The last brutal day of finals week started this morning. If anyone slept last night, it was only out of exhaustion, or perhaps surrender. Andrew wondered if anyone else noticed how many people were wearing clothes from earlier this week. Obviously laundry, if not personal hygiene as a whole, was a common omission from the student body’s list of priorities. He couldn’t believe how much stress could change a person’s behavior. He barely recognized half the people he crossed paths with all year, so stripped of their behavioral norms. In fact, maybe that’s why he noticed the trend of recycled laundry, because the only thing familiar about these people seemed their outfits. Skirts and shirts carried yesterday’s food stains, dresses showed Monday’s patches of sweat, and jaundiced socks slouched around scurrying ankles.
Andrew waded through the swirling tide of bodies, unaffected by their frantic pulse. He was immune to their panic, which stemmed from academic unpreparedness, a disease common among students who believe studying isn’t effective if exams are more than a week away.