"You never learn, do you?" Pavel kept a firm hand around Lizzy's arm as he pulled her out of the building. "You're going to end up getting yourself expelled!"
"So what?" Lizzy rolled her eyes. "Besides, it's not like I was wrong." She began recounting the incident as if Pavel hadn't been there when it happened. She spoke as if it were some perfectly innocent, comical happening, her voice full of cheer and humour as she described the teacher's face and the nervous anger in his tone when he asked her to leave. "Oh, the old man did not see it coming!"
"Elizabeth, you literally called our history teacher a fascist dictator." Pavel turned to look at her, his voice hushed but urgent. Lizzy frowned, pulling her arm from Pavel's grip.
"Like I said, it's not like I was wrong." Her arms crossed over her chest, Lizzy began walking past Pavel, who followed quickly behind.
"That's not something you just say to someone! As much of an ass as he is, is not a fascist dictator. Trust me, I'm from Russia. I know fascist dictators!" His eyes flicked around nervously as he checked to make sure no one could hear them. "That is a serious accusation to make."
"I thought Russia ended up with Communist leaders." Lizzy said, stopping beneath an old oak tree. She adjusted her red uniform skirt before sitting beneath the shade of the tree where it was significantly cooler than in the sun.
"Poorly executed communism that was bordering on fascism." Pavel corrected, holding his arms out. From that gesture, Lizzy could see that it was almost time for him to get a new blazer - the sleeves on his current one sat higher than his wrists. He remained standing. Lizzy just shrugged.
"Eh, whatever, Giraffe Boy." She say with her back against the tree and gestured to Pavel's arms. "Looks like you're starting to take after your brother."
"Don't change the subject." He pointed a finger at her. "And I am nowhere near as tall as Alexei; he's seven feet tall, I'm six-one."
"Still fucking tall. The Braginski family is a wild family of giants. Titans, even." Lizzy laughed to herself. It was a merry, melodic sound. Pavel sighed deeply.
"Regardless, don't ruin your chances of graduating this year. Unless you're really so desperate to graduate with me that you're willing to be held back a year." Lowering his arms, Pavel sat next to Lizzy beneath the tree. Lizzy made a face.
"Shallow threat. This place is a piece of shit. At least, the history department is. You'd think that a school originally intended for the Nation Representatives would have a better history curriculum." She reached into her beige shoulder bag and pulled out a pair of juice boxes, handing one to Pavel. "I don't know how your brother survived it." Pavel had to admit that she had a point. World W Academy, the international school that was originally built as a place of standard education and bonding for National Representatives like Lizzy and Pavel's fathers, now host the children of said NRs, as well as students from across the globe. Despite the global nature of the school, it was no lie that the current History department was… subpar, we'll say. He remembers hearing stories of different world events from his father and the other Nations. None of them matched what he was taught in History class. Herr Beilschmidt never sugar-coated the happenings of World War Two for the sake of the children's innocent ears. never acted like his people hadn't grossly mistreated the indigenous peoples of his colonies. never pretended that the history of his country wasn't filled to the brim with dark events. My father never denied the crimes committed by his bosses and his people. Pavel sighed as he took the juice box from Lizzy.
"I guess you're right…" He opened the juice box and took a sip, thinking. His thoughts wandered to Lizzy's beige shoulder bag. It had been a gift from her mother on her thirteenth birthday and Lizzy had used it almost everyday since. This had been shocking to nearly everyone in her life since the bag was so plain and dull, but Lizzy was so vibrant and outgoing. Even her school uniform had pieces of her own style - brightly coloured rubber bracelets and earrings, pins and buttons bearing the American flag, and a single embroidery floss bracelet bearing the Nigerian flag. "...Off topic, but how come you never put anything on your bag? I've never even seen you put a keychain or charm on it…"
"Hmm?" Lizzy hummed as she glanced at her bag. After a moment of thought, she shrugged. "You know, my mom was originally intending for me to decorate it. But I didn't want to, well, ruin the simple beauty of this bag all at once, so I decided to do something else." Pavel raised a dark eyebrow.
"Oh? And what would that be?" Lizzy opened the bag again, showing the small row of fifty or so small, red stars that were stitched into the bottom left interior of the flap.
"Every time we're fed false stories in History class, I stitch a star into the bag and record it in a journal." She ran her thumb over the last row of stars before reaching into her bag and pulling out a leather-bound notebook - given to her by her father in seventh grade. Pavel leaned closer and peered at the page Lizzy had opened her notebook to. He saw rows of Lizzy's neat, looping handwriting. "Some of them are more just silly mistakes, like 'November 17th, grade 10 'Hitler was born in Germany', but others are more… serious…"
"Like?" Pavel asked, skimming over the dates and stories.
"Shit like 'there's no threat of nuclear war in this day and age.'" Lizzy closed the notebook abruptly. "We're basically living in the Second Cold War. It's just a matter of how long it stays cold."
"Oh… yeah, I suppose that would be a bit more serious than forgetting where Hitler was born…" Pavel rested his head against the tree. "History really does repeat itself, huh?" Lizzy hummed her agreement and closed her bag, hiding the stars.
"Maybe one day we'll be the ones telling our kids war stories." She laughed, resting her head on Pavel's shoulder.
"Maybe we will be…" The bell rang, signalling the end of the school day. It only took a few moments for students to start flooding out of the school doors. Lizzy and Pavel watched as some of them passed before helping each other up. "My dad's here. See you tomorrow." Pavel waved goodbye to Lizzy before walking off.
