The Plan

Written for Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction
Challenge using the image below as inspiration.

Gabby had packed her backpack four times last night …. not because she needed to but because packing it gave her something to do and that took her mind off her stomach doing somersaults.

New school, new teachers, new everything. She’d walked this route a hundred times over the summer, timing herself, memorizing which cracks in the sidewalk to avoid. Oh God, how embarrassing if she tripped in front of the seniors!

Her plan was simple: walk in like she’d done it a thousand times before. Chin up and don’t look back at mom watching from the window (like she did every day of the first week of school). Just walk, like this was routine, like her heart wasn’t currently attempting an Olympic quadruple axel.

Up ahead, the school waited …. full of strangers who were probably just as nervous as she was, though none of them looked it either.

One block left …. then put on the kind of brave you can’t fake, only borrow until it becomes real.

NAR©2026

This is “Hold Your Head Up” by Argent

Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge #392

^{Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated and may not be used without permission. Thank you for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.}