Hoodies and Visors

2: Pineapple on Pizza

I finally get home from school after an exhausting day. Tiki suggested hanging out after school, but I am just so tired from everything being new. Plus, I want to unpack all of my boxes that are still untouched. That doesn't stop me from texting him though. He stole my phone during lunch just to put it in there, better not let that effort go to waste. "Hey, thanks again for helping me today at school." I text him. He even put his own name in as Cute Thang. Oh my god I need to change that, but I'll keep it for now.
He replies back almost instantly, "Well, you caught me during one of the few times I was actually at school, so don't expect it everyday. I probably won't go the rest of the week."
This caught me off guard, he doesn't go to school everyday? He didn't seem like the kind of person who would skip so often. Like yea, he looks like he would a few times, but almost everyday? I text back. "You don't go to school daily? How do you get by doing that?"
"I'm over 18 so I can excuse myself now." He types. "Besides after this year I'm not doing a third senior year so it won't matter."
I don't know what to reply to that so I leave him on read. I've always been a good student, straight A's, 4.0 gpa. Failing and not trying is so foreign to me. To distract myself from Tiki, I finally start unpacking my boxes. I get my room about halfway done when my mom calls me up to the kitchen for dinner.
"So honey, how was your first day at Century?" She asks over a plate of tater tot hotdish. "I know moving this late into your senior year wasn't ideal, but I think it'll be a good change of pace for you."
"Yea, I guess. School was pretty boring. I got my schedule and met my teachers." I answer back, taking a bite of food. "I did meet some new students that seemed fun. I don't know, I might hangout with them tomorrow."
"Good for you. What are their names?" She questions.
"Christian and Aaron." I didn't want to scare my conservative mom with a name like Tiki.
"Oh, they're boys? Don't you think it's a little early for them? Maybe wait a few weeks until we are settled in our new home to go hunting for a boyfriend, Amanda." She suggests nervously.
"Jeez mom, chill. We're just friends and nothing more." I reassure her. "I want to get all unpacked and settled, too."
"Hm... ok if you say so sweetie. I don't want you to be changing your focus from schoolwork to boys just because we moved across Minnesota, though. Just keep that in mind please." She tells me, chewing little bites of her tater tot hotdish. She probably counts her chews, too.
"Have you talked to Dad yet about his first day?" I ask, changing the subject.
"Yes, he called me about 30 minutes ago saying he probably won't be home until close to 8. You know how first days are." She answers back. I roll my eyes. He never came home before dinner time at his old job either, why did I think that would change just because he transferred locations.
We finish dinner and I offer to help my mom unpack the living room. It's nice, it gets my mind off of the new school and everything. Once we get it all set up and finished, I head to my bedroom downstairs. As I'm laying in my bed, watching Netflix, putting off unpacking the last half of my room, Tiki texts me again.
"We're gonna go get some pizza and drive around wanna come?" It's like 10 o'clock right now. I can't go, what would I tell my mom? I have to make up an excuse.
"Oh super busy with unpacking right now, sorry." I text back. I feel bad, but I also don't want to disappoint my mom after what she said at the dinner table. On the other hand, she usually goes to bed super early, like 8:30, so she's probably passed out by now. She'll never know I left. Who am I kidding? I have never sneaked out of the house before, but I also have never met a boy quite like Tiki. I text him back. "I just finished the last box actually." What am I doing? I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I creep upstairs to see if my mom is asleep already. Yup, just like I knew it. Bonus, at some point my dad came home and is sleeping right beside her. I close the door and climb the stairs quietly down to my room. My phone goes off.
"Perfect, we'll be there in a few." Oh god, my heart is racing. Is this what rebelling feels like? I change my outfit about six times before settling on an old St. Peter sweatshirt and leggings. I wait anxiously on my phone, for his text saying that he's here. Peeking out the window to see if I can catch a glimpse of his vehicle. I don't even know what he drives, could this be a worse idea?
After what feels like an eternity, he finally texts me that he's here. Oh god, okay here goes nothing. I creep upstairs and slowly open the front door. I step out, close it behind me, and walk towards what I'm assuming is his truck. The truck is packed with boys. I was expecting just Tiki, maybe Austin, but there are two more that I do not know. Thankfully, shotgun is not taken upfront next to Tiki. I open the door and loud music just hits me like a wall. I quickly get in before it wakes up my parents.
"What's poppin' Amanda?" Tiki says to me while also being on the phone. "What's your pizza flavor? We're putting in the order right now."
"Hawaiian for sure." I answer back and I'm immediately greeted with disagreeing responses.
