Below that, in small letters: Trabajo Final – Sociología . Her name. Her father's name, too, as a dedication she would later erase.
It was supposed to be simple. A formality. But the cover page was the first thing Professor Méndez would see. The first judgment .
The cursor blinked on the blank Word document like a metronome counting down to zero. Sofía stared at the white abyss. The research was done—footnotes, bibliography, statistical analysis—but the portada was still empty.
"Portada trabajo universidad," she whispered to herself, typing the words into a search engine. A thousand rigid templates appeared: blue gradients, clip art globes, generic serif fonts. Universidad de Buenos Aires , she typed at the top. Then her name. Then the date.
"The seal is inside," Sofía replied. And for the first time, she believed it.
(The Cost of a Dream)