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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#128: Tea Time

Did you know that January is National Hot Tea Month? Tea is a wonderfully diverse beverage that’s enjoyed in many different ways all over the world. It can be a soothing drink, a social drink, and has even sparked conflicts (think the Boston Tea Party, or the First Opium War).

Inspired by the history and cultural significance of this beverage, here are the prompts for this week’s contest:

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone making a cup of tea — either for themself or for someone else.

Fluff – 171 stories

Set your story in a tea house.

Spring – 36 stories

Write a story about a tea party that your character is reluctant to go to.

Summer – 44 stories

Write about a character who’s dying to “spill the tea” (gossip) about something.

Fluff – 21 stories

Write a story about a conflict that breaks out over something ordinary (like tea, perhaps).

High School – 26 stories

Stories

“Her Cup of Tea” by Genevieve Willingham

Submitted to Contest #128

Her Cup of Tea She sipped the cup of tea he put before her. Mmm. Just right. Not too much honey, not too much milk. Just her cup of tea. This was the first time she’d been to the new tea house, and she’d suggested that they meet here so she could check it out while she checked him out. She suspected that maybe he, too, would be just her cup of tea. It was the first time they’d seen each other outside of th...

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“Don't Let Her Know You're Awake” by Frances Ducommun

Submitted to Contest #128

Well within the woods, dappled in deep forest shadow the teahouse crouched, waiting for her. A sense of wary superstition was undercut by the inner skeptic’s eye roll, “Of course they’d use location and atmosphere. When relying on placebo, location and atmosphere are all you’ve got.” Claudia politely knocked on the door and was surprised by the girl who opened it. She’d expected someone dressed in kimono, someone aged. This girl looked barely out of her teen years, blue eyes shining with enthusiasm. She wore a pink woolen jumper, which was t...

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“My cup of tea?” by Lee-Anne Lenore Archibald

Submitted to Contest #128

I always have my tea at two.At two I have my tea. I reminded myself of this for eighty years. Then Edwin died, and I had to have tea by myself. I was tired of having my tea at two, by myself.I walked out the door of my home, for the seventh time this week, to " Sweet Tea" about five short blocks away. It was Saturday today. I liked it there, because there was nowhere to sit, for tea. I always seemed, to have such lovely conversations there. Once this week, a conversation with a mother of six. Goodness six children. I had none. But Edwin and ...

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“I am not your cup of tea!” by Derrick Page

Submitted to Contest #128

I AM NOT YOUR CUP OF TEA!“The memoirs of Mr. Teabody”01-11-2022Tonight, is the night that I have been waiting for. Finally, after weeks of planning the best time for me to tell her how I feel has come. My smooth polished skin gets goose bumps when I think of her sweet, soft lips gently pressed up against my lips. The smell of ginger peppermint spice, and cinnamon floating up in her nostrils. Indeed, there is nothing like a good old fashioned tea party. Many of the world's most prestigious tea taster's will be there, but she is the only one I...

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“A Tea Party to Remember” by Alexis Hager

Submitted to Contest #128

Claire stared upon the party clothes that laid neatly on her bed. Imaging how they would look on her over and over again in her mind. She contemplated, yet again, changing the dress or possibly the color of the stockings that she had picked. No, these would have to do. There was no time for second guessing. Claire had finally decided she made the right choice of fashion, yet had not decided if going to the tea party was what she truly wanted at all.The creeping anxiety made itself apparent up along the back of Claire's neck. Why was simply g...

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“Chaos in Chipped China” by MELISSA SALAS

Submitted to Contest #128

Olivia looks forward to tea at Chipped China every Sunday with Sarah and Daniela. Something had Olivia pacing back in forth in her room, chipping her nails away, in her plum silk spaghetti strap that she kept fidgeting on as it fell off her shoulder. She began to question if the lilac plaid skirt would look better than the white snake skin skirt, or if she needed to re-do her nails. Olivia had not yet come to terms about seeing Daniela delete a message thread under the name, “Joseph.” Joseph had been Olivia’s middle school crush, and she tho...

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“Salvation” by Lauren Flake

Submitted to Contest #128

Thunder clapped as lightning danced across the sky. Heavy drops of rain screamed while falling from the heavens. The ruins of the abandoned cathedral reached towards the sky as if trying to climb back to its rightful place. From across the street, Cass watched the broken wooden door beat against the stone wall. Its thudding impact repeatedly forced by the wind. Her grandmother awaited her inside. Cass found a letter on her front door an hour before. The invitation to a tea party written in her grandmother’s jagged script. The words, “Yo...

