The Exchange

Chapter 36

The holidays were always an emotionally taxing time, but the magic was completely ruined by my stress. I had to worry about Viktor, Arti, Eleanor, Lukas, Blaine, and myself, as well as that goddamn math project.

While he tried to avoid me for the most part, Viktor told me I wasn't allowed to do anything questionable while we were working with Lukas on the project. I told him to shut the fuck up.

After the Christmas break from school, we only had a week to complete our project, and I had every intention of starting something between Lukas and me. One, I had to show Viktor that I was indeed correct, and his stupid positive philosophy was far from the truth about people. Two, my chances of getting Lukas to back off of Viktor were decreasing by the minute, and with the hockey season halfway over and the team still undefeated, I needed to keep their best chance to get into the Minnesota Tournament alive.

Viktor was a lot of things, but number one on that list was that he was a damn good hockey player.

The first day back from break, I put together a schedule for when we would finally complete our project. Wednesday, we'd meet in the library after school to get as much of it done as possible since Viktor didn't have practice, Friday, we'd meet again, and I would finish the rest of it by myself if there was still some work left over.

Two golden opportunities to get to the bottom of the mystery that had plagued me for months.

For the project, we had to formulate an equation to model the projection of a ball, and using that equation, find the velocity and acceleration at several different times.

It really was nothing too difficult, but finding the original equation could prove to be challenging if we didn't properly record the maximum height and time spent in the air.

That Tuesday after school, I came home from school, and naturally, I brought Blaine and Arti with me. Arti did her best to conceal her sadness over Eleanor, which I was grateful for. I wasn't the best with offering emotional support.

Plus, when I was in a good mood, I liked to think it was pretty infectious.

With Matt and Viktor at practice and Mom and Dad at work, it was just the three of us and the triplets, and since they had already finished up their homework by the time we got home, we invited them to play Mario Kart with us.

"Just so you know, I have a history of destroying wills to live on this game," Blaine said to Nat.

"Amanda said that you're the worst driver out of the three of you. You're never going to beat me," Natalie replied.

Leah laughed.

"Arrogance must run in the Jayne family. Looks like I'll have to knock you down a peg," Blaine said with a laugh.

He'd never admit it, but he loved the triplets more than me sometimes, even though he usually couldn't tell them apart.

I patted Natalie on the shoulder. "Shut him up on the track."

Arti, Natalie, Leah, and Blaine all held a controller in their hands, and Melissa and I were the unbiased fans.

"I hope you kick the crap out of Blaine and Arti, ladies," I said.

"Picking sides like always," Blaine said, shaking his head.

"Picking the right side, like always," Natalie said.

Arti smiled. "I really like you, kid."

Natalie laughed. "I like you too. You were always my favorite of Amanda's friends."

"The whole entire two of us?" Blaine asked.

"I have more than just you guys. There's—" I faltered. "There's—"