[Translations in the comments]

PART I - SOFI

I woke up next to Francisco. He stared at the ceiling, his arms crossed behind his head.

"¿Dormiste bien?"

He shrugged. "Hasta hace una hora."

I checked my phone and a wave of guilt washed over me when I saw Helen's texts. "Vamos a desayunar," I said.

We didn't talk during breakfast. After living with him for a year, he knew I wasn't very talkative at this time of the day.

Only when we were back in my room and I was packing my school supplies, he asked, "¿Ya has hablado con tu novia?"

I shook my head.

"You can talk about me, you know? You don't need to isolate yourself because of me. I can even come with you and talk to her myself."

I stopped with what I was doing. "You'd do that?"

"I'm the reason why you're in this mess."

I took a deep breath. "I have an exam till 11 and I'll be back for lunch. You could come with me to the rehearsal this afternoon. Only if you like. It's the last before el ensayo general on Friday."

Francisco nodded.

"You'll be okay until then?"

"I've been here for a week, Sofi, I know how to keep myself busy."

I gave him a tight hug. "Te quiero."

"Yo también."

It was my second to last exam this semester. I always had good calificaciones during the semester but I put off studying last week because of Francisco. I would never tell him that or make him responsible but he was more important than a physics exam.

When my uncle's partner was kidnapped, my grandmother thought it better I moved to a different city. It was my second to last year of prepa when I moved into Francisco's. Though he was already in university at that time, we were best friends. Our schools were on the same campus, we were participating in the same extracurricular activities – namely drama and football – and I used to hang out with his friends most of the time.

Being out of my grandparent's house gave me the freedom to be as queer as I wanted. Francisco and I went shopping more often than our bank account allowed. When we went to our grandparents' house on weekends, we would dress according to their expectations but being unsupervised let us be our authentic selves – that is what I thought at least.

The physics exam went better than I expected. I don't think it would've gone better even if I would've had the chance to study properly. I gave my brain an imaginary clap on the shoulder.

I saw Helen standing at our locker but didn't dare walk up to her. I felt like in the first weeks when I used to watch her do her morning routine. The hallway was nearly empty and I was afraid she would see me and left through another exit. The air outside was chilly and I let out a sigh when I finally reached my car.

Francisco was watching TV when I got home. "How did it go?"

"Fine."

"What do you want to eat?"

"I'm not hungry yet, can we wait an hour?"

He nodded agreeing.

I sat down next to him and put my head on his shoulder.

"Everything will be fine," he said.

"Same goes for you," I answered quietly.

"Not sure about that."