I walk into the Beckman 3rd Floor Study Room to see Kendra sitting nose deep in her 10-year-old MacBook Pro. She is a petite girl with straight, dirty blonde hair partially wrapped in a little bun with a claw clip. She sits alone at a long table by the window made for eight people. Kendra is wearing brown blue-light glasses and is typing as fast as she possibly can to get a paper done due tonight. Her baby blue acrylic nails emphasize her typing speed, almost sounding like her fingers would catch on fire any minute. She is obviously stressed out, and her shoulders look so tense that I have to stop what I'm doing to roll out my own. I feel kind of sorry for her, but I’ve definitely been in the same boat. Kendra takes a big swig of her Trenta Iced Coffee she ordered at the Starbucks downstairs and immediately went back to writing her essay. Her foot anxiously bounces against the table so much that it starts making a slight tapping noise, very evident in the quiet room. She keeps peering up to look at the door as if she is expecting someone to come and rescue her.
While I am not looking, Casey plops down next to Kendra. She quickly whips off her mask, still catching her breath from the three flights of stairs she just climbed. She is a tall, skinny brunette wearing ripped black jeans and a cropped t-shirt with her sorority on it. Casey reaps business major energy - the type that makes it her entire personality to be a “girl boss,” unironically highlighting it in her Instagram bio. She pulls out her rose-gold MacBook air from her black backpack and pops in her AirPod Pros. Not even five minutes go by before Casey is already scrolling through TikTok and would for the next ten minutes until Kendra nudges her with her elbow to get her back on task. This is when I would find out that this is a group project they are working on. Casey’s lack of enthusiasm to get this project done was maddening. You could tell as time went on, Kendra was getting more and more peeved.
Andrew sits innocently on the opposite side of the study room, eagerly reading his economics textbook. He is a lanky kid with dark curly hair and big glasses. His legs are crossed calmly, but you can tell that the stress of finals was getting to him. He pushes down so hard into the textbook with his neon yellow highlighter that I fear the marker may snap in half. Andrew quickly scribbles some notes in the margins. With his index and middle fingers, he pushes his glasses up higher on his nose as they dip lower and lower with his intense focus. He immediately goes back to speed reading the book, turning the pages that make the most noise in the room. He pauses for a moment to stare at the graphic midway through the book and then continues whipping through further. He scratches his head anxiously as he catches a glimpse of his to-do list on his computer. Andrew realizes he is going to be here for a while.
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