High School Stories: Short Takes from the Writers' Club

By Mary M. Nyman

A picture of the accident flashed across the screen. It made Tim feel sick. The car was what remained of a red Porsche ... He felt overwhelmed by guilt. I wished for this, he thought. I must really hate that kid and thats not fair. I would never have wished this on him.

HIGH SCHOOL STORIES deals with a number of issues that young people face. Situations like early pregnancy, drug abuse, loss of family, isolation, identity issues, and lack of self-confidence result in new understanding and growth that these experiences bring. As a parent and teacher, the author is concerned about how young people cope with problems and resolve them, in addition to how they grow emotionally and intellectually. Their welfare has always been a priority for her.

Although a work of fiction, HIGH SCHOOL STORIES concerns issues the author encountered while teaching teens for twenty-one years. Her first book, When the Leaves Fall, involves a drug situation and how a high school junior overcomes his abuse. In HIGH SCHOOL STORIES, two of these characters reappear.

"Mary Nyman has produced a collection of poetic tales that kept me reading late into the night. I highly recommend her latest work." Steven Manchester, author of The Unexpected Storm

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450215862

Mary M. Nyman

Mom's Choice Award winner for When the Leaves Fall, Mary M. Nyman grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee, and graduated from Wheaton College and Boston University Graduate School. In 1959 she moved to Wareham, Massachusetts, to teach and raise five children in a house overlooking Buzzards Bay, where she resides today.

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High School Stories

Short Takes from the Writers’ Club

Copyright © 2010 by Mary M. Nyman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4502-1585-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-1586-2 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 3/24/2010

Contents

Author’s Notes and Acknowledgments

(The Writers’ Club)

Sarah’s Day Off

Maybe Next Fall

Student of the Month

The Tent

Daydreaming

Amos Goes to Smiling Hill Farm

A Shaft of Sudden Light

Jenny’s Song

Epilogue

For my children and grandchildren

Author’s Notes and Acknowledgments

High School Stories grew out of many years of teaching high school English and raising five wonderful children. I am very grateful for these experiences, and I would like to share my impressions with teenagers today, because young people continue to inspire me. Perhaps parents and teachers will relate to some of these stories as well, since what happens here is universal.

I am very much indebted to my friend, Carol Rossi, for her patience and assistance in preparing this manuscript; and I especially want to thank my instructor, author, and editor, Steven Manchester, for his invaluable help and expertise with revising and formatting. Finally, I want to thank my daughter, Helen, for helping me with the technology involved in submitting this manuscript and for her final editing and suggestions pertaining to characterization.

Introduction

(The Writers’ Club)

High school was never easy. There was always something unpleasant to face, a lot of it academic. I remember well the boredom and horrors of calculus and chemistry, the never-ending pressures of homework deadlines, and my mother's frequent nagging—not to mention having to participate in gym when I was too tired to get out of bed in the morning. It was pretty hard to avoid things I didn’t like, and it was pretty hard to get away with things I thought I would like. Thinking back, it seemed like someone was always watching out for me, which I, of course, didn’t appreciate at the time.

Not that I would like to relive these four years, because we also had to face the deeper problems of growing up. We had to find ourselves, which we know now is a lifelong process. And we had to learn how to be ourselves.

It has been two years since the events of my junior year took place. You may remember, I told the story about that year (and the near disasters I experienced) in a book called When the Leaves Fall. It's a book about how I survived drug abuse by making decisions that saved my life. Well, I’ve just finished my freshman year in college, taking courses and working; and my close friend, Stephanie, is also in college. I am Corey, in case you haven’t read my book.

All in all life is pretty good right now, especially since I have Stephanie, who just might become the real love of my life when we're ready. But nobody gets out of high school without having to face some tough times. And Stephanie had the brilliant idea of hosting a writers' club as a good way to keep in touch with our high school friends. This meant that we would meet once every two months and share ideas for stories about memorable events that had happened to us over the past six years. After that, the assignment would be to write a good short story to read to the other members of the group.

Most of my friends have had to face some pretty difficult issues. In High School Stories you can experience their feelings about bullying and the deaths of favorite grandparents, about having to enable and take care of messed up parents, and about acknowledging mixed feelings toward popular kids. They also tell about dealing with unwanted pregnancy and homosexuality, the death of friendship or friends, and drug abuse and its consequences. If you've had to face any of these situations, perhaps