The Exchange

Chapter 1

As I pulled a long brown hair out of the cookie dough I was making, I checked over my shoulder to see if anyone saw me fish out my lost strand. No one else was in the kitchen. Crisis averted.

If the triplets would have caught me doing something so unsanitary, they probably would have killed me. But while I typically made my cookies for them, I was making this batch at the ungodly hour of six in the morning for the Swedish foreign exchange student moving in, who also happened to be my older brother's best friend. Matt and Viktor met at a hockey camp in Minneapolis, and after maintaining their friendship almost nine years with Skype and texting, my mother got the brilliant idea of having him live with us. Because five kids just weren't enough.

Of course, Dad just went along with it. He always supported Mom's crazy ideas.

"Amanda, are the cookies in the oven yet?" Mom asked me from the living room. Although there were several walls separating us, I could envision her kneeling on the couch, watching over the back of it for Dad's car. He and Matt were waiting at the airport for Viktor's arrival, and they certainly wouldn't be back for at least another hour, but a long wait never deterred my mother.

"Not yet. Just give me five minutes." I scooped the dough onto the cookie sheet, but it felt stickier than usual. I ignored it and kept scooping. Mom would get upset otherwise, and I was not going to be the one to bring her down from her state of excitement.

"Hi, Matt! What's up?" Natalie, the oldest of the seven-year-old triplets, said loudly as she walked down the stairs with two other pairs of feet following.

"Go back to bed. He's not here," I said, turning to see the triplets FaceTiming our brother on my phone. "Hey! Give that to me!"

"We're still waiting on Viktor. He said his flight got delayed for a little bit, but he's probably flying by now. What are you guys doing?" I heard Matt ask as Natalie lead the triplets just out of my reach, so I couldn't take my phone back, but close enough that I could hear their conversation with our brother.

"Well, we're waiting for you guys. I think Amanda's making cookies," Leah, the youngest triplet, replied. Melissa, the middle one, almost never spoke on the phone.

"It's my turn to talk on the phone, not yours!" Natalie cried, pushing Leah away from the screen. Leah let out a huff, then glared at Natalie.

"Hey, stop it. Why don't you ask Amanda what kind of cookies she's making?" Matt suggested.

I didn't wait for them to ask before responding, "Snickerdoodles."

I looked at the phone, and Matt nodded. "Sounds great."

"So are you excited? About Viktor?" Leah asked, taking another shot at camera time. Natalie shoved her away again, so Leah pushed her back.

"Careful with my phone," I warned them.

"I can't wait for you guys to meet him. He's the only person who's stuck with me over the years. He's pretty nice and friendly, maybe a little too much if you ask me," Matt replied to the triplets.

I bit down on the inside of my cheek and took in a breath. My phone would definitely end up broken, but how long would it take? I mentally bet twenty minutes.

Melissa sat down right beside me at the kitchen table in the seat meant for Viktor. Since Mom got it from the dining room, its elegant design was different from the regular chairs. I hated the way it stood out.

"How can you be too friendly and nice?" Natalie asked with a giggle.

Matt laughed too. "Oh, for Viktor, it's easy. He almost got himself beat up at hockey camp for it."