Gemotions

"Honestly," Ms. Chen muttered, fiddling with the thermostat that, as usual, stubbornly refused to budge. The classroom was stifling, the air thick with the smell of stale chalk and unwashed bodies. She was already in a foul mood after grading a particularly dreadful stack of essays. Then, a student she'd never seen before, a girl with vibrant pink hair, appeared at her door, clutching a large, unwieldy box.

“For you, Ms. Chen!” The girl beamed, setting the box down with a thud. "From… uh… Sarah."

Ms. Chen opened it with a sigh. It was a terrarium. A complex, elaborate terrarium, complete with tiny figurines of dinosaurs and what looked suspiciously like fake, glowing mushrooms. Sarah, the student who’d constantly disrupted class with her ‘creative outbursts’ of weird and wonderful projects, the one who'd barely passed her exams. She felt a heat rise in her chest. She wished the girl hadn't bothered.