2026 AMC 8 Problem 17

Four students are seated in a row. They chat with the people sitting next to them, then rearrange themselves so that they are no longer seated next to any of the same people. How many rearrangements are possible?

\textbf{(A)} 2 \qquad \textbf{(B)} 4 \qquad \textbf{(C)} 9 \qquad \textbf{(D)} 12 \qquad \textbf{(E)} 24

Full credit goes to MAA for authoring these problems. These problems were taken on the AOPS website.