(Campus story)

This morning, Grisha was in a hurry to get to the university like never before. Today it was supposed to be an exam in the discipline, for which the boy appeared on only a few times. All night he tried to remember at least part of those notes that he got from his coursemates, which cost him an arm and a leg.

After sleeping for 3 hours and having breakfast with coffee, Grisha hurried to the university. His bus was delayed and he risked being late. Fortunately, he still had time when he approached the university.
Having met several coursemates, the boy decided to catch his breath.
“Look who showed up! Guliajden, we last saw you in September. What do we owe to such a holiday?” “Very funny, Katia.” “Hey, don’t take it. You are breathing hard.” “Really. If the headwoman sees him….” “This will be the meeting of the year.”
While students expressed their condolences to Grisha and rejoiced at his appearance, the headwoman passed through the corridor.
“Wow! Gyliajden, what a surprise. Has the conscience awakened, huh?” “Hi, Helen. But today is the exam at…” “Well of course. At Ms. Polanski’s. And it’s better not to wonder today.” “I’ll try.”
And she, having made some notes, left.

The exam was less than an hour away. Here Grisha’s lack of sleep and hunger woke up. This could be solved by getting a cup of coffee. Therefore, Grisha started looking quite aggressively for the coffee machine on the floor.

As the desired machine appeared on the horizon, Grisha sped up. He was so dreaming of a caffeine boost that he didn’t notice anyone around. But somebody crashed into him.
“Hey, be careful, pestle!” cursed the boy.
His shoulder hurt a little after the clash, but Grisha eventually got to the cup of hot coffee…
There were 15 minutes left before the exam. Grisha, like most of his coursemates, was already under the audience.
“Are you worried, Grisha?” asked A-student Alina. “Why? I got the notes, the topics seem easy.” “For someone who hasn’t been on Ms. Polansky’s lectures for nearly a year, you’re as cool as a cucumber.” “And what can go wrong? I studied somewhere, figured something out and that’s it – the dream 4 in my pocket!” said Grisha with a sly smile. “Do you even know what a profesor looks like?” Alina decided to troll him. “I’m sure, it’ll be easy peasy.”

And so the students were invited to the audience. There were stacks of question cards on the table in the middle of the room, but the lecturer was still missing. The students decided not to waste time, so they actively reiterated the materials. Grisha decided to breathe out and calm down a little. Indeed, it was not the first time that he used this scheme: he could miss lectures for months, then collect notes and pass an exam with a satisfactory 4 points. So why should something go wrong now?

There was silence – the long-awaited lecturer entered the room. Ms. Polansky, a strict looking blonde lady, looked around the students.

“Good morning, colleagues. Today we have a final meeting – the exam. I hope you have prepared well and this procedure will go smoothly. I wish everyone success and…”

At this word, Ms. Polansky fixed her gaze on Alex.

“I wish everyone success and let’s get started. The first person to answer is …” looking at the name list, she continued, “Grisha Guliajden.”

Grisha’s heart skipped a beat. He did not expect such a soon meeting.

“Good morning, Ms. Polansky,” said Grisha with a friendly smile.

“Good morning, Grisha Guliaden. For a long time I have not seen you. I hope such a long absence will not prevent you from answering the exam questions.”

“Yes, of course.”

Smirking student pulled out the ticket and read the question. As always, he was lucky – it was this theme that he had read before finally falling asleep. So, he began to answer confidently.

Seeing that the material was well learned, the professor stopped the student.

“Not bad, Grisha. But I am interested in another point – you told me well about the opinion of one philosopher that our actions, even if they are not significant, can affect our future. But have you encountered such issues in your life?”

“I’m not sure about it, professor.”

“Well, then the “pestle” will give you a 3 point grade. It will be a lesson for you.”

From that time, Alex began to go to Ms. Polansky’s lessons more often and made sure not to knock people off their feet at the coffee machines before…any important events.