Touch My Heart

Chapter 8

"Hey, you!" Astrid jumped as someone grabbed her shoulders as they jumped onto her. Astrid felt their weight on her shoulders and instantly knew who it was. Astrid sighed as she continued to trade books from her locker and into her bag. She then slammed her locker shut and turned around to look at the boy behind her. "How's it hanging?" His obnoxious voice was all that could be heard throughout the busy corridor.

"Ugh, what do you want Kristoff?" Astrid sighed and looked at the annoying buff character in front of her. He was leaning on one of the many lockers beside them, he smirked lightly at her which caused Astrid to gag in response.

"You know what I want..." Kristoff whispered so only Astrid could hear. She shivered and looked away from the disgusting creature in front of her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Come on then. Let's get this over with." Astrid then held out her arms towards Kristoff who smiled widely and enveloped her in a hug. Kristoff hugged her tightly almost cutting off her air supply. "Umm... Kris.. toff..." Astrid breathed shakily as she struggled for breath. Kristoff let go and laughed lightly.

"Sorry!" He laughed as he watched her dramatically clutch her chest. "You are such a skeletal creature Hofferson!" He joked, which earned him a punch in the shoulder. Astrid continued to laugh with him despite her punch.

"And you sir, are a softy," Astrid said, smiling widely. Let me explain:

Astrid and Kristoff have been friends for years, ever since kindergarten, and they always know how to annoy or amuse the other. They have been through it all together and know each other like the back of their hands. They were like siblings. Both were with the popular crowd which was great. That meant they could hang out without getting bullied for it, but since they shared everything, Astrid was able to know Kristoff's biggest secret... He has a big crush on Anna (the outcast) and he knows that he can't speak or even hang out with her and it's slowly killing him on the inside. Hence why he constantly asks for weird brotherly hugs from Astrid.

"I know I'm a softy, but you know why I need it." He says as the two begin their route towards the class.

"Yes, I do," Astrid replied softly. As they walked down the corridor, they didn't notice the pair of emerald eyes that were jealously watching them the whole time.

"Dude, you need to stop staring. It's rude!" Jack joked as he slapped Hiccup on the back. Hiccup watched as the last of Astrid and her 'friend' walked out of the corridor.

"Sorry man." Jack leaned against the lockers beside Hiccup's and watched his friend. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Hiccup asked as he put away some of his books in his locker. Jack looked at him questioningly but nodded anyway.

"Sure."

"Who was that guy with Astrid?" Hiccup looked away from Jack knowing the judging look he was giving him. It was like fire when he did that.

"Dude! Seriously!" Jack shouted, earning a few stares from passing students but Jack didn't care. it's not like they cared either.

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to know, that's all." Hiccup lied. 

In reality, he was jealous. Like really jealous. He wanted to be that guy that hugs her and jokes with her and is her best friend. But he was also jealous because he was sure that Astrid and he could never be friends or... More. He'd never felt jealous before but that was all that he could guess it was. He had always been used to getting the girls he wanted, this was the first time jealousy had bitten him, and he was lost.

"Okay, fine. You want to know..." Hiccup nodded. Jack sighed and took a deep breath. "That's Kristoff, he is Astrid's best friend. They've been friends with each other since kindergarten, they're more like brother and sister than friends. So you can stop with the jealousy." Hiccup widened his eyes at Jack's last comment.

"What?! I'm-I'm not, jealous?" He said it like a question to himself.

"Sure mate... I'll believe you." Jack laughed as Hiccup closed his locker and the two wander down the corridor together.

***

Hiccup sat on the chair in front of his desk. He sighed as he looked at the pile of homework that lay on his desk. He'd already had one detention today for not doing his homework, he didn't want another, although he felt that the detention slips have a bigger pile than his homework. But even those detentions can often be quite fun if you get what I mean! He looked up from his desk for a moment and saw Astrid laying on her bed and talking on her phone she appeared to be arguing with someone. Hiccup frowned as he watched her throw something at the wall. Was it her phone? A clock? He couldn't tell. Astrid then sat in front of her window and saw Hiccup watching her. Instantly she smiled and reached for something he couldn't see. She then showed her a message written on a notepad, thrust against the windowpane for him to read:

'Staring is rude you know'

The words on the paper seemed familiar to him. She wasn't the first to say that to him, those words held weight but he tried to shake it off. Hiccup grabbed his notepad and wrote back.

'Everything alright?'

He showed her that paper and watched her sigh and write her response.

'Just tired of drama!'

Hiccup laughed half-heartedly and watched as Astrid close her curtains and give him a small wave before fully closing the curtains to her room. Hiccup smiled at her gesture and then looked back at the pile of papers in front of him. It was gonna be a long night.

Meanwhile, Astrid picked up her phone and looked at all of her messages. Why did she have to be popular? The texts were all about their exes or people they bullied. It was exhausting just reading them. But she always smiled whenever she saw a text by Kristoff. Instead, she locked her phone without replying, she was too tired anyway. She decided to finish her projects and watch some Netflix instead, before drifting off to sleep.