7:38 PM

on the way out of our neighborhood, the astonishingly silent driver finally speaks, “i guess it would be kind of rude if i took us to a restaurant that i’m not sure you like too, wouldn’t it?”

“i’m not picky, just try not to pick an expensive place. my parents aren’t exactly wealthy.”

he lets out a one syllable laugh and says, “mcdonald’s isn’t too pricey for you, is it?”

“hmm, i guess they’re not that bad,” i say, hoping he can hear the sarcasm in my voice, “but at least they have a drive-thru. oh! you don’t mind if we eat in the car, do you? it’s pretty clean in here, we can just go inside to eat if you want.”

“i eat in here every single day, i just made my little brother clean it after school today because i saved his from getting hit by a girl at school. he owed me.”

“chan’s getting bullied?” i ask immediately.

chan had been quieter than usual ever since this school year started. i figured it was because he wasn’t used to the workload from high school, being a freshman and all, and was just being a good student. i was totally sure that he wouldn’t get bullied when he started at our school just because he’s such a likeable kid.

“yeah, a group of junior girls have been after him since the first day of school. he hasn’t told me much about it, but i saw this extra small girl by him today and she was about to smack him. i just had to say, ‘hey’ and, man, you should have seen the look on her face. she was,” he looked over at me and smiled a little, “probably a little taller than you, but still really small, so you can imagine how scared she got when i came over there.”

“i’m not that small! but really, you better keep watching out for him.”

“yeah, i got his back, don’t worry,” he says as we pull up to the mcdonald’s drive-thru window and orders our cheap, greasy dinner.

soon enough, we’re on the highway going to god knows where with messy fingers and not enough napkins in the bag from mcdonald’s. it’s a good thing that wonwoo really does eat in his car pretty much every day, because when i open the glove-box an avalanche of napkins ranging in colors from white, to brown, to red, to purple pour out and onto my legs. i laugh and try to catch them all and shove them back where they came from, only keeping a few out for me to wipe my hands with and wonwoo looks away from the road for a second to see me struggle.

“i mean, i did tell chan not to throw away the napkins. i guess i can’t really yell at him for shoving them all in there.”