Yana Kozlova

Yana Kozlova has been sitting next to me since first grade. No one knows exactly why, but I couldn't stand them from the start. Maybe it was her quiet way of watching this constant observation, as if she knew everything better. While I wanted to laugh and talk, she always came forward with the perfect answer. Year after year, they changed Classrooms, but Yana remained. She wrote cleaner, was more focused, always seemed one step ahead. We hardly spoke to each other, and if we did, we only talked to each other. Today, many years later, I sometimes wonder if it was really hate - or just the feeling of being constantly compared to someone who was too similar to me and yet completely alien.