So I Went Shopping Today: True Story

So I Was In Year Four

NOTE: 100% true story. However, her name has been changed for safety reasons and so forth. I don't want people to go after her or anything, (that's my job)* 

So, I was in Year Four, about eight years ago to be specific.

At any primary school, there is a mean girl. In fact, at any school, there is a mean girl. Now, I know people will say that bullies are bullies because they were bullied or to make themselves feel better, or some other tragic event, but to be frank, I don't really care! I wasn't bullied per say; it was (and is) more of a strong mutual dislike. 

Her name is Hannah Stanley.*

Picture this: after school, bad weather, netball. I'm playing outside in the wind, and the rain is just teasing us at this point. Naturally defensive, my position is goal-keeper; Hannah's, goal-shoot. Wonderful. We're not the best of friends for reasons I don't even remember, but our hate goes back and I'm not prepared to change that. So, obviously we're playing rougher against each other than usual. At one point, she may or may not have been tripped up by my shoe and at another point, I may or may not have had my glasses knocked off by her ball, 'mistakenly', of course. 

Anyway, the rain stops for a little bit and I think we're safe. 

This is England.

It then, spontaneously starts to pour down. Everybody rushes inside. Now, I'm not prepared to catch anything so I start getting changed back into my uniform. Tights. Skirt. Shirt. Jumper. Tie. 

I'm sitting down now as I prepare to slip on my black flats. One...

Two?

Where is two? 

At this point, I'm laughing because I would forget my head if it wasn't attached to my neck, or so my mother says. I check underneath, on top, beside, around, everything inside the changing room, which is actually just a classroom. Still laughing, I ask somebody who was in the classroom,

"Do you know where my shoe is?" 

"No," They say, laughing along. Or so I think.

I look for a further ten minutes before I start to get scared. Where is my shoe? I never thought I'd be saying that. There are no teachers around so I'm practically on my own, looking to rescue my shoe. 

MY NEW SHOE, by the way. I had bought them just a day earlier.

My eyes start to well up at the thought, and the person in the classroom is snickering behind me. Sadness turns to anger and with tears starting to fall, I shout,

"Where is my shoe? Did you take it?" Full of despair as the person shakes their head, I could literally punch a wall right now. I'm not going to wear my trainers home, and I'm certainly not going home without my shoe. I reach an ultimatium - I will not leave without my shoe. 

At this point, things get turned upside down. Literally. I am flipping over desks and tables, searching for footwear. I'm tearing through the cupboards and the sinks like a huge racoon in a restaurant's trash. By now, my face is red, my eyes are red, I'm seeing red - where is my shoe?! 

"Hannah took it." The person finally said. With emphasis on that 'finally', as they had stood there and watched me wreck the classroom, witholding that kind of information from me. I could have killed them and Hannah, using the both of them as the weapons. I knew I would be putting the classroom back together on my own, which infuriated me even more.

Why she hadn't told me this earlier did not even pass my mind, but the calm that dominated my body scared me. For truly, if I had expressed how angry I was at that current moment, Hannah would've ended up without a foot, let alone without her shoe and the person who had let me destroy the class would've ended up very much on the floor. 

The person then even had the audacity to explain,

"Hannah roofed it." 

I was in Year Four. 'Roofed'? It sounded like...

"She threw it on the roof?" 

The person nodded. I don't know what held me back from strangling that person, but I still regret not doing it. Outside, hail acted like trucks of ice falling from the sky combined with the thunderstorm going on meant that my shoe was well and truly done. There was no caretaker to even climb onto the roof and retrieve it for me.

MY NEW SHOE! 

So I hopped home. In tears. Soaking wet. 

In my mind, I walked into the road and dissolved into a street bump for several cars to run me over again and again, but that's quite extreme.

Though, who could blame me after the day I'd had?

I keep that one shoe underneath my bed in a box to remind me what kind of villains are living in our society at this very moment. Keep your shoes with you at all times.