by Vivian Le, Staff Writer
Kelly Nguyen (‘19) has been burdened with an addiction ever since entering Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) in 2015. She claims it to only be an “interest,” however, as the days go by, the problem grows exponentially worse. With each passing day, she grows more and more tempted to add another pair of white shoes to her immense collection.
“I’ve known about her addiction ever since last year, when she bought her pair of Stan Smiths. From then on, things have only been going downhill for her,” said William Tran (’19), concerned for Nguyen.
In blatant disregard to her friends’ help, Nguyen says, “I know some of my friends lecture me from time to time about how I shouldn’t own so many shoes, but I usually just brush their comments off and continue to buy more shoes.”
Nguyen has gone as far as to bring her addiction into the school halls. She stores her white shoes inside her locker, and can often be found throughout the day changing her white shoes. The problem has increased to the point that FVHS teachers have started to express their worries for Nguyen.
“The only thing I know about Kelly is that she’s always changing her shoes, period. Like always changing her shoes,” her English teacher Scott Ragan said.
“Over the past year, I think I’ve collected about seven pairs of white sneakers and four pairs of white sandals,” Nguyen said.
In desperation, her friends are searching for ways to help Nguyen change her ways, including Emily Ngo (’20), who yells and screams at her when she starts having interest in a new pair of white shoes.
However, despite all this, Nguyen continues to deny all the help she is given.
“I wouldn’t call it an ‘addiction; it’s more of a strong interest of mine. Therefore, I’m not going to stop pursuing my interests,” she said.
As of now, Nguyen continues to pursue these “strong interests” in unhealthy doses while shutting out the people she love.
“I don’t know, I think that she’s probably addicted to shoes and probably needs some professional help,” Ragan said.
