Once she had finished handing the papers to each of the students, Professor Mantovani returned behind the desk and took her place in the chair. At that point she retrieved her Smartphone and checked the time on the screen. Almost five minutes had passed since the start of class.

''Okay, you can start the test...''

He raised his index finger in midair, and when 14:04 became 14:05, he lowered his finger sharply.

''Now,'' he announced aloud.

The rustle of thirty sheets of paper echoed through the classroom as pupils turned over the philosophy test, which Mantovani had specifically ordered to be kept covered until the last.

Having filled out the header by entering his first name, last name and date, Alessandro then moved on to the first exercise of the test. This was a test with associations in which he had to link each philosophical theory to its respective author, but although the list of names was quite substantial, and he had initially confused Hume with Locke and skepticism with empiricism, he still managed to complete it with relative ease

The next exercise consisted of simple open-ended questions focusing on a single topic, which fortunately for him turned out to be Hobbes. Alessandro was delighted. After all, this was one of the philosophers he knew best, (which was in itself quite bizarre, since he agreed with virtually nothing he said), and so he immediately began reading the questions.

What historical episode prompts Hobbes to reinforce his belief that a strong central power is necessary for peace and social stability to be maintained?

Easy, thought Alessandro as he wrote his own response.

The English Civil War.

What is the main work written by Hobbes?

Super easy.

The Leviathan

Why, according to Hobbes, is it in man's own interest to rely completely on his sovereign, devolving all rights to him?

Already better.

To escape the state of nature

What is the state of nature according to Hobbes?

The war of all against all

He was about to continue, but just to be on the safe side, he decided first to add the Latin counterpart as well. Bellum omnium contra omnes.

What is the one right that Hobbes considers inalienable?

The right to life

Briefly summarize Hobbes' political thought, paying particular attention to how the English philosopher describes the state of nature, why it is necessary to get out of it and what covenant one must enter into to do so, as well as, of course, explaining his conception of absolute government.

There, the downhill road was over. If he didn't want to dwell too long and overstretch the available lines now, he had better be careful.

He was still thinking about how to baste the speech when he heard an inaudible whisper coming from Marco's desk. Alessandro discreetly turned to the right and crossed his gaze with his friend, who, trying not to be noticed, pointed out on his own test one name among those listed in the first exercise. Spinoza.

Quickly grasping what Alessandro meant, he turned a fleeting glance toward Mantovani, but when he saw that the teacher seemed to be grappling with correcting tests for another class, he slid his finger over the correct answer. Pantheism. Marco shot him an appreciative smile and then went back to focusing on the assignment.

About twenty minutes later Alessandro reread the summary on Hobbes' thought, but in spite of what he feared, he did not feel the need to have to add or take away anything. He had overrun just a couple of lines more than he had planned, however, he could still be reasonably satisfied.

Nodding smugly he turned the page to the file, thus finding himself at the final part of the test. This was a multiple-choice exercise, where it was necessary to Marco the correct one with an X.

What are the most famous works written by Tommaso moro and Niccolo Machiavelli respectively?

Utopia and The Mandrake

The Leviathan and The Prince

Utopia and The Prince

The New Atlantis and The Leviathan

Barely holding back laughter at such absurd options, Alessandro drew an X on the square next to Utopia and The Prince, and then moved on.

''Cogito ergo sum'' is a formula developed by...

''Prof, sorry''

At the sound of that female voice Alessandro raised his head from the task. Two rows away from him, Monica, a girl with a particularly sharp face and long brown hair pulled back into a bun, was raising her right hand to be noticed.

"Yes?" asked Mantovani, crossing her gaze.

Monica lowered her arm.

''I didn't understand one thing.'' He grabbed the bottom edge of the paper and lifted it in midair so that he could read more easily. ''The first question in the second exercise, when it says...''

There was a resounding crack, and suddenly a large chunk of concrete collapsed crashing onto her desk, snatching the task out of Monica's hand.

Yielding under the weight of the debris, the upper wooden shelf broke in half, eventually submerging the notebooks stored in the lower compartment under a pile of dust and concrete fragments.

The entire class instantly aimed their gaze at the destroyed desk, then at the area of the ceiling from which the block responsible for that slaughter had detached, and finally back at the desk. However, with the exception of the stifled cry let out by Monica at the moment of impact, no one uttered a breath.

