Over the next few weeks, I didn't get a chance to argue with Dr. Mann again. It was a little disappointing, to be honest, and I almost wanted him to say something to me, or even just look in my general direction.

He never did.

It was truly impressive by him, and I could admire his ability to avoid getting any comments from me, but I just wanted round two of our battle. I never liked to be up by just one point.

I wanted to run the score up on him.

It was bad sportsmanship, for sure, but I didn't care. I wasn't like Viktor, and there was nothing like the rush of a well thought-out debate.

Of course, with every week that passed, we got closer to my most favorite thing in the entire world: hockey season. With only a week until the first game of the season, most of Viktor's non-class time was spent at practice or working out, and not with me. But that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

I sat on my bed, scribbling down a list of goals that I set for Viktor. He was going to achieve them, too. I would make sure of it.

1. Score at least 20 goals.

2. Get at least 15 assists.

3. Play goalie for a game. (I just really want to see how that would play out.)

4. Play every single game. That means DON'T GET HURT.

5. Have fun or some stupid shit like that.

6. Get in a fight at a home game so I can watch! *

7. Get drafted. I'm not kidding.

* Denotes the most important goal for you to achieve. Potential benefits include 10,000 respect points from Miss Amanda Jayne, 100,000 respect points from your teammates, and probably a one-game suspension. Achieving this goal voids Goal #4.

It was a decent list, and ever since the original one that Mom made me write, I had actually grown rather fond of them.

That list was pretty much the only reason I ever tried to get along with Viktor. Mom sabotaged me.

I slammed the notebook shut and laid down on the bed, covering my eyes.

I should have been over it, but I wasn't.

And although that was one of my favorite memories of Mom, her sitting me down at the kitchen table and hitting me with Mom Wisdom until I cried a little (an odd choice for a positive memory, of course, but while that didn't change my opinion on Viktor right away, it did in the long run), it still hurt.

It was stupid of me. She was gone, and there was nothing I could do but treasure every second I had with her. I did that to the best of my ability, but every once in a while, among the gold and diamonds, there was a dagger that stabbed me straight in the heart.

But that was stupid and didn't matter. What mattered was my list.

I sat up in my bed and brushed the hair that tickled my nose away. Seven goals seemed reasonable, and as long as Viktor accomplished 1, 2, and 7, I would be happy with his success.

It bothered me that I had no control over his career anymore. Any training that he did was way above my head, and I could do nothing but push him and hope for the best. The rest was up to him.

He promised me that he'd stop by my dorm once he was done with his practice, and it should have ended nearly an hour prior. Of course, I understood that I couldn't take all of his time since he had plenty of things to focus on, but he was all I had.

Jackie and I got along well enough, but we weren't much more than level 3 friends. She went about her business, and I went about mine, and if our paths crossed, that was perfectly fine. And even though I thought Diego was just my cup of tea, he had people that actually mattered to him.

Naturally, I was on my phone with Matt, Arti, Blaine, and the triplets a lot.

In my brief bout of loneliness, I decided Arti was going to be my victim that day. I called her on FaceTime, and the phone didn't even ring twice before she picked up.

"Why the fuck has it taken you almost a month to call me?" she asked before either of us could say anything else.

"You could have called me."

"That's true, I guess, but I'll never forgive you for this."

"Are you looking at yourself instead of me?" I asked, reading her eyes.

"Pretty much, yeah. Sorry, but I'm just pretty distracting."

I laughed. "Nah, I would look at you too if I were you."

She shook her head and flashed a smile. "I really miss you."

"How's Cali?"

"It's different. Lots of weird people, but it's nice. I'm just as crazy as a lot of them."

I smiled. "I figured you'd fit in just fine."

"It just sucks that you and Blaine aren't here. Don't tell him I said that."

I zipped my lips and threw away the key. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Then I have some other news I have to tell you too," she said, but this time, the smile she wore was gone.

"What is it?"

She hesitated before speaking. "I'm kind of not welcome back home."

I felt my face fall to match hers. "What?"

"I got an email from my dad. A fucking email. No phone call, no text. Kasey's been different ever since I left, you know, just a much more pleasant kid to be around, so of course, it's my fault she ever acted up in the first place."

Kasey was her little sister, and they didn't have a good relationship like I had with my siblings. And with her father already pissed at her for liking girls, it made for a terrible combination.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked.

"There's not much I can do."

"You can spend the holidays with my family. They won't mind, except for Matt, probably."

Arti gave a small smile. "I know he loves me."

I nodded. "He does. He just doesn't want to admit it."

"So what's been going on with you? How have you been?" Arti asked.

"In all honesty, it's been a little rough. I'm just trying to deal with all these changes one step at a time. Everyone's always busy, you know, with school or work or whatever, but I think I'm going to head home tomorrow. You'd be surprised with how much the triplets can help with anything."

She smiled. "That sounds good. How's Viktor?"

"Busy."

"Oh." She looked over her shoulder. "Just give me a second, Rachel. I'm in the middle of something."

"Your roommate?" I asked.

Arti smiled. "Girlfriend."

"And you're just now telling me this?"

"Arti, I'm serious. We need to leave now if we want to get there on time—who are you talking to?" a different voice said. She looked into the camera and waved.

I waved back.

"My best friend and personal psychiatrist, Amanda," Arti replied.

"Hi, Arti's girlfriend," I said.

