Nobody said anything. A teacher didn’t pull you aside. No one rolled their eyes in your face. You think it’s fine, but people notice.

If you’ve ever noticed something about someone else, it works the same way, in the other direction too.

Instructors talk to instructors. Students talk to students. I hear names come up in conversations I don’t even recognize.

“Oh, you go to the 6am class? So-and-so trains there. What’s he like?” Then comes the answer: praise or a horror story.

Word travels. You know what you’re doing. You just don’t know how it looks from the outside.