July 20, 1968

Ponyboy POV

Jennifer sighed as we trekked across town to the bakery to pick up a bag of rolls. We could kind of see it but the heat warped everything.

"I don't want to do this any more than you do." I sighed. "It's too hot to be out like this." I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked over at my brother's girlfriend.

"You got that right. I still don't see why we couldn't just go to the grocery store down the block from my place." We finally reached the bakery and Jennifer pulled out a couple bills to pay for two dozen rolls.

As we walked back, I could only wish for an ice cold bottle of Pepsi. Jennifer pushed some hair out of her face. I have never seen her that red, not even when she managed to run into Darry's parked truck in front of the whole gang. And how can she not be sweating?

"Just one more block and we're home." She said tiredly. She had slowed down considerably since when we first left the house, and I began wondering if she had heat stroke. As we approached the porch, she dropped to the ground, out cold. I knew it was a bad idea to be out in this weather. I ran through the front door.

"Jennifer fainted!" Angelina, Sodapop, and Darry ran outside and Johnny gave me a tall glass of ice water. I quickly gulped the whole thing down, feeling a lot better. A few minutes later Angelina and Sodapop slowly walked back into the house, helping Jennifer in too. Johnny took one look at Jennifer and made another glass of ice water. Angelina laid her down and propped her legs on the couch.

"Some way to spend a birthday, right Ponyboy?" She laughed weakly. I nodded my head. Angelina left the room and returned with a cool cloth to sponge Jennifer's face and a thermometer.

"You guys could have taken the truck. It's far too hot to be walking." Darry said as he put the rolls in a basket. I nodded my head once again and went in the fridge to get a bottle of Pepsi.

"I wouldn't be drinking that quite yet. The caffeine will make you dehydrated." Angelina said as she fanned Jennifer's face. I turned to the sink and got another glass of water. I looked over at my brother, who was holding Jennifer's hand and watching as Angelina took care of her. She sighed relieved as she took the thermometer out of Jennifer's mouth again. "Her temperature has gone down. Can you get another wet rag Sodapop?" He got up but went to our bedroom first. When he came back he set a card in Jennifer's hand.

"Surprise." He whispered, putting a rag behind Jennifer's head. Jennifer opened the card, and smiled at what was written inside it.

"Happy birthday!" Rachel called as she, Emma, and Two-Bit walked into the house. Angelina walked up to me with the thermometer and put it in my mouth. She began feeling my face and I swatted at her hands.

"Stop touching me." I mumbled.

"Hey, suck it up. We want to make sure you aren't going to die." Darry said, handing me a wet rag. I rolled my eyes and put the wet rag on the back of my neck.

"I think you're just dehydrated. You don't have a high temperature or anything." Angelina deducted. I nodded my head and sat on the floor of the living room by Rachel.

"What happened?" She removed the rag from my neck and looked over at where Jennifer was lying on the couch.

"Jennifer and I had to walk across town and we think she got heat stroke." Rachel nodded and handed me a wrapped box.

"It's small but I think you will like it." She explained simply. I opened the box and found a new watch and some candy. I immediately put on the watch and admired it.

"Thank you Rachel." I pecked her on the cheek.

"Happy birthday." She murmured in my ear as I wrapped my arm around her.

"Let's play truth or dare." Two-Bit said as Steve and Dally walked in.

"Sounds good to me." Rachel said.

"I'll do it if Jennifer's up for it." Sodapop said. Jennifer simply nodded, and we took that as our green light that she was on board.

"Ponyboy, truth or dare?" Two-Bit asked.

"Truth." I said, trying to keep it safe.

"What was the last thing you lied about?"

"I failed my last exam this year."

"What?!" I shrank back as Darry stood up. Sodapop grabbed Darry's arm and looked up at him. "It's fine. You'll do better next time." He said, sitting back down.

"Darry, truth or dare?" I said, looking at my oldest brother.

"Dare."

"Run around the neighborhood and scream 'I'm Superman!'" Everyone in the room began laughing and we followed Darry outside to make sure he actually did his dare.

"All right. Angelina, truth or dare." He asked, his face turning less red from the heat.

"I suppose I could do a dare." She said slowly.

"Make out with Johnny!" Two-Bit said before Darry could decide what to dare Angelina to do.

"No!" She yelled, getting up to leave. Johnny grabbed her hand and gently pulled her back down.

"Two-Bit go sit in the corner." Emma reprimanded. Two-Bit hung his head, but followed his girlfriend's command.

"Go to the fridge and get out the cake." Darry said. Angelina smiled and went to our kitchen and set a cake on the coffee table.

"Two-Bit, truth or dare."

"Truth, I ain't got nothing to hide."

"What the heck were you thinking?"

"He wasn't." Emma said quickly.

"Actually, I was thinking about... Um... I'd better not talk about that right now." Angelina gasped, her face reddening, and Emma hit Two-Bit on the upside of his head.

"You go back in your corner." Emma said.

"Can you at least pass the cake?" He whined.

