i think ariel specialises in non-confrontational and absolutely pragmatic solutions, rather like in the case of the starfruit (recap: su-lin: can i have your starfruit? ariel: oh, not yet ripe!)

sarah has been unhappy at school because she has a new seatmate who wouldn't buy one of her own but keeps borrowing sarah's mechanical pencils and if sarah refuses the girl rummages through her pencilcase and takes it anyway. but whenever sarah tries to talk to the girl or asks for help -- for instance, yesterday she asked the seatmate how to write the dong in dongwu -- the girl ignores her and talks deliberately and loudly to other children nearby. the adults, of course, tell her to talk to the teacher, or be firm about not lending her stationery.

ariel's suggestion: "just lend her the lousy pencil lah! and don't tell her it's the lousy one!"