Van Neumann

Every city has its weak ring, its black sheep. A neighborhood that no one wants to frequent, except out of necessity and even reluctantly. In Rome, we find San Basilio, the most famous and important district of the Italian capital: full of houses piled together, decorated with colorful drawings representing animals and plants. But that's not all: these houses are constantly inhabited by people that not everyone would be able to trust, starting from simple drug dealers, who have become such or to take advantage of them or for particular family situations, to those who are part of a criminal gang, to those who do it simply out of the need of money, for an Italy in a crisis like the one that everyone was experiencing.

And it is here that Tommaso grows up, in the most unlikely place where a sweet boy like him can become a man. He came of age for a few months and has had to attend the last year of high school, the last chance to continue it; after that, he will help his friend Giuseppe to work, however much better he can do. But he's not ready, he knows it very well. Or at least at first, he believes he is: he has spent his entire life preparing for it. When will he find out? Well, that’s how our story begins.

It was a simple winter day and the cold in Rome invaded all the streets and houses, if not the entire city. Tommaso suffered a lot from the cold, which is why he wore a scarf that his mother had bought him years earlier and let his nose, which turned red, warm up under that warm fabric. After taking a cup of coffee and the backpack almost empty – if not for a notebook and two books for the lessons of the day – from the floor of his room, Tommaso headed to the front door, thinking about how he would rather avoid that school day like nothing else. He was not a great lover of school: he considered himself one of those people for whom studying meant very little. He didn't like reading and, to make matters worse, the professors were unable to make him passionate about any of the subjects they studied. He didn't get top marks even if he tried to commit. He liked St. Basil, with his way of being. Despite all this, he stopped to wait for the bus under a shelter, put a cigarette to his lips, and lit it, as usual as he let go through those few minutes that would lead him to live another boring winter day.

« Does the bus to Von Neumann pass here? » said a voice unknown to him, coming from his shoulders, which led him to drop the cigarette on the damp asphalt. Before answering or looking at who was speaking to him, Tommaso recovered the cigarette that was lit again. The first thing he noticed about the other were his eyes whose color he didn't see well at first. It would take him a while, though not too long, to realize that that magnificent color of the iris – a light brown – would soon become his favorite. He leaned back against the bench and lit the cigarette a second time, while the stranger lit one for himself. « Yes, come by here. » And they remained in complete silence, exchanging only innocent looks with each other from time to time, hinting that they would not start a second conversation.

« Tom! » shouted someone from afar, even if this time Tommaso knew very well who they were: nothing more than his neighbor, Alessia. With her long red hair, she ran in his direction, with the brown backpack on her shoulders, coming next to him panting. It wasn’t the first time the girl had arrived late at the bus stop, usually because she ended up waking up late and having to make up perfectly. The two had known each other for so long that Tom knew full well what her habits were. He was not even surprised to hear her panting when she reached him.

« I thought I lost it... » said the girl, at first, not noticing the newcomer. His hands were on his hips and he was breathing so loudly that Tommaso could hear her. Finally raising her eyes, she realizes a new presence, of a boy she had never seen until then; so much so that she saw herself forced to raise her back upright, then turning to her neighbor. « Don't you introduce us? »

« Yes, of course. Alessia, he's... » said Tommaso, pointing to the boy, whose name he didn't even know. It was at that moment that he found himself observing him in the true sense of the term: the new boy was shorter than Tommaso and had shorter and darker hair, almost black. Black was also the color of his leather jacket and the sweatshirt he was wearing to protect himself from the cold; simple jeans were added to these. What caught him the most, however, was the shy smile that appeared on his face when he felt called into question. For Tommaso, it was an embarrassing event, as he did not know his name and had to present it to his neighbor. Fortunately, there was no need for strange questions, as it was the young man who showed up. « Leonardo, it’s a real pleasure. »

« Are you new from here? I've never seen you in St. Basilio. » asks the redhead with a raised eyebrow - full of curiosity, pointing to the rest of the city that, behind him, surrounded her, under the gaze of a silent Tommaso who had just finished his first cigarette of the day. The butt was let go on the asphalt without too much trouble. Tom found himself fixing his folded arms while listening to the conversation between the two, also because there was still no trace of the bus that all three were waiting for.

« Yes, I moved recently, I used to live on the other side of Rome. » the newcomer nodded, as the bus finally emerged into the lane where the three were. Leonardo also found himself throwing his cigarette butt on the asphalt, leaving one last breath before entering the vehicle, as did the other two after him, and taking a seat once and for all to go to school.

