"Aw man!" I screeched as I skipped out of the cinema. "That was so totally cool!" I screamed in one of my friend's face. She grabbed me to stop me from bouncing around. "Will you stop yelling? We're in public, Miss Casey, in case you didn't know."
"Yeah, yeah fine, but wasn't that just the best movie you've ever seen in your life?" I said leaning in so that my ecstatic grin filled up her entire line of sight.
"Damn it was! Neo was so cool with that metal staff!" she said with a grin doubly as large as mine- something which I thought no one could ever achieve.
I put on a mock hurt expression and mumbled, "You mean you didn't like the Twins? And . . . and their cool machine guns?"
"You gotta be kidding; I loved that! It was the best part!" She jigged around for a bit before turning to our one other friend who had suggested that we go and see 'The Matrix Reloaded' in the first place. "Didn't you like the movie?"
Smiling, but not seeming as excited as the other two of us she said, "Sure I did. It was really good; it all looked so real."
"Real?" My friend first friend blinked.
"She obviously means the computer animations and special effects, duh Ella," I sideways glanced her.
"Ah. Right."
"Hey guys, come on," my second friend called as she made her way to elevator. "My mom said she'd pick us up at five after the show, but the show's gone on for longer than we expected."
"Aw, Madison," I poutingly objected. "Couldn't you have asked your mum to pick us up later? I wanna do a bit of shopping first."
"Geez, you whiner," Ella put on a stern expression and strode past me, grabbing my jacket hood and dragging me along behind her. "Nothing we can do about it now, can we?"
"Yes we can! We can ask her mom to go home and come back and pick us up later. We can ask her mom to park her car and come along shopping with us. Or she could park her car, and do her shopping while we do ours. Or we could . . ." my list of alternatives continued on and on until we finally reached the pre-arranged pickup point and I had no more choice but to grudgingly get into the car.
"Hi girls," Madison's mother cheerfully greeted us. "How was the movie, was it any good? Did you get your money's worth?"
As the car paused at the exit of the mall premises before we filtered out onto the main road, Madison's mum craned her head round the back of the driver's seat to look at the three of in the back seat. Ella's and my elated expressions easily told her that indeed the movie had not been a waste of time or money. Madison however, did not seem to be as thrilled as we were.
I was just about to ask her why the movie hadn't appealed to her as much as it did to Ella and I, when her mum broke in by giving us some great news. "Oh, by the way, Ella and Casey, I offered to house you for the night and your mothers agreed. They've packed your clothes and other necessary things required for a sleepover. Of course, if you don't want to stay for the night, I can make other arrangements."
Madison looked at Ella and me hopefully. We nodded eagerly and that night's fate was sealed.