You Have to Choose... (Hiccstrid) (On hold)

Chapter 5

Astrid's P.O.V.

I looked at myself in the mirror with a sigh. "Astrid, your friends are here!" Papa calls from down stairs. I put on my necklace-- I had taken it off for a while after the mall-- and slide down the railing before kissing his cheek and walking for the door. "Be back before we wake up, you hear?" he says and I nod. 

Nana had already went to bed and to be honest, I was kinda glad. She would have held me up an hour with her fretting. I grabbed my board, by the door, and jumped into the bed of Heather's truck. She and Snotlout whooped and hollered as she drove down the beach. Few minutes later, I heard music before Heather parked the truck and we got out. I left my jeans in the bed and ran for the water. I paddled out a few yards before laying on my belly and relaxing.

"Why hello, there, My Queen," a voice says and I look to my left to see Eret paddling up to me.

"I'm not your queen," I grumble, sitting up.

"Well, just so long as you know that you aren't the best surfer," he says smugly.

"Oh, and I suppose you're better?" I ask.

"You sayin' I'm not?" he counters.

"I'm saying you're not better than me; you might be better than a beginning two-year-old. I'm queen of the sea for a reason," I tell him.

"Well, I'm more of a surfer than you'll ever be," he says.

"You're not a surfer! You do the half pipe!" I snap.

"That sounds like a challenge!" he shouts before I feel a yank from the scale on my necklace.

"Please, you're no professional and you have no chance against one," I tell him.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're not a real surfer until you're able to find and ride a wave like this," I shout before paddling out to meet the wave that had yet to form.

"I don't see anything!" he calls after me.

"Exactly, you're not a surfer!" I called over my shoulder before the wall started rising. I turned my board and paddled before I started to get swept up. I stand before the wave turned to a tube and the beach started going crazy. Wish I could enjoy it and see what Hayden was talking about. But, it was a spite wave so, it's hard to enjoy something like that. After a few minute ride, I left it and went back to Eret before jumping into the water and climbing back onto my board.

"Well that was a solo wave. How would you do against someone?" Eret asks. 

"Well lets find out," I say before nodding to the horizon to show him a rising wave. We start paddling out before a voice sounds from a speaker.

"And....we have a competition out on the ocean, tonight. Looks like the Queen of the waves has gotten challenged by Eret of the half pipe. Their neck-and-neck, nose-to-nose! Who will be the first to stand?!" I rolled my eyes as I recognized the rushed voice of Tuffnut. Eret and I turned before paddling and standing simultaneously.

"Well, if you knew anything, my brother, you would know that Eret has no chance against Astrid Hofferson," his sister, Ruffnut, says.

"Oh, no one has a chance, except maybe that new surfer, Hayden," Tuffnut says.

"Well, anyway, it looks like Eret is trying to copy Astrid's technique. How does she plan on getting him off her tail?" Ruffnut says and I look at Eret to see she was right. I started to swerve across the wave and he grew closer to me, to the point where he's trying to tip me.

"You wanna play like this, eh?" I mutter before swerving in front of him. The back of my board goes over his, making him wipe out and my board spins. I move my feet until it's righted and continue on my ride to the shore.

"And Astrid triumphs, once again!" the twins cheer as I jumped off my board when I got about to waist deep water. I pick up my board as Heather and Snotlout come up to me.

"Where's the bar?" I ask them and Heather wraps her arm around my shoulder and leads me to a cooler. I grab a root beer before finding a chair and relaxing.

"You know what?!" Eret snaps as he drags himself from the water, "I bet you can't beat me on a skate board! I challenge you to the half pipe!"

"No," I say.

"Why?!" he shouts.

"Because unlike you, I'm not afraid to admit when someone's better than me at something," I tell him. I still couldn't believe he thinks treating me like this is gonna get him a date with me. He gets dragged off by a group of his friends before Heather nudges me.

"What do you say to joining Snotlout and I on some relaxation waves?" she asks.

"Why not?" I tell her and we all grab our boards before jogging for the water.

One Hour later

Snotlout was in the middle of riding a mini tube when Heather put a glow stick around my neck. "Not a real night surfer until you have a glowing neck," she says and I roll my eyes.

"Yea, well what do you call this?" I ask before taking the stick off and having my scale shine in the moonlight.

"Fine," she says before snatching the glow stick back and tossing it to Snotlout as he passed. 

Suddenly, something tips my board and I get projected deeper into the water before an arm snaked around my waist and gentle fingers cupped my chin. I froze. In the dim of the water, I could just make out the outline from this morning. The guy pulls me to his chest before the current turns us slowly. I could feel his eyes digging into my being and I was reliving the comforting feeling of my lungs becoming loose. Bubbles float from my mouth and nose before my lungs tighten again. I try to swim upward, for air, but the guy pulled me back down before caressing my cheek. He then connected our lips and blew air into my lungs. When he pulled back, his hand traveled down to mine. He took his arm from around my waist and swam deeper, not taking his eyes from me as he pulled me along. The ankle rope slipped from my leg and I suddenly realized what he was doing. I ripped my hand free and shot to the surface. I felt his hands grasp my ankle again before I started kicking like a mad man. My foot slips from his fingers and I resurface with a gasp before righting my board and climbing on.

"Astrid, are you okay?!" Snotlout shouts as he resurfaces a few feet away. I paddle to the shore before answering him.

"No! Drop my board off at home, will you? I'm taking a detour," I yelled from the sand as I dropped my prize and ran for the truck. I grabbed my jeans and ran up the beach, not stopping as Heather and Snotlout called after me.

"And Astrid seemed to have had a traumatic experience. She's running down the beach in a full on sprin- Hey, calm down!" Tuffnut is cut off when someone obviously attacks him. Might be his sister, might be one of my friends.