"Not yet." She said pulling out a box of candles. Emma arranged the candles around the border of the cake and Darry passed a lighter. She lit the candles and everyone sang happy birthday quite obnoxiously, but they were having fun. Jennifer and I both blew out the candles and Angelina started serving. Two-Bit was allowed away from his corner to eat the cake with us. I sat down next to Rachel and handed her a slice of cake.

"So what happened to you?" Emma asked Jennifer as she took a bite of her cake.

"She fainted." Angelina said drinking some water.

"How?"

"Heat stroke." Darry explained.

"Well that was-" Emma was interrupted when Two-Bit shoved her plate of cake on her face, "smart." She wiped the cake off her face and turned to Two-Bit. We all sat in dead silence, waiting for what Emma might do. "You know, that was really good cake. You should try it." She gripped Two-Bit's head and pressed it down into his cake. He lifted up his head and pushed his hair back, the frosting sticking it all together. He picked up a fistful of cake and tried to fling it at Emma, but she dodged it and it smacked Dally.

"What the hell?!" He yelled, the cake sliding off his chest and onto the floor.

"Hey Ponyboy?"

"What?" Rachel smashed her piece of cake onto my face and laughed.

"Dally! What the?" Johnny yelled somewhere. I tried to wipe the cake off my eyes and saw Johnny trying to get some spattered frosting off of his jaw from the piece of cake now on his shoulder. I looked down at my hands, and smeared some of the cake on my girlfriend's face. I then took a handful of cake from the table and chucked at Sodapop.

"Guys what are you doing!" Angelina called as my piece hit Sodapop on his Adams Apple. She opened her mouth to speak but a piece of cake landed right on her cheek. "Johnny? Really?"

"SODA!" Jennifer screeched and we all froze. I looked over and her entire face was a mix of pink, blue, green, and white frosting. She spit out some of the frosting from her mouth and gingerly took her glasses off. She glared at Sodapop who attempted to wipe some of the frosting off her face but was suppressing a laugh.

"She's alive." Steve said mimicking Dr. Frankenstein. Sodapop's bad aim meant he only got cake on the outside of his stomach rather that inside. I looked over at Angelina as she peeled the cake off her face. She held it in her hand then looked over at Darry, who managed to stay clean. Everyone gasped as she slapped the cake onto his mouth. When she removed her hand Darry stood like a statue. He breathed heavy and walked into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Darry." Angelina started as she followed him, looking slightly panicked.

"It's ok." Darry responded out of sight from everyone. After a moment I leaned over and saw him walk out of the room, carrying a chocolate cake. Angelina stumbled out the kitchen, her face brown. I realized Darry's hand was covered in frosting and there was an indent in the cake.

"Oh it's on." She said, using one hand against the wall to balance herself.

"Food fight!" Jennifer yelled, getting up off the couch.

Everything turned to shit. There was chocolate and vanilla cake flying everywhere. Angelina and Johnny had hid themselves behind the couch and were flinging bits of cake at everyone in the room. Two-Bit and Emma had their hands locked, trying to force the other into Darry's giant cake. Steve came between them and stuffed a piece into each of their faces. I started using the candy from Rachel's gift as little bullets. Dally sprinted behind Jennifer, trying to hit Darry with a huge slice of chocolate cake. In the commotion, he pushed her onto the coffee table and she got frosting all down the front of her body and face.

"Seriously?" She used both hands to wipe frosting off her face. She looked over at me and grinned mischievously. "Ponyboy, I think you need a hug." She came over to me and wrapped her arms around me. I slipped out of her grip and fell backwards. I stayed on the ground and closed my eyes.

"Ponyboy!" Sodapop yelled. I opened my eyes and saw my brother standing above me. He looked terrified and I realized the room was dead silent. "Are you okay?" He reached down and wiped some icing off my forehead.

"I'm fine." I laughed, taking my brother's hand and getting up.

"Good. I thought you fainted." I looked around as everyone recovered from the food fight. Dally's once blond hair was now dyed a menagerie of colors from the frosting. Jennifer, Emma, and their boyfriends were covered head to toe in cake. Angelina and Johnny managed not to have too much cake on them. Everyone else was caked to varying degrees, but we all looked ridiculous.

Two-Bit licked his upper lip. "This cake is pretty good. Why did you waste it?"

"You started it goofball. Remember?" Emma said, punching her boyfriend in the arm.

"How the hell did I get cake in my ear?" Steve said, rubbing the mentioned body part.

"Here's a better question. How are we going to clean this up?" Darry sighed.

"Well, first, maybe we should clean ourselves up? And then we can all pitch in to clean the room." Angelina suggested. We all nodded and followed her instructions. Soda, Darry, and I lent everyone some of our clean clothes on the condition that they were returned to us the next day. After everyone took a quick shower and changed, we all got to work on cleaning. It was amazing some of the places that cake ended up. Darry had to get a ladder to clean some from off the ceiling.

"So, did you two have a good birthday?" Rachel asked. I looked over at Jennifer, who was in the kitchen scrubbing the wall.

"Yes. It was loads of fun." I said.

"I second that." Jennifer added.

"We need to do this again!" Two-Bit exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh and roll their eyes.