I ended the first semester of my senior year with straight As. Two weeks into the second semester, my grades were like a dolphin: a screechy string of EEEeeeeeeeeEEeee.

Whenever I go to class, I sit there with my feet on the desk, leaning back in the chair with my phone in my hand, scrolling through my BFFs’ Snapchat stories.

In fact, a week after I proposed to write THIS article, Ms. Wathen, The Chieftain newspaper adviser, asked me, “So, how’s the article going?”

I replied, “it’s good, homie. Don’t worry about it. I’m on top of it.”

As of today, this article is 3 months overdue.

In addition to my poor academic performance, I also notice that I have been feeling inexplicably arrogant. Just last week, I was walking to my next class and I eavesdropped on a couple of sophomores talking about scheduling their classes for the next year and the most bizarre thought crossed my head. After walking past them, I immediately thought “awe the widdle sophomores are still planning out their classes for next year hahaha…losers. I don’t have to do that anymore. I’m a SENIOR! lmao; I’m gonna be in #COLLEGE #CLASSOF2020 next year, I’m gonna be stuntin’.”

The strangest of all of the symptoms has been that I am skipping an average of 6 classes a week. The phone call informing my parents of my absences gravely concerned both of them.

“I just can’t help but wonder what’s happened to our little girl. Never in my life did I expect her to go down this road,” said my mother as she took a tissue to her eye to wipe away her tears.

“It’s always the strongest who fall the hardest” commented my dad as he tried to hold his composure.

Soon enough, I got put on academic probation by Arlington County. If I don’t get my grades up to at least Ds, I’ll immediately be held back.

My concern reached a point that I finally looked up my symptoms online and found out what was happening to me: I had contracted a raging case of Senioritis.

Last year, the Huffington Post published an article detailing the symptoms of Senioritis, all of which I had. They wrote that it happens when seniors slack off on their school responsibilities during their second semester because they have finished their college applications.

The symptoms listed by the same article identified every symptom I was experiencing to a T.

Because I now knew what was happening to me, I went to a seminar where fellow Senioritis strugglers could express their grief over their chronic illness.

One boy, who asked to not be identified, exclaimed “I lost my full tuition scholarship because of my Senioritis. I didn’t think taking it easy would hurt me so much.”

It’s sad but true: Senioritis can not only get your merit or scholarly awards removed, but schools can also revoke your acceptance if your grades are too bad.

After four sessions, I learned how to combat this disease: keeping in mind that teachers will remember me most by my academic performance from my last semester, and that colleges can revoke my acceptance if they want.

It’s important to find a balance between work and play: sure it’s fine to take a break now and then, but you can never completely avoid responsibilities.