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“Someone's gotta clean up this car tire,” Cam said as we drove down the dark streets of Los Angeles. “It's all covered in vomit.”

Harper scoffed. “It was
Anjolie's
fault; let
her
clean it up,” was her response to Cam's comment. She was sitting directly behind me at the window, sucking on a lollipop.

Cam groaned with annoyance. “Of
course
it was her fault. She's always messing up stuff.” He looked back at Aspen. “How about
you
clean it up.
You
got her drunk.”

Aspen, who had Anjolie lying on his lap, cuddled up to his chest like a small child, rolled his eyes. “She's a lightweight, Sloane. Cut her some slack.” He was combing a hand through her locks, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Whatever dude,” was Cam's dismissive response.

We drove some more in silence, the rap music providing a steady backdrop for our pensive thoughts.

It was only when Anjolie said, “Life sucks,” did everyone snap out of their thoughts.

Aspen smiled widely at her. “
'Ello, govna
!” he greeted through grinning teeth.

Anjolie looked up at him and, noticing her intertwined position with him, shoved him forcefully away and slid into the middle seat, all in one second. She scratched at her head and frowned, staring at the floor and saying nothing else.

Harper caught my eye in the rearview mirror and rolled her eyes, making a “kill me now” expression. I hid my laughter. She then glanced at Anjolie. “Now why does life suck, Anjolie?” she asked calmly, as if she were addressing an old war veteran.

Anjolie just shook her head and shrugged. “It doesn't even matter,” she said, her words still incredibly slurred. She was still drunk. Of course.

And when she started to cry, no one was surprised.

“I'm in love with Cameron and he has a stupid girlfriend,” she cried, burying her face in her hands. We all watched as she sobbed, offering no consolation whatsoever. We all knew this was coming; it was only a matter of time.

“I
knew
it, you little freak,” I said harshly, unable to contain my anger. I was right all this time. She was trying to get with Cameron all along and Cameron didn't even see that. “I
knew
you were lying.” My eyes burned into her bowed head.

Anjolie sniffled a little, looking up and glaring at me. “I was
not
trying to ‘get at' Cameron,” she said, air-quoting with an eye-roll. “He was just there, okay! I didn't know I'd fall in love with him!” Her eyes were burning with anger as she slurred her words.

“Oh, whatever, Anjolie,” I said, rolling my own eyes. “I knew you had the hots for him since Day One!” I glared at her as well. “HE'S
MY
BOYFRIEND, ANJOLIE!” I yelled, pointing to my chest. “But you just had to go off and steal him away.” I stared forward and crossed my arms, huffing as I glared out the windshield.

Aspen chuckled a little. “Whoa, whoa, wait up, chick,” he said, leaning forward and placing a hand on the shoulder of Cam's seat. “That other guy's your boyfriend, yet you're kissing all up on
this
guy?” he asked, pointing a finger at the back of Cam's head. “That's kinda messed up, Sweet Cheeks.”

“They share the same body so they're practically the same person,” Harper offered, sucking on her lollipop. “Kissing him is like kissing the other guy.”

Cam

Kissing him is like kissing the other guy
.

Harper's words would
not
escape my mind. It was as if my brain had recorded it and pressed repeat over and over again. As I drove them all to my house, I couldn't get over the true meaning of those words.

Olive and Cameron were a couple. Boyfriend and girlfriend. And I was coming in between that. What was I doing?

“Oh, excuse me, Cam,” Aspen said, jumping out of my car. “But when were you going to tell us that you were the King of L.A.? Or is it the founder of television? Or maybe, just maybe, you are the true president of the United States. I think that's it.”

“What are you talking about, Aspen?” I asked flatly, not wanting to engage in conversation with a drunken douche bag.

Aspen just gaped up at my house, rubbing his eyes exaggeratingly. “Your house is bigger than the whole country of Hawaii!”

“
State
,” Harper corrected, helping Olive carry Anjolie out of the car. “Hawaii is a state. You're such a dummy when you're drunk, brother.” She rolled her huge eyes and grabbed Anjolie's legs.

