Panic. Stress. Sweatpants. We all know what that means, it’s December.

Something about the end of the first semester has always been intriguing, you can pretty much watch the life and happiness drain out of high school students. They stumble on campus with their messy hair, the same sweatshirt they wore the day before, and as much caffeine as they could safely mix together in a to go cup. You know exactly what I’m talking about.

Teachers try their very best to ignore that kid in the back of the class with his face pressed into the desk, drooling, and catching the most Z’s he’s gotten in days but we all, including the teachers, wish we could be that kid right about now. Everyone is sleep deprived and panicked.

Right around the end of the second semester you can literally feel the stress and the homework pile on. There’s so much more work and a whole lot less time to sleep or even eat. Blinking? Haven’t done that all day. Water? Forgot to drink that this week.

Lucky for companies like Dutch bros and Starbucks, they seem to somehow get even more popular around this time of year. Lines of teenagers swarm the cafes just to get their fix. Caffeine, yes sweet caffeine. Taking a big gulp of that piping hot perfection is the sweetest release someone with no sleep can have. It feels amazing.

Now for the finals themselves, you sit down in your horribly uncomfortable desk. The guy behind you has his open binder stabbing your back with his legs uncomfortably spread all the way out so you have to sit sideways in a really awkward position. Then the teacher tells you it’s time. Time to take the test you studied all night for.

You’re shaking. Looking down at the test you begin to panic. You don’t remember a single thing from last night. You look around to see if anyone else is as panicked as you are but everyone seems totally fine. Everyone is looking down at their paper and working on the exam.

Some people get in the zone. You start narrowing your options down until you find the right answer, the one that you definitely remember from the study guide. It makes you feel better knowing that without a doubt you got that one right and you move on to the next question and have the same feeling.

Then there’s the other type of test taker… You just start to check the answers that seem the most likely to be the right ones. Time is going 10x slower than it usually does and you find yourself feeling really bored so you just give up and start guessing. After handing it in you feel fine, maybe you got a C. You could live with a C.

There are two types of people when it comes to taking finals. Those who get super excited when that vibration from your phone tells you that you got a 93% on the final and you’re stoked.

And then there’s the rest of us, when your phone buzzes and you know full well that it won’t be good. You look down at that fresh 64% and die a little inside.

S1-85. Your grade moved a whole 3%… all of that studying and stress for absolutely nothing but, you know what? You’re totally going to do the exact same thing next year. And the next year, and the next year.