FAUX REAL

12

"Did you leave yet?!" Rosé's voice cracks through the speaker of my phone. "Hurry up and leave! My mom dropped me off early at sehun's so she could hit the casino. I'm bored! Wendy and kai aren't here yet! Hurry up!"

"Rosie, I'm just heading out now!" I exclaim as I apply one more layer of blush pink lip stain, my hand shaking in the process. Bless you, lip liner. "I know I'm running fifteen minutes late but oh my God, you would not believe the productive day I've had!"

"Yeah? Whatcha do?" She asks, distant yelling and house music in the background. Guess the party already started.

"Well, this morning I went for a long run, then I talked to jennie for a little bit and gave her-" I pause. Yikes. Can't mention the key to her, she'd rage. Also, probably shouldn't mention that Jennie was shirtless, she will get jeal-ous. "A muffin and then I finished one paper, did a butt-ton of research for another, watched a documentary on the Cold War, and I learned some Russian! 'Zdravstvuyte, menya zovut Lisa'!"

"Russian?" She asks warily as I check out my reflection in the mirror. I don't normally wear dresses with this much cleavage but today I'm feeling adventurous.

"Yes, Russian! I had some time and I thought I'd dabble in a little Slavic tongue," I say, grabbing my purse off of my desk. "Maybe I can insult joy soon. She'll never see it coming!"

"Lisa?" She asks with a deep sigh.

"What?"

"How many did you take today?"

I roll my eyes. "None," I lie. What is she? My mom? Oh that's right, she can't be my mom because Rosé actually seems to care about me. "I just had a lot of coffee and I'm in a good mood."

I am in a good mood. I'm manifesting that shit. Positive vibes only tonight. After Jennie's confidence comment, I got a little bummed out but decided to put that unwelcome feeling in a tiny box that's tucked in the far corner of my mind. Lock that shit up. I am confident! I am positive. And tonight, I'm going to have fun. I deserve fun.

"Uh-huh," she hums. "I'm not giving you any more"

"You always say that," I note as I take her off speakerphone and head out the door towards the parking lot.

"Well, this time I actually can't," she says, almost apologetically. "My mom decided to take me off of it after she watched a documentary on Big Pharma, so I'm serious. That's all you have."

"Yeah, whatever," I sigh, galloping down the stairs. "Like I said, it's no big deal."

"Alrighty then," she sings. "Oh! Kai is here! Okay, I'll see you in half an hour! Can't wait to finally meet your girlfriend."

I groan. "Oh yeah, me too."

She says goodbye to me and I hang up, exiting the school. My eyes dart towards the black town car parked in the drop off zone, Jennie nowhere to be seen. I texted her to be ready! As I approach the vehicle, the driver's side window rolls down revealing my favorite person in the world.

"Hedi!" I shriek, unable to contain my excitement. "Oh my God! What are you doing here? I thought you were in D.C. with my dad!"

He gets out of the car, a giant grin on his friendly and comforting face. "Hiya, sweetpea," he says as I run into his arms, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "Miss me?"