Chapter 1 1
“SURPRISE!”

Olivia ducked into the house and out of the way just in time to avoid handfuls of colorful confetti to the face. Malcolm, her brother and the guest of honor, wasn’t as lucky. He laughed, spitting out a flurry of tiny paper bits as he stepped farther inside.

Their living room was one big rainbow. Rainbow streamers trailed down the banister of the stairs, rainbow-shaped balloons bobbed against the ceiling, and the dining room table, moved front and center just for this, was covered with rainbow foods. Colorfully dyed Rice Krispie treats, a rainbow fruit tray, and more all crowded around the star of the show: a multi-tiered, sprinkle-covered vanilla cake whose layers were all shades of the rainbow when you cut into it. At least, Olivia hoped that was how it would turn out. She’d only helped her mom bake the orange and green layers, and she’d been shooed away before she got a look at the final product.

“Congratulations, baby!” Malcolm and Olivia’s mom swooped in, pulling her older child into a hug. She was rainbow themed too, wearing the most colorful jumpsuit Olivia had ever seen. It actually hurt a little to stare at her for too long.

“Um, thanks?” Tall enough that he could hug their mom and see over her shoulder without a problem, Malcolm was still looking around with wide eyes. “What’s all this for?”

“Coming out, of course.” Their dad stepped forward to get a hug of his own. His outfit was less colorful than their mom’s, but that wasn’t saying much. His button-up shirt was just slightly faded in comparison, pastel to their mom’s neon.

“We wanted to celebrate you and how proud we are, and your mom suggested a party, so…” He gestured around at the house. “Here we are.” He chuckled. “You know she loves to go overboard.”

Their mom nudged him. “Sean! Now, you know…”

Olivia slipped away from the tiny huddle of her family and over to the food table. She was starving. She’d spent all morning thinking up ways to keep her brother busy, and somehow none of them had involved food. Still, it had been easy enough to get Malcolm out of the house. There was a reason he was her favorite brother, and it wasn’t just because he was her only one.

Ever since he’d gotten his driver’s license last year, he’d offered to take her wherever she wanted to go. The library? No problem. The park? Why not. 7-Eleven? Of course! He’d been going there anyway. She did her best to remember that her brother was just nice and tried not to take advantage of that. Plus, it wasn’t like she wanted to go very many places. All her friends lived within biking distance, mostly, and there wasn’t exactly a whole lot to do in Juniper Grove to begin with.

So being tasked by her parents with keeping Malcolm busy was easy… until she’d run out of places to go and excuses to make. Which wasn’t her fault. She’d had an hour-long plan that included every store in Juniper Grove Plaza minus the grocery store. But every time they’d get ready to head back home, her mom would send her a just one more store! text and she’d have to come up with a reason why they needed to go right back inside the store they’d just thoroughly explored.

She’d just shoved a few (green) grapes and a (red) strawberry from the fruit tray into her mouth and nearly choked on all of them when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Happy to know you’ve learned how to keep a secret, Livvie,” Malcolm teased, reaching over her to snatch a piece of candy from the table.

She groaned around her mouthful of fruit. “That was one time!” she protested. “When I was, like, five!”

“Six,” he corrected, grinning.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She finished chewing before she spoke again. “So? You like it?”

They both looked around, but the rainbow explosion their house had become hadn’t changed. Neighbors and aunties and uncles chatted with each other or danced and even played some game that their mom had set up in the corner that had colorful dots on a mat and called for a lot of weird stretching to reach them.

Malcolm laughed, nodding. “I mean, it’s a lot. Gay or not, can’t say rainbows are my favorite thing all of a sudden, but…” He smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate it.” He pulled her into a hug with one arm and she wrapped both arms around him to squeeze him back. He’d gotten so tall over the past couple of summers that she barely came up to his chest, even with her own growth spurt. “Thanks,” he said.

“What for? It wasn’t my idea.”

“No, I know. Just for listening.”

He didn’t mean right now, she knew. He meant a few weeks ago, when he’d come home from band practice, sat on her bed to help her with her summer math homework for all of five minutes, and then told her, quietly but decisively, that he was gay. She hadn’t reacted like their mom had a week later, with a million kisses and hugs, or the way their dad did, with a nod and a handshake. She’d just said okay, and asked him if he was okay—he’d looked a little bit like he might puke—and then begged him to teach her how to find the surface area of a sphere.

