His sister, acting like Sveta Bukina, walked by and rolled her eyes. "Just use your phone, Max. It’s the 21st century. Even Gena knows how to use a search engine."

In his head, his life suddenly felt like an episode of He could almost hear the canned laughter. He imagined himself as a young Gena Bukin, but instead of selling shoes, he was selling excuses to his teacher, Maria Ivanovna.

"Mom!" he yelled toward the kitchen. "Do we have any GDZ for Russian? I’m drowning in syntax!"

As he sat down, he gave a tiny thumbs-up to the air, imagining the studio audience cheering as the credits rolled on his homework struggle.