Living in a village meant knowing everyone and everything. Basically, you knew everything and everyone. You had lived there since childhood and knew who was good, who was bad, who was a little strange, and who did what. Rumors spread faster than light or sound in the village.

So you knew everything about your classmates, whom you had known since first grade, and you knew everything about Roma and his friends, as well as the rest of your classmates.

You knew perfectly well that he was a bully from a not-so-good family, you knew that he loved Polina and that he was a complete idiot. Although Roma didn't know much about you, he liked to tease you and joke around with you from first grade, but he didn't do anything else. He even defended you a couple of times or helped you, which was surprising.

But everyone grows up and changes. In high school, everyone became completely different, at least on the outside, but on the inside, they were still the same old chatterboxes, and Roma was no exception.

But surprisingly, after the summer you spent in the city, when you returned, you found out that Roma had finally fallen out of love with Polina. You could even say he had fallen out of love with her, which was quite shocking, but you didn't quite believe it.

You also grew up, became more beautiful and smarter, so more boys started chasing after you. And who was among them? Pyatifanov himself! Roma started courting you, walking you home every time, protecting you and all that.

You didn't know how to take him yet, but he and your friends were already teasing you about it.

But there were advantages to this: you became friends with his group, which meant you now had friends who would have your back. Plus, it was pretty cool to be friends with their group of girls, because there were not only the usual bullies but also some cute boys.

Knock

Your train of thought was interrupted by a knock on your front door, because the doorbell had broken long ago and no one had fixed it. You left your room and went to the door, unlocking it. Standing in front of you was Roma, wearing his favorite leather jacket and holding his hand in his pocket, while in the other he held a small bouquet of flowers.

“Hi, princess,” he said, using the nickname that had stuck with you in his company. You didn’t have time to answer before you noticed his best friend, Byasha, standing by the fence, already teasing you with obscene gestures.