1700+ High School Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for stories that high schoolers actually want to read? The high school short stories in this collection are real and relatable for any teen.

🏆 Winning stories

“Multiple Choice” by Zack Powell

🏆 Winner of Contest #198

Okay class! Pop quiz. If you've been doing the readings, this should be a piece of cake. Remember to fill out both sides of this paper. You have the whole class period to finish. Good luck.1. Christopher Columbus first traveled to the Americas using which means of transportation?A) A cargo shipB) A steam locomotiveC) A Boeing 747 airliner D) A vintage red 1985 Camaro with a crack in the middle of the windshield and no heated seats2. What is the term for the pilgrims leaving England to journey to America?A) ImmigrationB) EmigrationC) Mig...

254 likes 186 comments 186

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“Burn Damage” by Madalyn Meyers

🏆 Winner of Contest #83

Beth sauntered toward the sound of crashing water, the twinkling dance of a shoal marker providing promise that she was getting close. She felt the unfamiliar tickle of sand beneath her feet as the chilled grains molded together under the weight of each determined step. As if suddenly passing through a barrier, what had once looked like an endless ether of uninhabited space now abruptly registered as the reflective surface of the ocean, lazily mimicking the night sky as if it were swaying to a gentle serenade. She was sure that she had arriv...

380 likes 128 comments 128

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“Primum Nil Nocere” by Jeff C. Carter

🏆 Winner of Contest #48

The big day had finally arrived at the School for Gifted Children, and the dean practically kowtowed from his own office. The staff and a coterie of New York’s most influential parents were ecstatic to host their esteemed guest, the one and only Dr. Warren Albright. He looked as though he’d stepped out of the glossy author photo from one of his best-selling books. His hair was chestnut brown with frost touched temples and his voice had the nourishing warmth of a fireplace in winter. He used his power to diagnose latent super-abilities to ...

360 likes 204 comments 204

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“Chasing Juliet” by Jane Andrews

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #257

“You should totally go for it,” Artie says, giving my shoulder a squeeze as we stand gazing at the poster on the school’s bulletin board.           ‘Romeo and Juliet – auditions this Thursday after school,’ the words proclaim.           “Me?” My voice is the frightened squeak of a small animal cornered by a predator. Why would I want to put myself through the embarrassment and almost certain humiliation of something like that? &...

32 likes 10 comments 10

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“The Coraline Factor” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #244

As Vikky walked down the paths leading to the school’s quadrangle, other students moved aside or stopped what they were doing to look at her. Her black hair bobbed, her skirt swished, but her footsteps seemed to glide. Laura and Faye trotted behind her.As they approached where the blood-nosed boys wrestled each other with the ferocity of alligator lizards, Vikky let out a loud wolf whistle, making everyone else turn around. She raised her hands together and widened them out in a gesture demanding that the spectators move aside. They parted l...

31 likes 35 comments 35

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“State” by Cameron Navarre

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #235

A gunshot crackles through the air. You flinch. A wisp of smoke rises across the field. A blur of bodies bursts away from the gunman. Arms and legs swing furiously. You anxiously shift your weight back and forth. Your foot begins to shake. Breathe. The mass of sprinting bodies curves and hurtles towards you. You stare at the white tape on the ground in front of you.  If you start too early or too late, you’ll never recover. Wait. The screaming and yelling swells. Wait. Your hearts pounding, your fight-or-flight instincts scream for rele...

11 likes 5 comments 5

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✍️ All stories

“Zero Tolerance” by Dave Bede

Submitted to Contest #278

Jay was none too happy on the first day of high school when Robbie brought home the pamphlet about the school’s zero-tolerance policy. “Weren’t any of these teachers ever kids themselves?” he said as he read of the draconian punishments for any violence whatsoever. “I don’t see an exemption for self-defense. Surely they told you that was okay?” Robbie shook his head. “Mrs. Provencher, that’s my English teacher by the way, she said if you get attacked, just let someone tell a teacher. You won’t get in any trouble, and the attacker will get fi...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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“Lies about Lives” by Michael Aylesworth

Submitted to Contest #278

The hospital was decorated with teal accents on a sterile speckled white floor. The hallway was antiseptic. I waited my turn to speak to my mother after her horrific accident. A car hit her in a crosswalk and fled the scene. No one saw the car well enough to report it; they were all focusing on the woman in a long black cloak flying in the air and landing on her face on the sidewalk. My father oversaw crowd control in the ICU. I was up next. He motioned with his hand, keeping his emotions buried deep so he could focus on ...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“Unseat the Enemy” by Vee Ay

Submitted to Contest #277

She started high school in a new city, the first time she’d ever lived anywhere else. Everything felt strange and sharp, from the sounds of the streets to the way the sky seemed just slightly different here. She was alone, completely and utterly, which wasn’t new, but it wasn’t any easier. Her whole life had been shaped by loneliness, carved by the cruel laughter of those who had made her the target of every joke and jab. She wore her past like a second skin, heavy and inescapable, a constant reminder that the world wasn’t safe, and people c...

7 likes 0 comments 0

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“Past Friendships” by Aiden Hasher

Submitted to Contest #277

Contains: Murder and someone dying The light was golden. The grass shimmered green and the big gnarled oak stood against the sunset, alone atop its hill. Only the shadows showed their colour. Everything else was dyed in a honeyed glow. My breath was ragged in my chest. Every step rustled and sweat dripped into my collar, running down my back. I made it to the tree’s shade and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand.Geez, I’’m out of shape.We used to run up and down the hill, throwing ourselves down it to roll to the bottom, jumping up, a...

