Malek, Amine and Lamine are all trying to avoid ending up like a vast majority of their friends  selling on the street. Lamine and Malek try to study. But they say that is only because if they fail the exams, they cannot get into the military  and if they cannot get into the military, they will have no status in Algeria. They have focused on the science curriculum. But their hearts do not seem to be in it. “They don’t let you like education here,” Lamine said.

Malek met Amine when Amine’s family moved into the walled and guarded compound for military families where Malek already lived. It is beside the Casbah, the old Arab quarter, where streets wind up and down hills that fall from the mountains to the sea. That was four years ago, and the young men became friends, going together to the mosque where they practiced the traditional way of reciting the Koran aloud.

But as Amine grew more religious, Malek began to drift away from him, in part out of concern for his father. “The military and a beard don’t go together,” he said. Malek shaved his beard and started to spend all his free time with Lamine, a very quiet young man with a shaved head. One of their favorite spots to relax is the monument to those killed in the war against the French. The concrete monument soars more than 300 feet into the sky, with three ramps sweeping up to an apex.

The sky was blue, the wind heavy and the clouds white on a May day when Malek dropped to the pavement and began to break dance, his feet in the air, his shoulders pressed to the ground. Suddenly Algerian rap played from Lamine’s cellphone as they danced and laughed  until they stopped.

Amine wrapped his arm around Malek’s shoulder and they recited the Koran, their voices carrying through the wind. Lamine stood by, silently.

“I only have 25 days until the test; I have to go home,” Amine said. “My mother will be mad at me if I don’t study.”

After he left, Lamine was asked how he felt about Amine. He has frequently teased him, suggesting that they go together to the bar for a beer. Lamine does not go with Malek to pray, talks often about drinking alcohol and said that two years ago he was arrested trying to sneak onto a ship to get to France.

“He’s O.K.,” Lamine said. “I’d like to be like him. I’d like to be religious someday, too.”