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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of coming of age short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6510+ Coming of age Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. No matter how old you are, there’s just something inherently relatable about coming-of-age tales. Discover the best new coming-of-age stories right here!

Coming of age Short Stories – Page 6 of 434

Our Ladies of Passion

Submitted to Contest #299

The Vacation Express is very busy the Monday Mary Margaret starts working the front desk. Mary Margaret is nervous, not only because it's her first day on the job, but also her first day on any job. She's just graduated high school in May, and with little to do between graduation and her next grand adventure, what ever that might be, she embarks on the hunt. The oh so daunting, nothing more monotonous, job hunt.“Must have a masters degree or higher.” - The local library“Must have six years prior experience.” - The local daycare.“Must love do...

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Verity

Submitted to Contest #299

Sensitive themes: Familial Alienation, Cursing Verity watched the world go by through the train window, her heart thundering with anxiety, eagerness, rage, and hope.Breathe, she commanded herself as her stomach tightened again and the urge to run back to the onboard bathroom grew. Breathe. It's going to be alright. I'll just explain everything to him. Explain that Mom lied. That she manipulated me into believing her bullshit! Verity clenched her fist until her nails bit painfully into her palm, at which point she quickly unclenched and clos...

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How to Spot a Witch (Step 1: Deodorant)

Submitted to Contest #299

It was a cool, late fall day when we met. The leaves were just beginning to litter the ground in a cascade of yellows, oranges, and browns, crunching under my feet as I walked to the high school’s entrance. It’s still hard to believe that we’re in high school now. Ninth grade. Young adults, young professionals, or whatever other bullshit the principal said to us at orientation.It’s been like a month. I should be used to it by now. The intensive workload, the trauma of changing and showering after gym, and students with easily a foot on me an...

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Monkhood is a Sacrifice

Submitted to Contest #299

On a rugged little plateau of a mountain– not too high up but not too low down – existed a quaint and modest little monastery of the most dedicated of orders. It was nestled between two tranquil and equally meek rivers, the River of Good Deeds and the River of Un Materialism, that, legend had it, sourced directly from the heavens itself delivering life and existence to the inhabitants of the material earth below. Trees were few and sparse, but their unfathomable wisdom undeniable. This establishment, reverentially built from organic substan...

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YELLOW TIRES

Submitted to Contest #299

I dreaded going outside my apartment. I was embarrassed by the clothes I wore, which always included hand-me-downs from one of my two brothers. My brothers were much bigger than I was, and so were their clothes. Giant sweaters, jeans, and Mom would cut the necks out of old turtlenecks for us to stick in our sweaters. The class I was in at school had a lot of rich kids in it, but it seemed like even the poor kids dressed better than me.Christmas was the one time we’d get new stuff to wear. One Christmas, I was surprised with a bicycle. The fi...

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This New Weird

Submitted to Contest #299

I woke up to silence, which should’ve been my first clue something was off. No mom banging on my door with her patented, “Max, it’s 7:15, why aren’t you vertical?” No dad fumbling with the coffee maker downstairs. Just the stupid birds outside my window, chirping like they didn't get the memo that the world had basically ended and restarted with all the characters in the wrong positions.7:43, my phone said. Whatever. Not like time had any meaning during the zombie apocalypse of online school we’d been living through.7:43.Wait.School. Real sc...

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Thumbs Up

Submitted to Contest #299

I spent most of sixth grade staring at Alan Bilsing. Everything from his blond mushroom cut to his extra baggy JNCO jeans made him the coolest and cutest sixth grader to ever exist. My subtle staring-but-not-staring soared to new heights in the only class we had together: Language Arts.Ms. Salam was going over our homework from the night before. I was watching Alan chew his number two pencil in the row in front of me when Ms. Salam said my name. She was holding up a printed sheet of paper, beaming with pride: “Nadine wrote this amazing story...

