The cafeteria slowly filled with chatter as a crowd of fifth graders shoved their way inside from recess. Lunch boxes clattered onto the long tables and the smell of cheese pizza cut into several small rectangles quickly spread around the room. It was time for lunch.

One last boy entered the cafeteria, but if you didn’t look at his face, you wouldn’t be able to tell he was a boy at all. Jimmy Smith stood almost six feet tall, despite being eleven years old like the rest of the students. He used his height to his advantage to scare away kids who didn’t obey his every command, and built a team of other taller-than-average boys to rule over the fifth grade class. Jimmy looked around the cafeteria, searching for a place to sit. The cafeteria was full, except for one table that he had previously claimed as his own. But instead of finding a completely empty table for him and his henchmen, he found a girl sitting there.

Susan Johnson. A tiny ten year old girl who everyone avoided like she was old gum at the bottom of a desk in fear that she would try to convert them into being an absolute horse fanatic like her. Her horse themed lunch box was placed neatly in front of her, and she slowly chewed at the tuna sandwich her mother had packed for her earlier that day while reading a book called “Horse Magic”, which she had brought from home. Jimmy immediately knew who she was due to her flashy bright pink cartoon horse shirt with hundreds of sequins, which was quite possibly the most disgusting thing he had ever seen in his eleven year life. 

“HEY!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. The previously loud and chatter-filled cafeteria dropped to a sudden silence as the entirety of fifth grade slowly turned in fear to look at Jimmy. Excluding Susan. Susan continued to enjoy her sandwich and acted like the toughest kid in school hadn’t just shouted at her.

“Hey horse kid! I’m talking to you!”

Susan glanced up at Jimmy with the sandwich still in her mouth. She stared blankly for a moment, then looked back down at the book in her hand and continued to read peacefully. 

Jimmy stomped over to Susan with a terrifying rage-filled expression in his eyes and snatched the book out of her hand. “You think this is funny?” he shouted in her face. Susan pouted. “I didn’t finish the chapter yet.” 

“Get away from my table!” 

“Can I have my book back? I’m almost done!”

“Get out!”

“Come on, I just need to finish this last book and I get a gold star on my reading sheet!”

“Forget about the book!” he said, chucking it across the cafeteria. It flew through the air and landed on another table filled with terrified eleven year olds. They scurried away from it, afraid to be near any object that had come in contact with Susan.

Jimmy stomped closer and clenched his fists. “You better leave or you’ll be sorry.” Susan crossed her arms. “You don’t own this table. I don’t see your name on it.”

“He told you to beat it, loser.” responded Mark, one of Jimmy’s tall henchmen. Ryan, another one of Jimmy’s friends stepped up and crossed his arms with an evil grin on his face. “Yeah, beat it, loser!”

“Dude, I literally just said that.”

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes I did! You can’t just take my line!”

Jimmy shoved both of the boys out of his way. “Are you gonna move or what?” he roared.

Susan rolled her eyes. “Shut up Jimmy!”

Somehow, Jimmy’s face filled with even more anger, and the rest of the fifth grade held their breath. Some whispers traveled around, discussing whether Susan would make it out alive from this experience. After all, she was very short, and Jimmy, who towered over her, could probably snap her in half if he was provoked enough. 

“What did you just say to me?” Jimmy yelled, clenching his fists tightly. 

“I said shut up, you annoying, six-foot-tall freak! Leave me alone!”

Jimmy’s friends stepped back. “Yeah, she’s gonna die.” whispered Mark. 

“Are you serious?” replied Ryan. “He can’t just beat up a girl! That’s like, illegal or something.” 

The entire grade watched in absolute horror, but also with curiousity. Someone had finally dared to stand up to Jimmy, and although they were glad it wasn’t one of them, they wanted to see how this played out. 

Jimmy immediately sent out the first punch, aiming directly at Susan’s face. Perhaps her nose would be broken, or she would pass out on impact. Either way, Jimmy knew she would definitely learn her lesson. His fist flew towards Susan, but before he could get in the first, satisfying punch, Susan had moved to the side. 

“No way,” the other kids gasped. More whispers were exchanged around the cafeteria. “She dodged! How did she do that?” 

Jimmy glared at Susan, who was standing a few feet to the left of where she was standing earlier. She glared back at him, catching her breath. This was his chance! He swung at Susan again, but she dodged him once more, jumping to the right. Jimmy growled angrily as he got his fists ready to punch for a third time. Susan had been lucky in these first two punches, but she knew that she couldn’t dodge him forever. Once Jimmy’s fist met with her face, it would most definitely be destroyed. She had to run away before she got hurt. 

Susan turned and prepared to take off, but before she could move, she felt an iron grip on her wrist that pulled her back. Jimmy knew of her plan, and he wasn’t going to let her win this battle. “Let go of me!” she shreiked, frantically trying to pull her wrist from his grasp, but to no avail. 

She tried picturing a solution. If she didn’t act quickly, her nose would be broken and Jimmy would win the fight. As she gritted her teeth, she remembered the book she had been reading earlier during lunch: “Horse Magic”, about a magical horse who saves the world. Somehow in that book, there was a solution to every problem that took place. But this was real life. Susan couldn’t magically grow wings and fly away from this problem. She had to take matters into her own hands. She had to have an advantage somehow.

As she struggled to keep herself from getting beaten to a pulp by Jimmy, the rest of the grade watched closely. “Come on Jimmy! You can do it!” Ryan cheered as Susan was dragged closer. Susan kept trying to pull away in an effort to buy more time. She wouldn’t be able to get her arms free, but what else could she do? She glanced at the ground, her eyes looking at her bright pink horse-themed shoes which she had bought a few weeks ago. They were huge, sparkly, light-up sneakers, and right now the lights on her shoes were constantly flashing in a variety of colors. 

Susan closed her eyes and swung her foot up. Maybe it wouldn’t work, but it was the only option available to her. Maybe she could get Jimmy’s grip to loosen a little and pry herself out. 

She immediately opened her eyes when she heard a blood curdling cry coming from in front of her. The tight hold on her wrists had disappeared, and Jimmy was now on the ground in what seemed to be extreme pain. The cafeteria erupted into cheers, screams, yells, and utter confusion as everyone rushed over to see the glorious sight that had never once occurred before. Jimmy was down. Jimmy lost. Jimmy was defeated by Susan Johnson, the horse girl.

Turns out, Susan had kicked Jimmy in the place where he definitely did not want to be kicked. Her eyes had been closed, but somehow, she had managed to aim well enough to knock him down. Jimmy howled in pain, tears rushing out of his eyes while his henchmen came closer to help him. “Dude, get up!” Mark whispered loudly. 

“I can’t!” Jimmy whined. “It hurts!”

Susan still stood there, eyes widened. She was shocked by what she had done. “I didn’t mean to do that.” she stammered.

“Holy cow Susan! You beat Jimmy!” yelled a fifth grader. “Yeah, that was so cool!” shouted another. The cafeteria burst into applause and cheers for Susan, who had done what everyone deemed impossible. The reign of Jimmy Smith was no longer.