Matilda Spadoni

“One Week Early” by Matilda Spadoni

The doorbell rang. I opened it expecting a delivery man. “Wha—” “Close the door.” Molly had already pushed past me into the foyer. She sat on the ground panting hard. I stood in front of her, finally getting a good look at her face. Blood and dirt was caked onto her clothing and up her neck. Splatters of something clumpy covered her cheeks and her hair was in two messy braids. She was holding her stomach, and her breaths became slow and controlled. Like they were painful. “Molly what the hell?” I whispered. She took a deep breath. “Lock t...

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“Staying is a Necessity” by Matilda Spadoni

Submitted to Contest #95

“Tacos or pasta, tacos or pasta, tacos or pa…”I muttered under my breath. I stood in front of two doors leading to different lunch spots. I turned towards the taco place but as I  grabbed the door handle the hottest man I ever saw walked straight into the pasta place. I pivoted so fast and hurried into the pasta place behind the man. He got right in line while I went to set down my bag at a nearby table. It looked like the last table available. I got back in line and listened carefully to his order.  “Carbonara, blah blah, coffee...

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“Fun Fest” by Matilda Spadoni

Submitted to Contest #93

Fun Fest. The annual high school carnival thrown for the Juniors. The annual,”sorry you can’t have prom” peace offering from the school. Stupid to say the least. All of us will be seniors in one year, but our PTO, sponsored by all of the rich Wall Street dads, threw a fit. The carnival is held an hour away outside of the city in a huge field. It’s chaperoned, but barely so alcohol in gross water bottles always finds its way into the fest. What do you expect from a New York private school? My best friend Winnie and I opted to stay home. We d...

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“New Jersey Marathon” by Matilda Spadoni

Submitted to Contest #84

Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a runner. I ran with my mom, who was a world-renowned sprinter. She went to the Olympics once, and then retired when she got pregnant with me. I thought I would get those genes, but I got my dad’s severe asthma instead. That didn't stop me though. In middle school, I got 5th in a cross country race. Granted, there were seven people racing in the non-varsity, but I’ll take it. In high school, I got my mile time down to a 7:40, without having an asthma attack. I would never be an Olympian, but I could st...

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“Freezer Burn” by Matilda Spadoni

Submitted to Contest #81

“Ok but it’s the Sadie Hawkens dance, you have to ask Kai. It’s like… fate.” My best friend, Terry reasoned with me while we scooped ice cream at the local shop. “He doesn’t even know who I am,” I replied.  “He comes here all the time while you're working. Doesn’t look like that to me.” “I'm not doing it. Plus, the Sadie Hawkins Dance is very sexist, and comes from a sexist comic strip. I don’t know if I want to participate in a dance that suggests that a female taking dominance in terms of a social dance is atypical. The idea of Sad...

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“Jelly's” by Matilda Spadoni

Submitted to Contest #72

“No, no, no, no, I am not working at Jelly’s.” I looked at my mom in shock. We had been sitting at the kitchen table looking for jobs for three hours. My mother insisted I stay home for the summer and get a job in our tiny town in western Maryland. I wanted to go back to California and continue to stay with my roommate, Greta. “But, Flora, they pay a good rate, and it’s just down the road.” She persisted, but no way I was working at Jelly’s, a convenience store that had been around since my mother grew up here, and her father before her. In...

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“Ham Toss” by Matilda Spadoni

Submitted to Contest #69

It was a Saturday afternoon and a week before Christmas. My dad was in full Christmas mode. Lights had been strung on our trees since the day after Thanksgiving. We had just gotten  our second Christmas tree that morning because we had had our first for so long it died. We were not religious at all, but my dad still put my mom’s Nativity scene on our mantle. It was our sixth Christmas without my mom, but I still wasn’t used to her not running into our rooms at 6 am and forcing us to come downstairs with her. She would make us hot chocol...

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