School sweethearts. A story of how they met

Ever since school Inna had been famous for her stubbornness, and in that respect the word "impossible" did not exist for her. No, she never went looking for trouble, but once she had got something into her head there was no point arguing. By her own admission she was very modest and quiet, one of those enigmatic little grey mice about whom you never know whether they are thinking about you, about the Chinese annexation of Tibet or about the shopping list — yet when she had to, she could plant her feet in silence, and shifting her from her position was no easier than shifting Mount Jomolungma. It was with that same stubbornness that she went off to train as a pipeline construction engineer while her father insisted on banking; and a little earlier, back at school, she had decided to fall in love with Tolya.

Tolya was the best-looking boy in the class. His parents were not among the poorest, so Tolya also stood out for his bright new jeans or trainers, the kind ordinary mortals could not get hold of. And Tolya was very modest, innocent, as if none of it were any doing of his: not his clothes, not his looks, not even the fact that he had once again scored a four at the blackboard. And that enchanted Inna completely. Tolya did not particularly notice her; he preferred the company of the "cool" crowd — Dimon, Seva, Lyalya and Kristina: bright, good-looking, loud and successful. And Lyalya was even openly flirting with him, fluffing out her chemically treated hair against the teachers' ban and batting eyelashes heavy with too much mascara. But Inna knew that sooner or later Tolya would be hers all the same. He would play about with all the Lyalyas and Mashas and the rest, and then he would be. None of them loved him the way she did, after all. He was bound to understand that, perhaps later. Everybody says men grow up later, don't they. And she was patient, she would wait… And she would always be there.

And there she was. When Tolik fell out with Lyalya for the first time and complained to her, to Inna, about how unfair life was. And when Tolik was beaten up by some out-of-town boys and did not want Lyalya and the others to see him like that. And when his father gave him a proper dressing-down for smoking. And when he was nearly thrown out of university. And even when Tolik could not screw up the courage to propose to Lyalya. Inna was the only one who knew the real Tolik, the sincere one, the one who did not show others some idealised version of himself. She was the only one who understood what actually drove him, what he feared, what he was afraid to admit even to himself. Even after he married Lyalya — that cow who would not allow anything to go against her will and who in the end simply dragged Tolik to the registry office by the scruff of his neck — Tolik went on complaining to Inna about this and that. With Inna he could discuss things he could not discuss even with his own wife.

She was always there and she bided her time, asked for nothing in return, was willing to meet in secret so that nobody would find out. And she simply accepted him as he was. Had she vanished tomorrow, Tolik would have been lost. And he knew it, and told her so more than once. Only for some reason it never went further than talk. And Inna was beginning to lose patience.

She even got married. Sasha was a very kind and caring man, and somehow, imperceptibly … refused to accept it, and even began quietly making advances to Inna, showing her unheard-of attention, touching her discreetly in a crowd and so on.

Besides, now she could safely be invited to any family celebration — she was married, he was married, both had children… Nobody could think anything of it. Lyalya lived in the complete conviction that she controlled everything in the world, that whatever she wanted would be. She had a perfect family, two model children and a wonderful husband who never contradicted her. Sasha, Inna's husband, seemed to live in a world of his own altogether, at his own pace, and seemed not to care about anything. And Tolik finally plucked up his courage and, at one of their shared barbecues, did lead Inna round behind the shed, and it happened between them for the first time. And far from the last.

How Inna rejoiced! At last Tolik was entirely hers! And even when, half an hour later, they were sitting back at the table with their "other halves" and Lyalya was declaring smugly that "school love is the strongest love there is", Inna agreed with her wholeheartedly.

At first their meetings were haphazard and furtive, only when they both happened to have the time. Then something unexpected happened to Inna — Sasha was killed. The plane he was flying on to yet another project had a sensor failure and duly dived into the ocean. Sasha's body was never found. Inna grieved, but along with the grief she felt relief — there was no need to deceive Sasha any more. And her meetings with Tolik became more frequent.

From then on only three people stood in the way of happiness: Lyalya and her two daughters. Unlike Sasha, Lyalya flew, if at all, only with the whole family and at most once a year, so there was nothing to wait for on that front. Inna sometimes frightened herself with such thoughts, but on the other hand she had already waited so long, and Tolik still could not bring himself to admit the obvious — that it was time to leave his wife. He spent more and more time with Inna, with evident pleasure, and then trotted obediently home. Inna tried to justify him, to talk herself into believing that he simply did not want to hurt the girls, that he feared Lyalya's rage or his friends' disapproval. But deep down she knew the truth, as, no doubt, any other woman would: Tolik was perfectly happy with things as they were.

Still, she had not waited all these years for nothing, Inna decided… And she went on waiting. And at last the wait paid off. Whether men grow more careless with age or whether it was something else, Lyalya first grew suspicious and then even found a woman's hair on her husband's jacket. Paying much closer attention to her husband's "odd behaviour", Lyalya soon had to admit that the proverbial "other woman" really did exist. Working out who she was proved harder, but quite doable too. And soon Lyalya turned up at Inna's door.

- «How long?» she asked.

- «Since school», Inna shared without a trace of embarrassment, «school love is the strongest love there is».

- «Why, you cow!»

- «So are you».

- «But he married me!»

- And» he came running to me every time things were hard and bad».

- «How could you!!!»

- «I never insisted that he leave you».

- «I will not give him up to you!»

- «He was always mine».

- «He and I have children… Wait, your son…»

- «My son is Sasha's».

- «So you deceived Sasha too…»

- «That is what school love is like…»

They talked for a while longer, partly about Tolik, partly about other things. Then they drank tea, cried, talked again, cried again. And then Tolik arrived, thinking his wife had gone to see a friend. Seeing both of his women tear-stained on the sofa, he was lost for words for a long time. And Inna suddenly felt very clearly that it was time for her to move on, that he, Tolik, was simply not worth all of this.

- «Do not worry, my son and I are leaving. I have been offered a job in the capital».

- «W-when?» Tolik and Lyalya asked in astonishment, almost in chorus.

- «In a month», Inna lied.

And within a month she really did find a job — and not just anywhere, but in Moscow. Her son was delighted with the move, while Inna felt an astonishing sense of release, as if she had shed shackles that had held her for years. She never married again, but she found herself a man with whom time passed comfortably and easily. He was married, but Inna had no intention of divorcing him from his wife. She had firmly decided to stop building illusions and simply live for her own pleasure.

She met Tolik again some ten years later. He had never divorced, and admitted honestly that he had gone on playing around all that time, but had never met anyone like Inna.

- «You look gorgeous — they are right when they say a small dog stays a puppy for ever…»

- «And you have aged».

- «Work will be bringing me to Moscow more often now. Maybe we could try starting again. I have never had it as good with anyone as with you».

- «Sorry, I am far too busy for that», Inna replied, and suddenly realised that they had nothing left to talk about at all.