Hallway Culture

After spending 88 serene minutes ensconced in my dearest schoolwork, the bell rings and for the next eleven minutes, I am engrossed in the experience I call hallway culture. While I try to meekly abscond to my next lesson, I'm met with the many different members of the corridors' hierarchy, almost all of whom contribute to the hallway's chaotic ambience. A seemingly short walk is lengthened many-fold by circle-groups, "walk-and text"ers, and conversing pairs. Their ostensible social prowess somehow warrants them the right to impede anguished souls such as myself. Nevertheless, my most unpleasant, re-occuring hallway ritual is the "one-on-one shimmy showdown". An almost daily occurence for me, this stand-off takes place as I make my way down an empty hall, except for one other oncoming person. As I try to avoid the head-on collision, I step to one side, only to find out that my counterpart has done the same. Presumably a defensive linebacker in another life, my opposite blocks my path once again, when I try the other direction. For a few excruciating seconds, we repeat the routine, wobbling side-to-side like two awkward dancers caught in suspended animation. The cycle can only be broken when I admit defeat and stand motionless, allowing my now-rival to scowl at my indecisiveness as he storms by me. Like a misprinted shampoo bottle, my survival in hallway culture can be attributed to three simple steps: waver, wince and repeat.