Friday with Friends

    Hey everyone!!
    I don't know about you, but I've been having a pretty fantastic week! Usually, I complain about summer being completely and totally boring... but this week, not so much.
    On Monday, my friends Ameena and Jake went to the library with me (we spent almost as much time talking as we did looking at books!) and then we went back to my house to hang out. I turned on the karaoke machine, and we had a lot of fun singing! ... My sister and I teamed up to get a video of Jake and my brother, James, singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley together. It was awesome!
    After Jake left, Ameena and I did some more karaoke, and then we turned on Just Dance 4. We danced to a couple of songs (she kept winning...!), my mom asked me to go check the mail. That kind of surprised me for a few reasons: It was hot outside; I had a friend over; you have to go down the stairs and walk to the street, then back up the driveway and go on the stairs again to get inside; my brother was right there, and he could have done it! Even though I was a little confused, I walked out onto the front porch -- and saw something even more surprising. There were three cars out in the driveway.
    One of the cars belonged to my mom, and it was normal for it to be there. However, my dad's car was also there, when he should've been at work! I didn't recognize the third car, though the driver did look familiar..... I was getting ready to walk back inside and call for my mom, when the door on the passenger's side of my dad's car opened, and someone stepped out. It took a minute for me to recognize her... but when she said, "Hi Mattie!" and laughed, I realized it was one of my best friends, Carlee!!!
    See, Carlee used to live about five minutes from my house, and we would hang out all the time. But then, because of her dad's job, she had to move -- all the way to Maryland! We email and text all the time, but it's not quite the same. And all summer, we've been trying to figure out a way that she could come visit for a week or so, but every time I asked her about it, she kind of avoided my questions. So I was thinking that I wasn't going to get to see her at all. But apparently, everyone had known about her visit since April -- everyone, except for me!! (Even my brother knew, and he's terrible with secrets!)
    When I realized that it was her, I may or may not have screamed. And it's possible that I might have run down the stairs and tackled her. And then screamed some more. Yes, some of my neighbors were outside, and yes, they were staring. Honestly though, I don't really care if they think I'm crazy... because right now, Carlee is sitting on the couch in my living room!! :) She's staying for a couple of weeks, and flying back home right before school starts. We've already done a lot of fun, crazy stuff together, and we have a lot of time to do even more fun, crazy stuff before she leaves!! So, um, wish my parents luck... because they're the ones who will have to deal with this Dynamic Duo!

~ Mattie (aka Matt Matt, when talking to Carlee)