Claudia, that is, Flavio, had just arrived at her new school, that is his new school, when he, that is she, became known as Flavia.

It didn't matter much that the communication received by Professor Danieli had been written directly by the principal with Claudia's real name. At least, it would have been easier for him, now for her, to answer when she was called upon.

«So, "Flavia", I guess you got your usual urge to change your identity», Michela complained at recess.

«Actually, it's not quite like that...» not knowing what to do, Flavia nervously ran her hands over her face and neck.

«...I thought it was strange that you didn't change your name last year», Michela continued with resignation in her tone, expecting her friend to start one of her rambling speeches.

«It's not a big deal, I'm sure everything will work out...»

«What did you decide to call yourself in fifth grade? Dadia? And then in middle school you went from Lady, to Lalla, to Lily and in gym class you became Didi... And now that you're Flavia I suppose next year you'll want to be called Vivi, or Fiffy or Fuffy.»

Flavia furrowed her eyebrows, perplexed.

«Don't look at me like that... I know it's your business. But this time your nickname ended up in the class register», Michela insisted.

«It's just a register», Flavia downplayed. «I mean, it's not like in five years I'm going to end up with a fake diploma or something. The documentation we submitted to the office has the correct name.»

«And do you want to wait for the diploma? Why don't you talk to the teacher and tell her there was a mistake? If you tell her right away I'm sure they won't give you any trouble», Michela tried to convince her.

«Please! I can't say I'm called one thing and then take it back right away, I'd look like...»

«Like the crazy one you really are?» she suggested amused.

«...and do you think it's funny that people see me like that?»

«But you are like that! And don't fool yourself, they'll notice it sooner or later anyway!»

«Listen, you know you can trust me, you know that even if I may seem a little off...»

«That's true», Gianluca interrupted her, «you do seem a a little off.»

«Excuse me, Mr. Rude, what are you laughing at? We don't even know each other!» Michela confronted him.

«I'm her desk mate!» Gianluca claimed. «Besides, Flavia already knows me from before...»

«Don't be so distrustful of him, he's the only nice guy we have in class...» Flavia defended him.

«Well, thank you, even though it's only three of us in class, I'll take it as a real compliment.»

«Trust me, it's a great compliment», Michela stressed, «it's not easy to get Claudia's attention.»

«Whose attention?» Gianluca asked confused.

Michela sighed patiently. «I meant Flavia... and it's not easy for her to trust a stranger either.»

«I already told you we're not strangers», Gianluca insisted.

«I'd say instead that I'm very sociable!» Flavia protested, clinging to the memories she had of Claudia. «And then what's the problem with my attention?»

«Come on!» Michela laughed. «You have a tendency to get distracted every time that...»

«Romina and Valentina!» Flavia exclaimed all of a sudden. She had her eyes fixed on two girls at the end of the corridor who were chatting animatedly. «Excuse me for a moment, you get to know each other in the meantime.»

The two were left stranded, watching Flavia disappear down the corridor. Gianluca saw Michela roll her eyes.

«Just as expected», she snorted with a resigned smile.

«Uh, I'm Gianluca.»

«Nice to meet you, I'm Michela. Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to come off as unfriendly, it's just that I'm a bit nervous about changing schools.»

«Don't worry, I figured. Listen, if you want we can ask the teachers if I can give you my seat, so you can sit at the same desk as Flavia.»

Michela spread her freckled face in a smile.

«She was right, you really are nice...» she said. «Thank you, but since she's taken a liking to you, I think you should propose it to her», Michela pointed to Flavia who was greeting the two girls, «...if you ever manage to get her attention back, of course.»

«Do you two know those girls?»

«Us? You're the one with the most seniority here...»

«Hi girls!» Flavia exclaimed.

The two, who were engrossed in discussions as thin as tissue paper, set aside their attempts at philosophy and let themselves be intrigued by the newcomer.

«Hi... do we know each other?» asked timidly the one Flavia remembered as Valentina.

