The Matchy Match Girl

Odette Zaccaro considered herself a very fashionable girl. She was very particular about her clothes and the way she dressed. Everything she wore had to match. If she wore a red shirt then she needed to have red pants and red socks and a pair of red shoes as well.

When she was little, no one paid much attention to the way Odette dressed, but now she was older, and she would be starting a new school. She was very excited about it, and she couldn't wait to pick out an outfit for her first day. After carefully consideration, she decided to wear pink. She picked out a pink dress and pink tights and a pink pair of shoes.

 Her mother worried that if Odette always wore only one color, the other kids would tease her. "Why don't you wear this blue belt?" she helpfully suggested as Odette was getting ready for her first day of school. "It would give such a nice pop of color with all that pink.

Odette just looked at her as if she had suggested Odette go to school naked. " Pink is a color too. " she reminded her mother, "and today is not a blue day. It's a pink day." she added firmly as if her mother should have know that.

However, Odette's mother was right to be worried. At school the kids did tease her. They called her Peppa the Pink Pig. Odette wasn't crazy about it, but she thought maybe they just didn't like pink and tomorrow would be a better.

The next day, Odette was even more careful picking out an outfit. She decided it would be a blue day. She picked out a pretty blue shirt, blue jeans, blue socks and blue sneakers. Then, she admired herself in the mirror. She thought she looked just perfect and other kids would think so too.

Her mother, however, was not so sure. "Why don't you wear your red sneakers instead of your blue ones?" she suggested. "They go so well with all that blue." She quickly went to the close and took out Odette's red sneakers, and helpfully handed them to Odette.

Odette frowned and shook her head. She took the red shoes and put them back in her closet. "Red goes with red and blue goes with blue." she informed her mother. Didn't her mother know anything
about matching colors? Odette had learned that in preschool and had stuck to it ever since.

In school, things didn't go any better. This time, the kids called Odette, Baby Bluebird. She tried to act like it still didn't bother her but it did.

On the third day of school, Odette wore head to toe yellow and they called her the Big Banana. On the fourth day, she wore green, and they called her The Jolly Green Girl. By the fifth day, she had had enough of their teasing and she didn't want to go back school. As soon as she came home, she ran out into the backyard and hid behind a tree and vowed to stay there forever.

"Please come in the house." begged her mother. "You'll freeze out here." They were having an usually intense cold spell for the Fall, and the weather was quite chilly. Odette shook her head. "Well, at least put on a sweater." urged her mother trying to hand her one. She had even brought Odette a green sweater that matched her outfit of the day.

Odette  shook her head and pushed the jacket away. "I don't care if I freeze." she said stoically and turned away from her mother.

Later that day, Grandma arrived. She came home out to the backyard to see Odette. "Are you going to tell me to go inside too or to wear a sweater?" Odette asked wearily.

Grandma shook her head. "No." she replied. "I am going to tell you how am proud I am of you."

"You are?" asked Odette in surprise.

"Yes." Grandma assured her. "I'm proud you are your own person with your own sense of fashion. You are not a sheep that always has to dress like everyone else like the other kids in school."

Odette nodded. That was true. She was definitely not a sheep. "But maybe, it's easier to be a sheep just like all the other kids." Odette declared defeatedly.

"Just because you don't want to be a sheep doesn't mean you have to be a wolf.  You can be a lamb." suggested Grandma.

"What?" exclaimed Odette all these animal metaphors were confusing her.

"What I mean to say is that you can be different without being so different." explained Grandma. "You want to stand out subtly and not in an over the top way. Do you know what I mean?" she asked.

Odette smiled. "I think I do." she said. "Thanks, Grandma." she added giving her Grandmother a huge grateful kiss.

From then on, Odette started dressing differently although she still didn't quite dress like the other kids. She wasn't so matchy matchy any more. She still wore mostly the same color like before, but she always added a pop of a different color. If she was wearing all blue she might wear a red belt or if she was wear all purple she might wear gold shoes. She still stood out but in a good way.  The other girls began admiring her style. Instead of making fun of her, pretty soon, they were dressing like her.