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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 5 of 10

Community Service from a High School Perspective

Submitted to Contest #299

Feeling overwhelmed as a freshman at C.E. Byrd High School, I made a decision that would end up changing the course of my high school experience—I joined YoungLife. At the time, I didn’t really know what I was getting into, but I was desperate for a sense of belonging, for a place where I could be myself without fear or judgment. I found that community in YoungLife, a group that gave me something I didn’t realize I was desperately lacking: time and space to feel my feelings, speak my mind, and, most importantly, show my love and appreciation...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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Attempted Cannibalism Locker Prank

Submitted to Contest #299

(Sensitive topic: Cannibalism mention) “Friends make life a lot more fun” I think that’s nonsense. Especially since my insane, wannabe sit-com character FRIENDS are the reason I ended up in this wretched abomination that they have the nerve to label as “The principal's office”. I mean, these chairs are like a thousand years old and on the verge of ascending to heaven. Or hell. I don’t know WHAT these chairs have been through but there’s no way it was something cutsey enough to keep them in regular condition. Don’t even get me started on th...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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The Ladies of Loretto

Submitted to Contest #299

I'm scared shitless! Hundreds of girls dressed exactly as I am in dark navy serge uniforms, black stockings, stiff white plastic collars and cuffs and black Oxford shoes. Their Oxfords shine; mine are scuffed. So typically me. It's September 1960. Like penguins on parade, we are lined up, waiting for the doors to open on the next four years of our lives in the holy halls of Loretto College School for young ladies. One small problem: I do not feel like a lady and don't think I want to be one. It sounds boring. I don't belong here. I'm j...

18 likes 14 comments 14
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Bully Boy

Submitted to Contest #298

Here he comes again….… the ‘boy who brings no joy’! I was beginning to fear venturing into the school playground, because I would usually be a victim of ‘this’ boy’s frustrations! Both of his parents had disappointed him, and they would soon split-up, after his Mother decided to leave their family home to move into another house, with her new lover, who was another woman, who she befriended in the early years of the 1980’s, which was a very controversial matter, especially in a small Cornish village, and it didn’t abide with his wannabe m...

5 likes 3 comments 3
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Detention Confessions

Submitted to Contest #298

Chester Jurgen sat on the steps of his ordinary suburban high school waiting for the bus. He was amongst seven other classmates that Saturday morning, along with the schools disciplinarian, Dr. Kraus and the schools nurse, Ms. Wells. It was the fifth straight Saturday morning detention Chester was attending and his eleventh of the school year to date. He wasn’t a traditionally bad kid, or problem child but he routinely skirted the rules and quietly made choices against typical school policy. Hair kept too long, facial hair present,...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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Even Honeysuckle is a Just a Weed

Submitted to Contest #298

I drenched the cold, cheese-less scrambled eggs in off-brand ketchup and shook the life out of the salt shaker until I saw thin, translucent granules floating in the thick red sea. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t know how to fucking cook. How was a 13-year-old boy expected to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for both himself and his schizophrenic mother? “Mom!” I would yell from the kitchen, hoping for a response since that meant she was at least inside. Back then, my mom was taking her clothes off in our front lawn a lot. She’d sit th...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Undercover Weirdo

Submitted to Contest #298

It was the middle of second period when I finally decided I didn’t wanna be at school anymore. I simply can not stand this teacher, all she does is stand in front of the class and talk about her personal life. I couldn’t tell you one thing I’ve learned from this class. So as usual I raised my hand and asked to go to the restroom.“Go ahead Raven, just try to hurry, I’m about to get to the good part of my story!”There’s a good part to the story of how her grandma lost her sight? Whatever. As I’m standing up and walking out I hear one of the gu...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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New Beginnings

Submitted to Contest #298

Title: New BeginningsWhen Hunter Carson stepped off the bus in the small town of Liberty Hill, everything felt like a blank page. It was the kind of place with just one high school, where the coffee shop shared a wall with the liquor store, and the air always smelled faintly of cedar and something sweeter Hunter couldn’t name.Back in his old town, Hunter had been the shy kid. The one people called "weird" because he read books during lunch and dressed like he missed the memo on normal. Here, he told himself, things would be different.The nig...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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11:11

