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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of teens & young adult short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

5390+ Teens & young adult Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for the best short stories for teens? Our collection of funny, suspenseful, and relatable young adult short stories will meet your needs.

Teens & young adult Short Stories – Page 36 of 360

Haven

Submitted to Contest #266

My characters suck and are so damn boring | I throw my fingers into the roots of my hair and pull. Hard. The palm of my right hand throbs from the pounding I just put into my desk–in perfect time with the cursor blinking at the end of my latest masterpiece, my truth in fiction. And the truth is that I am losing time, and that nothing I ever do is— Slurp. Sluuurp. Sluuuuurp. The final slurp is what gets me from questioning if the sound is in my head to knowing it’s right behind me. I spin in my chair until I’m facing Alex. I know he’s Alex, ...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Baby Blues

Submitted to Contest #267

Though I will be the one narrating this story from my perspective, this is not solely my story. I will do my best to be fair in my depiction. This is my version of our story.  I was adopted by my family at three weeks old. I grew up in a traditional household, surrounded by a loving family, including a large extended family.  As I entered my teenage years, I became emotional and disgruntled, like many teenagers facing the angst of growing up. My parents were always wrong, and I was being held back from living my best, most authenti...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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A cliff of a ravine with shallow water

Submitted to Contest #266

A cliff of a ravine with shallow waterThough void of decorations, such as paintings or family portraits, the white wall which Frank starred at was all the canvas necessary to compliment his inner world. He was motionless and expressionless, and one could only hope there was something happening behind those hopeless eyes – his chest occasionally stretching to signal air coming in and out was about the greatest indicator that he was, in fact, among the living. In his rented one room apartment, located on the second floor of a building not too ...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Musings

Submitted to Contest #266

I swore I would never be like my family. Growing up, my parents were a constant source of embarrassment and the cause of my bullying at school. The only thing they said to me when I came back crying was: “They don’t understand. Forgive them.”It’s funny how the words of Jesus were used to cover up their unholy acts which led to my crappy childhood. It’s also funny how the kids who were making fun of me somehow had the stupidest accidents after a while. By the time I was in the last class, there were too many accidents to ignore, and no one wa...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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You Wouldn't Make Up Your Mind, So I Did It For You

Submitted to Contest #266

I was sitting in a white void, looking at the screen in front of me and listening to the constant tap-tap-tap of the author's keyboard on the laptop. My author, a 20-year-old woman named Erin, was on the other side of screen, furiously writing and re-writing the paragraph that was supposed to describe me. Apparently, I was supposed to be the main character of some sort of modernized fantasy novel. She had been procrastinating with my creation for so long that she had literally written out everything else in the story but me! At first, I didn...

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Lucky List

Submitted to Contest #266

“What cha doing, Billy?”, my six-year-old sister asked, interrupting my meditation. “None of your business,” I said. “Now go away. I’m busy.” “Didn’t look busy to me. It looked like you were sleeping,” Suzie said with her annoying, childish giggle. “Shows what you know. I was manifesting.” I wish Mom would let me lock my door, but she promised to take it off its hinges if I locked it again. I get caught smoking weed in my room one time and they subject me to mom boot camp. Now they were threatening to make me quit the football team if I did...

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Reddit Recipes

Submitted to Contest #266

"Fillet of a fenny snake,In the caldron boil and bake;Eye of newt and toe of frog–" "Are you quoting the Scottish Play?" Lizzie asked, peering over Isabelle’s shoulder into the large pot she was chanting in front of. Isa spun around, surprised. She hadn't heard her friend enter her house.  "You scared me!” said Isa. “What are you even here for anyway?"  "You're hosting Writing Club this week, remember?" Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.  "Oh, yes, Writing Club! I'd totally forgotten–lost track of the time," Isa replied. "Where's ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Who's story?

