I made my way out of the classroom, and snaked the hallway towards the main entrance.

The small hallways were always congested with people during and after lunchtime with no exceptions, so I was truly struggling to inch forward. I hated this part of school days so much.

The only thing to beat it had been cheer practice. 

The lack of personal space, the stench of someone who took a swim in Axe body spray smacking me in the face, the nose prickling BO of someone who the previous guy could have spared to share some deodorant with, the voices of a couple hundred people jumbling into a mess of words, the unwanted body heat from people I had never met… 

I hope whoever decided the entire school, including the teachers, should leave their classes for lunch at the EXACT same time has a pillow that’s always too warm.

I hope he always shakes off his sleepiness because he can’t find a comfortable position.

I hope food always burns the roof of his mouth when he eats.

I hope his toothbrush is never quite wet enough for the toothpaste to foam up nicely when he brushes his teeth.

I hope cold water splashes up every time he takes a sh-.

I snapped out of my rant when I was in the process of my face getting smacked into the back of another student. The person behind me had tripped forward, which in turn sent me flying until I got stopped by what would seem like the human equivalent of a brick wall. 

It truly felt like the other student was not at all impacted by my entire body weight, as well as the weight of the student behind me, crashing into them. I, on the other hand, had folded over like a cheap lawn chair you're a bit scared to sit on.

Due to my reflexes kicking in, I had pressed my hands against their back in an effort to make the impact not as strong, but it had provided little to no help.

Face fully smooshed in between their shoulder blades, I attempted to get some space between us. Unfortunately my attempts were in vain until the student who was the one to first fall on me managed to lift himself off my back and make his escape. 

If I had to find something positive about this, I suppose at least pretty much inhaling this poor student’s hoodie up my nose momentarily made my sense of smell absolutely useless.

After peeling myself off the student in front of me and managing to collect and straighten myself back up, I awkwardly looked slightly up at the back of his head and apologized. There wasn’t room to actually try and make eye contact with him and I wasn't even sure if he heard me, but I thought it would be better than nothing. 

As I laid my eyes on his back, I immediately recognized the hoodie he was wearing. Because of course I did.

Because of course it had to be Ansel.