When the last bell of the school day rang, there were quite a few questions that I needed to be answered before I talked to Arti about what the hell I saw before class.

Viktor could wait. I had bigger fish to fry.

As Lukas collected all of his stuff to leave, I turned to him. "Hey, I wasn't paying attention when Miss Harter was explaining the project, so what are we even supposed to do?"

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" Lukas asked.

"He's not in this class since he's definitely not Viktor. And do you honestly think I would trust him with anything like this?"

He shook his head. "I guess not. You're not that stupid."

"Thank you. And anyway, I know what I have against him, but why exactly aren't you a fan of Viktor?"

Could I get any more casual and cool? There was no way in hell he could have ever known that I wasn't actually trying to make friendly small talk.

"What the hell are you talking about? I thought you guys are friends now," Lukas said.

Fuck. There was a reason I kept Arti around, and it was to make up for my fucking terrible interpersonal skills for manipulation purposes.

I laughed. "Yeah, well, I was trying to be nice. He's not going away for a while, and I figured maybe the time would go by quicker if we didn't hate each other."

"You're not fooling anyone, Jayne. You're absolutely no different than your brother," Lukas said, and although I hadn't finished packing up my stuff, he took his backpack and walked out the classroom door.

I looked to my other side, and Viktor was gone as well. At least he had the sense and/or courtesy to leave us alone for a moment while I tried to play puppet master.

Wait. My brother. I only had one, and he was also at that camp with Lukas and Viktor.

Did I seriously waste all that time ignoring my best possible resource for all Viktor-related tea? Of course, they were best friends and all, but who didn't like to indulge in a little gossip every now and again?

Amanda "Candy Cane" Jayne: full-time dumbass.

***

I went over to Arti's house after school, and we sat down at her kitchen table, each with a mug of tea for no other reason than our pettiness.

She swirled the tea around, then looked up at me. "Is this good bad news, or bad bad news?"

I frowned. "You're not going to like it, I know that. But we get to engage in questionable behavior as a result, so that makes up for it a little."

She looked down. "Just hit me with it."

"I think that Eleanor may be with Lukas, either romantically or against us. Don't get mad."

She rose her eyebrows. "Mad? Why the fuck would I be mad? I was right, bitch."

"What?"

"That's literally all the proof I need. You and Blaine thought I was fucking crazy for thinking Eleanor was cheating on me, but look at who was right all along. Me."

I rolled my eyes. "Arti, please. That was weeks ago. Who knows when this started? And maybe Eleanor's just being nice. She does that sometimes."

"Admit it. Admit that I was right and you and Blaine were wrong." She laughed. "This is literally the best, most validating day of my life."

I glared at her. "You have a miserable existence if this even ranks on your best days list."

"Can you call Blaine? I want to tell him that he's a fucking idiot to his face," she said. "God, I love being right."

"Well, what if it's a revenge thing? You might have accused her of something she didn't do, she's pissed, and now she wants revenge by—" I trailed off. How the hell would Lukas be good revenge against Arti? Arti pretty much had nothing to do with Lukas, besides the fact that she laughed at his jokes in French class. It didn't make any sense at all, which only meant one thing.

"Do you really think professional nice girl Eleanor Belladonna would be that vindictive? Nope, she's just an idiot with no goddamn loyalties," Arti said.

I took in a breath. "For fuck's sake. I hate myself."

"Amanda, you shouldn't hate yourself over this. It's not your fault you just believe whatever comes out of Blaine's moronic mouth."

"Okay, I get it. You don't have to say it anymore."

She smiled. "You can write me an apology over email if you'd like. I'm very reasonable." She laughed at her own joke again. "I'm done now. So what do you want to do about this? Should we call her out?"

I shook my head. "We have the upper hand here, and I don't want to give anything away. I've done that enough these past few months. Instead, I think we should form a dream team to figure this shit out. You, Blaine, Matt, Viktor, and me."

"Sign me right the fuck up."

I smiled. What could possibly be more exciting than having secret hockey training sessions? Only one thing: channeling my inner Nancy Drew with my dear George. And Blaine. And Matt. And the dumbass himself.

***

I knocked on Matt and Viktor's bedroom door, waited for a second without a response, and went in. Only Matt was in there.

"Hey, can I ask you a favor?" I asked.

He turned to me. "Does it involve moving?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"Then no."

I let out a sigh. I had kept too many of Viktor's secrets for way too long. "What if I told you that someone you used to know is back in town and has been since August?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Who?"

"Lukas Hynes. And on a scale of one to ten, how much do you not like him?"

"At least an eight." He paused. "Wait, Lukas Hynes? When the fuck did that happen?"

"I literally just said August, but apparently, you don't ever listen to me. Look, he's in my math class with Viktor, and we're about to work on a project together, so if you know anything about why he still can't stand Viktor, it would be excellent information for me to have."

