The Progress

Minhyuk Park

The bell rang and I quickly jumped out of my chair, nearly sending the desk flying. I followed the mass of students fleeing the classroom, racing through the white halls.

"Hyuk," someone called out behind me. The familiar voice made me grin as I spun around to find my brother leaning against his locker. He fell into step next to me as we traveled down the hallway towards the doors. He was graduating this year, but that only brought us closer.

"Going to the mall again?" His bleached hair fell across his face as he swung an arm around my shoulder.

"Fuck yes," I replied as we maneuvered around slower classmates. Why are you fuckers so slow? Aren't y'all excited??

"Sounds fun," Minseok paused, "Omma is making tteokbokki." He winked, knowing full well that was my weakness. The spicy chewy rice cakes with some fishcake and hard-boiled eggs were literally enough to make me melt.

"Kay."

"Tell Santiago I said hi!" My brother called out over his shoulder, heading over to his own girlfriend. My parents liked her a whole lot better than the last one. Angie's so sweet, too bad my brother's a dumbass.

With my face flushing bright red, I raced back over to my locker.

To my surprise, I found that Becky was already waiting for me, hands on her hips.

"It's Steph's turn to drive the car," she raised an eyebrow as I groaned.

Steph's father had gotten a car for Steph and San to share. Unfortunately, Steph drove like a fucking maniac and when it was her turn to drive. We have no idea how that moron passed her driver's test. San, on the other hand, drove like a normal person. He had almost failed his driver's test for driving too slow on the freeway.

"Hey! The law's already against me. I'm not gonna test it!" was his generic response.

Nevertheless, we always had to plan an extra ten minutes when it was his turn to drive.

"Come on let's go." Becky impatiently as she tapped her foot as I rummaged through my locker.

I quickly shoved my folders into my backpack and slammed the door shut. I hurried after Becky mentally preparing myself for the car ride. Why couldn't we just drive my fucking car? It's not like the siblings even go to our school, we could meet there! I had almost caught her when someone grabbed my hand. Santiago stood there grinning like an idiot.

"It's Friday~," he sang, "we have all weekend!"

"Yes I know~" I sang back before becoming serious. "Now let's go before your sister leaves without us."

We pushed past a group of chatty girls and went out into the bright sunlight. A horn blared across the parking lot causing people to turn their heads in annoyance. Steph sat in the driver's seat of the car grinning like the Cheshire cat. Becky sat next to her in the passenger seat looking less than thrilled.

"Hurry up lovebirds!!" Steph screeched, "The mall has a sale today and we have to get there first!"

"I got it," San grumbled, "You've been talking about it all week."

We barely had time to climb in the back of the car and buckle ourselves in before Steph zoomed out of the parking lot. I quickly shrugged off my school jacket, opting instead for the denim one at the bottom of my bag. The car skidded around the curb and we almost hit a rather frazzled blonde lady. Becky gave an apologetic smile and waved towards the driver. Steph appeared to be oblivious to the person she had just cut off, even after they flipped her off. After we turned left we came to the truly terrifying part of our drive.