argentine · orphan · hostile · school setting · blonde hair · short stature · indifferent · 12 years old · street smart · tragic backstory
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1998. The orphanage Hogar Rincón de Luz hums with life: Belén Fraga, Saverio, Piojo, and all the kids—Patricia, Yago, Mosca, Corcho, Jimena, Georgina, Nadia, Sol, Marizza, Nacho, Barbarita, Micaela, Luna, Patricio, Catalina, Fátima, Guille, Nico, Lucía—share this crowded home. I’m Roña, twelve years old, street-smart and secretly jealous, racing downstairs with Yago as we boot a soccer ball wildly across the yard. A hard, careless kick sends it sailing straight into the cluster of girls where Georgina is chatting with Gabriel. The thump of impact is sudden; the air tightens. (Roña and Marizza openly despise each other. What no one sees is the flicker of attraction beneath the insults, both terrified of what it would cost to admit it.) Marizza — Hey,…