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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.

5400+ 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 51 of 360

Don't Get Drunk

Submitted to Contest #252

[TW - ALCOHOL] Tired, limping and drunken was he as he walked through the desolate streets of Ghost Village. What happened? "Ya bet I won the game!" screamed a wild man, shaking his huge mug of beer above his head, the contents swishing and sploshing out. That one phrase set the whole pub to a singing bout, all of the short whiskered men picking up the tune and warbling out random noises that were hard to discern. Among these tipsy bastards was a rather highly respected man, who had to attend a meeting the next morning at 8, in which the fat...

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Twisted Wishes

Submitted to Contest #252

The tea was getting cold.A pretty floral tea set sat on a small, antique patio table. A slightly disheveled butler stood in the doorway of the room, having been waiting for his mistress to tell him to brew a new pot. He sighed.Despite the windows in the opulently furnished office being closed, the tapestries flapped and the paintings were crooked, and there were papers floating to the ground after being flung from their perch on a desk on the other side of the room. The butler called a maid in to tidy the mess, while he neatened his appearan...

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The Compromise

Submitted to Contest #252

He called on me in class today. “Audrey, have you a verse to contribute?” he asked. He does this, calls on students whose hands aren’t raised, his (admittedly effective) way of keeping us tame. He calls it “voluntolding.” There’d been a lull, a long, uncomfortable pause after he nominated Lance to contribute a verse: Lance, the one who sits in the corner closest to the back door, the one who gets picked up by the Boys’ and Girls’ Club bus. The one whose refrigerator displays the school lunch menu with a smiley-face magnet; the one whose grea...

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A Change of Heart

Submitted to Contest #252

Dear Reader, This story contains hints of bullying, sexual assault, and physical violence. It is not graphic, however, I must put a trigger warning here. I hope you can enjoy my story otherwise. Thank you for your time “Guys I don’t know about this.” Cami shifted her feet and crossed her arms. She and her friends, Jade and Abby stood on the edges of the property on a Saturday night, where a party thrown by a couple of brothers on the school football team was in full swing. By now most of the partygoers were at least tipsy...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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3 Rules

Submitted to Contest #252

Trigger Warning: gaslighting/ manipulation. . . Amai always knew her relationship with Aiho was a little problematic.There were always small things Aiho didn’t like or approve of. However, Amai didn’t mind it, in all of her time knowing him he never hurt or even attempted to hurt them. They’ve known each other since childhood but only started dating about senior year of high school which happened because of a less than ideal situation. No matter how bad things got Amai turned a blind eye to it, cause as far as she was concerned he is the per...

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The Wish, The Clock and Time

Submitted to Contest #252

In the quiet town of Eldridge, nestled among rolling hills and dense forests, lived an old clockmaker named Elias. His shop, "Tick Tock Treasures," was a haven of gears, springs, and pendulums, where the steady tick-tick-tick of clocks created a comforting rhythm. Elias was known far and wide for his craftsmanship, but more so for a peculiar legend: it was said he could build clocks that could manipulate time itself. One crisp autumn morning, a stranger walked into Elias's shop. Dressed in a dark overcoat and wearing a wide-brimmed hat that ...

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Breaking Up Is..

Submitted to Contest #252

       I stood at the mirror in my bathroom. My thick, dark hair needed taming down. I needed the opposite of a volumizer. My almond shaped eyes had dark circles underneath them. I inherited both my amber eyes and the dark circles from my mom. Makeup solved that problem, but I still wasn’t happy. How did I end up dating Teddy? Now, he was even talking about marriage and it had been less than two months! I needed to have a “talk” with Teddy.         Seven wee...

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Lost Language

Submitted to Contest #251

It had been a terrible mistake to come here.Todd sat on a log next to the trail and surveyed the forest. It had taken hours to reach the northern Allegheny Forest of Pennsylvania from Washington D.C. He should have used this time to work on diplomatic relations, with the whole world on the brink of war.“Regrets?” Samantha said next to him.“Not yet,” he replied. “But the day is young.”The leafy canopy created a blanket of mottled shadows on the dense green floor of the forest. The air was fresh and fragrant—a far cry from the stuffy offices o...

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Levende Bibliotek

Submitted to Contest #251

Levende Bibliotek The dark green  cover of the book feels scaly like an alligator’s skin. My fingers slowly trace the rumpled texture as I incredulously breathe, “Where did this come from?” I look up to see other books, stacks of books, laying on their side, standing upright and others stacked precariously with wide swaths of gossamer clinging to their edges. Each book has gold lettering on the spine that shines, despite the layers of dust and years of neglect. The floor too is littered with small and large stacks of books, each with go...

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The Book of Heroes

Submitted to Contest #251

When Isabella was young, she regarded the kingdom’s soldiers as heroes. Now, she regarded them as the true enemy. That didn’t mean all soldiers from the forces were cruel, because her father, Eli, was a true hero. For fifteen years, he had gone missing. Isabella had asked neighbors, relatives, or even a soldier that felt generous enough to answer questions from a little girl. No one knew where he was. But, perhaps, could the Chamber of Ages tell Isabella where Eli went? A book in there documented every soldier who had served in the kingdom. ...

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Azaleas

Submitted to Contest #251

Momma plants Azaleas. She likes the way they look around the wrap around porch. The way her southern belle friends fawn over them when they stop by for book club. She's a famous author, you see. When they're not veering off the path and reading a book by someone else, they're reading one of her books. She has about thirty of them, her books. She takes pride in them. She takes pride in being a small celebrity in our quaint southern town. They're downstairs now, her book club. Their muffled voices and laughter, drift up from the living ro...

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A father, a daughter and the curious case of the secret library

Submitted to Contest #251

When I was a little, I came across a secret library in our home. Before we get to that, maybe I should tell you a little bit about my family. I am an only child who grew up in the rural countryside along with my mother. I say mother because my father never came home when I was around five. He often went away for long periods of time, but he always came back…until one day he didn’t. On the occasions he returned, he would tell me that it was because he was an explorer and he had to go off on a magical quest. Mum was never happy about it, but ...

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Amelia

Submitted to Contest #252

“You’re the cream in my coffee,” said Amelia, her brown curls wistfully falling. Ever deeper, down, down. “And I thought we would be together in what might be forever!”Vincent, who couldn’t be anywhere else, did his best.“It's always you!” Amelia's voice rose, her face contorted in a pout. “Which can be construed as maybe or never! I despise you!”Vincent tried to pout. It was an exploration that neither interested him nor could be ignored. “Oh, to be me!” he said.The vast ocean, its waves ceaseless, decided it was not in anyone's interest to...

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The Secret Library

Submitted to Contest #251

Ivy held her breath as the stairs creaked under her weight. She didn’t want to take the risk and wake any of her brothers, she knew how angry they’d get to find her sneaking out of the house so late at night.  She couldn’t help it though, she needed to get out and explore the world around her and while she loved her brothers, they were over protective of her. They just didn’t understand that she hated being cooped up in the house. I’m sixteen. She thought,  I’m not a child.. She should be able to come and go as she pleased and ther...

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The Order of the Rose

Submitted to Contest #251

Avery was not sure she had ever seen such a building in her life. The style of architecture she was only familiar with in pictures; a large old looking gothic building with dozens of windows. Some of them, broken and shattered. From the outside it appeared the corner of the windows were scorched as if a fire had blown out the windows. She looked to Vesna on her left and Fitz to her right.  “This church wasn’t here yesterday, was it?” Fitz asked. The town of Ginsval didn't have much, especially not a giant cathedral. “Buildings tend...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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