Collection of Contest Entries

Baby Face (Boot Camp)

This challenge called for a piece of writing that describes me, so I decided to let my writing style speak for itself and write a teen fiction/romance/humor short story. That is defintely my favorite genre to write in and it is where my writing style fits best. I hope you enjoy!

~Baby Face~

Lori Matthews never seemed to be at the right place at the right time. 

She was a premature baby, started school a year early, and never seemed to quite catch the morning bus on time, leading the principal to warn her that if she wanted to move onto the next grade with her class, she would have to have perfect attendance for the rest of the year. That was why on an average Tuesday she decided to catch an earlier bus. Unfortunately, she did not know that she would be dropped off at school a whole hour before first period. 

Better early than late, she thought to herself. 

Having skipped breakfast to catch the bus, Lori walked down a deserted side hallway toward her special vending machines. They were the only ones in the whole building that had Swedish Fish. She fished out some change from her pocket and, giggling at her own pun, held out her hand to put in the quarter when she realized that there were people standing by the machines. 

Or rather, there was a fellow male student pushing a fellow female student up against a vending machine. 

This was a familiar sight in the hallways of Edgemont High School, so if it were a normal day Lori would just by her candy and be on her merry way. However, these two people were being rather obnoxious and blocking the coin slot, and no matter how much Lori tapped the boy on the shoulder, he would not budge. Getting frustrated Lori punched him on the shoulder. 

"Ouch. Do you mind?" The boy turned around, focusing his dazed green eyes onto the interruption. Lori recognized him as Brady, last name unknown. They'd never formally met, but she'd seen him around the halls in similar situations often enough. The girl was still laying against the vending machine with her eyes closed, her lips still puckered, waiting for the make out session to continue. Lori wasn't quite sure what to say in this kind of situation, and the silent moment stretched until the boy shrugged and once again brought his lips down onto the girl's. Lori sighed and again tapped him on the shoulder. 

"What?"

The boy was getting annoyed, but Lori was prepared this time. "You're blocking the machine."

Laughing, the boy glanced at Lori and then shifted with the girl to the right of the machine. 

"You could have just said so." He brought his lips back down against the girl's neck. Her sighing got on Lori's nerves while she waited for the little fish to finally fall to the bottom of the machine. Opening the packet, she stuffed a few into her mouth. 

"Thanks, Brady," she said with more than a touch of sarcasm. "You too, Jenna."

It was the first name that popped into Lori's head. The girl's eyes flashed open and she pulled Brady's head away from her neck. 

"Who the hell is Jenna?"

Lori turned the corner and smiled as she heard a resounding slap echo down the hall. 

xxxxx

"Hey, what do you know about Brady?" Lori asked her lab partner Winnie three periods later. Thanks to Lori, they'd finished twenty minutes early and were just sitting around, waiting for the period to end.

"Why?" Winnie asked, looking up from her legendary notebook. Winnie was the school's Secretary of Gossip. 

"No particular reason. Just curious." That morning had been entertaining at the time, but now Lori felt guilty. It wasn't like the guy had committed a crime. Maybe he even really liked the girl. Winnie shrugged and turned to a page in the notebook.