Gemotions

David leaned against the brick wall outside the professor's office, the cold seeping through his jacket. He needed a cigarette, but he'd quit. The urge was a physical ache, a knot in his chest. He chewed on his lip, the metallic taste of anxiety filling his mouth.

He hadn’t cheated. He wouldn’t. The professor's accusation felt like a personal attack. They’d spent a semester discussing his work, and now this. He was being made to feel as if he had no ideas of his own.

He pushed off the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. The campus felt different today, hostile, with all the usual sounds amplified, grating.