I nod, grinning. “Yup.”

“Whoa.” He says again.

“So who’s my soul mate?” He asks.

Leo, Ruby, and I share a look. Ruby nods. “You and Ruby.” I say.

“Me and Ruby?” He asks, grinning. I nod. Liam opens his mouth as if to say something but no sounds come out.

“Is this a bad thing?” Ruby challenges.

Liam shakes his head so hard I think he’ll give himself whiplash. “No, this is an amazing thing, this is fantastic!” He says, cupping Ruby’s face in his hands and kissing her.

“Sorry, it’s just I really like you and I’ve been worried you didn’t feel the same way. Wait, do you feel the same way?” Liam asks.

“Of course I do, stupid.” Ruby laughs, mostly at Liams’ reaction, but I can tell she’s a mixture of relieved and elated.

“Police!” Someone shouts.

“It was only a matter of time.” I sigh.

We all scramble up and into the throng of pushing people. I know some people brought alcohol to the party but Liam, Ruby, Leo, and I have had none. Still, that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t get in trouble.

Ruby and Liam duck quickly into Liam’s car, which he and Leo had driven here, and Leo and I are left to walk. We’d hitch a ride with Liam and Ruby but then we’d be more likely to be pulled over, a car full of teenagers after a party’s been busted is suspicious, a car with two teenagers isn’t. Word about it got around high school pretty fast and ever since people have been careful about fleeing parties, even if you do nothing wrong you can still get in trouble, I guess that’s just the twisted system.

Leo and I start walking down the well lit sidewalk. The buildings are still bright, despite the hour, and cars still line the road. People say Manhattan never sleeps but neither does California.

A strong breeze sweeps over, carrying the scent of the sea, not to far from where we walk. Leo grins and grabs my arm, spinning me around like we’re dancing. We don’t actually stop walking in the middle of the crowded sidewalk but we spin a few times as we walk down.

And then it’s like everything I ever knew has been proven, undeniably wrong. Leo will never like me. Wrong. I’ll never be happy with the strings. Wrong. I’ll love Leo hopelessly. Wrong. I’ll always be safe. Wrong. Leo will always be safe. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Because then there’s the sharp screech of tires. There are screams so loud they could kill you with only the fear they carry. And then there is black. Pure, suffocating, deadly, blackness. And just before I loose consciousness I hear the wail of sirens.