The Exchange

Chapter 32

The next few hockey games, Lukas didn't show up. If I didn't have a history of reacting the perfect amount (but overreacting by others' standards), I would have assumed that I scared him off, but that seemed a little too easy.

Or maybe it was that easy. A lot of people seemed to find me intimidating.

But if Lukas had held onto a grudge for something so minor for ten goddamn years, it was very possible that he was a complete lunatic. And that was absolutely hilarious coming from me.

On the weekends, though, there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies with the triplets.

"Amanda, these are for your birthday, so you don't have to help," Natalie said.

I laughed. "I don't have to help? Yes, I do. You'll burn the house down unless I supervise you. And besides, my birthday's in three days. With Matt and Viktor here, those cookies will be gone by tomorrow."

"We should make a sign. That way, they'll know that they can't touch them," Leah said.

"Yeah, that'll stop them for sure, you idiot." Natalie shook her head. "Kids can be so dumb sometimes."

"I'm not dumb. You're dumb," Leah said.

"Guys, please don't argue. You know Mom gets mad at us when we do," Melissa said.

That girl was living proof that not all kids were dumb.

Instead of helping, I let them get all of the ingredients out, and they decided it would probably be okay if I read the recipe to them. Of course, I also knew that meant I was cleaning up after them, but that wasn't any different than usual.

"I get to crack the eggs!" Natalie shouted over the other two.

"That's not fair. You always do," Leah said.

"And that is exactly why I should do it this time. You don't have any experience. I'm an expert."

"Amanda, Nat's being a brat. Make her stop before Mom yells at us."

I shook my head at them. "You can both crack a stupid egg."

"But what about Melissa? That wouldn't be fair to her since we only need two eggs," Leah said.

I smiled and tapped my temple with my finger. "We double the recipe."

Leah's mouth fell open. "You're so smart."

"And that way, we get even more cookies, so Matt and Viktor can't possibly eat all of them," Natalie said.

Leah nodded. "Boys are jerks."

I shrugged. "Some are, but some of them are pretty cool. Matt and Viktor are good most of the time. Blaine's alright probably forty percent of the time."

"I love Viktor, but Matt cheats at Uno," Natalie said.

Of course, he did.

Just as Natalie was about to crack the second egg, Viktor peeked into the kitchen. "Hi, girls."

"Oh my gosh, that ruined my concentration. Get out of here," Natalie said.

"That's not how you should talk to people you like," Leah said.

"I don't like him." Natalie lowered her voice. "I love him."

"What are you doing? Are you making something?" Viktor asked.

"They're making some chocolate chip cookies, and they banned me from helping. I'm just waiting for something to catch on fire," I said.

Viktor laughed. "Why aren't they letting you help?"