A few more days of school passed, and Viktor was beginning to adjust to the American public school setting. He had reluctantly made a few friends on the hockey team with Matt's help, although three days seemed much more like an acquaintanceship to me. Loyalty couldn't have been possibly tested that quickly.

Despite his new pals, Viktor and Arti still sat with Blaine, Eleanor, and me at lunch that Thursday.

"So, Blaine, I've gotten to know Candy Cane and Arti pretty well—" Viktor said, but Blaine cut him off.

"What? What candy cane?"

"Oh, that's my nickname for her." Viktor smiled and nodded at me. "Isn't it smart?"

"And she didn't kill you immediately?" Blaine looked over at me. "What's wrong with you? Are you dying?"

"I can't kill my brother's best friend. It really sucks when you lose one, doesn't it, Arti?" I said.

Arti frowned. "I thought we were over this. What do you want from me? A fucking apology letter? Because that shit ain't happening."

"Hey." Blaine pointed at me. "Keep the passive-aggressive shit to a minimum. And you," he pointed to Arti, "stop acting innocent."

"What would we do without our peacekeeping leader?" I rolled my eyes.

"I guess they don't call us Blaine and His Bitches for nothing," Arti said.

"I always thought that was a horrible squad nickname anyway. Everyone knows that we're Amanda's bitches," Blaine said.

I took a sip of my water. "Damn straight."

"Are you guys done now? I was trying to talk to Blaine," Viktor said.

I looked over at Arti, and she looked back at me. We both nodded.

"Go ahead," Arti said.

"I just wanted to get to know you better. Can you tell me about yourself?" Viktor said.

Arti jumped in, even though we said we were done. "What about Eleanor? You can't just forget about her because she's quiet."

"No, it's okay. I like listening," Eleanor said.

"We'll get to you next. Blaine?" Viktor said.

Blaine thought for a second. "Uh, sure. My name is Blaine Jacobs. I hate springtime because it makes me feel like death, I bought a box of five thousand popsicle sticks with my mom's credit card when I was eight, I used to think that I was the only human who produces saliva constantly, and I only watch car races to see the wrecks." He smiled.

I laughed. Viktor didn't.

"Blaine is a very private person. He doesn't like to talk about himself, except for literally all the fucking time. There are times when he just tells a story, and it doesn't have anything to do with anything," Arti said.

Blaine nodded. "One time, I woke up with a squirrel in my bed. I don't know how it got there, but everyone thinks I was hallucinating. I wasn't, though. It was real as shit, man."

Viktor stared at Blaine for a moment. "Okay, what about you Eleanor?"

I laughed. What would I do without Blaine's stupid ass?

Before Eleanor could go into a long-winded retelling of her entire life, one of those hockey player friends of Viktor's walked up to our lunch table. David Koehler was Matt's American best friend, and he also captained the team. He wasn't the sharpest individual, but his hockey IQ was beyond his years.

"Viktor, buddy, how's it going?" David said and patted him on the back.

"It's good. This is macaroni and cheese. We don't have that in Sweden, so that's exciting," Viktor said.

"What are you doing sitting here? Why don't you come sit with the boys?" David asked.

Viktor looked over at Arti. "I'm sitting with my girlfriend, Matt's sister, and their friends."

Blaine waved, but David ignored him and kept on talking. "Yeah, I know Matt's sister just a little too well. What's up, Amanda?"

"Hi David. Hit any telephone poles recently?" I asked.

"I wasn't driving your car that day. That was Matt," David said, and I rolled my eyes as he continued. "No, but we were just talking about the new NHL game that just came out. Have you played it yet?"

Viktor shook his head.

"Then you cannot call yourself a hockey player. It's incredible. You and Matt need to come over to play it, like, yesterday. But anyway, I came over to ask if you're coming to the open ice practice on Saturday."

It took him that long to get to the point? Jesus.

"Actually, I was going to hang out with Arti," Viktor said.

Arti shook her head. "No, you weren't. I was going to hang out with Amanda, Blaine, and Eleanor."

Eleanor was just a school friend of ours, but since this was clearly a lie, I let it slide.

"Then I'll see you there." David gave one last smile before he headed back to his table with the boys.

"Dude, you broke two rules there. One, don't call me your girlfriend, and two, don't use me as an excuse to get out of things you don't want to do. It makes me look like a bitch," Arti said.

I gasped. "Oh, god, could you imagine people thinking you're a bitch?"

That word didn't mean a thing to me anymore. I was a bitch, and so was Arti, and maybe that was the reason I couldn't let her go. She was too much like me.

Arti laughed. "I know, right?"

But why wouldn't Viktor want to hang out with the boys at hockey practice? Oh, right, because they referred to themselves as "the boys."

***

I arrived at the soccer field later that evening, where the girls were finishing up their warm-up before the game began. They were dressed in white form-fitting uniforms, with their hair either cut short or pulled away from their faces in a braid or ponytail.

Much different from when I played in first grade.

Blaine was already there, and he smiled at me when he saw me climbing up the bleachers. "You would not believe what my mom said to me today."

"Did she tell you to cut your hair?" I guessed.

"Fortunately, no. I was telling her about Arti's ridiculous love life, and she told me that I should be more like you, never giving a fuck about anything."

I laughed. "I love your mom. She's literally the best."