"Did you tell her we're dating? Stop doing that," this Rachel person said.

Arti grimaced. "Just go with it."

"Arti," I said. "Are you trying to lie to me again?"

She sighed. "Maybe."

"I'm her roommate, and if we want to get to the Ed Sheeran concert, then we really need to leave in approximately five minutes ago," Rachel said. She had several piercings in only one ear, plus short, swoopy dark hair. She didn't look like an Ed Sheeran fan, but I didn't say anything.

"I haven't even done my hair," Arti said.

"Keep it natural." Rachel took the phone from Arti.

"What the fuck? Give it back, or I'll—"

Rachel smiled at me. "Bye, Amanda."

FaceTime ended.

Well then.

I was a little pissed, but I really couldn't be at Arti. She tried to hang on to our conversation as long as she could.

That cheered me up a little. If it had been a couple months ago, I would have been lower on her priority list than throwing up orange juice.

Not quite, but still.

Next, I decided to call Matt. With my mind made up that I'd be heading home for the weekend, it would probably be beneficial to let him know that.

I hadn't really talked to him since I left, and I couldn't imagine that he had the free time to talk to me.

I pressed the phone to my ear, and waited for him to pick up.

"Hi, you've reached Matthew Jayne. This is Natalie speaking," Natalie said, instead of Matt.

"And why is she speaking? I want to talk to Matt," I said.

"He's been really sick all week, so I'm being his secretary."

I smiled. "That's nice of you."

"But now, no one's doing the dishes, and we haven't eaten a real dinner in three days," she continued.

"What? What have you been eating, then?"

"Lots and lots of cereal."

"And you're almost ten. You, Melissa, and Leah can do the goddamn dishes."

"That's what Matt said, but we don't want to, and he can't tell us what to do."

"Yes, he can. He's in charge of you guys. What's even wrong with Matt anyway?" I asked.

"I think he has the flu. He has a fever, his throat hurts, and he's just really tired," Natalie replied.

"Okay, well, he can't rest if you three aren't helping him out."

"Leah, back off. I'm talking to Amanda," Natalie said, then let out a shout in frustration.

"Hi, Amanda! It's Leah!" Leah said. She must have taken the phone from Nat.

"Hi, you need to do the dishes. Matt can't do anything if he's sick," I said.

"I was hoping you were gonna say that you're bringing us pizza."

It was Friday night, and it couldn't hurt anyone if I went home then.

So I decided to offer a compromise. "Okay, if you, Nat, and Melissa have the dishes done by the time I get home, I'll order you all some pizza. Sound fair?"

"Are you gonna stay?" she asked.

"I'm not trying to catch Matt's germs, but yes, I'm gonna stay. Once Viktor comes back from practice, we'll be home, okay?"

Leah laughed. "Yes! We really miss you!"

I smiled. "I miss you too. Can I talk to Melissa?"

"Sure!"

Leah was always so cheerful. It was pretty freaking contagious, too.

"Hi Amanda. How's college?" Melissa asked.

"It's okay. I'm doing well so far, but I really need to get a job, which will make this a little bit harder. How's home?"

Well enough, except for sociology. But that was a fake class and didn't matter to me.

I figured Melissa would give me the most honest answers to what was really going on back in that house of chaos.

"Well, it's different. Matt's doing the best he can, but he's sick right now, so he can't do much."

"I heard. How's school?" I asked.

"It's good. The only problem is that all three of us have a big project that we have to do, but we can't, because we don't have the supplies."

"Oh, that's no problem. I'll help you guys out. Which project is it?" I asked.

"It's the Famous American Project."

I remembered that project. I did the same one in the fourth grade. What the students had to do was pick a famous American, then dress up a two-liter plastic bottle as them, as well as write a few paragraphs on their lives and contributions and present it to the class.

It took me about a week to put my bottle J.D. Rockefeller together.

"I remember that one. When's it due?" I asked.

"Monday."

Fuck.

I took a deep breath. "Please tell me you guys have at least started on your essays."

"Both Natalie and I have. Leah hasn't started at all."

Oh my god.

"Okay. Okay. We're gonna make this work somehow. Okay. Damn," I said.

Doing one in a week was bad enough, but three in a weekend? I had done crazier things for the sake of people I loved.

Melissa sighed. "I wanted to start earlier, but Matt's been sick."

"No, it's fine. I get it." I quickly thought up a plan. "Okay, I'm going to bring the three of you back to my dorm, and we'll work on this all weekend. We have to get this done. And we can leave Viktor to take care of Matt."

I didn't want the noise to bother Matt, and trying to get a week's worth of work done in two days with the triplets would be loud. Very. Fucking. Loud.

"Okay. I'll tell the others," Melissa said.

"Okay, at least tell me who you guys picked before you go."

"I picked Emily Dickinson, Natalie picked Alexander Hamilton, and Leah picked Sojourner Truth."

"Good choices. I'll be home soon. Have the dishes done, and get your pencils and creative minds ready. We're in for a long weekend."

Melissa laughed. "Okay. I love you."

"I love you too. See you soon."

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10k reads on The Exchange!! Thank you all so much! I can't believe it! So in honor of this accomplishment, you're all invited to my super mega awesome fun pizza party! And if you don't like pizza, we can always get you something else (but who doesn't like pizza??).

I really, really needed that. Thank you all so much. College is lowkey kicking my butt.