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one side of my cheek; Sophie’s eyes on the other. “Of course I do. I mean…”
    “Then why do you look as if I’ve just asked you to donate an organ?” Sophie asked.
    “She’s not…,” Dad started.
    “Can you let her answer a question for herself?” Sophie turned on him, eyes flashing. “Just once?”
    “Sophie.” Mom wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Let’s go for a walk around the block. Cool down a little.”
    “I don’t need to cool down,” Sophie retorted. “And I don’t need to go for a walk. What I need…” She paused, turning back to look at me. “What I need is for Julia to answer me. Herself.”
    “I’ll come,” I said, flicking my eyes at her quickly, wanting to get this over with. “Okay? I will. Sometime.”
    Sophie inhaled deeply and then took another sip of water. The heavy clink of silver against Mom’s good china echoed throughout the room. Dad chewed violently, the sides of his jaw flexing in and out, while Mom ate in small rabbit bites. I speared a wilted piece of lettuce and snuck a look at Sophie, who was busy twirling another forkful of pasta. “I hate you,” I thought to myself. “You ruin everything.”
    Suddenly Sophie set her fork down on the side of her plate. “You know what? This is going to be my last visit to Silver Springs.”
    “Sophie.” Dad’s voice had assumed the exhausted-impatient tone reserved strictly for her. “Please. Don’t start.”
    Sophie held up her hands, palms out, as if surrendering. “I am not starting anything. On the contrary, Dad, I guess I’m ending something.”
    “What?” Dad’s lips had begun to twitch. “What are you ending?”
    “This.” Sophie encompassed the table, the living room, the entire house with a swoop of her wide-open arms. “All of this. It’s a lie. And you know it’s a lie. Until you tell her the truth about what really happened in Milford all those years ago…”
    Three hours. It had only taken her three hours to bring up Milford. If there was one thing I could say about my big sister, it was this: she did not disappoint. Not when it came to Milford.
    “Sophie, come on!” I said. “I already know what happened—”
    Sophie cut me off with a stab of her index finger. Her eyes were still boring down on Mom and Dad. “And I’m talking about the stuff she doesn’t know about…”
    “Can you stop?” Mom begged. “Please, Sophie. You’re ruining Julia’s whole celebration.”
    Sophie stared at Mom. “When are you going to stop living on another planet?” She shifted her eyes toward Dad. “And you…what alternate universe have you settled down in? When are the two of you going to stop pretending like everything is so perfect in this family, and start…”
    “God Almighty!” Dad cut Sophie off, throwing his napkin on top of his plate. “I cannot believe you’re seriously thinking of getting into all of this right now.”
    “Yes,” Mom said. “Please stop it. You really are being selfish.”
    Sophie looked down at the word “selfish.” She began to work her lower lip with her teeth.
    Dad’s teeth were clenched. “You want to talk about Milford, we’ll talk about it. But there is no need to do it right now. Right now, we are celebrating Julia’s graduation and…”
    Zoe’s signature three-beep alert came blaring from the street. I stood up hurriedly, gratefully, and pushed back my chair. “That’s my ride. I have to go.”
    I practically ran for the door, taking my first real breath as I pushed it open.
    “Ten o’clock, Julia!” Dad’s voice followed me. “No later than ten!”
    The door slammed behind me, loud as a gunshot.

chapter
    7
    I had already decided, while running out of the house, that if Milo was not in the car, I wouldn’t go with Zoe to the party. I just didn’t have it in me tonight. But there he was in the passenger side, one elbow resting on the window. Just like always.
    “Hey, guys!” I tried to sound excited as I got in the backseat, as if I had