The Numbers Game

[Verse]
Chalkboard dust on my hands
It stings
Rows of faces
No one asks
No one sings
Parents screaming
"Where’s the grade?"
But the truth’s in the cracks
It starts to fade
[Chorus]
It's a numbers game
A numbers game
Not the minds
Not the hearts
Just the name
Fill the seats
Fill the sheets
Play the blame
Caught in the middle of the numbers game
[Verse 2]
District smiles in their suits
Fake shine
Counting pennies while they draw the line
Administrators drowning
Students adrift
Who’s got the time to give a damn
To uplift?
[Prechorus]
And I ask
Does anyone see?
Does anyone see?
[Chorus]
It's a numbers game
A numbers game
Not the minds
Not the hearts
Just the name
Fill the seats
Fill the sheets
Play the blame
Caught in the middle of the numbers game
[Bridge]
Tests on the table
The ink won’t bleed
Learning’s a wound that they never feed
Pushing papers
Not dreams
No sound
Just the echo of futures crashing down

electric, with driving drums and raw male vocals, alternate rock, rock, gritty