Future Traded Yestoday

3

It took us four weeks to get a break. At least, I think it was four weeks. One of the older guys that came with the batch of five, the Thai one, he's been keeping track by sewing tallies onto one of his pajama shirts. So based on his tallies, I'm guessing it's been four weeks for me.

I've heard some kids say we're only getting a break because it's Christmas, some said it was for the new year, and another said someone in charge just wanted to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

I don't think anyone knows the date here.

Our break is one day, and appears to be a school-wide event. I wouldn't know for sure what the whole student body count is, but if I were to guess it would be a lot. Maybe around three hundred.

Which I think is a lot. Sure seems like it when the mess hall and hallways are always filled with students whenever I'm in them. Though there's a high possibilty that there's more than my count.

I've never been that good at estimating anyway.

Seeing as this has been our first day off in a long time, a lot of the kids called their parents and had them take them home. That was my first thought too, but I have a mission I want to accomplish before I call them.

I sat with one of the older kids from my class of eight, the American one, and watched as kids slowly came into his room. Word must have been spreading that he managed to jail break one of the computers and get access to a whole library of games.

There has to be at least thirty kids stuffed in this tiny room that was only meant to house two bunk beds. A couple were actually sitting on top of each other to watch my American classmate play games. He let others take turns, especially the younger ones, but for the most part it was just him because they didn't want to mess it up somehow.

I had been hoping more would be discussed in the room between the students I had never seen before. Was hoping for more details on those rumors from the hallways.

But they all sat there in almost total silence, just watching him. It's like they were scared one of the teachers or staff would hear them if they started talking and then it would all be shut down.

So I snuck out a few minutes before lunch, hid myself away behind a stairwell, and waited.

I wasn't waiting for the students to come through to get to the mess hall on the floor below us. No, I waited for the whispers. The rumors this school was so good at spreading.

And today they were glorious.

The time away from studies must have given them more time to create rumors or gather information to spread. I almost couldn't keep track of all the rumors I was hearing.

The first to come my way was that dance and music instructors were being interviewed. Though I don't know where those lessons would fit in our already busy schedule.

The second was that the two physical education teachers were hooking up in their office between classes. That was followed by the rumor that they were getting fired and were going to run away with each other, leaving behind their previous marriages.

The third was less interesting, and that was the rumor that the school's lunch menu was going to change to put us on a diet. I'm pretty sure that's illegal and spelled out somewhere on a form.

At least, I hope it is.

The fourth rumor was that a girl had somehow infiltrated the school. It was at this moment that I realized the school was indeed all guys. I hadn't thought much of it until now, but that realization made a lot more things make sense.

I hope a girl infiltrated the school. That would spice things up for at least a week. Maybe two if things went down pretty epic-ly.

Another rumor was that the school was starting to try and find people on the streets and bring them in. Which doesn't make any sense. The school wouldn't make all of us audition to be here just to find people on the streets and ask them to come.

The last rumor, though, that was the one I had to share with my class of eight. Well, at least the few that were here for the day and not with their parents. Which was mainly the foreigners.

I heard someone say that the school was trying to produce us into idols, and right now they were trying to weed out the weak and undesirable. They laughed like they had known this already and had a fun inside joke about it.

Which made me think this should have been brushed off like the military boot camp one, but a teeny tiny detail made it seem a bit more real.

The kid spreading that rumor said the school already has its eyes on a group. A group of eight that they won't let anyone else into unless they really think it would be best.

Apparently the other classes don't have a set number of students.