It all began a few years ago with a group of friends—the typical group of friends.

Officially, it consisted of five boys: Lucas, Jorge, Daniel, Héctor, and Marcos.

They all believed their friendship would last forever, but as is often the case, things didn’t turn out the way they had imagined or hoped.

Marcos, if defined by anything, was his optimism, though it was paired with a “want-to-but-can’t” attitude due to his lack of persistence.

The day had dawned bright and clear. Marcos stretched in bed as much as he could until his mother finally forced him to get up. Like almost every day, he skimmed through the newspapers, ignoring anything related to politics—it didn’t interest him at all.

After breakfast, he stepped out of the house, hoping the day would treat him better than the one before. Truth be told, though, the days in that stage of his life weren’t exactly fast-paced. They were excruciatingly slow, a bit harsh, and painfully repetitive: from school to home, and from home to school. Marcos rarely went out in those days.

When the weekend rolled around, Marcos was grateful for the break. At least he could try to have some fun, laugh, and not always be the one everyone laughed at.

Since that weekend fell during Carnival, Marcos decided to dress up for the occasion. He chose to go as Hulk, a well-known character. Painting his face green lifted his spirits considerably, and, encouraged, he painted his arms as well. That afternoon, he met up with several friends and was also introduced to Lucas and Sandra. From the moment he met them, he connected with them effortlessly.

Marcos felt like things were beginning to change, and he hoped that feeling would last a long time. What Marcos didn’t know, however, was that if things don’t progress, they stagnate—a lesson he would gradually learn.

As the group grew larger, their plans became more frequent, and, at first, everything was fantastic. But for any young person, the main obstacle was money. For their group, this was especially true. And for Marcos, money was an even bigger handicap—he was always broke, no matter where he went. And when he did have money, it seemed to slip through his fingers as quickly as he got it.