The discussion between Alessia and Leonardo continued to high school, as did the silence of Tommaso, curled up in his place. While the two communicated quite a little information about themselves, Tom listened breathlessly, with his cell phone in his hands looking at the Instagram home screen, where only famous people or boys of his knowledge came out, whom he had found himself dating throughout his life. He wanted to smoke another cigarette, yet there wouldn't have been time at the entrance to the school. He snorted, nervous enough and annoyed. « Is everything okay? » Leonardo asked, turning to the taciturn, while the redhead began to ignore them, giving all her attention to her phone.

« Yes, why do you ask? » Tommaso then asked, placing his cell phone in the back pocket of his jeans, looking up at the boy, who was instead standing, leaning against the metal tube of the handrail.

« You’re so silent, » replied the other, simply shrugging his shoulders, he seemed to be looking down at him, with a strange smile on his lips. She raised her eyebrows and continued her speech, while Alessia now seemed to have moved away to reach another point on the bus. Just look at your phone, I don't even know your name. »

« Well, I'm Leonardo, if I hadn't figured it out yet, call me Leo though. In which class are you? Maybe we're in the same." The boy's brown eyes caught Tommaso's attention so much that for a moment he seemed to haven't heard the question, but only disconnected mutters. After blinking a couple of times and noticing that the young man was waiting for an answer from him, he began to blur something, until he found the right words to use. « I'm going third class, in section B. »*

« You are little! » Leo replied, amused by it. Tommaso also laughed, simply because the boy's laugh in front of him had that effect on him, so much so that he would have continued indefinitely if Leonardo had done so. Tom felt extremely embarrassed, so much so that he lowered his head slightly as Leo continued to speak: otherwise he would have seen his cheeks turn red. « I have to go to the fourth class, I don't actually know that in the section they trimmed me, we'll see it soon. » he raised his eyebrows a couple of times, fishing his phone from his pockets to check various messages from his father, who ignored beautifully, taking an interest rather in those that a girl had been sending him for a couple of days.

Obviously, Tommaso couldn't know anything, since the two had known each other for a few minutes, yet he did the dumbest thing you can do in these situations: peek at the screen. He could only notice the message ‘see you at the exit.’ marked by various strange little hearts he had never seen before. Before being caught in the foul, she turned her gaze to Alessia, who was exchanging a few words with one of her friends whom Tom managed to recognize. Her name was Alice and she had been there in the city for just over a year: her story looked like Leo's female version, yet the two were so different that, if they had by pure chance had the opportunity to be close, they would have remained in complete silence.

The bus stopped in front of the big high school: many boys left the vehicle, almost halving the total passengers inside. Leonardo stood next to Tommaso, crossing the piece of road that separated them from the actual entrance together, while Alessia and Alice joined the other girls.

Along the way, the two boys didn't even dream of talking to each other: Tom's gaze was turned to the tiles he stepped on with his shoes, while Leo seemed to look for someone with his gaze. In fact, you could see it from the fact that he often stretched his neck in various directions.

«Tommy, ao*, where are you going?» asked him for someone who put his hand on Tommaso’s left shoulder, stopping him for a moment – which Leo did accordingly. He could not help but turn in the direction of the voice, noting that the owner of the voice was his friend. It was Matteo, one of his best friends, who was looking at him with a confused air and surprise, probably because he was with a person he didn't know at all. The newcomer seemed not to notice the presence of Matteo, who understood nothing about the situation, letting a grimace of surprise cross his face. « And who the fuck is he? »

« Matt, he’s Leonardo, » Tom exclaimed pointing to the boy for a second that morning, making presentations again. As he saw the two boys nod, feeling called into question, Thomas realized that it would not be the last presentation of the day at all, if other people approached him to ask questions. Immediately they put their hands on each other, without saying anything but pleasure, with the consequent answer my pleasure given by Matt, who immediately after glanced from ‘gonna tell me later’ to Tommaso. «Leo, he is my friend Matteo.» but they didn't even have time to exchange another word when another girl reached them, whom only Leo seemed to know. Tommaso immediately thought it was that of the messages and seemed right, listening to the conversation between the two.

«I’ve texted you, » she exclaimed, raising her arms upwards and causing a laugh from the boy, which was not reciprocated at all. Her blonde hair settled behind her back, like an unsolicited dance that looked beautiful and elegant. Which annoyed Tom, for no particular reason; he continued to listen to the conversation, silent. «Come on, we have to be in the presidency within two minutes. Come on, come with me.» and he took Leonardo by the arm, dragging him inward from the school, definitely taking him to the place where he had been requested. Before he could lose sight of them, Leo waved goodbye to his two new friends with a nod of his hand. Meanwhile, Tom and Matt were joined by the rest of the group of friends, but while everyone seemed interested in talking about a party that would take place on a Friday night, Tommaso's gaze was still turned to the main door of the school and the thought, of course, was everywhere else.

*For the Italian school, the 3rd year corresponds to the 11th grade; the 4th corresponds to the 12th

*'ao' is a way of saying 'hey!' in the Roman dialect