«I saw you at the bus stop on the way here» was Flavia's calibrated non-answer.

She wasn't lying, she had seen them at the stop. The fact that it had happened when Flavio was going to school, promoted that statement to the role of a half-truth. The fact that those distant past times had apparently returned to the present, made that half-truth an almost-truth.

«Oh, thank goodness!» Valentina smiled. «What a relief... I thought we knew each other and I had forgotten about you. How embarrassing, the usual blunder!»

«Please, excuse her» Romina chuckled, «and don't mind her when she goes like this, she's a bit absent-minded.»

«A bit too absent-minded!» Valentina confirmed. «It happens to me all the time, just this morning two or three times already.»

«Don't worry, I'm new» Flavia sympathized.

«So are we! We're first-years, that's why I keep getting confused.»

«I mean I just arrived, it's my first day here. My name is Flavia.»

«I'm Romina.»

«I'm Valentina.»

Flavio had met them in middle school. He had in common with them nearsightedness and, although Flavio was a bit taller than them, the fact of having a noticeably above-average height. They had therefore found themselves teaming up together in various school activities, despite Flavio being a year ahead of them.

Now that he had become Flavia and had lost - a bit here and a bit there - several centimeters compared to them, she found herself looking at them from a completely different perspective.

«I figured it was strange that you were in first grade!» Valentina remarked.

«But I am in first grade...»

«So how many times have you been flunked?»

«Just once, actually.»

«Vale, how subtle and tactful... come on, don't be so reserved! Feel free to ask anything that pops into your head, go ahead» Romina chided her, chuckling.

«Wow, sorry! Its just that you seem quite grown-up.»

«Look at you, you don't exactly look the petite one yourself» Romina observed.

«I meant as age, Romi', that she's short I can see it by myself...» Valentina said annoyed.

Without worrying about her friend's irritation, Romina teased her again: «You sure are in the mood for compliments today, huh?» she laughed.

«Oh God, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say...»

«Don't worry, I understand. And besides, it's true that I'm short.»

It wasn't true. He was very tall, in reality. But what the hell, Flavia thought, who actually appears as they truly are?

«But you do look older than us, for real, not just by one year. I don't know, there's something in your eyes...»

Flavia felt that Valentina had sensed that behind those eyes there was someone taller. Someone who had emerged from adolescence. Maybe not in the their best shape, but emerged nonetheless.

«She's right, maybe it's your makeup» Romina agreed.

«That's true, look at that! It's so light that I didn't even notice it!» Valentina confessed.

«You're right, I have to be very careful with makeup... of course, if I were as tall as you I wouldn't need it so much.»

There was a deep truth in that statement. He could say it from personal experience. When he was tall he had never needed makeup.

«Come on, what are you saying! You look great, and besides, finding a boyfriend when you're this tall is difficult.»

«Look, you should settle for Flavio, I can see you two together» Romina teased.

Flavia filled with adrenaline knowing that Flavio, her past self, was really around there, then furrowed Claudia's well-defined eyebrows and wondered what was so funny about pointing him out as someone to "settle for".

«Please, do you see me with him for real? He may be tall, but he's not my type at all!»

Flavia clenched her jaw trying to hide the hostile feelings that were beginning to sprout inside her.

«That one over there, on the other had...» Valentina added biting her lips and looking behind Flavia.

«The blond one? We've already talked about him, he's too short for you.»

«It doesn't matter, he's too cute...»

Flavia turned to look, curious to see the rival she would never have cared about, neither in the past nor in the future nor in any of the amazing combinations these had proven capable of lately.

«Who? Gianluca?» she asked surprised.

«Do you know him?» Valentina asked her with enthusiasm.

«Yes, he's in my class.»

«Really? Could you introduce us, one of these days?»

«Sure... what are friends for, otherwise?» Flavia replied as the bell rang. «See you at the bus stop to on the way here?» she hurried to add.

«Sure! But we usually take the bus very early, it's the only way to avoid traffic and get here on time.»

