accompanied Pedro back and forth, and, with increasing frequency, he managed to get Pedro to sneak out of the Pelegrini's house and go play elsewhere.
Pedro was Davi's first friend, and the only one for a long time. No other child could keep up with Davi's outbursts, he talked too much, too loudly, about things his peers weren't interested in, but Pedro always listened to him with a twinkle in his eyes. Davi was sometimes afraid, that Pedro would just tolerate him because maybe he felt lonely, as no one approached the younger boy either, but Pedro would hold his friend's hand when he wanted to say something, and soon Davi was the one who was fascinated.
Pedro, at first, was of few words, and Davi didn't push. Anything new the older boy learned, he would rush to tell Pedro. And, over time, Pedro began to do the same.
When Davi felt the first wave of energy release from his body, like a shock that coursed through his body and echoed like thunder, he panicked, and he avoided Pedro for a week, until Pedro found him hiding behind an Ipê on top of the hill where they always played together.
“Did I do something wrong?” – Pedro asked sadly and Davi began to cry unrestrained.
“N-no. I, it's me...” - Davi tried to say through sobs.
“You can tell me, after all, I am your best friend.” – Pedro said and Davi at the same time was speechless.
A best friend! – Davi even forgot the problem that was troubling him. In all of his twelve years, Davi had never had a best friend, so he was ecstatic.
“So?” – Pedro asked when his friend was slow to react.
“I have this… this thing, what kind does “pow” and “pan”, and when it's big does it “kapow”?”
“Are you asking me if yourself have a gun?” – Pedro looked at his friend without understanding anything at all.
“No!” - Davi yelled embarrassed.
Looking around, just in case, Davi closed his eyes in concentration as Pedro watched. Pedro felt something like a breath, but as the breeze intensified, he realized that it wasn't just that, until he heard crackling, first lows, like branches breaking, and then louder until they sounded like a "kapow". Davi opened his eyes, waiting for his friend's reaction.
“That's it?”
“What do you mean 'this is it'?” - Davi asked perplexed. “I have this…this thingy that makes noise, like, is it some entity trying to communicate?”
Pedro even tried, but he couldn't contain the laugh that possessed him, and the more the boy laughed, the more confused and embarrassed Davi was. When Davi was already radiating his annoyance, Pedro stopped and took a deep breath.
The next moment, the earth in front of Pedro was churning and shaping into a heap that vaguely resembled a house, or Davi thought it was a house, he had never seen a house with a conical roof.
“Get it now?” – Pedro asked.
“But…no, my thingy is different from yours.”
“Let's sit down and I'll explain.”
Then, with they both protected under the Ipê's canopy, Pedro, for the first time, told about the place where he came from, and what was the “thingy” that Davi had.
Pedro came from a community called Itapuã, there were not many of them, and they lived in an area that was difficult to access, on top of a cliff. His name was Pedro Malaquias, but when the Pelegrini adopted him they took his parents' name away and he became Pedro Pelegrini.
Davi wanted to know where Pedro's parents were, but as his friend didn't bring it up, he decided not to ask.
In the community, everyone had this ability, to control earth, some controlled sand, most could build things with just that skill, others couldn't, but they could modify the constitution of the soil, make it fluffier or more consistent. And
so, all of Itapuã was built. Davi thought in awe, how would a place like this be, full of people with the same “thingy”. Pedro corrected him, it wasn't a "thingy", it was like a power, a man in the community had gone to the
big city once and came back full of junk, but also with books, and terms from the city, he says that everyone there had some kind of power, and that they were called “Turra”, which the people of Itapuã laughed, because in their
language “turra” was what they called a stubborn person.
“Turra...” - Davi sighed. – “Then there are others like that!”
“Yes.” – Pedro replied with a sad smile.
From then onwards, the meetings between the two friends, instead of playing games, they
were dedicated to learning to control their powers.
Davi's mother found out about her son's power, he didn't tell her, even a year after discovering the ability. So she told Davi that most of the people of Rio das Dores had similar power, and when the boy asked why no one used power, the mother gave the last answer Davi could have ever thought: their power couldn't be used for anything useful.
“My power is not useless!” – Davi shouted, walking agitatedly from one side to the other in front of Pedro, who remained impassive, sitting under the Ipê. – “It isn't!”
