She sat there, idly making circles in the water with her toes. She leaned back in the grass and closed her eyes, enjoying thee warmth of the sun on her face- that moment of pure heat before it got too hot and started to burn you, and the insects set in to devour you as you oozed sweat. She sat up again, flicking her perfect blond hair back, and then finally tying it in a ponytail. No matter how much genetic engineering they did, there were always going to be some discomforts humans would have to stand about themselves, and one of those was sweat. And she hated it. If she’d been allowed, she’d have cut her hair off a long time ago.

M…she traced the letter in the dirt with a stick, than gave a sigh and tucked her arms around her legs. It was one of her favorite letters, from a long time ago, when she had still had a name. She thought it was Mandy, but sometimes she wasn’t sure. Her parents weren’t allowed to tell her. She had been born before the Awakening; before Socialism had finally created a working ideal world for everyone.

She supposed…oh, it was probably around kindergarten, was when she had gotten her number. That was when President 00 had taken over, finally turning their way of life around, to higher morals and lifestyles for everyone. Her number had been 1480. She had been proud of that number- it ended with an even zero, and she loved numbers that ended with zeroes. Her classmates had had boring numbers…teachers could remember her’s better.

She supposed that that was why they had had to change it. Numbers were too hard for everyone, and the population was growing too fast. So when the World Presidency was replaced with White, there was a word-wide revolutionary change. President 00 stepped down to Blue, a puppet of White.

Yes, it went from numbers to colors. This was more effective than numbers had ever been. For they had come up with a brilliant system, or so it seemed. For every grade level, in every school district, there could only be one of each color. So they were monitored from birth. And then they were given their color. The older classes had had to come up with creative colors, but it was working out wonderfully for the little ones. And you felt connected, knowing there were other colors like you.

She glanced up at the sky and smiled; her color was blue, which happened to be her favorite. Just like the President. But classes had evolved in this. Generally the warmer colors were given to lower beings. Blue was at the top of the cool colors, second only to white.

She finally got up, slipping her sandals on and heading back up to the playground where her mother and younger sister, both Greens, were. She went and joined Red and Purple on the slide, enjoying the cooling breeze on her hot neck. Like all Purples, he had light-brown hair. Reds had orange hair, and Blues, blonde. Her sister and mother both had black hair, and her father, a White, had iron-gray hair.

Suddenly she heard a voice, “Blue!” a mother, calling for her child to go home and prepare Tuesday’s menu- Lasagna, whether you wanted it or not. “Yes momma!” Seven kids called out, all turning at the exact same time; all wondering whether it was their momma that had called. All with long, blonde hair and dark blue eyes.