Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 2 : An Argument

Marilyn POV

Our history teacher, Mrs. Klimov, did a mass quizzing in our History class. She called out ten people to answer her questionings. And even though I tried to avoid her stern stare, I was one of them, too. Well, if I've already been given an opportunity to do something stupid, then I might as well seize it.

Some time ago the government published some social advertising spot against drug usage among the youngsters. Generally, it turned out very funny. I don't know if I can describe it, for legal reasons, but whatever, you only die once. I know it's basically "you only live once", but somehow, I like my version better.

In that ad there was some dealer that came up to kids that were "playing" on a carpet hanger. In fact, they just sat there with their eyes glued to those stupid smartphones. The dealer offered them some stuff and the boy blurted out the iconic "Question Dismissed" line. That's when the whole joke started. Now, if someone doesn't know the answer, they dismiss the question.

And so did I.

"Okay, so now we'll ask... which day do we have today? September 7th. And who's hiding under number 7...? Ms. Marylin Dark," Mrs. Klimov slid her narrow glasses to the tip of her nose and looked at me with hatred, "Come."

I got up from my chair violently. Yes, the chair fell over. I was furious because she asked me on a day when I wasn't prepared for the class. It's been like that since the first year. Of course, I could just read the material before each of her classes but who would bother to learn history? Definitely not me.

Loudly stomping my heels on the floor, I headed towards the blackboard in the front of the class. I felt the whole class's eyes on my back, but I didn't care about it then. I threw Mrs. Klimov a stormy look.

"Does she have the notebook?" she asked, looking at me as if I were a leper.

"No," I replied and crossed my arms.

"Has she done the homework?"

Her slim fingers flipped the pages of my workbook. She didn't have much to check, after all it was one of the first lessons, and at the beginning of the year I always did my homework. Each one of them.

"It seems like that," I replied, when she closed the notebook.

"Well," as always, she ignored my answer, "since we recently talked about a new European military might, tell us, Marylin, what do you know about the changes in Russia."

'Easy', I thought and shifting my body weight to one leg, I took a more relaxed pose.

"The changes in Russia were first introduced by Peter I, who was titled a czar at the end of the 17th century."

That's what I remembered from the lesson. The answer probably didn't satisfy Mrs. Klimov's expectations as she looked at me with pity.

"And what were the changes introduced?" she tried to encourage me, what of course never worked.

Usually, at times where it was necessary to dive into detailed history of one specific country, my brain would confuse Russia with Austria, Austria with France, Prussia with Great Britain, and so on. So, I always said what was common for all countries.

"He introduced mercantilism and... absolute monarchy."

"Okay," said Mrs. Klimov, surprised by the fact that I knew something. I heaved a sigh of relief. "Now, if you know the material so well, tell me which ruler considered himself the 'first servant of the state'."