Friday, 7:16 PM

i got out of bed this morning thinking that it would be just like any other day; i would wake up, eat a spicy breakfast burrito on my way to school, do everything my teachers tell me to, come home, surf the web, and sleep. i couldn't have been more wrong.

now, after skipping school for the first time in my life and stealing my mom's credit card, i’m walking to this guy’s house that i'm not even close with so that i can beg him to drive me to wherever his heart pleases. will he actually do it? i have no ing clue, i barely know the guy. i’ve been told i come off as mean, though, so maybe i’ll be able to scare him into taking me. then again, i’m 5 foot 5 while he’s 5 foot 11, so maybe he’ll end up scaring me away.

i’m finally at his house and just sort of staring at the light brown door in front of me. okay, jihoon, deep breaths. one, two, three.

knock, knock, knock

the door creeps open and i’m suddenly wondering why i’m even doing this if i’m so nervous.

wonwoo looks straight for a moment then slowly lowers his eyes until he sees me.

“jihoon?” he says, more like a question and i nod, “what are you doing here?”

“oh, you know, i was just sort of in the neighborhood and--”

“dude, you live, like, two houses down from me,” he reminds me.

“oh. right. okay, i have a favor to ask,” i say, deciding that i should probably just get to the point.

“and that would be..?” he leans against the doorframe.

“i want you to drive me somewhere. i’ll pay for the gas.”

“oh, okay, that's no big deal. i gotta eat dinner first, but where do you need to go?” he asks.

“i’ll get you food on the road!” i blurt out.

his eyes widen and he crooks his head to the right, “where are we going?”

“anywhere. i’ll explain in the car, okay?,” i start to walk toward the small silver car in his driveway, but he grabs my shoulder and easily stops me.

he looks like he’s going to say something but just shakes his head, says he has to get the keys, and goes back inside. i hear a high pitched voice that is, no doubt, his mother asking who was at the door and his deep voice saying something back.

he opens the door a minute later and yells, “i don’t know what time i’ll be back, don’t bother waiting for me if i’m home late,” and closes the door behind him, “let’s go.”

we get in the car and it’s, like, dead silent. he doesn’t even start it for a good minute and, when he does, he ends up turning it off and turning to look at me, squinting.

i stare back for a moment, confused, before i realize, “oh, you probably want a bit of an explanation don’t you?”

“it isn’t exactly normal for someone to come to my house and tell me to drive them, ‘anywhere,’” he says and crosses his arms.

suddenly, with the way the shadows hit his face, he’s starting to look as scary as i pictured him on the walk over and what little confidence i got from him agreeing with me disintegrates.

“well, i just sort of want to leave,” i say with a shrug, trying not to show my cowardice, “i do the same things at the same times every day and today i just want to ditch my routine life and drive somewhere. i told my mom i was going out with friends and, since i never do that and she didn’t know how much money to give me, she just gave me her credit card. you live within walking distance of my house, you drive, and i don’t hate you, so i decided to try to get you to drive me around to wherever you want because, honestly, i don’t give a where we go.”

wonwoo hums in response, which kind of annoys me because what the hell kind of reply is that? but it’s okay since he decided in his silence that it was time to start the car and leave and it seemed as if he hadn't even noticed my lie. i've been getting better at lying lately. is that a bad thing?