"I do too, but she thinks way too highly of you. She has no idea about all the strange shit you do, like having a shrine to the Minnesota Wild that you claim will eventually carry them to the Stanley Cup and wearing too much lotion."

"Okay, fuck you, because I smell like a goddess, and the shrine will work this hockey season. You'll feel like a fool when we finally win the Cup."

Blaine smiled. "I hope it works out for you. I really do."

Neither of us spoke for a moment, and it was a little odd that he mentioned Arti's ridiculous love life.

"Are you upset about Arti?" I asked before I could remember that I didn't want to bring it up.

He turned away. "No."

"You are, aren't you?"

"I said I'm not."

"You all need to get your shit together with your stupid feelings. You, Arti, Viktor, everyone."

Blaine laughed. "I'm serious though. I've ran out of feelings until further notice."

The game was about to begin when the only redheaded guy I knew took a seat in front of us.

"Hey Lukas," I said.

He and I had been getting along pretty well in class. Lukas on my left and Viktor on my right was a constant source of entertainment, because Viktor would try to be friendly, but Lukas would either ignore him or roast him if the opportunity presented itself. And lucky for me, it was only day four of school.

He turned to look at me. "Hey."

"You like soccer?" I asked.

"Not at all. I hate sports, but my sister is on the team, so someone has to take her to her games."

"Which one is she?" I asked, searching the field for another redhead.

"She's on the bench right now. She's just a freshman, but she made varsity as a substitute."

The girl was shorter than the rest of the team, and her red hair was cut short and kept out of her face with pink prewrap.

I nodded. "That's impressive, especially on such a talented team. Her hair's cute too."

Lukas shrugged. "I think it looks dykey, but whatever."

I glanced at Blaine, who had an eyebrow raised.

Sure, I sometimes had a problem keeping my mouth shut, but I wouldn't say something like that, especially about my own sister.

"That's really rude," I said.

Lukas shrugged. "You have a brother. You know how it is."

Yeah, but I was mean to his face, like a good sibling.

"Anyway, I know what Amanda thinks about Viktor, but what about you, Blaine?" Lukas asked.

I held a finger up. "You know what I think about him?"

He nodded. "It's not difficult to tell. When he talks, you fold your arms and raise your eyebrows. You don't like him, and neither do I. What about you, Blaine?"

Blaine hesitated. "Well, if you want the truth, he seems like a nice guy, but he can't keep his nose where it belongs."

I nodded. "His crooked nose."

Of course, we were both referring to him stealing Arti, but Lukas didn't need to know that whole story. It was our problem, and we were dealing with it.

Lukas laughed. "It is crooked, isn't it?"

"But I don't hate the guy at all. He'll figure it all out," Blaine continued.

And that was where our opinions diverged. I kinda hated the guy.

"So are you with us or against us?" Lukas asked.

"I'm not—what? There's no anti-Viktor club or cult or whatever the hell you're trying to start," Blaine said.

Lukas shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure out where everyone stands. You don't need to get so defensive over him."

"I'm not getting defensive."

"Maybe if you had a little more information, you'd agree with Amanda and me." And with that statement, Lukas moved to a seat away from Blaine and me.

"I don't know what he could know about Viktor, since he just moved here a few weeks ago." Blaine shook his head. "I'll tell you that I certainly don't like that Lukas guy. He only smiled when you made fun of Viktor's nose."

"Yeah, he's a little, um, rough around the edges, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend," I said.

"He's not rough around the edges. That's you and me. He's just—" he hesitated, "I don't know."

I shrugged.

"But whatever. Do you want to hear a terrible but funny story?" Blaine asked. His concerned face was replaced with a smile.

I nodded. "That's my favorite kind of story."

He chuckled. "I don't know if I've ever told you about this, but I'm really scared of chihuahuas. Like, it sounds stupid–"

"It sounds really stupid," I interrupted.

"Just listen. So when I was, like, eight years old, my neighbors used to have this stupid chihuahua named Taco, and that dog was the worst dog ever. They'd let him out, but they didn't have a fence or anything, so if I was playing outside, little Taco would run into my yard and chase me, yapping about its allegiance to the devil."

I laughed. "You're a little bigger than a chihuahua."

"Don't dismiss my fears, Amanda." He smiled. "So one day, they let the dog out while I was on my bike, and naturally the little diablo tried to chase after me, but I accidentally ran over it with my bike and killed it right on the spot."

I covered my mouth, but a laugh escaped anyway. "You expect me to believe that was accidental?"

"I swear to God it was. You know me, I'd never hurt anything intentionally. So I panicked and started crying, but I didn't want to tell my neighbors I killed Taco, so I went inside, got my backpack, and put the dog in there and took it down the street to the little pond by my house. I made sure no one was there, and I threw that dog straight into the pond."

My eyes widened. "Oh my god. You can't be serious."

Blaine laughed. "I think I'll tell them on New Year's Day that I killed Taco."

I burst into laughter again. "They still don't know? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing so hard about this."

"The reason I told you is because I knew it'd make you laugh."

"I don't know what you're trying to say, Blaine, but it makes me think that you have a questionable opinion of me." I shook my head, but the laughter kept coming.

And before he or I could say anything else, his lips were pressed against mine.

---------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate the support, and I hope you're having a wonderful week. Second of all, woah there, buckaroo. What the hell is the chihuahua killer doing?

So how is Amanda going to react? What does this mean for Blaine and Amanda? And what's up with Viktor?