Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

540+ Middle school Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Keeping the attention of a middle schooler is hard. But our collection of gripping middle school short stories will do the trick!

Middle school Short Stories – Page 3 of 36

Shattered Certainties

Submitted to Contest #276

The universe had always been a place of cold, hard truths. Being an engineer and a committed agnostic, I had always rejected the idea of a higher power, considering it merely wishful thinking. It wasn’t until I faced an unplanned physics experiment regarding inelastic collisions that changed my mind.  Like many people, I imagined death as a permanent, dreamless sleep. I was self-sufficient and content with my life. Where my beliefs started is simple. I grew up hearing about how poor my father’s family was and how his mother would give m...

16 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

The Girl with the Ocean eyes

Submitted to Contest #276

I was a loser. I was a too-tall, overweight, closeted girl with no social skills. I had spent two years trapped inside the house with my family hiding from an illness that was killing millions of people. I spent those two years playing Minecraft, watching any people skills I had slowly crumple into nothing, and fighting with my sister. My parents decided it was time for a change so they packed up our home in the big city to move us across the country to a small town that was centered around its high school and middle school.  I had long...

7 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Adolescent lessons in dating and popularity

Submitted to Contest #276

Adolescent lessons in dating and popularity You can say that I was a misfit growing up since I didn’t fit in with others my age. My worldview evolved from a composite series of adolescent failed attempts and near catastrophes. I didn’t play or watch football or baseball. I spent time in the library reading esoteric topics like politics, psychology and new age books about Eastern religions. I didn’t like to join teams but was willing to participate with a small group of friends. I was friendly with the less popular girls but wasn’t attracted...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Liam the Lovable, But Fearful, Leprechaun

Submitted to Contest #274

“Liam the Lovable, But Fearful, Leprechaun” By Edward J. McCoul There are two things Liam O’Shaughnessy loved more than anything in the world: gold and friendship. And there were two things he feared more than anything else: heights and rainbows. Which was unfortunate, since he was a leprechaun. Every time he went to check on his gold at the end of a rainbow, he’d have to climb up a hill or down a rocky slope. “That gold won’t guard itself, Liam,” he’d mutter to himself, inching along on shaky legs. Then he’d see the shimmering rainbow stret...

15 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Unwanted Unicorn

Submitted to Contest #274

“The Unwanted Unicorn” By Edward J. McCoul It all started on a perfectly ordinary Tuesday. Twelve-year-old Max was home alone, nose-deep in a video game when he heard a loud, wet sloshing sound from the backyard. That was strange. He muted his game and listened. There it was again—a sound like someone was pouring oatmeal into a bucket. He crept to the back door, cracked it open, and peeked outside. And there, in the middle of his mom’s prize rose bushes, was the last thing he ever expected to see. A unicorn. It wasn’t quite what he had imagi...

15 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

A Walk in the Hereafter

Submitted to Contest #272

“A Walk in the Hereafter” It’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would. Of course, there’s no guidebook for dead people, at least as far as I know. After three months I’m still trying to get used to being dead. Even using that word is hard to adapt to. When death comes people usually use terms like “He passed away” or “She’s in a better place”. It makes them feel better but the person is still dead and words can’t change that. I guess it’s just a way that people try to adjust to the whole situation. And one of the biggest things I’m tryi...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Pick of Destiny

Submitted to Contest #271

Pick of DestinyBy Nicole Ney **Warning: this story contains harsh language and subject matter that may not be suitable for everybody. Please read at your own risk**Those curves. That neck.That mahogany body. I caressed her maple neck as I gently eased her up. Corvette red. My heart raced, it was all so real. This was it. This was the moment. Active pick up, I thought to myself. I caressed her four strings and a little sound came out (of both of us I’m sure). It felt like destiny, like it was meant to be. I pulled her into the light, as ...