Submitted to Contest #266

From the second I got out of bed that morning I had been plagued by this unsettling feeling. A sort of unstable feeling; like even the ground under my feet could change or fall away at any moment.I brushed off the uneasy feeling and went to the bathroom to start getting ready - I was meeting my friend Jess for coffee in an hour. I tied my curly brown hair back into a ponytail before splashing some water over my face to wake myself up. I dried my face with a towel; as I pulled the towel away, I noticed something about my reflection. I lo...

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ENGL 682

Submitted to Contest #266

“Who's late to their own class?” Another student stands up, “Yeah, I’m about to leave.” Frustrated, he exited the classroom, followed by half the students. The door slams, a chuckle ringed from the back of the room. “Now we’re ready to begin.” The man says, standing up.  The room was silent, nobody remembered seeing this man sitting in the back. He wore a black hoodie, a bucket hat, and gray sunglasses. By the time it registered, he had already locked the exit. He was huge, definitely more of a door than a window.“Okay, n...

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By the Book

Submitted to Contest #266

I outline the circle in a thin line of chalk. Thin because this is the fifth time I’ve done this in this month alone.  Note to self, go to Mike’s Friday for more. Mike’s, the only mom and pop hobby store in town, is the only place I’ll spend my money for something as important as this… Plus, the ten percent employee discount makes anything I buy at Mike's a steal. I write out the string of sigils along the outline in red paint. It’s too runny from the water I’ve added to the bottle, but it’s important to use every la...

6 likes 4 comments 4
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Dream Big

Submitted to Contest #266

This story contains depictions of mental health, substance abuse, and suicide. I always knew my daughter was a creative and dream-driven mind. She had big ideas with no plans, impressive dedication where passion grew, and a heart that would never stop loving. As a little girl, I watched her choose a sparkly purple shirt with pink polka-dot shorts and white butterfly shoes as a first day of school outfit. She'd pick out a blue pair of peace sign earrings and clip her bangs back with her hair in a low ponytail. I'd send her off to play with f...

5 likes 5 comments 5
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Breaking a Big Break

Submitted to Contest #266

Edward had just turned 60 and he was very, very close to a big break in his career. He had been a college professor for some 30 years, and he had been informed that his department led by the current dean who was soon to retire was looking to him to take over that senior position. One positive aspect of this big break would be that he would be paid significantly more than what he had been getting as a mere teacher. He could retire earlier, something both he and his wife Edna wanted him to do so that they would spend more time t...

13 likes 8 comments 8
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Heart of Pearl

Submitted to Contest #265

Call me sensitive, I don’t care. The ache still hurts a decade later. An ache that accompanies pain that drives the wedge between me and my family. I don’t think forgiveness is in my future, even if I do find it, it won’t be theirs. But at least maybe after today, I’ll have closure.  I-5 is a nightmare at noon. Traffic rarely stood still unless there was a cop doing road splits, but I got lucky today because an accident had me stopped at the Presidio exit. It had been months since the last time I drove this far north. I no longer went ...

2 likes 2 comments 2
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Towards the Cold

Submitted to Contest #265

The air crept into her lungs, dry and frozen, and Kerera briefly wondered if it was the presence of the outsiders that made it such.She could see them clearly from the threshold, twelve figures that almost seemed small in the shadows of their riding beasts, those scaly creatures she deemed hideous at first sight. The preparations were coming to an end. The spears that never dared to spill her people’s blood were now attached to the saddlebags, and those departing were talking in hushed voices, though with her hearing she didn’t even need to ...

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The Silence Between Us

Submitted to Contest #265

Moonlight spilled across my face like liquid silver as I settled into the stranger's car, it's cold glow a silent witness to the rebellion I dared to undertake. The night in Eunice, a small, sleepy town in Louisiana, wrapped around me like a cloak, concealing my sins and disobedience. The shadows became my confidants, whispering secrets only I could hear, the greatest of which was my carefully plotted escape. No one from my family could ever know where I was headed, nor could they ever condone it. My thoughts were interrupted as the door bes...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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