«Then we'll meet often. I've always liked to get to school early too» Flavia confirmed. "At least I think so..." she thought.

Since the very first days at the new school, Michela realized that it would be extremely difficult for her to catch up with the French lessons.

Michela found in her friendship with Flavia an excuse to ask Gianluca for help with her studies, Gianluca found in Michela's request an excuse to spend more time with Flavia, and Flavia found in Gianluca's availability an excuse to suggest Michela to leave home earlier in the morning.

«What's with this obsession? You've never liked to get to school so early» Michela pointed out.

«Figures, what was I even thinking...» Flavia acknowledged.

It was Wednesday afternoon and, together with Gianluca, they were in the crowd of students waiting for a bus to go home.

«Listen, I'm sorry Fla', I'm not coming with you. I could never manage to set the alarm half an hour earlier to study before class.»

It wasn't hard to believe that: since Flavio met Claudia, Flavia didn't remember ever seeing her in Michela's company before Valdaora.

«Actually it doesn't make much sense, you can't do much in half an hour» Gianluca considered. «Let's meet in the afternoon, you can come to my place» he suggested with conviction.

«That sounds like a good idea!» Michela agreed smiling at him.

«I don't know for how much longer I'll have free afternoons...» Flavia warned.

«Why? What commitments do you have?» Michela asked surprised.

«First of all today I have the hairdresser...»

«And then?»

«I have to find a job» Flavia revealed, feeling constrained by Claudia's role. «I need money» she added in response to the puzzled looks she had just aroused in the other two.

«For what?» Michela wanted to know.

«I want to join a gym.»

«I don't understand you! You could have asked me if I was interested in coming with you, but you didn't even tell me!» she vented. «And besides, your father has always paid for everything you wanted... what's wrong with you?»

«My father doesn't want to pay me anything anymore, he said that if I wanted to change schools I had to forget about everything else and just focus on studying» Flavia justified herself.

«Are you kidding?» Michela said, pushing her curls away from her face and revealing her incredulous expression.

«No money, not even for a night out with friends.»

«And you still wanted to change schools?»

Flavia felt her friend take her hand. Michela's affection, full of gratitude, gave her a sense of tenderness that made the loss of Claudia more bearable. She was discovering in Michela a girl even lovelier than the one she had met for the first time in Valdaora.

«It's only until I bring him a report card without failures» Flavia clarified, as if it didn't concern her. In reality, she was completely absorbed by Michela's touch.

«And you hope to succeed by working and going to the gym?»

«Michela, I assure you that there's no problem, I've already gone through the first grade once. Instead, focus on catching up with French, and then we'll talk about going to the gym together, okay?»

«Flavia, then let's start meeting in the afternoon» Gianluca intervened. «You can worry about work and everything else when you're up to date with the lessons, what do you say?»

«It's Michela who needs it more, don't bother for me, really» Flavia said, looking at Gianluca.

«But you don't bother me, at all, I'm happy to help you.»

«Okay...» Flavia agreed, smiling to mask her discomfort. «Let us know when you want us to meet, but don't be disappointed if I don't show up.»

«I'll call you, then!» Gianluca said goodbye.

«Call me too if you want...» Michela hurried to tell him, as he walked away leaving them at the stop.

«Sure... bye!» Gianluca shouted back.

«Did you hear him? "I'm happy to help you", "I'll call you then!"» Michela giggled.

«I'm not deaf...»

Michela held Flavia close to her by the arm. «Don't you find him cute?»

«Michi, am I wrong or is it enough for me to bond with a guy for you to have a crush on him?»

«It seems that we have similar tastes...» Michela admitted embarrassed.

«I don't think so. It's not him that I like» Flavia made clear.

«Not him? And who, then?»

Flavia shrugged, as if to shake off the discomfort.

«Come on, don't be mysterious as usual!»

Flavia hinted a smile. «No one, Michi, there's no guy.» Then she winked at her: «But if there were, you'd be the first to know.»

She lingered for a moment on Michela's face staring at her. She felt her heart beat and had to look away at once.