My palms were a faint, clammy echo as I clutched the edges of my desk in the worn linoleum cafeteria, avoiding eye contact with the cafeteria worker's bemused expression as she asked about my tray selection for the umpteenth time today. My stomach churned with the unspoken fear that I'd somehow – accidentally, innocently – picked up the tray someone else had left, a fear so irrational it didn't need to be voiced. Meanwhile, my eyes strayed back to that one classmate in the corner with whom I'd accidentally collided a few weeks ago.
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