Sealed with a Wish Read Free Page A

jeans-covered legs, I almost expected some kind of lingering puke-residue.
    “What on God’s green earth is your ring doing on your neck like that?” Mom said.
    “Oh, right. My ring.” I shrugged. “So what?” Hidden under the dark material of my shirt, it just looked like a little bump on my chest.
    “’So what?’” Mom repeated, her voice louder.
    A second later, Dad appeared behind her, his eyelids clamped shut. “Everybody decent?”
    “Yes!” Mom and I said together, our voices so tense that Dad jumped. When he saw Mom’s harried face, he sighed. There was only one thing that could upset my normally calm mother so quickly. “Layla,” he said, “how many times have we talked about this?”
    “I was just--”
    “You cannot afford to be careless with your ring,” Mom said. “What if someone got curious and asked to see it? What if they wanted to borrow it for a minute? Or what if they just grabbed it off your neck? They’d have it in their hands, Layla, and then--”
    “I know what would happen then!” I burst out, unable to keep my voice from spiking up.
    “If you know what’s going to happen, then why would you wear your ring around your neck like that?” said Mom.
    I sighed. I had a perfectly good reason--just not one I wanted to share with my parents. Something told me that admitting the truth would only get me grounded.
    “Honey, we know you like to have your ring close to you,” said Dad, “but you can’t wear it against your skin that way. It’s not safe.”
    “Oh! Oh, yeah, right. My skin.” That made a lot more sense than mumbling some excuse about an art class gone wrong. I shook my head and added, “I was going to tie it into my pocket before I went to the game. I’m not that forgetful, you know.”
    “Really?” Dad said. “You looked pretty surprised when we reminded you.”
    “Oh my gawd. Why do you guys always have to treat my like an idiot? I know, okay?” Never mind that I kind of had forgotten about it. It’s not like I wouldn’t have remembered it eventually, and who says that someone would have noticed my ring, anyway?
    Dad put his arm around Mom, who looked ready to explode--or to pull me out of school and make me study from home, which they had wanted to do for years.
    Mom let out a heavy breath. “Just tie it into your pocket, Layla, all right?”
    As I heard the fatigue in her voice, my stomach flip-flopped with guilt. “Fine,” I mumbled. “Whatever.”
    “You’re on thin ice, kid,” Dad said. “You’re lucky you’re still going to that soccer game tonight.”
    “I can’t just ditch Natalie and Raj,” I protested, but stopped when Dad’s expression turned steely again.
    “Thin ice,” he repeated.
    I sighed again. “Well, I’m going to be late. I’m meeting them at the game and we still have to set up.”
    My parents left, shutting the door with a soft click. We’re not a door-slamming kind of family, which was why fighting with Mom and Dad always left me feeling tired, instead of mad. I sat on my bed, not getting up until long after the sounds of my parents’ footsteps had faded away.
    #
    By the time I got to the soccer game, Natalie and Rajesh had already set up our charity booth for the Heifer Project. A few dozen cow-shaped sugar cookies were arranged on the table, marching in straight lines like sprinkle-covered soldiers.
    I carried a plastic bag filled with my share of cookies, baked and decorated last night.
    As I set it down, Rajesh wondered, “Are those supposed to be squid or something? I--Oof!” He rubbed his side, where Natalie had elbowed him.
    I shrugged. “Something went wrong with the dough. Or the oven. Or something.”
    Rajesh took one of my malformed creations, giving it an experimental sniff. He and Natalie exchanged looks of concern.
    “We’ve got so many cookies already,” Nat said, her voice as chipper as ever. “Maybe we can use these as back-up.”
    “Yeah. For when we sell out,” said Raj.
    I glanced at