Carlos woke up to the sun shining through his bedroom window. He had the feeling like it would be a good day today - Gustavo had given him and the rest of the boys the day off, but better yet - today was his 17th birthday. Once he remembered this special day, he rushed to get out of his pajamas and into his regular clothes, and headed towards the kitchen for breakfast.

"What's up, helmethead?" Kendall asked as he watched Carlos enter the kitchen. "Oh you know, nothing much, the usual…" Carlos replied, grabbing a box of cereal and a bowl, hoping his friend would say the usual happy birthday wishes, but it didn't happen. "Oh, that's cool." Kendall said as he grabbed his cereal bowl and headed towards the couch. "He's probably just waiting until later to tell me happy birthday…" Carlos thought to himself, as he started to pour his cereal into his bowl.

Out of nowhere, there was quite a stir coming from the bathroom. "Sounds like James must be up," Kendall said as he turned on the television. "Let's just hope he remembers to wish me a happy birthday…" Carlos muttered under his breath, making sure Kendall didn't hear, as he grabbed the milk out of the fridge. "I thought today was going to be a special day, but I don't know if it's going to be as special as I thought… One of my best friends hasn't even said happy birthday yet. I just have to keep it positive." The noise coming from the bathroom toned down a bit, and eventually stopped. James strutted down the hallway with his usual overconfidence, and once he reached the kitchen, leaned on the countertop and boasted "I am looking good today."

"You sure are, Mr. Macho…" Carlos responded in a sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes as he took a bite of his cereal. "Is there anything you want to to say to me?"

"Yeah, I used the last of your toothpaste as I was brushing my teeth, sorry about that." James winked as he got all of his fixings for his breakfast ready. Carlos stopped chewing, scoffed a little bit and thought, "Wow, really? James didn't say anything either? I guess I should've figured out that he would forget, since it's the usual type of thing to come from him, but really… I just really hoped he would've said something. Maybe they're planning something special for later, and they really don't want to spoil it."

Logan was the last one to file out of his room for breakfast. As he rubbed away some of the sleep from his eyes, he asked, "Where's Katie and Mrs. Knight, and why is Mrs. Knight not making breakfast like she normally is?"

"Mom took Katie on another trip to San Diego," Kendall replied, not breaking his stare at the television. "They're gonna be spending the night there. Oh, and she said no parties, because of you know. Bitters."

Normally, Carlos would have been ecstatic about Mrs Knight being gone, so he could break her no party rule with his partner in crime, James - the Hollywood Super Party Kings of Hollywood. Today was just plain different, and he was starting to feel the need to not even have a social gathering. Logan had slipped passed him without a word to grab his breakfast, and then joined Kendall on the couch to watch Spongebob. James followed close behind.

Carlos started thinking to himself. "Why am I really letting myself get so upset about this? It must not have registered with them yet. It's only 10 am, their brains normally aren't working until at least noon."

He finished his cereal and rinsed out his bowl in the sink. He stared at the rest of the boys blissfully watching Spongebob for a minute, then sighed. Walking towards his room, the idea how to bring up his birthday to the rest of his bandmates popped into Carlos' mind. "Do I try and be more subtle, like I have been? Do I just go out and ask them if they remember? Or do I just continue to wait to see if they planned a surprise party? Knowing James and his keen sense of how to plan a party, that's most likely the answer."

Carlos reached his room. He took off his helmet, set it on his desk, and picked up the hockey puck sitting next to the helmet. He walked over to his bed, sat down and fumbled with the puck in his hands as he stared at the wall, lost in thought. A knock on his door snapped him out of his thoughts. Logan opened the door slightly, saying "Hey man, we're doing to Palm Woods Park. You wanna come along?"

"No thanks," Carlos replied, glancing over at logan for a few seconds, then went back to fumbling the puck. "They must be going down there to get my surprise party set up. I really shouldn't go along, since it's most likely going to be a surprise and everything." he thought.

"You sure, man?" Logan asked. "We'd love to have you come along."

"No thanks, I just want to be by myself for a little bit."

"Okay, well, we'll see you soon."

Logan shut the door as he left. Carlos set the hockey puck back on his desk and dragged himself to the living area. He glanced over at he clock, which said it was after noon. "I should probably get myself something to eat." He gathered the effort to go over to the freezer, and grabbed himself a corndog. "I guess you'd wish me a happy birthday if you could, right, corndog?" Carlos asked, even though he knew he'd never get a response back. "I still have the rest of the day though for them to wish me a happy birthday, and I still have high hopes that they're planning a surprise party for me in Palm Woods Park. I mean, they're probably just not saying anything to me because they just want to hype up the special meaning…"

After heating up the corndog, Carlos plopped himself on the couch. He didn't expect his friends to be back for a good couple of hours, so he planned on watching the marathon of Spongebob that was on to cheer him up - it always cheered him up. "I have to keep it positive. It's my birthday. I can't be upset on my birthday, it's the one day out of the year that I can be truly happy…. Besides Christmas. But still. I want this to be an awesome birthday."

Carlos flipped on the television and kicked his feet onto the coffee table, being careful not to knock over the bowls of milk from Kendall and James' cereal, and Logan's half drank glass of orange juice. As the television powered on, he could hear the sounds of Spongebob filling his ears. It was the episode where Spongebob and Patrick were going around selling chocolate bars to their neighbors. His favorite episode. He managed to at least get his mind off of everyone else not remembering his birthday for a little while, with his favorite food and his favorite show. He wasn't even halfway through his corndog when he was fast asleep.