Chapter two - Catalyst 

Saeron hated it. She hated the fact that she could run away from everything except this.

She stiffly began the treacherous walk to her classroom, pushing past the various couples that lingered around the corridor. School is for learning and making friends, Saeron chanted irritatedly in her head. Not for openly flaunting your relationships. Saeron inwardly cringed as she walked past couples making out, hugging, cooing over each other and simply displaying their affection for each other openly.

Saeron could escape from any tricky situations that she wanted. It was a gift of hers that many people envied. Undone homework, skipping classes, awkward situations, she managed to slip past of all of them. This, however, was the one thing that she was unable to run away from. She tried her best not to look at them.

It wasn't that she despised the fact that she was single. Saeron could cope perfectly fine without being attached. She simply hated the fact that the excessive amount of couples in her school insisted on publicly showcasing their love for each other in the corridors everyday. It amazed her that they didn't just start groping each other already.

She in her breath and walked a little faster. Oh, how badly she wanted to sprint down the corridor right now, to the safety of her classroom. Saeron gritted her teeth and walked at a steady pace. Just a little bit more, and she'd be sitting in her class, blissfully ignorant of the teenage hormones in overdrive just metres away from her. She was grateful for the walls that separated her from her hormonal schoolmates. She sank down into her seat.

Just another day in school, Saeron sighed as the school bell went off, sending the lovestruck students scattering into their respective classrooms. She winced a little as her seat-mate entered the classroom and slammed his books dramatically onto his table.

“Hi Saeron.” Chunji grinned widely, a smile that indicated that he was about to ask for something.

“Yes Chunji?” Saeron peered at Chunji warily, knowing too well that he was about to ask for a favour.

“Rewrite my English essay for me. Please?” Chunji's smile seemed to become even wider, and if it was possible, Saeron was sure that his smile would extend beyond his face and around his head. She opened , ready to convince him to get someone else to do it when Chunji abruptly shoved a bar of chocolate into .

“You're not working your magic on me today miss. Will you rewrite my essay for me now?”

Saeron chomped on the chocolate happily and nodded. Chunji smiled, clearly satisfied that he managed to counter her argument before it even started. He slid his messily-written essay over to her table and sat down. Saeron was about to begin proofreading it when their Maths teacher barged into the classroom, banging his long wooden ruler against the chalkboard to get everyone's attention. She sighed before filing the essay away into her folder as the teacher began his monotonous lecture on algebraic equations.

Chunji looked at her blank expression and smirked. “You're going to sleep aren't you?”

“Yep.” As if on cue, Saeron yawned and laid her head on her table, her long mane of chocolate brown hair covering Chunji's table.

“Get your hair off my table.” Chunji growled as he childishly flicked locks of her hair away, yelping when Saeron deliberately flipped more of her hair onto his table. She couldn't help but to chuckle at his silly antics as he used his textbook to sweep all her hair off his table.

“Good night, don't wake me up even if the teacher comes.” Saeron smiled to herself as she drifted off to sleep. Even though she felt awkward in the presence of boys, Chunji's goofy presence never failed to comfort her.

♥♥♥♥

Saeron found herself waking up in an empty classroom one hour later. She groaned when she realized that she slept through the entire Maths lesson and also half of her lunch break. She scooped up her textbooks and slung her backpack over her shoulder, grumbling to herself as she stalked out of the classroom. She felt slightly miffed that Chunji didn't bother to wake her up. It was so typical of him to abandon everything to rush to the cafeteria to gobble down whatever food he could lay his hands on. Saeron sighed and decided to head to the library, feeling rather full from eating Chunji's chocolate. She stopped when she saw a beautifully framed standing mirror installed on the corridor wall. She found it rather odd that such an exquisite mirror would be put up in school, especially in such a random location. Saeron unconsciously beamed at her reflection and fixed her messy bangs. She walked away, not noticing that the white frame of the mirror had various crown symbols engraved on it, and that they glowed as she looked at her reflection.