A/N: Thanks for all your reviews, guys :) I'd like to address the whole "Why-did-you-make-Collins-so-stupid" issue that has come up a few times in reviews. Don't worry, I'm not pinpointing anyone at all, I'm just addressing it to you reviewers as a whole. I honestly didn't think of it as stupid. When I was their age, I was very naive and on the borderline of innocence/ignorance and reality...if you know what I mean. That's the state-of-mind I was putting the character of Tom in at that particular moment. Hope that clears things up for you guys.This chapter's kinda short; I have a lot of things going on...sorry!

MARK'S POV:

Mark slowly opened his eyes, only to close them again due to the bright sunlight streaming through his bedroom window. Today marked quite a special day. March 1st.

He was officially eleven years old.

"Marky! Sweetie!"

Oh, no. Mom. Mark opened his eyes once again and saw a blurry figure hovering over him. Mark fumbled for his glasses on his beside table and put them on. His mother's happy face slowly came into view. "Happy Birthday, Mark! Oh, it seems like just yesterday I was cradling you in my arms when you were just a little baby! Now look at you! You're eleven!"

Mrs. Cohen's voice squeaked at the word 'eleven' and made Mark flinch.

"Thanks, Mom," he muttered, sluggishly getting out of bed to get changed for school.

ROGER'S POV:

"Okay, here's the plan," Tom leaned in and whispered to his friends. Roger, munching on a granola bar because he hadn't had any breakfast, leaned in as well. Everyone was going to surprise Mark on his birthday.

"...We're gonna pretend we forgot that it's his birthday. Even you, Maureen," Tom continued, glancing over at Maureen, who was jumping up and down excitedly.

Roger personally couldn't wait to see the stupid, confused look on Mark's face when they pretended not to know about his birthday. He told his friends just that.

"Well, Rog, you're the only one who makes stupid, confused faces, so I think it's the other way around," Mimi joked.

Roger rolled his eyes. "I do not make stupid faces."

"What's 45 times 52?" Angel asked. Roger stood there with his hands in his pockets, with—yup, you guessed it—a stupid, confused look on his face.

Joanne shook her head. "I think we proved our point, Roger. If I had a mirror, I could show you that stupid look on your face!"

"SHUT UP!"

Tom cried, "Guys, focus. Does everybody have their gifts for Mark?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, then, we're all set. We just have to wait for him to show up."

And sure, enough, Mark came trudging into the schoolyard, yawning loudly and lifting up his glasses to rub his eyes.

Perfect, Roger thought, The dude's out-of-it already and we haven't even said anything to him yet! This is gonna be awesome!

JOANNE'S POV:

Mark was walking towards them and Joanne had to stifle a laugh. This should be quite interesting.

"Hey, guys," Mark said, smiling. Everyone muttered various "Hi"s and "What's up?"s in reply.

After a long moment of silence, Mark said, "Guess what today is?"

Maureen shrugged. "It's March 1st. So?" Joanne had to stifle another laugh. Maureen was a great actress when it came to things like this.

Mark blinked. "...You guys don't know?"

"Are we supposed to?" asked Angel. He cocked his head to the side in a state of mock-confusion. Nice one, Angie, Joanne thought.

"Nevermind," Mark said sadly, walking over to the fifth grade line as the school bell rang.

Mimi let out a little squeal. "Oh my God, that's pathetic. Poor Marky..."

MARK'S POV:

It was lunchtime, and none of Mark's friends had even mentioned his birthday. His name was even on the "Birthday Board" in the classroom. Mark was feeling slightly rejected and decided that he'd go sit with April or Benny at lunch instead of his usual corner at his friends' table.

But before he could make his move, Maureen tugged on his arm and brought him back over to their table. Mark noticed that they all were carrying plastic bags with their lunches. He found this quite peculiar. He supposed it was another thing they'd forgotten to tell him besides the words "Happy Birthday".

"Where the heck were you going?" asked Tom, "Tell me you weren't gonna sit with the Anti-social April or Bragger Benny!" 'Bragger Benny' was the nickname they used to refer to Benny. Mark usually found it amusing, but now, he didn't really want to talk to anybody. He just shrugged in reply to Tom's question.

Roger turned towards Mark, eating a chocolate chip cookie. "Dude, why are you so, like, quiet today? I mean, you're always quiet, but now you're reallyyyyy quiet."

"Thanks for that analysis, Roger," Tom muttered, rolling his eyes.

Angel blinked. "What's an analysis?"

"Nevermind, Angel."

Then the entire group burst into meaningless chatter, and Mark sat and watched, picking at his food and little piece of birthday cake his mother had packed him. He never usually liked to feel sorry for himself, but in this case, when his best friends had forgotten about his very own birthday...it just made him downright depressed.

"Hey, Mark," Mimi said, tapping him on the arm. Mark turned to face his so-called friend solemnly. Her eyes were bright with excitement, as usual.

At least somebody's happy... Mark thought bitterly.

"Do you like comic books?" she asked. Mark blinked. Everyone knew he liked comic books. He read them in all the spare time he could get.

"Yeah, duh," he muttered.

"Oh, good, 'cause that's the gift I got you. A comic book."

Mark looked up from his food. "..Huh?"

Mimi giggled. "You're starting to sound like Roger."

"HEY!" Roger shouted from the far end of the table. Mark was still confused. Gift? When had gifts been mentioned?

"Happy Birthday, Marky!" Angel shouted, clapping his hands excitedly. Mark blinked. What was going on?

"Dude, we so tricked you!" Roger exclaimed, "Did you actually believe that none of us would remember that you're turnin' eleven today?"

"Yeah, Angel marks all our birthdays on his calendar; it would be impossible for him to forget," Joanne remarked.

Tom handed him his plastic bag. "Don't worry, the gifts are wrapped. We ain't that lazy. We had to hide 'em, and Roger came up with the idea of hiding them in plastic bags...kind of a stupid idea, huh?"

Mark's eyes widened behind his thick glasses. "Guys...you really didn't have to..."

"Oh, please, Marky. You were so depressed; you know you wanted gifts from us!"

They all burst into a round of "Happy Birthday" and clapped their hands. Mark listened and smiled so much that he thought his face would fall off. Of course, Roger was singing off-key, but that didn't matter.

"Thanks so much, everyone...this is awesome..." Mark said, staring at all his gifts in awe. He didn't know why he even thought of doubting his friends. He knew he could always count on them.