And once again, it’s a Sunday night and I am slumped over the kitchen table, surrounded by eraser shavings, crumpled scratch paper, iced coffee and more incomplete assignments than I’d like to admit.

I didn’t mind it for the first few weeks of school, because I thought that this was normal. I mean, come on—I’m a senior. Does anyone really expect me to do all of my homework? I have Netflix shows to binge watch and several tubs of ice cream to eat. Everyone had been telling me for years that I wouldn’t have to care about anything once I hit senior year, that no one would expect anything from me. It seemed like a dream.

Unfortunately, it really was just a dream. I soon learned that the answer to my question was yes, people do expect me to do all of my work—my six teachers, three club sponsors and two parents, to be specific. (And let’s not forget Infinite Campus with its constant reminders about why I may not be getting into college after all.)

That’s 11 people and an online gradebook who all refuse to let me stop caring about school. So why is it that, in the middle of the semester, I am just realizing that my senioritis has got to come to an end?

Honestly, I don’t know. Up until now, I have been trying to do only the bare minimum, but as I sit here now, surrounded by eraser shavings, crumpled scratch paper, iced coffee and more incomplete assignments than I’d like to admit, I’m realizing that the bare minimum just won’t cut it.

Senior year is hard, and we are still expected to keep up with our responsibilities. The reality is that we don’t know if we’ll get into our early action or early decision schools, so if and when an admissions office asks for our first semester grades, we need to be ready to hand them something that will only help our chances of getting into college.

Maybe I took too much on this year, or maybe I’m just running out of motivation. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. I am still a high school student with an incomplete transcript and my future is not set in stone. It’s time to rid myself of senioritis and start pulling myself together.

The truth about senioritis is that you don’t care when you really should—and if you don’t stop yourself soon enough, you will regret it.