Gemotions

The email shimmered on her phone screen, the words refusing to coalesce into meaning. Rejection. The scholarship she’d pinned her hopes on. A dizzying lightness filled her chest. She reread the sentence, her eyes skipping over the words like a stone across water. It still wouldn't sink in. She clicked the screen off, then on again, as if the digital magic had malfunctioned. She wanted to laugh, a bubbling sound that caught in her throat. She sank to the floor, her back against the cool, painted brick of the hallway wall, a ridiculous smile plastered on her face.