I wasn't sure how I was going to tell my friends, or anyone for that matter. Hey, I'm a millionaire now, so . . . you know, just treat me like you always have. Nothing's different. I actually didn't feel that much different. Lighter, for sure. Like something that had been resting on my shoulders for years had been lifted. That was a good feeling. An amazing feeling. But still, I was me. Still Suzy. The money wouldn't change who I was, deep down.

It was Monday night. My family had just finished eating takeout from a fancy restaurant we'd never been to, with a name I couldn't pronounce. All I knew was that I'd never spent 100,000 won on a steak before and now I had. It was delicious.

Now I was in my room, lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and wondering if I'd ever felt this happy in my life.

There was a knock on my door and I sat up. "Come in."

"Jisoo is here," my mom said, poking her head in.

"Jisoo?"

"Yes, you do have a friend named Jisoo, right? Or was that in your previous life?"

I smiled. "I just wasn't expecting her."

"Should I tell her to come in?"

"Yes, thanks, Mom."

I took a deep breath. Had Jisoo heard about me winning somehow? Did the lottery announce stuff like that? Had it been tweeted out to everyone without me knowing? I should've told my friends right away so they didn't have to find out through social media.

But when Jisoo appeared at my bedroom door, she didn't wear an excited expression, one that said, you just won the lottery, how are we going to celebrate? Instead she wore a worried one.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

"What? Why?"

"Your birthday."

That's right. I'd almost forgotten about my birthday.

"My grandma had to go to the hospital."

"Oh no, is she okay?"

Jisoo rolled her eyes. "She thought she was having a heart attack but after a night in the ER, it turned out to be a heart burn. Can you believe that?"

I laughed a little. It was much easier to forgive people after winning the lottery. "I wish you would've called or texted. I was worried."

"I'd left my phone at home and my parents and I didn't get back until the next morning. I wanted to sleep all day so I sent you a quick text but you never answered."

"Yeah, I was kind of mad at you."

"I figured. And what about all the texts I sent today?"

"Today?" I scanned the room for my phone, but didn't see it anywhere. I hadn't looked at it once since I'd gotten the news about the lottery. "It's probably out of batteries somewhere."

"That means you didn't get Irene's texts either."

"No, I didn't. Did her grandma have heartburn, too?"

Jisoo gave me a side hug. "You had the stupidest birthday. I'm so sorry."

That wasn't an answer to my question. "What happened to her?"

"Boyfriend got sick. He was vomiting and everything."

"Was Irene sick, too?"

She cringed. "She wanted to take care of him. Bring him soup and wipe his forehead. She wants to major in nursing now."

A lump was forming in my throat and I tried to swallow. Okay, so winning the lottery only made it a little easier to forgive. "She should've texted."

"Well, now she's sick. She stayed home from school today and everything."

"That ."

"Karma, I say."

I hit Jisoo's arm and she laughed.

"Yes, it . But not as much as your birthday must've . I really am sorry."

Now was the time I told her about winning the lottery. Now was the time I remembered how lucky I was, regardless of the fact that my friends stood me up for kind of lame reasons. That didn't matter. The universe had made up for my bad birthday in a way and I needed to get over it. "It's okay. Really. I'm happy actually."

"You're happy we missed your birthday?" Jisoo's phone chimed in her pocket but she didn't reach for it. The noise was familiar, one I hadn't heard in a while because I didn't have my phone. It made me a little twitchy,

"Well, no, I mean -"

Her phone chimed again.

"You can get it," I said.

"No, it's just my calendar reminder."

"What's it reminding you of?" I was sure I was missing something, too, since I'd skipped school and hadn't looked at my phone in about twenty-four hours.

"Test tomorrow in History. Don't you have that, too?" She looked around my room and saw the books on my desk. "Of course you're studying."

"Yes, I am. I was. Well, I was thinking about it." Sort of. "Do we have anything else this week?"

"Just the reading for Korean Literature."

I'd remember that.

"Are you okay, Suzy? When you were absent today, I realized we'd really messed up. You never miss school."

"It's fine. I'm fine. It wasn't about my birthday. I just . . ." My mind froze, why couldn't I just spit out my news? "I had a bad headache. But I'm feeling better now." Why did I say that?

"Good." Jisoo squeezed me into another tight hug. Her phone chimed, again. "I better go. We both have a lot of work to do."

"Okay."

Then she was gone.

"I won the lottery," I said easily, to my now empty room. "Let's celebrate."

The house phone rang in the distance and then stoped. A couple minutes later my mom poked her head in my phone again. "Hey, that was . . ." She looked around. "Where did Jisoo go?"

"She had to study."

"What about you? Do you need to study?"

I nodded halfheartedly.

Mom stepped all the way inside. "If you're still planning on going to college, you need to keep your grades up. They don't care about your lottery win."

"I know," I said quickly. "I am still planning on it." That had always been the plan, from the time I was in primary school. Why would Mom think that would change now? The only thing that changed was that I didn't have to worry about how I was going to paying for college.

I didn't have to worry about paying for college! Excitement bubbled back up my chest with this reminder. It was an instant jolt to my system.

"Anyway," Mom was saying. "That was SBS on the phone. They want to interview you."

"What? Why?"

My mom laughed. "Because you won the lottery."

"But how did they know that?"

"Lottery winners are public record."

"Oh . . ."

"You don't have to do the interview."

"What would you do?" I asked, biting my lip.

Mom shrugged. "I'm not sure. I probably wouldn't really want the whole town to know. Just my friends."

"That's true." I nodded. "You're right. I'll tell my friends on my own. I don't want to do an interview." The thought of being interviewed on TV sounded like pure torture, anyway.

Mom ran her hand down my hair. "Good choice. I'll let them know."