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Set your story on the eve of the first day back at school.

Posted in Kids on Sep 1, 2023

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✍️ 34 stories

Potion-making

Submitted to Contest #214

Jayce is sprinting across the yard towards me, waving his arm high, triumphantly. “I found a feather, Mom! Look, it’s blue! It must be from a blue jay.”I squat down to inspect it. “I think you’re right. Excellent job, sweetheart. Let’s put it in the jar.”Jayce wastes no time, uncorking the tiny plastic jar before jamming the feather into it.“Is that our last thing?” Jayce asks, still stuffing the feather with his index finger. Once it’s mostly in, a few stray strands of the feather are popping up out of the mouth of the container, Jayce push...

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School Refusal

Submitted to Contest #214

“Ellie, come out from under there.”“No, I’m fine right here.”“Come on Ellie, it’s getting late.”“I’m staying here.”“In a pillow fort?”“Yep.”“All night?”“Yep.”“Don’t you think that’s a little… I don’t know… immature?”“Nope.”“Come on Ellie, your bed is much more comfortable.”“I’m perfectly fine here, thank you very much.”“How about I get you a nice tub of Ben and Jerry’s and you crawl up here next to me and we will talk about it? Come on. I’ve got Chunky Monkey.”“Good try, but I think I’ll pass.”“Pass on Ben and Jerry’s? It’s Chunky Monkey! Yo...

29 likes 41 comments 41
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First Day Back

Submitted to Contest #214

The rush of air smashed into John’s face as he balanced on the handlebars of the camp counselor’s bicycle, and with each bump on the hot asphalt, John’s bottom bounced into the air and lost contact with the thin handlebar that he clung to for dear life. Jim, the camp counselor, laughed. “Serves you right for not having a bike of your own—just one day of camp left—it isn’t too late to take a spill, weirdo.”John was looking forward to his first day of middle school the next day. It would be his first day at a new school, and his...

24 likes 14 comments 14
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The Mentor

Submitted to Contest #214

The MentorOff-key crooning…“The green leaves of summer are starting to fall, and those…’’“Enough with all the melancholy end-of-summer stuff, Sawyer!”“How about something a little more upbeat like a little ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease, Jesse?”“Oh my God, no. If I hear about Sandy and Danny one more time I’m going to toss my cookies. You need to move on. Summer’s over. We had a good run, but school starts tomorrow.”“Yeah, I know, but I sure am going to miss those lazy, laid-back days of summer, sleepin’ in, sittin’ on the porch sipping my lemo...

18 likes 4 comments 4
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Fried Chicken

Submitted to Contest #214

The sun does not love you. If it did it would stay. It wouldn’t abandon you after three months. Three months of joy and freedom isn’t long enough for anyone. A person needs at least a lifetime of adventure and play and exploration to achieve self-actualization. Trapped in a prison camp, forced to study minerals and long division, who am I supposed to be beyond a statistic in a messed-up system I don’t fully understand.It's 7PM and I’m in the backyard behind my treehouse so no one can easily see me dig a grave for myself. My dog, Buddy, lies ...

15 likes 11 comments 11
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Loretta in Flight: Fly Like an Eagle in a World Full of Chickens

Submitted to Contest #214

Loretta Young squished her plump figure into the tiny confessional in St. John the Evangelist’s Catholic Church. Her knee length jean shorts squeezed her thick thighs as she struggled to kneel down on the step. When she finally knelt down, the step groaned loudly beneath her. She smoothed out the invisible wrinkles on her pink tee-shirt and pulled it taut over her ample bosom and pouchy stomach. Dishwater blonde hair hung on each side of her round face and past her shoulders in stick-straight strands, like dry spaghetti. Laugh lines creas...

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Promise of Summer

Submitted to Contest #214

Ethan’s summer was boring because he was a wimp. Tomorrow was the first day of his senior year, and he was spending his last free day at Mimi’s, a local coffee shop downtown. Like he did every time he was there, he pretended to work on his summer assignments. It was his cover, considering he didn’t even like coffee. In truth he finished his work weeks ago. Most of July and August were spent at his grandfather’s home, making sure his grandpa got up, ate something, used the bathroom instead of his La-Z-Boy to urinate, and went to bed all witho...

