Slaves to Likes
By: Maria Acosta, 11° ¡ Follow
The alarm rings. It's 5:30 am. Emma wakes up anxiously since she couldn’t rest the night before thinking about the science test she would have later that day. After struggling to open her eyes, Emma gets up, and before going to the shower, searches for her favorite country music on Spotify. Suddenly, Emma changes her mind and decides to change her country for trap. Even though she hates trap because of its evident degradation of women, she knows people say it's cooler than her favorite genre, so she might as well get used to enjoying it. Later, when choosing what to wear for school, Emma spots her new mustard yellow blouse. She is excited to try it on, but just before doing so, she remembers the killer looks that would chase her at school judging her for bad taste in clothing. As a result, she decides to go basic in her dark jeans, black t-shirt and white vans. While swiping through Instagram, she gives a like and comment to her friend's RKEVWTG 0GZV UJG CPZKQWUN[ RKEMU QPG QH VJG JWPFTGFU QH OKTTQT UGNſGU YJGTG UJG KU YGCTKPI GZCEVN[ VJG UCOG QWVſV CU JGT HTKGPF CPF RQUVU KV YKVJ VJG ECRVKQP 116&
QWVĹżV QH VJG FC[ *GT JCPFU IGV UYGCV[ 6JG[ VTGODNG CU UJG JQRGU HQT JGT RKEVWTG to receive a higher amount of likes and comments than her friend. Emma leaves late and without breakfast, as she spent more than half an hour putVKPI QP UJCTR ECV G[GNKPGT UQ KVĹ?U UKOKNCT VQ YJCV -GPFCNN ,GPPGT YQTG QP JGT ĹŽEQQNĹ? Snapchat story from last night. As she passes through the hallway at school, Emma feels pressure from the crowd because her two best friends have not yet arrived, so she is left alone. As usual, Emma feels like people are randomly staring at her, judging her loneliness. But none of them are actually looking at her. 'OOCĹ?U ĹżTUV ENCUU QH VJG FC[ KU 'PINKUJ 5JG MPQYU VJGTGĹ?U IQPPC DG C ITCFGF FKUcussion. Emma is excited to participate and has incredible evidence to contribute. She then feels her phone buzzing in her pocket, and looks down to the WhatsApp year’s group chat. Some students had sent messages saying how annoying and intense she was. Someone else kicked her out of the group. As a result, Emma drowns in fear of speaking up, if she were to do so, she’d be standing opposite to the opinion of her classmates, and she does not want to be left out. She keeps quiet, but later on regrets her silence. At lunch Emma is haunted by the smell of meat, and is tempted by a hamburger. 5JG RCVKGPVN[ YCKVU KP VJG ECHGVGTKC NKPG CU UJG ĹżPFU JGTUGNH NQQMKPI CV VJG PGY Victoria's Secret model on her phone, who's recipe to stay skinny are her fat burning pills. Emma decides to get out of the line, and considers giving those tips for a “healthy detoxâ€? a try. She decides to skip lunch and focus on reviewing the content for the science exam she would have to take the following period. When the bell rings, Emma has a mental block and can’t remember anything she studied. Then, she begins to feel an infernal headache, as if the whole world is circling around her. The last thing she remembers is the teacher’s voice yelling, “Emma are you
24 * tribuna marzo 2020 iG.indd 24
17/03/20 9:52 a.m.
