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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

1770+ 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.

High school Short Stories – Page 2 of 118

Echoes of Solitude

Submitted to Contest #294

Kagami was young, and she was tired. She tried her best and did almost as much as she felt possible. Still, her efforts weren’t enough to fix everything.  Kagami awoke and slogged to move and get ready for the day, making mental note of each blemish she encountered littering her skin. She pulled on a baggy shirt and a pair of jeans from her closet, which greatly hid the body within them. Soon enough, she was on with her day.  Later, Kagami trudged her feet along the school’s multicolored, speckled carpet, away from the direction of...

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Back to School, Via University

Submitted to Contest #294

                   BACK TO SCHOOL, VIA UNIVERSITY “Inothewayurthinkin”, said Adrian The words seemed slurred into each other. His wife looked at him. There was worry and concern on her face but skilfully woven in with less dramatic emotions. He was older than her; of course he was, since he had been her don at Oxford. It was the special subject she had to do as part of her modern history course that had really brought them together. The choices ran...

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Through the Ice

Submitted to Contest #294

I wait maybe ten minutes outside the high school until play practice finally lets out. It’s a cloudy winter Saturday afternoon towards the end of January. The engine is running. The heat is on. The radio talks about public schools planning for immigration raids, tariffs, and then a list of people who won’t be in prison anymore.Elyse pulls the passenger side door open with a rush of frigid air then plops into the seat. She pulls the door shut and gropes for the belt behind her right shoulder. I slip the transmission into drive, waiting for th...

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Hi-Skool 4

Submitted to Contest #294

You may now make your selection. System loading...5000 tokens available.Relive your teenage years the right away with Hi-Skool 4, the edge-of-your-seat VR experience for impotent adults who live in the past!Choose the physical appearance of your avatar.Hair: Hay-blondEyes: Celery-greenSkin: Cinderella-whiteGender expression: FemaleBody Shape: Small. The smallest. No space for a uterus or other internal organs. Flat belly like a matza. Curvy butt like two balloons; bra size 32-B.Height: 5'4Tattoos and piercings: Classy line drawing on left sh...

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Black and White

Submitted to Contest #294

The Board RoomThirty-two students awake in a dark room. The lights flash on. Thirty-two fearful high school students scan their surroundings. They’re in a square room: the walls are lovely nature murals, the floor is a large square black-and-white checkerboard, and they’re in costumes, sixteen are black and sixteen white.Esther starts the confused student’s conversation, “Oh, my lord. Where are we?”Barney, the school's head nerd, is dressed in Black leather and a crown, “How did I got here?”Johnny, the high school star quarterback, is dresse...

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A Crazy Morning

Submitted to Contest #293

“I’m late!” I jump out of bed and dash over to my dresser, throwing my outfit on as fast as I can. How did I let it get this far? ~~~ I was up really late last night with a friend, Emma. I had a bad day yesterday and she came to help me get over it. My boyfriend broke up with me because his “feelings had faded,” and he “wasn’t having fun anymore.” So ridiculous. And I was supposed to get an email that my book was published, but I never got one. That caused a bit of anxiety for me. So, Emma came over. We watched a movie, had some ice cream, d...

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Behind Closed Doors

Submitted to Contest #292

It took Mr. McMichael a few moments to understand what he was seeing. It was barely dawn and the caffeine hadn’t quite kicked in, and he was still fumbling with the keys to the fieldhouse and shoving them back in his sweatpants pockets. He squinted and adjusted his glasses. He set down his coffee and did a panicked little half-jog to the railing behind the seats. “Son of a bitch!” Mr. McMichael exclaimed. The basketball court, normally light brown with thinly painted lines of red and blue, was no longer a basketball court. Sure, the hoops we...

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Stained Glass Window

Submitted to Contest #292

(Story contains physical violence, suicide or self harm, and mental health related topics.) The sun penetrated the blue glass window. Shades of green sprawled across the gray carpet. Ever since he had been a kid, the sun had laid on the ground in the same way. The wound of light had become a routine and the boy found small comfort, and it’s never changing presence. He himself was a pale blue, he always had been. His mother, a warm, yellow, and his father, a passionate red. He almost never left his room. The color, blue, while unwelcomed by ...

