Street Cred

Chapter 1

"So," Minki slung her backpack on the kitchen table as she grabbed an apple and bit into it. "This party, do you have any party clothes or do you need to borrow some?" She spoke with the apple in her mouth, pieces occasionally flying out.

Byeol chuckled at her friend as she grabbed an orange for herself and started to peel it. "Um, I guess I'd need to borrow some. All I really have is the school uniform and casual clothes." She popped a piece of the orange in her mouth.

"Well, let's head on up to my room and see what we can find you!" Minki grabbed Byeol's hand and basically dragged her up the stairs.

The two reached Minki's room, and Byeol sat on the bed aa Minki went to work, pulling out all kinds of clothes. She made Byeol change into a tank top and shorts so she could see what she was working with. After thinking for a minute, Minki's face lit up and she brought out a short and tight navy blue dress that was a sweetheart cut and had lace outlining the neckline.

Byeol's eyes shot open and she shrieked. "Oh my god Minki! That won't cover my ass! No!"

Minki rolled her eyes and put the dress back. "You know Byeol, the point of wearing party clothes like that is to get noticed. With you being so short, we've got to catch their attention somehow." She began searching through more short dresses.

"And exactly who's attention am I trying to catch?" Byeol watched her friend pull out a longer black dress.

Minki shrugged as she gave the dress to her friend and pointed to the bathroom. "Jisung said his friends would be there, maybe you'll catch one of their eyes."

Byeol rolled her eyes as she took off the clothes she had on and shimmied into the tight dress. It came down to her fingertips and had a wide slit on her left thigh. It hugged her curves and made her ass pop out.

"Come on I wanna see!" Minki whined from the other side of the door.

Byeol opened the door and saw Minki standing in an identical dress, but hers was red. She smiled at her friend in the black dress and had a creepy grin on her face.

"Yes! Give me a spin Byeol Baby!"

She chuckled at the nickname and did a little twirl for Minki. Once she faced her friend again, she was met with an approving nod. "How confident are you in heels?" Minki skipped over to her closet again and pulled out an intimidatingly high pair or classic black heels.

"Uh, I've never tried heels so I wouldn't know." Byeol stared at the shoes a little afraid of them.

"Hmm. Better not have you walking around in them then since you'll most likely be drunk."

"Excuse you, I will not be drinking." Byeol sat on the after emphasizing the word 'not'.

"That's what you think," Minki said in a sing-song voice. They heard a car pull up outside from the window in Minki's room, and they went to see who it was.

"Oh, my mom's home. I'll see you later," Byeol was about to walk out, but Minki stopped her.

"Change back to your uniform and leave the dress here. Tell your mom we're having a sleepover on friday, my parents are cool with covering for you." Minki smiled at her friend and left so Byeol could get changed.

Byeol was nervous. She's never snuck out of her house, let alone lied to her parents. She quickly changed back into her school uniform, leaving the black dress on Minki's bed. After saying goodbye to Minki, and grabbing her stuff, Byeol headed next door to her house. She was not looking forward to lying to her mom.

———

Byeol entered her house and saw her mom pulling ingredients out of the fridge in order to make dinner. She put her bookbag on the hook it always went on and went to greet her mother.

"Hey mom!" Byeol walked up to her mom and gave her a hug.

"Oh, Byeol! I'm glad you're here. So your father was able to get me a ticket to visit him this weekend in Busan, so you'll spend the weekend with the Parks!"

"H-he got you a ticket to visit him?" Byeol could feel tears in her eyes thinking about how this is the 68415th time he's had her mom come visit him instead of him coming to visit them both.

"Yeah! He said he tried to get you one, but they only had one available for the days he was looking. Plus, you would've had to sleep on the floor since there's just the one bed in his hotel room."

"That's okay Mom. Minki and I were going to have a sleepover this weekend anyway." The girl sucked in a deep breath. "I'm going to go freshen up while dinner is cooking." She headed up the stairs and to her room as a single tear slid down her cheek.

As Byeol reached her room, she just laid on her bed, her face smushed into her pillows as she softly cried. Ever since she was 5, her father has been practically absent from her life. When she was born, he was disappointed because he was hoping for a son that could take over the family business, but instead he got a daughter. As soon as she was 5, he took as many business trips as he could, flying out his wife to see her, but leaving Byeol behind. She had not seen her father in person since she was 12, and she was now 16. Byeol doubted if he would even recognize her.

She tried her hardest in her academics, hoping it would one day please him. It hasn't worked so far, but she never gave up. She never gets into trouble and is one of the top students of her class, but it still isn't enough for her father. The poor girl would rather tell people that her father is dead than the fact that he is just disappointed because she is a female.

After about 30 minutes of quietly sobbing into her pillow, Byeol got up and changed into some sweatpants and her Koya sweatshirt before heading to the bathroom to wash her tear-stained face. After she was done She headed downstairs into a kitchen that smelled amazing.

"Smells good, Mom!"

"Thanks! Alright get yourself a bowl and eat then start your homework, I just got notified of an emergency at work, so I've gotta go back. I won't be back until extremely late. Call Minki over if you get lonely. I love you, bye!" Her mom kissed Byeol's head and headed out of the house.

Byeol immediately called Minki.

Minki: Hey babe! What's up?

Byeol: Um. My mom had to go back to work for an emergency, could you come over?

MInki: Of course! But I'm with Jisung and his friends, mind if they come to?

Byeol: Well, I'll be meeting them Friday anyway. Might as well get used to them now. Sure.

Minki: Cool! We'll be there in like 10 minutes, okay?

Byeol: Okay, bye.

MInki: Bye!

Byeol hung up her phone and turned the T.V on as she ate, passing the time until her best friend showed up