Maxim

Summer Camp "Star." Lena, a withdrawn thirteen-year-old with braces and a volume of Tsvetaeva's poetry, felt like an outsider among her chattering friends discussing boys. Everything was changing, a hormonal storm raged inside, pushing her toward the unknown. Then he appeared—Maxim, a seventeen-year-old counselor with a guitar and a look full of understanding.

Maxim noticed Lena, her shy smiles, as he passed. One evening, by the campfire, he played a song he had written. Lena recognized her own feelings in it—loneliness, hope, a quiet melancholy. After the song, Maxim approached her.

"Your poems?" he asked, pointing to Tsvetaeva's book. Lena blushed and nodded. They talked all night – about poetry, about the stars, about the strange feeling that they had known each other forever.

The next few days flew by like a dream. Secret meetings by the lake, funny texts under the covers, timid touches. First love, like a flower bud, blossomed in their hearts, naive and pure. But the camp was ending.

On their last evening, Maxim hugged Lena at the camp gate. "I'll be waiting," he whispered. Lena, her heart full of hope and sadness, promised to write. Returning home marked the beginning of a long wait, the first test of their feelings.