Note: Inspired by a book review (I know it sounds silly, but it's true). Nikki and Brianna may be OOC.

Nikki Maxwell felt really cross when her parents told her that she couldn't meet up with her friends Chloe and Zoey after school. Why? Because she had to babysit her little sister Brianna!

However, Nikki figured out that she could take Brianna out. Her parents never specifically said that they had to stay at home. She took Brianna to the mall.

Nikki let Brianna play in Candyland Kingdom while she wrote in her diary. But Brianna complained that she was hungry after twenty minutes, so Nikki quickly bought a sandwich to satisfy her sister.

Nikki suddenly remembered that Chloe's birthday was coming up, so she decided to take a detour to the bookshop on the way back to the play area. Chloe was crazy about romance novels.

Nikki was so busy looking through the romance stories section that she did not notice Brianna curiously opening a book at the children's section. By the time Nikki had selected a book for Chloe, Brianna was back beside her.

To Nikki's astonishment, Brianna seemed to have lost all interest in Candyland Kingdom. Instead, Brianna said that she wanted to go home. Although Nikki was surprised, she didn't question Brianna at all. Little did she know that Brianna had just developed an irrational fear.

'Brianna!' said Mrs. Maxwell the next day. 'Stop dawdling. It's almost time for school.'

Brianna looked at her hands nervously. 'Can I have lima beans for breakfast?'

Her parents stared at her in astonishment. 'Why on earth do you want lima beans?' asked Mr. Maxwell. 'You don't even like any beans.'

Brianna didn't answer. 'Well, we don't have any lima beans, so you can't have any,' said Mrs. Maxwell.

'Brianna has been acting so odd for the past week since I took her to the mall,' said Nikki to her friends. 'She hates lima beans, but still insists on eating them. She also keeps looking in the mirror, but she isn't vain like Mackenzie.'

'That is strange,' said Chloe.

'When did her behaviour start?' asked Zoey.

'Well, I went to the bookshop with her,' said Nikki. 'Now that I think about it, I wasn't really paying close attention to what Brianna was doing. Maybe she read something that scared her or something.'

'That's possible,' said Zoey. 'And whatever she read must be connected to lima beans and appearance. It has to be a children's book, for she is too little to properly understand books for older people.'

So after school that day, the three friends went back to the same bookshop in the mall. They looked through the children's section. There were fairytale books and Disney themed storybooks.

'This is hopeless,' said Nikki. 'This is like looking for a needle in a haystack.'

Chloe had discovered a book titled Matilda and was avidly reading it. Zoey nudged her. 'Chloe, concentrate.'

'Oop, sorry,' said Chloe. 'Well, no mentions of lima beans here.'

A girl a little older than them overheard what they were saying. 'Lima beans?' she asked. 'Why are you so interested in lima beans for?'

'It's a long story,' said Nikki. 'You don't happen to know about any children stories that mentions lima beans and appearances, do you?'

The girl looked a little taken aback. 'As a matter of fact, I do,' she said. 'Are you sure you want to know? I don't think that you would like it.'

'We are sure,' said Zoey.

'Okay,' said the girl. 'When I was a kid, I received a children's book called A Bad Case of Stripes for Christmas. It was about a girl who loved lima beans but doesn't eat them because everyone else thinks that they are gross. One day, she woke up to find out that she has stripes all over her body.'

'That's terrible,' said Chloe.

'Well, the girl gets cured when she eats lima beans,' said the girl. 'The moral of the story is to be yourself and not care about what others think about you.'

The three friends suddenly understood. Brianna must have read the book and thought that she will get the stripes disease if she didn't eat lima beans.

Later that day, Nikki went home to have a talk with Brianna. She found her little sister playing with her Princess Sugar Plum dolls.

'Hi Brianna,' said Nikki. 'What are you doing?'

Brianna looked pleasantly surprised. Nikki didn't usually take interest in her. 'Playing with my dolls,' she said. 'Want to join in?'

'Actually, I want to talk to you about something,' she said. 'Why do you like lima beans all of a sudden?'

Brianna looked embarrassed. Finally, she said, 'I don't want to be covered with stripes.'

'Brianna, there's no such thing as a stripes disease,' said Nikki.

'Yes there is,' said Brianna. 'I read a book about a girl who got stripes all over her body. Then she turned into random objects and ended up blending with her room.'

'Brianna, the stripes disease is fictional,' said Nikki.

'What's fictional?' asked Brianna.

'It does not exist,' said Nikki. 'The book you read is a story. It's made up. Just like how you make up stories sometimes. Besides, the point of the story is to teach you to be yourself. The main character needed to overcome her insecurities to return back to normal.'

'Oh,' said Brianna. 'I never thought about that.'

'Yeah,' said Nikki. 'I assure you that you are not going to catch a stripes disease as long as you stay true to yourself.'

'Thank goodness,' said Brianna. 'I really hate lima beans.'

The two sisters continued discussing about A Bad Case of Stripes, forgetting about the toys on the floor.