“I didn’t know it could land us here. I mean, jail.”

“Prison, Mom,” Isla says snottily, in a voice unlike her own. Like she’s borrowing a persona to get through this.

“Screw you,” my mother says, slamming the glass of water down on the table. This time she leaves the splashed droplets. “Screw all of you.”

My mother storms out of the room and slams a door behind her.

“Well, that went well,” Isla says, eerily calm. She remains dry eyed, while tears streak my face. I feel messy and unhinged. I’ve been so worried about my mom, I haven’t really considered what this all means for me, especially if she doesn’t take a plea. What if the US attorney isn’t bluffing and they’re serious about charging me too? “We should have Aunt Candy tell her that she’d plead guilty. That will get her on board.”

“You didn’t have to push so hard, Isl. She’s scared. She’ll come around,” my dad says. I can’t see if he’s wearing cuff links, because his sleeves are buried underneath his suit jacket. If he is, they’re likely diamond inflected. He’d never wear tiny handprints.

It’s weird to imagine him deciding to put on his suit upstairs knowing the only place he was headed was our dining room.

“She doesn’t have time to come around,” Mr. Spence says. “The longer she waits—” But he doesn’t get to finish his sentence because phones all around the table blink, buzz, and beep at the exact same. A New York Times alert: Silicon Valley mom Penelope Wallingham is first parent in the college admissions scandal to plead guilty.

“Time for a new plan,” Mr. Spence says, and throws up his hands. Apparently my mother’s phone is also signed up for news alerts, because not two seconds later, we hear the sound of something shattering upstairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Then

“Things are blowing up. Did you hear about that letter Mrs. Oh sent out to the parents of all seniors?” Shola asks. We’re in English 4, and we’ve broken into small groups to discuss whether we agree with literary scholars that the epilogue of Crime and Punishment, which neatly ties up the novel, cheapens the rest of the book. I still have not read it, though I did read the SparkNotes. The dude gets sent to prison in Siberia for murder and falls in love. I decide I’m a believer in tidy endings, of bad guys getting their due.

Epilogue for the win, I write in my notes.

“What letter?” I ask.