Page 34 of Hilarina and the Ogre

And the thing was, Hilary was angry too, and annoyed that Trenton was already in so much trouble he couldn’t add to the pile a little more himself. It hurt to be shut out. And he knew a good part of it was his own fault. He hated to prod and was frightened about crossing lines even though Trenton had never punished him for it. Something like a birthday was easy enough information to obtain even for a weenie like him, but he hadn’t asked.

By the time Trenton came back in, the boy’s ears, nose, and cheeks were all red with cold. When Annette saw that, her scowl came right back. “And where is your hat? I didn’t buy it so you could just leave it somewhere.”

Trenton hugged her, one of those big and tight hugs only he could manage.

She wasn’t much mollified. “I know you’re still planning that GED dropping-out shit.”

He said nothing, just hugged her. After a moment, she set down the spatula and hugged him back.

Albert, king of the grill, was in a fantastic mood. “I told you we’d get one more out of ol’ Betsy before the end of the season.”

If there was an end of the season, they were long past it, but Hilary let his father have it. He could only fight one battle at a time, and he was still nervous about Trenton. The boy was being very quiet. It was only after the cake was finished and a slice as big as his head was cut for him that Trenton finally spoke. “I can’t—”

“It’s your birthday,” Annette said, still severe, or at least trying to be. “You can’t diet on your birthday.”

That slid into place something that should have been obvious the entire time. “You’re on a diet?”

But of course, he was. Two meals a day and no snacking, only ever drinking water and tea, avoiding all sugar like the plague, and eating too many green things. It was either a diet or a religious devotion to asceticism.

Trenton wavered as he picked up the fork, his eyes on the cake. Hilary had thought him just one of those people who didn’t like dessert. There were aliens like that, mouths freakishly devoid of a sweet tooth. But Trenton wasn’t one of them. And then Hilary really was angry. More than he was about Trenton hiding the birthday thing.

He pushed at the back of the boy’s head. “You’re not fat, asshole.”

Trenton peeled his eyes from the cake. “I have a BMI of twenty-seven. Of course I am.”

Hilary didn’t know what the number meant. He’d never looked up his own. But the way Trenton said it made it clear he thought it was bad.

“You’re a brown belt in Aikido. You do ballet. You can run across the parking lot in half the time I can. You’re fit. You don’t need to starve yourself.”

“I’m not—”

“Are you doing it for me?”

Guilt sparked, even as Trenton denied it. “No.”

“You are. You eat so little. There’s no way you can eat this little and be healthy. I’m surprised you aren’t hibernating.”

Trenton didn’t want to be talking about it. He’d always seemed immune to humiliation, but the boy was feeling it now, the embarrassment making his ears red again. “I have plenty of fat stores. It won’t kill me to miss a couple of meals.”

“It’ll kill me.” And Hilary didn’t care if that was dramatic. He was his mother’s son. He shoved away his own plate. “From now on, I’m only going to eat as much as you do.”

It wasn’t a threat Trenton expected. “You can’t. You’re still growing.”

“So are you.”

“My growth spurt hit at twelve. I’m not—"

“And your brain?” He’d read somewhere that the cortex wasn’t fully developed until the late twenties. It was why teenagers did so much stupid shit. “You going to sacrifice that too? Then you really will become an idiot.”

Tears sparked in Trenton’s eyes. Not enough to fall, just enough to glisten there under the light, frustration burning into his humiliation. “I was fatter before. I don’t want to be like that again.”

Hilary grabbed the boy’s hands and realized he was kneeling in front of him. “Then we’ll eat your healthy shit. Your whole grains and the legumes and whatever else you want, but we’ll have three meals, and you’ll eat until you’re full. Say you will.”

Trenton wouldn’t look at him, staring into his lap like he found the weave of his pants fascinating. Hilary put a hand under the boy’s chin and lifted it. “If you gain weight on a healthy diet, then you gain weight. Maybe that’s just the way your body wants to be. I like your size and how safe it makes me feel. Do you hate that?”

Trenton’s mouth was a thin line, pressing his lips together as if he meant to mash them into one. “I don’t hate it.”

Hilary kissed Trenton’s hand, then the side of his face, the relief of it very different from the usual kind. He would fight for this boy. Even a coward like him could fight. He reached for the cake and cut out a smaller piece, though still of a decent size, and sat down in Trenton’s lap. He put a bite into his own mouth and held out the next one. “We’ll share it.”