He didn’t, of course. He had no clue. But he did help her google it and they figured it out together, at least enough to finish her homework.

“I like listening to you,” she said after a moment before wrinkling her nose. “Unless it’s about sports. Or band. Or—”

“Okay, okay!” Malcolm laughed. “I get it. Come to you with the important stuff and literally nothing else.”

He let go of her, only to lightly shove her shoulder. “Likewise, Livvie,” he said, even though she knew it wasn’t true. Once school started again next week he’d listen to her talk as much as she wanted to on the drive home, and he’d only roll his eyes a couple of times.

“Malcolm!” Uncle Jay, one of their big, bearded uncles, called his name as he barreled over, slapping her brother on the back with a huge hand before he began steering him back into the middle of the party. “Proud of you, man.”

Olivia waved goodbye to Malcolm and he shot her a helpless look over his shoulder as she tossed another grape into her mouth.

Like every party her parents threw, this one went on way too long. A million hours and two and a half slices of cake later, Olivia’s mom found her in her room with her headphones on, watching a show on her tablet while she sketched in her notebook. She couldn’t get the eyes right on the character she was trying to draw, and her eraser was almost a nub at this point.

“Knock, knock,” Mom said, coming in and settling onto her bed. Olivia scooted over automatically, pulling her headphones down around her neck. “All partied out, huh?”

“There’s no one my age here.”

Besides a few baby cousins, the party was all adults. They’d been the ones hitting candy out of the rainbow piñata set up in the dining room and leaving the wrappers all over the place.

Her mom hummed in agreement. “You’re right. You’re at a weird age.” At Olivia’s frown, she laughed. “Sorry, not weird. Just… in-between. Most of our friends’ kids are little or Malcolm’s age.”

“None of the ones Malcolm’s age are here either.”

Mom took a sip of her drink, one of the few non-rainbow-colored foods or drinks in the house, as she nodded. “Well… I guess they don’t think it’s as important as we do. Or maybe they were busy.” She shrugged. “Teens,” she said, as if that explained everything.

Olivia sat up, pulling one leg to her chest. She fiddled with the pen still in her right hand, trying to get rid of the staticky feeling in her fingers. She didn’t think it was a big deal either. Even Malcolm didn’t seem as serious about it as most of the aunties and uncles had when they’d hugged him and told him how happy or proud they were. It confused her. Being gay was just part of who Malcolm was, how he was born. Sure, he’d only figured it out, or at least told the rest of them, now… but who cared? No one threw a party for someone being born with curly hair or blue eyes. She didn’t see how this was much different. Maybe because it was something he’d had to tell them and not something they could see for themselves?

“Why is it important?”

“Well, because—” her mom began, and paused. She took another sip of her drink before setting her cup on the ground and twisting around fully to look at her. “It’s important to show people that we love them.”

Olivia frowned. “But Malcolm already knew we loved him.”

“Sure, but he might’ve been worried we thought of him differently now or that we wouldn’t accept him, and—”

“But we do,” Olivia insisted. “How come we needed a party to tell him?” Her brother, she knew, didn’t even like parties that much.

Her mom’s smile softened. “It can be nice just to celebrate sometimes. To give people the reminder of how much they’re loved just in case it’s in doubt. Especially when they share an important part of who they are with you. Maybe…” She raised her eyebrows. “Maybe we’ll be throwing a party for you too someday, huh?”

“What, like if I’m gay too?”

She hadn’t thought about it much—or at all, really. Crushes were things her friends had, on each other and other people, but they had nothing to do with her.

“Sure. Or any other reason you might want to have a party, baby.” Her mom leaned forward to cup her face in both hands. “We just love you and your brother so much, we have to make sure you, and everyone else, know it. Okay?” She kissed her forehead. “Now, come say bye to everybody and help us clean up a little, please?” She stood up, smoothing down her rainbow jumpsuit as Olivia groaned. “Just a little, I promise! You can keep any leftover candy too. Deal?”

Her parents almost never let her have candy. That was worth sweeping up a bunch of confetti, at least. “Deal,” she agreed, hopping to her feet.

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