Alondra closed her laptop; she was tired. The trial was set to begin in a week, and she still couldn’t get the images of the boy she’d seen out of her head.

 

“Excuse me, a reporter is calling you—it’s about the Serrano case…” her assistant said, interrupting those few seconds of meditation during which she’d been trying to clear her mind.

​

“Tell him I’m not here, or that I’m not giving any statements…”

“He’s been very insistent…”

“Martina, I’m not in the right frame of mind to give any more statements…”

“He says it’ll only take two minutes…”

​

Alondra, realizing that the Serrano case had national implications and that if she didn’t give a statement, her client’s already tarnished reputation would go to hell, accepted the call…

- Hello?

- Good evening, Attorney Mathews?

- Yes, speaking with her...

- Nice to meet you. I’m Mateo Julio, a reporter for Channel 4. I’m calling because an anonymous source contacted me about the Serrano case...

- Yes? Go ahead.

- This source... told me that your client is innocent, and has evidence...

​

Alondra leaned forward in her seat, as if the miracle she had prayed for three days earlier were about to come true...

“I’m listening...” Alondra said, her voice a mix of anxiety and bewilderment.

“I can’t give you the information this way; I assume your lines are tapped...”

​

The man was right; Alondra knew that, given the importance of the case, police intelligence was listening in...

“Can we meet at the café two blocks from your office?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Julio, but it’s too late…”

“This could make the difference between winning or losing your case.”

​

The intrigue of the information made Alondra agree to meet with the renowned journalist, one of the few, in her opinion, who still practiced the kind of journalism that seeks to uncover the truth.

 

Ten minutes later, Alondra and Mateo were at the café...

- Good afternoon, she said, taking a seat across from Mateo, a gray-haired man dressed in a formal suit.

- Miss Mathews, we finally meet!

- Mr. Julio, I’m sorry, I’m short on time. Could you tell me what your source said?

- Okay, straight to the point—I like that... My source says that Fernanda Inostroza was actually the one who orchestrated everything so that Minister Serrano would have a relationship with her.

- ... Excuse me, but do you have any proof?

- Yes, I have proof, and I’ll give it to you in exchange for being the first media outlet to break the story...

- You understand that this is a public case and that what you’re asking me to do is illegal?

- Absolutely, and I’m also aware that without my information, you won’t be able to save your client from the 15 years in prison that Prosecutor Aranda is seeking... Come on... You and I both know that Mr. Serrano is innocent...

 

The Serrano case was at the height of public attention: a cabinet minister accused of forcing a 17-year-old girl to sleep with him, during a presidential election campaign when any misstep could alter the fate of an entire country. Yet the circumstances surrounding this case were strange. Jaime Serrano, the justice minister, had always been a man of impeccable character, highly regarded by the public. Minister Serrano had never been afraid to speak his mind; that had led people to consider him one of the least corrupt politicians in the government. Now, following the accusation by Fernanda Inostroza—the minor involved in this national scandal—Jaime Serrano was in pretrial detention and refusing to speak about what had actually happened. When Attorney Mathews took the case, the first thing she asked the embattled minister was exactly what had happened...

- I don't know...

- Jaime, if you don't tell me the truth, I won't be able to defend you...

- Alondra, we've known each other since college; you know who I am... Lying has never been my style... I don't know what happened; I don't know if I was high, if I have multiple personalities, or if I'm in a parallel universe, but I don't remember what happened...

- But do you remember the conversations with Fernanda?

- Of course I do...

- And you were constantly hitting on her...

- Yes, I liked that girl from the moment I met her... I’m guilty of that, but sleeping with her... I wish I could remember...

- The toxicology tests show you didn’t use drugs, the cameras show you entering the room with the girl, and then you come out kissing...

- Yeah, I saw them... Help me, Alondra... I’m not a bad guy...

 

Just as Mateo Julio reminded Alondra that they both knew Serrano was innocent, Serrano’s own words echoed in Alondra’s head: “I’m not a bad guy.”

- Pederasty... Mateo said, snapping Alondra out of her thoughts...

- Excuse me?

- It’s the only thing Serrano can be blamed for...

- Okay, tell me—you have my word I’ll give you the exclusive.

- It’s funny, isn’t it? If Serrano had waited a week, this would be a case of adultery and not something that would land him in prison...

- I don’t get your point...

- The girl, Fernanda Inostroza, was 17 years, 11 months, and 3 weeks old when she got together with your client... Isn't that suspicious?

- Is that the evidence?

- Haha, no, but it's curious how the laws lose some of their meaning when it comes to the limits...

- Mr. Julio, are you going to tell me what the evidence is?

- The evidence... It’s conversations between Fernanda and her friend, where she tells her about her fantasy...

- Fantasy?

- Being with an older man while she was a minor—that “illegality” turned her on...

- Are you telling me she seduced Serrano?

- I don’t know that. I have screenshots of the conversations; here they are, said Mateo, spreading a blue folder across the table...

- If this were true... In any case, this evidence can’t be used... said Alondra, flipping through the folder...

- And it’s also curious... A minor’s right to privacy over an adult’s right to freedom... At what point did the system lose its common sense?

“Okay, Mr. Julio, thank you very much... I'll review this in detail, but I can't promise that I'll be able to use this information to my client's advantage...” said Alondra, getting up from the table...

