"Happy birthday, Kelcie!" Jacklyn cried. "You're eighteen!"

It was a scorching hot day in August, and my birthday. Everyone was there for me, and Johnny, who still wasn't my boyfriend, was nowhere near me as he stared off into space, probably thinking about how ugly I looked in my yellow sundress. He looked at Lucy and then looked away, which probably signaled that he was thinking about how gorgeous she looked in her new violet colored dress. Lucy could make anything work.

"Thanks guys," I gushed. "Now I just have to make it through college."

"Eww, I'm scared!" Becky squealed. She hid behind Sodapop and he put his arm around her.

"Beck," he comforted, "consider this an adventure. You've always been smarter than me, now you can be even smarter."

It was so cute it was disgusting. Lucy walked over to Dally and he kissed her. They were talking and no one could understand them. Then Ponyboy motioned over to Jacklyn and he stared stroking her hair, telling her that she'd be fine, too. That's right, the day we graduated, Jacklyn started dating Ponyboy. Everyone had a boyfriend but me, and now everyone had forgotten about how it was my birthday.

Johnny walked over to me, and I completely panicked. He had never confronted me before. In the past, I had done all the confronting! What was I supposed to do now?

"Happy birthday," he muttered, actually looking me in the eye. I never noticed how dark his eyes were until he looked at me the way he did.

"Thanks, Johnny," I whispered. Looking at him, I realized that I should just give up. He'd never just walk up to me and kiss me. Until he did.

Johnny kissed me on my right cheek and I think I almost fainted. Just when I thought I'd give up on my fantasies, it came true. Now if only he'd move a little to the left so he could kiss my lips.

"Wow," I said, still whispering, "What was that for?"

"Because I like you," Johnny confessed. "You know, people have been trying to tell me that we could never be because we're so different. But I know that we can make it work."

"Yes," I agreed, "we can."

Then it happened. He kissed me on the lips. Johnny Cade, the guy I had been in love with almost secretly for years was kissing me. And I was kissing him back.

"You look beautiful in that dress, Kelcie," he said.

"Thanks."

We walked inside to my room, and even though he had been in there before, it was so much different now. He continued to kiss me, and it felt like more than just lips pressing against each other. There was so much passion there, and I didn't know if even Lucy and Dally felt that when they kissed.

Before I knew it, he was lifting my dress off of me. I heard it land on the ground, and then I got really nervous. I was in my room in my nylons, kissing Johnny. My parents weren't home, and the only person who would get mad would be Darry, but he didn't care anymore because I was eighteen now. Oh gosh. This was actually happening.

BAM! We flopped down on a mattress and this felt so awkward and so right. For a few minutes, I thought I was dreaming and would wake up complaining, but then I realized it was real. Johnny kept kissing me and it was more than just kissing now. Then I thought that none of this would be fine. What would happen because of it? He tried to take my mind off of that by getting closer to me.

This took forever, but when we finally agreed to stop, I realized that it had only been twenty minutes.

"Should we go back outside?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, but we have to make it look like nothing happened," I told him.

We dressed ourselves again, and it took another twenty minutes to get my hair right. Johnny had gone outside again, but I knew he wasn't going to tell anyone about what just happened.

The girls were sitting at the cake table, talking and then they stopped when they saw me.

"Hey Kelcie," Jacklyn greeted me. "It's been what, an hour since you were last out here?"

"Forty minutes," I corrected. "We need to have a girl talk. Now."

Becky looked at Lucy and they looked at each other. They nodded and followed me into my room. How could they know already?

I led them in and shut the door behind me. "Do you guys know why Johnny and I went away and no one knew where we were?" I asked.

"Well, I mean," Lucy began, "I kind of had a feeling after a while. We did see him kiss you, after all."

"And you figured it would just build from there?" I yelled. "Did you honestly think I was going to do that with him?"

"Yeah."

I looked down at the floor and murmured, "You were right." She was right, as always. Oh well, at least I won with this. There was no way that had happened to Lucy and Dally before it happened to me.

"Wait a minute," Jacklyn realized. The poor thing was sitting on the bed too. "Are you saying that you and Johnny? - Oh jeez, I'm sitting on the bed!"

"Shut up, Jacklyn!" I commanded. "You're going to have to get over that fear soon enough. You'll be eighteen in November, so what makes you think Ponyboy isn't going to want to himself?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Right. So, am I the first girl this happened to out of the four of us? Jacklyn's seventeen, so that's illegal, Becky and Soda said they'd wait, and that just doesn't seem like you, Lucy."

The three of them all traded glances and then looked back at me. Oh shit, I came in second again!

"Beck, did you break the promise?" I asked hopefully. If she had, it would have been better than following after Lucy again.

"Nope," she replied. That meant it had to be Lucy.

"You and Dally?" I screamed. "You're serious about that? When?"

"The night of our graduation," Lucy answered. "That's when I told him we could. It had been planned since the day after he became my boyfriend, Kelcie, so please don't be mad at me. But it was pretty amazing. Don't tell anyone, but it was a first for both of us."

A first for both of them? Dally had a handful of girlfriends before Lucy and it was a first for both of them. I didn't believe it.

"So, you're saying that even though Dally's had other girlfriends, he never slept with them?" I asked, still shocked.

"That's right," Lucy confirmed. "He said he was telling the truth, and I believe it. Kelcie, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it."

I hadn't even thought of that. Jacklyn and Becky knew, and they had kept it a secret from me. What would I have done?

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"Don't kill her," Becky sneered. "She was only trying to save you from yourself. Last time something big and romantic happened to Lucy, you almost killed her and Dally. It was for your own good, Kelcie."

"I wanted to tell you," Lucy explained, "but Becky just wouldn't let me. Don't hurt her, either."

"Girls, I'm not violent!" I cried. "But I do want to be trusted around here!"

No words from any of them. They were probably thinking about how much of a bitch I was, as usual.

"Let's go back outside," Jacklyn whispered. "I think we could all use it."

We did, and Johnny walked up to me the instant he saw me. He was probably going to say that he wished it had never happened and he wished Lucy wasn't with Dally so he could get with her.

"Does this mean you're my girl?" he asked.

I was shocked. "Yes!" I squeaked.

He took my hand and we walked over to the other Greasers.

"Guess what?" I asked them.

"What?" Ponyboy asked.

"Johnny and I are together!" I shouted.

Applause, just the way I wanted it. Johnny gave me a small hug, and I gave him one back. Things were going to get better, even if Two-Bit was going to harass me because he was still in love with me.