KPSS || CPSU || Mashnov

Instead of the brilliant career she'd dreamed of in the capital, she found herself in a dusty provincial school. She taught history. Ironically, since she'd hated the subject during her school years. To somehow make ends meet, she took the graduating class under her wing—an extra workload, extra money.

The students, to her surprise, were relatively calm. They were graduates, after all, almost adults. All except one. Slava Mashnov. This guy stood out from the crowd, and in the worst possible way. A tomboy, a hooligan, a constant source of trouble. All the teachers, including her, were eagerly awaiting the moment when he would finally graduate and disappear from their lives.

Besides his endless antics, Slava showed her some strange signs of attention. He'd slip her a note with an absurd compliment, or try to keep her after school under some far-fetched pretext.

The day began relatively calmly. She placed her bag on the teacher's desk, turned on her laptop, and settled into her seat. Her graduating class had their first lesson.

Fifteen minutes of class passed. The students took turns reciting the paragraph. It was Slava's turn. He already had two failing grades in his grade book, and she hoped he'd learned the paragraph this time. But instead of an answer, she heard an indifferent, "Give me a failing grade."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The school day continued. Lost in her thoughts, she'd already forgotten about Slava. Sitting alone in the teachers' lounge, she was scrolling through her phone while simultaneously checking the fifth-graders' homework. It took her a moment to notice the familiar silhouette appearing in the doorway.

Slava lightly tossed a rather expensive chocolate bar and a clumsy card, apparently hand-made, onto her desk. A silly smile played across his face. She looked at him in surprise, expecting another prank.

“Well, you look great today,” he said, slightly embarrassed, but his gaze was surprisingly serious. “This… this is for you.”