Trying hard to look like you don’t care is the most obvious kind of caring.

Indifference takes no effort, which is the giveaway. Real not-caring is quiet and forgetful, so the performance of it, the careful shrug and the practised joke, announces exactly how much the thing mattered. Everyone around you can read that, and most of them have done the same thing themselves.

If you want something this week, you are allowed to let it show. Say you are hoping for the spot, or that the grade mattered, or that you would like to be asked. It is less exposing than the act, and it costs a lot less energy.