“Whatever,” Aspen said, running up to my front door. Without waiting for me to unlock the door, he picked the lock and barreled inside. I reminded myself to beat the crap out of him
again
for doing that.

The rest of us piled inside and then upstairs to my room. Dad and Mila were due back any time tonight so I didn't want to have to explain why they were here.

After marveling at my room and everything inside of it, Harper and Aspen decided to make their leave. “We have to pay a hundred a night at our hotel. Might as well use it to our advantage,” Harper said, swiping dirt off of her bright blue, extremely-high heels.

“You live in a hotel? What about your parents?” Olive asked Harper.

Harper stared outside at the moon. “My parents are busy tangoing with God right now,” she said.

Mine and Olive's eyes shot open in shock. “They're dead?” I asked.

“When you're a Gray Eyes, you don't have that great of a life expectancy,” Harper said with a frown. “You should know that Cam. Everywhere we turn, someone is gonna wanna kill us. It's inevitable.”

I nodded, knowing exactly what they meant. Gray Eyes weren't lucky enough to live past thirty-five, let alone have a family. With every illegal thing we did, we always had a target on us, we were always hunted. That's how Anjolie's parents died, how almost every other Gray Eyes had died. Aspen and Harper's parents dying shouldn't have been news to me. But it was for Olive.

“I'm so sorry!” she cried, standing up and wrapping her arms around Harper's pale, white shoulders. “So, so sorry.”

Harper smiled and hugged back. “That's okay! Asp and I have been on our own forever. We're used to it.” She pulled away and squeezed Olive's shoulders. “Let's hang out more, okay?”

Olive nodded and swapped numbers with Harper. I looked to where Aspen was and rolled my eyes, seeing him busy playing with Anjolie's locks. Anjolie just sat lazily on my bed with a doughy look in her gray eyes.

“Aspen! Let's go,” Harper called, swinging her leg outside my window and climbing out. Aspen nodded drunkenly and flung himself out the window after his sister. Olive and I laughed when we heard a loud thump and a drunken howl of pain from down below.

“He's okay!” we heard Harper call.

Olive laughed again and then shut the window. When she finished, she walked over to me and sat down on the couch spot next to mine. Her fingers immediately intertwined with mine.

“Did you have a nice night?” I asked her, kissing her on her soft cheek.

Olive nodded, kissing me on my cheek. “I had a great dance. I honestly think I'm ready to compete on those dance shows now.”

“Not quite,” I laughed, pulling her closer to me.

“But you could teach me, couldn't you?” Olive asked, tracing her fingers slowly in my hair. She had no idea how great that felt.

I nodded, staring down into her big brown eyes, seeing the little flecks of gold and green splashed around the pool of brown. I even saw some red sprinkled in there. Just staring into her eyes, I felt as if I could see into her soul and read everything there was to know about her. I felt as if I knew her, really
knew
her and that feeling made my heart hurt.

But I would never tell her any of that because that would be weird.

“How cute,” Anjolie spoke up suddenly, startling the two of us from our trance. “I wonder how Cameron would feel about this.”

Olive and I stared at Anjolie for a long second, wondering what she could possibly mean from her words. Was she trying to scare us or something?

Anjolie yawned heavily. “He would just love to see that his own girlfriend was messing around with another guy.” She stretched her arms over her head and stretched out on my bed. “Cameron's a good guy — a great guy, actually. And this is what he gets? I mean, he gets good grades, he volunteers at shelters — he plays music for his church for crying out loud! And now, his best friend who just so happens to be his girlfriend is being unfaithful. Why are you doing this, Olive?”

Olive kept staring at Anjolie for a long time before finally opening her mouth. “Anjolie, why are
you
doing this? What have I ever done to you?” The tone in Olive's voice actually surprised me. It sounded so sad and deflated, I didn't even recognize it.

“What has
Cameron
ever done to you? Why does he deserve this?” Anjolie retaliated.

“You're right. Cameron is a great guy. But you're asking me these questions as if I'm doing something wrong. Clearly, I'm not. Why do you think that?”

“Because you're spending your precious time with this scum everyone calls ‘Cam'!” Anjolie screamed.

Olive jumped back a fraction of an inch, startled with Anjolie's anger. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Anjolie was already sitting up, drawing something in the air.