“Of course it is not.” – Pedro tried to calm his friend down, but the other was practically fuming, so he gave up.
“There must be a way! I already control it well, but there must be a way to get better, to be of some use.”
Despite not answering, Pedro was left with the idea ruminating in his mind.
“Hurry up, you tapir!” – The smaller boy whispered loudly as he dragged Davi through the dark streets still lifeless in a September dawn.
“Pedro, the sun hasn't even risen, for lord's sake!” – Davi whispered back, which in his style was the same thing as screaming.
"But do you know what day it is?" – Pedro retorted with a sly smile, when Davi's eyes sparkled with joy, and another emotion that Pedro didn't know yet, Pedro continued. – “Today, when the first sunlight hits the Ipê at the top of the
hill, it will shine in two different colors! Isn't that amazing?”
“Oh. That.” – Davi withered a little.“Let's go!”– Pedro pretended not to notice his friend's joy fading, and smiled to himself, everything was according to plan.
Davi had always been the taller of the two, but six years after their first bump, he was almost a foot taller. Pedro, thirteen years old now, had barely grown up since he was ten years old. And that went into the list of things Davi and Pedro didn't have in common. Davi was also slender, but he kept saying that he would like to be stronger like Pedro, which Pedro replied by asking if Davi was calling him fat, to which Davi just replied yes, and that Pedro was very, very handsome.
“Tired?” – Davi asked, taking his friend out of his reverie.
“Why?” – Pedro looked confused, they were almost at the top of the hill.
“You're all red.” – Davi pointed it out.
Pedro felt his face burning with embarrassment, and he walked even faster up the hill, the sun touching the Ipê canopy just ahead. The boy walked, picking up the basket he had left under the Ipê, removing a lining from it and spreading the cloth on the ground.
When Davi finally caught up with him, Pedro was already seated, arranging trays of sandwiches, sweets, and a chocolate cake. Davi felt tearing up.
“You don't need to get all emotional. You know very well that this Ipê have just one and only color.”
“Did you prepare all this for me?” – Davi said with his voice almost a whisper, which was impressive for Pedro, Davi never really whispered.
“Of course not, I made it all for myself, it's just a coincidence that it's your fifteenth birthday.”
“Yea, right.” – Davi said throwing himself next to Pedro, and almost dropping everything in the process. Pedro wanted to be angry, but there was no way he could be angry with Davi smiling at him as if he had put all the stars in the sky. – “What's the special occasion then? You didn't wake me up at dawn just to have a snack, right?”
“Okay, I will grant you. Happy birthday to you tapir.” – Pedro muttered, crossing his arms, until Davi threw himself on top of him, holding him in an embrace that ooked more like an attempt at strangulation.
“I love you!” – Davi said, amber eyes fixed on emerald eyes.
"I..." Pedro couldn't answer, and probably never would. He had already heard a few things from his adoptive father, because he was always with Davi. But... Of course Davi wasn't talking about it that way, it was a platonic way, Pedro
concluded, best friends love, that's it. – “I have been doing some research.”
Davi motioned for Pedro to continue as he took a generous slice of the cake set in front of him.
“There is a school, in a town called Carapiúna, which is just for Turras. – Pedro continued.”
“Carapiuna? Where is it? It's not a big city's name.” – Davi said after swallowing the cake.
“Carapiúna! It used to be a small town, now it's modernized, and it is quite far away, but the school is good, it is the only one of its kind around here, but it has it all over the world.” – Pedro continued the explanation.
"Only for Turras?"
“Yeah, with classes to control powers, develop, and even find a role or profession.”
“You didn't make it all up, did you?” – Davi looked at his friend, a glimmer of hope shining in his eyes.
“Of course not! I was thinking…” Pedro swallowed. – “We could go there to study.”
“Is it a rich people thing?” – Davi asked, still hesitant.
“No, you just need to pass a test.”
“So easy?”
“It is the toughest test in the country, but yes.”
Davi took a deep breath and held out his pinky to his friend, who rolled his eyes.
“Promise me that one day, we'll both go to this school, what do you call it?”
“Setemptrionalem.” – Pedro intertwined his little finger with his friend's. – “I promise.”
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