"It's nice to finally meet all of you. Wow Hiccup, they're all such amazing people," Heather said a little too soon.

Snotlout immediately pulled Heather's arm in an attempt to earn her attention. "Hey, how about we go to a party tonight, just you and I?"

"Oooook, everyone else is amazing except for you, get off," Heather snapped and pulled herself away from him. "Ew."

Hiccup and Fishlegs shared a look before approaching Heather. "Hey, we're so sorry about that, unfortunately that's how he is with uh almost every girl," Fishlegs rushed anxiously. Heather just nodded back slowly, then glared at Snotlout who looked afraid. Unfortunately troubles that day hadn't ended as a screechy voice pierced through the air. "Hiccup!!!"

"Oh Lord save me now," Hiccup mumbled before being tackled by a wave of blonde.

Toothless started barking at the blonde girl, making her annoyed. "Oh shut up you useless mutt," she yelled at the dog in a high pitched voice before slapping the dog on the snout, sending him whimpering away, hiding behind Eret. It was obvious he had horrible memories of the girl.

Hiccup grew furious with her action and shoved her off and onto the floor. Fishlegs immediately grabbed onto one of Hiccup's arms and Heather on the other, holding him back in case he attacked her. All Hiccup could see was red, no one ever hurts his loved ones, especially his dog. "Get out of my sight!" he screamed, drawing attention from people surrounding them. "Don't ever approach me or my friends ever again!"

Noticing the attention, she decided to turn the situation against him. "Oh Hiccup, how could you replace me... with that freak and her squid ink hair???" The crowd started murmuring, she suppressed a smirk growing on her face.

"Excuse me?" Heather shrieked. Now Eret and Snotlout helped Fishlegs hold onto both Hiccup and Heather. Toothless stood in between them growling. "I've been his friend longer than you and his other friends ever knew him. How could you dare turn this against us when you hurt his service dog first?"

The girl stood up and rolled her eyes. She knew she couldn't overpower the situation, the black-haired girl had spoken too much. All she did was strut off, flicking her hair and yelled back at them, "I swear I'll get you back for public humiliation. Disgraceful."