Excluding a Page with a Php Variable

Hi —

I’m doing what I think should be pretty simple, trying to exclude a page to be listed by using a php variable. However, it isn’t working, all the pages are still displaying. I’m doing this, because I want to display the current page in a different style than the other pages. Here is my code:

<h1>
			<ul><span style="font-size: 32px; margin-left: -10px;">
			<?php

if ( is_page('Identity') ) { $current = 'Identity'; $number = 2; }
elseif ( is_page('Connect') ) { $current = 'Connect'; $number = 6; }
elseif ( is_page('Shop') ) { $current = 'Shop'; $number = 8; }
elseif ( is_page('In the Spotlight') ) { $current = 'In the Spotlight'; $number = 10;}
elseif ( is_page('Compendium of Dreams') ) { $current = 'Compendium of Dreams'; $number = 12;}

echo $current; 

?>
	</span>
	</ul>

	<ul style="float: right; text-align: right; margin-top: 5px;">

<?php wp_list_pages('sort_column=menu_order&title_li=&exclude="$number"'); ?>
</ul></h1>

Thanks for any help!!