by Alessi, St Cyprian’s School, South Africa
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Bravery Bella. She was a sidekick to Courageous Colette, and she was very brave. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for what’s right.
One of her stories started like this:
One fine day, Bella was on her phone when she got a message from her friend Emily.
It went like this:
“Hi Bella, I don’t know what to do. I signed up to do a speech in front of 500 people. Now I’m really scared and nervous.”
Bravery Bella answered and said, “Don’t worry at all. I know you’ll do great! Also, what is your speech about?”
Emily said, “It’s about standing up for yourself and for what’s right.”
Bella was shocked and responded, “Oh my goodness, that’s so cool!”
Emily started feeling a bit better, so she responded back, saying, “Thank you so much, Bella. You’re the best friend ever.”
Bella said, “Aw, thank you! I wish you the best of luck for tomorrow—even though you won’t need it. But now I have to go to bed. See you at the speech.”
Emily said, “See you tomorrow.”
The next day came. Bella made her way to Emily’s house, and when she got there, it was 9:30. The speech was at 10:30. When she arrived, Emily was very scared.
Bella had an idea. She went to the store and bought Emily a beautiful dress and wrote a card saying:
“Dear Emily,
I know how scared you are for this, but I believe in you. You’ve got this.
Lots of love,
Bravery Bella.”
On her way back to Emily’s house, Bella saw an old lady who was afraid to cross the road. Bella got out of the car and said to the old lady, “You’ve got this. Don’t be afraid.” And the old lady did it.
Bella got back in the car and returned to Emily’s house. When she arrived, Emily shouted, “WHERE WERE YOU?”
Bella said, “I got this for you.”
Emily looked at the dress and said, “I love it!” Then she opened the card, read it, and started crying.
Bella asked, “WHY ARE YOU CRYING?”
Emily said, “It’s tears of joy.”
Then Emily looked at the time and shouted, “IT’S 10:29!”
They rushed to the stage, and Emily did amazing.
When she got back to Bella after the speech, she said, “That was fun, but you know you didn’t have to clap so loud!”
They both laughed, gave each other a big hug, and Emily said, “Thank you so much for pushing me to do that. It was actually really fun. Everyone clapped for me!”
Bella said, “Why would anyone boo you? You did amazing!”
That made Emily feel really good, so she said, “Thank you so much. You’re the best.”
They both hugged and smiled.
And that is one—only one—of Bravery Bella’s brave stories. But it doesn’t end there.
The next day, Bella got an idea. An idea that she would try to change the world. She wanted to do a speech about standing up for what’s right—but the catch was that she would do it in front of 1,000 people.
She asked Emily to join her, and she said yes. So they did it.
And that is why Bella is now Bravery Bella.