My heart stopped. If Anjolie was doing what I thought she was doing, then clearly she had to be out of her mind. Without thinking, I grabbed Olive and placed her completely behind me, shielding her from Anjolie.

When Anjolie finished drawing her bow and arrow, she held it up and pointed it directly at us. “I demand you to stop seeing Cam or I
will
kill you. I am
not
kidding!” she screeched at the top of her lungs. She propped herself up onto her knees.

“Anjolie… You're drunk… Cut it out,” I said slowly, stepping up from the couch and taking cautionary steps towards her. “Put your arrow down.”

“Stop screwing up Cameron's life, Cam!” Anjolie roared. She pointed the arrow at me. “Ever since Olive spotted you that day, you've just made living life miserable. This is all your fault, you know!”

“I know that!” I cried, holding my hands up. “I know that. Just… just put the arrow down. Please.” Never in a million years did I think I'd have to talk a gunman out of shooting me, let alone having Anjolie be that gunman. The only thought going on in my mind was how to get that arrow out of her hands.

Anjolie continued shaking her head, glaring at me. “Cameron didn't ask for this life. All he wants is to be a normal guy. He wants normal friends, a normal family, and a normal girlfriend. But you just keep ruining that!” She looked me up and down slowly, disgust clouding over her gray eyes. “You trash his home
every day
. You mess with his own father! You steal his car and his friends! And now you've taken the only thing that makes him smile — his girlfriend.”

“That's not true!” Olive called out from the couch. I quickly turned to her, silencing her shrill words.

I looked back at Anjolie. “You're right,” I said, allowing her words to sink in. “I
am
ruining his life.” A sudden feeling of depression fell over me, surprising my stoic expressions. “If it weren't for me, Cameron could see nighttime. He wouldn't have to compromise living life and spending time with his friends for me.” Then I glanced at Olive, who was staring at Anjolie with a glare so fierce, it could kill a small animal. “He wouldn't have to worry about me and his girlfriend spending time together.”

I took another step towards her. “I
am
ruining his life. I treat my dad —
his
dad — like crap. I constantly run out the tank in my —
his
— car. And all his clothes and belongings are screwed up every morning. It's all my fault. I shouldn't even be here. I don't belong in his body, his life.”

“But Cam, that's
not true
!” Olive cried out again.

I took another step towards Anjolie. “It
is
true. I shouldn't be here. And… and I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry.” I stared hard at Anjolie. “But I can't do anything about it. No one can. I
promise
you, Anj — I would do
whatever it takes
to give Cameron the life he never had. But I can't.”

Anjolie just stared at me, the arms holding the arrow drooping slightly.

“And you shouldn't punish us for it,” I continued. “It's a realization I'll always have to live with and you killing me or Olive would just make it worse. You said so yourself; Cameron doesn't deserve this. If you kill me, you'll kill him. If you kill Olive, you'll
still
kill him — inside. If you really love him, would you seriously hurt him?”

Anjolie was quick to answer. “I would
never
hurt him,” she said firmly.

“Then put the arrow down,” I said, placing my hand on the top of the contraption. “Put it down, and we'll forget any of this ever happened.”

Anjolie finally looked down, dropping her arms, the arrow pointed downward. Before she dropped it, she pointed it one more time at Olive. “She's going to tell him all of this, isn't she?” she asked, fear in her voice.

Olive stood up and walked over to us. “Although I am dying to tell him how big of a freak you are when you're drunk,” she pulled the bow and arrow away from Anjolie, “I promise you that I won't do anything like that.”

Anjolie nodded and plopped back down onto the bed. We all stood there silently, recovering from the intense situation we were just in. It was Anjolie who broke the silence. “You could make this all better if you stopped seeing Olive, Cam,” she said quietly.

I sighed heavily, turning my gaze on Olive. Anjolie was right; I could end all of this by doing my own thing.

Not seeing Olive again would feel as though I were drowning. Air was just a little distance away, but not being able to reach the surface — not being able to reach Olive — would be way too painful.

I sighed again. “I can't, Anjolie. I just can't.”

Olive looked up at me and smiled.