The School of Robots

This is a science-fiction short story about a human who ends up in an all-robot high school.

On my first day of high school, I got a feeling that something was not right. When my classmates sat down, they wouldn’t move an inch until the bell rang. When I got a good look at their faces, they hardly blinked at all. When the time came to eat lunch, I was surprised to find that hardly anyone ate lunch. When I heard the phrase “I need(ed) to recharge my batteries”, I took it literally. I couldn’t understand why these students acted so… robotically. There had to be a reason for all of this. Maybe these students weren’t human at all. But I found my initial suspicion to be inconclusive. I needed more information.

The second day came and went without a whole lot more things appearing out of the ordinary. But I noticed an interesting pattern in the way they talked. There was not a single contraction in sight, nor could I hear any slang. Their conversations sounded too formal. It was becoming increasingly clear to me that the students were robots. But I still wasn’t satisfied with my findings. I needed irrefutable proof.

It wasn’t long before the proof I needed came. On the third day, one of the students noticed my presence, and called me weird. I instantly replied: “I think you’re the weird one here.” The student said in return “Every student here should be a robot. I am one. I think you are human.” And there it was. He said it flat out. The proof I needed came right to my face. I could’ve felt his face too and might’ve noticed that it felt unlike human skin. The skin probably felt like metal.

When I found this proof, I transferred to another school that promised to be an all-human school. Surely there would not be a robot in sight, right? Well, that’s a story for another time.