Elsa texted me fifteen minutes after I didn't show up in the cafeteria thanks to the art room door.

12:43pm
Gurl, where are you???

12:43pm
Nurse's office

12:43pm
On my way

Less than five minutes later, she and Jack burst through the door, backpacks and jackets in tow. Luckily, I was the only one in the room, otherwise I might've gotten in trouble. Their eyes widened the moment they saw me.

"What the hell happened to you?" Elsa asked, coming straight to the bed I'd been lying on the whole time, per the nurse's orders, since a blow like that could cause circulation issues. The fact that I'd gotten here by myself had been completely ignored.

They dropped their stuff on the floor and Elsa gently lifted my chin to get a better look at my face. Jack stood beside her, concern written all over his face.

"Katrina accidentally slammed a door in my face," I said, my voice muffled from the wads of tissue stuffed in my nose. "But everything's fine, just a mild bruise and a bit of a nosebleed. I can probably take these out now before my nostrils turn into cave entrances." I wiggled my nose a little but winced from the pain. At least I could still breathe through it.

"Well, as long as you're okay," Elsa said, straightening up only to throw her arms out in an exaggerated gesture. "Then please tell me why Stacy is currently sitting on Hiccup's lap in the cafeteria, clinging to him like a baby monkey to its mother?" Judging by her tone, she was just as thrilled about it as I was.

Jack crossed his arms and scowled. "Because she wrapped him around her finger again on Saturday and slept with him." My eyes widened automatically. So he had gotten lost, just hadn't called me, sadly.

His words felt like a punch to the heart. Hiccup had seriously agreed to make-up sex with his toxic ex? How could someone so smart be so incredibly dumb? That was the stupidest thing he could've done. "I thought you guys were playing cards with the boys, having a few drinks, and then heading home?" I said quietly.

"That was the plan, but she started texting him while he was still at my place. We all told him not to go to her, that he should head straight home." He rolled his eyes. "Naturally, the idiot didn't listen and went over to see what she wanted to talk about. I guess now we all know."

Can a heart physically hurt? Because mine definitely did, almost as much as when my mom died. It felt like it was crushing my lungs and brought tears to my eyes. Had I really misread everything that badly? Were all those touches and moments just coincidences? Even the one on Saturday? I couldn't believe it, but it had to be true. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to her or would've at least stopped things before they went that far. He wouldn't be with her again now. He wouldn't let her sit in his lap. He wouldn't kiss her and mile at her.

Elsa clicked her tongue and looked at me. "He should've slept with you." She glanced up at the ceiling, as if blaming it for everything, and started pacing the room.

I was too stunned to even cry. "Why should he have slept with me?"

"Oh please," she said, cutting off Jack before he could answer. "Because you're the better choice and both of you want it."

I blinked a few times, trying to absorb her words. They couldn't ... no, it was ... it hadn't been that obvious ... right? Judging by their expressions, apparently it was. "You guys ...?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, we noticed."

Elsa let out a short laugh. "How could we not? Your eyes practically turned into hearts whenever you looked at him." My cheeks burned, this was absolutely mortifying. "Now don't feel bad about it, we aren't making fun of you. We actually tried to help because we think you two would be adorable together."

"How?" was all I managed to say.

"Halloween," Jack replied. "The costumes were supposed to bring you closer together. It kind of worked, you spent the whole evening together."

Elsa nodded in agreement. "We spent the whole last week hoping you'd just start holding hands one day."

I probably looked completely stunned. My brain couldn't keep up with all the information. "Why would we do that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because you'd confessed your feelings and gotten together, duh! But now we know that didn't happen."

I raised my hands. "Hold on. You're talking about our feelings, but as far as I can tell, there are only my feelings. Where'd you get the idea Hiccup felt the same way?" I had suspected it too, but they couldn't possibly know about the touches or intimate moments, that's why I wanted to hear their perspective.

Jack shrugged. "Because it was obvious. Every time we saw you waiting outside before school, he'd start grinning like an idiot. Same when he talked about you. His whole face would light up, I've never seen that from him before. Not even with Stacy last year."

"Also," Elsa added, "he's always touching you. Your hand, your arm, or your knee. In the cafeteria, your knees were always pressed together lately, the whole hour. You don't do that with just a friend."

I stared at the two of them for a moment. I hadn't even noticed the touching the way Elsa described it, but thinking back, she was right. I even made a joke once about his knee touching mine even though there was plenty of room. He'd just shrugged and smiled. Now I was even more confused.

"Then why'd he go back to Stacy?" I asked the one question that had been tormenting me for the past thirty minutes. I couldn't wrap my head around it, did he have some kind of emotional dysfunction?

Jack looked just as defeated as I felt, Elsa just seemed furious. "Because he's an idiot," she said. "He's dumb, dense, naive, clueless, stupid ... what are other synonyms for dumb?"

"Airhead, nutcase, brain-dead," Jack offered.

"Thanks," she said, crossed her arms and stabbed the floor with her glare.

I shook my head. "There has to be more. He can't just be stupid."

Jack shrugged. "He drank a little and people do dumb things with alcohol in their system."

"Also true."

We fell into silence, Elsa still out to murder the ugly gray linoleum, Jack silently pleading with the ceiling for answers, and me staring at my hands with a broken heart, a bruised nose, and a head full of guilt. What a great team we were. At least they were on my side. If I would lose my only friends now too, I'd probably spiral into depression.

