"Well, that's great!" Ms. Summers replied, completely oblivious to the accelerated thought process I'd just gone through to give her that measly seven-word answer. "Now that we've gotten caught up, let's discuss your schooling, Hiccup. You'll be starting grade 11 tomorrow at the same high school as Sophia here; Berk Academy, home of the Vikings. Isn't that great?"

I nodded, trying to look enthused on the outside, but on the inside, I was anything but. Any high school that had sports mascots called the Vikings was surely to be rough, regardless of the "Academy" that came after the first part of the name. I paused, wondering briefly why anyone in their right mind would call anyplace "Berk", whether it was a school or not. Hearing someone speaking, I jumped, focusing my attention back to the current conversation.

"... and we've been trying to get Hiccup placed in most of Sophia's classes so that he'll have a friendly face," said Ms. Summers to Sophia's mother.

I heard Sophia snort and mutter under her breath, "Goodness knows he'll need one, what with that moron Snotlout and his posse." I puzzled over that bit of information, but ultimately decided that I'd find out what she was talking about the next day.

And oh boy, did I find out.

I made my way down the steps to the main floor, newly-bought backpack in hand filled with my newly-bought school supplies. All of them bought, of course, by the Silverthorns, who had already done so much for me already. I had tried to protest, but they weren't having it. I told them I'd repay them somehow, but they brushed me off, and now I was nervous - why were they being so nice to me? Yes, I knew by now that there was a likelihood that I wouldn't get hurt here, but hey, force of habit.

A short while later, I was packed, stomach full of breakfast, and ready to go. Standing at the intersection just up the road from Sophia's house, we waited silently for the bus. I could tell that Sophia was itching to speak, though; in the last 24 hours, she'd been more talkative then ever before. Something about going to school brought about a kind of second personality to her, I guess. I was queasy from nerves and the oatmeal I'd had for breakfast was rolling over in my stomach, so I didn't speak for fear of vomiting it all back up. Some time later, the bus finally came, and I followed Sophia into it, glancing anxiously left and right.

I first saw him sitting at the very back of the bus, surrounded by who I'd guess to be the "popular girls" and some other guys; among them was a pair of fraternal twins laughing and somehow punching each other at the same time. I gasped when a hand grabbed my sleeve and pulled me roughly into a seat. Stiffening, I dared a peak at who'd just tugged me and sighed with relief when I saw that it was only Sophia. She wasn't looking at me, though. She was looking at the boy at the back of the bus with a glower on her face.

She finally looked away and nudged me, gesturing sharply with her head to where she'd just been glaring. "That's Snotlout. He's arrogant, stupid, and likes to gang up on the weaker ones. Also, he's a terrible flirt. Thinks he's so goddamn handsome. Huh," Sophia grumbled. I could tell that she felt somehow resentful towards him.

I shrugged at her explanation, though. Every school has its bullies, and it seemed that I'd just found the next one that would torment me for the next two years. Looking around, I searched for any other people on the bus that looked even remotely friendly, but I only saw a rather overweight, blonde boy sitting alone at the front with a high-tech cellphone that he was furiously typing in and a girl with blue eyes and blonde hair sitting ramrod straight a few seats away, also alone. She somehow managed to achieve the "spiky, semi-gothic" look while wearing the mandatory black and red uniform with an axe as the logo by wearing pointy metallic earrings in her ears and her hair done up in spikes.

"S-Sorry to ask, but don't you have any friends at school?" I inquired to Sophia, who was sitting quietly, staring out the window. In all of the talk about classes and syllabi yesterday, I'd never once heard her mention having friends at the academy.

She startled, eyebrows jumping as she glanced at me quickly, then averted her eyes and answered curtly, "No," and left it at that.

The morning went well. In fact, it was pretty uneventful. First period was American history, where I was introduced to the class as a new kid and there was the expected gawking as I sat down in the back row next to the blonde girl from the bus, who I learned was called Astrid. She merely flashed a squint my way, then proceeded to act like I didn't exist for the rest of the period. Fine by me. Sophia was there, too. She sat in the very front row, trying to pay attention but I could tell that she was already falling asleep. I chuckled a bit; looks like American history wasn't Sophia's subject.

Second period was Biology. Sophia was, again, present. So was Astrid and the overweight blonde boy from the bus. When he kept raising his hand to participate (something I'd rather die before doing), I gathered that his name was Fishlegs, or something like that. At least, that's what I think I heard the bio teacher call him. How can anybody be called Fishlegs? Then again, maybe it was a nickname of sorts - yeah, that made sense; I'd seen the guy's legs and they definitely didn't look big enough to hold up his large torso.

At lunch was when it happened. I was peacefully eating my prepared lunch (again, courtesy of Ms. Silverthorn) when Snotlout and the pair of twins from earlier walked, or should I say, swaggered, up to me. I regarded them warily, taking in Snotlout's messy black hair, pale blue eyes, big arm muscles and the twins' long platinum hair (and yes, I mean the two of them - the boy's hair was as long as the girl's). All of them wore leering smirks.

Several arrogant remarks about my height, weight and intelligence, a few punches, a couple of kicks and all of my lunch money stolen later, I was lying on the ground, panting heavily and clutching my ribs. Sophia had left earlier to see about joining some club that we, as juniors, could finally attend. I stupidly hadn't been paying attention to her and had distractedly bid her, "See you soon." Now, I was regretting it. Maybe, if she had stayed, she would've helped me fend off Snotlout, Tough and Rough. Yes, I'd learned that the twin's names were Tough (the boy) and Rough (the girl). Again, they were probably nicknames. Does everyone have a nickname here? I wondered dazedly.

Lying on the ground like that, I could feel any vibration in the dirty floor, so I heard the heavy footsteps coming my way. I gasped and jerked up, thinking it was one of Snotlout's friends coming to join the fun, but all I saw to my right was Snotlout, Rough and Tough's quickly retreating backs. What the hell? Was there some sort of bully hierarchy here? Was there someone even Snotlout feared?

I glanced to my left, then averted my eyes downwards, suddenly nervous. I recognized the huge man with red hair and a bushy red beard coming towards me (here was someone who looked like he could be an actual Viking). Someone who, at my old schools, was always some old, white-haired man who never gave a shit about what the teachers did, let alone in regard to the students.

The principal.