Sophie's dad handed me a piece of mallowmelt. I wasn't too sure about it being better than chocolate cake, but I decided to see what the fuss was about. "Oh, hell." I muttered, "This is better than chocolate cake." The flavors were so good. I dunno, it was just simply better than mallowmelt.

"No way." Two-Bit said, "This is good, but chocolate cake is better. Especially with beer and Mickey."

"The three of them combined are better than mallowmelt." I said, casually slinging my arm around Linh pulling her into my chest. Linh really does bring out the best in me, even if I don't wanna admit it. She's managed to break through the walls so easily, when I can't bring them down myself.

"Hey! Hands off my sister!" Tam shouted. He flicked his wrist and the shadows grew around me.

"Call off your shadows." I growled.

"Hands off." Tam ordered me. His silvery eyes glinted, just daring me to keep my hands on Linh. I wasn't ever gonna back down, 'specially after he dared me to.

I smirked, before kissing Linh. Her lips parted in surprise, giving me the perfect opening. I needed her so much. She was the only girl I've ever loved, who wasn't like a sister.

I felt myself stepping away from Linh. I didn't want to. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't. It was too strong.

Tam and I smacked ourselves in the face repeatedly. I was boiling mad, but I couldn't do a damn thing about it. I couldn't get any of my muscles to work.

"Dal." Maria said, "Dal, you okay?" I couldn't answer her.

I abruptly stopped smacking myself. To my disappointment, Tam had stopped too. I glared at everybody in the room, trying to figure out who had made me slap myself. "When I find out who did that, I'll kill them." I growled. I was aching for a fight. I could barely go a day without one, so going a week was a record.

"Dal, you good?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, I'm good, kid." I ruffled Maria's hair affectionately, before taking a large bite of the gooey mallowmelt. I think this thing's better than chocolate cake, beer, and Mickey. As long as I still get beer and Mickey.

"Edaline, we were hoping that they could all sleep here tonight." Sophie said, gesturing to us.

"Oh," A woman with turquoise eyes looked over us. The thing is, it wasn't judging us. Not the way Socs do. She seemed a lot like Mrs. Curtis. They say loss is easier as time goes on. They're liars. It doesn't get easier. "Of course. Just don't get too crazy."

"Foster's always crazy." Keefe said, "It's part of her personality."

"Keefe!" Sophie scolded him, her cheeks a faint red. Embarrassment or anger. Couldn't tell. Most likely embarrassment.

"Can I have more mallowmelt?" Tess asked.

"Sure." Sophie's dad smiled at her, and grabbed another piece.

"This is real good." Pony said, "Can I have some more?"

"Of course!" Sophie's mom smiled, before grabbing more mallowmelt. "I need to bake some more."

"I'll help!" said her dad.

"You'll eat half of it before anyone else can get to it."

"No I won't." he said, but his eyes were twinkling. I didn't blame him. This stuff was good.

She started pulling out the ingredients to make mallowmelt.

"Thanks so much. This is real good." Darry said.

"You're welcome." Sophie's dad said.

"Hey! What's your name?" I shouted, "Greaser or Soc?"

"I'm Grady. I don't know what that second question was."

"Money wise, a Soc." Sophie said, "Spirit wise, a greaser."

"Savvy. Name's Dallas Winston." I smirked.

"How old are you?" Grady asked.

"Seventeen." I said.

"Oh!" Sophie exclaimed, "You'd be eighteen, by Elvin counting." What the hell is Elvin counting? Wait, if I'm eighteen...

"I ain't no minor no more!" I crowed.

"What do you mean, Elvin counting?" Tess asked. Thanks, kid. Gotta keep up my rep.

"Elves count age from your ID, your Inception Date." Sophie explained.

"So that means..." Tess whispered.

"You're all about nine months older than you thought you were." Keefe finished.

"Wow. So I'm twenty-one." Darry muttered.

"No wonder ya looked so old!" Two shouted.

Everyone's heads snapped towards Two and we all glared at him.

"Oops. That sounded better in my head." Two said, "Sorry, Muscles."

"Two, you ain't eighteen. You're nineteen." Tara said, "Almost twenty."

"Jeez, we're all getting old." I said.

"Soon you'll all have a couple centuries, and wonder what you were thinking when you said you were old now." Keefe said, grinning.

"Dal, what are ya gonna do, now that you're eighteen?" Steve asked.

"If I can't be a JD, I can be a delinquent, I guess." I said.

"Wait, so even though I've called myself a JD for the past year, I wasn't really a JD?" Two asked.

"Yes, Two." Tess said patiently. I dunno how that kid's got so much patience in her. If I wasn't all the way across the room, I would've punched him by now.

I saw Grady walk inside. Huh, he must've walked out while we were in an uproar about the whole age thing. "The gnomes are taking some time off, so I need some help."

"How many people? And with whom?" Sophie asked.

"Two strong people should be good. Verdi's off her food." Grady said.

"Darry, and Dallas. You should go help Grady." Sophie said.

"And if I don't wanna?" I drawled.

"You can have extra mallowmelt." Sophie's mom said, smiling.

"Why didn't you say so before?" I shouted. Grady led us outside, to giant, rolling fields that looked real peaceful.

ROAR! A green, feathered creature was trying to avoid a bunch of large stalks that something was trying to shove in it's mouth. The small creature looked kinda like a rock, except it moved.

"What the hell is that?" I muttered.

"Which?" Darry asked.

"Both."

"Flori! I can take it!" Grady shouted.

The rock creature slid down the rope as Grady clambered onto the feathered creature.

"What do you want us to do?" Darry shouted.

"If I get Verdi down, can you stuff those stalks Flori has into her mouth?" Grady asked.

"Sure!" Darry shouted.

The rock creature, Flori, ran up to us, her arms full of the long stalks. "Here." she said, "Good luck."

"When the rock creature tells you good luck, you know you don't have much of a chance." I muttered.

Grady managed to get Verdi lower to the ground. I saw the perfect opportunity to shove the stalks into her mouth. I darted forward, and shoved the stalks into her mouth.

RO- She munched on the stalks, and tried to grab Darry's right out of his hands.

"Whoa, easy there, Verdi." Grady said, climbing off of her.

"What is she?" I asked.

"A T-Rex." Sophie said, a couple yards away. "You're good at wrangling animals."

"I was in a bunch of rodeos." I said, "I figured, if it works on horses, it'll work on other creatures."

"But the T-Rex is extinct." Darry said.

"No, it would knock the Timeline to Extinction out of whack. Every creature is here for a reason." Sophie said, "I don't see the point of mosquitoes, though."

"Same." I muttered. I hated the pests, always biting me. Never anybody else. Always me.