"WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Sodapop yelled as he jumped on Darry's bed to wake him. Darry groaned.
"Soda, it's my day off."
"Yeah, but it's also your baby brother's birthday! We need to set up!" Soda exclaimed.
"Five more minutes-"
"No!"
---
Soda decided to get a cake at the nearby bakery, and had left Darry and the rest of the gang to decorate the house. He just hoped they did it right.
A bell ringed as he walked into the bakery. A lady with grey hair and and apron greeted him.
"Hello! What can I do for you today?"
"Um..." Sodapop looked at the cakes in the glass case. They all looked very pretty, but they seemed incredibly expensive. "What's your cheapest cake?"
The lady pointed at a small cake, simply frosted with no designs. "This one goes for $50."
Soda grimaced. They could never afford that, let alone one of the better, more expensive cakes. And now he was stuck in an awkward situation. He had to handle this with tact.
He patted his pockets, then grinned at the lady sheepishly. "Oh boy. I left my wallet at home. Ugh. Oh well!" He quickly speed-walked out the door before the lady had time to say anything.
---
"Darry! Where do the streamers hang again?"
Darry groaned. "Steve! I just told you, it doesn't matter as long as you hang them high enough-"
He was cut off when he saw Two-Bit wrapping streamers around his body and face, trying to make Johnny laugh.
"I'm the rainbow mummy!" Two-Bit cried. Johnny smiled lightly.
"Guys!" Darry exclaimed. "Stop messing around! I swear, you're like children sometimes!" He glared at Two-Bit. "Two-Bit, unwrap yourself from those streamers-carefully! Don't rip them!" He turned to look at Johnny. "And Johnny-" Johnny had stopped smiling, and was now looking sad. "Uh, just...keep doing whatever you were doing. It's okay." He walked away from the awkward situation.
The front door opened suddenly and Dally walked in, carrying a brown paper bag.
"Hey Dal. You're late." Darry said, although he knew Dally would ignore him. Darry had been right, as Dallas sat down on the couch with a cigarette, his feet up on the table (which he knew Darry hated).
"Look in the bag," was all he said.
Darry looked. Inside were several giant fireworks, some of which Darry was sure were illegal.
"Fireworks?" Darry took them out and turned them over. Now he was absolutely sure they were illegal. "Are these even legal? Where did you get them? How?"
Dally laughed. "You don't wanna know how I got them. I won't tell you, but it included some nasty stuff, man. Trust me, you don't wanna know."
Although Darry was curious, he knew from personal experience that if Dally said he didn't want to know, he really didn't want to know.
"We can't set off illegal fireworks." Darry said. "You'll have the fuzz knocking on our front door in no time!"
Dally cocked an eyebrow. "So?"
"So, Soda and Pony will be thrown in a boys home!"
"I repeat: so? Come on, Pony's like, 12."
"15." Darry said, exasperated.
"Whatever," Dally said. "What I mean is, he'll survive in a boys home for about a week, and then we bust him out. See? Easy."
"Wouldn't it just be easier not to set off the fireworks in the first place?"
Soda walked through the front door.
"No fireworks!" Darry told Dally as a last note.
He put his attention of Soda, who wasn't carrying a cake, but a large grocery bag.
"Where's the cake? What's that?" Darry asked.
Soda just grinned and walked into the kitchen, where he dumped the contents of the grocery bag on the table.
Darry saw flour, sugar, butter, milk... "Oh no, Soda, you don't expect us to bake a cake ourselves, do you?"
"Well, why not? Listen, the cheapest cake at the bakery was $50 bucks. That's way over our budget. I mean, come on, Dar. We're using old, cut up garbage bags for the steamers."
"EW! I PUT THOSE ON MY FACE!" Two-Bit yelled from the other room.
Soda ignored him. "Even if you're too busy to help with the cake, I'll make it myself."
Darry grimaced. "Are you really sure that's a good idea? Remember the green egg fiasco?"
"Oh. Yeah." Soda grinned again. "But who says green cake is a bad thing?"
---
"Well Gang, we did it." Darry took a step back to admire the work he and the gang had done. The room was covered with haphazardly placed streamers, clusters of balloons were in every corner, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY PONYBOY was pinned to the doorway.
"Great job everyone. I'm gonna go get Ponyboy."
He glared jokingly at the gang. "Don't mess anything up.
"We won't." Sodapop assured him. "I'll keep an eye on them." He winked.
---
On the drive to pick Ponyboy up, Darry readied himself for the hardest part: Tricking Ponyboy into thinking that he forgot about his birthday.
He pulled up to the library, and, soon enough, Ponyboy had jumped into the old pick-up truck.
"Hey Darry! Do you know what day it is?" He sing-songed.
Darry didn't look at Ponyboy, for fear his grin would give it away. "Uh...nope."
"You sure?" Ponyboy asked.
"Yep."
"Oh." Ponyboy's smile dimmed.
"But..."
"But? But what?" Ponyboy lit up again.
"I'm making Mushroom Stew tonight. Your favorite."
"Oh. Any particular reason-?"
"Nope. Just felt like it."
"Oh."
Darry figured that Pony knew that Darry didn't forget, but he had to keep the party a surprise, so he was happy that Pony wasn't asking too many questions.
When they pulled up at the house, Darry couldn't believe his eyes. The house was smoking!
He and Pony ran in. Smoke was coming from the kitchen.
"The cake!" Darry's eyes widened in realization. He rushed into the kitchen to see smoke, Sodapop, and a giant lump of coal. After closer inspection, he discovered that the lump was the burnt cake.
"Hey Dar. Hey Pony!" Sodapop exclaimed. He coughed. "Happy birthday!"
"Uh...surprise?" Darry said weakly.
Suddenly, there was the sounds of an explosion from the backyard. Darry gasped, then ran outside. Sure enough, there was Dallas, lighting fireworks with his cigarette lighter.
"Dallas!" Darry exclaimed. "What did I say!?! No fireworks!"
"Oh..." Dally looked at his lighter and the fireworks like he was suddenly aware of what he was doing. "I guess my lighter fell on the fireworks...accidentally, of course." He shrugged. "Oh well."
"Accidentally my a-"
"Cool!" Ponyboy exclaimed as he watched the explosions of color in the sky.
Sodapop came rushing out the back door. "Let's do gifts!"
---
After clearing out most of the smoke, the gang sat around in the living room, giving Ponyboy his gifts.
Johnny had gotten Ponyboy a book of some sort; Two-Bit had gotten him a bottle of beer, telling him, "Now that you're of age, I think it's about time you start drinking." (Darry quickly told Pony that he couldn't start drinking.) Two-Bit then revealed that he was kidding and his real gift was a fancy new pair of shoes; Steve had gotten him a card; and Dally had gotten him a pack of half smoked Cools cigarettes.
Sodapop seemed really excited to give Pony his gift, which turned out to be a big scrapbook of pictures of the gang together. Ponyboy hugged him tightly.
Then, it was Darry's turn. He reluctantly reached into his back pocket and took out a brand new, shiny switchblade. He handed it over to Ponyboy. "Listen Pony, I know today didn't turn out so well, what with the kitchen getting smokey, the cake burning, but-"
Ponyboy cut him off with a big hug. "This has been the best birthday party ever!"

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PONYBOY CURTIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy birthday to the youngest Curtis brother! Stay Gold, Ponyboy, Stay Gold. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PONYBOY CURTIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay Gold, Tucker, Stay Gold.

Orange_Elephant a.k.a. SCR