"Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up!" Natalie chanted as she, Melissa, and Leah all shook me awake.

"I'm up, just give me a second," I said and swatted at their hands. I glanced at my phone when I opened my eyes to check the time.

It was almost two, and I got a text from Arti, my best friend, twenty minutes prior that said, "Your car's here but you're not. Did you get kidnapped?"

I rolled my eyes and replied as I got out of the van. "Did you break in again?"

"It's not breaking in if you leave the window open," she replied.

I didn't even want to know how many times she had snuck in through the window over the years, so I just texted her back, "Just call me when you have the chance. It'll be easier to explain talking."

And then my phone rang.

"Hey Arti. That was fast," I said as we walked into the airport. Melissa was attached to my side, holding my hand. Crowded, noisy places made her nervous.

"Yup. Your house looks really nice. Like, so clean," Arti said.

"Thanks. We're picking Viktor up from the Chicago Airport."

"Oh, I forgot that was today. Wait, so were those cookies off-limits?" Arti asked, her voice turning panicked.

"Well, kind of, yeah. Did you eat all of them?"

"I ate four. Blaine had six," she replied.

"Blaine's there too?" I asked. Blaine was the third friend of our group, and he definitely had a crush on Arti, but she couldn't see it. She saw him as a friend, and that was that. It always seemed a little odd to me that it was a one-way thing, because Blaine made us laugh with every dumb story he told, but maybe there was more to attraction than just humor. What the hell would I know?

"Yeah. He said the cookies were good. Viktor will love them." Arti paused. "Or, at least what's left of them. Wait, we'll make some more for you. Do you have the recipe somewhere?"

"That's not necessary. And you should probably get out of my house before someone calls the police."

"It's okay. We climbed in through the back window. No one even heard us, probably."

I exhaled loudly. "Please, just go home. If my mom finds out that you guys are there—"

"Blaine! Get out of their fridge! Show some decency!" Arti interrupted me. "I gotta go. Blaine's stealing your food. Love you!" She hung up, so I put my phone in my pocket.

"When you get older, don't have friends. They'll just steal your food and frustrate you," I said to Melissa. She nodded, and with one eyebrow raised, she didn't seem certain whether I was serious or not. I smiled at her.

"Where are we even going? Where's Viktor?" Natalie whined, grabbing onto Mom's hand.

"He's somewhere around here. He probably is wandering around, looking for something to do. Matt, text him and ask him where he is," Mom said.

A tall, blond-haired boy approached us, and with the look of pure excitement shining in his eyes, I knew it had to be Viktor.

That was easy.

I took a quick look at his nose. It certainly didn't look crooked, so either Matt was a liar, or he had some serious work done on his face. Vanity wasn't a good look on anyone, even if it led to having a perfectly shaped nose.

"Viktor! How are you?" Matt asked, his eyes now as bright as Viktor's.

"I'm good! I can't believe I'm here. How're you?" Viktor asked. His accent was light, and he exaggerated the sounds of the vowels.

"So, this is my mom, my dad, and my sisters, Amanda, Natalie, Melissa, and Leah," Matt said, gesturing to each one of us individually.

"Hi! I'm so glad to finally meet you. Mr. and Mrs. Jayne. I'm Viktor," he said with a wave, then shook Dad's hand, then Mom's.

"Call me Mary," Mom said.

"Ladies," Viktor continued, turning to the triplets. He took each of their hands and kissed them. "Matt didn't tell me he lived with three princesses."

The three girls giggled.

"I'm Natalie, that's Melissa, and that's Leah," Natalie said, going down the line. "I'm the oldest, and don't get us mixed up."

"Aren't you all identical?" Viktor asked.

"Yeah, but I'm the tallest," Leah said.

It was a bold move on Leah's part to establish dominance with those fighting words. Since she didn't win the race out of the womb, that was all she had left.

"No, you're not. I'm the tallest," Natalie said.

"Cut it out," Mom interrupted before it could get any worse.

Viktor forced a polite smile, then turned to me. "And you're Amanda?"

"Guilty," I replied. Now that he was closer, I could get a better look at his allegedly crooked nose, and surely enough, it actually was. I smiled and shook his hand.

"So, honey, where's your stuff?" Mom asked.

"Oh, I just set it down by one of the benches before I went to go get food," Viktor replied.

"And how long ago was that?" Matt asked.

Viktor shrugged. "I don't know, about half an hour ago."

I grimaced. There was no way it was still there.

"Well, hopefully it wasn't stolen," I said.

"Stolen?" he asked, his eyes widening.

"I'm sure it's still there, Viktor," Mom said and rested her hand on his shoulder. "

"I have important stuff in there," Viktor mumbled, probably to himself, as he darted away to find his luggage. If he was going to act this stupid, we were going to have a long year ahead of us.

