Chapter 1: Pizza in Aspinwall

One cool first Saturday of September 2024, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri as well as some of my other best friends Alex Russo, Justin Evans, Max Greenwald, Carly Shay, and Spencer Puckett, along with Carly's stepdad, Freddie Benson, in Aspinwall for a homemade pizza and game day. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. We jammed out to Kate Bush, Lizzo, NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and the Pop2Kountdown featuring the year 2007 while playing amazing games like Frozen T-Shirt Contest, Do Not Say It, Volley Balloon, Burglar Alarm, Prize Auction Game, Batter-Up Popcorn, Sleeping Bag Obstacle Challenge, Blink, Sleepover Ball Game, Limbo Contest, and a scavenger hunt prior to making our pizzas. We played one more icebreaker game which was a This or That game featuring some choices between the beach or snow, pizza or burgers, day or night, movies or video games, cats or dogs, airplanes or boats, singing or dancing, and museums or amusement parks. "We are pretty much all beach lovers," I pointed out. "Too bad that I only had one month of relative warmth when I first met you guys!" "That was at our parents' wedding at the Natrona Heights Presbyterian Church," Sarah pointed out. "While this September will be like 2002, the following months of this year probably will not be like that, especially coming off of our 6-month run of 2010 winning weather-wise, which I am so happy about," I stated. "My favorite part of the pizza is the sauce," James stated. "I like the sauce, too," Henri stated. "It is the exact same sauce on pasta, which I tried for the first time at Sarah and James's honors banquet." "I am kind of not surprised that we were going to do another activity today, especially after doing activities together every Sunday in August," I pointed out. "But technically, I prefer movies over video games. Mainly due to the directions for our activities, but next year, we could try watching the movie in the northern suburbs instead of the eastern suburbs." "Yes, this schedule for activities is different from the past 2 years," Sarah agreed with me. "So, it's possible!" "I remember the day I first moved to Natrona Heights when all of these great songs were playing, and I wanted a cat because I love cats the most," Carly stated. "Well, I love dogs," Mr. Benson stated. "I love both cats and dogs," Spencer stated. "How was last night's football game at Knoch?" I asked Alex and Justin. "It was great," Justin replied. "It reminded us of our own football games in high school towards that area," Alex stated. "Freeport and Knoch are not too far away from each other." "We all prefer amusement parks over museums," Max stated. "That was why Disney World was our favorite band trip in high school because it was all about the amusement parks," Alex pointed out. "We are going to Myrtle Beach next spring around Memorial Day and that should be a good trip, too," Justin pointed out. Pretty soon, it was time for all of us to leave. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"