Ella Shaw sat in her second-year biology lecture, tapping the heel of one loafer against the floor beneath her. The lecture hall buzzed with low voices and the clack of laptop keys, but she barely heard any of it. In less than eight weeks, she would walk across the stage and collect her degree from Fillmore University. At that moment, the only thing she was focused on was the ticking of the clock and what would happen after her final class ended.
She twirled a few strands of her vivid red hair around one finger, then uncrossed and recrossed her legs. Her thighs pressed together as the hem of her baby blue dress crept higher. She shifted in her seat, knowing the fabric clung tight around her hips and barely covered the tops of her stockings. Sitting still had become its own quiet torture—e
