Sasha's Paint Brush

      Sure, for the past couple of months, she had been begging her mother for a paint brush. She had pleaded and coaxed and persuaded until finally, she received a brand-new, ultra rare biscuit paint brush. Sasha was thrilled. All of her siblings were jealous. All of her friends were excited for her. Even her mother was anxious to see how she looked painted biscuit. But now Sasha was having second thoughts about it.

      ‘What if people laugh?’ nagged the little voice inside of her, filling her with doubt. There were really so many things that could go wrong. It could be a disaster for all she knew. Her worries grew. ‘What if a Skeith tries to eat you?’ That could quite possibly be a problem. She shivered at the thought of it. ‘What if it’s ugly? What if...?’

      Sasha stared down at her paint brush. At first, she had been overjoyed to receive it. Now, she realized there were so many problems that could occur after being painted. Somewhere, deep inside of her, Sasha knew she was being a worrywart. She had always been. In this situation, though, she was just being sensible... wasn’t she?

      Suddenly she realized she had been standing in precisely the same spot, right in front of the Rainbow Pool with her paint brush clenched in her palm for over ten minutes, still considering whether or not to get painted. She glanced around. Two checkered Kougras snickered as they strode by.

      “Wake up!” one of them hollered, cackling. The other began to giggle hysterically. Sasha flushed deep red as the Neopians around her hooted with laughter. Mortified, she scurried away from the ever-growing laughter to a place where she could think- alone.

      As she sat under the cool shade of the Money Tree, she thought about those two Kougras. They were painted- and they looked really sophisticated, too! Besides them, almost half of Neopia was painted. Sasha thought as she gazed into the tall limbs of the Money Tree, ‘If that many Neopians got painted, why don’t I have the courage to?’

      She decided she needed some advice- and she knew just who to go to.

***

      “Of course you should get painted biscuit, Sasha! It would look totally super on you!” gushed Sasha’s fellow Usul friend, the owner of the beauty parlor.

      “You really think so?” Doubt crept into her voice as she paced the parlor. “What if people tease me? What if I hate it? What if-“

      “Sash, be brave for once in your life,” the heavily made- up Usul replied seriously, looking Sasha in the eye. Sasha looked away. “You’ll regret it if you don’t do this.”

      Sasha often considered whether it was wise to use the advice of a person who wore about 10,000 neopoints worth of make-up a day- but this time her friend was right. Sasha was very insecure, and worried far too much about what other Neopians thought, and she knew it. But she promised herself that that would all change.

***

      That night Sasha realized what she had to do. She had to let go of her fears, and take her best friend’s advice. And right before she climbed into her bed, she carefully put away her paint brush in hopes of using it soon. As she crawled under her covers, her mind wandered and slowly drifted to sleep...

***

      The next morning, Sasha woke up bright and early. She jumped out of bed, ate breakfast, groomed herself, and then rushed to her closet. There, on the very top shelf, was her paint brush. She stood on her tiptoes and then took the brush into her hands. Gingerly, she set it on her bed. It seemed to stare at her, practically begging her to bring it to the Rainbow Pool. Sasha tilted her head and smiled in spite of herself. “That,” she whispered in reply to her paint brush, “is exactly what I plan to do.

      Within a couple of minutes, Sasha had arrived at the Rainbow Pool. She clenched the paint brush in her fist, anxious to get painted. Except this time, nerves didn’t cause her anxiety. This time, it was caused by excitement. This time, she was confident. Sasha was ready to get painted.

      She carefully dipped a toe into the pool, then lowered the rest of herself in. ‘I cannot believe I am doing this!’ she thought elatedly. Squeezing her eyes shut, she held up the sought-after paint brush. It was just like a dream come true...

      “Look at that biscuit Usul!”

      “I wish my mom would buy me that paint brush! It’s so cool.”

      “Wow! She is so pretty!”

      Sasha grinned as she listened to the whispers of Neopians as she strutted through Neopia Central. She watched as heads turned in her direction. She glowed when she realized she was the one all of them were staring at in awe. She strolled right past them as she made her way to the Bazaar and into the Beauty Parlor.

      “Oh my gosh! Sasha, is that YOU? You look amazing!” Sasha’s friend jabbered, dropping her tube of lipstick on the linoleum tiling at Sasha’s feet.

      “And hello to you too!” Sasha laughed, picking up the silver lipstick tube and handing it to her friend. “Yes, I am amazing, aren’t I?” She twirled in merriment. Everything was going the way she planned today.

      Sasha’s friend cocked her head. “But there’s something... different about you. I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

      “Oh, maybe you haven’t noticed, but there is something different about me. Like the fact that I just got painted!” Sasha replied jokingly. But in truth, she did know what her friend really meant.

      “No, I don’t mean that... Your personality. You have a different air about you. You seem more... confident, in a way.”

      Sasha chewed on that idea. When she thought about it, she realized her friend was right. She had changed in so many ways. The old Sasha -the one who worried, the one who cared too much of others’ opinions, the one which was always embarrassed- was gone forever.

      ‘It’s all because of my paint brush,’ Sasha realized.

      Slowly, as she walked out of the door of the beauty parlor, after saying her goodbyes, Sasha hurried back home, and sat on her bed. She thought about what happened.

      She was glad that she had changed. She was pleased about her new self. She looked cute, she was confident, and sure of herself. Everything was perfect. And as she kicked up her legs and leaned against her pillow, Sasha was content.

***

      In the middle of the night, Sasha woke up with a bang. Her fur mussed, and ribbons askew, she checked the time on her alarm clock. 3:00 sharp. She should have been exhausted, but she was quite the opposite.

      Right there, as she leaned against her pillow in the pitch dark, she realized something. It was not the paintbrush that caused her sudden self confidence. It wasn’t her friend’s advice that caused it, either.

      ‘It was me who did it,’ Sasha realized joyfully. ‘It was me who changed my personality. Just by being brave.’

      And she did become confident on her own. Just with a little help from a good friend, and a biscuit paint brush.

The End