: The seventh grader considers her brother-musician a genius and decides to devote his life to him and become famous as his sister. Too late, the girl realizes that you can not interfere in the lives of other people.
The narration is conducted on behalf of the seventh grader Zhenya. The story is written in the form of a diary.
All the girls in Zhenin's class kept diaries where they wrote all kinds of nonsense. Eugene believed, "that only outstanding people should keep diaries." The girl did not consider herself outstanding, but she had a brother, Leva, a second-year student at the Conservatory. Eugene believed that his brother would become a great musician, and was preparing to become a sister of a genius. It is from her diary that people learn how he was in childhood.
Lyova played the clarinet - so wanted grandfather, who died when his wife was two years old. Grandfather played in the lobby of the cinema. Once Zhenya saw such musicians. They played, and the audience talked and ate sandwiches. The girl swore to herself that her brother would "perform in luxurious concert halls", and they would listen with bated breath. Now Leva was preparing "for the competition of musicians on wind instruments" - this was the first step to fame.
Eugene did not consider it necessary to study well: she decided to devote her life to her brother, and the sisters of great people did not have to get a profession or even get married. Lyova she gave the right to privacy, but only when he will achieve great success.
Parents considered Zhenya’s intentions to be dependent - while Leo will work and improve, she will only devote his life to him. In response, Zhenya compared herself to Chekhov's sister, and her mother shrugged.
When there is nothing to say, it is easiest to shrug.
Zhenya wanted to start the diary from a significant day, and finally he came. On December 21, a high school student, whose name was Robert the organizer, caught the girl in the school’s locker room and asked senior students to “arrange” Lyova for New Year's Eve. Eugene immediately realized: this is a wonderful opportunity to become famous throughout the school. Now everyone will know that her brother is studying at the Conservatory.
Having broken a little to fill the price of Leo, Eugene agreed, and Robert gave her two tickets for the evening. This was another plus - she will be the only seventh grader to attend the holiday, and the whole class will envy her.
Lev managed to persuade without difficulty - he sometimes obeyed his sister, believing that she had a “sharp practical mind”. Lyova always performed to the accompaniment. His accompanying pianist was a student at the Conservatory Lily. Eugene knew that Lily was in love with her brother, but did not mind - she was fat, ugly, caulked and could not distract Leva from the music.
Eugene in colors imagined this triumphal evening. First, she proudly walks arm in arm with Leo through a crowd of green from the envy of her friends. Then everyone with bated breath will listen to the brother’s ingenious game, and after the concert Lyova will dance only with her - she took a promise from him. But everything went wrong. For some reason, there were no crowds of seventh graders at the entrance. At the evening, too, they did not wait for Lyova, but a singer from the Starry Sky restaurant. My wife and brother had to stand in a common line in the locker room. Lyova did not attach any importance to this. As Zhenina’s mother said, he was “all in himself,” and often asked strange, non-relevant questions. Zhenya herself was hurt that they were waiting for some restaurant singer, and not her brother.
At the concert, the schoolboy, famous for the whole school, Rudik, “who clowned even at the funeral,” scoffed at each speaker. Eugene was frightened that he would disrupt the performance of Leva, and said that this talented musician and “future winner” is very nervous.If he is disturbed, he will not only expel him from the audience, but he will also be dishonored. Rudik did not want to be disgraced throughout the school, and preferred to pretend to be sleeping.
Levina accompanist Lily behaved like at a real concert, but Leva himself, according to Zhenya, “had no artistic appearance at all” - the suit on the stooped figure seemed crumpled and from someone else’s shoulder. The girl believed that “the musician should seem mysterious and inaccessible from the stage”, but Leva smiled completely at home. Eugene did not listen to the game of Levine, she watched what impression he made on the public.
The singer from "Starry Sky" did not come, and Lyova good-naturedly agreed to play yet, which did not add to him mystery. Eugene promised herself to teach her brother to be proud - “let the audience first ask, they’ll lie at his feet ... And then he will play something for an encore.”
At dancing, Zhenya was annoyed by high school students, dressed in luxurious dresses with deep cuts. Against their background, in her “deaf girlish dress” she looked very unprofitable. The only advantage Zhenya had was her brother, whom she proudly held by the arm, but this advantage also disappeared when school jazz began to play and the soloist Alina, the most beautiful high school student, entered the stage.
Lyova forgot about her promise to dance only with her sister, and danced with Alina all evening, and Zhenya stood by the wall, holding a case with a clarinet in her hands. Lev danced poorly, but still did not refuse dancing with Alina.
Normal people flaunt what is beneficial for them to exhibit. And what is disadvantageous is hidden away.
Zhenya ironically advised her brother to leave the Conservatory and enter the circus school, as a clown. The girl believed that she had the right to talk firmly with Leva, because she was going to devote his life to him.
After dancing, Lev and Zhenya went to accompany Alina. Despite her indignation and her firm intention to save her brother from Alina, the girl was timid in front of her and, against her will, assented to her. Saying goodbye, Lyova invited Alina to a concert of second-year students at the Conservatory, which will take place immediately after the New Year. Alina asked Leva to play in school jazz.
Eugene realized that her whole life was “under mortal threat”: Leva might like to play jazz, and then he would appear in the lobby like grandfather. Musicians performing in the lobby are not customary to devote their lives to, and Zhenya will have to “invent a future profession, and cram, and chase marks” like everyone else.
He will convince Lev that Alina - a fake, failed, and Zhenya decided to act. Having met Alina at school on December 30, the girl on behalf of Lyova canceled the invitation to the concert and lied that her brother was engaged to the accompanist Lily.
On January 2, before the concert, Leva waited a long time for Alina before entering the Conservatory, but she did not come.
When a whole person falls in love, nothing can be done about him. Nothing can be explained to him.
Until the last minute, Lyova hoped that Alina would still come. On stage, he again looked too homely. Eugene did not hear him playing, but she heard a conversation in the back row. There, the Levins of the professor discussed his performance and said that “today he is not in shape” and “plays not in the best way”.
Eugene realized that it was her fault. At night, she confessed to her brother that Alina did not come because of her. In a quiet, calm voice, Leo said that Zhenya acted meanly - only despots "turn into their victims those for whom they want to sacrifice everything in the world." No one has the right to interfere in another person’s personal life, even if it’s a sibling.
Eugene said that Alina did not come because of her, and not by herself, and this is not so bad. Lyova shrugged and smiled. From that day, the girl quit keeping a diary, fearing that, having read it, her portrait with the caption “Sister of the musician” would not be placed in the book about her brother.
