Lyn learns a lot about what it means to be a girl and lets out secrets of her past

I came home smelly, dirty and sticky from the sap in all of those weeds I had to whack out of existence. Rob and I ranked so badly we were forced to sit in the bed of the truck as it rained. Which wasn’t bad as we had cold bottles of water, the wind rustling all around us, and a good seventy-five dollars each. I felt proud, almost grown-up…except without the bills and worrying about what to cook for dinner.

On arrival in Zebrin the reunited company heads for their allocated hostel, where Eriana hears the story of Tosh's past. It is also necessary to deal with the port official Osar, who was forced to depart Pakmal with the company.

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

73 - A Kittrin's Tale

[two days later]
“Any luck?” asked Sylvia.

I had been calling around all the local hospitals in the hope of finding where Ray had been taken.

“With the way Dad is being, I can’t move back in any time soon. Would it be okay if I came over sometime after you get off work and before Dad comes home, and get a few things out of my room? Or could I ask you to pack up a few things and bring them to the Ramseys’ house, or bring them to work and let me come by to get them when Meredith or Sophia are giving me a ride home from school?”

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

Pinkmailed
A Requested Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Okay, so listen up. Like, what’s the worst secret that you don’t want anybody to know? Like, a secret that you want to keep so badly that you will do anything to stop Mark and Gabe from telling everybody? I mean like, anything! Like, giving away everything that is important to you. Like becoming somebody else completely! Like, the opposite of the person you were. What kind of secret could that be?

The following story was told to me by Lana Edwards, Lana is a Junior at Benton Academy and a long time girl scout who has just completed all the requirements to award her Gold Rewards. The Gold Reward is the highest honor a girl can earn in her scouting career. Anyway she swears this story is true. And given Lana is not the type to make up stories, and given my own paranormal encounters and many other paranormal encounters I've written about so far. I'm going to take her word at face value.

What was Rachel thinking? She should've just told Jesse she was Randy from the start. Then maybe Jesse wouldn't have agreed to give the speech at Randy's memorial and made it that much more awkward for Rachel to come clean with him. But it was too late now.

The day after the memorial assembly, Jesse seemed pretty down in the dumps when he came into Science. "Hey," said Rachel. "About yesterday, I just..."

"Don't be sorry," Jesse said miserably. "It's not your fault."

So Jesse wasn't mad at her. "Well...okay, I guess," said Rachel.

As long as I can remember, I have always had a bit of a thing about wildlife and plants. After school hours when the others were hanging out together in coffee bars or games arcades I just left them to it and did my own thing. I was always more interested in going on rambles in the local woods or on the moors rising up behind the family farm.

Runnin' Away With Me (Part. 3)
By Sabrina G. Langton

***

Author's Note: Part 3 and we find out everything... already. I hope YOU like it.

***

The white and brown dog I was petting was going to be adopted, she would have a home. A home with three kids, a mother, father, and grandmother. Her name was Coco and she would live six blocks away, not too far from my mother's block. A million miles away from Phoenix.

For the next few days, Rachel kept going to school and working with Jesse as her lab partner. It felt weird, since she knew him so well and he didn't know her (or so he thought), but their interactions were mostly good. There was one incident where Rachel felt like she'd slightly annoyed Jesse, but he seemed to have gotten over it by the end of class.

The next week, however, things were different. When Rachel got to her Science class, the teacher Mrs. McLain had an announcement. "Okay, everyone," she said, "Today's the first day of our Sex Ed unit. And you know what that means."

Due to a mail order mishap orchestrated by his sister, the pair of glasses Leighton receives are not the pair he ordered. Looks like if he wants something different, he's going to have to get a new job to pay for them. What could possibly go wrong?

A redux of a very requested oldie of mine. It's basically the exact same story, but rebuilt from the ground up.

Suspicions
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I am a possessive person. I admit it. I thought that Lauren loved me, and I thought that I loved her. I just felt that we were meant to be together. I thought that our arguments and lack of sex were issues that we could address, but that our relationship would be lasting.

I have to admit that sex was an issue for me, and I never really understood why at the time. Now I realize what the problem was. It seems so stupid that I did not recognize my own nature. I must be the biggest self-deceiver on the planet.

Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

I returned her intense look and felt a wave of relief washing over me. I noticed a tiny smile on her face that was getting bigger by the second.

I tried to pull her up slowly. A few seconds later, Mary was up and let herself fall into my arms. We hugged intently for a while. Two sisters against the world. Nobody and nothing could shake us.

During this intense hug we were both crying. We held each other close a little bit longer and then finally let go.

“I am so sorry, Riley. I think that I was way too harsh.”