If you thought I went straight to class after the guy I liked told me he was happy with another, then you are completely and utterly wrong. The first thing I did was go to the girls bathroom, where I silently cried in a stall all by myself for about 15 minutes before I pulled myself together and went to the nurse's office where I told her that I felt sick so that I could go home.

On my way home, I swung by the store and bought myself a tub of ice cream which I ended up thoroughly enjoying whilst I wept on the couch in my sweats over how hard my life had gotten on the second day back in school. The only thing I felt slightly proud of that day, was the fact that I had managed to avoid getting into another accident whilst violently sobbing. Isn't it clear that I learn from my mistakes?

As I kept on stuffing my mouth with tasty chocolate ice cream, my phone blew up with a bunch of texts. I glanced over at the time my phone was displaying and quickly realized that it was lunch time at school, meaning all those texts were probably Heather and Ruffnut wondering where I was.

I shot them both a quick text in reply, informing them that I had gone home for the day. Unfortunately for me, my friends actually cared about me, which is why they refused to leave me alone and insisted on coming over after school so that I could tell them all the details of what happened between me and Hiccup.

I groaned as I sank further back into the soft couch. I really couldn't handle seeing another person at that moment, and the thought of having to relive that awful moment Hiccup told me that he was happy without me ... gods, it hurt. I stuffed another spoon of ice cream into my mouth, attempting to drown my sorrows in frozen chocolate.

Time went by slowly and after what felt like years, Ruffnut and Heather waltzed in my door like they owned the house, immediately finding me wrapped up in a blanket like a human sized burrito on the couch. The girls sat down on the couch beside me, eager to hear what had gone down.

I quickly began explaining it all, suppressing as many of my emotions as I could as I relived that moment outside the school. It may have only happened 4 hours earlier, but to me it felt like days had gone by since then. To my great surprise, my friends actually sat down and listened intently to my story, soaking up every detail as they let me ramble on until there was nothing left to say. I was shocked, to say the least.

I took a deep breath, quickly wiping my eyes before the tears that had been welling up in them escaped. "But as I said, all that matters is that he's happy ... right?"

Heather and Ruffnut exchanged looks of worry before turning back to me with furrowed brows. "I'm surprised at how ... mildly you are taking this, Astrid. Seems that time on the road helped you mature a little more."

I glanced over at Heather before wrapping my blanket tighter around me. "That ... or I have just had some time to think over what happened. Gods, I wish I wasn't so fucking scared to be vulnerable."

"I mean," Heather began, once again exchanging a look with Ruffnut. "You are showing your vulnerable side to us right now, so I think if you keep allowing yourself to show emotion to other people, you might be able to finally let someone all the way in."

I turned to look at Heather as my eyes stung painfully from the tears that threatened to fall from them. All that she was saying to me ... gods, did she know how to hit the nail on the head. Maybe I should get better at showing my emotions, maybe I should open up to more people.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as my friends wrapped their arms around me, comforting me with their warmth and clearly unconditional support. Never before had I felt so seen, so loved and so worthy of something. My friends definitely made a shitty day a hundred times better. "Thanks, you guys, it means a lot."

"Of course, Astrid, we're always here for you, no matter what." Ruffnut reassured me. "But I'm starving, so what do you guys say to ordering some pizza?"

I couldn't help but burst out in laughter. Gods, it felt good to laugh after feeling down for the past hours. "Sure, let's get some pizza."

The pizza arrived shortly after we ordered it, and the rest of the evening was spent watching feel-good comedies on Netflix as we talked about everything between heaven and earth. Who needs a boyfriend when you've got the best of friends in the entire world? I most certainly did not think about anything even related to romance during the evening with my friends, and boy, did that feel great.

***

The next day I had surprisingly gathered up enough strength to go back to school. I must admit, I was kind of proud of myself for coming back to school after a day, seeing as usually I sat at home for at least a couple more before I even had the strength to set foot in this hellhole. But this time it was different, this time I was stronger and this time I was going to make it through the rest of the week.

Or so I thought until Hiccup strode up to me with his arms around the shoulders of the beautiful brunette wearing mom jeans and a white wrap around top. Listen, I had seen Valerie several times over the past few days, but never up close. As I remembered, the girl was drop dead gorgeous. Her long, brown hair had been put up into two flawless space buns on her head with two loose strands of hair framing her face and bringing out those chocolate brown eyes of hers. A smile brandished her face, accentuating her already perfect features. No wonder Hiccup liked this girl, she looked like a goddess.

"Astrid!" Hiccup greeted with a wide grin. "Valerie, this is the girl I told you about!"

Valerie's eyes looked between me and Hiccup, and I was almost certain that the smile on her face would turn into a frown at any second, but to my surprise, it became even wider. "Oh my gods! I've been wanting to meet you for so long, Hiccup has told me so much about you!"

I was taken aback by her shockingly friendly demeanor. Wasn't high school girlfriends supposed to hate any girl associated with their boyfriends? "Uh ... only good things I hope?"

Valerie grinned and put out her hand, which again surprised me. People weren't normally this polite in high school. "Valerie Morris, a pleasure to meet my boyfriend's bestie!"

I blinked myself out of my daze, took Valerie's hand and shook it. "Astrid Hofferson, nice to meet you too?"

Bestie. Well, I suppose that wasn't the wrong word to use to describe the relationship Hiccup and I had, we had grown pretty close both before and after my car crash the previous winter, so I definitely considered Hiccup one of my best friends. Although I did want to be more than friends, but I wasn't going to correct Valerie on that.

"So ... what did Hiccup tell you about me?" I asked Valerie, trying my best to avoid seeing the loving gazes the couple were sending to each other.

Valerie smiled. "Oh, he told me all about how you were friends in and before elementary, but then you grew apart only to be reunited Junior year! I found it very cute that the two of you managed to become friends again after not having spoken for so many years!"

I shrugged and couldn't help myself from meeting Hiccup's eyes. "I guess it was pretty great to get to know you all over again."

Hiccup grinned as he sent me a subtle wink. "I was just happy to have you back."

I fought my absolute hardest to calm the butterflies that were fluttering in my stomach. Imagine how bad it would look if I blushed in front of his girlfriend. "You better be, because this time I'm staying!"

We all shared a laugh, but I have to admit that I was faking it. It hurt to see him so happy with Valerie and who was I to just tumble back into his life and try to tear it all down?

"So, Valerie," I focused my attention on her, trying to be polite. "I haven't seen you around before, have you been in Berk long?"

Valerie bit her lip and shook her head. "No, not really, my family and I moved here this summer and on my first day, I accidentally bumped into Hiccup. It took some time for you to ask me out though, didn't it?"

Hiccup let out a nervous chuckle. "I couldn't let you have it easy now, could I? What would be the fun in that?"

Valerie grinned at her boyfriend and planted a kiss on his lips, and just for a split second, I wished I had taken Eret up on his offer and ran away to the other side of the country to live with him for the duration of his college years.

"Hey, Astrid." Valerie smiled, positive energy radiating off her. "You seem really cool, do you want to come to my party this Friday? You can bring some friends if you want."

I though about it for a second, and when I realized alcohol would be in the picture, I immediately knew what to answer. "Yes, of course! Thanks for inviting me."

Valerie squealed. "Great, I'm so excited! I'll have Hiccup text you the details, okay?"

I nodded and gave her a thumbs up. And right when I thought I was done with the girl, she ran up to me and gave me a quick, but surprisingly genuine hug. She shot me one last smile before she ran back to Hiccup, who waved goodbye with a wide grin before striding down the hallway with his girlfriend.

Gods, why did Valerie have to be so damn nice?