lying. My head ached, and my stomach rumbled hoarsely, demanding food. Nearby lay three small bags with the emblem.
– Where are we going? Will we be fed? – the guy clarified, which attracted the attention of the girls.
– Are you thinking about the zhrachka again? You need to lose weight! – Maria threw angrily and again continued to drum on the partition.
– Exactly, fat, – Irina supported, throwing a contemptuous glance at her classmate. – It would be better if you studied like that, otherwise your brains are already swollen. Do you not mind yourself?
A small window in the partition parted, and the menacing voice of the driver said:
– Shut up.
– But the fact that? Do you even know who you’re dealing with, who is my father? Maria did not calm down. Grabbing a lying bottle, the girl unscrewed the cap and splashed water in the face of the driver by force.
– What are you doing? The officer turned around angrily, looking away from the road for a few moments. This became the deciding factor. The moose appeared out of nowhere, a second and he had already flown into the windshield. The steering wheel jerked to the side, and the car crashed into a tree on the side of the road.
The silence was deafening. As if nothing had happened, the moose slid off the hood and limped into the woods. Denis watched the car smoke and slowly turned his head to the side, feeling something sticky on his temple. Touching the skin, he realized that he had cut the skin on his forehead, near the hair, hitting during the accident.
– We’re on fire! – Ira screamed in a panic, the first on wobbly legs rushed to the door. Unsuccessfully pulling the handle, the girl tried to get out, feeling how terrible the smell of burning fills the minibus.
– Fat, why are you sitting! Maria roughly pushed the guy. – Help!
Denis slowly approached the door and, leaning with his whole body, tried to open it. The shutter reluctantly moved aside, letting the schoolchildren out into the street. Leaving the girls ahead, the guy looked back at the backpacks and, thinking, threw them out of the car. Leaving the salon, Denis pulled two employees out of the already burning minibus, but the men showed no signs of life. Black uniforms, face masks, body armor…
And now they were sitting on a log and could not decide what to do next. For cursing, they did not notice how dark it was and the sense to go somewhere was completely gone. Masha froze in her short skirt and increasingly approached the burning car. Ira, leaning her shoulder against a tree, dozed quietly, feeling weak.
Denis studied the contents of the backpacks and there was not a lot. Three canteens of water, a knife, a tactical flashlight, two dry rations and hydrogen peroxide.
– Can we eat? – the guy suggested, but under the contemptuous glances of the girls he stopped short.
– Fat! Fat! You need to lose weight! You’re eating again!
These taunts were constant. Every day, several times. He was embarrassed to eat in the school canteen, but the feeling of hunger rose, forcing him to go and get his portion. In addition, I always took a few buns. At the common table there were always those who mocked, talked about a diet or a hunger strike. School has become torture. Nobody wanted to communicate with Denis – he is fat. He’s dumb because he’s fat. He’s boring because he’s fat. Adolescents can be cruel, putting up labels and not realizing that they hurt the feelings of others.
Returning home to his mother and grandmother, the boy was immediately fed. Grandmother loved to cook a lot and made it delicious, but she didn’t let go of the table until the plate was empty. It started from childhood, when Denis was forcibly forced to eat, not letting go for a walk, because adults know better what a growing body needs. Yes, and at home they never talked about being overweight, everything was prepared useful, from which, supposedly, it was impossible to get fat. So imperceptibly, Denis gained and gained until he approached a hundred kilograms, but his relatives did not see any problems, because the transitional age, and indeed, the boy was of normal build.
Food has become the only thing that gives pleasure. She saved from sadness and depression, cheered up and became indispensable. If the score is good, you need to reward yourself with an extra piece of fragrant pie. If something didn’t work out, you need to cheer up with chips and chocolate. Denis began to experience a constant feeling of hunger, not knowing how to deal with it. Classmates laughed, said that he had no willpower, and the boy simply became addicted to food.
– How are things at school? Grandma asked.
– Fine.
Have you found a bride yet?
– Nu-u ba, – the teenager blushed.
– Oh, okay. What kind of girl? Good? – she sat opposite, taking an interest in amorous affairs.
– Ira, our excellent student, – the guy surrendered, knowing that his grandmother would not back down and it would be easier to answer right away. She is beautiful and very smart.
– Take care of her, sit at the same desk, share chocolates.
She doesn’t even look at me.
It was painful for Denis to admit that Irina not only was not interested in him, but joined the persecution, considering him the lowest grade. The girl perceived any tackles with mockery, exposing her classmate’s love for all to see and mocking him in every possible way. Why did Denis again eat his anguish and pain, feeling that no one in this world understands him.
Masha returned to the fallen tree and indignantly clarified:
– Are we going to sit here? – it was uncomfortable to walk in heels, but beauty, as you know, requires sacrifice and never focuses on brains.
– Well, they are probably looking for us, – Denis muttered quietly, looking at the dry rations and feeling his mouth fill with saliva. I wanted to eat incredibly.
– Will they find it and what will happen to us next? – the excellent student was reasonably indignant. We are in the forest! Where will we go? The darker it gets. And here wild animals walk. We’ve got strange chips on us, they’re probably tracking wherever we go.
– Smart such!? Maria said with a sneer. “So we’re going to vegetate here?”
The branch cracked. The teenagers fell silent, staring fearfully into the darkness. The pale moon provided poor illumination, and angry shadows flickered among the dark silhouettes of the trees. Or is it wild imagination? Denis looked around and, noticing that one of the Ouroboros employees accompanying them had a machine gun, picked it up from the ground and pointed it into the darkness.
– Wait! We will shoot! – the guy said in a trembling voice, realizing that he did not even know how to pull the shutter.
The footsteps stopped.
Ira put down her textbook, rested for five minutes and moved on to the next subject. She had an excellent memory, perseverance and the ability to memorize everything, even if there was no understanding of the subject. Red diploma has become the meaning of life. After all, grades matter. Excellent students are always forgiven a lot, they will have the opportunity to enter