The unreal silence that had fallen over the classroom lasted for a few seconds, until Mantovani snapped to her feet, her wide eyes fixed on the students.

''What are you standing there for?!" she exclaimed indignantly. ''Out, out, out!!!''

And by fiercely clapping his hands, he forced the class to stand up and leave the classroom.

***

Leaning with his shoulder against the trunk of one of the linden trees that bordered the soccer field, Alessandro continued to stare silently at a spot not far from the main entrance to the institute, where Principal Gasparucci was engaged in a conversation with the fire department foreman.

Since the fire alarm had sounded and the entire facility had had to be evacuated, the courtyard was so packed with students that it was almost impossible to even walk without bumping into someone. Not wanting to wait in the crowd, Alessandro had agreed with Marco that it was preferable to settle in that fairly sheltered position.

Given that the attention of the vast majority of students was almost entirely capitalized on by the bustle of firefighters moving in and out of the school's interior, that remained undoubtedly the best place to monitor the unfolding situation without being in the center of the fray.

Although the sky was cloudy, it was not too cold, although the blowing mistral wind contributed in no small part to lowering the perceived temperature by several degrees. While chatting with his mother via the Smartphone keypad, Marco was reached by one of these icy gusts and his body was shaken by a chill. In an instinctive desire to leave as little skin as possible exposed, the boy lowered his head so low that his chin disappeared under the lapel of his orange-colored jacket.

Although he tried to throw off his friend's suspicions by stubbornly keeping his eyes on the principal and the fire foreman, Alessandro's mind, on the other hand, just didn't want to know how to think of anything other than the signals coming from his belly.

His stomach was now growling with almost uninterrupted frequency, and he was struggling enormously to keep himself focused on topics that did not involve food. To be fair, the very fact that he had managed to answer many of the test questions without giving in to the temptation to eat the paper represented a half miracle in itself.

In an attempt to hide a more intense gurgling than usual Alessandro was forced to simulate a few coughing taps, but in spite of the commotion caused by the gigantic gathering of students nearby, Marco seemed to notice nonetheless that something was amiss, because he put his cell phone back in his pocket and looked his friend straight in the eye.

''Is everything all right?" she asked, shooting him an eloquent look.

Alessandro put on his best poker face and nodded with conviction.

''Yes, spot on,'' he replied quietly.

For a few seconds Marco merely scrutinized him in silence, but when he realized that he would not be able to get anything else out of him, he chose not to push.

''Do you think they will move us somewhere while they sort this out?" she asked him absentmindedly, as she tried to locate the principal at the other end of the courtyard.

''Probably,'' Alessandro confirmed, breathing a sigh of relief.

Marco huffed.

''I don't want to go to gym class,'' he complained, crossing his arms. ''They remind me too much of those exams they give in Pass or Die.''

''Afraid a trapdoor will open under your desk if you touch answer?" joked Alessandro, seizing that opportunity to divert attention elsewhere.

''As long as it's not math or physics I could always ask you, couldn't I?" retorted Marco in an equally lighthearted tone. She leaned slightly toward him and whispered in a confidential tone, ''By the way, thanks for the tip.''

''You're welcome,'' Alessandro shielded himself by shrugging his shoulders. ''The rest all right?

''I think so,'' announced Marco all fired up. ''Hobbes was the one that had to be connected with social contract, right?''

Alessandro's smile faded.

''Um...not exactly,'' he said evasively.

''But yes he is!" blurted out Marco, counting on his fingers. ''State of nature, social contract, it was Hobbes who was talking about it.''

''Even Rousseau did that,'' Alessandro reminded him quietly, ''although they meant it the other way around.''

''And what was going with Hobbes, then?" asked Marco, who now did not seem so sure.

''Materialism,'' Alessandro revealed.

Marco remained silent for a while, as if he were grappling with deep reflection, and finally said, ''I'm afraid I've messed up.''

''Well, at least there is a silver lining in this matter,'' Alessandro pointed out, ''now the test will be cancelled.''

''Yeah,'' Marco confirmed mournfully, shoving his hands into his pockets. ''Maybe I'd better give it a once-over before they make us do it again, though.''

Having noticed out of the corner of his eye the exit of the firefighting team from the main entrance, a sign that the inspection must have been over by now, Alessandro turned his gaze toward the crowded courtyard, thus ending up catching sight of Andrea and Giovanni as they wandered boredly around one of the stone benches that lined the east facade.

