The Time I Secretly Took My Little Sister's Art Supplies to Stop Her from Winning Again

So there we are, my little sister Sarah and me. We have these weekly art contests at home where our parents judge who did better in drawing something cute or funny for the week. It sounds innocent enough, right? But ever since she got into a fancy art class last year, I've been losing every single time. She's eight years old and already better than an almost-teen like me? No way am I letting that continue! Anyway, last week was our contest week again, but this time the stakes were high for me because Mom hinted she might give a prize to the winner. Plus, Dad was going out of town on business, which meant extra points in my book since I knew he'd be biased toward Sarah. That morning, as I woke up early and went straight to her room hoping to catch some inspiration, all I found were boxes upon boxes of art supplies I never see outside of hers. Crayons? Check. Colored pencils with fancy gold caps? Double check. And there's not a speck of chalk or paint anywhere! Talk about stacked odds... I know what you're thinking: Was I really going to steal her stuff just for some dumb contest? Well, after looking around my own room and finding nothing but my usual set (the exact same as everyone else in the neighborhood gets), plus the knowledge that Sarah could be buying better supplies at school anytime she wants, well...yeah. Yes, I did it. While she was distracted eating breakfast with Mom, I stealthily collected a bunch of her nicer stuff, like those shiny colored pencils and fancy markers, and hid them somewhere safe in my room, thinking this was the only way to finally win one of these things! The next day? Nothing. No big deal at all, right? It's not like she'd notice something missing until after the contest is over anyway... But later that night, as Sarah started getting into her art stuff to do homework and couldn't find certain colored pencils, she got so upset! I mean, sure, a few tears are expected during this age, but seeing how frustrated and confused she looked just tore me up inside. And there I was feeling smug about winning the contest, while my little sister cried over something as small as losing her favorite blue crayon. I ended up sneaking back into her room late that night to put everything back (and adding some of mine in too), but it's not like you can undo feelings or broken trust. And now I'm left here wondering if stealing my little sister's things was worth winning one silly contest.