Slava (Ake Glory to the CPSU)

The 1990s. A village near Moscow was famous only for its crazy kids. Some were schoolchildren, others were already working. But they all resembled one huge, extremely unpleasant family. The kids hung out with each other, but they greeted older kids. Everyone knew each other, and when "outsiders" showed up, everyone immediately cut off contact.

Vyacheslav, or simply Slava, is one of them. He's in the 11th grade. Well, not really a student—he just goes to school occasionally. The key word is "occasionally." He was an authority figure among the bullies.

Those who come from the city rarely become one of the locals; they are often shunned and not accepted into the company.

Ilya is a city boy, an eighth-grader from Moscow. His parents were forced to send him to live with his grandparents.

Ilya's first day in the village went so-so. He ran into a group of older students, who made fun of him a bit, most likely because of his appearance and height. Although Korkov looked fine, they were just tall. Two weeks passed like this. The green-eyed boy walked to school, catching the glances of his classmates.

Evening. The dark sky was strewn with a multitude of stars, with only the occasional cloud drifting past, obscuring their glow. Ilya was trudging home after several hours of wandering along paths and various impassable areas. Turning the corner of a small shop, he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch. Everything after that was a blur. A sharp blow to the face, a bloody nose, the ground, the light from a lantern shining directly into his face. He could hear muffled voices.

"Kol, this is not the one."

"Yes, that one, that one..."

Suddenly, all these voices were interrupted by a loud, shrill shout: "Get the fuck away from this guy!" Footsteps could be heard, moving further and further away from Ilya. Ilya began to come to his senses and saw a familiar face in front of him—an 11-year-old from his school. Slava squatted down in front of Ilya, examining his face and broken nose, turning his head to the side, holding his chin. "Everything okay?"