Blaine and I went back to the game, and he promised me he would "attempt" to get along with Viktor.

I appreciated his concern over my admittedly shitty mental health, but I didn't need him to take it upon himself to push all of Viktor's buttons for me. I liked doing it myself.

The board was still right side up, and I counted my money to make sure no one stole anything. They didn't.

But when I looked to the properties I owned, St. James Place was missing.

"Okay, who stole my shit?" I asked. "Arti?"

She put her hand to her chest. "Me? I'm the most moral person here. I would never."

I held out my hand. "Give it back."

"I seriously didn't take it," she said.

"Well, it was either you, Matt, or Natalie," I said. "And with your history, I'm going to guess that it was you."

"Matt's a cheater," Natalie said.

I turned to her. "Nat, give me my card back."

Natalie, defeated, held out St. James Place.

"Thank you. You may all carry on now," I said.

Arti shook her head. "I can't believe you would accuse me of stealing. I'm a liar, not a cheater."

"You can be both at the same time. Don't limit yourself. Be the shittiest person you can be," I replied.

Arti smiled. "That's my new life quote. I'm feeling so inspired now. Maybe I'll rob a bank once we're done here."

"Oh my god, one time I had a dream that me, you, and Amanda robbed a bank together. We got arrested, though," Blaine said.

"Prison orange is not Amanda's color, so we can't have that," Arti said.

I crossed my arms. "I would look fantastic in prison orange."

"You would look amazing in anything," Viktor said.

I smiled. "I know."

"And she's humble too. She's got it all," Matt said.

Viktor's gaze softened on me. "I feel kind of bad that I kept her all locked away from the rest of you, though. It makes me happy to see her finally happy again."

For the first time in a long time, everything was the way it was supposed to be (with the exception of the minor issue between Viktor and Blaine, but I was willing to overlook that). It wasn't exactly a miracle that I was "happy" again.

And everyone else that mattered seemed happy enough to me.

Amanda: 2, Life: 0.5.

I gave life half a point, because it was enough to keep me in a shitty enough mood for a few months, but with my recent victory over Dr. Mann, I was pretty much undoubtedly winning.

"It's funny you point that out, considering you're the only reason she had to be dragged away from what makes her happy, but you know, those are just small details," I heard Blaine mumble to himself.

I shot him a glare.

He smiled back at me. "Whoops."

Natalie rolled the dice, then moved her piece nine spaces.

St. James Place.

Ha.

I loved snatching money from children.

***

That night, as the snow continued to fall (we must have had ten inches up to that point), Blaine called his mother, explaining that he wouldn't be able to come home.

She wasn't very happy, making a point to specifically state her anger with me for talking him into leaving her, but it was better for him to stay with me than get into a car accident and die.

All three of us climbed into my bed, and despite the freezing weather outside, I felt perfectly warm. I was where I was supposed to be.

"Okay, gossip circle. Who's got some tea they'd like to share?" Blaine asked.

I rolled my eyes.

He loved knowing everyone's business.

"Amanda, you go first. Tell us about your life," Blaine continued.

I let out a breath. "Why don't you start? You're significantly more interesting than me."

"Well, I bought this Barbie scooter for five dollars from this girl."

"A girl our age, or a little girl?"

"She was, like, ten, so she wasn't exactly a little girl—"

"You bought a scooter from a ten-year-old? What the fuck is wrong with you?" I asked.

He held up his hands. "She said she didn't want it anymore, since she was too old for it. So I figured I'd at least give her five bucks for it."

"Why were you talking to a ten-year-old girl?" Arti asked.

"Because I'm friendly, that's why. No, but she was playing in the park with her friends, and they kind of reminded me of the triplets—"

"Why were you at a park?" I asked.

"I was helping my roommate look at flowers, okay? God, you two need to stop with the questions—"

"Why did your roommate need flowers?" Arti asked.

"Oh my god, if you two don't shut up—"

"How do you help someone look at flowers?" I asked.

"Shut the fuck up. It would all make sense if you would just listen—" He hesitated, waiting for us to interrupt him again.

We didn't.

"Thank you." He sighed. "So my roommate needed to look at flowers for his biology project, and I was just there because quite frankly, I needed some fresh air, and I probably would've stabbed myself if I didn't get away from campus for a while. The girls were playing basketball, and they were about the same age as the triplets, so it reminded me of you, Amanda. Then I got all sad and shit, you know, and they noticed I wasn't really doing much, so they asked me if I wanted to even up their teams. I'm a people pleaser, so I said sure."

"Is it pink?" I asked.

"It's super fucking pink. You would like it. So I played with them until my roommate was done with his flower hunting or whatever, and then the girl was all like, 'Wow, you're so fun. I'm gonna miss you.' I was like, 'That's not really healthy, but okay.' Then she started talking about—"

"What was her name?" I asked.

"Her name? It was Olivia, I think. She was adorable. Anyway, she started talking about how much she hated her babyish scooter, and so I—"

"Shhhhh," Arti said.

"Did you just shush me?" Blaine asked.

"Yes, I did. I'll say it nicer, if you want. Shut the fuck up, please," Arti said.

Blaine shook his head. "What's your deal?"

"Listen downstairs."

The three of us fell silent, and I tried to make out what was going on downstairs.

Matt must have been talking to Viktor.

