International Schooling and Bonding Project

Chapter 5 - That's pretty philosophical!

Chapter 5 - That's pretty philosophical!

"So... here's the thing... the other day I was wondering around the corridors with Jade, and we kind of overheard a conversation between some teachers..." I finally say

"Kind of?" João says

"Well... because we were in a forbidden corridor, we had to hide, and then we heard the conversation"

"Keep going, you are staling. Again! And I really don't get I this is important..."

"They talked about how things are going to work, who 'they' seem as good as they résumé said, how 'they' needed to be tested and so on..." now they both seem genuinely interested, so I just keep going "and then I noticed that test that we had in the morning... and the way the teachers were looking at us... and I talked to Jade during lunch, and she said that she had then too..."

"Are you sure that you are not imagining things?" Marco says, I guess he is the sensible one, since João seems to be really considering what I've just said, even if it is strange

"What do you say?" I ask João

He looks into my eyes for a while, and after what felt like centuries but was probably only a few seconds, he finally says "I don't know what to think... Something strange is happening, and as your friend I will help you" I stops for I while, and then adds "But in one thing you are right. Something fishy is happening, and I want to know what is..."

I smile at that, with that we just say silent for a while, each one of us lost in your troughts.

"I was wondering..." João starts to say, but then stop as to make a dramatic pause "... do you think the numbers were invented or discovered?"

I just start laughing at that like there is no tomorrow "Nice change of subject!" I'm finally able to say, but then I just keep laughing

"I'm serious!" He says with a very serious face indeed "It's a question that was been bothering me for a while... I mean... the capacity to count and to math is one of the biggest capacities of humans, but did we really invented the numbers, or did we only discovered them... You know, they are just abstractions, not even the natural numbers exist in reality, right? I just don't know what to think..."

"That's pretty philosophical! Who are you, and what did you do to my friend?" I ask in a teasing way."

I don't know... It's just something that I thought after the whole History thing, you know... the one that got us here..."

"Yeah..."

"But honestly... origin of numbers... What do you think?"

"I think... I think... that you are crazy!" I say while laughing, but his serious face makes me stop "But honestly...I think that they were invented... Like you said, they are abstractions made by the human race... Not even the natural numbers are real, and let's not forget the real numbers or the imaginary ones... They are obviously invented"

"I don't know... I mean..." Marco intervenes

Let's just say that we spent the rest of your time discussing about numbers...

"You can leave now." The teacher says at last, and we all let out a relieved sigh, and by the look of his face he is as relieved as any of us.

"See you tomorrow Marco." I say with a smile and he just waves goodbye "You too J..." I add with a smile

"No... I'll walk you to your room"

We just walk for a while in silence, and when we reach my dorm room he finally says

"Listen... I know that you truly believe that something is happening here and I will help you find whatever it is, but just promise me this: don't let the fact that you don't want to be here cloud your judgment..."

"I'm not!" I interrupt

"Let me finish!" he says while putting his hands on my shoulders and forcing me to look into his eyes. "I believe you... I really do... But I also know that you don't want to be here in the first place, and I'm afraid that you will try to find some reason to go back... to prove that this is all a con or something. To prove that you can go back to the friends that don't judge you and that love you, so that you don't have to face what you did again..." I'm pretty sure that I have tiers in my eyes at this point, but I try to hold them back and fail. Which causes him to reach for them with his thumb "But you don't have to go back, you'll see you will be loved..." We ends with a smile "And while we are doing this kind of spy work try to enjoy this whole experience... Who knows? Maybe you are right and we will find something and be forced to go back... Better enjoy all of this before it ends..."

"I'll keep that in mind..." I say with a smile "See you tomorrow..."

"See you..." he smiles, and I just turn my back to him, while I open my door. But, before going in I just look one more time to him and I say with, yet, another smile "Thank you..." and the I just walk straight in and close the door.

Author's note:

So... hope you liked it :-) I'm sorry if it's small :-( and that it took me so long to update :-( but the truth is that my final test are coming up and if I want to keep up my grades I have to study (hard) :-( I'm so, so sorry :-( but unfortunately this also means that the updates will be slow, at least until I finish my exams, that are at the end of June :-( :-( :-( I'm so, so, so sorry :-(

Anyway :-)

If you are asking yourself, that the whole number thing is stupid because there is no seventeen-years-old in there right mind that you think about that... you are probably right :-) But I can tell you that there are sixteen-years-old and seventeen-years-old that do, indeed, discuss this things... and I can say this because I'm one of them :-D Let's just say that some of my friends are really crazy :-D and if you are wondering (which you are probably not) we actually spend a whole day discussing this and we even asked your philosophy, physics, biology, maths and PE teachers :-) Crazy right??? :-)

And be whare... there will be more strange philosophical questions!!!! (insert dramatic music)

Anyway... :-) Vote... Comment... Share... Do whatever you want... :-)

And by the way, what do you think... Were the numbers invented or discovered?

And again... And I really mean this :-) if you can find any mistake of spelling or grammar, or anything else please let me know so I can fix them :-) Oh! And I'm sorry if my sentences are way to long :-) it's a portuguese thing... We usually use sentence with a lot of comas (and I use them extremely often) so we are used to following paragraph long sentences... :-) but I try to control it, because I know that that is not how you should write in english, but I can let them pass, even when I try not to... Sorry... :-)