"He's still holding a grudge? Hell, if anyone should still be pissed, it should be Viktor. Lukas literally decked him in the middle of practice."

"I know. And Viktor has no goddamn idea why, but he also didn't want you to worry. I have no explanation for that."

Matt took in a breath and shook his head. "He can be so dramatic sometimes."

Yeah. I noticed.

"Look, Matthew, I'm just trying to figure this all out. I'd never tell anyone else this, but there's something about Lukas that kind of—"

Matt interrupted me. "Scares you?"

"Hell no. But he's weird, really fucking weird, and I get uncomfortable if I'm not the most intense person in the room," I said. "But anyway, is there any particular reason why he kicked the shit out of Viktor and continues to hold something against him even after ten years?"

Sure, Viktor pissed me off with the way he just took whatever he wanted without thinking about anyone else, but it didn't take me ten years to get over it. We had a solid feud that lasted for a few good months, but somehow, he made his way onto my list of my people.

It was probably that he lived with us that tricked me into thinking that. It made it a little too easy to view him as family, plus the fact that he and Mom sabotaged me into taking him under my wing, but it was done, and there was nothing I could do about it besides continue to look out for him. He needed it, really.

"Well, this may be hard for you to believe, but some people don't like it when someone else comes in and takes their spot on a team, only for them to eventually disappear back to where they came from."

I bit my cheek. "That's not funny, Matt. We're not talking about me right now."

"I'm just saying that's probably the problem. Well, that and the fact that Viktor's kind of annoying when you first meet him. He never knew what was going on, so I guess it would be really irritating to have the foreign guy try to explain drills to you. But I was smart and befriended the foreign guy, so that wasn't a problem for me."

I smiled. At least Viktor was consistent (as well as Matt). "That's perfect, then. We're going to destroy him, and you could definitely be of service."

Matt stared at me. "Destroy him? Is this because you don't have anything else to do to make yourself feel important?"

What the fuck did I do to him? I didn't need anyone to make me feel important.

But I ignored that comment. That kind of bullshit wasn't even worth a goddamn response from me. "Just come on. I still need to go find Viktor and text Blaine."

"He's in the basement with the triplets. I think they were playing that stupid princess game."

"Why didn't they tell me? Pretty Pretty Princess is my shit," I said.

"Because you play too ruthlessly. You're supposed to be a pretty princess, not the Wicked Witch of the West."

"I play to win." I laughed as I shut the door behind me. I headed down the stairs and down to the basement, where the girls were crowded around Viktor.

"Amanda! Look at Viktor!" Natalie laughed.

He was wearing every single piece of jewelry in the game. When he noticed the triplets weren't looking at him, he mouthed the word help to me.

I laughed. "He looks great, but that's not how you're supposed to play the game."

"It's more fun this way. The rules just get in the way of the good stuff," Natalie said.

There was plenty of truth to that statement as long as I wasn't the one making the rules. Then every rule was essential.

I took out my phone and pointed it at them. "Smile."

The three girls giggled and pointed at their creation. Viktor smiled just long enough for me to take a picture, then went back to his pout.

"You let some eight-year-olds dress you up all pretty-like?" I asked.

He nodded.

Leah laughed. "He looks like a goddess."

31. Horrible plastic jewelry is a great look for you.

I smiled. "He's beautiful, but I need to borrow him for a little bit."

"What for?" Natalie asked.

"Super-secret teenage business."

"That actually sounds worse than being dressed up as a princess, and whatever these are hurt my ears," Viktor said.

"Yeah, clip-on earring suck. But I really need you to come with me for a second. I may have told Matt something that you specifically told me not to tell him, but it's not because I'm freaking out, so don't think that," I said.

"What are you even talking about?" He took off one of the plastic earrings he wore and gave it to Melissa. "When I get back, we'll play a different game, okay?"

"What's wrong with Pretty Pretty Princess?" Leah asked.

"I don't think pink is my color."

"Pink is everyone's color," Leah said.

"You look ugly in pink," Natalie said.

Leah crossed her arms. "You kind of insulted yourself too."

I took the crown from the board game from Viktor and placed it on Melissa's head. "You're the new princess. Don't let the peasants bring you down."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Natalie asked.

I turned to go upstairs. "It means that she can send you to the guillotine whenever she wants, so you better play nice."

"Don't listen to her. She's a little evil," Viktor said, as he followed me up.

I smiled. "You haven't experienced half of what I'm capable of."

"I believe that."

"Would you like to?" I led him up to the dining room table, where his old chair had returned to its rightful place. It was just as satisfying as I dreamed it would be.

"Not really," he said.

"Well, that sucks for you. We're doing shit my way this time."

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Hello! I hope you're doing well, and thank you so much for reading!

So how do you think this will play out? Is Amanda overreacting? Was Matt right when he said that Amanda just wants to feel important?