One morning, my mother and I set off in our car. We were heading off to the shoe
store to get me a new pair of school shoes. My other school shoes had worn off, like many
other pairs before! The journey took about one and a half hours; the road being so full of
cars, matatus and motorcycles.
After the long and boring journey, we finally got to the shoe store. Because of the
new Covid-19, we had to wait, as only five people were allowed to get into the store at a
time. We waited for about thirty minutes since we were placed in the fourth round of getting
in to the store. Each round had twenty minutes.
Our turn finally came. We hurried off inside like we were scared to miss our turn
after the long wait! We walked over to the school supplies. I started fitting on shoes.
Suddenly there weren’t any shoes that could fit me! Some were too small and some too big.
I almost wondered if there was something wrong with my feet! Since my mother did not
want us to go to too many places, my only choice was to get the big shoes. I kind of looked
funny in them. In fact, I looked ridiculous in them but to my horror, my mother said that I
would grow into them.
The following day when I went to school, a lot of people were looking at me and my
new shoes. Some of them laughed. The shoes kept coming off from my feet, I could not walk
well or run in them. Finally, I reached my classroom. My teacher and other students asked
why my shoes were big. I told them it was because I did not find any shoes that could fit me
well and so my only choice was to buy big shoes.

Soon, it was break time. I was afraid that the bully from class seven would come over
and bully me. And guess what? I was right! She came over and said to my friends, “You
people hang out with someone who can’t get shoes that fit her? You should probably get a
new friend or stop hanging out with her.” Then one of my friends asked her, “Why do you
like bullying people? At least she has new shoes. Your shoes are as older as the hills!”
I said to her, “Please just go away and stop bullying people. It does no good to you.
You should be kinder to everyone.” She then started to laugh and left.
After break, I told the teacher what had happened. She had heard many reports from
many students about the class seven bully. She now decided that a detention would be a
good fit for bullies like her.
Later on that day when I got home from school, I told my mother what had happened.
She encouraged me not to fear bullies and praised me for standing up for myself.
The week went by quite fast. The weekend reached. On Saturday we went back to
the shoe store to check for new shoes. This time we went with my sister, she also needed
new school shoes. Lucky for us we found shoes to fit both my sister and I.
The class seven bully was suspended from our school. From that day onwards, things
went pretty smoothly for everyone.

Author: Kimberly Odhiambo
School: Kianda School, Nairobi
Class: Five
Ambition: Peadiatric Surgeon
Hobbies: Swimming, Gymnastics,
Drawing and Reading novels