I am still so absolutely furious about this, I swear to God. Like, the kind of anger that sits in your stomach and just…churns. It was finals week, okay? And I was in the university library, which is already a whole thing for me because I never really liked that campus, not like my sister did anyway, she was always so good at school and I just…wasn't, I guess. But whatever, I was there, trying to cram for this stupid econ exam that I probably don't even need for what I do now, honestly, but you have to finish what you start, right? That’s what my dad always said, even if he didn’t always follow it himself. Anyway, it was silent. Like, that serious, heavy, finals-week silence where you can hear someone breathe two tables over. And I was at one of those big communal tables, the long ones, with like eight other people who all looked like they were on the verge of either a breakdown or a caffeine-induced cardiac event. Total focus. And then…then it happened. My stomach. My goddamn stomach decided that was the perfect moment to announce to the entire goddamn library that I was apparently starving to death. It wasn't just a little rumble, you know? It was a full-on, deep, guttural growl that started low and just escalated into this absolutely deafening noise. It was SO loud. It echoed, I swear it echoed in that quiet. And everyone, every single person at that table, slowly looked up from their laptops, from their textbooks, from their furiously scribbled notes, and just…stared at me. All eight of them. And I just wanted the floor to swallow me whole, like seriously, just open up and take me. I felt my face just BURN. And I tried to act like it wasn't me, like maybe it was the person across from me, but you can’t really fake that, can you? It was clearly MY stomach making that unholy noise. And I just knew they were all thinking, ‘Who lets their stomach make a sound like that? In the library? During finals?’ I just…I hate that I even care, honestly. It’s just a noise. But here, in this town, it’s like everyone knows everyone else’s business anyway, and I swear I could feel their judgment like a physical thing. Like I’d committed some cardinal sin. And it’s not even like I meant to be hungry, I’d just been so focused on studying, trying to get it all done, that I forgot to grab something before I left the apartment. Which is another thing, because getting food here after 9pm is like, a whole expedition, especially if you don’t want fast food, and sometimes you just don’t want fast food, you know? But whatever. I packed up my stuff almost immediately, just kind of shoved everything into my bag without really looking, and just…left. I couldn’t stay there. I just couldn’t. And I’m still angry about it. Furious. At my stupid stomach, at the stupid library, at the stupid looks, at this whole stupid situation that just…made me feel like such an absolute idiot. It wasn't even MY fault, really. But it felt like it. It still feels like it.