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Liv and Emma

Submitted to Contest #299

Liv laid her head on the pillow and stared at the plastic glow in the dark stars on her ceiling and awaited the verdict as she tossed her phone to Emma. She hated the room, with its pale pink paint inking the walls. She had begged her parents to paint it a teal blue but they’d refused, saying “you’ll just change your mind when you’re in high school again.” They didn’t seem to understand that she was practically an adult now and no amount of tapestries was enough to erase the pink that came through. In an attempt to shed her youth from the r...

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Epic Eruptions: When Gaming Meets Baking

Submitted to Contest #299

Epic EruptionsWhen Gaming Meets BakingIn a whirlwind of culinary chaos, socially awkward gamer Max teams up with his adventurous neighbor Lila to create an epic dino-volcano for a school bake sale, hoping to bridge the divide between his virtual world and reality; when their dessert erupts in hilarious disaster, they discover the true power of friendship and community amidst the chocolate-covered chaos. This story is perfect for fans of Rick Riordan, Raina Telgemeier, or Gordon Korman. Max sat at the back of the classroom, a fortress of tex...

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The First Trick I Didn’t Get to Keep

Submitted to Contest #299

I was probably three or four years old when I opened the wrong Christmas gift — and it changed everything.It was a magician’s kit. Sleek black box, mirrored sides, mysterious compartments. I didn’t know how it worked — I just knew it was magic. My heart exploded with excitement… for about three seconds. Then someone said, “Oh, wait, that’s not yours,” and swapped it for the right one: a book-on-tape about a giant named Gallagher who gets tied to the earth.It was a good story. But it wasn’t magic.That moment stuck.Even now, I think of that bl...

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Passing Down the Family Magic

Submitted to Contest #299

Sam had learned all that he knew about magic from watching his grandfather perform on stage. As a child he had attended several of Grampa Jim’s magic acts and was always amazed at what the old man could do. There was one magic trick in particular that he did not believe possible. It happened with the waving of a wand. An unbelievable image appeared. He really wanted to learn how to do that particular trick. Grampa Jim said that he would first teach Sam the basics of his magic, before he would teach him his most amazing trick. Sam was eager ...

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Gertrude Street

Submitted to Contest #299

The rain had started to hit her bedroom windows so hard that Damon thought they might shatter; the hailstones were only just drowned out by her moans. He looked sideways at the mirror and saw himself with her legs wrapped around his neck. He stared long into his own black eyes."She should cum soon," he thought "and then I can get some sleep." He continued to grind into her, adjusting the angles just enough so he wouldn't cum himself. The last thing he wanted was to have her all over him while he was trying to get some rest. Then it struck hi...

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The Magic That Didn’t Fail

Submitted to Contest #299

Would you like to know how I accidentally created a star?Me. A sixteen-year-old girl best known for being invisible.I was the clumsy one — the girl who tripped during PE, got hit in the face by every ball, and was always left behind by the bus.I once wore mismatched shoes all day. No one noticed.I forgot things constantly — like my groceries at the counter… or that time I got into a stranger’s car.People called me Clown Lisa.The only one who ever believed in me was my dad.But he 's gone now.One afternoon my luck changed, on my way home from ...

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My Mother Will Not Be Returning to Jupiter Anytime Soon

Submitted to Contest #299

When she was initially detained, we thought it would be a quick fix. My mother never has her proper papers on her. Not ever. Because she’s an engineer, she was one of the first contractors allowed to set foot on Saturn, and they spent seventeen weeks preparing her. According to her, most of that preparation involved having the correct papers on you when you reached the midway station. It was something like eight or nine pieces of paper that you had to have on you. My mother brought two and forgot the rest. She’s so effervescent that somehow ...

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Cold Peas for Breakfast

Submitted to Contest #299

Childhood trauma can last a lifetime. For me, my trauma revolved around peas. There is a valid reason why this trauma exists that stretches all the way back to when I was five years old. To this day, I cannot stand to eat peas. The taste of them makes me gag. In some cases when peas are mixed with other food items, I may get away with eating them, but alone, by themselves, I cannot even put them in my mouth. My mother passed away when I was three years old. I remember living in a two-story home. Dad was a certified public accountant (C...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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