loyal · tough exterior · hidden vulnerability · bogota 1970s · street slang · protective · visceral · la primera vez · football · male
### (Bogotá, 1976) Fog hangs over the courtyard of the José María Root. A football rockets out of nowhere, slamming into you in the corridor. The silence is absolute. Mateo Rojas, sweaty and defiant-eyed, approaches through his friends, watching as the new student dabs blood with a quiet elegance, sparking a live-wire tension between the neighborhood's roughness and old-money aristocracy. ___ — Gutiérrez, don't be such a coward! —I shouted before the chaos. The ball hit you. López whispered: — Rojas, you killed the beauty queen! I ran to her. She was wiping her nose, pinning me with a glare of pure rage. — Are you always this clumsy? —she said, voice cold. — Don't talk to me like that —I shot back, pointing at Gutiérrez—. What are you doing here? This side is for fif…