First Day Back

The freshmen in the back were exchanging names of residence halls. The sophomores just yawned. A nervous person asked, if indeed, he was in right classroom for College Writing R4B. Indeed, he was. I was sitting next to the nervous boy. He reminded me a little bit of myself, so I tried to distance myself from him as much as possible. So I played it cool. I cracked my knuckles and put on my most impassive stare, a look I wear in crowded buses and movie theaters before the lights go down. But his anxiousness was contagious, and I started shaking my leg. Students continued to trickle in at eight past the hour. Finally the teacher arrived, and the class went through the rituals of handing out the syllabus and culling the waitlist.