He finished Valka's cleaning mid-afternoon and he grabbed his jacket, some decent clothes and headed out. His chores were unfinished but he had no intention of wasting any more time on Alvin's regime. His first port of call was Gobber's where he had to apologise for not showing up. After a very enthusiastic welcome from Toothless, Hiccup had fed the dog and played with him for a good few minutes before finally screwing up his courage to go inside. He was kicking himself for feeling trepidation and had to force himself to lift his chin and walk in confidently...but as the wall of noise hit him and the sheer chaos in the garage swirled around him, the magnitude of his truancy hit him. He sighed and walked towards Gobber, anticipating an earful from the boss. As expected, the older man was sarcastic and grumpy...but the mute plea in Hiccup's green eyes softened his anger somewhat.

"Ye couldnae ha' rung me?" he asked shortly. Sighing, Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.

"Um...don't have a phone...and I don't wanna ring your from home, because I really don't want Alvin to know about you. Um...and he has an itemised bill so he would ask who made the call and who it was to..." he mumbled as Gobber stared, then grabbed his arm and hauled him to the lockers at the back.

"Laddie...what aren't ye telling' me?" he demanded and the teen pulled his arm free.

"Nothing you need to know," he sighed. "Mom's not well and she won't go to the doctor because Alvin doesn't want her to. So I did her chores and that's why I was late..."

"Ye knew today's my busy day!" Gobber told him shortly. "And I need someone reliable. We've work coming out of our ears. If you can't make it, Hiccup..." The boy's face paled.

"Gobber-no! This was a one-off...please don't fire me!" he begged softly. "I-I need the job and I..." The big man stared in shock at the naked desperation and caught his shoulder firmly.

"Relax, laddie! I'm not about tae fire mae best worker!" he reassured him quickly. "But if ye canna make Saturday, could ye do Sunday? We can get the cars fixed and start the week wi'a clean slate?" The relief on Hiccup's face was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud and he nodded urgently.

"Gods, Gobber...that's perfect!" he sighed. "Then I can help Mom and work with you." He gave a shuddering sigh. "I just wish I could get her away from him."

"Laddie-you know if it all gets too much, there's a couch you can sleep on in my apartment?" Gobber checked with him. He nodded and gave a small smile.

"Thanks, Gobber," he sighed, "but I have to stay with Mom as long as I can. Maybe I can persuade her to leave with me when I'm kicked out. I know I can earn enough for a small apartment and food. And maybe we'll be able to finally get Dad's money and we can afford all the medical care Mom needs..."

"The offer's there, if ye need a night away," Gobber reminded him. "Now..." He shoved his real hand into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled note. "Go and buy yerself a phone, laddie! Honestly, ye may be the only teen in Berk without a cell!" Hiccup shrugged.

"Got better things to use my money on," he admitted. Gobber grinned and shoved the money into his hand.

"Well, I wanna be able tae get hold o' mae favourite godson!" he told the young man and Hiccup sighed.

"Thor, don't let anyone at school ever hear that!" he sighed but there was a small smile on his lips. Gobber swatted the back of his head affectionately but felt a shimmer of dismay as the boy ducked and cringed slightly. Visibly forcing himself to untense, Hiccup smiled, his green eyes sparkling and turned to the door. "Thanks, Gobber!" he said cheerily and slid out, fussing Toothless and taking the dog for a walk into town, buying a collar and leash at the pet store to replace the rope he was using before stopping at a store and buying the cheapest phone that would do all he needed it to...then topped it up with credit and set it up in the store. Finally, he bought a large bag of dog food and manhandled it back to the garage. Toothless polished off a bowl of food and a bowl of water before settling down on the shabby blanket that Gobber had found him at the back of the garage. After phoning Gobber to give him his number and giving the older man a huge hug of gratitude, he set out again, this time to meet with his friends.

It was already getting dark when he found them in the Mall, hanging around the stairs and he greeted them with a grin and a blizzard of high fives. The guys had been waiting for him and they were soon messing around, laughing, joking and drinking sodas. Savage and Thuggory stole skateboards off a couple of younger kids and soon they were messing around and racing round the Mall. There were a lot of dirty looks and most people were trying to avoid the rowdy teens. Dagur stole them a handful of cookies from the bakery and they ran off, laughing, though Hiccup was starting to get concerned. The guys were far wilder than usual and he really didn't want to get in trouble with the cops: that would get back to Alvin and may make his life even more troublesome.

And then they found the others, sitting at a couple of tables at the Mall cafe and they took the adjacent table, turning the chairs round and starting to banter with the jocks. It was obvious that there was no love lost between Dagur and Snotlout and the two immediately started on one another.

"Ugh! Can't those idiots just go away!" Heather sighed through her teeth, rolling her eyes. Astrid nodded. Apart from incessant flirting, the gang had been enjoying themselves, hanging around and chatting...until the Bad Boy crew had arrived. Suddenly there was a whole heap more aggression as Snotlout and Eret were arguing with Dagur, Savage and Thuggory. Even Cami was joining in and the twins were egging them on. Astrid cast Hiccup an unfriendly glare and he glared back.

"Yeah, they always turn up where they're not wanted!" Astrid commented. "It's bad enough that we have to put up with them at school, without them ruining our day!"

"No one's keeping you here," Hiccup chipped in with a grin. "You can always go elsewhere! But I think the guys are enjoying a bit of banter!"

"Gah! You would think like that! But we were having a good time until you turned up!" Astrid's tone was sharper than she had intended and she saw his face tighten just a little. Then he forced a grin on.

"I'd have thought you were too busy being perfect and keeping Mommy and Daddy happy!" he sneered.

"Well, at least I have parents who care!" she scoffed. "Yours never attended Parent Evening the last three years!" He looked at her, suddenly shocked.

At least one of them did, every damned time, he thought but bit his lip. "How would you know?" he asked tightly.

"My Mom used to know your Mom and everyone could recognise Stoick Haddock!" she spat back. "My Mom hasn't seen yours for four years!"

No, well my Dad's been busy being dead and Mom is sick and dependent on a manipulative bastard who never lets her out of the house unaccompanied, he thought bitterly but he forced a humourless smile on his face. "Yeah, well, sucks to be me," he shot back sarcastically. "Not everyone can have parents who care-or who can make it. Glad yours are so caring, Miss Perfect! But next time you've been so stupid as to talk all through lesson and are gonna fail, I'll enjoy watching you." He stopped himself from saying any more, turning away and folding his arms. Heather rolled her eyes.

"That was pretty low," Heather commented, casting Hiccup an unfriendly look. Astrid stared at him: she had been surprised at how quickly he annoyed her and how much she wanted to make him back off. Why? Because he tripped her first day of school and made her lose her dignity for a few moments? Because he managed to get away with breaking the rules when she never even arrived late in her entire school career? Or because she had been forced to grovel for his help-and he had given it?

Then she looked up as Snotlout leapt to his feet and squared up to Dagur.

"Okay-you're on!" he growled. "Car park-now!" Astrid blinked.

"What's going on?" she hissed to Cami.

"The jocks and the Bad Boys have agreed to a fight-back of the Mall!"

"WHAT?" she hissed back.

"Yeah-we're going now! Winner gets to hang with us!" Ruff hissed. Astrid's eyes popped wider.

"WHAT?" she repeated. "We're not some prize in a fairground stall! And I'll hang with whoever I want-not who wins some stupid fight!"

"Oh, c'mon Astrid! Don't be so miserable!" Ruff sniggered. "We gotta got and support my idiot brother." Astrid stared. "Yeah-they're all fighting-even him!" And she gestured at Hiccup.