Gemotions

A tremor ran through Sarah. The D+ on her history project felt like a personal insult. She’d put in hours, "researching," but really, calculating how much the reward money was going to be. The scholarship she'd been certain of, the future she'd been envisioning, suddenly felt distant, unattainable. Her fingers curled inward, the nails digging into her palms.

The air in the classroom felt thick, oppressive. She watched other students, their projects displayed with a casual ease she couldn’t muster. They probably didn't understand the real value of the scholarship. The potential.

“There must be a mistake,” she said to the professor, her voice tight, almost pleading. She imagined him, oblivious to the situation, enjoying the luxurious life she was being cheated out of. Each word was a struggle, each syllable weighed down by a sense of loss and resentment.