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“Tea with the Marple Sisters” by WRL Battle

Submitted to Contest #128

Things I'd rather be doing right now: Jumping out of a plane without a parachute.Playing "The Floor is Lava" with actual lava.Climbing Mt. Everest in a bathing suit.Liking the gravel off the pavement. Getting thrown off a moving trainAnything absolutely anything other than having tea with the Marple Sisters. You might think I'm being dramatic, but you have never met the Marple sisters. All the grown-ups called Patricia and Jennie Marple eccentric, but I knew that was polite talk for psychopaths. Everything they did was weird. ...

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“Keeping Sadie Allard” by A. Nic

Submitted to Contest #128

There are two things that Parker Caddel was terrible at: plotting and confrontation. If his life was as easy as outlining all of the scenes that would play out, then maybe he wouldn’t have been so stunned when his ex-girlfriend, Sadie Allard, invited him for her annual tea party. As the president of the writing committee of their university, she hosts the event every winter. During the last year’s, they were inseparable. It was either her arm around his waist or his around hers for the entire two hours. Now, with a separation of six months ...

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“The Way Out of a Troubled Mind” by Angie N

Submitted to Contest #128

Their eyes glancing around each corner of the room. Their ears wide open to hear the raucous sounds glistening off the walls. The news turns on while each comrade sitting down carves to know each detail. Caleb calls out my name to inform me how destructive his girlfriend gets. Each word a nag, it’s all about spilling out the clandestine information that tries to stay hidden. Everyone surrounds him as he complains about how his Girlfriend’s OCD hits him. He explains the how and why. A boundless cycle of sentences upon sentences. I sit nex...

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“Tee Time” by Matthew Kyle

Submitted to Contest #128

When I think of golf courses I think of death. I don’t play golf it seems like a waste of time. Most people don't share the same thinking as me, but most people haven't shared the same experiences as me either. I won't mention the name of the course (for legal reasons), but not until I took job at a golf course in Baldwin County, AL did I realize how many people die on golf courses. Some deaths are attribute to medical issues (heart attack, accidental injury, etc.), and some deaths involve criminal activity (assault an...

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“Getting on the same page. ” by Bella Cole

Submitted to Contest #128

Everyone was having such a good day, and I knew I was going to be the reason to ruin it. My mom had called me at least twice to discuss this evening's dinner. Asking me about food options, and different table settings. My dad, even though he was working, was regularly texting me on arrival times and traffic patterns. If it was any other day, another other circumstance, I would have been excited to. Happily answering their texts and calls with equal joy. Yet, every new ding sent a wave of dread over me. They knew nothing of my t...

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“All That and A Cup of Tea” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #128

Captain Westheimer knew there was a reason he primarily stuck to coffee and hot chocolate after Stalag V C opened, and it wasn’t because tea just wasn’t available—he had plenty smuggled in for his British prisoners from Switzerland—nor was it because he didn’t enjoy tea once in awhile. It was because he couldn’t stand the intense standards tea was held to among the British, and after a particularly nasty argument between the German guards and British prisoners, Westheimer vowed to only drink tea in private. His superior and close friend,...

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“Chinese Tea Story” by Mark Edmonds

Submitted to Contest #128

Krystal Chung was a beautiful woman of clearly Chinese appearance. She had an oval goose-egg face, high forehead, long delicate eyebrows, a flat nose with a pale tip, and a mouth like a cherry with a cupid’s bow upper lip. At the time of their initial introduction, Arthur and Krystal were both single, unattached and feeling unloved. Their relationship had blossomed naturally over a mutual appreciation of the finer aspects of Chinese tea and a love of Chinese fish cuisine and fermented bean juice. Arthur had been incrementally spending...

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“The Prom Date” by Marilyn Cortez

Submitted to Contest #128

Madelyn had always been a romantic at heart. Many YA books had been read by Madelyn as the sole research done for the past five years that proved it was possible! Cute boy would meet cute girl. An instant ‘something’ would be felt by both. They would start talking and seem to never run out of things to say. They would laugh and smile and would both sneak looks at each other hoping not to be caught in the act. Inevitably the moment would come when the air between them would heat up. He would slowly and perfectly bend his head closer to hers, ...

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$250

Prize money

298

Contest entries

160

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 14, 2022 EST

Won by Jay Wayne 🏆

Title: my fellow passerine

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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