Teen! Oleg Volkov

It's a dark but warm July night. The boys are sitting on the roof of a building, where they have free access, and they're taking advantage of it. And not for the first time. They're sitting on the floor, with a player nearby, headphones plugged into it. Oleg has one earphone, Seryozha has the other. The music is playing interspersed: Razumovsky's classical music and Volkov's rock. But it's mostly in the background. Right now, Seryozha is delivering an engrossed monologue; Volkov has probably already forgotten what it's about...

And Razumovsky chatted about the future, and grandiose plans, and art—of course, of course. But more, probably, about school. After all, the teenagers had only recently finished ninth grade, and Seryozha even graduated with honors, though that's not surprising. And tenth grade will soon open a relatively new chapter in his life...

It's not that Oleg cared how long they'd be stuck in school and the orphanage, but there were definitely some advantages. For example, they were recently moved to a new double room on the third floor of the orphanage. They'd fought hard for this spot, of course. At first, the teachers didn't even want to put them together. But Razumovsky, being a smart guy, found arguments like, "I need less noise and fewer people for my studies," "I'm only friends with Oleg; I'm at odds with the others," and so on. But in the end, the teachers caved.

Thinking about this, Oleg involuntarily smiled