Disclaimer : This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The corridors of the institute were full of people, here and there groups of young people could be seen laughing, running, knocking on doors and making various comments. It was the first day of school and the SIGLO XXV boys' high school opened its doors with a brand new facade of impeccable white and an equally gleaming interior.

Leaning against the wall, halfway between two classrooms was Lucas, a tall young man with a fair complexion, straight black hair and eyes of the same color. He seemed to observe the scene with his eyes lost in an unknown spot, his hands sunk in the pockets of his new gray pants and his shirt slightly unbuttoned. The young man looked at his watch, it was only about 15 minutes before the opening ceremony of new's school year. 

He looked both ways and quickly slipped into the restrooms and remained seated on the floor until the external bustle began to subside and everything was submerged in a limpid silence.

He left his shelter with a headache that soured his mood and his eyes swollen with fatigue. Once in the corridor he looked both ways before dropping heavily against the wall thinking about what he wanted to do and what he really had to do.

A noise startled him, the heavy wooden door of the main entrance opened and a young guy with a subtle golden skin, peeked his head timidly, before walking in. Looked around until his eyes focused for a few seconds on him. With long steps walked towards him. 

"What time is it? I don't think mine is working." added pointing out to his watch. The young man stared at him anxiously, Lucas's heart missed a beat in that moment. The boy had beautiful eyes, big and green, a fleshy mouth and wavy hair that framed an innocent-looking face.

" half past eight," he answered, noting how his voice failed him.

The young man looked uneasily around the corridor, stopping for a few seconds where it ended.

"Damn, every year I miss the opening ceremony, this time I'm sure I'll be penalized"

Lucas looked at him amused, distracted by the bright color that seemed to come out of his eyes, he looked away embarrassed.

The young man turned his gaze towards him, he observed him for a few seconds, intrigued, showing a mixture of curiosity and strangeness.

"By any chance, are you new? I don't remember seeing you before."

The question would have sounded a bit ridiculous if it weren't for the height of the young man and his accentuated manly features that betrayed his 18 years, the guy in front of him must have been about the same age and from what he had said before, he had surely attended the entire high school in that institute.

"Are you a senior?"

The answer sounded curt and he almost didn't look at him as he did so.

The young man seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before speaking again, a questioning expression on his face. Finally he spoke:

"Did you fall asleep too?"

Lucas looked at him again, and observed him carefully while he forced himself to look a little less coarse.

"Yes, you might say so."

The guy with the green eyes was about two inches shorter, and to be honest, he wasn't a great beauty, but it was those gorgeous eyes and the fleshy mouth that set Lucas' fantasy machine in motion, who was forced to avert his face to hide the slight blush that tinged his cheeks. "Let it not be a classmate, please" he thought desperately, as certain thoughts swirled in his mind making him forget his attraction to the young man.

A voice snapped him out of his memitism.

"Hey... You're not from here, are you? When did you arrive?"

"Two weeks ago," he answered automatically, looking at him, surprised. And for a brief moment he thought about the answer, two weeks? He hadn't even noticed the time.

"Where did you live before?"

"In hell" he thought.

"In Milan, my parents work there".

"It's hard to move from one country to another, and to come from Europe to South America on top of that. You have to be eager."

"Or desperate" thought Lucas, but he only replied:

"Sometimes you can't choose either."

"That's true."

When Lucas turned his eyes towards the young man, he discovered him sitting on the floor with his legs open, with one of his hands he was trying to comb his hair, but apparently it was taking him a great effort.

He was about to ask his name, but a familiar sound of footsteps and shouting interrupted him. The door to the lounge at the end of the hallway opened and within seconds the hallway was filled with people.

Lucas looked towards the main entrance door and without thinking twice he took advantage of the commotion to slip through it.

#

Leon tossed and turned in bed restlessly trying to ignore the sun's rays that penetrated through the crack of the window and seemed to play on his face. With an unintelligible murmur he reached out to caress the empty space on the left side of the bed. A half-smile broke out on his face.

"You've already left," he sighed, still tired.

Loud footsteps sounded in the hallway, someone knocked on the door, it was his mother. Her voice soon accompanied the knocking.

"Leon, get up now," she knocked loudly again, "If you don't get up right now, I'll break down the door and pull you out by your hair."

"Mom," he replied, elongating the last vowel in a grumbling manner, adding in a whisper, "shit"

Because he knew his mother so well and knew her capable of breaking down the door, he got up with staggering steps, his hair disheveled and his eyes barely half-open. His mother was waiting for him outside. As soon as she saw him leave, she approached him to caress his face. Leon gasped and pulled away instantly.

"MOM! Your hands are frozen."

"I know, but now you've fully opened your eyes, that's something," she added triumphantly.

Leon headed for the bathroom in an obviously bad mood, mumbling what were supposed to be insults. After washing his face and dressing, he went downstairs for breakfast. In the dining room, seated at the head of the table was his father, reading the newspaper and with a steaming coffee beside him.

"Good morning," he murmured without taking his eyes off his reading.

"Good morning? to whom? That old woman is crazy, you don't know.....

His father interrupted him with his dry voice.

"What mother wouldn't be with a son like you, who only knows how to cause trouble?"

"It's too early for lectures. What did I do this time?"

His father looked away from the newspaper, obviously annoyed. But since he already knew him, he knew where he would start...and he knew very well what he would say.

