Nora, The Barefoot Girl

The First Day/Week

She was woken up by the hurting beep of the alarm clock, but felt huge excitement, because of the decision she made and what she was going to try today. Her mother allowed her, to go barefoot to school, as she did not care, as long as Nora is happy, but to tell her, if she someday hurt herself. She decided to wear white capri pants and a tight, dark grey blouse, with elbow-length sleeves. She tied her long hair into a ponytail too. She did not put anything on her feet obviously and decided to go. After her breakfast she stepped infront of her homes closed door and breathed in deeply. She stepped out of the house and only exhaled, when her door closed. She walked a few metres, but then she had a weird feeling in her. It did not feel, like she was stepping on the concrete, but as if the concrete was stepping on her. The floor is sucking me up, she thought, i cannot do this. She was afraid. What if everyone thinks it is weird, that im barefoot? But then she thought, there is no going back now, and it will only be worse. If i won't be confident with myself, noone else will. She kept on walking, now concentrating on the unevenly placed stone brick path. Her feet touched the floor so gently, that you could barely hear her walking. The stones were not very warm, as the sun had not risen high enough in the morning. And she decided to test out all the different floors she walks past. At first the brittle creeking wood of the bridge, that goes over a small river that leads to the lake. Then the grass alongside the lake, the darker and rougher downtown roads, the cool metal gutters in the city... She even purposely stepped onto some of the rustling trash, just out of interest, finding out, that even that felt interesting and good. She felt, like she gained a new superpower. As she stood infront of the school, she was very confident. She looked at her feets soles. She laughed: They've become pretty black, just like those of the other shoe wearing kids, but only that mine are foot shaped. She went into the building and got some strange looks by the older and some smiles by the younger teachers, that did not even seem to notice her feet. She reacher her classroom. Her teacher called her infront of the class, to introduce herself: Hey, im Nora, your new classmate. I hope you will welcome me with open arms. The others whispered, while she sat down on the free seat next to a window. A blonde girl, wearing trendy clothes sat next to her, but came in late. She smiled at Nora, but kept looking at her feet. The girl thought Nora was wearing very minimalistic sandals at first, until she finally realized, that those were Nora's bare feet. She let out a silent "Wow", that Nora didn't notice. She was positively surprised by not only Nora's feet, but her courage and style. The class went on. During the break, a boy asked Nora, why she dosn't wear shoes and that bare feet are gross. She looked at him and asked "Why is that?" He answered, that her feet must be so dirty and gross, they are totally black. She answered, that his shoes were not any different, if not even dirtier than her feet, because they had a very uneven sole that picked up more dirt. The blonde girl came closer and listened. He told Nora, that her feet must smell very bad, but Nora replied, that his feet would sweat and smell even more, as his shoes are working like a bottle for the sweat of his feet, while Nora's feet simply do not sweat in the cool and open air. Maya, the blonde girl, came up to her, on her way home. Nora looked down and saw Maya's bare feet next to hers. She struggled a bit, as she had never been barefoot before. She followed Nora and talked with her, introduced herself and told Nora, that she convinced her to also go barefoot forever. Maya walked further into the city to her home, while nora took her usual route.