"Eww, pineapple on pizza. Kick her out, we're only like a block away from her house." A boy with a bleached perm says. Aaron agrees with him, but another boy in a hat starts to fight back. They begin arguing about why he shouldn't buy a pizza with pineapple on it. It gets pretty heated between the three of them.
"Hey guys will you SHUT THE HELL UP." Tiki yells. "I'm on the phone. Do you want your pizza or not?"
"Ok wow, harsh." The boy with wings says back with his hands up.
"I don't wanna hear it right now, Austin." Tiki tells him. Oh, okay his name is Austin. I can remember that. Tiki finishes the order and hangs up. "We gotta be there to pick it up in 15. I got 2 large pepperonis for Austin and Zack." Zack must be the one I don't know. "A supreme for Aaron, hawaiian for Amanda, and classic cheese for yours truly."
"Ah perfect, thanks." I say to him.
"Thank you Tiki, I love you so much, Tiki." Zack teases in a high voice. My face turns bright red.
"Oh Tiki, oh Tiki." Austin joins in with the same annoying voice. "You are the perfect boyfriend for me."
"C'mon guys, stop." Tiki says back. "I'm sorry for them. Definitely not responsible for them." He tells me. I look over at him and his face is pretty red also.
"It's fine, they're just having a little fun." I respond, playing along. "Besides, you wouldn't be the worst boyfriend to have." He doesn't respond, just looks forward at the street, but I can tell he was smirking. The rest of the truck is dead silent except for the loud music pouring out of the speakers. It stays this way until Aaron breaks the silence, changing the topic.
"Did you guys see that my video of the Brittney skit is blowing up?"
"The one about Zack's girl?" Austin asks.
"Yeah, it has like 2 million views already." He says back. What video is he talking about? 2 million, are they like actual famous people?
"What? No freakin' way, didn't you just post that like last night?" Tiki asks.
"Uh huh, and I got a shit ton more of followers, too." Aaron replies.
"I am so confused. What are you, secretly famous youtubers?" I question. They all laugh at me. Zack finally explains it, no thanks to the other guys that just offer no explanation.
"I wish we were famous. Well, I have a youtube account but it's only at like 5,000 subs-"
"Oooh I'm so famous with my youtube account and all of my subscribers." Tiki mocks him. Zack shoots him a look telling him to stop, then he continues talking to me.
"But that's not what Aaron is talking about. He posted a video on his Tiktok. He was recording us a few days ago when we were all hanging out and having fun. Apparently people really like us." He says. I nod along as he's talking as if I understand.
"Isn't Tiktok just full of preteens doing cringey dances? Oh my god, please tell me you were doing stupid dances. Can I see them?" They all jump to defend themselves, saying that oh of course they don't do those, oh why would they ever do them, oh they would never.
"This video was just us joking around with Zack about him going over to a girl's house." Austin explains to me. "Basically we just told him he was fucked if he ever met anyone's parents."
"Ah, hilarious." I say. "Can I see it?" Aaron pulls it up on his phone and turns it around to me. I watch it, laughing along. It was actually really funny. I can see why so many people watched it. "This is amazing. Do you have more?" I eagerly ask. He then shows me a bunch of other skits that they did with each other about meeting parents. Each one is funnier than the last. "I'm gonna need to get Tiktok now."
"Start by following me. My username is aaronallen44." All the other boys chime in of their usernames for me to follow except for Tiki.
"What? You don't have one?" I ask him.
"No, I do but it's stupid. I don't post anything, so it's not worth following me." He says. "You can if you really want to though, but I'm not gonna tell you my username."
"What? Why not?" I say. "I'll find it, don't worry. Can't be too hard."
"Hm, if you say so. Have fun." He says back. Sweet Caroline starts blasting out of the speakers. "Oh yea, we are turning this BABY UP," and he cranks it up louder. After a while of vibing out to music, we get to the pizza place right in time to pick up the goods. We get back to the truck and crack open the boxes. Damn, they smell goood. I take a bite into a heavenly slice.
"Mmmm, this is perfect. Just what I needed after my first day." I say.
"How can a pizza even be any good if it has pineapple on it?" Austin asks. We all get into the pineapple on pizza discussion again. Tiki on my side helping me argue against everyone else in the truck. The rest of the night we all just chatted and vibed with music together. This friend group is what I was definitely missing out on at my old school. Like yes I had friends, but I feel closer to these guys during this drive than my friends of probably +5 years back in St. Peter. We drove around like this for a good three hours until they dropped me back off at my house. I snuck back in without a problem after one of the best days of my life.