The Social Educational Brick

"Wakey wakey it's time to go to the social educational brick!" Johnson announced entering Ball's room at an earlier time than usual.

"W h a t..?" Ball hazily awoke sitting upright.

"It's time for school!"

"It is?! You did not make me aware," She looked at the floor lazily.

"I did not? Well at least you know now. I have good news about how you can… ya know. I made them into gummies! You can eat them, and you can get David and Nelly to eat them, but nobody else,"

"Oh," Ball found it hard to think of a time to do this. She would have to be alone with an individual to keep others from wanting some? She did not understand school schedules.

"Today you'll just be following David's schedule. You don't have to do any work, just taking a tour of a normal day. Come on, let's get some gear,"

By the end of the 'gear getting' Ball had a pen, 4 nicely sharpened pencils, 2 small bags of gummies, 4 composition books, and a backpack to put it all in.

The backpack was specially made for her by a private maker. It was pretty normal as bags go, but since she was round and didn't have any arms the straps had been replaced with a wide linen strip with a twist in the middle. Adjustable on one side, it was like a belt securely held in place by plastic teeth. She could easily take it off if she wanted, and it was the same for putting it back on. From the front she looked like 2 chords intersecting each other in a circle making non perpendicular angles.

"Why do we have to wake up so early?" Ball asked. She liked having the backpack on, as she felt more able to hold things. She practiced jumping and walking back and forth with it somehow not slipping off.

"It's standard," Johnson said without a clear answer. Some photographers took pictures, to which Ball ignored. She had become accustomed to them. All she hoped for was to never see the photos in use.

"Alrighty, follow me let's go outside," Johnson said, and so they did.

"What is up there?" Ball pointed up to the sky.

"The sky, birds, stars, other planets… airplanes," Johnson saw a plane, which was what Ball was also looking at.

"Airplane…" Ball started following it with her eyes. People going to far away places with more people...

"Hello Ball!" David said behind her. He glanced at his watch and leaned forward and back nervously.

"Hi again!" Ball turned around to face him. She noticed he was also wearing a backpack, "You have a backpack,"

"Uh huh. It's normal school stuff... I see you have one too, "David turned to Johnson, "Can we go? I, I don't want to be late,"

"Oh yeah. Right ahead. Don't let anything happen to er K?" Johnson said. He was on his phone taking a picture of David. David sighed, and began walking.

"Come on," He beckoned her. Ball rushed over and then simply walked beside him, "So… how are you feeling?"

"About what?" Ball asked him.

"About school? I never thought they would enroll you into school. It's really not safe,"

"School sounds… like an interview and a test all in one. It is dangerous?"

"Yeah. People can be scary," David looked straight ahead.

"How?"

"Well we have free will. We can… do whatever we want really. That includes being a pain, and giving pain. This school is hurting… and that's why we need to be careful, before we don't feel anything,"

"That sounds... interesting," Ball wanted to state that it sounded poetic, but couldn't find the words.

"I'm sure it's more interesting than what we're gonna learn today," David scoffed.

"What do we learn about?" Ball hadn't much information on anything. 'Everything' was a concept she barely understood.

"We're gonna learn about all sorts of stuff. Most of it isn't really important, it's just kinda, good to know ya know. I personally think you, how you are doesn't have to know ANY of what school has to offer to lead a comfortable life," David said waiting to cross the street.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well you, are you. You don't have to do anything to impress people. I would know. Uh, you are an object and the only living object. Some people would faint just to get the chance to meet you. People will do anything for you just to be happy. They want to get to know you," They began to cross a street.

"But why are they so eager to see me? I'm just me,"

"But you're not! Nobody, has ever seen anything like you. They just want to be a part of it. They just wanna know how human you are,"

"How human I am?!" Ball never heard of this side to it.

"Yes,"

"But I'm not human at all!"

"But are you? You talk. That's very human. You think, on your own. That's really human. It also means you have free will which means you can do whatever you want. It means you can hurt somebody, it means you can love somebody,"

"LOVE!" Ball jumped up.

"Woah what?" David was startled.

"That was the word I was looking for! Hmm, I'm still confused as to what it exactly is," Ball started walking in a more satisfied way.

"Everyone has a different definition. You are just going to have to find yours. Love is an abstract concept," David said. He approached the high school door and opened it. He let Ball walk in before him into a space where everyone was waiting. It was a hall right outside the lunchroom, and the students were just waiting to go to homeroom, "Keep your head down," David said.

"My what?" as far as she was concerned Ball was a head and legs.

"Try to make yourself not noticeable," Right after saying that David had decided to give up on trying not to be noticed. It was obvious that everyone was looking at them, even if it was just a glance. It occurred to him that showing up to school with Ball was probably worth a lot of negative reputation points. He put his attitude up higher, and then his head. He was capable of handling things, and nothing would get in his way.

"Hi there David! Who's your friend?" a sophomore named Beta asked. (pronounced Bet-uh). The only remarkable thing about her was how perfectly straight her hair was. She wore a shiny smile, and an eager attitude.

"Hi there Beta," David greeted unenthusiastically, "This is Ball she is an object. She's-"

A girl very similar in stature face structure and hair straightness pushed Beta out of the way.

"Oh uh Beta! I've got to tell you something really important! Sorry to interrupt hahaaa," The other girl with her red dyed hair tips, and unibrow seemed to be scolding Beta from far away.

"What's... going on?" Ball asked looking at them.

"Josie Green and Beta Green are twins and Josie is always really protective of her. I wouldn't hang out with either of them. Nobody knows which of them is the evil twin," David explained, "You can try to remember their names cause Josie is always afraid of any joe schmo. Basically she goes after any new student saying they are an alien or something. Remember Beta because she'll bet on being friends with anyone," David said.

Ball nodded, and took the advice, "Who is that?" She pointed with a foot through the crowd to a girl senior, and a beefy male super senior leaning on the wall.

"That's Katy Green, and Agren Vostok. I wouldn't even look at them. Remember, the K for Katy means kill, and the Agren is always angry,"

"What do they do?" Ball was frightened.

A short lad with blond hair down to his shoulders walked down the hall passing the bullies. Agren made a hand signal to Katy to follow, and so they did.

"Hurt,"

The bell rang.