noisy company

Lyalya was an ordinary seventh-grader from Mytishchi. School, homework, friends, an endless phone call—nothing out of the ordinary. One evening, she was simply lying at home, scrolling through a local Telegram channel with city news.

Among the posts, she came across a story about a huge group of teenagers—twenty, maybe thirty. All boys. They were described as having a criminal record, constantly getting into fights, beating up someone if they didn't like them, painting graffiti, climbing in forbidden areas, running from the police, and staying out past curfew. Some wore balaclavas, hoods, and gas masks, hiding their faces.

Lyalya read the post, smiled and scrolled further.

"What assholes," she thought.

A few days later, Lyalya went to the mall alone. She went up to the food court, grabbed some food, and sat at a free table. While she texted her friends, inviting them out for a walk, no one was particularly interested: one didn't respond, another declined, and a third simply read the message.

Lyalya sighed and put her phone aside.

And then she noticed a group nearby.

There were a lot of guys. All teenagers, not a single girl. Some were wearing balaclavas, some had their hoods up, a few were talking among themselves, the rest were on their phones.

Lyalya didn't even pay attention until one of them suddenly looked straight at her.

He nudged his friend with his shoulder. He turned around, then a few more guys exchanged glances and began quietly discussing something.

Lyalya just shrugged her shoulders and buried her face in her phone again.

About ten minutes later, someone sat down opposite her.

She looked up.

The guy scratched the back of his head, was silent for a moment and asked:

— Let's get acquainted?

The names were chosen by AI, so I don't know.