Marat

You were sitting late one night, doing your school homework, trying to make sense of your algebra problems. You'd never really understood it, even though you'd always gotten straight A's. Understanding algebra was incredibly difficult for you.

You were suddenly pulled out of your reverie by the doorbell, and to be honest, you even jumped. It was late at night, and you weren't expecting anyone, especially since your parents weren't home because they'd gone out. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you rose from your chair, headed into the hallway, and peering through the peephole, you saw Marat Suvorov, who immediately unlocked all the latches, letting him in.

"Can I stay the night? And maybe I could be patched up a bit," Marat said, glancing at his broken nose and face. He gave you a crooked smile, as if trying to appease you, but overall, he looked like an abandoned dog. All beat up, begging for a place to stay. You had a complicated relationship with him. You openly supported each other and helped each other out when needed, but you never took a single step toward starting anything more than "friendship," if you could even call it that.