Two Sizes Too Big by Kathryn Hoehn (books to read for teens .TXT) 📕

Chapter 1

Karen, from her seat in the back of the classroom, could see every single one of her classmates. In the front of the room, three seats ahead of Karen, was her best friend, Dorothy. Dorothy was paying close attention to Mr. Dollaghan as he patiently demonstrated the proper way to add fractions together. Next to Dorothy was Matt, who had been Karen’s next-door neighbor for years. Matt was busy doodling in his notebook. Karen smiled, knowing he wasn’t paying any attention to what Mr. Dollaghan was saying! And next to Matt was Charlie. Karen sighed quietly while looking at him.
Charlie was the new kid in school. So far, everyone wanted to be his friend. He was smart, athletic, and he always wore the coolest clothes. While everyone else wore jeans to school, Charlie wore cargo shorts. He had at least ten pairs of them. He had dark blue, dark green, khaki, and camouflage. Charlie also wore really neat shirts that had pictures of state flags on them. He explained to the class that every time he traveled to a new state, he bought a t-shirt with that state’s flag on it. “So far,” Charlie would say, “I have thirty-four shirts!” Yes, Charlie seemed to be by far the coolest kid in school, and he was only in fourth grade!

Karen closed her eyes and thought of how great it would be if Charlie were her friend. They could hang out on the playground at recess, eat lunch together in the cafeteria, and she could even invite him to come over to her house next time she hung out with Dorothy and Matt. Being Charlie’s friend seemed like so much fun!
“Karen!” Karen’s eyes flew open at the sound of Mr. Dollaghan’s voice. “If you are unable to stay awake, I suggest that you pay a visit to the principal’s office. I am sure that he has a method for being alert in class!” Mr. Dollaghan looked at Karen crossly.
“I’m sorry. I can stay awake,” Karen said quietly, looking at her desk. Hushed laughter came from around the room. Karen glanced at Dorothy, who was shaking her head and smiling back at her best friend. Matt was still drawing in his notebook, but he was smiling, too. Then, Karen looked at Charlie. Charlie was smiling right at her. Karen smiled back, and Charlie gave her a little wave before he turned back around to face Mr. Dollaghan again.
“Alright class, let’s move onto some reading. Sit straightforward and take out your library books. We’re going to have thirty minutes of silent reading time.” Mr. Dollaghan put away his math book and erased the blackboard, then sat down at his desk.
Karen took out her library book and glanced up at Charlie again, who was concentrating on his own book. Karen smiled to herself, and then started to read, too.

Chapter 2

The next morning was Saturday. Karen woke up around nine o’clock, feeling very sore and achy. “Mom! I think I’m sick!” Karen called, rubbing at her knees. Karen’s mom came running into the room.
“You feel sick, Karen? Does your throat hurt?” Karen’s mom knelt in front of her and placed a hand on her forehead, checking her temperature. “Well, you don’t have a fever. Should I make an appointment with the doctor?”
“Mom, I don’t mean that kind of sick! I meant that my body really hurts. My arms hurt, my legs hurt, and my back hurts. Even my stomach feels cramped. I feel like I just ran ten miles!” Karen sat down on her bed and rubbed her arms.
“Oh! Karen, you aren’t sick! You're just having growing pains. I did notice that you’re getting taller. Why, your pants barely go down to your ankles anymore! And your feet have grown so much! Your heels hang over the backs of your sandals. I think that it’s time you and I did some clothes shopping. We’ll get you a few new pairs of pants and some new shirts, but what you are in serious need of is shoes!” her mom stood up and opened the shades over the window. Sunlight spilled into Karen’s room.
Karen glanced down at her feet. “They don’t look very big to me, Mom,” she said uncertainly.
“Nonsense, Karen. They’re much bigger than they used to be. You’ll grow into them soon enough!” She chuckled and smiled at her daughter. She laid out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for Karen to wear. “Now get dressed and come on down to breakfast. You and I have some shopping to do!” Karen’s mom said as she left the room.
Are they really that big? Have I grown that much? They don’t look any different from yesterday… Maybe my feet grew a lot while I was sleeping,

Karen thought to herself, as she got ready to go shopping.

