The Exchange

Chapter 40

Instead of going back to class, I sat in the bathroom until the end of the day, which was only about forty-five minutes. There was absolutely no way I could focus, so what was the point of going back? Plus Lukas was still there, and I hated that little bitch.

And for once, Viktor completely supported my hate-filled agenda.

35. Team Anti-Assassination for the win.

The worst part of it all (besides maybe the near-death experience) was that when the bell rang, my day wasn't over. I still had to work on my math project with the bitch himself and Viktor. And as much as I wanted to cancel that and do the entire thing by myself, I just didn't have it in me to let someone get away with attempted murder.

I sure as hell was a lot of things, but a coward wasn't one of them.

If there was one aspect of the school that redeemed it from the shitty people, it was the library. I spent all my study halls in there, hiding among the bookshelves and reading whatever piqued my interest or scrambling to finish the homework that I should have done the night before. Usually, it was the latter.

Viktor came by the girls' bathroom with all the belongings I left in the classroom, and I took my spot beside him as we walked to the library to meet Lukas.

"Are you really okay? It's kind of crazy that you're still willing to work with him on this project," Viktor said.

There were all sorts of chemical reactions that happened with allergies, and maybe one of them made the brain crazy, but I was going to have the last word between us.

"I'm fine. I have a lot that I need to say to him, and when's better than now?" I said.

He shook his head. "Amanda, no. This is crazy, and Matt would probably kill me if anything happened to you over something that doesn't even involve you. Lukas doesn't like me. You never did anything."

"Well, what did you do that got us into this mess?"

"Apparently, people don't like it very much when you take their spot."

I could have told him that shit. It sucked when he stole mine and didn't give a damn about what it did to me.

It still didn't make sense to me, though, since it was just a week-long hockey camp and Lukas and Matt were never friends, but I wasn't an entitled male, so what did I know?

We walked to the library, and he opened up the glass door for the two of us. I wasn't sure if he had even been in there before, and the way that his eyes ran up and down the shelves and aisles told me that he hadn't.

He was really missing out, even as a non-reader.

I smiled, then turned to look for Lukas.

"I don't think he's here yet," Viktor said.

"We were held up for a few minutes after class. He's either in the back of the library, or he's too much of a bitch to show up," I said.

I wandered down one of the aisles to the back, and Viktor followed slightly behind me. As much as I didn't want to see Lukas, there he was, waiting at a table for us.

Lukas smirked. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up."

"And I wonder why that would be, you fucking psychopath," I said.

Lukas laughed. "What?"

I threw my bag onto a chair across from him and sat down in the one next to it. "Don't even play your stupid games. I'm not an idiot."

"Amanda," Viktor said.

Goddammit. We can kill Lukas later, but now, we have to do math, I could practically hear him say.