The Exchange

Chapter 10

With Viktor's presence came sacrifices. Many, many sacrifices. And the one that was bothering me the most at the moment was that Viktor took my seat in Matt's car.

"I don't get any respect around here." I pouted as I sat in the back.

"You're the youngest, so deal with it," Matt said. "How's your schedule?"

I took out my schedule, with notes scribbled everywhere as to who was in all of my classes. "It's pretty good. I have psych and lunch with Blaine, plus Spanish with Eleanor. It'll be a good year."

"I'm mad. I need to retake calculus, but only AP fits in my schedule," Viktor said. "I'm going to fail it again."

"You're not going to fail. Amanda's taking that class, and she'll tutor you, right?" Matt said.

Viktor looked back at me. "Please? Will you?"

"With what time and what generosity?" I asked.

Viktor rolled his eyes. "I know you're not as bad of a person as you think you are."

"If you give me two hundred bucks an hour, I just might consider it."

Viktor frowned. "Fine. I'll find someone in my class to help me."

Matt held up a finger. "I know how to get her to tutor you. We just need a chair, duct tape, a spoon, and some peanut butter."

"Are you going to try to kill me?" I spat. He knew about my allergy, and if he hadn't called 911 when we were younger and home alone, I would have been dead after my first reaction.

"Yes, unless you find a heart before you die."

"Are you allergic?" Viktor asked.

I sighed. "To being a good person, yeah."

Viktor shook his head. "I meant to peanut butter. You said you would die if you had it."

First, he left his luggage unattended, then he stole my best friend, and now he could barely figure out that I was allergic to peanuts and wanted me to tutor him? He was just giving away free reasons to hate him.

I smiled. "No, actually he meant if I couldn't eat peanut butter I would die. I have this rare condition that if I don't eat enough peanut butter, I can't breathe."

Viktor's jaw dropped. "What's it called?"

"Uranidiotosis."

Matt bit down on his lip.

Viktor lowered his eyebrows. "Do you think I'm stupid? That clearly has to do with your bladder. I learned English based off its roots."

"Oh, it turns my urine purple too," I said.

He covered his mouth. "Is there a cure?"

"It should go away at the end of the school year, about the same time you go back to Sweden."

Matt couldn't hold in his laughter any longer.

"Your sister has a condition, and you're laughing? You need to get a heart," Viktor said.

"And you need to get a brain. She was joking," Matt said, still laughing.

I smiled at him.

Viktor blinked a couple times, then smiled. "I can never tell when you and Arti are serious."

We pulled into the school parking lot, and I went to my first period class, Spanish, and looked down at my schedule. Second period was English, third was study hall, fourth was psychology, fifth was lunch, sixth was chemistry, seventh was government, and eighth was calculus. It could have been worse, but it also could have been a hell of a lot better. Math all day seemed way more fun.