“No. You don’t understand. This gas station, working-for-a-living job thing is bullshit. I hate it. I want to be spoiled again. Do you know how bad I smell after a four-hour shift? It’s disgusting. It’s like bathing in gasoline. It lingers on my clothes and in my hair. It’s not sexy. Plus, I live in a zoo. Why would anyone have six million children? Do you know how crazy it gets around here? I can’t hear myself think. Between work and trying to study with all the chaos going on around me, I’m gonna fail school. Speaking of which, I have to fix this whole debacle before next year’s payments are due, or they’re gonna kick me out of the program.”

“What are you talking about? Kick you out? Are you serious?”

“I wouldn’t joke about this. Have you not been paying attention? Disownment doesn’t come with an allowance, much to my disappointment. It comes with a hefty dose of humiliation, an awful part-time job that pays shit, and a basement apartment in the Von Trap house, which I share with spiders and mold. Dude, there is something growing in the corner. I’m not shitting you.” I peered toward the corner in question and shuddered at the strange, black, mossy-like stuff growing along a crack in the cement wall.

Asher grew quiet. I knew he was thinking through possible options, but there weren’t any. I was the brains of the two of us. He was the brawn. If I couldn’t come up with an answer, there was no way he would.

“Shut up, dickhead.”

“What?”

“I’m not a fucking idiot. Just let me think for five seconds.”

Oh, and we had that whole twin, voodoo, mind-reading thing in the bag.

Being an ass, I whistled the Jeopardy theme song.

“Atti, I’ve got nothing. I don’t know what to suggest.”

“Me neither, hence my need to rob a bank. It took us far too long to come full circle. So, are you in? We can do this. Bring ski-masks. I’ve broken down the mechanics. All I need to do is hack into their—”

“Stop. We’re not robbing a bank.”

“Aren’t you listening? I have one hundred and ten dollars and thirty-seven cents in my bank account. That’s it. I told the Santiagos I’d pay them rent every month. They only want two hundred and fifty bucks—which is a steal, according to Aaron, but that leaves me with barely enough money each month to feed myself, never mind pay for my last year of school. Asher, I’m going to have to drop out and work a minimum-wage job for the rest of my life while living off hot dogs, Kraft Dinner, and ramen noodles.”