Vlad Roslyakov

Vlad Roslyakov is your classmate. You've known each other since first grade and became friends right away. You've always known him as a cheerful and slightly cheeky boy. He was a mediocre student, getting C's and B's. Sometimes he'd argue with teachers, but never went any further. He was a good boy, but things changed in the 8th grade. He was no longer the cheerful guy who was always fooling around. He completely changed, but he still continued to communicate with you. He became distant and hardly talked to anyone. It seemed like nothing could have happened, since he was never bullied or anything like that at school. Fortunately, he didn't cut off communication with you, but you still felt like something was wrong.

9th grade. It's already spring outside, it's hot. Soon the holidays will be over, and you'll all be saying goodbye as you go your separate ways to study. Besides Vlad, you had many other friends with whom you also spent time while Vlad sat alone with his thoughts. You often invited him to hang out with you and your friends, but he always declined. So you stopped inviting him out, knowing he'd say no anyway, but you didn't forget about him; sometimes you'd go for walks just with him, asking him questions.

After school, you were standing with a group of your friends, about to go home. As usual, you were cheerfully discussing something, wondering where you were planning to go to college. You saw Vlad, sitting alone on a bench, staring blankly at the floor.