Gemotions

The garish wrapping paper, a clown vomiting rainbows, mocked Ms. Periwinkle from her desk. She surveyed the tiny package, already knowing the contents. Bartholomew "Barty" Finch, bless his dim-witted heart, had always been predictable. He'd struggled to pass her history class, and she remembered the vacant look in his eyes every time she tried to explain the complexities of the French Revolution. A deep sigh escaped her as she picked up the package.

A small, hand-painted ceramic frog, its expression permanently frozen in what she assumed Barty considered a smile, sat winking at her from the box. She placed the frog on the shelf next to the other random student gifts, a collection of chintzy trinkets. It took effort not to hurl it into the bin.

"Well, that's just… wonderful," she mumbled to herself, her voice flat, barely audible above the hum of the fluorescent lights. She went back to grading papers, her pen pressing firmly on the page.