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A bang-Up Vacation

Submitted to Contest #214

He stood, frozen in time, staring out the plate-glass window. It was raining with such intensity that Don Bryant could barely make out his car parked in the driveway.  Carol came up beside him and gently put a hand on his arm. She spoke in a low, commanding voice. "I don't like it, Donny love. Will we be able to complete the contract in time?" "Don't worry, dear. The car is packed and the gear is oiled and ready." He smiled, reached over and patted her hand with authority. "We have never done a double job before and it worries me," s...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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First Day Jitters

Submitted to Contest #214

First Day Jitters The noise was intense. Between the constant ticking of her clock and the thumping of her heart, Addy could not fall asleep. She rolled over and peeked out from under her covers. 2:25 A.M. The moonlight cascading in through her blinds.  Excitement and nerves overwhelmed her senses. How would the first day of ninth grade go? A new school. All new teachers. No friends. So many fears.  Bile rises up in her throat. Addy leaps out of her bed, rushing through the bedroom door. Fuzzy socks sliding along the newly ste...

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BRIGHT STAR

Submitted to Contest #214

BRIGHT STAR I can hear her, my sister. She has dressed up in her new uniform so that mother can have a look at her before she starts school tomorrow. She obviously looks good, judging by my mother’s hushed tones of awe. They are only next door, for God’s sake. Do they think I have lost my sense of hearing on top of everything else? There’s no sense in keeping all this from me for Caroline, my twin, will come in to say goodbye in the morning and I’ll see her in uniform anyway. I’m not envious, after all. Okay, maybe I am, just a little bit. I...

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Togetherness, Bound by Love

Submitted to Contest #214

The sun had just begun its descent below the horizon, casting a warm, orange glow across the small suburban neighborhood. It was a serene evening, the kind that hinted at the approaching change of seasons. A soft, cool breeze rustled the leaves of the trees lining the streets, carrying with it the sweet scent of blooming flowers. For most, it was a typical late summer evening, a prelude to the inevitable return to routine. In the Thompson household, however, the eve of the first day back at school was anything but routine. The Thompsons we...

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Violet's Second Chance

Submitted to Contest #214

Grade five had ended on a sour note for young Violet. On one of the very last days of elementary school, she had been caught stealing an eraser from a grade-five-only book fair set up in the hallways. She was humiliated in front of her teacher and her entire class when a parent volunteer walked in with the school principal and pointed her out specifically as the thief. She was then forced to publicly return the eraser that she had taken and the shame she felt was all consuming. Summer vacation couldn’t come fast enough after that. Maybe afte...

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New Kid

Submitted to Contest #214

Mom and Dad didn't ask us how we felt about it. We didn't get to vote on it, because we're just kids. So here we are now, in the middle of nowhere, away from our friends, in a new unfamiliar place. There is this knot in the pit of my stomach that just won't go away, like I swallowed a rock. That rock, it just lives there in my tummy, all day, and all night. I sense its hardness inside me when I go to bed, and when I wake up, it is still there, cold and unfriendly. I imagine the rock, looking like a little angry face emoji, pouting ...

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Do Fireflies Go to School?

Submitted to Contest #214

Usually I love fireflies. Not tonight, though. Usually, when I see the world light up around me with tiny suns, it means the next chapter of today’ fun is beginning. For two months, it meant grabbing that old jar Dad gave me and stuffing my toes into my already-tied sneakers. Mom hates when I do that. She says I’m going to ruin my shoes, and that I already grow out of my shoes too fast as it is. But I still do it because I know she’ll still laugh as I run out the door, swinging and grabbing at every firefly in sight. Most bugs are hard to...

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The Bike Thief

Submitted to Contest #214

We were riding our bikes. Tomorrow we would have to go back to school, but today we were riding our bikes down Park Heights, around the field and woods near Towanda Rec Center, back up Reisterstown Road, and in and out of all the little side streets around our houses where the big fans outside the Chinese places blew out fried food smell and the trash was heaped up high and sometimes you could see two people hiding out doing stuff with each other that they probably should be doing inside. It was two in the afternoon. The sun was super-hot....

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