In Another Lifetime

Chapter 13 - Timetables

When the boys arrived in the dining hall they found that Merida and Rapunzel had already saved them a table of four and had bagged a couple of pieces of slightly burnt toast. Rapunzel was nibbling a piece smothered in raspberry jam and Merida was eating an apple. They grinned and made their way over to them.

"Sleep well?" Rapunzel asked sweetly, eyeing the circles underneath Hiccup's eyes.

"What do you think?" Hiccup replied groggily, reaching for the toast rack. Merida laughed and placed her finished apple core on her plate among the toast crumbs.

"I slept fine!" Jack said, looking over at the brunette. "Bad dreams, eh Hic?"

Hiccup shook his head.

"More like too good to be true."

"We've all had that," Merida smiled.

"Yeah Hic, why don't you tell Merida what you dreamt last night?" Jack smirked.

Merida turned to him, confused. Hiccup's face went bright red.

"Um - I, I dreamt that I, I rode a dragon... Yeah, it was one of the rarest ones out there and I was the only one who could tame it." He began to describe the dragon he drew for his art homework; "it was big and black but it had only one tail fin and I fixed it for him. We flew above the clouds and saw the Northern Lights; it was pretty cool."

Merida seemed pretty interested, but she seemed to sense that Hiccup was making it up on the spot. Jack was grinning as he bit into his toast. Rapunzel was stifling a giggle; it was obvious the dream had been about Merida.

Soon they were interrupted by the angry lady in the saggy vest standing up and yelling to all of the kids there,

"You have been given timetables. They will determine which activities you do and when. They begin almost straight after breakfast every day, so you must make sure that you're ready on time. We will not wait for laziness. So get going."

Merida rose from the table and looked at the timetable that had been placed in front of her and let out a whoop of joy.

"What?" Rapunzel asked, taking a sip of the tasteless apple juice.

"I've got archery first!" Merida grinned, sitting down again, considerably happier.

"What have we got?" Hiccup plucked his out of the pile on the table. "I've got archery first too!"

"Same!" Jack pointed at his paper.

"We're all in the same group!" Rapunzel exclaimed. "What do we have later?"

"Yes! Art second!" Hiccup cried happily.

"Then music!" Jack whooped, punching the air.

"Yes! Home economics!" Rapunzel said delightedly. The others all turned to stare at her.

"You LIKE home economics?" Merida asked, baffled.

"Yeah!" Rapunzel said enthusiastically. "Cooking and baking, it's really fun!"

"Don't forget the sewing," Jack added, flinching. "Ugh, design work..."

"I don't mind the drawing stage," Hiccup said, "it's the needles and the sewing machines I hate."

"And the stupid little stitches!" Merida jumped in. "They're the fiddliest things I've ever seen. And this is coming from someone who makes her own arrows."

"Well I like it," Rapunzel said stubbornly. Jack grinned.

"We weren't accusing you of anything Punz."

Rapunzel pouted and Merida and Hiccup exchanged a smirk. The pair of them were flirting and you'd have to be blind not to notice it.

"Well," Merida rose from the table, "I'm going to get ready for archery. Anyone coming?"

The group got up and left the remnants of breakfast behind them. They were walking down the corridor when a blonde girl with a plait tripped Hiccup up. He landed on the floor, rubbing his knee to ease the pain.

"Watch it!" Jack scowled at her.

"He should watch where he's going," the girl sneered.

"Who even are you anyway?" Merida approached her.

The girl put her hands on her hips and smirked.

"Astrid Hofferson."

"Well, 'Astrid Hofferson'," Merida pulled a face at her, "I'd advise you not to make fun of my friends. Or you'll have me to deal with on the archery range. You hear?"

"Perfectly," Astrid replied with just as much confidence. She turned to the girl beside her who was laughing at the sight of Hiccup on the ground. "Come on Ruff, let's get ready for rock climbing."

"Ugh," Merida scowled at their backs as they walked away. She held out a hand for Hiccup to take, which he did. He got up on to his feet and thanked Merida.

"Why didn't you retaliate?" Jack asked, puzzled. Hiccup shrugged.

"Don't know. I've never been good at standing up for myself."

"Well," Merida said, brushing some of the dust off his back, "it looks like you're going to need to learn fast."