“And yet you stayed. You are my first friend, and my best friend. And today, when the Ipê does not shine two colors, I crown you, my prince.”

Pedro stood motionless as Davi smoothed the tiara over his hair. What that meant, Pedro tried to understand, but his heart insisted on roaring louder than his thoughts.

Davi then hugged him tight, something that has become less rare in recent years. The tallest boy has always been the most affectionate.

“I love you.” – Davi whispered. And Pedro didn't know what to say.

“Of course, I'm your best friend.” – That was it, wasn't it?, Pedro thought, just as a best friend.

Davi stopped the hug and walked away, and Pedro felt inner inside it wasn't that. Davi threw himself back to his place under the Ipê. Every second of silence that followed only added to the fear that haunted Pedro.

Someone had already made a rumor about them, and Pedro's adoptive father had punished him, even when the boy denied it and swore that none of it was true, Senhor João said it was a prior corrective, so he would remember not to do no acts of depravity while under his roof and name.

Pedro wanted to say that he wasn't afraid, of not having a house to live, or a name, but that wouldn't be true. He wanted to think that as long as he had a friend, everything would be okay. But Mr João was perhaps more intelligent than he let on, as he made an even bigger threat than physical violence. If he found out about anything about that, instead of punishing Pedro, he would do it to Davi.

Pedro wasn't able to sacrifice his material possessions, but above all he couldn't and would not let Davi suffer any harm.

If Davi felt something for him, if he reciprocated, it could only end in tragedy. This was not what Pedro wanted to spend his fifteenth birthday thinking about.

Pedro hadn't talked to Davi for a week, and it wasn't because they weren't seeing each other, they saw each other every day at school. But every time Davi approached, Pedro almost ran from him. Davi could not understand. Just last Sunday they were together on the hill, laughing and talking nonsense. Well, Davi was talking nonsense, and Pedro was laughing.

Was it really? Davi tried to remember. Maybe not laughing laughing, but smiling? A little bit. Now Davi was worried. Perhaps something had happened at the Pelegrini house. Maybe they finally got tired of Davi taking so much time away from Pedro. Davi's thoughts spiraled, but only one person could clear his doubts, and to talk to Pedro he would have to ambush him.

So that was it. Davi looked at the bracelet he had been carrying with him for eight years, he could feel his chin drenched with tears. Disheartenned, he returned home, and buried his face in the pillow, still clutching the bracelet, as if somehow those intertwined green lines could free him from that anguish. What could have gone so wrong?

Pedro was gone. That was it. After three whole days without seeing even a shadow of his friend, he went to the Pelegrini house, perhaps Pedro was ill. That would explain why he had avoided him so many days in a row. That was it. That could only be it. But then Mr. João Pelegrini informed him, over the intercom, that Pedro had gotten a scholarship to study at a school in a city that Davi no longer remembered the name.

How? Why? Davi didn't understand, couldn't understand, as his best friend, his only friend, he could have left like that, without giving an explanation, not even a goodbye. And the promise they had made? Had it meant nothing to Pedro? The more Davi thought, the more it hurt. To think that...

Pedro hadn't said it back. Two years earlier, under the Ipê that was practically theirs, Pedro had not said that he loved him. Of course, Davi at the time hadn't thought of it as a romantic confession, but still, he hoped that one day Pedro would say it. He waited for Pedro to say when Davi rolled down the hill because of a very strong wave of energy he had released, and with his arms around Davi, the taller boy waited for Pedro to say. Davi waited for Pedro to say the three words when someone insulted Pedro and Davi, for the first time, wich was countered with a punch, only getting him to take an even harder punch back, and while Pedro took care of his swollen eye, and holding his hand,