The Exchange

Chapter 15

"What?" Matt said.

"Please don't get mad at me, Matt. I just—" Viktor began, but Arti cut him off.

"You would quit hockey for me?"

"Uh, yeah," Viktor said.

"Why?" Arti lowered her voice, almost down to a whisper. "Viktor, you better not. You can't just quit for a stupid reason like that."

"It's okay. I know you, Arti, and I see right through you. You're not what everyone thinks. It's not a stupid reason," Viktor said.

I knew Arti. I knew her better than anyone else. Viktor was right in that Arti wasn't as heartless as everyone thought, but she also put herself first. And if Viktor didn't see that, it was going to cost him his best friend.

Matt deserved better than that. Even though he was my older brother, sometimes he needed someone to look out for him.

"It's definitely a stupid reason. Your best friend has been waiting for ten years to get to play hockey with you again, and you're quitting on him. I literally cannot think of anything dumber than that," I said.

Matt held up his hand. "Amanda, don't. I don't need you to step in here, okay? Just take your friends and go."

"I can't just sit here and watch this asshole hurt you like that, Matthew." I turned to Viktor. "This is what Matt has been looking forward to for so long, and it takes a really selfish person to ruin that. You took my best friend, and you're abandoning your own. How can you live with yourself?"

Arti took in a breath right beside me and nodded. "You're right. Amanda, you're right."

"I'm really good at that," I said, but Arti continued over me.

"Viktor, we need to talk. I literally can't hurt Amanda, Blaine, and Matt again with this. I don't care who knows at this point. I just want to end this now. Just—just play hockey and forget about me. It wasn't working anyway."

I froze. Either I was missing something, or Arti was trying to do the right thing.

Weird.

"What do you mean? It's working perfectly," Viktor said.

Arti stole a glance over at me, then looked at Viktor. "Okay, I can definitely say that it's not working. And that's not a lie."

I smiled. "Oh, thank God. It's about time this asshole doesn't get something he wants."

"Okay, that's enough. You and me, we're going to let them work this out. You'll make this worse by saying something crazy," Blaine said, and he grabbed my wrist.

"Me? Crazy? Do you seriously think I'm crazy?" I asked.

"Do you really want to start an argument today, Amanda? You know it never ends well when you ask questions like that," Blaine said.

I crossed my arms. "Et tu, Blaine?"

"I think you're perfectly sane," Arti said.

I took in a breath. "No offense, Arti, but that's like Helen Keller telling me that I'm pretty."

Normally Blaine or Matt would have found that funny, but neither of them laughed.

I frowned. At least I knew that I was hilarious.

"Great, so now the problem is solved. No more Arti, no more questions. We finally get to play again, Viktor," Matt said.

Viktor didn't reply right away.

Matt kept talking. "I never thought I'd say this, but I really respect you for that, Arti. Thank you."

Arti forced a small smile.