"For starters, coming home drunk, after being absent for two days without even making a phone call, and on top of all that coming home with..." he paused, "If you go on like this, you'd better find another place to live. This is not a hotel, there are rules to follow and above all, a minimum of respect."

Leon had had enough, he rested his hands so hard on the table that it shook slightly, causing the porcelain to tinkle softly.

"Respect? Why don't you call a spade a spade? It's not about respect, it's about the fact that I brought my partner, and every time I bring him it's the same story. You always don't give a shit about me coming home drunk on the weekends...so don't come to me talking about fucking respect when you..."

"Stop now" His mother stood at the entrance to the dining room with an expression of anger or sadness, he couldn't tell. 

Leo looked at his father who was reading the newspaper again, the young man felt the fury inside him, he clenched his fists, he would have liked to hit him to see if he could get some reaction in that impassive expression. Although they had already experienced a similar situation, he looked away angrily and headed for the exit, cursing the day he was born.

He went to get his jacket and keys when he saw his mother in the garden, smiling at him. She was holding a chocolate bar in her hand, which she hurried to put in his jacket pocket.

"Mom" although he tried, he couldn't get angry with her "I'm not a child anymore."

"I know, Leo" she looked at him with infinite tenderness, "don't argue with your father, please."

"He's the one who starts it."

"And you... you're always on the defensive, give him a chance, he does what he can."

"To be honest, it doesn't seem so"  he was still angry "he always goes round and round about the same thing."

"Leo is not easy for him, he is making a big effort."

"Mom, he's been making a great effort for years."

"I don't think he will ever accept it completely, I guess it's due to his education and his character... try to understand him a little bit too..."

"And who understands me?"

"Me" His mother answered, stroking his cheek.

Leon looked at her, and for a moment he wondered if she knew how much he loved her and that if it hadn't been for her and her support he wouldn't have been able to get through it  and he thanked her for all that. However...

"I know, Mom," he looked at her for a few moments, surprised at how much he himself had grown, he was a head taller than the gray-eyed woman with the pale complexion. "But it's just not enough."

As he walked to where his car was parked, he felt that familiar pain in his chest and the frantic urge to start the engine and disappear, not only from that place but from the world. He was so tired of it all. "I hate this shitty society" he muttered to himself as he pressed the accelerator and disappeared down the empty street.

#

It was already midday and the temperature was rising intensely as it usually does on some days in March in Buenos Aires. People were walking hurriedly through the streets. Manon, a young woman with black hair and graceful features was walking through the park on her way to the bus stop.

Someone grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stop in her tracks, and she turned around in fright. A young woman of medium height, sturdy and with beautiful Arabian dark hair and eyes, stood in front of her, her cheeks burning and her breathing agitated.

"Seleika," the young woman looked surprised.

"Girl, what a way to walk, I've been chasing you since you left, I called you several times but no way...."

"I'm sorry, I really didn't hear you." 

"We are heading into direction, we can go together." 

"I thought you were waiting for your father to come pick you up."

"No, that was before. In the end he decided to trust me. Before, he was afraid that I would run away with one of those sinners," she laughed heartily.

"Seleikaaaa"

A voice called out to her.

The young woman turned around, from across the street a young man with purple hair was waving his hand through the window of a red golf car.

"Oh, how handsome!"

"Oh yes, it's Leon. Come with me, let's see if he can drive us home, he's a friend of mine."

The young man offered to take them to Manon's house, which was on his way, and the young woman lived only a few streets away from Seleika's house.

"How was the first day at uni, Leo?"

"Actually, very interesting. The new merchandise is much better than last year's," he winked through the mirror.

"you're always the same. " commented Seleika, laughing.

"Is there anything else in this life besides sex and alcohol?" replied Leon.

When they finally arrived at the building, Manon invited them to go upstairs and have a drink, the sun was beating down hard and they were dead hot. To Manon's disappointment, Leon announced that he had an engagement and would have to leave soon.

Sitting on the stairs at the entrance of the building was a young man with black hair and eyes of the same color, the resemblance to the young woman was striking and as expected, it was the Manon's brother.

Manon introduced him to the rest, to which the boy only responded with a vague smile and a nod of his head. Leon looked at him for a few moments, he was very interesting, he had such dark eyes that seemed to see through everything and he was almost sure that he plays in the same team.

As for Lucas, the observant look of the guy with purple hair did not go unnoticed, he seemed to want to memorize every last detail.

The girls went upstairs while Leon said goodbye to them. When they both disappeared, Leon came back again.

Lucas didn't pay him the slightest attention.

"A cemetery looks more fun than you..., we gotta change that,  I'll buy you a drink."

He gave him a provocative smile.

"I'm not interested in interacting with the living ones."

The double entendre was evident. But Leon wasn't giving up so easily.

"What's the matter, are you afraid of being seen around gays?"

The young man gave him a hateful look.

"Get lost." He stood up threateningly.

"What? Are you going to hit me? I haven't tried the pain thing, but if that's what you like, we could give it a try. I am always open to new experiences."

"I'm not your type and you're not even mine...why are you wasting your time?"

"Because I like your...rough style"

Leon moved slowly towards him, until he was inches away from his mouth, he let his breath brush against his mouth. Lucas remained expressionless.

"I don't have time for nonsense."

He turned and disappeared down the hallway of the building.

Leon stood there for a while watching the young man disappear from sight.

"A challenge," he smiled to himself. " I will make you mine, for sure."

Suddenly, he was in a very good mood.