10 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Dress

Submitted to Contest #269

The Dress I grew up in a modest apartment in Astoria in Queens. Our block was made up of mostly 6 story apartment buildings, although there were three single family homes. One of them had a magnificent magnolia tree that bloomed each spring in brilliant pink and white flowers. I walked past that tree four times a day when I was in elementary school: going to PS 5 in the morning, returning home for lunch, and then going back to school for the afternoon session and returning home again after school. Today it seems foreign; ...

12 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Diamond Ring

Submitted to Contest #269

Sam slumped in the dugout, the Texas sun scorching his back, yet unable to warm the chill running through him. The sounds of laughter and shouts from the baseball diamond faded into a dull hum as he twisted a worn cap in his hands. His teammates—friends from school—were caught up in the fun of the game, but for Sam, every crack of the bat only tightened the knot in his gut. Today, it wasn’t just his strikeouts at the plate and bobbled balls on the field that had him down. His mind was clouded by thoughts of his parents’ marriage, or rather, ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

I Hate Math...Almost as Much as Dragons

Submitted to Contest #269

My name is Felix Carter. I’m your average seventh-grade teenager. I'm just in limbo between adult and child, not ever knowing where I belong. I go to school, but I never learn anything new. I don’t have a job, and bullies pick on me often. I know, womp womp. I’m in a private school, mostly because of bullies. As a kid, I was pretty skinny, and you can fill in the rest. Oh, and I’m a nerd. I play things like D&D and read fantasy, so you can imagine how my mom didn’t like the amount of black eyes and broken fingers I kept bringing home. Sh...

28 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

The trumpet

Submitted to Contest #269

The Trumpet By: John Dover “You’ve been staring at that thing for over an hour, Freddie.” Freddie finally blinked, the rough denim of his jacket sleeve dabbing away the welcome moisture in his eyes as he returned to the present. “What? I have not.” “Seems like it. Come on, I want to get to the candy shop before all the good taffy is gone,” Sally pleaded with him. She fought the urge to stamp her feet in frustration and gave a shuffled kick to the ground instead. Freddie had already turned his attention back to the dark patina of the trumpet...

12 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Mirror, Mirror

Submitted to Contest #269

Mia sat on the edge of her grandmother's bed, absently picking at the loose threads on the quilt that covered the mattress. Her mother and Aunt Janie stood by the dresser, where Aunt Janie held a copy of Gran's will in her hands. It had been only a week since Gran had passed and it felt wrong, somehow, to be here going through her stuff. Still, her mother and Aunt Janie had insisted that she be here. After all, Gran had left things for all the grandchildren. Mia tried not to cry as she thought about all the sleepovers she'd never get to have...

12 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Dissidents

Submitted to Contest #268

THE DISSIDENTS                              It is better to fail in originality than to succeed                                                  &n...

20 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

A Fist of Water

Submitted to Contest #267

“Hey, you stayin’ warm over there, Liam?” shouts my great uncle over the steady thrum of the wind barreling across the beach. Even though it’s only October, I’m in full winter gear. Sand would be in my eyes right now if not for the clear ski goggles my uncle brought for me. I feel a little silly, yet also invincible. My fingers are a little nippy. Otherwise, I’m pretty cozy. “Yep, I’m good, Uncle Jerry,” I yell through my neck warmer, my voice muffled. “Good, good,” he says, absorbed in his work. Uncle Jerry is Grandma’s brother. He’s standi...

6 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

„The Calm in the Storm“

Submitted to Contest #267

The sun was still low in the sky when Jacob and Caleb arrived at the docks, the sea stretching out before them in shades of silver and blue. Jacob walked ahead, eyes scanning every detail of their small boat, mentally checking his list. He had been up before dawn, packing gear, checking the motor, and studying the maps. Even now, as they prepared to cast off, he was still tying down extra ropes, triple-checking the fuel, and adjusting the life vests. Caleb, in contrast, strolled leisurely behind him, humming a low tune under his breath. He h...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.