I come from the future.
I have the secret everyone wants.
No one must get my secret.
No one must know when I am….
The bell rang loudly.
Just outside a major city was a medium sized school building. It was two stories high, about two houses wide, it had deep red bricks and was framed with tall, regal looking trees. It was, indeed, a beautiful, picturesque little school.
Two hundred and fifty one students went to this school. And not a single one of them cared about how it looked. As a matter of fact, all they wanted was out.
Students poured out of the two main doors in the front of the building. Some rushed to a bus, while others walked to their house, and a few had a car ride to take them home. In the flurry and rush to get home, no one really noticed that one girl who wasn’t rushing to get anywhere.
She walked calmly, and thoughtful, through the rapidly thinning crowd of young people. No one really knew much about her… but when on the chance a person did ask, “Hey, who’s that girl over there?” It was a standard answer for anyone to say, “Oh, that’s number one.”
Yes, one. That’s what she was known as. She was the last student to enter the school, every year, that anyone could remember. She was the odd number. Two hundred fifty one. The last digit. It may not be considered very impressive except that this school had a long (and strange) tradition with keeping even numbers with students. No one knew why, but that’s how it was done. She was the odd girl out.
“Hey you! Er… er… the odd numbered one!”
“Corrie.”
“What?”
“My name is C-o-r-r-i-e.”
“Oh. Well, anyway… Do you have a quarter. I’ve just been dying to get a coke all day and I only have-”
“Fine, fine, fine.. here.” Corrie pulled out a dollar from her pocket.
“But I only wanted a quarter.”
“Just take it will you. I don’t have a quarter.” She shoved the dollar into the unknown student’s hand. The student hesitated for a moment, then smiled gratefully and rushed off to get his drink.
“Someday,” she mumbled slightly to herself. “Someone is going to notice me for more then my school number and spare change…”
It only slightly irritated her that everyone seemed completely oblivious to her. For the most part, she enjoyed the fact that no one bothered her. No one picked on her (or played with her). No played any pranks on her (or laughed with her). Sure, maybe it had it’s shortcomings…but for some reason, it felt right that she was unnoticed.
The large, neatly mowed school grounds were almost completely empty now. Just a few stragglers waiting for rides. Like some unknown instinct, Corrie knew this was her time to go home. It was always the same everyday. Never the last one to leave, but never the first one to go home. This was just how it should be.
Her neighborhood was only a 5 minute walk away from the school. She enjoyed that walk. It was refreshing to smell the outside air, to hear the birds singing away, to see someone running at her at a very fast pace…..
“Agghhh!!!!” Was the only thing she had to say before someone rudely ran into her.
Thump!
“Ah.. not now. I don’t have the time for this now!” Said a very peeved voice of the person who’d knocked her over.
Rubbing her bottom in slight pain, she quickly surveyed her surroundings. Pictures and pieces of paper were scattered everywhere. Feeling an obligation to be nice, she began picking up the mess she’d help create. “Girls..” she thought as she collected various pictures. “They’re all pictures of girls..”
“Hm.. Excuse me…” Corrie said, trying to get the attention of the young man who was frantically picking up the mess and stuffing various things into folders. He paused and looked up at her.
“What?” He said in a rude tone of voice.
Turning slightly red in anger at his tone of voice, she replied politely, “I picked these up for you…” She handed him what she’d managed to pick up. He quickly took them from her and shoved them into his file. Not even glancing back or saying thank you, he went back to picking up the rest of the mess.
“Um…” Corrie said as loudly as she could. No response. Her face was turning even more red. “Isn’t he going to even ask if I’m okay or apologize for running into me?” She thought angrily.
She waited a moment or two, but realized this young man wasn’t going to do anything of the sort. Sighing slightly, she went over and helped him with picking up the remainder of his mess. After a few minutes, they’d gotten the mess picked up.
“Finally, the last one…” He said irritably, putting the piece of paper in his already over stuffed paper folder. He then paused and suddenly seemed aware of Corrie’s presence. For a moment they just stood there in silence, neither one sure what to do.
“He couldn’t possibly be expecting me to apologize for this, could he..?” She thought still angry at him.
“My name is Jared.” He said suddenly (almost making her jump). He stuck his hand out in an uncertain manner. “Sorry about being rude. I haven’t been having a good day.”
She stared at him for a moment, and then slowly shook his hand. “It’s all right.. I guess..” Then she smiled, because it suddenly occurred to her that maybe Jared needed a smile.
Jared looked at her oddly for a moment. Then realized that he’d been shaking her hand for too long and let go. “Uh… that school uniform.. that means you’re from…” he trailed off, obviously making a vain attempt at conversation.
“Brunham…” She said kindly.
“Bruham? Really? I’m going.. er.. transferring there next week.”
Her mouth gaped slightly. Two hundred fifty TWO students? Was it possible the school was trying to even out it students after all this time? “Well… uh.. that’s.. that’s great! You should really like Brunham. Good school, nice teachers.. nice students..”
He nodded. “How long have you been going there?” he asked.
She blinked, they’d started walking. She didn’t know when it had happened, but now they were walking down the sidewalk towards her house. “Oh, uh… about three years now. I’m two hundred fifty one.”
“Beg your pardon?” He looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face.
“It’s a.. tradition.. in my school. They like an even number of students. They even put the number on your shirt… I’m two hundred fifty one… with you here, it’ll make it fifty two. You’ll have evened things out. Probably make whoever-it-is that does student applications happy.” She couldn’t help but smile at what she was saying. It must sound pretty odd to an outsider. Well, it was pretty odd for an insider too… so..
“Ah.” Was all he said to that strange bit of information, and then suddenly stopped walking. “Well, this is my turn.” He shook her hand again, saying how nice it was to meet her, and that he hoped they’d bump into each other again, then he left.
She stood at the corner where he’d left her standing. She had an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, and couldn’t quite figure out why. She quickly shook it off. “Better not to dwell on things like that..” she thought to herself, but only in passing.