barrel positioned under the water pump.

  Smog placed a wrinkled but huge hand on his hip, squinted one eye, pointed at me with his other hand and spoke through his icky beard, "Ye'r mother was never late."

  Now you'd think that would make me mad or upset or whatever, him talking about my dead mother and comparing me to her, but the truth is, I'm used to it. Smog was friends with my mom and he's sort of senile. If he ever talks to me, it's to compare me to my mom. If it was anyone else, though, I probably would get my feelings hurt. But I think Smog does it to get me to work harder.

  "Whatever." I mumbled, pumping the lever up and down and dousing the pots in the barrel.

  "What's that, lass?" he squinted the other eye.

  I blew one of my longer bangs out of my eyes and glanced over my shoulder at him. "Whatever, SIR." I added grumpliy.

  Smog huffed and went over to peel shriveled potatoes, going on under his breath about the glory days. Something about how life was better when you had a dragon to bash.

  As I scrubbed moldy pots from yesterday's supper, I sighed and daydreamed. My life stank like Gronkle puke.

  I mean, how cruel is this; I want an adventure so bad. I want a crazy quest or a real Viking voyage to take my mind off of how screwed up everything is. I want friends to fill in the void of my parents being gone on my sixteenth birthday. I want people to notice me like they notice Hiccup or Astrid.

  And to get all of this, I need a dragon. Adventures follow dragons around like fish to chum! The only reason anyone likes Hiccup is because he trained and has a dragon. Everyone knows the dragon trainers' names. Me? I'm afraid of dragons.

  Dragons are my ticket to everything I want in life and dragons are my biggest, most unconquerable fear! And the most unfair thing about this is that I can't tell anyone.

  I cant tell anyone in this whole village, in this whole stupid Viking tribe ANYTHING about me or why I don't have a dragon or why I stay inside and work in the kitchens or even how my days are going because everything on Berk revolves around these terrifying, fire-breathing monsters!

   So as I scrub food scum off the side of a cooking pot and the rain drums the roof and thunder mixes with dragon roars outside, all I can think about is how I just want an adventure and a friend and I cant have either. Not even on my birthday.

  My life sucks.