It took me a while to notice you. It wasn't until the third day of class, actually. I sat down in my seat, and in my left ear I caught, "That's a cool Led Zeppelin shirt." I looked to my left and there you were sitting right next to me. You were the most average looking dude. If you would've said that in a crowd of teenagers, there would have been no way for me to find you. But there you were, and it took me three days to actually realize a functioning human being was sitting next to me. I responded the only way I knew how to, "Thanks." I turned back forward and thought to myself, "I wonder if there was something due today."
Over the coming weeks, we'd exchange compliments back and forth. Your AC/DC t-shirt was pretty legit, and that Star Trek keychain you have with the light up Enterprise was novel at best. Every once in a while, I'd ask you for a pencil, and like any normal person prepared for a college education, you'd reach into your bag and hand me one of your extra ones. I'd sometimes forget to give them back to you and would lose them, so I would apologize the next time I asked you for one, to which you would reply, "Don't sweat it" and you'd hand me a new one. That made you pretty cool in my book.
You were always pretty good at math, and I was always mildly jealous of your ability. I remember the one time we got that question on our homework about 'Hydraulic Tessellation' that nobody could figure out, and the next day I come into class asking, "What was up with that question on 'Hydraulic Tessellation' this is a gen-ed math class." You then pointed at our math teacher who had somewhat orange skin and what looked like a toupe, while he was faced away from us. "Why don't we ask good ol' Donald?" We all slightly chuckled and beat that joke to death until the end of the semester, even though I'm pretty sure none of us found it that funny.
Of course, all things must come to an end. Finals week was upon us and the class schedule became irregular. When we went into class for the final, we didn't have time to talk due to the crippling anxiety that is a college final. We miraculously made it through that, though, and even finished at the same time. It must have been a sign. Or not, you were pretty good at math and I just guessed a lot. We both left the class together, and for the first time, we interacted outside of the classroom. You looked over and asked, "What did you think about that test?" to which I replied, "Eh, it was pretty alright." We silently walked to the end of the hallway and split directions. I looked back and said, "See ya", while you silently nodded.
I never saw you again afterwards. I thought about adding you on Facebook, but I couldn't ever remember your last name, and there are way too many John's to even make an attempt to find you. I can only imagine what it would be like to see the kind of boring things you share on Facebook that would act as my only reminder of your existence. I hope you are well and that your safe-bet major plays out for you. Computer Science is not a risky field.
