Finals were over.

I lived.

Viktor survived as well, but to a lesser extent. He wasn't much of a test-taker, but as long as he maintained a 2.0 GPA to remain eligible for sports, I didn't give a single shit.

And with the conclusion of the semester, Viktor and I finally got to go back home.

Of course, Viktor wouldn't stay the entire time. He had a game a week before Christmas, then he wanted to go back to Sweden for the holidays.

I couldn't blame him.

Arti was to fly into Minnesota the next day, and Blaine the day after. Arti was my priority, since she wasn't wanted back home, so Dad (but mostly Matt) had agreed to let her stay with me. I wasn't sure who needed it more, Arti or me, but even though we were "technically" adults, it didn't make sleepovers any less fun.

Matt always liked to pretend that he hated Arti, but we all knew that wasn't true. He had a soft spot for her just like everyone else did.

Viktor and I got into the car to head home, and I turned on the radio.

"Twelve to sixteen inches of snow expected in the St. Paul area on Monday evening through Wednesday morning..."

I rolled my eyes, then plugged the aux cord in.

"Shouldn't you be listening to that? It sounds like a storm's gonna hit," Viktor said.

I shook my head. "The predictions are always wrong this early. And besides, it's not like we've never survived worse here. It's not exactly an uncommon occurrence."

"Okay, I guess you know better than I do," Viktor said.

I smiled. "As long as you remember that, you'll be good."

He smiled back at me.

Despite our impending doom, for the first time in a while, I felt okay.

Better than okay.

Good?

Yeah, good.

Everything (or at least almost everything) was going to go back to the way it used to be. I would have my best friend constantly picking on my boyfriend, Matt and Viktor would be reunited and their friendship would give the world something to envy, and the triplets would get themselves into something like they always did.

Just like normal.

***

"Viktor!" Natalie cried and ran up to him before she even acknowledged my presence.

She had her priorities, and her stupid crush on Viktor was pretty fucking high on that list.

Melissa and Leah, the two loyal ones, ran to my side and both gave me a hug.

"Hey guys," I said. "I've missed you so much."

I didn't really have much to say, even though I typically had plenty of words for any occasion. Their sister wasn't there for them when they needed her the most. There wasn't a damn thing I could say that could fix that.

"Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, guess what?" Leah asked, not releasing me from her hug.

I smiled. "What?"

"Do you remember your room?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I remember my room? I lived in there for eighteen years," I replied.

"It's different now! We turned it into a clubhouse!"

What. The. Fuck.

"You did what?" I asked, and I certainly didn't want to hear her say it again.

"See? I told you she wouldn't be mad," Leah said to Melissa. "Matt said you'd yell at us."

"I think she's mad," Melissa said, no louder than she ever spoke before.

"Mad? Why the hell would you be mad? It's so much cooler now," Natalie said with a laugh. She still hadn't let go of Viktor.

"You're ten. You can't say hell," I said, then turned back to Melissa and Leah. "What did you guys do to my room?"

Leah grabbed my hand. "Let me show you."

I let her lead me into the house, and it was a Christmas-free zone in there.

No tree, no lights, and certainly no cookies.

"Can my room wait a second? I have to yell at Matt for his lack of Christmas spirit," I said.

Leah nodded, and she and Melissa wandered over to Viktor. Natalie still refused to leave his side.

I wasn't quite sure where Matt was, since I thought he would have wanted to be the first person to greet Viktor, so I knew he had to be doing something. He loved Viktor more than me (but so did I, so I couldn't fault him there), and when he came up the stairs, he took one look at me, then hugged me.

Normally I initiated our brother-sister displays of affection, and he acted like he hated them.

"Hey, Salamander," Matt said.

I laughed. "Are you really going to bring that back?"

"Why not? It pisses you off, or at least it used to."

"Yeah, when I was, like, six," I said. "How's everything here? Why the fuck isn't there a Christmas tree in the living room?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I actually do shit around here." He laughed. "You wouldn't think that, though, if you just looked around the house. It's trashed."

"Ten-year-old girls have a tendency to do that. For what it's worth, I expected it to look much worse," I said with a laugh.

To be fair, I didn't even know we had as many dishes as were stacked in the sink and counter. I made a mental note to forcefully remind the triplets that Matt wasn't the only one who needed to do chores.

He shook his head and smiled. "Your opinion is the most important thing in the world to me."

"Was that sarcasm?" I asked.

"You're smart enough to figure that out on your own."

I smiled. Sarcasm was his middle name. And mine. And Natalie's.

Our parents weren't very creative.

"Oh, and I figured I'd leave the cookies to you and the triplets," Matt said, then added, "And probably Blaine, too. That dude has no fucking chill when it comes to food."

