Gemotions

The email notification blinked mockingly on Maya’s laptop screen. Her stomach twisted, a hard knot forming. She reread the message from the university’s financial aid office. Apparently, there had been a “clerical error.” The scholarship funds, the ones she’d been relying on for housing and books, weren't hers. A wave of heat flushed her cheeks. She slammed the laptop shut, the click echoing in the suddenly silent dorm room. Throwing her backpack against the wall with unnecessary force, she paced, hands clenched into fists, the cheap linoleum floor of the dorm room creaking with each agitated step.