The first year of university had passed. As usual, Flavia was with the others at the Drunk Teddy Pair, and as usual, Franco had come along with Cristina. Flavia couldn't stomach Franco when she had looked at him with the eyes of a man, and she felt even less like stomaching Franco now that she looked at him with the eyes of a woman, or someone who could pass for a woman.

When Cristina had introduced him to her, she had felt a sudden heartburn, but her friend seemed so happy to show her suitor off that she had not been able to put on a hard face. It was inevitable, she thought: no one better than her knew that fate was involved.

So she had let her enjoy her recent love, limiting herself to recommending caution and inflexibility in the hope that she would soon kick him in the ass. To her friend's advice, Cristina replied with hugs and cuddles, amused by Flavia's reaction, as if she were rewarding a puppy that makes a fuss over its owner. Then she indulged in reassurances similar to those of a teenager who promises his parents not to trash the house when he is left alone during a holiday period.

Flavia discovered with surprise what had happened to her feelings in the last year. She had not noticed either when or how, but for many months she had been stifling a jealousy that boiled closer and closer to of control towards Cristina and Franco. When they came out of the locker room, which had somehow lost its intimacy of old times, and Cristina left her to go and spend the evening with him, Franco became the biggest receptacle of Flavia's envy.

To reveal Franco's true nature, that night at the Drunk Teddy Pair, Flavia had brought Alessia, whom Flavia had met for the second time as freshmen in Architecture. She had given her a clear suggestion to make herself pretty, because "one of her friends" might at long last be able to make a move on her.

«Come on, tell me who it is!» Alessia had begged her on the phone.

«No, I can't do everything for you» Flavia had replied dryly.

«How do I know who to aim for if you don't tell me?»

«It seems you'll have to rely on your feminine intuition then, isn't it?»

«Oh God, please, you're the one who's good at these things...»

Flavia had closed her eyes and sighed in despair.

«Listen, you're sexy and attractive, you know... you don't have to focus your efforts on anyone in particular.»

«Yeah, right... with the luck I have with guys.»

«Because you're dumb, not because you're not hot!»

Alessia had shown up shining like a diva: as usual she looked like she came out of a fashion magazine, as usual it was hard to see her skin under the foundation and as usual she had put on high heels — for what little they could do.

«So you had a good first year in architecture, right?» Giuseppe asked at one point.

«Yes, thanks to Flavia.» Alessia replied, «Otherwise, I would have had to repeat for the third time.»

Michela hugged Flavia and smiled with pride.

«When she puts her mind to it, our go-go dancer is incredible with books.»

«Yet» Cristina intervened, «you get tutoring in math, don't you?»

«Really?» Franco chimed in. «I could have given you some lessons. You know, we chew a lot on that stuff in engineering.»

«Too kind.» Flavia forced herself to be polite. «But the guy who gives me lessons is really good.»

With the exception of Cristina and Flavia, everyone looked at each other, surprised.

«And who is he?» they asked, overlapping their voices.

«Ah, didn't you know? Flavia has a secret friend!» Cristina giggled.

«Cri, look, it's not what you think!» Flavia protested.

«How is it that you have suitors everywhere?» Alessia huffed. «If only I were so lucky, this year was a disaster...»

Flavia smiled in silence and sneaked a peek at Franco's lecherous gaze. "Good job Alessia!" she thought, "first raid accomplished".

«Why a disaster?» Giuseppe laughed. «You have the blessing of being able to do it all on your own!»

Flavia chuckled absent-mindedly.

«True, that's not bad at all» she let slip.

«Flavia!» the girls scolded her, scandalized.

«Come on! Like at your age you haven't ever tried yet, you all» she said. «Please! What's that look? I know we all have years of experience in that matter...»

Franco flashed a confident smile at Alessia and Flavia who were sitting close by. «I actually...»

«You too» Flavia interrupted him. «You more than anyone. Cristina and I tell each other everything, so that you know.»

Franco's smile froze and shattered on the spot. Cristina, holding back a laugh, squeezed his shoulders to console him. «Flavia, you're getting me into trouble with my boyfriend...» she feigned offense. «Use some discretion with our confidences!»

«Hey, relax, Franco» Flavia added insult to injury, «you didn't invent anything.»

«It's true, unfortunately...» Giuseppe confirmed. «Otherwise there would have been something to get rich with.»

«I got it!» Alessia whispered in Flavia's ear.

«What?» Flavia whispered back.

«The guy you were talking about.»

«I knew you were smart. Just so you know, I didn't tell you anything!»

«I noticed he looks at me a little bit.»

«Yes, I noticed too.»

«I should have figured it out by myself but... he's so reserved!»

«What?!»

«They broke up time ago, right?»

«Actually, no...»

«What? Hadn't Gianluca and Michela split up a long time ago?»

Flavia frowned. Her idea had not been that brilliant. The horse she had picked for her race had turned out to be a dud. She felt the urge to wear out a jockey's whip on Alessia's buttocks. Even if it had not put her back on track, at least she would have vented. «Alessia, you can't keep...»

The whispering of the two was interrupted by Giuseppe who distributed a round of drinks for the toast of the evening.

«Enough gossiping you two! We have someone to celebrate tonight» he said, gesturing towards Cristina.

No one noticed that Cristina's smile was less spontaneous than usual. After all, no one had any reason to suspect that she was not as enthusiastic as she should have been for having received the captain's insignia. No one but Flavia.

Cristina had never told her explicitly, but by spending time together in the same changing room three times a week, Flavia had come to know her better than anyone else, and understood all the reasons for her dissatisfaction like they were her own.

As amazing and extraordinary as it was, that promotion to captain had been coming for a long time, and Flavia had known that for almost six years, she had known it before Cristina even set foot in the academy. In the years they had spent together, she had also learned that Cristina's abilities were no less amazing and extraordinary than her brilliant career. However, those abilities had not protected Cristina from an intimate insecurity about her own achievements.

«I would like to feel deep down that my life depends only on me» she had complained once.

What demoralized Cristina that night was not the fact that Franco flirted at every opportunity with both Alessia and Flavia. Flavia would have liked to pull out a giant glowing arrow, point it at Franco and say: «Have you seen how this bum behaves?»

But she knew that it would not have helped at all, that these nonsense were not worthy of Cristina's attention. She knew that the captain's mind was taken by something else, that for every praise, every success, every recognition of esteem and trust, her shoulders were weighed down by the shadow of General Leanza.

Slave to her own role, puppet of the most powerful, leaf in the wind of fate, subject to superior forces... Flavia knew all too well how Cristina must have felt.