"Money on the Barrel!" by Elena Nesterina, summary

This children’s novel by renowned Russian author Elena Nesterina, written in 2008, explores the everyday life of school, teenage conflicts, and the search for justice. This book is a story of growing up and moral choice, set in an ordinary seventh-grade classroom in a provincial school. The author’s psychological precision in describing the emergence of childhood mistrust, collective cruelty, and early adolescent devotion stands out.

The work was created outside of any literary series and is an independent story.

The arrival of a new student and the first conflicts

Seventh-grader Arina Balovantseva transfers to a new school after her mother marries wealthy banker Konstantin Alexandrovich. She receives a separate, spacious room, numerous privileges, and the opportunity to choose her own class. Contrary to the expectations of the school’s principal, Mikhail Afanasyevich, who offers specialized classes, Arina chooses the regular seventh-grade "B" class. She explains this by saying that she is accustomed to studying in "B" classes, which are also significantly understaffed.

On her very first day of school, Arina encounters a strange routine. Her homeroom teacher, physical education teacher Pyotr Bronislavovich, enters the geography room, where Sergei Nikitich, nicknamed "Syrnik," has just fled, insulted. Resourceful students have melted cheese curds on the radiator and smeared them thickly on his chair. Arina demands a separate desk at the back of the room. The quiet and athletic boy, Vitya Ryndin, silently gives up his rightful seat by the window, instantly warming to the independent and proud newcomer.

Unrest in the Seventh "B"

Soon, the peaceful life of the class is disrupted by a series of petty thefts. First, the school lunch money disappears from the locker room during gym class. The situation is complicated by the fact that Pyotr Bronislavovich oversees the fundraising, but the students are unable to raise the required amount. Furthermore, the gym teacher is infatuated with a young intern, Svetlana Yuryevna, who teaches history. The eccentric school poet, Anton Mylchenko, nicknamed "Humanoid," decides to help the timid teacher and slips a sonnet he composed into Svetlana Yuryevna’s bag.

During gym class, Pyotr Bronislavovich decides to teach the stubborn Arina, who’s been reading books in other classes, a lesson by making her run ten laps around the stadium. The girl proudly accepts the challenge, despite her fatigue. Vitya Ryndin joins her, offering to run hand in hand to make the distance easier. Thus begins their friendship. From that moment on, Vitya considers the new girl an honest person. However, hostility toward Balovantseva grows in the class. Because of her demonstrative solitude and her stepfather’s wealth, her classmates begin to suspect her of theft.

Rebellion and false accusations

Geography teacher Syrnik continues to exact revenge on his students for past grievances, locking their classrooms and giving them failing grades for any movement. During yet another incident, Arina incites her classmates to open rebellion. The entire class quits the geography classroom, disrupting the lesson. The students celebrate a small victory under the stairs, but Kostya Shibay discovers their pocket money is missing. His suspicions fall on Arina. Soon, Natasha Sorokvasha’s expensive music player is stolen, escalating the tension.

Another theft occurs at the school disco: ten euros go missing from Mamed Batyrov and a cut wallet from Dasha Spiridonova. The kids, spotting Arina near the coat racks in the gym, surround her and accuse her of stealing. Dasha searches the new girl’s jacket and finds Mamed’s bill in one of the pockets. The girls and boys hurl insults at Arina. Vitya Ryndin courageously shields the girl from view, ready to fight any offender. Arina protests her innocence and promises to personally find the real culprit.

Arina and Vitya’s investigation

Arina doesn’t give up and comes up with a cunning plan to catch the thief with bait. She borrows an old cell phone from her older brother, Zakhar, and gives it to Vita. He is to ostentatiously carry the phone in an open pocket of his bag, attracting the thief’s attention. At the same time, Arina decides to get revenge on the arrogant intern, Svetlana Yuryevna, for mocking the feelings of a gym teacher. She begs her grandfather, a chemist, for an ampoule of a foul-smelling substance and plants it in the teacher’s expensive bag, ruining her date with her fiancé.

The standoff with Syrnik continues at school. Arina organizes a peaceful but frightening protest, "Vampire Cheese." The students cover the windows with black curtains, draw skeletons on them, and write demands for fair grades. The frightened geography teacher complains to the principal, but the homeroom teacher, Pyotr Bronislavovich, stands up for his students. He begins to respect Arina for her leadership qualities. Syrnik relents and stops undermining their grades, and the class temporarily falls silent.

Events at the meat processing plant

Instead of physical education class, Class 7B is sent on a career-guidance excursion to a meat-packing plant. There, Pyotr Bronislavovich becomes infatuated with the attractive technologist Galina Gavrilovna. The excursion is interrupted by a silly prank by the poet Anton Mylchenko. Wanting to attract attention, he climbs the pipes near the ceiling, protesting the eating of animals, but slips and falls into a huge vat of cold, lard-and-fat sludge. He is rescued with difficulty and washed with water from hoses under the watchful eye of kindly workers.

During this commotion, Vitya and Arina keep a close eye on the cell phone. However, the thief proves too cautious and doesn’t reveal himself in the crowd. A little later, Pyotr Bronislavovich buys a gold ring with an emerald, intending to propose to Galina Gavrilovna, but loses it at school due to a hole in his pants pocket. He cancels the date and sinks into melancholy. Anton Mylchenko, who was helping the teacher look for the jewel, secretly tells Vitya Ryndin everything.

Catching a thief red-handed

Tensions reach a fever pitch on the last Friday before school break. Vitya deliberately hangs his bag with his phone on its side, giving the thief a chance. After geography class, a crush forms at the door. Arina notices someone’s fingers unbuttoning a pocket button and pulling out a phone. She instantly lunges forward and grabs the thief’s arm. To her surprise, the pickpocket turns out to be Vladik Fedyushov — a quiet boy no one had ever suspected.

The class surrounds the trio. Vladik tries to justify himself, claiming he simply picked up the phone from the floor. But Arina reminds him of the jacket with the emblems she saw in the locker room during the previous theft. Under pressure from the evidence, Vladik confesses to the crime. His classmates feel embarrassed for unfairly accusing Balovantseva.

Exposure in the apartment

Arina demands the return of all the stolen items and savings. The seventh-graders walk Vladik to his new home and climb up to the fifteenth floor. In the empty apartment, Vladik retrieves a secret stash from under his bed, returns the iPod to Natasha Sorokvasha, and distributes money to his aggrieved classmates. Suddenly, a red box containing Pyotr Bronislavovich’s lost ring falls out of his bag. Anton Mylchenko immediately recognizes it as his teacher’s.

At that moment, Vladik’s parents return home. They are shocked by the sight of the crowd surrounding their son. Resourceful Arina saves the situation from police intervention. She calmly tells her parents, "We’re playing war." Arina offers Vladik a peaceful solution: he must use the remaining stolen money to buy a new globe and maps for school to replace the equipment damaged during the riot, and immediately transfer to another school.

Happy ending

Vladik’s parents agree to the boys’ terms to hush up the scandal. On Monday, they take their son’s documents and give the school a huge globe and maps. Pyotr Bronislavovich finds the ring Arina planted behind the leg of a chair in the locker room, considering it incredibly lucky. He quickly arranges a date with Galina Gavrilovna and proposes, receiving her acceptance.

Vitya and Arina are strolling through an autumn park. Vitya promises to be her loyal ally, protecting her independence. The cheerful Anton Mylchenko joins them, treating Arina to a dented school pie. Arina climbs onto a stone statue of a white crocodile, and Vitya settles down next to her, feeling the joy of justice served.