7 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Angry Duckling” by S. D. Vogt

Submitted to Contest #277

Once upon a time in the tumultous waters of high school, an ugly duckling longed to swim in a pond full of the most beautiful swans. Though beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, the flock had long ago decided that the duckling was too different to belong to their kind. Only eighteen years of age, her little wings had grown weary from trying to catch up to her peers. Day after day, she paddled twice as hard as the others, yet she always fell behind. This duckling was, of course, a young girl. And high school, with all its jagged e...

9 likes 2 comments 2

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“Mike's Wicked Bet” by Vickie Kap

Submitted to Contest #277

Mike is running. His bare feet stung on the forest floor with each step, but he can't stop. He has to get out of here. He can't let the witch catch him. "Jamie, this is all your fault!" he yells at nobody in particular. It's not. He knows it’s no one's fault but his own. His foot catches on a branch, and he trips, face planting into the dirt. He feels his glasses shatter on the impact. He really doesn't have much energy left; his breathing labored from the physical activity that he's not used to. But when he hears the rustling of branches, ...

10 likes 3 comments 3

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“High School Sweethearts” by Rene Grandon

Submitted to Contest #276

High School Sweethearts They say memory is an art, a blend of what we know and what we feel. Some details are as clear as yesterday; others soften with time. For us, the story began in February 1985, during our high school days in Canton, Texas. It was a chance encounter—or a series of them—that led to a connection we never expected. The Monday after Valentine’s Day, February 18, I went to tryouts for the UIL one-act play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Two of my best friends convinced me to leave my comfort zone. We’d always embraced our ...

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“New Hope Encounter ” by Delina A

Submitted to Contest #276

When I first moved to Georgia, everything felt unfamiliar. The city buzzed with activity, but it was a hollow kind of noise that didn’t quite reach me, especially from where I came from. I moved to the city of Atlanta during their hot summer leaving behind the only home I’d ever known—a country where everyone greeted each other by name. Here, I was just another face in the crowd. Starting freshman year at a new high school in a whole new continent didn’t help either. Everyone already seemed to have their place, and I was the outsider trying ...

4 likes 1 comment 1

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“Book, Club, Best friends” by Lillian Eason

Submitted to Contest #276

Walking down the 300 hallway at Dryden high school, my heavy backpack making my back ache and my tongue swiping over my teeth trying to dislodge the food stuck there from lunch, my eyes were roving over the new faces all around me. Why on planet earth did they put band class right after lunch?! My reeds are going to be made of mold, and my clarinet too! I thought angrily. I was a short freshman in Dryden high school. I had my straight, blonde hair back in a braid as usual, my gray, college sized backpack painfully hanging from my shoulders.&...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“God Save the Queen.” by Jen Boyle

Submitted to Contest #277

Jess stood at the edge of the group of teenage girls. Only a close observer might have noticed that all the conversations, the jokes,the friendly jostling and hugging was going on around her. She was there ...but not really part of it. She had become expert at this blending in, and her fixed smile, her careful mirroring of the gestures the other girls used, the carefree hair flick, the head tilt, was designed to fool all but the most attentive watchers.Because Jess knew it was a very bad idea indeed to be noticed, or singled out, or not to b...

11 likes 3 comments 3

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“June 23rd” by Garrett McFarren

Submitted to Contest #276

I hate weddings. I’m just not a fan. Everything about them makes me nervous. What if he drops the ring? What if it doesn’t fit? Is that a rain cloud? Someone’s got to secure that giant piece of poster board that keeps flying away. I guess it’s beautiful, I get it. it signifies eternal unity, but I feel like that could be done without putting on a show that, if you fuck it up, will be the only thing talked about at the reception as your guests stuff their faces with grabcakes and champagne. That’s why seventeen-year-old me didn’t go to my gir...

6 likes 0 comments 0

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“Some Kid's Angst” by Fredrich TheFrogdrick

Submitted to Contest #276

What made you read this? It’s a stupid story. You should go back, choose something else, before you realize how silly this story is going to be. This is your last chance. I'm about to start droning on.  … You’re still here? Why? Nevermind, I don’t want to know why. I don’t need to know that you’re only reading because you pity poor little me. I’ll pretend you’re reading because I’m good at writing. Even if you like my writing you might not like what I write about so I’ll warn you that this story isn’t worth the time it takes to read. Wh...

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“The Strength to Fall” by Monera Shaik

Submitted to Contest #276

The gym was filled with the usual noise—the quick squeak of sneakers on hardwood, the relentless bounce of basketballs, and the hum of teammates talking. It was game day, and my head was a whirlwind. I should’ve been focused, ready, but my mind kept racing to places I didn’t want it to go.For years, I’d been carrying the weight of something I didn’t fully understand myself—bipolar disorder. It wasn’t the diagnosis that bothered me, not really. It was the fear of what people would think if they knew. No one saw the constant shifts in my mood—...

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“A Precious Encounter” by Luciana Francis

Submitted to Contest #276

This story isn't one of fiction, but a real life blessing. People come and go. Some people come into our lives only to turn out to be a lesson, others cross our path to help us get somewhere. But there are some, rare as they are, who come into our lives because they were meant to, at this precise moment in time, for a reason. These rare gems are the people who are indispensable, and who never leave your side no matter what. They are worth it all, they are worth opening up to, trusting, being vulnerable with, sharing both laughter and tears w...

4 likes 0 comments 0

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“From Being Horrible in French to an Expert in Wendat: The long and Winding Road of Becoming a Linguist” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #276

I never did well in French in elementary or high school. I was no doubt a source of amusement to my fellow students when I had to say something in French in front of teacher and students. One year I was forced to take a summer course in the language. The main thing I remember from that class was that there were people even worse in the language than I was, something my classmates and my family would not have thought possible.  Failing French was one reason (along with physics and a few other courses) why I failed grade 11 my f...

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