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anything to me.”
    “You look like you’ve been balling your eyes out for hours.” He slowly shakes his head, his expression just as fierce. “Don’t lie to me. Tell me what happened.”
    “Nothing happened, I swear.” I shake my head, scared and confused at his reaction. He thinks someone hurt me? “What do you care anyway?” I shrug out of his hold, baffled by how upset he seems. “Did you have a bad day or what?”
    “My sister comes in looking like she’s been through hell and back, you damn right I’m suddenly having a bad day. Tell me who did this to you.” He grabs me again, by both arms this time, giving me a little shake.
    “I met with Valerie and Vanessa after school, okay? No big deal, they forgave me for being a jerk, I got a little emotional and cried, end of story.” He releases me and I step away from him, tilting my chin up, trying my best to look dignified but knowing I’m totally failing. I swipe beneath my eyes as discreetly as I can, hoping to remove whatever lingering mascara remains. The tips of my fingers are black and I repress the sigh that wants to escape. I just really want this day to be over. “Can I go now? I want to take a shower.”
    “Rev.” Evan runs a hand through his hair then rests his hands on his hips, frustration radiating from him in palpable waves. “It’s…I heard from the lawyer today.”
    I frown. “What lawyer?”
    “Mom and Dad’s. Ours. The family’s. Whatever.” He waves a hand, looking irritated still. Whatever he’s about to say can’t be good. “He said that Mom and Dad are going to resign permanently from The Flock of the Lambs. It’s done. They’re done.”
    My jaw drops open but no words can form. It’s like my tongue is leaden, my throat clogged, my lungs full. I can only wheeze out a breath, I’m so overwhelmed at what he’s saying. What he’s not saying.
    “They’re going to try and settle as quietly as they can. They don’t want this to turn into a giant lawsuit but they have no control over that so we’ll see.” He clamps his mouth shut, his lips practically disappearing and I close my mouth, clear my throat. I’m already so ravaged by everything that’s happened today, from learning I’m doing so badly in my classes to my confrontation with my friends, and now this?
    I’m numb. I feel nothing. My reaction is…miniscule at best.
    “So they’re guilty.”
    Evan raises his brows. “You’re only just now concluding this?”
    “I…sure. I knew that it didn’t look good, but they’re not even going to fight the accusations. They’re just giving in. It’s like they’re admitting they’re guilty.”
    My brother says nothing. Just stares at me with this look on his face that says, well, duh.
    “They did it. They stole the money.” My heart breaks for the innocent people they took from, that we took from. I benefited from all of my parents’ wrongdoing and so did Evan, especially Evan.
    “Yeah. They did it.” He wipes at his mouth, as if he can get rid of the disgust he feels at saying those words. “I see what you’re going through and I get it. I feel like shit for what happened, Rev. I really do. The guilt is there and I know you’re feeling it too. But let me say this.”
    At his pause I ask, “Say what?”
    “We’re not responsible for what they did, especially you.” He points at me. “You’re just a kid.”
    “So are you,” I say softly. “This has been going on for years. We don’t even know when it started.”
    “Yeah well, I’m the one who went on a materialistic binge. I had to have everything.” So true. But when it all came up and we realized we were going to be left with nothing, he had to give up his fancy car since it was leased. Since then, he’s sold the Rolex watch our parents gave him for graduating high school and I sold some jewelry they gave me throughout the last few years, even the promise ring Dad gave me.
    That promise was broken the second I let Nick touch me. I forgot