Classroom romances are like facing a herd of football players on their way to a wet T-shirt contest, you better avoid them or you’re going to get hurt.

Admit it, you’re guilty of checking out the cute quotient in your classroom. Blame it on human nature or sheer boredom, but most students assess their fellow peers on the basis of how beautiful they are. Now there is nothing wrong with physically admiring someone from afar in the classroom, but for the sake of a preventable heartache and possible awkwardness, it is better to keep your feelings buried until the semester ends.

So there you are in class, listening to your monotone professor lecture on the things that should be important to you and your eye wanders wayward to your crush. You notice that your honey-to-be is looking particularly hot that day, so you begin to stare and feel like the butterflies in your stomach are roller skating when your crush catches you looking at him or her. Ohmigosh, now they are checking you out!

As they’re gazing at you with a hint of lust in their eye, you start planning ways on how to make an impression without seeming too obvious. Now as your mind is turning the wheels in your head about how to manipulate the situation, class is over and you missed the entire lecture. This poses a problem, especially if it becomes a habit. And just think nothing has even happened yet. Imagine what it would be like if you slept with your classmate and they screwed you over.

Getting involved with someone in your class is distracting whether the experience is positive or not. While it’s true that one of the main reasons people look forward to going to college is to meet new people and take every opportunity that comes their way, I don’t know if linking up with someone romantically in the classroom is a smart idea.

Then again I could be still bitter over my experience. My freshmen year required me to act out and be foolish with a carefree demeanor. So I played the fool and hooked up with two classroom cuties, not in the same class, of course. Anyway my naive behavior resulted in a verbal and almost physical casualty that had tainted my first semester while the other guy ended up stalking me. Boy can I choose them.

Now normally when I don’t like someone, I don’t mince words. However you would be wise to agree with me that my position was a little more complicated when I had to see that person all the time.

The moral of that brief and dour story is that you never know how these things will pan out. So when you make eye contact with that “someone” across the room for five seconds longer than appropriate; just remember to proceed with caution. You wouldn’t want to be forced to be in the same proximity of someone who has the potential to make your environment unhealthy and uncomfortable. This warning also applies to office romances as well.

Although it is still early in the semester, it isn’t too late to pursue that fantasy of what you and your object of desire would talk about during a pillow kissing session. But before you make your move and find out if even your secret sweetheart is single and interested, just remember to weigh the situation and be sure that you and your classroom amore are mature enough to handle the consequences.

Georgette Todd is a Journalism major and can be contacted by mail c/o the State Hornet, CSUS, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 or by email at[email protected]