Matt chased after him, and Mom followed him.

"Well, that's a lesson the kid's gonna learn the hard way," Dad said with a slight chuckle.

I rolled my eyes. What a dumbass.

***

Viktor, Matt, and Mom returned ten minutes later empty-handed.

"Well, it's all gone. All I have with me is my laptop, my wallet, and my phone," Viktor said, defeated. At least he had the sense to keep those with him at all times.

"We'll buy you some new clothes, honey. It's all okay," Mom reassured him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking," he apologized.

Yeah.

"Let's just hit the road. It'll be almost 8:00 by the time we get home. We can't waste any more time," Dad said, patting Viktor on the shoulder.

Matt and Viktor nodded, and Viktor looked down at the ground, probably embarrassed. I would be too if I were that stupid.

"What about the seating situation? We still need to figure that out," I said, mostly to turn the eyes of my family away from Viktor's red face. I did feel a little sorry for him. It wasn't his fault that some people just had no sense. That was why they put warning labels on ice packs.

"You're just going to have to climb in the back seat with your sisters. You're skinny. You'll fit," Mom replied.

While I was far from the "dreaded" fat, I wasn't skinny either. I was technically overweight for my height, but nobody could tell. I didn't mind it either. It was just a small part of me.

"So, Viktor," Natalie said, smiling brightly as if nothing was wrong. "What's Finland like?"

"I mean, I guess it's nice enough, but I'm from Sweden," Viktor replied.

I stifled a laugh, but a small snort still snuck out.

Natalie shot me a glare, then turned back to Viktor, with a pleasantness that could only be described as fraudulent. "Are they communist?"

This kid.

Viktor didn't seem to know how to answer that, so I did for him. "If it's not America, they're communists."

"Sweden isn't communist. Or Finland," Viktor said.

The commie really needed to learn to shut up.

"When's your birthday?" Leah asked.

Viktor smiled, probably happy to move on. "My birthday's September eighth. When's yours?"

"Ours is October twenty-second. I'm the oldest," Natalie interrupted. Of course, she had already covered that, but for some reason, it was really important.

As she said that, we arrived at the van and all piled in. Leah and Melissa were stuck into one seat, so they buckled the single seat belt over the two of them.

"That may not be true completely. I'm sure you guys all looked the same when you were babies. Maybe your names got mixed up. What if your name is actually Leah, and you're not the oldest?" Viktor asked.

"That's stupid. There's no way that's possible," Nat almost shouted.

"What if I'm actually you? What if I'm the oldest?" Leah asked in awe.

"No, you're the youngest, and you're just going to have to deal with it," Nat said.

"What if none of us are actually real?" Leah asked, looking down at her bracelet she made for herself during this trip.

"Whoa. You girls are pretty advanced for your age. I can't keep up." Viktor laughed.

That wasn't surprising, considering he left his luggage unattended in Chicago, but I decided that I didn't need to rub it in anymore. It was my version of fraudulent pleasantness.

"What's your favorite color?" Natalie asked.

"Good question. I don't have one favorite color. There are too many to choose from. When I choose a color to wear, I usually pick blue or yellow though. So maybe it's one of those," he replied.

"I was right," Natalie said.

"Half-right," Melissa corrected.

"You don't like to talk much, do you?" Viktor said.

Melissa's eyes widened, and she didn't reply.

"She's just shy. She'll open up a little bit more once she gets to know you," Matt said.

"Oh, that's fine. Matt used to be pretty shy too, but he's not anymore," Viktor said.

I laughed. "Shy? Matt? One time, Matt threatened to feed me to a polar bear at the zoo in front of everyone."

"But I didn't," Matt mumbled.

I smiled. Like any siblings, we argued, but at the end of the day, Matt one of my best friends. I took pride in being his most annoying supporter while he was on and off the ice during his hockey games, and he did a great job at pretending that he didn't like it.

"Anyway, I'm really excited to live with all of you. Thank you for letting me stay with you in Bloomington," Viktor said.

Mom turned around in her seat. "Oh, Viktor, I feel like we all know you at this point. Matt couldn't shut up the past few days about how you're the best hockey player he's ever seen."

"Besides maybe Gretzky or something," Matt added.

"Speaking of hockey, let's just get this out in the open. You're a Minnesota fan, right?" I asked.

Viktor shook his head. "I like them, but I like the Blackhawks better."

I shut my eyes and put my headphones back on. Just the thought of it was enough to make me sick to my stomach.

He would have to be a temporary Wild fan. I didn't make the rules. Minnesota did.

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Hello! Thank you so much for reading! I did quite a bit of work on this chapter, and I think it's much better than the OG. I'd love to hear what you thought about the chapter in general.

So now we've met our special guest, Viktor! What are your thoughts on him?