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.

I bit my tongue to prevent anything else from slipping out. We were far enough away from anyone else in the otherwise almost empty that no one would notice if something quiet erupted.

Another bitch move by Lukas.

I took a deep breath and switched to my more professional side. "So first, we have to have someone throw this ball," I got it out of my bag, "and we have to measure how far it goes."

Viktor smiled. "Can I do it?"

"Sure," I said.

All three of us walked outside, and with the three-inch blanket of snow covering the ground, it would be easy to find where it landed.

I held the ball out to Viktor. "Don't throw it as far as you can. That'll only make life more difficult for us."

"And how do we measure the max height?" Lukas asked.

"We'll just guesstimate. It doesn't really matter, because what's important is the math processes we use."

Lukas shrugged. "Whatever you say, captain."

I crossed my arms. "Look, I don't see you offering an alternative or any form of leadership whatsoever."

"God, you get triggered so easily."

"Maybe it's because I know that I deserve respect in a world where people try to walk all over everyone else."

"Amanda," Viktor said again.

I glared at him. "The dude just tried to kill me. He's lucky I haven't come after him yet."

"That was all Eleanor. I had nothing to do with it," Lukas said.

I sure as hell did nothing to Eleanor too. Whatever issues she had were with Arti, not me, and I was merely her best friend since forever who spent more time with her than anyone else in the school.

And with that thought, maybe Eleanor was a little jealous of me despite her falling out with Arti. Hell, I would be too if I were her.

I looked over at Viktor. "Just throw the thing."

Viktor frowned, then threw the ball into the air. Since the temperature was hovering right around freezing, the snow was crunchy and packable, and the ball plopped into it about fifty feet away.

I turned to the boys. "How high was that? About fifteen feet?"

Viktor shrugged.

"It was at least thirty feet in the air," Lukas said.

I shook my head. This fool was just trying to push every goddamn button I had. "We'll compromise and say twenty, then."

Although there wasn't much wind for a Minnesota winter day, my eyes still watered thanks to the cold I caught from Blaine. That and maybe my persnickety immune system was still trying to save me from the evil peanut butter.

Lukas scooped up some of the snow into his hands and formed it into a ball. He smirked at me and threw it at Viktor. Vik moved out of the way in time, but I still didn't like it.

"What the fuck? He's just been sitting there this whole time," I said. I bent down and picked up some snow, packed it together, and launched it at Lukas.

Viktor grabbed my arm. "Stop it. You promised."

"I promised that I wouldn't do anything before he tried to kill me. If you have a problem with me standing up for myself, you can go to hell," I said.

He rose his eyebrows. I hadn't talked to him like that in a while, and it must have caught him off guard.

I sighed and spoke louder, so Lukas could hear me. "I'll just finish this goddamn project by myself. Let's just measure how far it went, and we'll wrap this up. I'm done with everyone's shit for the day."

"Good. You're impossible to work with," Lukas said.

I bit down on my tongue. It was a difficult concept for him to grasp, but in order to claim that I was impossible to work with, that would mean that he would have to be working.

Viktor held out a tape measure to me. "I'll help you with the math if you want."

I smiled. "Thanks, but I can handle it. You've got a game tomorrow and one on Saturday. I'll do it myself."

We measured the distance to be 54 feet and 3 and a quarter inches. Lukas watched with his arms held close to his body for warmth. The idiot wasn't even wearing a coat. Psychopath.

We went back inside to the library to collect our stuff to go home. I put the papers explaining the project criteria in my math folder, then put it in my backpack with the rest of my stuff.

I patted my back pocket with my hand to check for my phone, but it wasn't there. I checked my coat pocket, and it still wasn't there. I yanked on the zipper to the smallest pouch of my bag, since I sometimes put my phone in there, but I still couldn't find it.

"Hm. I don't know where I put my phone," I said.

"Fucking idiot," Lukas mumbled.

I glared at him and searched my brain for the last time I had it. I used it to send a quick Snapchat to Blaine before government, and then I would have most likely put it into my backpack, where I already knew it wasn't.

And I left my backpack unattended when I went to treat my allergic reaction.

The same foolish mistake Viktor made the day we met.

Lukas had to have my phone. He had to.

I pretended to have a realization. "I may have left it in the government room or maybe Miss Harter's room. Would you mind checking the math room for me, while I check the government room, Vik?" I smiled.

He looked at Lukas, then me. "Sure." He turned and went to go look for my phone like I asked.

36. You're too sweet.

As soon as the library door closed, my head snapped around to face Lukas. "You stole it."

"Why would I take your phone?" he asked.

"Because you're an ass."

He shrugged. "Maybe, but making such an accusation with no evidence makes you an even bigger ass, don't you think?"

"No evidence? Are you serious?" I pushed up my sleeve. "What do you think this is? I could have you arrested if I wanted."

"Then why haven't you yet?"

I hesitated. I couldn't prove that the peanut butter incident was intentional, but if I could prove that he stole my phone, I would have something—a small glimmer of hope—to get him out of my life.

"Because I wanted to handle this myself," I said.

He smirked. "You haven't thought this through very well, have you?"

So what if I hadn't? All I knew was that he needed to start talking about why the fuck he was a psycho before I put this matter in someone else's mightier hands.

Without getting to know him, there was a lot to hate about Viktor, but deep down, there was a lot to like. But to hold onto an incident from ten years ago and obsess and obsess and obsess was just the right amount of insanity needed to try to get me, Viktor's earned ally, out of the picture by whatever means necessary. He didn't succeed, though, because I had a better kind of insanity running through my veins. An equal and opposite energy.

"Give me my phone back," I said.

"No."

"I've been suspicious of you for a while now, and everyone else thought I was losing my mind. Now you've committed a crime."

He rose his voice to a shout. "I don't have your fucking phone."

My eyes widened, and I turned to look behind me to see if anyone was around to hear us. Not even a librarian was in sight, but a security camera caught my eye, and I smiled at my reflection on the lens.

Hello, Madison High security.

I turned back around. "Prove that you don't."

"I don't have to prove that I'm innocent. You have to prove that I'm guilty."

I nodded. "Fair enough." I lunged toward his backpack like I was going to search through it myself. Slightly questionable, yes, but I knew what I was doing.

We weren't all that different, but where he was impulsive, I was pretty goddamn calculated and manipulative.

That was also the case vice versa, of course, but this time, I was going to win.

"Don't touch that!" he cried.

I backed off, but before I could say anything or even look in his direction, his hands gripped my hair like I was his goddamn puppet.

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Hey everyone! Thank you so much for reading! Things have certainly picked up over the last couple chapters, haven't they?

What on earth is going on here? How do you think this will play out?

Also, I'm trying to wrap this rewrite up (finally!), so make sure you stay tuned for the next chapter! I hope to have it out within a few days!