I nodded. "Yep. And thanks for finding it within your heart to let Arti stay here."

"She's practically another sister to me, and somehow, she's even more annoying than you. I couldn't just leave her out to dry like that, and I guess her situation just puts ours into perspective, you know? We're pretty lucky."

"We really are, Matthew. Now go find Viktor, if Natalie hasn't killed him with affection yet. I know he's kind of a big deal for you," I said.

"How's his season going?"

"His line is fucking insane. He's got a couple twins as his wingers, and the amount of chemistry they have is ridiculous. It's not quite what you and Viktor had, but it's as close as you can get."

Matt smiled. "Thank god. I was afraid he'd have a meltdown without me."

"You didn't think that," I said with a laugh.

"Not at all. God, he's really gonna pull it off, huh? Getting drafted, I mean."

I shrugged. "As long as everything keeps going this smoothly, I think there's a good chance."

Matt bit down on his lip, trying to keep a smile off his face. "Alright, well, I'm gonna go talk to him if you don't mind."

"You go ahead. I'm gonna go see what's going on in my room,"

His face turned deadpan. "Godspeed, Amanda."

"What did you let the triplets do?" I asked.

"Just go." He walked toward the living room, where Viktor and the triplets were.

I took a deep breath, then walked upstairs to my room. I opened the door, and there were streamers dangling from the ceiling, and a stain of who-knows-what on the carpet.

My bed and dresser were still there, though, so that was a pleasant surprise.

When I looked over to my desk, there was a tank of some sort that sat upon it.

Oh hell no.

I didn't do critters, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, arachnids, or bacteria cultures.

The triplets had captured a toad before, and I wouldn't put it past them to try to take care of a chameleon or a salamander or something.

Against my better judgement, I crept over to the tank, careful to not disturb whatever the fuck it was, and I peered into the glass.

Eight eyes stared right back at me.

"Holy fucking shit!" I cried, then staggered back.

A goddamn tarantula.

My legs carried me away faster than I had ever run since I hit puberty.

I wanted to burn the room. No, the house. No, everything within a two-fucking-mile radius.

"Are you people kidding me?" I ran into the living room. "What the hell is wrong with you guys? What is that thing?"

"She has a name, Amanda," Natalie said.

I threw my hands up. "I have a name for her too. Satan. I swear to God, if you guys don't remove her from the premises in two seconds, I am going to lose my freaking mind."

"Hey, hey, hey. Chill out. It's just a spider," Matt said. "Besides, I read that it's important to foster an interest in science, math, and engineering in young girls."

"We aren't having their biology experiments in my room. No way in hell."

"I wanted to get a snake and name it Amanda after you," Natalie said.

I shot Matt a glare.

"I put my foot down there, for the record," Matt said. "If anything, you're a spoiled ass cat."

"Do we have to get rid of Tara?" Leah asked.

"Yes. We are not having that thing in my room, where it just watches me sleep and waits for the perfect time to kill me," I said.

"I thought you guys would get along. Maybe you should try being friends with Tara. It worked when you did it for Viktor," Natalie said.

I was not about to write a list of fifty things I liked about a fucking tarantula.

I crossed my arms. "You have three seconds to move her out of my room before I throw her out the window."

"But she's cold-blooded! She can't survive out there!" Leah cried.

"Then I'd suggest you do something about that," I said, and the triplets scrambled upstairs to save their beloved pet.

I plopped down onto the couch next to Viktor.

"Did you see that thing? Oh my god, I'm about ready to die just thinking about it," I said.

"No, and I don't want to. I'm scared of spiders," Viktor said.

That was the most rational thing I had ever heard him say.

Matt rolled his eyes. "It's a spider. What are you going to do when your girlfriend or whatever wants you to kill one for her?"

"That sounds like her problem, not mine," Viktor said.

I laughed.

He and I were two very, very different people. I would have killed a person if I had to for the people I loved.

Of course, I was also "slightly psychotic," according to pretty much everyone.

I looked over at Matt and Viktor, and Matt had already brought up their favorite topic, hockey. I wanted to ask Matt why exactly he thought letting the triplets get a pet tarantula was a good idea, but their conversation was much more important than my question.

Matt and Viktor were my OTP, and even though I had thought about ruining it for just a split second, I didn't have to. Caroline was gonna fuck it all up just fine on her own.

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Hey everyone! I'm way too happy that Amanda's back where she belongs, and we'll see how this plays out for my babies.

So let's switch this whole "I ask you a question" thing up. Do you have any questions for me about literally anything? (Literally.) I don't even care if you're reading this nine years after I published it. I'm down to talk.