Maybe because she knows you're going to jail.

My heart pounds. I walk down the hallway to my doom. People give me sad, sympathetic smiles as I pass; they know that every step I take is one step closer to the end. There is a weight in my stomach, and something is pressing down on my chest, making it almost impossible to breathe. I reach the room and open the door. It is time.

It's amazing how the walk to a law school final sounds a lot like a death row inmate's march to the execution chamber. When you think about it, there's not much difference. Well, except that law students are still alive after their final...for the most part.

We have begun the last mile of the marathon. I go back and forth between wanting to sprint it and wanting to crawl it. The weight of what I still don't understand in my classes crashes down on me every minute of every day, and we've still got four weeks until finals. That feeling makes me want to crawl it. Knowing that I can have a drink after it's all over makes me want to sprint it.

For me, this is where the doubt comes storming in like the Kool-Aid man through a wall. Did they make a mistake when they admitted me to law school? Did I miss something important my professor said? I bet when I was writing down that definition that won't even be on the final, the professors unleashed the secret of how to get an A on the exam.

There's an interesting mood in the law school right before finals. The mood goes from stressful to something they haven't even come up with a word for. In the library, don't talk. At all. Learn sign language; it's extremely useful. And for your own safety, put a silencer on your backpack zipper. Learn how to chew silently. Learn how to write silently. Learn how to make every single breath you take, every single move you make, and every single step you take silent (couldn't pass that reference up). Because if an overworked, sleep-deprived, day-before-the-final law student attacks you because you had the audacity to breathe through your mouth, I can't think of one judge or jury out there who would convict.

There is a light, I think. It's hard to tell. My Con Law final is blocking it.

Someone check my pulse after finals are done. Make sure it's still there.