"Asterix? Asterix? Can you help me with this one?" whispered Obelix.

Asterix looked up from his tablet. He was just about to engrave his solution to the final mathematical problem. But now he abruptly stopped tapping and after throwing a careful glance at Getafix, who sat firmly behind the desk in front of the class, he turned to Obelix.

"Sure", he said. "Which one?"

"The second one, here. The one about a goat, I think it is."

Judging from the tone in Obelix' voice, he was ashamed to ask. Without doubt had he been happy to, for once, come up with a reasonable solution himself. Asterix bent over his friend's tablet. The whole class had been given five problems to solve and he himself was already finished. And most probably so without any failure whatsoever. Obelix on the other hand, had yet none but one engraved answer to the first problem and Asterix knew instantly that it wasn't correct.

"Obelix, it's supposed to be a III here." He pointed at the top of the tablet.

"Oh." Obelix quickly took his little hammer and crossed out the big V to replace it with a III.

"And the goat?"

"Yeah", Asterix began. "The question was; if a goat delivers four pounds of milk in a day, then how many days will it take for it to deliver twelve pounds?"

"I don't know!" Obelix exclaimed. Getafix looked up from his seat, but just offered them a stern gaze before returning his attention back to something that was probably the test results from last week. The boys went on chattering:

"Think!" whispered Asterix, not certain about how to help Obelix. Maybe he should try and make the question sound easier somehow? Like Getafix used to do?

"If your goat delivered four pounds of milk in a day, then when would you have twelve pounds?"

Obelix bit his lip in hard thought.

"Never", he said at last. "I don't spare any."

"But if you didn't drink it!"

"What's the point in having milk if not to drink it?"

"But to store for the winter!" Asterix cried out, a bit too loud. He peered around to see if anyone had been disturbed. His classmates sent confused gazes in his direction and Getafix laid down his hammer.

"What is it that you're going to store for the winter, Asterix?" he asked.

"Ehm, nothing, O Druid."

"Alright, back to studies then. How's it going, by the way?"

"Fine", Asterix were fast to say. "I'm one the last one."

Getafix raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Good work. But remember there's no hurry. You still have half the time glass left."

Asterix nodded and suddenly eager to impress, he tapped his solution to the last problem. Hah. Easy.

"Damn boaster", he heard Unhygienix mumble from the seats behind. Asterix ignored him. There. He was done. He raised his hand high in the air, but before Getafix could see it, he felt Obelix tap his shoulder. Not with the hammer though, but his hand.

"Asterix? You know what? The goat thing doesn't work."

"What? What do you mean it doesn't work?"

Obelix looked at him with small, sad eyes.

"Our goat always delivers five pounds a day…"

"But Obelix! It's not about your goat!"

"Then whose?"

"Hush! Wait!" Asterix raised his hand again and waved the tablet at the druid. Getafix saw him and a gentle smile crossed his lips.

"Yes, Asterix?"

"I'm done!"

"Are you sure?"

It was more of a routine question, since Asterix never said no.

"Yes!"

"Then leave your tablet here at my desk. After that you're free to go."

Asterix was just about to rise, when Obelix tugged desperately at his tunic.

"Asterix! You must help me first! Please!"

Asterix stopped, thought for a second, then sighed and leaned down to whisper in Obelix' ear:
"It's three days."

Asterix waited for Obelix under a tree outside the unsteady fence that surrounded the school area. Although during the winters the lessons moved to Getafix' hut. Those days tended to be interesting, even if they couldn't wander through the forests so much. Getafix often took them there to show different plants, where they grew and how to use them.

But today was spring in its fullest bloom. The ground was dry, the grass soft and bright green. Flowers decorated the windowsills. A gentle breeze found its way through the village and brought with it a scent of roasted boar. Asterix put his nose in the air, closed his eyes and breathed it in.

Oh, yes, he thought. Obelix will be here soon enough.