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To Be Remembered By

Submitted to Contest #292

I was sitting in the car with my best friend when the email came in. Jordan was singing on the top of his lungs to his favorite song. Our windows were rolled down and my long hair was flying everywhere as we drove down the country road. It felt like a scene from a movie, moments before something life-changing. I glanced at the email before I reached to turn off the radio. Jordan kept singing even after the radio was off. Apparently, even without music, he will keep singing until the song is over.  Once his song was over, he gave me a si...

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Greatness in A Cold, Dark Room

Submitted to Contest #291

“Mr. Gibson,” Thelma said, stepping closer. The principal didn’t stir from his slumber. “Mr. Gibson!” Thelma yelled. Then she nervously put the microphone in his lap and walked off the stage. A few students were clapping, but most of the school before her was now snoozing, too. Thelma grabbed her book bag from the front row and walked as fast as she could without running to the bathroom. “Great? Yeah right,” Thelma said to herself.  At church, Ms. June had excluded Thelma from the small choir; all her friends had made it. Thelma watche...

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To Lay Bare

Submitted to Contest #291

TW: Violence/gore against a minor, sexual violence. My parents aren't home yet. If I have to spend one second alone with my thoughts I'm gonna lose my shit. I step off of the bus and make a beeline to Freddy's, breezing past my own house. I hop up onto his porch and repeatedly tap on the doorbell. He hates when I do that, but that means he'll open up fast. Freddy peeks out of the ajar door, his irked expression softening as his eyes meet mine. He fully opens up and invites me inside. His mom went shopping last weekend, so there's a ton of sn...

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Pursuit of Prey

Submitted to Contest #291

Racing down the cobbled street, Josh legged-it, in one last bid for freedom. Schoolbag jostling the crumpled paperwork inside, as he navigated the uneven terrain. The gripping pain in his aching muscles and shin splints on fire, as exhaustion took its toll. Like a deer being stalked into the undergrowth, his racing heart, pounded hard in his chest. Eyes wide and alert, fight-flight system on autopilot, desperately trying to usher him to safety, searching for every last move to outrun his ascendants. Jumping walls, splaying through thorny bus...

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Malachi and Tiff.

Submitted to Contest #291

Once upon a lifetime, it was noon in a leafy suburban world. Malachi, all seventeen years old of him, stood at his front door, waving cheerily, a fake smile plastered on his gleaming face."Yes, Mum. Bye Mum. Have fun at the wedding, hey!" Malachi was listenting intently, or was he pretending?"Yes, Mum. Bye, Mum. Yes, Mum, I'll do my essay on Romeo and Juliet. Bloody English teachers, Hey!"Malachi then absorbed yet more life coaching from his mother. She was all dressed in wedding finery, off to celebrate her niece's nuptials at a seaside des...

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While the Sun Sleeps

Submitted to Contest #291

In your life everywhere you look you see someone with a different life story, different home life, or family issues. You always seem to notice the small details that happen around you, like how that one quiet girl in your fourth-period algebra class has missed 3 days in a row. You notice the loud popular guy keeping to himself and not talking at lunch. You’ve noticed how your English teacher always gets interrupted and the look on his face destroys you. You can see the joy on his face when he teaches and the students interrupt him, they alwa...

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The Kiss

Submitted to Contest #290

“Hey Auntie, why aren’t you married?” My niece asked during our family’s yearly Christmas celebration as she was playing with a toy barbie and ken she got for christmas. “Sweetie, it’s not okay to ask someone that.” My brother-in-law said, surprised that such a thing would exit a sweet little child’s mouth. “But mommy said that people who aren’t married by their thirties will grow up to be sad lonely cat ladies” My niece recalled her mother say. “Well, your mother isn’t always right. I’m not lonely, and I don’t have a single cat. At least fo...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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