Astrid, Snotlout and their teams took position, staring at the balls in the center of the gym. Coach blows his whistle and Astrid shoots forward, pushing all the balls to her teams side of the line. Then, her whole team shoots at the boys only to have them counter attack and get 3/4 of her team out. Astrid was the only one left, dodging in style by doing a series of back flips, earning her a lot of gasps from the girls. She drowned out their gossiping as she chucked ball after ball: Hit, miss, hit, miss, miss, miss, dodge, dodge, hit, miss, doge, miss, miss, dodge, dodge, dodge, miss, miss, hit. She threw her fists in the air in victory, while keeping a straight face, as Snotlout spikes a ball in frustration. She throws her head to the ground, lifts a foot, puts her arms at her side, and swings her foot with enough velocity that it causes her body to straighten again. "Who dares challenge the queen?" she calls as her team cheers at the victory.

"Apparently, the Timberjacks. Because their up next," Coach says and Astrid's team joins her back on the court as the next team comes off the bleachers.

"You're going down Calica and friends!" Astrid calls as her team takes their positions.

"In your dreams 'Boring Nadders'!" she calls back and the coach blows his whistle, causing Astrid to shoot forward and claim the balls. The game goes similar to the one against the Nightmares except less of Astrid's team got out. She finally takes the killing shot and stands casually as her team crowds her, cheering their heads off. She missed this. Heather hung back for a minute, examining the athletic blonde. When the girl looked her way with a smile, it suddenly clicked in Heather's head. She runs to the locker room as soon as Coach blows his whistle, pushing through a group of boys. She couldn't believe it had taken her a month to recognize her best friend.

She splashed some water on her face before hearing someone call her name, "Heather?" She had waited five years to hear that voice say her name like that. She runs to the main LR and looks her old friend up and down, noting the changes in her.

"I'm so sorry, Astrid," she breathes. Astrid had her arms crossed and her head was tilted in contempt.

"What are you sorry about?" she asks.

"Not recognizing you. It took me a month, and for that I'm ashamed," she says, causing Astrid to smirk.

"Heather, you guys not recognizing me has given me a taste of what I've wanted since my very first day of school. I wanted to be a loner. But my parents thought that I should try to be social. I had to take a pill everyday, to calm my nerves so I could hang out with you guys. I've been happier in this last month, starting fresh, than I have in a long time. You do have something to apologize for, but it's not for not recognizing me. Hows it feel to be Top Girl?" She says and Heather looks at her.

"Is that what you want me to apologize for? Taking your rank?" She asks and Astrid shakes her head.

"I'm just wondering," she says. Tears well in Heather's eyes.

"It sucks, I hate it, I have no idea how you used to do it," she chokes and Astrid nods.

"Neither do I," she sighs as she sits on a bench and begins to pull off her sneakers.

"But you did, and you were awesome at it so would you please-"

Astrid cuts Heather off her plea, "I'm not gonna take it from you. It's something I have to earn. You can try to get them mad at you by setting horrible trends if you can't take the stress." Astrid changed as Heather ranted about the negatives of being Top Girl. She finished tying her shoe before standing up and putting a hand on Heather's shoulder making her stop. "Not my problem," she says before walking out and going to class. She loved being a loner! She wasn't required to listen as much as when she was Top Girl. Astrid looked at her whatch and noticed it was free period. She walked to her locker and almost screamed. There was a giant "welcome back Astrid" sign above it signed by everyone in the grade, even Hiccup and the teachers! It looked as if they wrote Hiccup or something and asked him to sign his name before cutting his signature out and glewing it to the sign. There were balloons and Christmas lights on the door. These guys love to embarrass don't they? She opens her locker to have a rapid tapping noise fill her ears. Ping-pong balls were showering her as she smiled sarcastically. When the ping-pong balls were done falling and bouncing about the hall, while pooling at her feet, a party cannon went off in Astrid's face, shooting confetti into her eyes. Hysterical. Astrid turns around at the sound of two people laughing.

"Welcome back!" Clicker cheers as she leaned against Calica.

"How'd you guys find out, and when did you do this?" Astrid asks.

"When you did the flips in PE and when you were talking to Heather," Calica laughs before they wrap their old friend in a hug.

"We missed you so much! And why didn't you just tell us who you were?" Ruffnut asks as she joins them. Astrid wiggled out of their grasps.

"Because I wanted to know the life of a loner," she tells them.

"Not fun is it?" Clicker asks.

"Actually...I kinda like it," Astrid says and they gasp, "I mean, it's nice being able to have a night at home without my phone going bonkers with texts from you guys, saying to hang out. You guys were kind of inconsiderate when I was here. I had to take a pill to just come to school and I had to take a double dose to hang out with you guys after school. You wouldn't let me have a break. I hated being a popular. Yes I missed the cheering when I win something but I could live without it. I'm not explaining myself any further so lets get to class." Astrid grabs her books and goes to her next period, as the girls exchange a glance that they all know meant, 'We need to show her what a real loner life is like.' Astrid walked away, slightly shocked when Ruffnut tripped her and kept walking.

***

Astrid's face fell to her desk and the pain made her shoot back to wakefulness. Stupid homework, she thought as the class laughed. "Miss. Hofferson, please refrain from falling asleep," the teacher says and she needs to use all her strength to keep herself from flipping him off. A week has past since she officially detatched from her old group and everyone now hated her...and she loved it. She was finally getting what she was giving all those years ago: abuse. She might have been Top Girl but even she had some people she couldn't stand. What can she say? She's a Hofferson. She fairly liked her new battle scars. Little did she know, though, that in the near future, she will earn a battle scar that will never fade. A battle scar that can't be healed with a simple apology. A battle scar that no one could understand even if they tried. A battle scar placed by instincts. A battle scar caused by her mother. A battle scar that taught her that she can only trust herself. A battle scar that will forever remind her that the world is full of negative things...