With the semester spiraling into what feels like endless tests, papers, furrowed brows and (surprise!) COVID-19 cases, it is almost time to say goodbye to the 2021-22 academic year.

Oh, what a year.

Due to the dramatic fluctuation of COVID-19 cases, for some, the experience of being on campus for the first time and just the overall horror of talking to anyone, ever… ‘Twas not the year for friend making.

In spite of this, you’ve just now felt the sudden urge to strike up conversation with the person you’ve sat behind all semester. You’ve certainly studied them for these torrid 13 weeks, you’ve definitely creepled them—gone on MyWhitman, looked them up on Instagram, concluded their guardian’s tax bracket from Zillow (the works)—and with all this research (maybe you should’ve been a history major???), fleshed out an entire image of this stranger’s life without exchanging a single word with them.

So do you become friends with this person? Would this even be a lasting relationship? Probably not, if you let it slip in your first interaction that you know they played the oboe for five years before quitting junior year, according to Aunt’s Suelynn’s facebook post. Then again, if you play your cards right, they might be a friend for a lifetime, the friend that defines your college experience, the hand you hold on an inebriated walk home, the godparent to your future children; the possibilities are endless.

So, talk to them on Monday!… or don’t. They’ll probably be here next year and in one of your classes. Or, maybe they’re transferring or dropping out or you don’t have a class together and therefore never have reason to talk to them ever again. So maybe you SHOULD talk to them, because this is your last chance to befriend your actual soulmate. Or maybe you should never talk to them because then you might make such a fool of yourself, and accidentally reveal you know waaay too much about Gary Busey for your own good, and they’ll never want to see you again…..

Or maybe you’re overthinking this.