Gemotions

The notification buzzed, a tiny, digital sting. Ms. Harrison, their history teacher, had requested to follow them on Instagram. A slow curl of satisfaction began in their stomach, a warmth unrelated to anything nice. They immediately accepted, then spent the next hour meticulously scrolling through their feed, cataloging every potentially embarrassing photo. The one from the Halloween party, where they were draped in toilet paper as a mummy, was a definite contender.

A grin spread across their face, sharp and predatory. They considered changing their profile picture to the one from that disastrous school play, the one where they forgot all their lines. They pictured Ms. Harrison, red-faced, squinting at her phone. The deliciousness of the hypothetical situation was almost a physical weight.

They decided to post a series of ironic, overly dramatic stories about their day, punctuated with emojis of tears and wide-eyed surprise. Let her stew.