Flavio's celebration upon learning of his acceptance into the Defense project had been almost exactly the same as Flavia's. Exactly because it was a dream they had shared since they were the same person, and almost because Flavia had waited six years longer, with all the added emotional tension that came with it.
With her computer under her arm, Flavia joined a drowsy Alessia in room 12 of the Faculty of Architecture in Valle Giulia. Although she had no desire to spend her free morning confined in the faculty, she greeted her friend with a toothpaste-ad smile and settled down with her at one of the large drawing desks in the semi-deserted room.
She perched on a swivel stool, imitated by Alessia with a bit more difficulty due to the seat being too high, and then plugged the computer into the power outlet to start working.
«Well? What's with that face, Alessia?» she stopped all of a sudden.
Alessia contorted the expensive lipstick she was wearing into a pout of annoyance and snorted with fake discretion from her nostrils. With ostentatious carelessness she then pulled out from the cases the drawing material and the notes of Design. «Look what kind of day I have to go through because of you!» she moaned unhappy.
«What?!» Flavia said surprised. «If it were up to me I would have stayed at home this morning, instead I'm here to help you with your work!» she emphasized without losing her smile.
«Remember that it's your work too! In December you hardly showed up at all, during the holidays we did nothing and now we are late with the project... we risk not passing this exam!»
«Don't exaggerate, we're not that far behind, I've even made progress with the 3D, look here,» she said as she turned the computer screen towards Alessia so she could see.
«But we're behind on everything else...»
«Relax, it's not that terrible. If you finish those floor plans we're practically caught up.»
«Everything comes so easily to you, and I don't know how you can be so cheerful when the professor is bailing on us halfway through the course in two weeks. Have you read who's taking his place?»
«No...»
«How come? That woman, Pinzilli, Pinzicchi, Pinzetti... or something like that.»
«I have no idea who she is» Flavia said indifferently.
«You should care more! We knew Professor Streppa by now, we knew what he wanted. This one, instead, we have no idea what she expects.»
«Alessia, please... chill, whatever she wants she'll tell us, right?»
Alessia shook her head in impatience. «We're in an atrocious situation! She is an outsider and it's his first time teaching at a university.»
«Sure enough, for not even remembering her name, you know a whole lot about her...»
«I talked to the other guys in the course, no one is thrilled with this woman. They said she's really into those miniature building models...»
«And no doubt, this is confirmed by the fact that he has never taught before, of course» Flavia quipped.
Flavia wondered if it was right to continue Claudia's life in that way. If one day the miracle capable of bringing her back to life and giving Flavio's life back to her were to happen, she might find herself with university courses already completed and not remember anything about them. She risked condemning her to fail in her studies or, worse, in her profession.
On the other hand, the idea of becoming more involved in Flavio's activities was indeed alluring to her. She was considering a drastic change in her plans and find a way to sneak in and join Flavio and Cristina in the military project. Now that she knew that the possibility of participating in it had been taken away from her by death rather than the mere impracticability of civilian student involvement, the temptation to abandon Claudia's studies and tell everything to Flavio was becoming more and more irresistible.
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Spare Future
Ciencia FicciónFlavio Mancini is a brilliant but lonely student from Rome who has a crush on Claudia, a wild and reckless girl. He doesn't know that he is the result of a genetic selection by the Interdimensional Assembly, a group of beings who can manipulate quan...
