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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.

150+ 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 10

The Newspaper Clipping

Submitted to Contest #309

Rick was the human embodiment of "meh.” I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why I found him so dismissible. Was it his quirkiness? Or his inane comments that made everyone (except me) laugh? Was it his nervous leg-thumping like a jackhammer under his desk during English class? I’m not saying he was the worst human ever, but he was not the first guy I’d invite to a party. Or a family dinner. Or a Tuesday. One chilly October night, I arrived at school to take my post as ticket seller for the annual charity dance, where my nostrils were immediately ass...

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“I Want You Happy (Even If It’s Not With Me)”

Submitted to Contest #309

Love is a curse, and longing, its potent poison. This is a story about two highschool boys who loved deeply, each yearning for someone who didn't reciprocate their affection.Noel, a shy, kind-hearted high school student, harbored a silent crush on a boy named Issac. He was far too timid to ever confess, his feelings living only on the pages of his diary. Every entry overflowed with pure admiration for Issac, not a single detail about his appearance, only a deep appreciation for who he was. It started as a simple attraction, of course – Issac...

4 likes 2 comments 2
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Graduation Gift

Submitted to Contest #308

Graduation Gift by Sue Baughman 6/27/25 (1070 Words) Franklin D. Roosevelt High School’s Gymnasium was dressed in it’s finest for the year’s Home Coming Dance and Class Reunion. The same streamers and banners from 1975 used once a year were only slightly frayed by 2025. The disco balls and fog machines slightly newer. Still worked fine for the reunions.As always, the theme was “Surfing.” Paper waves were pinned to the walls, paper palm trees dotted the stage. Gold and blue banners announced that the classes to be honored were the “fives and ...

3 likes 3 comments 3
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Tangled in your love

Submitted to Contest #308

They say not to expect much from a kiss—but as I stepped onto the Ferris wheel, I couldn’t help but wonder. The sun was setting in a blaze of a perfect orange sunset, and the sounds of the cheering crowd faded beneath us. I caught a glimpse of my friend smiling face before we rose higher and higher, until it felt like the world had stopped . Just the two of us, suspended with nothing but soft, electric nerves humming in the space between. “Are you dumb, Sierra? The one time we stayed at the fair for the sunset mash-up, and you want to leave...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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The Princess of Room 23

Submitted to Contest #308

One long, long blistering summer, a boy drowning in failure meets a girl who says almost nothing, yet leaves behind everything. The city bus came to a complete stop with it’s sudden hiss and squeaks of the opening doors. I got up from the hard, plastic seat, slung my backpack over my right shoulder and headed out into the hot July sun. Summer school was waiting for me. The last semester had been extra hard for me. I had failed algebra and in order to move forward, I had to attend summer school in the city. I remembered looking at the fin...

18 likes 12 comments 12
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Summer Temporary

Submitted to Contest #308

The commercial came on during the eleven o’clock break between local news and whatever late-night movie they were running on Channel 8. Danny Kowalski sat in his recliner, the same brown corduroy one he’d bought at Goodwill when he first moved into the apartment on Elm Street twenty-three years ago, picking at a Salisbury steak TV dinner that tasted like fine cardboard. The sunscreen ad was nothing special, just beach scenes and families laughing, but the soundtrack hit him like cold water in the face.Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowi...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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The Smiling Flower

Submitted to Contest #308

The Smiling Flower“The sky is so distant,The wind so crisp and clear,The sea so vast, and so brilliantly blue—And there you were, naturally, in my sight.”IThis was the 18th blind date she had been on.After a few polite exchanges, she got straight to the point. “I’ve already told you everything about myself online. Let’s not waste any more time.”The man fell silent for a few seconds, then slowly rose, nodded as if in salute, and pushed the door open, leaving.She watched him disappear around the corner. Lana’s California played softly in the b...

