It was the fifth day of APUSH. Originally, I came into class thinking it was going to be an awesome year as our class got to choose our own seats. But on this day, I walked in, looked at the projector and saw an assigned seating chart. My heart sank. My new seat was in the front of the classroom, in the very right table, and instead of friends, I was surrounded by acquaintances.

In my 11 years of schooling, I’ve concluded that sitting next to acquaintances is probably the worst seating situation possible. For one, they aren’t friends. And with strangers, at least there’s the potential that by a twist of fate, your teacher has unknowingly matched you with your future best friend. Most of the time, acquaintances are acquired through meeting people and just never really clicking with them. Still, I kept an open mind.

Our first few days together were pleasant, we interacted just like any normal table would.

One day, however, I realized that my entire table had something in common that I didn’t.

I see them everywhere. It seems everyone, even teachers, has one. I am, of course, referring to Hydro Flasks.

At my APUSH table, it’s 32-ounce Hydro Flasks with wide mouth flex caps, to be specific. Except the guy in the corner of the table, he had the sports straw cap flip lid. But he’s a swimmer, so that was only natural for him.

I actually already owned a Hydro Flask. I’d bought one two years earlier . And just like the rest of my APUSH table, I owned a 32-ounce, wide mouth flex cap Hydro Flask. At the time though, I only used it for around two weeks before stopping because I kept forgetting it everywhere. But I was a freshman then. I didn’t know anything better, or really anything at all.

I’m what anti-normies call a normie. Urban dictionary defines a normie as “a person gravitating to social standards, accepted practices, and fads of their own time,” and that’s exactly what I am.

So, naturally, I had given into the Hydro Flask hype a long time ago and of course on the very same  night of my realization in APUSH, I dug my Hydro Flask out of the cupboard of my kitchen, dusted the cobwebs off of it, and started using it again the very next day.

Embarrassingly enough, I really only bought a Hydro Flask because it was popular and it’s aesthetic design. As for the actual functionality of the product, I was skeptical.

The company claims that their Hydro Flasks aren’t “just along for the ride,” in fact, they’re “along to help make the ride awesome.” When I first read this, I scoffed. I couldn’t comprehend how any water bottle could be that awesome. I thought that a water bottle,  regardless of how “awesome” it was marketed to be, was still a water bottle. A water  bottle’s capability for greatness is really quite limited.

However, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Along with making your ride awesome, the company also claims that the Hydro Flask will “keep you hydrated on a hike.” One simply needs to follow three simple steps: “ice, water, go.” “And five hours later, after driving to the trailhead and climbing 2,000 feet, you’ll still have ice and water while you enjoy the view.”

Like a lot of things in life, I didn’t realize how real this was until I experienced it for myself.

It was a hot, fall day in the middle of the 100-degree week we suffered through. I was making the familiar trek home up the giant hill on Dormouse Road in Park Village. On my back was my grey Jansport. Inside were a couple of notebooks, my laptop and ironically enough, my APUSH textbook.

I thought I was going to die.

I was sweating, the sun was blazing  and I had just endured a long, test-filled school day.

I was in the middle of an upper middle-class neighborhood, suburban Rancho Penasquitos, walking up a giant hill, but nevertheless I thought I was going to die.

Then the epiphany hit me. That very morning, I had specifically added ice into my Hydro Flask in preparation for the scorching school day. Now, eight, not five, but eight hours later, I still had ice and water in my Hydro Flask.

I unscrewed the wide mouth flex cap, lifted the flask to my lips, and took a giant gulp.

Instantly, I was refreshed. The parched feeling vanished. The color returned to my cheeks. My mind cleared. I started walking faster up the hill than ever before.

And in that moment, the $39.95 32-ounce Hydro Flask with a wide mouth flex cap was undoubtedly worth it.

I now appreciated my Hydro Flask on a greater level than ever before.

I realized that my Hydro Flask never failed me like ordinary plastic water bottles had before. Before, my water bottle would leak frequently, soaking all my notebooks and the bottom of my backpack. But my Hydro Flask has never betrayed me like those bottles have. Hydro Flask never once let me down.

Now, I proudly carry my Hydro Flask across campus. During passing periods, I swing my Hydro Flask happily as I cruise through the hallways. It really does make the ride across campus “awesome.”

As for my APUSH table, after a quarter together, we have  bonded together in a way that I have never experienced in a table before.

My table is in agreement that our unbreakable bond was created because of our shared love for the Hydro Flask.

This bond is carried over into all our group projects—especially our satire project—but also outside of the classroom as well.

It is this fact that makes the Hydro Flask more than just a ordinary water bottle. It’s life-changing.