Isla's 30 days, 30 Short Stories Writing Challenge
Isla Cunningham is raising money for Trussell
Story
Hello! My name is Isla Cunningham and I have decided to do a sponsored short story writing challenge for the Trussell Trust, who are a national charity that gives food to people who can’t afford it. I have decided to raise money for this charity because I really want to help people and this is a really amazing charity to help.
I will be writing a short story of around 600 words every day of June and sharing them with my teachers, classmates, and posting some of them on my mum’s Facebook. You can also do this challenge to raise some money or if you just want to write some short stories, that’s fine too. Make sure you post your stories, send them to us and when I’ve finished my challenge I’ll put all of the stories, yours and mine, into an eBook which you can download if you want to.
If you’d like to read the kind of thing I write, I wrote a practice story for this challenge as an example:
‘Hollywood’ - by Isla Hart Cunningham
“Come on, Max! It’s time to go!” I yelled to my older brother from the front door. He was faffing around filming his feet to put on Tik Tok, or whatever that weird YouTube rip-off is called. Typical Max. I don’t even know why he has that, anyway. He showed me a video and honestly, I’m unimpressed. I don’t know what all the fuss is about!
“I’m coming! Shut up a minute, will you? Now I’ve got to film it again!” he yelled. I walked over to him, grabbed his phone and ran into the car with it, narrowly missing a slipper being thrown at my head.
“Ha-ha!” I shouted. He moodily stomped over and got in the car, snatching his phone back and flicking my forehead with his sharp fingernails. But what Max didn’t know was that I posted that video! Take that, you face-flicking nitwit!
“Ow! Mum, he hit me!”
“She started it!”
“Both of you, be quiet and fasten your seatbelts. We’re going to be late!” said Mum, climbing into the driver’s seat. We were going to meet Dad at the airport because… wait for it… wait for it… we were going to Hollywood! Dad was working in Hollywood because he needed to do some research on an actor for work or something, and we got to go with him! Hollywood is where people get famous! Dad showed me a picture of the hotel and it is amazing. There was a swimming pool, a water slide, my own personal king-sized bed, my own en suite (that is a small bathroom connected to a bedroom. Don’t worry, I didn’t know what that was either until Mum told me) and, best of all, I’m sharing a room with Max! This may sound bad to you, but it’s really good. I can prank him while he sleeps!
Alright, fast forward to the flight (you don’t really want to hear about Max giving me a mass wedgie and me putting Max’s phone in a sandwich, do you? Well, if you do, I have recovered and was given a packet of sweets for the minor shock and Max’s phone is sadly fine). We boarded the plane and sat in our seats. I was next to the window and Max, and Dad was on the end of our row. Mum was behind us flicking through a fashion magazine, Max was posing in his chair and pouting like a fish and Dad was reading about red pandas for no particular reason.
The flight was really nice because Max fell asleep after about twenty minutes of filming himself dancing. I got through two whole books, seven packets of crisps, a Coke, a Fanta, a jumbo caramel chocolate bar and three family packs of Haribos on the journey, and before I knew it we had landed. I yanked my green suitcase down from the shelf, smacked Max around the head to wake him up and dashed to the front of the plane, dragging my case behind me. I looked back at him and burst out laughing at his bewildered face. He is very young.
The plane doors opened and I eagerly ran out with Mum, Dad and Max beside me. Suddenly, me and Max were surrounded by reporters flashing cameras and firing questions at us. Jeez! Hollywood is a miracle-worker!
Max was amazed, his expression mirroring mine, and he immediately checked his Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok followers.
“Flipping hell! Jade, look at how many TikTok followers I’ve got!” he said excitedly, showing me a rapidly increasing number on TikTok.
“Wow!” I said. “How did you do that? You, of all people?”
“Dunno, but they’re all here for me! Thank you, thank you!” he said to the reporters.
“Jade Wilson! How did you become so funny?”
“Uh… what?” I said, confused.
“Jade Wilson! How does it feel to be the youngest TikTok star ever?”
“Jade Wilson! How often do you shower?”
“Excuse me?”
They were all here for me? How was that possible? Oh yeah… the video! The one that I posted! Now I get why Max loves TikTok so much!
Please donate and thank you for reading!
Last year, food banks in our network provided more than 1.6 million emergency food parcels to people in crisis. More than half a million of these went to children. It’s not right that people can’t afford the basics. With your help, we can help end the need for food banks.As a nation, we expect no one should be left hungry or destitute. Illness, disability, family breakdown or the loss of a job can happen to any of us. With your help #ThisCanChange