Of Matteo no trace. After several photos had appeared in some online newspapers of him intent on fleeing naked in panic along the side of the road, he seemed to have suddenly contracted a bad flu.

For a negligible, tiny, infinitesimal fraction of a second, Alessandro wondered if he had gone too far in giving him such treatment, but then he was reminded of what had happened inside the bathroom on the second floor, and like a drop of water dropped on top of a hot stone, that doubt evaporated.

''Look, when was the last time you stayed over?" asked Marco point blank.

Alessandro resumed looking at his friend.

''You know I don't remember that,'' he confessed, massaging the back of his neck. ''Last summer, maybe?

''Would you like to come today?" proposed Marco nonchalantly. ''The day before yesterday I bought the game of Taiyō wa Rōma. So we'll play a game and you can help me with the subtitles.'' He raised both hands. ''Always if you want to, huh.''

Enlivened as he was by the prospect, Alessandro replied without even wasting time to ponder.

''Sure, why not?'' Realizing that he had been overly impulsive, he hastened to add, ''But first I should ask my parents what they think.''

Having also told him the little story of the Smartphone forgotten on the bus, Marco pulled out his own.

"Shall I do it?

''No, never mind, it takes me less time to ask Alice,'' Alessandro reassured him with a wave of his hand. ''Will you give me a second?

Marco shrugged his shoulders in assent.

Locating Alice took but a minute. She stood with three other friends near the drinking fountain in front of the entrance to the east porch, in exactly the same spot where he had seen her an hour earlier, when they had greeted each other from afar to confirm to each other that they were okay.

The moment he emerged from the throng and started to advance toward them, Ludovica seemed so impressed that she opened her mouth wide in amazement, while Julia, who unlike her friend was shorter and also wore glasses, blushed with such intensity that her freckles seemed to disappear. It was the first time they had seen him without his pockMarcoed face.

Alessandro hardly even noticed, however, as all his attention was capitalized on by Veronica soon after she noticed his presence. The girl barely maintained eye contact for a couple of seconds and then looked away. Sensing that she preferred to be ignored Alessandro focused on his sister, but before he had even managed to open his mouth Alice anticipated him.

''And here is the survivor,'' she announced jovially, while he bridged the few steps that still separated them. ''What was the apocalypse like?

''No one was hurt,'' Alessandro retorted, frowning.

''They told me that Monica almost lost her head,'' Julia pointed out to him.

''Indeed,'' Ludovica confirmed, ''is it true that she was saved only because she had to go to the bathroom?''

Alessandro shook his head.

''All thanks to the English Civil War,'' he said enigmatically.

"What?" asked Alice, clearly confused.

''Nothing,'' Alessandro cut it short. ''Alice, Marco invited me to stay at his place tonight. Do you think Mom will be pissed if I accept?''

''I don't know,'' Alice replied shrugging her shoulders, ''let's ask her.''

He retrieved the Smartphone from his coat pocket and immediately began typing on the display.

"But didn't he have the shift?" puzzled Alessandro asked.

''He was finishing earlier today,'' she revealed to him without taking her eyes off her cell phone. ''He said that this morning, didn't you hear?''

In fact, no. He had been too busy that morning trying to come up with a reasonable excuse with which to justify the sudden disappearance of the half-pound package of Fontal from the refrigerator to be able to concentrate on anything else.

In the end, having no hope of convincing his mother otherwise, he had been forced to eat the superMarcoet receipt as well, so as to hide the proof of purchase and lead Elisa to believe she had been mistaken. Who knows how she would react once she discovered that all the jars of dried fruit, stored inside the pantry, had been completely emptied.

The sharp jingle, virtually indistinguishable from a bicycle bell, coming from Alice's cell phone called him back to reality. Elisa must have answered the message

"So?" asked Alessandro in curiosity.

''It just says okay,'' Alice revealed casually, before showing him the emoji that accompanied her mother's short text. ''But there is also a smiley face.''

Ludovica and Julia burst out laughing, and even Veronica was forced to stifle a smile. Alessandro's expression, on the other hand, turned icy.

''Thank you,'' he hissed through clenched teeth.

And with his back to the sneering group, he began to make his way through the crowd.