Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” – Thich Nhat Hanh.

MAISIE

ALEXANDER LOOKED UP at me. “What?”

“Hmmm?”

“You said something.”

OMG! He heard me. It was embarrassing to me. I tried to speak but it was hard. So I decided to pretend I didn’t hear him, hoping he’d drop it but he didn’t.

“You said something. It sounded like another language,” he pointed out. “What does it mean?”

I held my hands together on my lap and stared at them, badly wishing I’d let my hair down today so that it could cover my face a little.

Hold up a second, this isn’t something to be embarrassed about, right? Most people would be proud of something like this.

So, I took a deep breath and answered, “It means ‘What did you say?’ or ‘I beg your pardon?’”

“Oh, I said, ‘You look nice by the way.’”

You didn’t have to repeat that, I thought.

“What?”

Oops! Did I say that out loud?

“Nothing. Thanks, I guess. You look nice too.”

Alex smile