Chapter 1: New Year's Resolutions and Pizza Bellino
The next day, I met up with some of my other best friends Alex Russo, Justin Evans, Max Greenwald, and Carly Shay, as well as Carly's parents, Sam and Freddie, at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill for a discussion group on New Year's resolutions. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Alex greeted back. "When my parents and I moved to Natrona Heights in 2007, I made a New Year's resolution to make all-new friends," Carly explained. "I especially like being friends with Angel, Alex, and Sarah." "Our New Year's resolution was to live a successful life together," Mrs. Shay added. "It actually came true once the new year rolled around and going forward," Mr. Benson chimed in. "You guys must be referring to New Year's back in 2008," I stated. "Right, Angel," Carly agreed. "I need a New Year's resolution to find a better job," Alex stated. "So far, my male friends are making more money than I am." "That's because we have professional jobs with our degree in music," Justin explained. "We have been sticking with this once we all graduated from high school," Max added. "Let's not make Alex feel bad, okay?" I asked. "She feels really bad about not finding a job." I then told everyone my New Year's resolution. "My resolution is to not tease Mom and my cat, Mattie because I love them," I told everyone. "That means making silly noises, squeezing them, hurting them, and doing things that they do not like." "Yeah, Angel, that's not a good idea because it will drive people away from you," Alex agreed, "and you really need to work on your behavior with us, as well, like not speaking out, lowering your voice, not repeating the same things over and over, and not interrupting people's conversations." "Okay, Alex," I agreed. "I will do that." After our discussion group was over, we went to Pizza Bellino down the road. My mentor, Jenna and her sister, Jill joined us for dinner. I ordered a spaghetti dinner, Carly ordered a plain personal pizza, Mrs. Shay ordered a pepperoni personal pizza, Mr. Benson ordered a pepperoni, mushroom, olive, and meatball pizza, Alex ordered the Chicken House dinner, and Justin and Max split a sausage and bacon pizza together. "What was the pizza place you liked back in Natrona Heights?" Jenna asked. "It was probably J&S Pizza, and we probably went there after one of the football games," Alex explained. "Where is Natrona Heights?" Jill asked. "That is a couple miles northeast of the city of Pittsburgh," Alex explained. "As a matter of fact, we all used to live in Scranton before moving to the city of Pittsburgh in 2007." "I just became friends with these guys in 2009, and we all had a special anniversary dinner at Mad Mex to celebrate," I added. After we paid our checks for dinner, Jenna and Jill drove me back to their apartment in Point Breeze. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Alex replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"