"This place is looking much better," Celeste commented as she suspended pink streamers from one cabinet to the other, leaping over a squatting Taryn who was picking up the confetti she just spilt on the carpet out of clumsiness, everyone sure of what Celeste was referring to with that comment.

"Don't make this such a big deal, guys," Ashley meekly replied, sulking down behind the kitchen table, the happiness immediately vanishing like a ghost from Jessa's face, Jessa topping the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting smeared over top with finishing touches; pink sprinkles and mini M&Ms arranged strategically to read "Happy B-Day Ashley," her eyes squinting as her hands diligently placed the last red M&M on the Y of Ashley.

"This is a cause for celebration!" Jessa retorted behind her, her hands springing to the sky with relief of her completed task so rapidly, it almost bulled through the streamers Celeste was parading everywhere, "You're our only sister! Don't belittle yourself."

"Not everyday you turn 15," Taryn agreed cooly, sneaking a handful of leftover M&Ms in her left hand, taking her right handful of rainbow confetti and releasing them over the crimsoned table, the confetti looking like tiny fallen petals from flower blossoms dazzling up trees in the early spring.

"Isn't 16 the age when it should be so...elaborate?" Ashley asked uncertain, swiveling behind the bench to take in the youthful view of streamers, balloons and confetti filling up this sardine can of a traveling home. It wasn't that she didn't want to enjoy her birthday a little more festively than she would at home, but she didn't feel up to par at all, concealing it well behind a permanent smile and habitual pallid cheeks. Her body ached as if she was thrown from a speeding horse a few times, praying invisably on her knees that she could get through this well thought of, genial night with a decent smile.

"You know we'd so take you out to a male stripping bar, but they don't have those in South Carolina," Taryn quipped with a devious smile, falling back onto the teal and white couch as Jessa shot her a spiteful look from behind the powder chalking her face, sunlight beaming over the cake. Taryn had definately morphed back into the pre-burgularized Taryn after the glorious night at the Warped Tour, to everyone's anticipation and some people's transient dismay, her crafty wit shining through her once again like light through tissue paper.

"Besides," Celeste continued, stepping back from the final streamer, the view before her of streamers hanging like curtains pleasing to her eyes, smiling with pride at her work, "We have to take life a day at a time."

"You deserve all this, after all," Taryn whispered only audible enough for Ashley's ears to pick up, Ashley and her connecting in sight and smiling with brilliance.........

"Happy birthday to you!" the gang finished, triggering Ashley to begin contemplating her wish. With a cheeky smile, she inhaled a long breath and wiped away the flames, a parade of claps and whisles finalizing the regenerated start of a new year in her life.

"Thank you guys for coming," Ashley said to Frankie, Chris, Greg, Jesse, and Matt as Jessa began to dice up her perfectly-crafted cake with a heavy heart, Ashley's eyes sneaking over to the right to a small mound of presents stacked like toy blocks on the counter.

"How could we miss a party?" Chris asked with a smirk and a shrug, the other boys agreeing silently with nods and pats on his back.

"And a party with our Cutie Quad?" Jesse resumed, ringing his arm around Celeste's neck and throwing his weight on her, Celeste stumbling before cracking a giggle, "No way we could miss that."

"Can she open our present first?" Matt asked impatiently, wanting Ashley to see how much they cared for her, his hands jittering toward the counter.

"Alright," Jessa agreed reluctently, pointing at him with the pie server, her wrist averted inward, "But only one. Don't wanna spoil her."

Ashley raised her hand to her mouth to hide her chuckle innocently, Greg pulling away the chiseled up cake and Matt sliding the heavy box draped with pink and white striped wrapping paper in its place. "You guys didn't have to," Ashley desisted with a goofy smile, tearing at the paper without even looking down at her mastered hands, laughter jumping up from a few of her friends' throats. Ashley's mouth moved from joy into shock, her breath swindled from her throat at the boys' congenial gift. A Curtis Boom Box layed before her on the table, an exact replica of the one crooked from her a week and 1/2 ago, the boys going the extra mile to discover one in pink.

"How sweet," Jessa cooed, glancing over with indifferent eyes at Greg, Greg's vocals and face numb for any responce.

"Want an early list of what I want for my B-Day?" Taryn asked the boys with her head cocked to see their reactions. The volatile mixture of a good time with good people crackled the air to be full of laughter, except for Ashley.

Her eyes began to blink excessively like she was lost in a dream, the laughter simmering down. Her body began to twitch as if it was a nervous habit, which it wasn't. A sharp pain erupted in her side, a volcano oozing with acidic pain and raining down ashes to confuse Ashley's surroundings. Like a rag doll tossed from an unsatisfied child's bed, she plunged onto the well-cusioned seat, her eyes sewn shut and arms lifeless at her sides.

"She was so surprised, it killed her!" Jesse yelled involuntarily, Frankie immediately fishing into his pants pockets for his cell phone, Jessa, Celeste, and Taryn quickly at Ashley's side, themselves blinded from sight and thought by tears and shock...........