14 likes 8 comments 8
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The Fresh Foods Company

Submitted to Contest #308

None of the kids in Madame Beaulieu’s class could have said which was the bigger surprise: that shy, bookish Danny had asked one of the most popular girls in the school over for a study-date, or that she had accepted. Accept, though, she had. After another F on the latest test while Danny got a hundred, Maggie was already rehearsing her promise to her parents that she was getting help from the best student in the class, even before they got to his house. “Listen, Danny,” she told him, “I hope you don’t let what James and those guys say bug...

3 likes 2 comments 2
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The Parents

Submitted to Contest #307

YEAR ONE I don’t remember my first day, but I remember my third. A woman walked into my classroom with her hair pulled back, the ponytail so tight that it stretched her skin like her face was a mask that needed to be held in place. She gave me a tense smile and strode over with military precision. I didn’t know what her job was, but I thought she would fit in among a firing squad.“Ms. Glandis. I’m Diane Cloth, Blake’s mom,” the woman said, extending a hand.I swiveled in my chair and stood to greet her. I gave her a reassuring smile that I ho...

11 likes 5 comments 5
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POLYCETICULTURE

Submitted to Contest #307

(Polycephany+Horticulture)Sensitive content warning: -Injury/Physical Violence-Descriptions of Gore “You got the time Ross?” “6:30 in the AM brochacho. An hour and a half until it’s all over,” Ross yawned, resting his arm on their dorm room’s desk. “I bet we’re acing this one though!” Russell shrugged his shoulder. “Nice to be positive, I guess. Still, we gotta be there to get it done anyway, so let’s get going. 3, 2, and-” Pushing off their chair at the same time, the two gained their footing in a couple steps, more than usual with slee...

1 like 0 comments 0
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The Blood Trial

Submitted to Contest #307

“I can’t give up. Not now. Not after all I’ve been through,” I whispered to myself. Damian was approaching me from a distance, extending his sharp blade directly at me. The blade was covered in red with blood dripping from the edge. It seemed apparent that I was his next target. “I’m going to enjoy every moment of this,” Damian announced. His usual four companions stood guard behind him, each with their own bloody blades, as they all slowly proceeded towards me. I lay there on the ground, cornered within the forest as its foliage wrapped ...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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A Fool with Hands

Submitted to Contest #307

“Get over yourself!”My ears ring when she smacks me across the face. My nose is sore and congested with blood, and it soils my white collar with a musty tang. My knees hit the ground, and my hands tremble in front of my face, but she still yanks my ear and throws me down with no mercy. I lose every breath when she kicks me in the stomach and repeats what she can’t seem to get off her chest.“Stop bothering me, Karma!”I swallow blood as I hold the ache in my stomach. She’s with a group of her friends, the ones who hate me just as much as she d...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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Medusa

Submitted to Contest #307

Disclaimer for Sensitive Content: This story contains references to sensitive themes, including words such as nude, naked, and miscarriage. Reader discretion is advised. .................................................................................................................................................................. Medusa Every night, for the past six nights, I’d been jolted awake by nightmares, nude and sweaty, my duvet crumpled on the floor, and my body trembling from the aftershock. Shaken out of slumber on the first night...

7 likes 6 comments 6
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From ignorance, truth

Submitted to Contest #307

It’s a warm Monday morning in early August, and Kyle Deans is feeling stuffy and uncomfortable in the uniform of his new school. The navy woollen blazer itches and his tie feels as though it’s cutting off his airways. The trousers are tight around his middle, and the shoes, brown brogues, polished within an inch of their life, squeak with every hesitant step, rubbing the back of his ankles. Kyle’s usual attire, grey Nike tracksuit, Air Max trainers and hoodie, is now hidden away in a locked black box, along with his phone, earbuds, and his i...

21 likes 13 comments 13
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Avilasa

Submitted to Contest #307

The daily song of the lively halls had changed this milky afternoon. Above the usual bass line of laughter, girlish shrieks, the squeak of leather soles against marble flooring and the rattle of keychains against aluminium flasks, rose an undercurrent of whispered, savoured, incredulous gossip. Each and every girl, through a pearly, straight smile, had but one thing on her mind, it’s inky impression spilling out in each word that escaped its polished consumer. Avilasa had skimmed the newspaper article too. As the tide swept her around a broa...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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