Free Write On! by Nancy Krulik

Chapter 1
    “Katie, you are so lucky!” Suzanne Lock declared as she sat in her best friend Katie Carew’s living room after school on Monday afternoon. “I can’t believe your grandmother sent you computer software. All my grandmother ever sends me is socks. Not even fancy socks with glitter or rainbow-colored toes. Just plain wool socks.”
    “My grandma is very cool,” Katie agreed. “I don’t know anyone else who rides a motorcycle or goes hiking in Alaska.”
    “What kind of software did she send?” Suzanne asked. “Some sort of game?”
    Katie shook her head. “It’s software that lets you make your own website. My grandmother had so much fun creating her site, she thought I should have one, too.”
    “Wow! Your grandmother has a website?” Suzanne was really impressed. “What kind?”
    “Mostly it’s about the amusement parks she’s visited. She’s been on roller coasters all over the world!” Katie boasted. “My grandma’s the one who took me on my first roller coaster ride.”
    “Your grandmother’s website sounds really neat,” Suzanne told Katie. “What kind of website should we make?”
    We? Katie hadn’t asked Suzanne to do a website with her. “I haven’t thought about it yet,” she answered honestly. “I only opened the package yesterday. I haven’t even read all the instructions yet.”
    “Well, don’t worry. I have a million ideas,” Suzanne assured Katie.
    Katie sighed. There was no way she could talk Suzanne out of this now. Once Suzanne decided she was going to do something, she did it.
    But that was okay, actually. It could be kind of fun to work on a website with Suzanne. Now that the girls were in different classes, they didn’t get to spend a lot of time together.
    “Actually, building a website sounds like fun,” Katie agreed.
    “Let’s get started,” Suzanne squealed as she reached for the box on the computer table.
    Katie frowned. “Don’t you think we should come up with an idea for our website first?” she asked her.
    “Oh, that’s easy,” Suzanne replied. “We’ll do a fashion site.”
    “A fashion site?” Katie didn’t sound very excited.
    “Sure,” Suzanne continued. “We’ll tell people what’s in style.”
    “Why would anyone listen to what two fourth-grade girls think about fashion?” Katie asked.
    “Because one of those two girls is me!” Suzanne said. “No one at Cherrydale Elementary School knows more about fashion than I do.”
    Katie sighed. Suzanne is such a show-off.

    “How about a website that helps animals?” Katie suggested. “Maybe we could work with the animal shelter and post pictures of dogs and cats that need to be adopted.”
    Katie loved the Cherrydale Animal Shelter. That was where she’d gotten her cocker spaniel, Pepper. She reached down and gave her dog a pat on the head. He looked up at her and wagged his stubby tail.
    Suzanne didn’t have any pets. “The shelter has its own website,” she stated. “I think a fashion site is a much better idea. We could post photos of me modeling all kinds of outfits.”
    Katie frowned. “And what would I do?”
    “You’d take the pictures of me,” Suzanne said.
    “That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun,” Katie said.
    “You can’t be the model, Katie,” Suzanne said. “You haven’t taken any modeling classes like I have.”
    “I don’t want to do a fashion website at all,” Katie insisted.
    “Well, I do,” Suzanne replied just as firmly.
    Katie was getting very angry. Suzanne was taking over everything. “It’s my computer software,” Katie reminded her. “Don’t you think I should get to decide what kind of website we make?”
    Suzanne glared at her. “You’re not a very good sharer, Katie,” she declared.
    “I am too,” Katie argued back.
    “No, you’re not,” Suzanne said. “You want everything your own way.”
    Katie was shocked. That was exactly how Suzanne was acting.
    “I would share my grandma’s gifts with you ,” Suzanne