Mia was the fastest runner in her class—or so she thought. When a new student named Jaylen joined, he beat her in every race. Mia was furious. She refused to talk to him and made mean faces whenever he won.
One day, Mia tripped during a race and scraped her knee badly. She expected everyone to run past her. But Jaylen stopped. "Are you okay?" he asked, helping her up. He even walked with her to the nurse's office, losing the race on purpose.
"Why did you help me?" Mia asked, confused. "I haven't been nice to you."
"Because winning isn't everything," Jaylen said with a smile. "Being a good person matters more."
Mia felt ashamed of how she had acted. From that day on, she and Jaylen became good friends. She learned that there were more important things than being the fastest.
Aiden wanted to be in the school talent show more than anything. The problem was, he couldn't sing, dance, or play an instrument. "I have no talent," he sighed to his grandmother.
"Everyone has a talent," Grandma said. "What do you love to do?"
"I like making people laugh," Aiden admitted.
Grandma smiled. "Then that's your talent!"
Aiden practiced telling jokes and funny stories for weeks. He was nervous on the night of the show, but when he heard the audience laughing, he felt amazing. He didn't win first place, but everyone told him he was the funniest act of the night.
"See?" said Grandma, hugging him. "You just had to believe in what makes YOU special."
Sofia always liked to work alone. When her teacher assigned a group project, she groaned. "I'll do it all myself," she told her group. "You'll just slow me down."
Sofia tried to do everything—the research, the poster, and the presentation. But there was too much work. The night before it was due, she still wasn't finished and started to panic.
Her groupmate Emma called. "Sofia, let us help. We've been waiting. Diego is great at drawing, and I can help with research."
Sofia finally agreed. To her surprise, Diego made an amazing poster, and Emma found facts Sofia had missed. Together, they finished with time to spare.
"I'm sorry I didn't let you help earlier," Sofia admitted. "I learned that teamwork really does make things easier."
When Marcus moved to a new neighborhood, he was scared. Everything looked different—the houses, the trees, even the playground. "I want to go back home," he told his dad.
For the first week, Marcus stayed inside. He didn't want to meet anyone new. But one day, he saw kids playing basketball outside his window. It was his favorite sport.
His dad encouraged him: "You'll never know what you might find unless you try."
Marcus took a deep breath and went outside. "Can I play?" he asked nervously. The kids welcomed him. By the end of the day, Marcus had made three new friends and discovered the neighborhood had an awesome skate park too.
"This place isn't so bad," Marcus admitted that night, grinning. "I'm glad I gave it a chance."
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