She went through a couple of pages and was ready to get to the next one. The test came unstapled and so the papers got scattered around on the floor when Matt dropped them after her. She couldn’t find the next page, though, and an uneasy feeling settled in her… and then she noticed a white corner poking from under the sole of Matt’s flip-flop. She sighed as she cautiously approached the mighty foot, kneeled down and carefully tugged on the sheet. It didn’t budge. If she ripped that corner off, she’d be in trouble.

Once again she thought about hitting him on his big stupid foot and asking him to move… once again she wondered what it would be like if it came towards her. If instead of this white corner of a sheet her hand was poking out from under the dirty sole. A couple weeks ago Leslie told her that some upperclassman got in trouble for stepping on a shrunken girl - luckily, it was outside, on the lawn, and the ground cushioned the unlucky lady. She supposedly was in shock afterwards.

But here was a flat flip-flop and a hard floor.

She kept carefully tugging on the sheet and suddenly it finally came from under the shoe, but that happened at the same time the foot inside moved. Audrey rushed back. Matt pulled his feet out of the shoes, pushed the flip-flops forward and planted his feet down with a fleshy slap. She watched, hypnotised, as his feet came to rest, and only then allowed herself to take another breath - but then there was more movement. He lifted his legs and moved them together.

Then forward. Towards her workplace on the floor. Towards her.

She picked up all the papers she could find and ran, but she wasn’t fast enough and a force hit her in her back, sending her flying a couple of (her) meters. She fell face down on the floor. Still under his desk, but at its front edge now. And, as she gathered herself and turned around, she was greeted with the sight of his wide bare soles, with the feet now resting on their heels. A thin layer of dust covered them, colouring them ever gray ish; she could see that it stuck in sweaty patches. The odor hit her nostrils again.

“Fuck this shit”, she thought. “I’m asking for a new partner”.

But the test was still going on, and so she went back to working on it, now writing quickly and messily, eager to just get done with it. The page she managed to pull out was covered in dirt and she couldn’t clean it well enough, but she still filled it in. She got some more things done, and then… and then she realized another page was missing.

She looked around, hoping to locate it quick, but there was nothing on the floor. She prayed that it’s not trapped under his shoe or heels… and it wasn’t. It turned out to be stuck to his sole several inches away from the ground. A blip of white on the fleshy, dirty expanse.