“The way to beat Luke," he said. "If I'm right, it's the only way you'll stand a chance."I took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm listening."Nico glanced inside my room. His eyebrows furrowed."Is that...is that blue birthday cake?"He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he'd ever even been invited to one.:Come inside for cake and ice cream," I said. "It sounds like we've got a lot to talk about.”

“If God had to go to such lengths to invite people to his birthday party, I reasoned, He probably wasn't serving very good cake.”

“Everyone takes the picture of the kid with the birthday cake on his face," he said once. "Wait for the unexpected. That's the magic.”

“They don't want to know that you'll never eat birthday cake because you don't want to erase the magical taste of frosting on his lips. That you wake up ever day wondering why you got to live and he didn't.”

“I was starting to hate my sixteenth birthday. A poufy white dress and a cake with roses made out of pink icing and awkward dancing with boys in awkward suits was starting to sound like a great alternative. Seriously. Sign my up, I wouldn't even complain.”

“Just to show my dad that I think he's number one, I bought him a urinal cake for his birthday.”