"Hurry up. We are going to be late!" Bernardo approaches, anxious.
"Hey... Rômulo is kind of cute, isn't he?" Marcela throws the words into the air.
In silence, Sarah lowers her face trying to hide it.
"What are you talking about?" Bernardo asks her, confused.
Sarah stands up and looks at him with a slight smile on her face.
"Wait... Haha... You are in love!" He does not miss the chance to tease.
As she passes by him, Sarah gives a light punch on his arm, enough to make him let out an exaggerated cry of pain.
"Aaaa Bernardo... you boys are too slow." Marcela begins to follow Sarah while imagining herself with the boy she likes.
"I do understand!" After a second of silence, he moves ahead of the two and turns toward them, walking backwards. "I have even already kissed a girl!" His eyes shine, and he even opens a smile in front of them.
Marcela stops suddenly and stares at him.
Her eyes begin to water.
In silence, she runs away, disappearing through the corridors.
"Huh..." Bernardo looks at Sarah searching for answers.
"You really know nothing!" She stares at him. "Now you can go after her!" With a more serious expression, she gives an ultimatum.
"I'm going!" Without questioning that "evil" presence, he disappears from there as fast as possible.
After a few minutes walking slowly, Sarah arrives at the gym alone.
"Damn, here comes the monster! She is on our team, don't even try!" Jorge comments, tall and with short hair.
When they see her, everyone stops the game while Sarah approaches. The looks turn toward her.
"Oh no! Don't even try! She is on ours! Your team is already too strong." Lucas, short and stocky, joins the dispute.
"Sorry Jorge, but today I am not in the mood to play. I just came to say that I am going to play chess." She answers calmly.
"Chess? Nerd stuff, come play soccer!" Jorge insists. But she is already continuing on her way.
"Leave HIM alone, Jorge! Let's just play ourselves, it's better!" Gabi, a tall boy with long hair, mocks.
Sarah stops abruptly.
"GABI!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" Shouts echo among the boys.
When he turns to see what is happening, without time to react, he finds himself falling to the ground without knowing what happened. Suddenly a tremendous pain appears on his face. When he brings his hand to his nose, he notices the blood running. Furious, he begins to search around for the culprit. A search that does not take long to end.
There she is, with her fists clenched, forcing her way between two boys who try to hold her by the arms. Others ask for calm, without much success.
Gabi, when facing Sarah's face and brown eyes, feels as if a predator were there forcing fragile bars that are about to give in. Ready to attack him and tear him apart. Her contracted pupils seem to see only one thing, her prey.
He freezes.
The most frightening of all is the silence she makes. Definitely, any second of slack the boys give, he will be reached.
Gabi's look quickly transforms, his pupils dilated with raised eyebrows, his trembling breathing, everything in his body pushes him to move away from there as fast as possible.
"What is happening here!?" The voice of someone echoes through the gym. Professor Marcos, with thin beard and short hair, arrives at the place.
Gabi runs toward the men's bathroom.
Sarah does not take her eyes off him for even a second.
"Teacher, Sarah punched Gabi!" A voice appears from among the boys.
"Sarah! Sarah!" Marcos shakes her by the shoulders, trying to calm her.
Little by little her fists relax.
She looks at Marcos and returns to herself.
Then she realizes that she is surrounded by her classmates. Some observe from a distance.
"Look at me! Calm down! Are you okay?" The teacher tries to check her state, however she does not answer with words, she only nods positively, still with her eyes slightly furious.
"Go throw some water on your face and calm down, okay." He speaks calmly to her. "Jorge, accompany Sarah to the sink, and then to the principal's office."
After the order, he begins to walk toward the men's bathroom. "Come on everyone, move along."
The others slowly begin to disperse.
After a few minutes, Sarah and Jorge are already sitting on the bench in front of the principal's office.
The door opens.
Márcia, the principal, tall, black hair and wearing glasses, stops when she sees her.
"Again?" She observes Sarah more than usual before continuing.
Sarah lowers her head.
"What happened this time?" She asks again.
Sarah does not answer her.
"They messed with her again principal." Jorge tries to answer.
"Are you involved too?" The firm look of the principal turns toward him.
"I am just accompanying her. Professor Marcos told me to."
"Hmm... Good then! You can go back to class, and ask him to come here."
He nods positively.
"Bye Sarah." In moments, Jorge disappears from the place.
Sarah watches him with a vacant gaze.
"Come, tell me what happened." Márcia, now with a calmer voice, invites her to enter while opening the door.
Sarah stands up and walks into the room. As she passes through the door, the principal places her hand on Sarah's back, guiding her inside with the delicacy of someone touching a flower.
After wandering through the school, Bernardo finds Marcela crying in a corner. And after a few minutes gathering courage, he approaches her. At first, she hesitates to listen to him. But little by little, he manages to calm her. After that, he sits beside her.
Looking at the ground, he begins to open up about how childish he was when he said those words, and about not taking her feelings into consideration.
He admits that he already knew, and that he feels the same for her. But that he never had the courage to face her and say what he felt.
At that moment, Marcela smiles, still with rosy cheeks.
And without warning, she lies down resting her head on his legs.
Silence echoes.
Only the sound of the wind that shakes and drops some leaves around the place can be heard.
And looking directly into his eyes, she takes a deep breath.
"I love you."