The rest of February passed without much else. The five teens, who had been conscious at the dance plus Skipper, Kenny, and Rikki, never told anyone else what happened. Kenny informed Private that Mr. Campbell asked him after class if everything had gone well that night. Kenny said the dance was good, but he didn't really remember it that much.
Swim practice became one of Kowalski's top priorities. Practices were three times a week and they had to practice on their own time too.
Coach Merrick seemed to be regretting putting DeRege on the team. The sixteen year old boy never missed a chance to comment on how skinny Kowalski was and how that would make him too stupid to swim. His logic was…well, illogical. He also seemed to hold something against Rico. He was always talking the other teammates about how Kowalski was friends with Rico and that would have a dramatic effect on the team.
About half of the team ignored what came out of DeRege's mouth, but the other half was soaking in his words. There were ten people on the team and Coach Merrick needed whoever was a good enough swimmer to at least be in the lineup in case they needed to switch.
Kowalski was going to be saved for the spring final meet which was to be held about a week after school ended. So far, they had a couple of swim meets which they were able to win. DeRege claimed credit for everything which got him yelled at several times.
"Alright!" Coach Merrick said. "Get into pairs, it's time to do sit ups!"
"Hey, Waller, want to be partners?" DeRege asked. He winked at the girl. She raised an eyebrow and gave him an icy glare.
"No." She said firmly. "Taro, you're my partner."
"What?" Kowalski said absentmindedly. He heard his phone vibrate from his bag.
"Count my sit ups, please."
Kowalski snapped back to earth and nodded. He saw DeRege give him a dirty look, but ignored it when his partner snapped her fingers.
"Sorry." Kowalski said.
"You okay, Taro?" She asked as she got into position.
"Fine." Kowalski said. "DeRege is just…you know."
"Unfortunately, I do know." She scoffed.
…
After practice, DeRege caught Kowalski halfway out the door.
"Hey Taro, stay away from my girl!"
Kowalski blinked and turned to the other boy. "I wasn't aware that she was your girl."
"She will be so stay away if you know what's good for you." DeRege sneered.
"Does Harper know your first name? I feel we've had a similar conversation before."
DeRege turned pink. "I don't know who Harper is, but don't you DARE tell Waller!" He said loudly.
"He doesn't have to, I already know." The girl said, shaking her head. "And Harper is my first name, you idiot. We did introductions the first day."
"I hope my horrid first name doesn't take away from my appeal." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"It can't take away from what you don't have." Harper said. "My ride's here. See you later, Kowalski."
"See ya!" Kowalski said. He saw Rocky's car pull up. "Later, Giles."
DeRege turned dark red. "TARO!" He screamed.
Kowalski grinned to himself as he got into Rocky's car. "Thanks for picking me up." He said.
"If I see that again, you can ride for free any time." Rocky said, laughing as she saw the red faced boy storm off.
"I'll try again next time."
…
As they passed into March, Private began to inquire about his friends' birthdays. He knew Ramona had turned thirteen before he came, but he had no idea when the others would be thirteen. His birthday was in very early August before school started.
Skipper said that his birthday was highly classified, but Rocky told him it was November 10th, the day before Veteran's Day. Private didn't even know why he didn't ask earlier, Skipper said it was fine. Rico's birthday was October 31st and he felt that going to parties and getting candy for Halloween was the best present ever, so he wasn't overly concerned about making people aware of his birthday.
When asked, Allie said she forgot that he didn't know and told him it was the twenty-second of December. Her family always tried to give her a small celebration before Christmas, but she was fine the last two years just having a hang out day with her friends. She had spent her birthday this year with Ramona and Barry. She said it was fine that Kenny had forgotten to tell Private because she had forgotten as well.
Barry said that he had stopped liking his birthday since his dad died on that day. He promised that he would try to move forward and told his friends that they could go to a movie or something. While saying this, he almost forgot to say his birthday was going to be on the fifteenth of March.
Kenny had managed to avoid being asked up to now. Private knew some things were sensitive subjects, but he really wanted to know more about his friends. Also, he figured if he got to know a few facts, he could try to get Kenny to open up more.
