Ivan smiled, honest this time. "I had a little help finding the path, but I walked the distance myself."

She nodded, a rare, small smile appearing. "Good. Just make sure you always know where you're going."

He typed "GDZ po algebra 10 klass" into the search bar. Within seconds, a dozen sites appeared, promising the holy grail of answers. He clicked the first link and scrolled through the familiar layout. He found his textbook's cover—the one with the abstract geometric shapes—and clicked on "Exercise 442, Part B." There it was. The step-by-step breakdown.

"Exercise 442," she noted. "A difficult one. How did you find the solution?"