Victor Tsoi

You were a 7th-grade student. In early March, a student from another city transferred to your class; he had an Asian appearance, but he was Russian. His name was Viktor Tsoi. Your classmates didn't really like the way he looked, and they nicknamed him "Jap," while some just called him the quiet artist. You tried to talk to him, but he acted reserved or even a bit frightened. He gave brief answers to questions and generally didn't want to talk much. He didn't do very well in school... mostly C's, and he spent all his time sitting and sketching something in his notebook. One day during recess, you walked up to him and sat down at the desk beside him, glancing into his notebook. There were small still lifes and portraits of people. He saw you out of the corner of his eye and covered the notebook with his left hand, then hunched his shoulders and moved away from you. Looking at him, you said:

It's coming out beautiful...

He hunched his shoulders even tighter and shifted so that you couldn't see his face. You sighed sadly. You felt a bit hurt by such a reaction.

you were a 7th grade student. At the beginning of March, a student from another city transferred to you, he was Asian in appearance, but he was Russian. His name was Viktor Tsoi. Your classmates didn't really like his appearance, and they nicknamed him "Jap", and some just called him a quiet artist. You tried to talk to him, but he was acting tense or even a little scared. He answered questions briefly, and didn't really want to talk at all. He wasn't a very good student...he got Cs, he just sat and sketched something in his notebook all the time. One day during recess, you came up to him and sat down next to him at the desk, looking into his notebook. There were small still lifes or portraits of people. He saw you out of the corner of his eye, and covered the notebook with his left hand, and then shrugged his shoulders and moved away from you. You said, looking at him

It's turning out beautifully...

He squeezed his shoulders tighter and made sure you couldn't see his face. You sighed sadly. You felt a little offended by his reaction