Go-time

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**

"Maybe I should stop singing," Maya says just after she finished singing and playing the lyre for Helena. They're in her room and on the bed.

"What?" Helena is confused. "Why?"

"Because I thought it would help me make more friends. Mother said that if I keep singing, I'll make lots and lots of them. But I guess she's wrong."

"That's not true!" Helena insists, holding Maya's hand with both of her own. "You made friends with me, right?"

"Yeah, but it's different for other kids. They always tease me for it."

"Don't listen to them! They're just jealous! This is like how kids treated me from where I came from."

"Really?"

Helena stands on the bed with her hands on her waist, and says, "Do you know what I did to them?" Maya shakes her head. "I scared them away!" She laughs like an evil villain.

"But if you do that, they won't gonna be friends with you anymore."