Submitted to Contest #297

11:11By TJ DUTY 10:15 PM My blanket is tucked snugly beneath my chin, yet I still shiver. The mattress feels like it’s swallowing me whole. Above me, the ceiling fan spins lazily, clicking in a maddening rhythm. The room is full, but it feels empty. The dark shields me from the mess—papers spilling from half-closed desk drawers, unwashed laundry tossed in the corner. A half-empty glass of water has sat untouched for four days. I turn onto my side, blankets rustling. I close my eyes and think of you.10:27 My eyes flicker open, releasing a wa...

1 like 0 comments 0
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Four Seconds Left

Submitted to Contest #297

After winning every game in their district and winning the bi-district championship, it was time for the Tinsley High School Tigers to face the Jamestown High School Hawks for the regional football championship.This was the first time Tinsley had made it this far in the football playoffs in the last 22 years. The Tigers had been a domineering team this whole season. Everyone in the Tinsley area just knew that this would be their year.However, the Jamestown Hawks was not a pushover team. They also dominated all their games as well. With two p...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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A Lara tale - Undefeated

Submitted to Contest #297

‘Milton … Milton Station … Platform on the right .. direction of travel…’ Three stations to go, thought Lara, large dark eyes transfixed by the carriage clock .. hopefully the train would be early and the bus late ..anything to reduce her Mother’s harsh and impatient reminders of the inconvenience Lara’s extra curricular activities caused her. The great promise Lara had held 6 years ago – particularly in athletics and gymnastics – with the school even contacting her parents to encourage personal trainers – had come to exactly nothing. A n...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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Dawn of a New Era

Submitted to Contest #297

Daylight would soon begin its daily ascent above the horizon and illuminate the water below with a shimmering glow. Perched at the water’s edge, our shoes thrown aside and the water gently caressing our feet, we sat silently soaking in the darkness, admiring the brilliantly glowing white stars before they completely disappeared, and before the night came to its unavoidable conclusion. It was the night we had anticipated for so long and didn’t want to end. It was a moment in time we would never get back. A moment in time we would never forget...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Dawn Rises at Midnight

Submitted to Contest #297

As the midnight of their lives closed in on Harry and his high school buddies at their 50th reunion they mapped out a plan to come up to the plate one more time in a stick ball game like those that had highlighted almost every afternoon in their teens. Harry recalled how he used to step menacingly up to the manhole cover with his converted wooden broom handle waiting for Joey or one of his other pals to wind up and let loose with the perfect pitch. Then he would get a real piece of it and send the rubber ball flying down the ...

11 likes 0 comments 0
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Lessons from Scylla

Submitted to Contest #296

[ Note: Contains occasional strong language. ]I. Drifting Through Safe WatersOver the classroom loudspeaker, a student’s voice crackles with pep: “Good morning, Valley High! Big shoutout to our girls’ volleyball team for crushing the Bulldogs last night, 3-1! Next up, spirit week starts Monday—get those costumes ready!” Students trickle in, some slumping into seats, others scrolling phones. A 12-foot banner sprawls overhead—inky black, speckled with a starry Milky Way sprawl—above a school calendar pinned to October 2021: “Shoot For The Moon...

16 likes 13 comments 13
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First kiss

Submitted to Contest #296

Beep Beep Beep. Jack's alarm to wake up for school went off. He turned it off and got out of bed. He quickly took a shower and got dressed. He quickly looked in a mirror and brushed his sandy brown hair into shape. He went downstairs and got an apple and his backpack and headed to the bus stop. “Hey, Jack,” said Olivia, who was one of his classmates. She lived pretty close to him and they took the same bus to school. Her black hair looked like it had been straightened because her hair was usually curly and her dark brown skin complexion was ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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