Andlat's Story Spot

“Alex,” Mom said, poking her head into the living room. “Please go get dressed. I put your clothes on your bed.” “You gotta stop picking my clothes for me, mom.” “If I let you choose, I'd be back from the restaurant before you even had pants on.” Alex snorted, but part of him knew mom was right. It was easier to have her set clothes out for him, but he still felt an obligation to complain loudly about it. “I look like a dweeb!” He announced as soon as he was dressed. At least this time, it was a polo instead of a dorky sweater or something. "It's a nice restaurant. Go brush your hair, shaggy.” He stomped toward the bathroom. “Besides, I'm sure Mark will be dressed the same." She called after him. Mark was the primary reason Alex was so concerned about how he looked. Mark was his age, according to Mom, and the last thing he wanted was to look like a nerd or something in front of him. He sloppily brushed his hair and then returned to the living room for Mom’s in...

"What? This is ridiculous! I am not under five!" Dave looked around the daycare, deeply offended. "The nice man misspoke, sweetie." The woman explained gently. "Mall policy is to bring any children under the age of ten here, just to be safe!" "But I'm thirteen!" He exclaimed. "I know I'm short, but I'm in freaking eighth grade!" "Do you have any ID to prove that?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "No" "Not even your school ID? All the schools around here" He cut her off. "It's summer. I don't keep it with me during the summer." After losing it more than a few times, his mom had made the habit of handing it to him every morning before he left for school, expecting him to return it immediately after getting home. "I see." "This was just a mistake. I got separated from my friends and that guard thought I was a little kid." "Well, you can hang out here unt...

James sighed as he stared at himself in the mirror. It had taken some time, but he had accepted that the fifth grader looking back at him was him. It was and it wasn't. He knew he was James. He could remember weightlifting yesterday, he could remember his first kiss with Stacy Evans, but that was Brook looking back at him, right down to the Minecraft pajama shirt and the thankfully dry Goodnites. "Just gotta shower. It'll clear my mind and" he sighed. "Then I'll figure out what to do about this." Brook's high pitched voice sounded foreign in his ears. It was unsettling for his audible voice to no longer match his inner monologue. He started the shower and stripped, groaning as each discarded article only further revealed how scrawny he was. He had lost five years, a good fourteen inches in height, his shoulders felt less than half as broad, and the less said about the rest of his body, the better. "Shit." James groaned as he looked up at h...

Maddox tried to hide his panic as he once again had to dodge a group of excited swimmers. Everyone seemed to be growing up so fast and he felt as though he was the only one who hadn't been told. Everything had seemed so normal at the start of summer but now that school was around the corner, suddenly his Sonic beach towel and his lime green clogs felt horribly childish. He had planned to spend most of the day at the community pool, but now that he had seen everyone else, he was too anxious to stay. “Oops, sorry” his heart could not seem to decide if it wanted to stop or pound out of his chest as he realized he had nearly run right into Allison Klein. Of course. Of course it had to be her. “I didn't- Oh, wait. You're” she paused and looked him right in the eyes, no small feat with how much she towered over him. “Maddox, right?” “Uh, yeah.” “Wow, I didn't recognize you out of your school uniform at first! I haven't seen you all summer! Course, I've been in cam...