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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 9 of 37

The Boy Who Destroyed the World

Submitted to Contest #214

If anyone found out this was all my fault, I’m sure I’d be killed. I only wanted a little more time of summer vacation. I learned in the fifth grade this sort of thing sometimes happens in places way up north. Places with polar bears and tons of snow. Places where they could use a little extra sun. Places like Alaska, or Russia, or Wisconsin. Places, that for days on end, the sun never quite makes its way past the horizon. Dad says this isn’t like that. Dad says this is different. Dad says this is bad....

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First Day Jitters

Submitted to Contest #214

First Day Jitters The noise was intense. Between the constant ticking of her clock and the thumping of her heart, Addy could not fall asleep. She rolled over and peeked out from under her covers. 2:25 A.M. The moonlight cascading in through her blinds.  Excitement and nerves overwhelmed her senses. How would the first day of ninth grade go? A new school. All new teachers. No friends. So many fears.  Bile rises up in her throat. Addy leaps out of her bed, rushing through the bedroom door. Fuzzy socks sliding along the newly ste...

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Violet's Second Chance

Submitted to Contest #214

Grade five had ended on a sour note for young Violet. On one of the very last days of elementary school, she had been caught stealing an eraser from a grade-five-only book fair set up in the hallways. She was humiliated in front of her teacher and her entire class when a parent volunteer walked in with the school principal and pointed her out specifically as the thief. She was then forced to publicly return the eraser that she had taken and the shame she felt was all consuming. Summer vacation couldn’t come fast enough after that. Maybe afte...

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A Case of Exploding Pops

Submitted to Contest #210

My father is a doctor and he’s always telling me about exciting and mind blowing doctor stuff. But on October 13th it was very different. It started as any regular day could. I took out my retainer in the morning, brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, and packed my backpack for school. I would come down our oak wood staircase and my mom would be in the kitchen making me two sunny side up eggs laid on two slices of sourdough. My father would be sitting in one of the three chairs in our breakfast nook reading the New York Times. “Amanda, ...

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A BOIL IN THE DESERT

Submitted to Contest #209

The pain under my arm started as we left the motel. Daddy was determined to make it across the desert in one day. He and Mother had packed the old family Studebaker 4-door sedan tight while it was starry sky dark. They woke us kids up way before dawn and bundled us into the Studebaker. Daddy said it was a workhorse and would safely get us across the desert and on to California. I privately wondered about that. We were well into the desert as the sun was waking up. I had only been able to doze off and on because of the pain under my arm. M...

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A Good Idea For A Movie?

Submitted to Contest #209

This is so stupid. Why do we have to go to the stinkin’ library? “Look, you dad and I have some things to do here. Just sit over there and work on your project.” She was about to turn to the Library’s meeting room when she turned back around with a grin. “and I mean your school project. I’m not going to fall for your tricks again. Love you.” She smiled and walked off. “Love you too.” Okay. Maybe the library isn’t that bad. Besides I need to get that project done. My school one. Not the movie one. I sat down at one of the tables and pulled ou...

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The Book, The Vial, and Me

Submitted to Contest #208

The vial had a sparkly, blue liquid in it.            “It’s time,” a man’s deep voice said. “I’m still not sure if we should do this,” a pitchy female voice replied hesitantly. “It’ll work this time, I can feel it.” “Okay. I’m ready. Whatever happens, don’t panic!” the pitchy voice replied. The man popped the cork off the vial and slowly poured it onto the book. Instantly it started to glow a dull, pulsing blue.            “Jump...

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The Pop in Greyscale

Submitted to Contest #208

“Have a great first day of being 14 Dylan!” Amma called after me as I walked out the sparkly pink door. It was the Monday morning after my birthday, and I was to walk to the bus stop at the end of my colorful block to be picked up by the school bus. Our pink house sat next to a purple house, which sat next to a yellow house, on the other side of which was my stop. “Just think, high school is coming soon!” added Mam, her blue eyes sparking as she turned to wink at Amma. I cringed and turned to look at them before splitting off from my sib...

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The Snipe

Submitted to Contest #204

Trigger warnings: weapons, animal harm and death The school parking lot, after school let out at 3 and before boy scouts began at 4, was a lawless place. But Jerry was ten now, and with double digits came double pressure to toughen up, put on a brave face, and keep his head held high while he ate baby carrots from a ziplock bag by the bike rack in the parking lot, keeping an eye on the other boy scouts romping his way.  Today was his first day in scouts. Sure, he knew these boys from school. He saw them sitting in the back of the cl...

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From the Ground to the Sky

Submitted to Contest #203

I dropped my head to my knees and closed my eyes. Tears rolled down my red cheeks. My ears rang with the voice in my head again: “You’re not good enough”, “You have to make your parents happy”, “You’re a failure”. In reality, I just wanted to be heard and loved. My parents never really understood me and thought I had attitude issues. No one understood me. I never had friends who cared about me. They mostly used me and told others terrible things about me. I slowly lifted my head and wiped my tears. My parents never believed sharing emotions ...

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Friends of the Time/Light Continuum

Submitted to Contest #202

Kaden calmly plucked his ukelele. Each reverberating note started sounding all around them - suddenly - ZAP! An electric snap hit the air and another fly dropped out of the room. The sound of giant bowling balls rolling across the sky shook the windows. “Jack loves thunder.” He thought to himself. What he wasn’t thinking is how stunned Jack would be to witness him killing bugs with just the sound of his ukelele.Lightning flashed outside the window like burning plasma in space. Too bright to comprehend.  A loud pounding on the ...

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Friends II

Submitted to Contest #202

“Let’s get married”, Tyson and Diane lay on the lawn in front of Tyson's house, Diane kept breaking the petals off dead sunflowers. “Why?”, Tyson asked her.Diane sat up, “Because if we get married we can live in the same house and have so much fun together”“Like what?”, Tyson also sat up“Well we can stay up and watch movies together, we can eat candy and ice cream together, draw pictures together, and so much more”, Diane blabbed.“But what if we fight or argue”, Tyson stated, “My mom and dad always fight and argue, I don’t wanna fight you”Di...

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TINKERBELL

Submitted to Contest #202

“How about a little fun?” Jack snickers to his gang, tossing his chin up like a pointer, his eyes zeroing in on a solitary bookworm sitting on the blacktop of the school courtyard with his back against a brick wall. It’s the morning recess. They all nod approvingly as sinister smiles unite and eyes gleam with the anticipation of the attack. The loner is small and slim, with long straight sandy hair and gold wire-framed aviator glasses. Jack is the outsider’s antithesis in every way, from his sporty build to his outgoing manner. All the girls...

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Molestation Magnet

Submitted to Contest #200

**please note story begins in 1953. Molestation and rape mentioned.** When the first of the molestations begins, I am 7 years old. I attend St. Vincent’s Catholic School. The school is located a few miles from the now infamous Kings Cross, a part of downtown Sydney, Australia. My molester is a 13-year-old student in Grade 6…a girl. Because I’m new at the school and think my classmates might not like me, I hide in the shadows of the building. She spots me there. She smiles at me and comes over. “Why aren’t you playing with anyone?” She ...

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Middle School Superhero

Submitted to Contest #200

Dakota was pretty happy being 11 years old. Her life wasn’t too exciting like some of the kids she saw walking around school with lots of friends, big laughs and important things to whisper about, but she had what she needed. Her mom and dad ran an organic vegetable farm and the whole family spent a lot of time outdoors. Her favorite after-school activity was painting little rocks with her brothers and hiding them around the farm for people to find. At school she was a gray man. She heard that term once when she was awake in bed listening to...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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