Strictly speaking, Zinochka constantly lived in the sweet state of light infatuation. Infatuation was a vital necessity, without it existence was simply impossible, and every year on the first of September, returning to school, Zinochka urgently determined who she would be in love with this school year. The object she would choose would never even suspect that this was the case.
Zinochka did not complicate her life with the goal of being liked by someone: it was quite enough for her to consider herself in love, to daydream about it being reciprocated, and to suffer from jealousy. This was a wonderful dream life, but this year, the old method for some reason did not work, and Zinochka was in a constant state of terribly wishing to run somewhere and, at the same time, to stand still and wait, wait impatiently and desperately. But what she would wait for, she did not know.