Cold and dismal were the two proper words describing the waiting room of MacAuthur Hospital that night, the girls sipping on black coffee and nibbling at some of Ashley's birthday cake they felt they needed to bring along to keep their spirits alive, the blue waiting chairs designed very discomfortably to insist people to rise and get a breather, leave their worries at the chair for a few sparse moments of clarity. Air chilled the girls to their hearts as if the air from immoble lungs seeped through the doors and leeched onto the hairs of the arms, pulling at them like spirits. The sonorous atmosphere of dead and living supressed on the girls' brain activity, only to be smacked awake by the rude and static call for doctors over the loudspeaker, the receptionist's voice crackling between electronics and benumbed air simulating the deep feeling of remorse of grieving loved ones in the vicinity. The room was silent as if air-tight with outer soundproof walls padding it, imagination leading folks to grimace at the thought of screams pitched toward the ceiling with pain and fright. Surprisingly, none of the girls sat next to each other. Assumingly, they all felt partly responsible for Ashley's relapse with the tricky disease of Diabetis, a group consolation with be thought of and marked as pathetic. So in their tourmented minds, they rebuked themselved undeservingly about their rocky summer, at times wishing it never came to be.

The boys were just returning from the cafeteria, semi-stale donuts and fresh cups of coffee cluttered in their hands. They insisted, if not demanded, to go to the hospital with the sound director's van, Matt behind the wheel. Louie couldn't say no, he's realized how close the boys had become with the girls, and at a time of crisis like this, the boys had to be there for them.

"Want a bite?" Jesse asked Taryn, thrusting a half-devoured powered donut into her face, Taryn giving him a reproachful look as she lowered her suglasses designed for the likes of Shaft to the tip of her nose, assured anxious people wouldn't enjoy hearing a mannerless teen's voice rumble into their cadaverous outlook on their situation, wanting to find a little serenity in sleep or silence.

"You trust hospital food?" Taryn asked him as he plopped beside her, cringing a little at the sting and frigidness eroding through his Tommy Jeans.

"Someone's gotta eat it," Jesse replied without a care, chomping away on his donut as he leaned back in the cold seat.

"I figured you'd be the one most upset about this," Taryn whispered to him with sshrug of her shoulders, Jesse's facial expressions demitting as his donut did to his side.

"Everyone's grieving," Jesse replied somberly, shaking his head up and down as if to make himself believe what he was saying was real and true, a tight smile slicing with hesitation on his face, "Someone has to have hope."

Celeste sat between Matt and Chris, her Keds sneakers jammed underneath her butt for some sort of comfort, her elbows pressing through her Mudd shorts and against her skin like pins, her head lying across the palm of her right hand. Her eyes bored like lazers into the grey tiled floor, her unkempt curls draped over her exposed shoulders (her sweatshirt was huge) to try to eclipse the indication of sorrow spilling over her cheeks like curtains. Chris pinned his ankle on his left knee, it shaking as if an earthquake was bursting silently in his body, his mouth clamped against his hand as he peered up at the white clock roosted above the receptionist's desk, the seconds climbing backwards instead of foward, Chris lost in the monotone ticking.

Celeste rose from her seat smoothly, her purple Champion sweatshirt overtaking her body in size as she stood rigidly to read some bulletins about weight management and vitamins tacked up to a bulletin board at the left, the sleeve of her sweatshirt constrainig against quivering lips. She nearly leaped out of her cheap white sneakers at Chris's touch, his face dragging at the late hour and the girls' affliction.

"It's okay to be upset," Chris whispered, Celeste still staring up at him with tears filling the brim of her eyes, her sleeve slowly leaving her mouth.

"I should have been looking out for her, Chris," Celeste whispered back painfully, her face strained as if someone was pulling her skin back with invisable threads, tears tumbling between her lashes, "I should have been watching what she ate, if she took her meds..."

"Mistakes happen," Chris told her, his once degrading and wicked fingers heating up her bleak face with a sense of comfort, his mouth twinging into a smile at the corners, his face close to hers.

"This mistake might have cost us everything," Celeste desisted, loosing herself in the fibers of Chris's blue and white muscle shirt, Chris rocking her back and forth like a new father with his pride and joy, kissing her head softly, a tear wiggling from his manly disposition and sneaking into his eye.

Greg couldn't see how his stand could get any worse. First, he scared away the only girl that mattered the world to him. Then, her good friend, and his too, lands in the hospital for a well-kept secret none of the guys knew about. He glanced at Jessa, her head pivoted to the direction of a small, muted TV in the upper right corner of the somber room, her eyes constricted with the irritation of flourescent lighting and deprivation of sleep. As bleak the situation appeared to be, he couldn't leave that room without reconsiling with Jessa; he wouldn't be able to fall to sleep.

"Can we talk?" Greg asked Jessa awkwardly, this not being the exact location he had in his mind to make amends, Jessa slowly turning towards him, vexation tearing at her eyes and tugging at her eyebrows, the audacity of Greg speeding up the rate of her heart.

