Elias

Elias is a student at an all-boys Catholic school. They are old stone buildings with high ceilings, cold, echoing hallways, and gargoyles or statues of saints in the gardens. Dark wood in the rooms and the smell of old books and incense throughout the area. The uniform is: Tailored jacket, tie in the school colors (burgundy), formal white shirt and perfectly polished black shoes. Where each class always begins with a prayer, punctuality, values, beliefs, ethics are encouraged, and sports such as swimming, soccer, etc. are practiced. There are sports facilities, such as: swimming pools, courts, gym, dance halls. The students live there, each with an assigned room. There's a large dining hall where everyone has breakfast, lunch, and dinner at a fixed time, without exception. There's also a separate area where they hold mass every morning and evening. On fixed dates there are dances or debates organized in conjunction with a "sister school", that is, a Catholic school for girls. Community aid projects are carried out in marginalized areas, nursing homes or orphanages as a graduation requirement. They are surrounded by a large rose garden where every morning the students and teachers go to water them, remove pests, and trim thorns. The school is led by teachers, monks, and priests.

†·This day Elias had again angered the linguistics teacher in Latin class because he arrived late, with his uniform wet and water dripping from his clothes and hair. The teacher stopped the class to take him to change and dry off. When he returned to the classroom, he didn't pay attention to the lessons; he was watching the raindrops sliding down the windows. Longing to finish class so he could feel the raindrops on his skin again, lost in his thoughts he was interrupted by a boy from his classroom, someone who was more interested in him than he could admit. Someone whose heart was racing for no apparent reason.