Gemotions

The silence of the library was almost unbearable. Emily, hunched over a textbook, felt a bead of sweat trickle down her spine. Mrs. Chen, her math teacher, had started following her on Snapchat. The colorful world of her private life, once a source of joy, now felt like a minefield.

She closed the book with a resounding thud. The equations, once a source of challenge, now seemed to mock her. Her carefully constructed facade, the image she projected to the world, felt fragile and unstable. She had to stay silent, she had to stay still. She was pinned down, and the walls were closing in.