Street Cred

Chapter 10

Byeol saw Jisung walk to his car as the other three boys also got into their cars. She heard the engines roar to life and saw people clearing out of the way.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

A gun went off as the announcer counted down, and the four cars sped down the track, their engines could no longer be heard. When Byeol noticed she could no longer see them, she looked at Seungmin in confusion. He directed her attention to a jumbo screen across the way where the screen was split in four. There must have been a camera inside each car, because the video stream was coming from inside the car. It reminded her of Mario Kart.

Byeol placed her arms on the rail in front of her and rested her head on them as she watched Jisung taking the lead in the race. She smiled as Minki squealed in excitement for her boyfriend.

Jisung kept the lead and developed quite a bit of distance between himself and the other racers. Byeol has no doubt that he'd win. Within a few minutes, she could hear the engines coming in from the other side of the track. She stood up and leaned over the railing a bit to watch as the cars came in.

Obviously, Jisung was first. Soobin came in second, though Lucas was very close behind him, and Vernon came last.

Minki cheered the loudest and caught Jisung's attention from below. He smiled up at her and blew a kiss as he walked over to Jeongin and Hyunjin. The three boys then waved up to their friends as Jeongin received pats on his back before walking to his car and driving it to the track.

"Who else is going now?" Byeol looked at Seungmin again as he checked something on his phone.

"According to the schedule, it should be Jeongin, Kai - another of Yeonjun's friends, Hoshi from Vernon's group, and Xiaojun from Lucas' group. They'll be taking a different route from the last group of racers."

Byeol nodded and leaned her head on her arms again as the race was about to start. Her eyes stayed on Jeongin's car and she hoped he would be safe.

The announcer counted down, and the gun went off. The four cars were gone in the blink of an eye and everyone's attention was on the big screen. Byeol smiled as she saw Jeongin in the lead, but it wasn't by much. That Xiaojun guy was right on his tail and Hoshi wasn't far behind. Poor Kai must have blown a tire or something because his car had stopped moving and an emergency pit crew was headed his way.

Byeol found herself biting her fingernails as Xiaojun and Jeongin fought for the lead. As she heard their engines coming closer, Xiaojun was in the lead and she was worried. She grabbed Felix's hand from beside her and squeezed it as she watched the two boys on the track fight for the lead. Right as they neared the finish line, she closed her eyes, but the sounds of cheering erupting around her cause her to open them, and she saw that Jeongin had won, by like .5 seconds.

She screamed in excitement and jumped up and down like a child who just received their favorite candy. As Jeongin exited his car, he looked up at his friends and smiled when he saw how excited Byeol was. As soon as the girl looked his way, he smiled, waved, and followed Jisung's actions by blowing her a kiss. Even though he was a ways away, he could see the redness spreading across her cheeks, and it made him smile even more.

"Oh my gosh that was the closest race I've ever seen," Changbin wiped sweat from his forehead as his eyes stayed wide. "I really thought that that Xiaojun guy might've won."

"What about Kai though? I wonder what happened to his car," Seungmin sat back in his chair as he blew out a breath.

"I bet Yeonjun is going to try and say that Jeongin cheated. He's such a bitch. He'll do anything to make sure that we don't win." Felix's voice was laced with anger as he sat on Changbin's lap.