A possible future in less than 500 words, if plastic wins. This was my entry for the WattPad/National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic competition back in late 2018. It reached their Top 10 Submissions which, given that there appeared to be well over 5000 entries, was a very pleasant surprise! The competition itself had a limit of 500 words so, for those who keep asking if I intend continuing the story, the answer (for now!) is no - unless I can find a very good reason for adding any more. Many thanks to everyone reading and voting on this story and getting it to number 1 in the #sciencefiction category in May/June 2020! I did try to thank the voters individually on their pages but Wattpad have a daily limit on the number of times I'm allowed to do that and there are now too many of you (not that I'm complaining)! Here's the top 10 submissions page: https://www.wattpad.com/list/738243473-planetorplastic-top-10-submissions If you want to read the story in Polish please head over to https://www.wattpad.com/story/236405960-m%C4%85dro%C5%9B%C4%87-staro%C5%BCytnych-t%C5%82umaczenie-pl where @juliatlumaczy has done a fine job - thank you, Julia! @juliatlumaczy has now sent me a version of the cover she used for her Polish translation - thanks again, Julia! @alex_sokolova has also translated the story into Russian as well. You can read that here: https://www.wattpad.com/976002417-мудрость-древних - many thanks, Alex! We now have a third translation! @AlfonsoLucassen has kindly translated it into Spanish and you can find it here: https://www.wattpad.com/1063634347-la-sabidur%C3%ADa-de-los-antiguos

It's my first poem ... about unchanged me.. with a little self knowledge about myself.

When Desmond Mellow transfers to an elite all-boys high school, he immediately gets a bad impression of his new deskmate, Ivan Moonrich. Gorgeous, mysterious, and menacing, Ivan is exactly what Desmond doesn't need in his life - or so he thinks... ***** After causing trouble in his previous high school, Desmond is struggling to adapt to his new environment at Ivory High and to stop living in the shadow of his perfect older brother. As usual, trouble follows Desmond wherever he goes and nothing is going well. To make matters worse, he seems to have attracted the attention of The Class Prince, aka the infamous Ivan Moonrich. But despite their rocky start, Desmond begins to grow feelings for Ivan, discovering a new side of his identity that he never thought to experience. [[word count: 50,000 - 60,000]] Cover designed by Joe Resch