Private decided to ask Kowalski first. Kowalski said his birthday was in March and Kenny was a week before. He didn't specify and Private thought it was best not to press the subject. Even when Skipper asked, Kowalski's answer was the same.
The rest of the team began to suspect that the brothers weren't even born in March. Skipper somehow convinced Roy to let them look at Kowalski and Kenny's files. The answer seemed to fit Kowalski's description. There was no date, but the month of March popped up. The years, however, were very odd. According to the years, Kowalski should be seventeen and Kenny should be ten. Roy said there was a mix up in the system and he hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet.
Oddly enough, those two were the only ones who had their files mixed up without good reason. Nat and Barry had somewhat mixed up files because Barry didn't actually know what year he'd been born in and no one knew Nat's actual birth date. She had appeared at the foster home when she was two, only being able to say her first name and how old she was. Since no one had any last name, they couldn't verify if she was the born in Wisconsin or if she'd come from out of state so the rest of her information was guessed. Barry's birth certificate had appeared much later, but the school had been busy with staffing issues and couldn't get to student records. By the time staffing settled down, they had neglected to fix the mistakes.
Roy made a few changes and said it would take a while to verify this information as it had to go to the school principal who was in charge of basically the whole school. He also reminded them not to ask him to go into the faculty files.
…
Barry's birthday party was originally a simple one; he just wanted to hang out with his friends. They went to Allie's house because she and her mother made a cake. Barry turned pink and mumbled that she didn't have to do that. Then PARK B headed over to the Central Park Zoo.
The zoo looked amazing. Kenny and Private's jaws dropped.
"You've never been here?" Allie asked.
"No, I've never been to a zoo before." Kenny said.
"I've been to a zoo once." Private said. "Again, Uncle Nigel was babysitting."
"I've been here before." Barry said.
"Me too." Ramona added. "It's fun to go to the zoo."
They looked around, taking in all the sights.
"Hey, that zookeeper looks familiar." Barry said, eyeing a lady who was talking with a kid.
"Yeah, doesn't she look like Alice?" Ramona asked. "Except for the brown hair and smile, she could be the grumpy redhead we all know and don't love."
Private and Allie laughed.
The zookeeper heard the laughter and approached the two of them.
"Hi, can I help you?" The Alice look-alike said.
"No, ma'am." Barry said. "But you look like someone we know. Does the name Alice ring any bells?"
"Yeah, she's my sister. I'm Celia." She showed them her name tag.
"Isn't that basically an anagram of Alice?" Allie asked.
"Is it? How funny!" She laughed. "If you know my sister, you must live in the Central High apartments, right?"
"Yeah." Ramona said. "But you seem much nicer than her. Why aren't you working there?"
"She applied there first and I would never try to steal something from my sister. I'm too nice to do that." Celia said.
The kids looked surprised.
"Oh, looks like I have to help someone else." She said. "Please enjoy your time here!"
"It's my birthday." Barry said.
Celia gasped and grinned widely. "Well happy birthday, young man!"
Barry smiled. "Thanks."
Celia waved and went to talk to an elderly couple.
"She is so not Alice." Kenny said.
"I wish we got Alice's sister." Private said.
"I heard that Alice had to bribe her nephew into liking her on Facebook." Ramona said. "I bet Celia's got everything Alice doesn't have."
"That is most likely true." Allie said.
"Hey guys, I think I'm going crazy." Barry said. He blinked rapidly.
"What happened?" Ramona asked.
The other four followed Barry's gaze to four penguins.
"I swear one of them just nodded to agree with you, Ramona." Barry said.
"Hey, that one winked at me!" Private said, pointing to the shortest one.
"I think we should find some shade." Allie said. "It's really sunny out."
"We're not hallucinating!" Barry protested.
"I don't see it either." Kenny said.
"Wait, did that penguin just salute?" Ramona asked.
"Oh no, not you too!" Allie groaned.
"Honestly, Allie, and those lemurs over there are dancing." Private said.
