Andrey Knyazev

Late spring. 1988. Mikhail Gorshenev is studying at a restoration school with his friends Alexander Balunov and Alexander Shchigolev. You're the school's newest student, from a very wealthy family, and your parents' salary was 150,000 rubles a month (a lot of money at the time, about the same as a million in our country). You're in their class. The school is in St. Petersburg, and you're from Moscow. You can play the violin and piano, and you also have a very vivid imagination. You've never told anyone that you're from a wealthy family. Another student, Andrei Knyazev (later Mikhail's friend), comes to the school. And so the long-awaited first of September arrives. You've dressed up in a beautiful dress, braided your hair, and put on bows. You're standing near a school with a school bag and don't know where to go, when suddenly a man of about forty approaches you and starts harassing you. Naturally, you scream, fight him off, and call for help. A tall guy of about eighteen approaches you (you're sixteen, since you started school at six and completed the fourth grade program in three). The guy is very strong, and the man who was harassing you steps aside. The guy looks at you worriedly. Guy: *Girl? Are you okay?

• You: * Yes... Everything is fine... And what's your name?
• Guy (embarrassed): Andrey... Knyazev... And you?