"We have to tell him it was a mistake," Elsa finally said, looking at us. "If we don't, no one will."

I shook my head. "It won't help. He still believes Stacy has a good side, probably because it's the only one she shows him. As long as he doesn't realize how insane she is, she'll never fully leave his head."

Elsa scoffed. "Unfortunately. Did you tell him about the locker room thing?" I nodded. "And that didn't get through to him?"

I shrugged this time. "He said that's not who she really is and that one incident doesn't define her personality." Elsa rolled her eyes. "Then he told me about the thing with you."

"Oh yeah," Jack said bitterly. "I would've loved to slap her for that. Telling him not to hang out with either of us because Elsa might be hitting on him. I seriously thought I misheard."

"Yeah, she's completely unhinged, I'm telling you that" Elsa said. "If I wanted Hiccup, I'd have flirted with him, not with you."

"She's just insane," I concluded. "And Hiccup refuses to see it."

"Total moron," Elsa muttered just as the door opened. It was Ms. Smitt, the nurse. She greeted the two of them with a smile, then turned her attention to me.

"How's the nose?" she asked, inspecting my face again, gently pressing in a few spots to look me over.

"Hurts when I move it, but I can breathe."

She nodded. "You'll be black and blue for a few days, but it shouldn't get worse. Make sure you ice it when you get home. Have you told your dad?"

"I was actually planning on going to class for the last two periods," I said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

She looked skeptical. "Any headaches?"

"A little, just in the front."

"Dizziness? Seeing stars?"

"Uh, no."

"Hmm," she said, still studying my face. "Alright, if you really don't want to miss class, but you two," she pointed to Jack and Elsa, "watch her closely. If she turns pale, stumbles, or anything weird happens, call her dad immediately, understood?"

"Understood," they said in unison.

"Well then, have fun," she said with a smile and left the room.

"I always wanted bodyguards," I joked as I stood up, which at least got a laugh out of the two of them. We grabbed our things and walked out of the room.

"I'm guessing you don't want to go to the cafeteria?" Elsa asked, walking on my left, Jack on my right. It warmed my broken heart to see how much they cared.

"Hell no," I replied. "If I have to see that, I'll puke." We laughed and headed outside to get some fresh air for the last half hour.

❁

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Hiccup said after turning around at our table in the first row and catching sight of my face.

I dropped my backpack to the floor and hung my jacket over the back of my chair. "Katrina slammed a door in my face."

"And I am really very sorry about it!" came from behind my back.

I turned to her with a smile. "I know, it's all good." She still looked apologetic, so I gave her a thumbs up and sat down.

"Was that just something you said?" Hiccup whispered to me as he watched me pull out my pencil case and notebook.

"No, it's really fine. Just a mild bruise and, as you can see, black and blue. The nurse said it should be gone in a few days."

He nodded. "Okay."

I could practically feel Jack and Elsa's eyes burning into my back, because I still hadn't looked Hiccup in the eyes, which confused him, though he didn't bring it up. I just couldn't do it, I would start crying if I did. He probably didn't know about my feelings, but how could he still hurt me this much? Did he even know what a broken heart felt like? Had he felt the same after Stacy broke up with him? I hoped not because that would mean she meant as much to him as it seemed. But had he let go of her sooner, he wouldn't be back together with her now.

During class, I tried hard not to think about him and Stacy so I wouldn't cry. I could probably have blamed it on my aching nose, but it still would've been embarrassing to suddenly burst into tears in the middle of class.

After the teacher dismissed us, the room emptied quickly. Hiccup waited for me, even though I deliberately took longer than usual to pack my things since I didn't want to see Stacy throwing herself at him in front of the building, kissing him goodbye. He even helped me with my jacket, which almost broke the dam, and of course he noticed.

"Is it throbbing that much?" he asked as we walked into the hallway.

"Yep," I replied curtly, wiping tears from the corners of my eyes. I hated these feelings so much.

Stacy was nowhere in sight when we left the school building, which made me exhale in relief. I couldn't have handled her behavior right now, especially not if she rubbed it in that she and Hiccup were back together. Then I really would've thrown up right at her feet.

My dad had parked in the school parking lot and was leaning against the hood of his car. I waved so he knew I'd seen him and he gave a thumbs up, pushed off the car, and got in on the driver's side.

"Well then," I said to Hiccup, still looking down and already taking my first step away from him. "See you tomorrow."

"Astrid, wait," Hiccup said, grabbing my hand which sent what felt like a hundred electric shocks through me and gave me goosebumps. My eyes finally met his which were looking at me full of concern. "I ..." Nothing followed, but I waited, he had done it on Saturday too. Maybe it was something important. His eyes wandered past me, like he was searching for the right words. When he didn't find them in the trees, he let go of my hand. "Put some ice on your nose when you get home, it'll help with the swelling."

I nodded, trying not to show my disappointment. "Will do." With that, I finally walked away from him.

In the car, my dad looked at me with a mix of shock and concern. "That looks really bad. Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor?"

I waved it off and buckled my seatbelt. "Yes, it's just bruised, I'll ice it at home."

He nodded and pulled out of the parking space. After we turned onto the main road, he asked, "Why did Hiccup look like someone just told him a family member had died?"

I shrugged. "Probably because he's finally realizing he got back together with his toxic ex-girlfriend."

His eyes widened, but he didn't say anything else, for which I was grateful because I didn't want to keep talking about it.

Once I was in my room, I finally let the tears fall.