In classes that had group activities, I had assumed that I would have trouble keeping my head held high among all these younger students, but it turned out that there were a handful of other wayward seniors in the mix as well, which made things a lot easier to handle emotionally. Presently, we were all huddled together, drudging our way through our lessons. As always, I greeted my fellow group members and quietly took my seat, waiting for yet another class period to march on by. However, just before class began, a breeze stoked the flames burning within me. From the group of juniors sitting nearby, there was a voice that could „‡Š‡ƒ”†…Ž‡ƒ”Ž›–Š”‘—‰Š‘—––Š‡…Žƒ••”‘‘ǡƒŽ‘—†DzŠƒ–ǫǨdzˆ”‘ƒ‰‹”Ž™Š‘ I had independently decided must have a strong sense of responsibility. It was a different volume from those voices that were normally so indistinct within the din of classrooms in all their varying sizes. I turned only my ears to her, half assuming the usual stance of a lackadaisical senior uninterested in the underclassmen I was taking class alongside, half-unable to contain my curiosity. The girl who had shouted sounded as though she was angry at someone. From what I could gather, one of their group members had been assigned an important task but had gotten busy with club activities and neglected to complete it. Moreover, said member had sent an e-mail boldly informing them of this, as well as notifying them that they would be skipping class today, which had gotten this girl, the group leader, quite vexed. Come to think of it, we did have some small group presentations to give that day. One of the other girls noted that person had an important part of the presentation, along with the fact that they had sent that e-mail and refused to answer any calls. Man, that sucks, I thought, fiddling with my phone, ™Š‡”‹‰Š–‘–‹‡ǡ–Š‡‰”‘—’Ž‡ƒ†‡””‘ƒ”‡†‹†‹‰ƒ–Ž›ǡDz‡ǯ”‡‹„‹‰ –”‘—„Ž‡Ǩdz How did people get their voices to echo that loud? I wondered. Dz•‹–‘–‡‘—‰Šˆ‘”–Š‡–‘Œ—•–•‹–ƒ”‘—†Š‘‰‰‹‰—’–Š‡™Š‘Ž‡ …ƒˆ‡–‡”‹ƒƒŽŽ†ƒ›ǫǨdz Dz-all right, caŽ†‘™–Š‡”‡Ǥdz Dz…ƒǯ–•–ƒ†–Š‘•‡‘ƒ‹creepsǨdz After an indistinct moment of silence, just then, luckily for all of us, the bell rang. The collective sigh of relief from everyone but the group leader could be felt from every corner of the classroom.