The School of Numbers

I was short girl of about 16 years old. I looked younger than that though. I had light green eyes and light brown hair. I arrived at a new boarding school. It was huge there were a trillion students who went there. It was miles long and went deep underground and was as tall as a skyscraper. There were only high school age kids there. I noticed that everyone was wearing dark business clothes. My bright orange T-shirt and do not fit in. When I got there a guy about my age came up and spoke to me. He was a medium height and had brown hair and dark green eyes. He seamed friendly so I introduced myself self. He told me his name was Darrin but most people called him 41. I thought that was strange but didn’t mention anything. He said welcome to the school then wandered off to find some of his friends. I went behind a curtain to see a science presentation. When it was over I check to see if I could find Darrin because I was feeling a little lost in such a big place. I found him and group of his friend sitting on a table and chatting. I asked if he could help me find my class. He said no, he because he had a reputation as a troublemaker and never showed up to any class on time or helped anyone else do so. I Found another guy to show me how to get to my class We didn’t talk on the way there because he seamed busy looking at a paper. We went up flights and flights of black metal stairs. Then he briefly pointed me in a direction and told me if I walked down that hall I would reach my class. I went the down and down the grey hall asking if each class was the history class. This was slow progress and I could not find it. Eventually I found it but I was fifteen minutes late. The teacher asked why I was late. I explained my search as I took a seat in the front row. The teacher lectured the whole time. Then she dismissed class. I went to lunch and Darrin invited me to eat with him. I told hm about my struggle finding my class and what class I had next. He said one of his friend, Andrew, had the same math class and would take me there. I also observed at lunch that Darrin was one of the most popular kids in school and that all the girls wanted to date him and were jealous he was talking to me. I went with Andrew to my class. Andrew was tall and had sandy blond hair. He had brown eyes. I introduced myself to Andrew and he became stiffer and whispered don’t use your real name here instead go by a number Andrew said that his number was is 51. He was mad that Darrin had shared his name. I said I will use my name. 51, Andrew, responded don’t say I did not warn you. When I reached math class I sat in the front row. The math teacher called on the students by their identification numbers. When he asked for my identification I said my real name. He strictly told me to find a number. He said it is healthy to lose yourself in the numbers. After this class I had a study hall time in the big room I had originally entered in the school. Then I asked a blond girl to show me where my next class was. She had heard I was the girl who refused to go by a number so she disliked me and made a jump I could not replicate because I was too short. I wandered the halls searching for my class. I noticed there were no signs. I eventually found a room near the edge of the school. It was the old cafeteria. Also the only bit of color in the whole school everywhere else was black and grey. Here there were bright red umbrellas over clean white tables. No students ever visited this room so the cooks were surprised to see me. The cooks were able to tell me where my class was. I arrived just for the end of the class. I was in trouble till the teacher heard my story. She then forgave me and gave some tips for navigating the school. On my way to dinner I went and ate dinner with Darrin. I asked him why everybody never used a real name. I told about his friend’s coldness when I introduced myself. Darrin said that was just the way things was done. Darrin said he was sorry his friend had treated me that way. The math teacher who was also the president of the school thought we would’ve more unified if people started to lose part of themselves and their personality. I asked why he had told me his name. He responded because you introduced yourself with your real name and with out thinking he had responded with his name. He asked that I would not call him by it when others were listening. He said he thought I was brave and cool for going by my real name. That night I went to the girls dormitory. Some of the other girls kept me up by poking me with long metal poles. I did not sleep well that night. At breakfast the next morning after I finished eating I fell asleep at the table. Darrin woke me up in time to show to my class before his planed prank on the math teacher. After my class on my way to lunch I was physically attacked by 20 students. I knew some karate and was able to escape with only a black eye and a busted lip. When I got to lunch Darrin was concerned about me as recounted what had happened. He said that he really liked me and would mess with his schedule to make sure we had the same classes to see if his popularity would protect me from attacks. My other class went about the same. The teachers seamed to like me but the students were rude and hurtful. After the classes and before dinner I found a hidden book to do my homework where I was safe from the other students. After I finished I ran the homework back to my class room to protect from any students who might destroy it. Then I went to dinner. Darrin and I continued to become better friends. He started to allow me to call him Darrin all the time. We dreamed of escaping the school to the outside world where there were no constraining numbers.