The next day, Josie came over to Sylvia's house. She rang the doorbell, and Sylvia answered.

"Buen día, Josie," Sylvia said.

"Hi, Sylvia," Josie said. "Are you ready to go to the mall?"

"I sure...," Sylvia was about to say, only to be interrupted.

"Good morning," a voice rang out.

It was Lattice, the mail-lady, and she was carrying a colorful box.

"Good morning, Lattice," Sylvia smiled.

"Hello, Sylvia," Lattice smiled back. "I've got a special delivery for you—I just need your signature."

Sylvia signed the clipboard, and Lattice handed her the package. "Thank you," she smiled.

"You're welcome, honey," Lattice smiled. Then she went on her way.

Sylvia went back into the house, carrying the package with Josie following her, and she put the package down on a chair. Pablo and Elena entered the room to find what their daughter had.

"What's up, mija?" Elena asked.

"What came in the mail?" Pablo asked.

"It's from Lito and Tita," Sylvia replied.

"Well, what did they send?" Josie asked.

Pablo took out a pocketknife and carefully cut the tape on the box. Sylvia opened the box and pulled out a purple bag with art supplies.

"Wow, it's beautiful," Sylvia gaped.

"What kind of purse is that?" Josie asked.

"Here's a note in the box," Sylvia said. She reached into the box and pulled out the note.

Dear Sylvia,

How are you? Just today, we were out shopping in the mall, and when we saw this beautiful art bag in the store, we just had to get it to send you. You can put your art supplies in it when you leave your house to draw or paint pictures. We hope you like it. Please give your parents a hug for us.

Con mucho amor,

Lito y Tita

"Aw, that was nice of Lito and Tita to send you this," Elena smiled.

"Sí," Pablo agreed.

Josie was really tired of hearing Sylvia be so enthusiastic about art. "Okay, you've opened your package," she huffed. "Can we go to the mall already?"

"Go ahead, mija," Pablo said, picking up the bag. "You can talk to Lito and Tita when you get back."

"Okay, Papi," Sylvia said. She turned to Josie and said, "Let's go, Josie."

Sylvia and Josie left the house and went on their way to the mall.

"Sylvia, I was really sure you wouldn't ruin my weekend with all this unnecessary talk about art," Josie huffed.

"I wasn't even going to talk about art at all, Josie," Sylvia frowned. "In fact, I wasn't going to do any art until tonight."

"Whatever," Josie scoffed.

All her life, Sylvia forced herself to endure Josie and Martini making fun of her for enjoying something they deemed unimportant. She didn't understand how cheerleading and popularity were any more important than art.

Sylvia and Josie had a good time at the mall, and that evening, Sylvia was in her art studio. Apparently, she was livid with Josie for refusing to stop saying that art was unimportant. Elena was passing by the studio and saw that her daughter wasn't happy despite being in her favorite place in the world.

"Sylvia, what's wrong?" Elena asked.

"I know I shouldn't expect Josie to like art just because I do," Sylvia said, painting on a blank canvas. "But I can't understand why she wants me to do something she thinks is more important than art. Seriously, just because she doesn't like art, it doesn't mean that it's not important!" She turned to find that she'd painted warm colors onto the canvas, and it looked like a river of hot lava.

"That's quite a way to express yourself, mija," Elena remarked. "You know, you ought to enter a painting like that in the art show but with more colors."

"I do like a little splash of color," Sylvia smiled. "I'll go for it."

Sylvia got a clean canvas and started to splatter paint on it, like the previous one, but this time with more colors—every color on the color wheel. The painting had lots of colors—bright ones, dull ones, singular ones, blended ones...it was a wonderful sight.

"Well, I'm all done," Sylvia said.

"Wow, nena, you've really outdone yourself," Pablo smiled. "If this doesn't get you a prize at the art show, those judges have no idea what true art is."

"I learned from the best teacher in the world," Sylvia smiled back.