Ashley Curtis... Ponyboy's sister...

Wake up call. - chapter 49

The next day, I woke up with someone sitting on the foot of the bed. For a second, I figured it was Dally. Then, I noticed that he was wearing a flannel shirt and light blue jeans. Dallas always wears leather jackets and dark jeans. I turned on my side to look at the boy. He turned to look at me once he heard me move. He looked at me and grinned. It was Sodapop.

"Hey, sis." Soda said, giving me one of those killer grins of his. "What's up?"

"Nothin'." I said, grinning back up at him. "You?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Just came to say hi."

"But, I wasn't awake." I said with a smirk.

He looked down, still grinning. "Yeah. Ya got me. I came in to figure out what to get you for your birthday."

I grinned even wider. "Right! I almost forgot that my birthday was coming up soon."

He ruffled my hair. "A brother never forgets a kid sisters birthday. February 12."

"Yup." I said with a chuckle. "Wow. I can't believe I'm turning 17."

It was January 30th. It was 13 days away from my birthday. I was so excited!

"Yeah." he said with a slight smirk. "I can't believe we'll be the same age! But, at least I'm turnin' 18 soon."

I smirked back. His birthday was March 2. Not too long after mine. So, I only get to be the same age as him for about half a month. But it was still somethin'.

"Yup. Now, let's get downstairs. I'll start breakfast."

I grabbed my brother by the hand and pulled him downstairs.

I took out a few pans. "So, what we makin'?" Soda asked, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"I don't know." I said, shrugging. "What should we make?"

"Chocolate cake?" he asked, crossing his fingers.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "Sure. Whatever."

We made 2 chocolate cakes because we knew Two-bit would be starving because... Yeah.

We put the cake down on the table and Soda shouted, "Race ya!"

We ran upstairs to wake up the boys. First, we went to Pony and Sodapop's room. We saw Ponyboy and Johnny back to back on the bed and Steve hanging upside down on the chair. Sodapop went up to Steve and kneeled down so he was at eye level with him. He was an inch away from Steve's face when he screamed, "Wake up!" Steve's eyes shot open and he fell off of the chair. Sodapop and I were cracking up. Soda helped Steve up while I shook Pony and Johnnycakes awake. Pony just groaned, "I'm tired. Let me sleep." But Johnny woke right up and said, "Hey, Ash. What's up?"

"Not Pony, apparently." I said with a chuckle, continuing to shake him awake.

"Alright. I'm up." Pony mumbled with a pout.

"Go downstairs." I said, helping them out of bed. "Soda and I made cake for breakfast."

Johnny and Pony grinned and raced downstairs, pushing each other out of the way for cake. Soon enough, Steve followed, still chuckling under his breath.

Soda and I went to Darry's room to wake up the rest of the guys. Darry was on the bed and Two-bit was leaning against the side of it, holding the bucket. Dally was on the chair, grinning in his sleep.

Soda went to sneak up on Darry when I whispered, "Wait." He stopped short. I held up my index finger and pointed toward Dally. Soda grinned and nodded, understanding.

I snuck up next to Dally and planted a kiss on his cheek. Dally opened his eyes and looked up at me. He grinned, almost smirked, planting a firm kiss on my lips. Until Soda gave a cough. Dally and I stopped. He was blushing. He chuckled as Soda grinned and rolled his eyes.

He turned to Darry, putting his hand up to tap him on the shoulder when he changed his mind and jumped on top of him. Darry screamed in surprise. Then, he realized that it was only his childish kid brother. He chuckled. "Hey, little buddy. What's up?"

Soda got off of him and helped him up. They went downstairs with Dally to eat breakfast. I woke up Two-bit and helped him downstairs. He was still light headed.

When we approached the bottom of stairs, Two-bit saw the cake and darted to the table. I couldn't help but laugh as he knocked everyone over to get to the cake.

We all dug in.(Especially Two-bit)