When she and her mom got to the shoe store, Karen could hardly decide what shoes she wanted to get- there were blue sandals, and red boots, and yellow clogs. After trying on several different pairs, she chose some light pink tennis shoes. A salesman came over to help her find the right shoe size. He measured her foot, and then excused himself to go find the right size shoe at the back of the store. When he came back, he ordered Karen to sit down on a little bench so he could make sure the shoes fit properly. Karen glanced at his nametag as he stuffed her foot into a shoe. His name was Bob. Bob told Karen to stand up and he pressed down on her toe with his thumb.
“Hmm. It seems that we are going to have to go up another size! Why, your feet are longer than you are tall! Well, you’ll grow into them!” Bob laughed to himself as he went into the back room. He came out a minute later with another box.
“There,” he said, after he had jammed Karen’s foot into the shoe. “This is a much better fit. How do these feel, young lady?”
“Fine,” Karen mumbled, hoping he wouldn’t comment on the size of her feet again.
“It’s the craziest thing. Last night she went to bed with teeny little feet. This morning she woke up with skis!” Karen’s mom said, laughing.

Three hours later, Karen was back in her bedroom, sitting on her bed with the shoebox in her lap. Three other shopping bags filled with pants and shorts, shirts and sweaters, surrounded her.
Karen fidgeted. She tapped her fingers on the pale yellow of the box. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, glancing at her feet as she did so. They do kind of look like skis, she thought to herself. “Your feet have grown so much!”

her mother had said to her earlier. “Your feet are longer than you are tall!”

Bob had said.
“They are NOT that big!” Karen exclaimed out loud. She took her new pink tennis shoes out of their shoebox and put them on. “There! These shoes make them look smaller, if anything!” Karen proclaimed. She got up and set the shoebox on the floor beside her bed. “I’m going to go show mom just how small my feet look!” Karen started walking towards her door, and then, just as she was halfway across her bedroom floor, she tripped and landed flat on her stomach!
“Oh, no!” Karen said. “My feet really have grown! I can’t even walk without tripping anymore! I have an idea though- I’ll just slide and shuffle my feet so I don’t fall down.” Karen started shuffling towards her door, moving in such a way that she didn’t have to pick up her feet at all. She just slid them along until she got to the door, then she started out the hallway towards the stairs. Before she could make it to the stairs, her older sisters came out of their bedroom.
“Why are you walking like that?” Becca demanded, looking at her sister like she thought she was an alien.
“Duh, Becca, all the cool kids walk like that!” Diana exclaimed, turning circles around Karen. Becca and Diana laughed and started shuffling around the hallway.
“Hey, Diana, am I as awesome as Karen?” Becca shuffled down the hall and back.
“Definitely, Becca! The three of us are the most awesome people in the world! Hey, Karen, let’s slide on down to the kitchen and have a party! We’ll invite some other people who walk like we do!” Diana and Becca both started laughing at Karen, who stood in between them, not looking very happy.
“Stop it! Listen to me, okay? I can’t walk very well because my feet… my feet grew a lot the other day and now I trip over them really easily, because they’re so big.” Karen crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at her sisters.
“Right, Karen. And the fact that your shoelace is untied has nothing to do with tripping, right? Come on Becca, let’s go to the mall,” Diana said, slinging her purse over her shoulder and grabbing Becca’s arm.
“Are we driving or shuffling to the mall?” Becca said with a laugh. She and Diana disappeared down the stairs.

Karen leaned against the wall and slid down until she was sitting with her legs straight out in front of her. “No one understands me,” she moaned, glaring furiously at her feet.
“Why doesn’t anyone understand you?” Karen looked across the hall at the door in front of her. Her little sister, Kendall, was peeking out. Kendall's friend Allyson stood behind her. They’re playing dress-up,

Karen noticed as Kendall and Allyson opened the door all the way and stepped out. Kendall was dressed like a ballerina, all in pink, and Allyson was dressed like a clown, complete with a rainbow colored wig and huge red clown shoes.
“It’s not really important… It’s just that my feet are suddenly huge and I don’t have anyone to talk to about it.” Karen sighed and looked at the little