The smell of bleach filled my nostrils and a rough paper towel scraped against my skin as I wiped down my desk. After covering the desk in the strange smelling solution I swung my backpack over my back, sighing at the load that I couldn’t get rid of because lockers were no longer allowed. I bounded down the halls trying to keep up with my friends as they walked a few steps in front of me.

“Six feet, ladies!” I heard one of the teachers call out as they walked past us. I conceded and took a few large steps away from my friends but ended up running into another girl from my grade.

She glared at me. “Sorry,” I muttered, not knowing if she heard me because of the mask wrapped around my face. I continued down the hallway alone, having lost my friends in the crowd, I finally walked into my classroom and sat down at my assigned table. 

The girl sitting next to me gave me a smile, at least that’s what I thought, I couldn’t exactly tell. “Hey, how’s it going so far?” she asked as I sat down.

I made a small groan, throwing my head back. She laughed, light and melodious. My mood automatically lifted after I heard it. I joined in after a pause and there we sat, laughing at something that had already fled from our minds while being replaced by a sense of camaraderie. Even being six feet apart, not being able to see each other's face, and honestly not knowing each other that well, we were still able to laugh, to have fun.

“Okay, let’s get started,” the teacher came in from behind us, surprising me to the point of jumping a little bit from the teacher’s voice. My reaction sent us into another round of laughter. The teacher looked at us with a look that I couldn’t completely read, but she continued on her way to the podium at the front of the classroom. The class began and the teacher started talking, but the smile that had been painted on my face just a few seconds before had yet to leave my face.