​

When she arrived home late at night, Alondra’s husband Hugo and their children were fast asleep. Alondra sat on the edge of her bed... She looked at Hugo; his back was bare, and Alondra’s fingernails were still visible—red lines that bore witness to the lawyer’s passion and desire the night before... But Alondra found it somewhat sad to think that last night, the moment Hugo had caught her masturbating in the middle of the night, she had been doing it for the boy she’d seen about two weeks earlier and couldn’t get out of her head, at that moment, her husband’s body served as a substitute for Alondra to imagine that boy on top of and beneath her, doing everything to her that Hugo was doing; the sad reality was that the moment Alondra dug her nails into Hugo’s skin, she was imagining that it was that unknown boy who was brutally fucking her.

​

Now Alondra looked at Hugo and he aroused nothing in her; in fact, that resentful hatred from years ago still lingered, ever since she’d discovered him cheating on her...

Alondra got out of bed and went to take a shower; the hot water and the relentless images of the stranger fucking her began to turn her on, and soon her fingers were massaging the inner walls of her vagina... The squirting stream was indistinguishable from the water coming out of the shower, but the sensation of pleasure and her goosebumps attested to the orgasm Alondra had experienced... “Ephebophilia,” Alondra thought...

​

The next morning, after dropping off her 7- and 10-year-old children at school, Alondra found herself driving off the route she was supposed to take to get to work. When she realized it and after berating herself for her desires, Alondra spotted the unknown boy; he was walking as he had every day before, with his black backpack and school uniform, two white earbuds, and his distracted gait. The teenager had become Alondra’s obsession; she would persistently park outside his school just to watch him walk by, silent and seemingly enjoying his music. This time, she had spotted him four blocks earlier.

​

Alondra parked and got out of the car, not quite sure what she was going to do, driven by instinct...

- Excuse me... Can you help me?

 

The guy, easily 6 feet tall, athletic, with a blond beard barely visible on his youthful face, looked at Alondra with his intense green eyes and took off his headphones.

“Pardon?”

“Can you help me…? I’m looking for the National School… Do you know it?”

It was clear that the boy knew the National School; Alondra had met him there, at an event her children had to participate in—a school band performance—in which both her children and the boy had taken part. When the boy stepped onto the stage, he immediately caught Alondra’s attention; his handsome face, his physique, and his perfect height awakened something in Alondra she hadn’t felt in decades... The boy’s voice was the finishing touch—a deep, rich voice, just like his gaze... From that day on, Alondra couldn’t get the boy out of her head. The truth was, Alondra had seen him in a sexual light from the very first moment; she instantly imagined that boy’s lips on all her lips—those of her mouth and those of her crotch. She imagined herself thinking about the boy’s manhood; practically, Alondra undressed that boy in her mind while he sang with his band...

- Yeah... I know it. I'm heading that way...

- Oh! Can I come with you?? I've been lost for the last half hour!!

- Sure, it's this way...

 

They both set off. Alondra, not quite sure what to say during the next three blocks, broke the silence...

- So tell me, what’s your school like?

- It’s good, though it’s not the same as it used to be.

- Have you been at this school for many years?

- My whole life...

- And why do you say it’s not the same?

- It’s just that a lot of new students have come in, and they’re more rowdy... The standards have gone down...

- Are you doing well? With your grades?

- Yeah...

- And do you like studying?

- Hmm, there are some subjects I like more than others...

- Sure... Like music...

- Yeah...

​

Suddenly he realized he’d talked too much...

- I’m asking because of the headphones you were wearing before I interrupted you...

- Haha, well, and I’m also in a school band...

- Oh, look, that’s great! I guessed right! Haha, I’m kind of a witch sometimes...

- And do you like music?

​

“You”... That word went right down to her bones...

- Yeah... I do, especially Soda Stereo...

- We play their songs...

- Well, someday, when you're famous, I'll come see you at one of your concerts...

- Haha, okay, I'll let you into the VIP section...

Is he flirting? Does this guy know what goes on in the VIP area? Alondra blushed at the thought of seeing this rocker-looking guy letting her into the VIP section—sex, drugs, excess, lots of people, everyone sweaty, everyone celebrating the show, and her and this guy in a corner, all over each other like dogs...

- Haha, that would be great... You have a nice voice when you talk; I imagine you must sing really well...

 

She was hoping that flirtatious remark would get a response; it was a declaration that she found his voice beautiful, his eyes beautiful, his body beautiful, and that she wanted his cock massaging her cervix...

- And you go to school...

- Ahh!! It’s just that I want to enroll my kids in that school...

- How old are they?

- 7 and 10...

- Ahh, they’re kids... I thought maybe you were the new English teacher...

- Hahaha, no... Why English?

- I don’t know... Haha, English teachers are always pretty...

 

Oh my goodness!!! Alondra thought. The guy was actually flirting with her! She hadn't expected that at all; it was so surprising that Alondra blushed, just like she used to when she was in high school...

- Here you go...

- Oh, how sweet, thank you so much... I don't know your name...

- I’m Pipe...

- Thank you so much, Pipe... You’re a sweetheart...

- I hope you do well, so I can see you next year...

 

Alondra stood there, not knowing what to say as Pipe walked away... And suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, the guy’s words echoed in her mind again... “So I can see you next year.”

​

Shit!! How old is this guy? I thought he was a senior! That’s what made Alondra pale and snatched her out of the euphoria of having the boy of her dreams flirt with her...

​

When Alondra got to work, she searched and searched for information on Pipe. Suddenly, on the national high school’s official Instagram, she found photos of Pipe’s band. “Our 10th-grade B band, performing...” read the photo caption... and among the people who had “liked” the photo, she found Pipe’s profile... Pipe was 15 years old...