The first time Pamela fell to the ground, Josias did not hear about this story. Melissa didn't tell him. Now the boy is witnessing this same situation.
Pamela doesn't know what to do. Fabrício wants her to seduce Josias so he can be with Melissa. Now Josias is in front of her, concerned about her fall. Was this an opportunity?
“Josias, don't worry.” Pamela knows this trick. She tells men ‘don't worry’ and they do the exact opposite.
“What do you mean, don't worry?” Josias reaches out and lifts Pamela off the floor like a gentleman, “Did you get hurt? I think Seu Teodoro has something in the lobby.”
Luckily there were no serious wounds or bloody scratches like the last time.
“You don't have to, I didn't have a scratch. It’s just the scare.” She responds sweetly with a smile.
Josias is surprised. This Pamela, who is in front of him, sweet and pleasant, is much better than
“Josias, I'm really sorry about things that happened. I had no idea.” Pamela speaks in a regretful tone.In other circumstances, she would be genuinely moved by Josias's suffering. However now she is pretending for him to think that she has her good side.'A boy who had this disastrous background will never be able to rise in life!' Thought Pamela with contempt, although she was smiling at Josias, ‘This filthy room, with cracked walls, and very little furniture is all he will get. That’s why his best clothes are donated.’“Now you understand my situation.” Josias speaks relieved to see that she is reacting ‘favorably’.“Yes, I was a fool to judge you too hastily.” Pamela does not face Josias when she says this, a sign that she is lying and knows it.“Now we can understand each other better and stop causing problems and headaches for your best friend.” Josias is more excit
On Thursday, Josias is at the construction site, excited about the service. Now he is learning to lay tiles in the bathroom. Robson is an excellent teacher.“Ready for another day of lessons, Josias?”“Always ready, Robson.” Josias smiles at him.“That's right. Keep going so you will be promoted soon. You know, Romualdo has been telling me a few things.”Uélton approaches and unceremoniously leans his ear to listen to what seemed to be confidential information. Robson notices Uélton eavesdropping, but just smiles slightly and goes on, “It looks like Romualdo is getting another client, another house to build. If things go right, some of us will go for this new work.”Josias and Uélton look at each other.“As if Romualdo was a construction company?” Josias asks.“It’s that. At the moment, Romualdo informally deals with business. But, he is very
Uélton scandalously asks Josias if he took Pamela to the room. The attention of the other masons was unduly attracted, as they think that there was indecency between him and Pamela.“Hey, Josias, I thought you were a good boy,” Robson spoke in a tone that sounded mocking or scolding, depending on who was listening.“Leave the boy alone, he's not made of iron!” Milton opines with a chuckle.Well, whether there is immorality or not, the fact is that the general opinion of the workers is that Josias deserved to date a girl, even more with the appearance of him.But, Josias went red like pepper and tried to justify himself, “Calm down, guys, I don't want to get anybody pregnant.”“That's it, let's be careful,” Robson advises without even letting Josias know if he was joking or serious.Romualdo arrives and the workers stop joking. Romualdo is a respectable and conservative gentleman; they do
In the afternoon, after the end of classes, the students at the school where Melissa study fled away, once again giving the impression that they are fleeing Auschwitz. Melissa, Jenny, and Pamela are walking civilly."These people who run from school will regret it when it comes to getting a job," Melissa speaks with disdain."Do not worry, dear." Pamela says, “We, as women, don't have to worry about that. We only study so as not to be illiterate, but boys are the ones who have to worry about jobs!”"So explain to me why precisely the boys are the ones who run in the front and with more speed?" Melissa replies defiantly.Pamela was about to swear at Melissa when she saw Fabrício from a distance and stopped in time.Fabrício decided to show up when Melissa left school to surprise her. He's wearing a blue shirt, jeans smelling new, and impeccably white sneakers. He also held a gift in his hands, properly wrapped with a pink b
So Pamela and Melissa say goodbye, the last one entering the house with the gift in hand. Upon entering the room, Melissa unwraps and sees what she got from Fabrício.She decides to sit on the bed, such a surprise.Inside the gift box was a walkman, a novelty in the music market. This device had been invented last year, and now in 1980, it was still expensive for the lower classes.But, Fabrício comes from a family with good financial conditions, and he easily bought one for Melissa.Melissa stood for long minutes admiring the new acquisition. Now she could listen to whatever cassettes she wanted, while the rest of the family continued on the normal radio. She just couldn't walk on the street with this, as she would get undue attention.It wasn't that Melissa was afraid of being mugged. Probably thieves wouldn't even know what they were stealing!It is just that, as said, she does not want to give the impression that she is snu
Josias gets furious when he learns from Pamela that Melissa won a gift."Pamela, if you don't tell me now what Melissa won and from whom..." He speaks threateningly and very close to Pamela, she is vibrating with the approach and with the manly and tough tone of his voice very close to her."Ain, Josias, I don't want to pour water on your beer..." She says not so convincingly."I still don't drink, so you can pour!" Josias grabs Pamela by the shoulders."Okay, can you drop me first?" Pamela pretends that she is offended and Josias releases her, “Fabrício approached us when we left school and gave Melissa a package. She was embarrassed, but accepted for education.”"If she wanted to be polite, she had to throw the package on the floor and step on it!" Josias yells with his face closed."You know very well that Melissa is not that temperament." Pamela observes, “And if you're one of those hot-head guys, you can forget
Josias is walking home, furious, frowning, looking more at the floor than ahead. When he passes the Hope Street corner bar, he sees from a distance Jeremiah drinking with another girl.Josias had some money in his pocket and decided to buy a bottle of soda to drink with dinner. He intends to keep it in Teodoro's refrigerator.When he enters, he finds the messy and chaotic environment strange. Samba was played on the radio, at a volume too loud for Josias's eardrums. Some customers talked too loudly as if they wanted to compete with the music. It was still early in the evening and they were already drunk; imagine when it's ten or eleven at night!Josias approaches the counter and asks the bar owner for a bottle of soda. After being served and paying for the product, Josias turns his back and prepares to leave, when a scene catches his eye.On the plastic table where Jeremiah and the other girl are, three men older and stronger than Jeremiah is approaching
To the surprise of everyone involved, the older brother of the first girl smirks and asks, “What's your name, little boy?”“Josias Rocha.” Once again, Josias pronounces it as if he were an important authority.“Tiago Bento, but everyone calls me Tiagão, I don't know why.” The other two brothers and sister laugh. Tiago extends his hand and Josias greets him.Jeremiah is stunned, gaping. In addition to Josias defending him, he managed to tame the beast. Tiago is black, almost two meters tall, and much stronger and more muscular than Jeremiah. The other two who are next to him could very well be his bodyguards since Tiago looked like he was someone important.“Josias, we need to talk about your heroic act.” Tiago continues, “Elisa here spoke very well of you.”“He's my hero.” She speaks sweetly.Seeing this, Josias is sure that he had done the right thing in saving h