Chapter 2

My parents were forty minutes late to our high school graduation.

Mom texted that Lily had changed her mind about the shoes she wanted to wear with her gown. Dad told me to save seats for everyone and make sure Lily got the aisle because she hated having her view blocked.

By the time they arrived, I had already crossed the stage to receive the Biology Achievement Medal.

I stood near the auditorium doors while Ethan straightened Lily's tassel and Ryan crouched to wipe dust from her shoes. Dad took picture after picture, and Mom kept telling Lily to lift her chin and turn toward the light.

No one noticed the silver-and-blue medal hanging around my neck.

The photographer asked if we wanted a family portrait. Mom had just agreed when Lily looped her arm through mine and smiled at him. "Can you take one of Nora first? She hates being in pictures. Don't let her hide in the back again."

She pushed me in front of the backdrop, but before I had both feet in place, her phone rang.

Lily glanced at the screen and covered her mouth. "Oh my God. I got into BU's freshman ambassador team!"

My parents rushed to hug her. The photographer swung his camera around and captured the whole perfect moment.

I ended up with one solo picture. My eyes were half closed, and Ethan was visible at the edge of the frame holding Lily's garment bag.

On the drive home, Dad seemed to remember something. "Nora, I heard them call your name. Did you win something too?"

Before I could answer, Lily turned around from the passenger seat. "Dad, don't make everything about grades and awards. Nora might think we're comparing us. People don't need trophies to have value."

The car went quiet for a second.

Mom smiled at her. "You always know how to protect other people's feelings."

Dad never asked why I had been onstage.

I took off the medal and tucked it into the inner pocket of my canvas bag. Lily hadn't actually said that I hadn't won anything. She had simply offered everyone a kind-sounding reason to assume I hadn't.

She had always been good at that.

On our tenth birthday, I had barely unwrapped Grandma's telescope when Lily burst into tears over a nightmare. On our sixteenth, my cake had just reached the table when she announced that she had landed the lead in the school musical. She ended up blowing out my candles.

Lily never grabbed the spotlight.

She simply happened to need it most whenever it was supposed to be mine.

The morning after graduation, I went back to work at the independent bookstore downtown. For four years, I had deposited my weekend wages, science competition prizes, and birthday checks into a youth savings account at Beacon Credit Union.

Mom had cosigned when I opened it at fourteen. I could have removed her when I turned eighteen, but it had never occurred to me that my own mother might take my money.

During my break, I checked the balance.

Six thousand four hundred twenty-five dollars.

It was the last piece I needed to get to Edinburgh.

My passport, visa, and housing application were finished. Even without full funding, my savings and existing grants could carry me through the first year.

I closed the banking app and opened my email. My status with the Caledonia Global Scholars Program still read: Finalist.

Ryan had helped me edit the application essay. He knew why I needed to leave, and he knew what that savings account meant to me.

But when he came over that night carrying two milkshakes, he remembered that Lily wanted oat milk, two pumps of caramel, and no whipped cream.

The drink he handed me was covered in crushed pecans.