Gemotions

Liam kicked at a loose stone on the sidewalk, sending it skittering across the cracked pavement. He hadn't slept at all last night. The words in his diary, now broadcast to the world, replayed in his head: the crushes, the insecurities, the embarrassing attempts at poetry. His stomach churned with a familiar unease.

He walked past the school, head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. He felt a constant clenching in his jaw, a tension that threatened to snap him in two. He skipped his first class and just wandered the empty halls of the school.