There are exactly 23 minutes left before lunch, and your stomach humbly complains, tugging the bottom of your shirt gently. We’ve all been there–you know, those awkward moments when you’re doing a worksheet, listening to a lecture about a topic you will not remember, or best of all, finishing the last page on a test while your stomach grumbles.

17 minutes left, your stomach is preparing for a celebration, the one that commemorates the day it brought you shame and embarrassment. Without a doubt, you certainly remember reading somewhere that drinking a shameless amount of water would fill your stomach up, mimicking the same feeling as being full from a buffet. The noise softens, much better than before.

11 minutes left, your stomach is beginning to act impatient, like an unsatisfied child on the brink of another tantrum. It whines quietly at first, but there is more to come. You’re glad you had a small snack during passing period, you cannot imagine how much louder the child could get. Fortunately, that granola bar has once again saved you from worse.

7 minutes left, the child is ripping through your stomach, banging on all the walls of each organ. The child has no mercy and is far from stopping. You begin to feel a pounding sensation on the back of your head and feel dizzy. Words on your paper collide into a blur and the sound of pencils writing begin to escape from your ears. It’s beginning to feel like torture. You then remember what you had for breakfast: nothing. Maybe tomorrow you’ll try something high in protein to keep your stomach satisfied and full until noon.

2 minutes left, your stomach is loudly protesting now. Everyone in class is now shooting looks at you, even from across the room, making you sink deeper than ever into your seat. As you drown in your own puddle of humiliation, you push your stomach outwards; the noise quickly fades away. You’re more than willing to do anything to hush the horrid sound your stomach calls singing.

0 minutes remaining, you race to the cafeteria while pushing bystanders out of your way, hastily snatch a tray and thank your lucky stars that you read a Pow Wow article on how to stop your stomach from grumbling.