The Bag of Money – Featured Story #1

We are starting a new series, Featured Short Stories, written by students in the Creative Writing Club.

Every week, the students in the club work on writing stories, sometimes from their own ideas, and sometimes from story prompts. This week, we are featuring a story written from the following prompt: Write a story about a group of kids who find a bag of money left in the park.

This story was written by Ramona, aged 14. Enjoy!

THE BAG OF MONEY

I was about to go to university, my dream university. I was meeting my good friend James at the park this morning. I just knew he was going to tell me he had aced his A-level results and that we were going to university together.

“James!” I shouted loud and clear.

James turned around to see me run to him like I about to attack him.

“Noa, you need to stop scaring me like that!” said James.

“Like what?” I said in confusion.

“Shouting like that. It’s early in the morning and I am still tired.” James said.

I paused. Really, he didn’t seem excited summer was nearly over, and I haven’t seen him since I went to Greece.

“Well, how was your summer?” I asked.

“Good” said James.

“What about your A-levels results?” I asked.

“It doesn’t really matter.” James said, not looking at me.

“James what’s wrong?” I asked.

But James wasn’t listening to me. He was staring at a tree, like he wanted something from it, but what?

“Hey Noa wait here.” said James.

And then he left.

But I wasn’t going to let him go by himself, I was intrigued now and started to run to the tree.

“Ow!” I said.

I tripped and fell next to the tree where James was, he gave me his hand and I stood right up to see a bag.

“We should open it,” said James.

“But it’s not ours” I said.

Before I could say anything else, James opened the bag. His eyes opened wide when he saw the contents. It was full of money, lots of bundles of cash. It looked like enough money to buy a luxury car!

I hesitated and looked around the park, hoping nobody else had noticed. I thought about our next action. Stealing wasn’t good so maybe we should give it to the police.

“James let’s give this to the police.” I said.

“What! No!” said James.

“James, we don’t need this money and it wouldn’t be right to steal money.” I said.

“Finders keepers. I am keeping this money whether you like it or not!” said James.

“But James you could get arrested for stealing and might not be able to go to university.” I said.

“But I won’t get arrested because you won’t tell the police anything,” said James.

“No, I won’t because you know right from wrong.” I said.

I couldn’t believe this. How could James steal this money? It wasn’t right and I hope he knows this isn’t a game, this is serious.

“James are you being serious right now?” I asked him. We started arguing, and James took the bag and walked off and left the park.

I walked back home, annoyed and confused. This was not like James. Why would he want to take a whole bag of money he found?

As soon as I made it to my house, I ran upstairs to my bedroom, looking at the window in my room to see the park from afar.

I didn’t know what James was thinking, but I hoped I could trust him. He had been my friend since were nine for goodness’ sake. I knew I could trust him, maybe something was wrong, and I didn’t understand. James was a straight A student so I knew it couldn’t be because of his grades, so what was it?

I needed to know what was wrong, our friendship couldn’t just end like that because of a bag of money.

I texted him the next day to meet me at the park again.

When he came he looked worried. I was nervous too.

“Have you made up your mind James?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what to say, I had to ask, what did he need this money badly for?

“Why James? What do you need this money for?” I asked.

James sighed.

“You know how you went to Greece for the summer,” said James.

“Yes?” I said confused.

“My brother and I were working two part-time jobs just to pay the rent Noa,” he said.

Wait a minute. I hadn’t known that James’ summer wasn’t as fun as mine. Why didn’t he tell me?

“What about your dad, your family?” I asked.

“But you know my mother died before we even met each other. My stepmother kicked me out once I finished A-levels. My dad, he’s a lost cause, and he has started drinking again.” James shook his head.  “I went to live with my brother after the last argument with them. He is old enough to look after me, but now that I am eighteen, I don’t need any parental guidance.”

“Oh James,” I said. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“No, don’t feel guilty, it’s not your fault. I was thinking, with the money we found, I could go to university and not have to take out a loan,” said James.

“You could have told me, and my parents could have…” I said.

“No Noa. I know you mean well, but they’re not my parents. They don’t owe me anything,” said James.

I nodded, feeling sad.

“James, I know you need this money but doing this could get you to lot of trouble, you know that right?”

“I know,” James said. “That’s why I’ve decided to give it to the police.”

“REALLY!!” I said. I was so relieved.

I soon calmed down after James told me he was going to do the right thing.

“Yep, and I might even get a reward,” said James smiling.

We walked to the police station with the money in the bag and told the police everything. The two officers we met took down our statements and our details and said they will be in touch with us if they needed any more information.

“Thank you for doing the right thing,” said the police officers.

James wasn’t given a reward, but he was still smiling when we left the station. He felt proud that he had done the right thing.

We started walking back towards the High Street when James stopped and looked at me.

“Why did you stop?” I said confused.

“It’s the last day of summer which means you’re heading off to university,” said James.

I hadn’t thought about that. It meant we wouldn’t see each other since I was going somewhere outside of our town.

“Yeah, but we can still call and text while I am gone “I said.

“Noa, thank you,” said James.

“Don’t worry James, I will see you during the holidays, alright?” I said.

“Yeah” said James.

We hugged and spent the rest of the day together to save these memories.

If you have a child who loves writing stories and you would love them to explore their creativity and their imagination, then we would love to have them join our writing club! Just click on the link to register, and we will be in touch. Creative Writing Club – Registration Form.