Kenny squinted at the lemurs. "Are you sure? I don't see it; they look like they're just jumping around to me."
"Maybe it's a mating ritual." Allie said.
"They're all male." Ramona said.
"Hey, I don't judge." Allie said. "But lemurs don't dance."
"But Julien does and Skipper calls him 'lemur for brains' all the time." Barry said.
"That literally means nothing." Allie said. "Julien is not a lemur."
"But what if our wishes came true in a parallel universe?" Ramona asked.
Allie and the boys gave her puzzled looks.
"Remember when we said which animals we wanted to be?"
Allie shook her head, but the boys nodded. Private explained to Allie the game that they had played.
"So, basically you think you're a duckling? Private's a penguin, and Barry's a frog?" Allie gave them skeptical looks.
"Poison dart frog." Barry corrected.
"Then why doesn't Kenny see them doing what you say they're doing? Why don't I?" Allie asked.
"You weren't there to tell us what you wanted to be, remember? You had a doctor's appointment and had to leave school early." Ramona said. "I don't know why Kenny doesn't see it either."
"I said I would probably be a penguin…but they just look ordinary." Kenny pouted.
"They are ordinary." Allie stated.
Her dad had been looking around to give the kids time to hang out without an adult hovering over them, but he saw his daughter looking stressed. He came over.
"Hey, what's going on?" Mr. Carson asked.
"Nothing." Barry said before anyone could answer. "We're all fine, right?"
"Yeah, the sun's just getting to us a little." Allie said.
"Well, why don't we head back? I suppose you want a snack and maybe some cake?"
"Yeah!" The boys shouted.
"Yes please." Ramona said, shooting the boys a glare.
Allie laughed.
…
They laughed and took pictures while they ate cake at Allie's house. At one point, Barry started playing with his fork and, no one knows the exact events, but a huge chunk of cake splattered all over Ramona.
They gasped and looked at her, waiting for her to start yelling.
She stood up calmly and walked over to Barry. He braced himself, expecting a smack or a complete shouting speech.
SPLAT!
Barry blinked, he hadn't expected that.
Ramona grinned, her hand full of frosting.
Barry ran a finger from his cheek to his lips and licked it. "Yummy." He said. "But, I must respond."
"Yes?"
SPLAT!
He got her in the nose with a huge blob of frosting.
And, of course, a cake war burst out. The other three joined, laughing and shouting.
Allie's grandmother seemed to be enjoying this as she watched them with a surprised look. Mrs. Carson was torn between busting out laughing and breaking up the cake war. Eventually, Mr. Carson told them to take it outside, which they did.
As they were out of ammo, they decided to fill up buckets with water balloons.
As soon as they were ready, the frenzy began.
SPLASH! Barry spluttered as he shook his wet hair out of his eyes.
"ALLIE!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!"
"MAKE ME!"
"KENNY, DODGE IT!"
Kenny ducked as Private's balloon soared over him. Ramona got the blast. Kenny was hit by a balloon from Allie two seconds later.
"RAMONA'S HIT!"
"GET BACK HERE!"
"NO!" Private ran from Ramona.
"HEY!" Barry was almost barreled over. In his distraction he was hit by both Ramona and Kenny. "Double attack, no fair!"
"PRIVATE, WATCH OUT!" Allie yelled.
Private blinked, his brain received the warning too late. He slipped on a piece of wet balloon.
CRASH!
He felt a split second of pain before blacking out.
A/N: Private: What's with you and the cliffhangers?
Skipper: I don't think anyone understands what goes on in TK's mind. Oh, TK wanted us to say thank you for over 100 reviews!
Kowalski: Should we get a 'get well' card? TK is feeling a bit crummy.
Rico: Kaboom?
Skipper: Not that far!
Kowalski: Yeah, TK's feeling a bit sick, but I think dynamite is a bit much.
Private: Still, the chapter's a cliffhanger!
Kowalski: Yeah, I still don't understand why it's called a cliffhanger.
Rico: KABOOM!
Skipper: Is it clear now?
Private: Actually, I see why it's called a cliffhanger.
Rico: Yup!