I stood up and squatted down next to the door, hoping I would be able to hear better. Blaine and Arti did the same.

"Because she was crazy. Look, I think it's weird too, but you're putting too much thought into it," Matt said.

"I'm really not. I know I didn't know her as well as you did, but I just don't understand why she would put this together if she didn't think she would be able to make it in the future," Viktor said.

"She always had this alternate reality in her mind, and in it, it was always you and Amanda. She liked to force things the way she wanted them to go. The day you moved in, she had this idea that there would be a grand meeting, and everyone would instantly love you. That didn't happen, thanks to Amanda. Amanda never went along with Mom's ideas. It was what kept them both balanced," Matt said.

"I feel like you don't understand what I'm trying to say. I don't think she was as unaware of her heart problem as we all think she was. I think she knew."

"Just—just stop, okay? I don't want to think about any of this. Just talk about that stupid girl of yours," Matt said.

"Caroline? Oh, she's nice enough."

"Isn't she the coach's daughter?"

"Yeah—" Viktor continued to speak, but I couldn't hear.

The coach's daughter.

Viktor, you sneaky fuck.

Coach Sullivan, the name from Viktor's email. Caroline Sullivan. I was just too stupid to put it together.

He wasn't necessarily interested in her, but rather, he knew that she could get him to his goals.

What a sick game he played.

"I can't fucking believe it," I muttered.

"I didn't even know that there was another girl in the picture. You okay?" Arti asked.

"I'm fine, but this—" I stammered for a moment, "—this is a new low for Viktor."

"I see where he's coming from if I'm grasping the full picture. She can get him where you want him to be: drafted into the NHL," Arti said.

"But that's just fucked up," Blaine said.

I nodded. "I agree. I don't know what kind of bullshit's going on behind the scenes, but... Jesus, I understand that love means something different to everyone, but I just—"

There were certain things I was willing to do that Viktor wasn't, like pushing back when someone pushed me. But I just never realized that the opposite was true. Viktor was willing to pull someone closer to accomplish his goals when I could never.

Maybe it was because Arti did it to him. Maybe it was because I couldn't be what he wanted. Maybe it was something else. But no matter what, I had to figure out what exactly was going on.

"I don't know much about this girl, except for the minor detail that she pisses you the fuck off, so I'm gonna say he's in it for the short-term benefits. Who am I to judge, though?" Blaine said.

"Well, thanks for the input, Judge Judy. But I'm also interested in what they were talking about before, with the whole 'Amanda fucks everything up' thing," I said.

"I'll go figure that out for you." Blaine stood up and kissed the top of my head. "I can get them to talk."

"What makes you think that you of all people can get the info we want?" Arti asked.

"Because they don't trust you at all, and it involves Amanda, so they won't tell her, so I'm clearly our best option," Blaine said.

"Solid logic. Just go," I said.

Blaine opened the door, careful not to hit Arti in the face with it.

How sweet of him.

I listened to his footsteps as he walked down the stairs.

"Three bros, chilling in a hallway, five feet apart 'cause Matt's kinda gay," Blaine sang.

"What do you want?" Matt asked.

"My guy, I just want to get away from the two psychos that we all put up with," Blaine said.

"Is this his attempt to gain their trust? Throwing us under the bus? Douchebag," Arti said.

"Well, my guy," Matt repeated back in a mocking tone, "you would not believe this shit. Look at this."

"Oh my god, his stupid strategy worked," Arti mumbled.

"Wow, nice to see Matt thinks so highly of us," I said.

Arti nodded, then we went back to listening.

Blaine must have been reading something, because he spoke much slower than he usually did. "For Amanda and Viktor's big day. Oh my god, was she referring to their wedding?"

"Yep," Matt said.

Blaine laughed. "My feelings are so hurt right now."

"Then why are you laughing?" Viktor asked.

"Wow, you're dumb," Blaine said. "Well, my guys, thank you for this lovely chat. I'm going back to my favorite psychos now."

"Godspeed, my guy," Matt replied.

Blaine walked back up the stairs and opened the door, once again, careful not to hit Arti.

"You realize what that means, right?" Matt asked Viktor.

"Hm?" Viktor asked.

"Those fuckers were listening to our entire conversation. They sent Blaine down to figure out what was going on."

Viktor sighed. "As long as Amanda doesn't know about the whole Caroline thing, I don't care what she knows."

"They're probably still listening, you know that, right?"

Viktor said some Swedish word. I figured it was along the lines of "shit" or "fuck."

I stood up, then waved my hand to Blaine and Arti to follow me back to my bed.

"A photo album for your wedding to Viktor made by your mother. What a lovely, thoughtful gift," Blaine said.

"Don't take it personally. She was crazy, and you know it," I said.

"So I'm sure you've put two and two together here. Viktor thinks that your mother knew she was gonna die or something, since, with all of her free time, she managed to put that thing together," Blaine said.

I nodded. "And Matt's not buying it."

"Are you?" Arti asked.

"In all honesty, as dumb as Viktor is, I think he might be right," I said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was a very busy chapter, especially with Blaine's pivotal Barbie scooter story. I'm hoping to get everything sorted out soon enough.

Amanda thinks Viktor may be onto something with her mother, but he's heading down the wrong path with Caroline. Were Amanda's assumptions about Viktor and Caroline correct?