The Exchange

Chapter 25

High school hockey was upon us, and on the morning announcements, they reminded us to support the Madison High team during their first game of the season later that week.

Of course, I was going to go with Arti and Blaine whether they liked it or not. Arti never really cared for sports, but she was going to watch my masterful work with Viktor, and she was going to like it. Blaine, on the other hand, enjoyed talking through entire games while half-paying attention to what was happening.

After psychology, Blaine and I headed to lunch, and we sat down with Arti and Eleanor like always.

"Hey fuckers," Arti said as I set my lunch on the table.

"You guys wanna go watch the hockey game on Wednesday? And that's not a question. You're going with me," I replied.

"Why? I think you're the only one who actually cares, and anyway, I'm hanging out with Eleanor that day," Arti said.

"Blaine cares."

Arti turned to him. "Do you? Are you really gonna let her talk for you?"

"You talk for Eleanor all the time," I said.

Blaine crossed his arms. "Would you two shut up for more than three seconds? It's clearly important to Amanda for some reason, so it's important to me."

I smiled. That was the correct answer. "Thank you."

"Look, I won't even be mad if you just want to be by yourselves this time. You have my blessing," Arti said.

"I thought you didn't want us to leave you out of anything," Blaine said.

"I said you have my blessing. When's the last time I lied to you?"

I could count about a billion times that she lied, and I really wanted her to see all the work I put in, but maybe it wasn't necessarily a bad thing if it was just Blaine and me. When it was forced upon us, the situation sucked, but the experience was kind of wild.

Besides, Blaine was entertaining and appreciative. Hopefully, he'd understand that I put a lot of work into turning Viktor back into a functional hockey player without actually knowing that information.

Later that day, I sat down in my regular seat in calculus, and a few minutes later, Viktor took the seat to my right.

"Hey Candy Cane," he said. It didn't seem like a greeting, but rather like he had something on his mind.

"What's up?" I said.

"Your lunch table seemed pretty lit today."

"Oh my god, who taught you the word lit?" I asked, laughing at him just a little.

"Blaine did. I'm really picking up on all the slang you guys use." He smiled.

"I'm impressed, but it sounds so weird when you say it."

"Why is that?"

I shrugged. "I don't really know. It just makes me laugh."

He laughed. "Maybe it's my accent. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if I could sit with you and your friends during lunch again."

I tilted my head slightly. "Sure, but is there any particular reason?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I just like you better than a lot of the hockey guys that I sit with."

"Are they that bad?"

He held up his hands. "No, no. They're not bad at all. I like them a lot, but sometimes, I just need to get away from hockey. That's all they ever talk about, but you guys talk about other things."