After himself, Cacofonix had been next to finish the test. The scrawny boy's blonde hair had grown quickly over the year and nearly covered half his face unless he tied it up with a string. He joined Asterix under the tree and fingered restlessly on his harp. Asterix shot him a wary glance.

As long as he doesn't start singing…

Then came the girls. A rather stout girl called Bacteria, closely followed by Hairyett, Oliwe, Nectaria and her twin sister, Norse. They all gathered around the opposite tree, talking in bubbly, excited voices. Quite a while later, when Cacofonix had already decided to go, the rest of the boys stormed out like a hurricane. Fulliautomatix and Unhygienix were fighting as usual as they made their way towards the village's square. At the very back of the crowd was Obelix, nervousness painted all over his round face. He walked straight up to Asterix.

"Thank you for helping me with the goat", he said.

"Oh, don't think about that now! Come, let's go and play instead!" Asterix rose to his feet. "But first I want something to eat. I'm starving!"

"Me too", Obelix agreed happily, feeling the scent of boar as well. The math test seemed to completely leave his mind as the thought of food took its place.

They headed off to go looking for whoever was roasting that boar. On the way the bumped into the other lot of boys, who tried to make them join a fight. Asterix managed to wave them off and they scurried on to end up right outside the chief's hut. They stared longingly at the door, from which the lovely fragrance came from. Obelix licked his lips.

"Ehm… Do you think we can ask him to save some for us?"

Asterix shook his head.

"No, I don't think we should do that…"
One couldn't just walk into the chief's hut and beg for alms and especially since boar, however delicious, were basic food. Of course, the chief were generally nice, so maybe he would willingly have shared his meal, but it still felt… wrong.

"But I want boar! It smells so good!" Obelix took a few, stubborn steps closer to the hut.

"Mmhm…" Asterix felt the inviting steam invade his nostrils, calling at him to come. His face lit up as an idea hit him.

"Obelix! You know what we could do? What about we go and hunt for some boar ourselves?"

Obelix' eyes widened in fear.

"Bu-bu-but Asterix… The boars are so big. And… and we are so small…" He looked down at his friend.

"Especially you", he added.

But Asterix had already thought about that.

"We'll make a trap! We'll dig a big hole in the ground and cover it with grass and when the boar comes runnning- snap! He's trapped! Or", he went on as his brain spun with ideas, "We can use a net to catch it!"

"I thought one used nets with fish?"

"That too!"

"Alright…" Obelix looked as if Asterix' words were nothing but jibberish to him. Though of course, he liked the forest and Asterix and boar…

"Ehm, yeah, maybe that could be fun!" He finally decided.

Instantly, the hunger was gone and replaced with excitement. First, they had to sneak into Unhygienix father's shop to get a net. It wasn't too hard, considered how small they were. Asterix got the job to sneak in, while Obelix waited outside, supposed to distract the shopkeeper. Luckily the wife was not around, so there was only one individual to look out for. Obelix did his best to pretend that he had found a sudden, intense interest in different kinds of fish. It had all been according to Asterix' plan.

Unhygienix' father looked rather suspicious when the chubby boy came up to him ant started bombing him with random questions, like "What's the difference between a herring and a salmon?" while pointing at some flounder fillets and a cod. Obelix were only slightly aware that maybe he wasn't doing a very convincing job, but at least he managed to keep the man occupied long enough. Behind the shop, he spotted Asterix give him thumbs up. It was the sign. It was done!

"I… I have to go now! It was nice hearing about your fish!"

Unhygienix' father, who was a big and sturdy fellow, simply shook his head and laughed. Then he reached for his knife and continued cutting fillets of flounder.


Author's note: This story is practically finished already, so I'll try to publish the upcoming chapters soon. Just need to do som editing first :)
(I know there are no characters called Oliwe, Hairyett, Nectaria and Norse in the Asterix universe, but I wanted to have names for the girls as well).