Write about a relationship or friendship that was unexpected or so outside your usual type that you kept it a secret from your loved ones. (Bonus points if it didn’t stay secret for long!)

Posted in Nonfiction on Nov 8, 2024

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✍️ 23 stories

“The Eskimo Sister” by Jillian Rex

Submitted to Contest #276

Trigger Warning: Themes of a painful breakup and aggression. The Eskimo Sister: An Unlikely Encounter Marie was a good girl. A low drama pragmatist who was a staunch supporter of her female friends and valued justice, fairness and integrity above all else. She was always on her friends' side; Listening, offering advice, encouraging them to find their worth so they could hopefully stop dating Losers. But Marie was also a dreamer. She dreamt of a life full of travel, adventure, new experiences and of finding a relationship that made her feel a...

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“There Are Ghosts in Normal Heights, and You’re One of Them” by Liv Chocolate

Submitted to Contest #276

I couldn’t breathe. Between the hot, moist gym air and the bacterial stench of sweat rags strewn across the floor, I felt a gag bubbling in my throat.I covered my nose with the sleeve of my flannel and breathed in the crisp, powdery smell of fabric softener. At that moment, I wondered why gyms were such popular mating grounds — a social hub to meet romantic and sexual prospects, as if we were at a dimly lit bar or under the moonlight.And then it happened. Through the haze of a dirty gym mirror, I, a neurotic grammar nazi with a fanny pack, h...

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“After Hours” by Kashira Argento

Submitted to Contest #276

I remember adjusting my designer blazer and smoothing my skirt for the hundredth time that evening. At 9 PM, the 47th floor of Morrison & Blake was nearly empty, save for the gentle hum of a vacuum cleaner somewhere beyond my cubicle. Being a first-year associate, I was sternly advised that leaving before 8 PM was considered practically part-time."You're burning the midnight oil again?"The unexpected gravelly voice made me jump up in terror. Lifting my chin from my overheated laptop, I saw Jim, the night janitor, who stood in the doorway...

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“What Am I Gonna Say? ” by Cedar Moss

Submitted to Contest #276

I knew she would ask. She always does. What am I gonna say? Of course, the story doesn’t start there. Yikes, I wonder where it does start? I guess the second week of 7th grade is a good a place to start, when Jenifer rushed up to me with a secretive gleam in her eye, “I know who likes you, Linda?” “Who?” “Mark Truman.” “Who is Mark Truman?” A day or two later someone pointed him out playing catch with a football in the hall. A skinny guy with a crew cut and a strange point of hair co...

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“The Math Teacher” by S.d. Schwarz

Submitted to Contest #276

“What should I write about? You know all my deepest, darkest secrets.” I sent the text to Alisha along with a screenshot of writing prompts. Prompt four, to be exact.Her response came instantly. “What about Valentine’s day three years ago? That random you hooked up with?”Oof. Did I want to relive the worst sexual experience of my life?“Or that one coworker of yours that was cute and flirty. The skater boy.”Oh, Mike. A scrawny guy two years younger than me whose immaturity somehow made him the most likable person I worked with until I quit.I ...

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“I Know” by Zacharias Boer

Submitted to Contest #276

“Will you go on a date with me, Zach?” That’s what he asked me. Outside, on the lunch hour at a robotics competition sometime in October. We two sat on a concrete quarter-wall in the high school courtyard, each in our team shirts. It was chilly outside that day so I knew my face was flushed, incriminating me. I forget the context in which he asked me that. It was meant as a joke, a witty response to some dry comment I’d made about girlfriends or boyfriends or sex or something. The point is that he asked me, and I had already convin...

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“Moving on Over” by Dave Stanley

Submitted to Contest #276

“There’s a wait so long, so long. You’ll never wait so long.” ~Here Comes Your Man, The Pixies A startling amount of life’s adventures start out in a spirit of dispassionate inquiry. At least for me they do. It is Summer, 2005, and I’m in the mood to run it up the flagpole and see. Check the flypaper, see what’s sticking. Insert any number of cheeky colloquialisms here. “There, whaddya think?” I asked Willa, my roommate. I had just shown him my tongue-in-cheek word salad—no, word vomit—that I wrote for a MySpace b...

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“Two Peas in a Pod” by Sarah Duffey

Submitted to Contest #276

At fifteen, I held someone’s hand while they died. My grandpa passed away from cancer in a hospital bed, and when his spirit left his body, the goodness in me seemed to go with it. Afterward, I became as hostile as a yellow jacket, always hovering just above my friends’ and family’s skin. Over the next few years, relationships crumbled as I went from “the nicest person” someone ever met to “why don’t you just put a knife in me” kind of disappointing. I’d been on a rotary of psychiatric medications, and yet I still counted calories and lacked...

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Write about a relationship or friendship that was unexpected or so outside your usual type that you kept it a secret from your loved ones. (Bonus points if it didn’t stay secret for long!)

Submissions are closed

✍️ 23 stories

“The Eskimo Sister” by Jillian Rex

“There Are Ghosts in Normal Heights, and You’re One of Them” by Liv Chocolate

“After Hours” by Kashira Argento

“What Am I Gonna Say? ” by Cedar Moss

“The Math Teacher” by S.d. Schwarz

“I Know” by Zacharias Boer

“Moving on Over” by Dave Stanley

“Two Peas in a Pod” by Sarah Duffey

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about an encounter with someone new to you who changed your life forever.

Write about a date you went on that took an unexpected turn.

Write about something you do now that has become routine, but that the old you — or friends and family from your past — would never believe if they couldn’t witness it today with their own eyes.

Write about a time you approached a situation with one strong feeling or belief, only to have your perspective shift completely by the end.

Contest #276

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

230

Contest entries

110

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: