Ride

Chapter 22- The Birthday Bonanza

So, here we are at Fudge's awesome birthday! I'm pretty excited about this chapter and I hope you guys are too!

Chapter 22- The Birthday Bonanza

When she woke up, the first thing Fudge heard was several voices singing "Happy Birthday." She opened her eyes to find her entire family and a couple of doctors and nurses flooding in. They were all loaded with presents, cards and balloons. She broke out into a huge grin.

"Hi, guys!" she greeted them.

"Happy birthday, Fudge!" they all cried out in unison.

"Thanks!"

Ramone grinned as he entered last. The human girl could see that he had painted himself black with neon green stripes. "Happy birthday, mi chica bonita!" he added.

"Thanks!" Fudge repeated. "Nice paint job!"

Ramone smirked. "You think so, huh?! Well, this is the exact same paint job I had when you were born. I wanted to recreate it for a very special day."

"You remember that?" Fudge asked, both surprised and touched.

Ramone laughed. "'Course I do! You think I'd forget anythin' about that day?!"

That made Fudge feel really nice. She blushed pink and giggled.

"A teenager!" Flo exclaimed.

"I know..." Fudge sounded like she simply couldn't believe it.

"It feels like it was only yesterday that I held you for the first time", Luigi commented, also in disbelief. "Now, I have a teenage daughter!"

"Yeah, you're makin' us all feel old, soldier!" Sarge chimed in.

"Just promise us you won't become a rebellious teenager, kiddo!" Sheriff laughed.

"I'll try!" Fudge assured him, laughing along with everyone else.

That was when Fudge decided that Sarge was right: she had a choice. She could make herself miserable all day and bring everyone else down with her. Or she could make herself happy. After all, her family were all trying to do a nice thing for her, so she might as well make the most of it. She chose to go for the latter. It was much better- and fairer- for everyone. Not only that, but Fudge promised herself that she wasn't going to cry at all today. This was her birthday. She was going to try and enjoy it, no matter what.

"So, what do you say we get this party started?!" Lightning asked with a huge grin.

"All right!" Fudge cheered.

"Lizzie!" Lightning cried. "You know what to do!"

Fudge expected the Model T to get confused, but she didn't. Without any hesitation, Lizzie moved over to the radio and flipped it on.

"Hey! C'mon, Fudge! Open your presents, open your presents!" Mater hollered gleefully, bouncing up and down a little.

"Yeah, we got you all of these!" Lightning brought forward several of the presents.

"Oh, wow!" Fudge exclaimed. She looked around at all the presents.

"This one!" Lightning thrust a small box at her.

"It's from you!" the now-thirteen-year-old noted as she read the label, laughing.

Everyone laughed.

"Yeah, well, when you open it, you'll see why I wanted you to open that one first."

Fudge grinned and removed the ribbon. When she opened the box, she found a beautiful-looking silver necklace with a sparkly star at the front.