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His eyes widen like maybe he finally gets what I’m trying to say, and he looks down at the ring—it’s a thin silver band, with a small circle where normally a diamond would be, made up of red and white rings, surrounding a blue inner circle and a white star at its center.
“A shield,” he says.
“When I was little, Mom used to put my headphones on me so I wouldn’t hear her and Dad fighting in the other room.” I bring my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around myself. “I used to pretend they were magical—had powers—like the Infinity Gauntlet, Green Lantern’s power ring, the Crimson Gem, Captain America’s shield…” I take a breath. “I pretended the headphones made me invisible.”
Jeremy peeks up at me through his hair.
“It made me feel better.” I shrug again, and say, “Maybe when you feel scared, or like—like people are staring and stuff—you can wear that ring, and it’ll keep people from getting through to you. Keep you safe. It’ll do whatever you want it to do.”
He holds it up, squinting, then slips it on his finger. It’s way too big. Even for me. It’s definitely for grown-ups.
But he doesn’t seem to care. He squeezes his fingers together to make a fist so it doesn’t slide off, and his whole face lights up, brighter than I think I’ve ever seen it. Suddenly I don’t feel so lame or nervous or weird anymore.
“Thank you,” he says, grinning the biggest grin I’ve ever seen him wear.
I grin back. “So you like it?”
He nods really fast, his cheeks turning pink.
He ducks his head, blond hair falling over his eyes. I’m glad he’s growing it out again, now that he’s homeschooled. I know he likes it like this. When it was short, he was always brushing his hands over his head, like he’d wanted to bring it over his eyes, but couldn’t because it wasn’t long enough.
Turning toward the TV, I say, “Wanna?—”
There’s a knock, and we both whirl around to find his Mom standing in the threshold with a glass of water.
“They’re about to open presents,” she says, and I nod, pushing myself up. I go to grab the plates, but she says, “Don’t worry about that. I’ll get them.” She then extends the glass to Jeremy, as well as her other hand. Inside it is a small white pill.
His anxiety medicine.
In the corner of my eye, Jeremy stands up. He quickly stuffs the hand with the ring in his pocket, before removing it and taking the pill and water from his mom. The ring is no longer on his finger.
“I’ll come up later and we can watch it?” I say. I’m staying the night tonight. Izzy will probably wanna try out the new sheet music she got, and as much as I want to learn new songs, I really wanna watch the movie more.
Jeremy flashes me a small smile and nods.
Mrs. Montgomery ruffles my hair as I pass her.
In the hallway, I hear her ask quietly, “Did you have a good birthday?”
“Yeah,” I hear JJ say, “it was the best.”
I’m grinning all the way back to the garage.
When Izzy spots me, she lights up and races over, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to where all her presents sit on the table, waiting to be opened.
“I wanna open yours first,” she tells me, her cheeks turning pink, just like her brother’s did. Must be another twin thing.
Nodding, I find the pink and black wrapping paper Mom had used to wrap my gift to Izzy.
The music is still playing—Kasey and her friend Jamie are now singing to some Britney Spears song. Will and Waylon are making their way over here. TJ and Shane are too.
“Maybe open it later,” I say quietly, though I’m not sure why. She’ll love it; Mom promised me she would. But I just feel weird suddenly.
Izzy frowns. “What? Why?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know, never mind.” My face feels hot, not unlike how it did upstairs in Jeremy’s room. Except this time, it’s ’cause there’s all these people watching.
My pulse beats fast and loud in my ears, and I wring my hands together.