"This is definately not the time or the place, Greg," Jessa replied curtly, folding her arms underneath her armpits and returning her attention to the soundless news report, her zipper-up forest green sweatshirt constricting against her chest.

"It is," Greg responded without thinking why, Jessa exasperated back to him with an ear to hear. "I mean...if this gets really bad, you'll have to go home. I don't want you to leave without at least hearing me out."

After a few moments of studying his flawless face, her subconcious asking her how she could be mad at a face like that, his rich hazle eyes and unique nose, she made an attempt at conversation. "Looks like an all-nighter," Jessa sighed, her heart grave and stony against her rib cage and eyes shifting to Taryn's blue boxer shorts, her fingers picking at them as if dirt was embedded in between the stripes, "Go ahead."

"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable the other night. My prying was totally uncalled for and I didn't mean to pressure you to say something you weren't ready to say. Time tells everything, at least that's what my grandmother says. I just care for you so dearly that I don't ever want to see you with less than a smile on your face. I'm...I'm just sorry." Like a clam, he chomped his lips and teeth shut and directed his head away from Jessa, assured she wouldn't believe or forgive him about his terrible acts.

"Thanks, Greg," Jessa's voice voyaged over his shoulder, Greg propelling back foward to a smile chiseling through the ice overlaying her face, her hand tugging at the wrist of her sweatshirt. "When it's time, I'll say what you need to hear." Overly relieved, he grabbed Jessa in a bear hug, the familiar scent of Orange Shampoo resting his mind at ease that everything would turn out alright, their skin meshing together as one, a familiar, consoling feeling only those deep in affection can experience. Another sensation racked through Jessa's mind as she clung onto Greg, their hearts beating in unison between air and clothing, Greg's voice repeating "Time tells everything" echoing through her mind, hoping the right time will come to confess to Greg her original intention..........

When the clock's second hands whizzed past 3 A.M, a tall and meaty elderly man surfaced from the sea of scapuls and IVs looking for anyone with Ashley Campbell, Taryn and Celeste utilizing Jessa's shoulders as pillows so they could drift into sleep occasionally interrupted by bumps along their dream road, Jessa's drooping eyes coverging together with the doctor's icy blues. As if through ESP, Jessa bolted from her seat, Taryn and Celeste abruptly woken from sleep with the smacking of skull to skull, rubbing at the spot of contact with laggard hands, the sight of Jessa running to the doctor forcing them to their feet as they followed, the doctor's expression grim.

"What is it, Doc?" Taryn asked excitedly, grappling at her side for Celeste's hand if she needed it to hold her up with the deliverance of news.

"Ashley has a very high amount of sugar in her blood, 750 mg/dL," Doctor Burke announced professionally in a low tone to not disturb the other patrons of the waiting room, leaning dow to feel equal to the girls, his wispy grey hair drooping into his eyes, "Her kidneys are also fairly damage, the thickness of her blood obscured a decent amount of blood from passing through, a reason why she was diagnosed upon arrival with unconciousness, shortness of breath and swollen ankles and feet..."

"Is she alright?" Jessa interrupted with exasperation, linking her fingers with Celeste's and placing her other hand on Celeste's shoulder, expecting the worst.

"Well, she isn't ready to run a marathon," Dr. Burke slipped out of professional character, a chuckle scratching against his dry throat. Always a comedian, Jessa thought with spite, Dr. Burke settling himself down and refocusing his eyes on the girls. "I think she will be fine. We need to keep her a few days to regulate her blood sugar levels back to normal and observe her kidney more thoroughtly. It's a good thing you girls got her here when you did, or else this report wouldn't be so fruitful," Dr. Burke informed them, his toothy smile dipping into a frown at the other possibility, his round cheeks sinking below his eyes with seriousness.

Tears spurted from all 3 girls' eyes along with shrill wails, hugging each other as if he told them with a somber frown that Ashley had gone to the other side, all emotion bottled up inside themselves blowing the caps of stability off toward the moon, their hearts almost ready to explode inside their chests with the anticipation of good or bad news.

"Are her parents coming?" Taryn pondered aloud through the tears flooding into her throat and eyes, whipping briskly at her cheeks, her rings clinking against each other as she peered up at the doctor, the doctor satifsfied with the deliverance of hopeful news.

"They were called shortly afer Ashley arrived, about 9:30 PM by my guess. They should be here within the hour," Dr. Burke presumed, excusing himself from the girls to tend to other ailing patients and families.

"Thank god," Celeste gasped, slowly creeping back to her seat with raised shoulderes and clasped hands, sniffing back her joyful tears, Taryn patting at her back like a consoling mother as they lowered themselves carefully on the rock-hard seats, Jessa standstill in the hall as she watched Dr. Burke dissapear into one of many rooms, her heart slowing down from its excited, anxious state.

"Time tells everything," Jessa repeated, her eyes drifting down to the grey floor with the possible detrimental results of her confession and the continuation of this trip.