He skipped the next class-History-because he felt so angry. Little Miss Perfect Astrid Hofferson and her gods damned rules! All she cared about was her perfect image and it was none of her business if he did Art or not. The fact that Art was the only class he cared about-except shop-and she had tried to get him expelled just hit him too hard to bear. None of them knew him and no one cares that he had an entire book of sketches for the class...until Mr Treacher had ripped it to pieces yesterday.

He paused and calmed his ragged breathing. No one would care anyway that he needed Art and Math and Physics and Shop. That he wanted with all his heart to be an artist but that he knew it couldn't make enough money so he had chosen engineering. Chosen something where his mechanical skills would still be of use and where he could make enough money to get his Mom away from Alvin and free.

He headed up for the bleachers by the sport field. The weather was still warm and sunny and he drew out his sketch pad and stared down over the school. Almost automatically, he flipped a pencil in his hand and began to sketch the school, capturing the play of shadow across the building, the shapes and reflections and textures. And then, just as he was nodding in satisfaction, he heard shouts-and saw the football team run out for trials...

Detention! He was late for detention so he threw his gear into his bag and raced for the school, arriving panting into the room and meeting the scowl of the Principal as he threw himself into a seat and nodded his apology. He pulled his Math book out and began work on the copious homework that Mr Mildew had set him in payment for his behaviour. He knew he should be grateful not to be suspended or expelled but the work was very hard-well above the level of the class-and it was very testing. Mr Mildew-as everyone else-assumed Hiccup was stupid because he didn't try. But he was utterly determined to complete the work and show Mildew-and everyone-he wasn't a total waste of time.

He had almost completed the work when the hour of detention was up...but Mr Treacher laid a heavy hand on his shoulder as the other detainee left the room. "Yer were late," he growled. "Ten minutes. So you owe me one more day, boy!" Hiccup flicked his eyes up to meet the cold, brutal glare of the Principal.

"Yes, sir," he said quietly. He stood there silently until Alvin finally wearied of the sport and told him to get out of his sight. Suppressing a sigh, Hiccup fled quickly, not daring to answer back, knowing he would hear more of it later. But he knew his friends would be at the trials so he headed out for the Football field and watched the candidates going through their paces. Quietly, he settled down on the bleachers and watched the end of the trials.

Despite their protestations to the contrary, his friends seemed to be trying really hard to make the team. And why wouldn't they? Dagur was fast, strong and ruthless; Savage strong and determined and Thuggory athletic and possessed of a great arm. All of them looked set for glory...except Hiccup. Unable to resist, he threw a few whistles and jeers at his friends and was rewarded with a mouthful of abuse from Dagur. He smiled quietly...Dagur wanted to prove he was stronger than the current football team members and was locked in battle with Snotlout and Eret which he was determined to win. Hiccup winced as he took out Eret in a crunching tackle.

"Way to take him out, Dag!" Hiccup shouted and almost everyone glared at him.

"Shut up, fishbone!" Snotlout shouted back.

"Maybe Mr Haddock wants to demonstrate his own prowess rather than just commenting?" Coach Rokeby called.

"Naw...I'll pass, thanks!" Hiccup replied calmly. "Not really cut out for football! I can think of better ways to spend time that throwing a ball around!"

"Any more comments disrupting my trials then, will land you in detention!" the Coach shouted and Hiccup scowled.

"But I'm Olympic class at sarcasm!" he muttered, then ducked as a ball was thrown hard at him, just missing him. He grabbed the ball and tossed it back, making a reasonable effort...laughed at hard by Snotlout, Eret and Tuffnut. And Dagur also gave a mocking grin. He sighed and sat back on his seat as the girls arrived, making scornful comments as he watched.

"What're you doing here?" Astrid asked sharply.

"No law against being here," he replied bitingly. "I thought you were all supposed to be tossing pom poms!" The girls all scowled...and Heather and Astrid moved towards him.

"It's easy to scoff when you do nothing...when you can do nothing..." Astrid scorned him. He glared at her.

"So the pom poms didn't go so well!" he scoffed.

"You're talking to the Captain of the Cheerleading Team!" Heather snapped at him. "She's the best here! She thinks about doing something, she works hard and she achieves her goals! Unlike people like you, who do nothing, cause trouble and fail all around!"

"Yeah-when was the last time you did anything worthwhile?" Cami scorned him.

"Or did anything for anyone else?" Ruff added.

Every damned day, he thought bitterly but forced himself to smile.

"Well, I made you all feel good about yourselves-perfect little cheerleaders telling off a bad boy for scorning their poor little boyfriends!" he snarked. He stared down at the field: the Coach had called them all into a huddle and was giving them one final pep talk. He rose and grabbed his bag. "And...my work here is done. Try not to get worn out by all those heavy pom poms!" And he stalked away, bumping past Astrid and taking the steps down three at a time. She stared after him: her animosity had been instinctive...but she knew already that he was a success in Art...though that was never publicised. He had completed some great paintings and clearly wasn't totally useless. But she had called him precisely that in front of her friends again when she should have known better.

And then she paused. That had been cruel and unworthy of her. She had struck out at a boy to make herself feel better, to reinforce her sense of self-worth and success by undermining and effectively bullying another student.

Bullying? That couldn't be right. You couldn't bully Hiccup Haddock, right? The guy had skin thicker than a rhino and a bottomless store of snappy come-backs. Anything anyone said to him just rolled off him. And he didn't care anyway...

...or did he? He hated being called worthless. He looked hurt when she had tried to get him expelled from Art. And he had been very defensive. Her eyes lingered on the skinny shape, walking away hunch-shouldered and alone. He was staring at the ground as he walked, not looking back or waiting for his friends...

...and then Cami called her and they turned back to cheer the prospective Team members as they went through their paces for the final time...