Chapter 1: The Drawing Challenge
One cold second Saturday of January 2025, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri along with some of my other best friends Alex Russo, Justin Evans, Max Greenwald, Carly Shay, and Spencer Puckett along with Carly's stepdad, Freddie Benson, at a building in Allison Park for a drawing challenge. "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 2003, in which this January was like. "Our friendship has blossomed a lot since we met each other at your parents' wedding at the Natrona Heights Presbyterian Church," I pointed out. "Not to mention, this January is like 2003 weather-wise. Unfortunately, that is not the case. So, every January when James went to high school had one stage win! This year was freshman year, 2022 was sophomore year, 2019 was junior year, and 2020 was senior year." "Wow, Angel, you have such an amazing memory," James pointed out. "Yes, you do," Sarah agreed. "But, we were not all the same personality-wise when we first met during the wedding," I pointed out. "I learned to eat spaghetti with tomato sauce and salad at 10 years old during Sarah and James's honors banquet at the Natrona Heights Presbyterian Church," Henri stated. "And, I learned to like the color blue because just because it was James's favorite color doesn't mean it can't be one of my favorite colors, too," Sarah stated. "Anybody can wear the color blue, Sarah," James pointed out. "I love art," Carly stated. "I first moved to Natrona Heights 5 years later, and it became one of my big passions." "We all know that, Carly," Mr. Benson pointed out. "I love art, too," Spencer agreed. "One of my favorite colors is the color red, not just around Valentine's Day," Carly happily stated. "I have a favorite red shirt that I wear a lot, but it was a little too cold to wear today." "Yellow is also one of my favorite colors," Alex happily stated. "Even though I wear purple a lot, yellow makes me feel happy and cheerful as stated in one of my journal entries." "I don't think that yellow is a bad color, either," Justin agreed. "I would need some yellow for my birthday next Thursday," Max agreed. "Max reminds me of Billie because they both play the French horn and they both have a birthday in January," I pointed out. "I am glad that you guys were all able to come to our football games last fall," Justin stated. "It reminded me of one of our best football games when we were in high school," Alex stated. "Not to mention, there was also a band fundraiser for our trip to Walt Disney World that same weekend." "I think that we have yet another group of fine young aspiring musicians that we know," I happily stated. "Too bad that we won't hear anything new from them until the spring!" To close out the activity, Carly drew a red triangle, Alex drew a yellow circle, and Sarah drew a blue square. Sarah colored blue over the triangle to make purple, Carly colored red over the circle to make orange, and Alex colored yellow over the blue square to make green. "This is just like testing the colors of our friendship," I happily stated. Pretty soon, it was time for all of us to go home. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"
