The leaves had just started to fall and the ground is all covered in its orange hue. My favorite color. My favorite season. Most people would hate this color. "What the hell is orange even doing as a color? It should remain as a fruit.", my friends would often say. But I love it. There's just a strange calming sensation I feel whenever I see the color orange. Whether it's painted across the sky during sunsets, coating my favorite Cheetos snack, or just simply worn by all of the students in our department for our university's festivities.

She was orange. My calm. My sanity. My favorite.

IRENE POV

1st Semester, Academic Year 2017-2018; September 18, 2017, 9:55 AM

Another normal day begins. Normal. What's so bad about a normal day anyway? Nothing. But my definition of normal is different. My normal is when you go to school in the morning and act like a normal student going to classes, interacting with other students and participating in the school activites; then you go home at night and the real battle begins. You do your homework until you finish every last one of them. You try to workout and tire yourself out but it still doesn't work. The clock is ticking and a new day is about to begin again but your day still hasn't ended. You don't get enough sleep. What's more frustrating is that it's not that you don't want to. You can't. No matter how hard you try, you just can't bring yourself to rest. To sleep. To get that moment of peace and serenity. Why do you torture yourself so much? It's a constant battle between you and your biggest enemy, your mind. You mind never seems to run out of things to think about. It never shuts up. It never lets you rest. You try and try but to no avail. It's a cycle everyday. The usual. Normal. 

"Good morning, babe. Let me carry those for you." Bogum greeted as he kissed me on the cheek and took my pile of books from me. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Damn, my head hurts. I couldn't sleep cause I had so much work I needed to finish last night." I lied. Well technically, I did a lot of work but they're not due until the end of the week.

"Yeah, I can see that." Bogum stated as he eyed my pile of books in his arms pitifully. "I see Mr. Park is giving you guys a tough time again, huh?"

"When does he ever not give us a hard time anyway? Ugh, I swear to God." Wendy exclaimed as she appeared out of nowhere.

"Aaaaaand good morning to you too, Wendy. Anyway, I should get going. My first class is about to start. Babe, here are your nerd stuff. My goodness, you should be careful you might get too smart." He teased which earned him a slap on his shoulder. "But seriously, babe please be careful and be sure to get some rest when you can. Okay? Catch you ladies later." He gave me one last kiss on the cheek before he left.

Park Bogum. A great guy to be honest. Handsome. Smart. Athletic. Rich. Popular. And most of all, has a great personality. Literally, every girls' dream. Typical cliché prince charming. You're probably thinking in your head right now "Where's the but?" No buts here. Well at least not in respect to him as a person. Trust me, I have yet to find a flaw in this man. But why am I even looking for a flaw in the first place? Ugh, this is way too early for my brain to handle. I tend to overthink things, you know? It's not that I don't like him. I do. He's a great boyfriend. I just.. I don't know. Nope. What am I thinking? I'm happy with him. Am I really? Is it healthy to question whether you're happy with your partner or not? I don't know anymore. 

"Uh hello earth to Irene? Have I been talking to myself for the last five minutes?" Wendy asked with her eyes growing as large as saucers.

"Sorry I'm just tired from last night. Jeez, stop scaring me so early in the morning, Wenzilla." I replied as I tried to pinch both her eyes to make them return to a more normal size. 

"Whatever, Bae. You're lucky I ain't no Mr. Park. You better wake up now though we're almost late for our Chemistry class with him. You know how he gets when you don't pay attention to him during class." Wendy grimaced.

"Good god, you don't have to remind me. I am now fully awake. That man is crazy. I mean can't I ing yawn? It's a reflex action. And just because I'm yawning doesn't mean I'm gonna sleep and I'm not paying attention to him. Besides, it's not my fault that his class is so damn boring." I whined.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Well, his requirements surely aren't boring. I mean Jesus, who gives his students a baby thesis to work on for three days? What kind of monstrosity is this?"

"Uhh Wen-"

"His course is not the only course I'm taking you know? Why is he being such a ?"

"Wendyyyy plea-"

 "I swear to God I'm so close to dropping his ing class-" Wendy suddenly stopped speaking as she bumped into someone in the hallway and turned to face forward.

"Ms. Son, if you have a problem with the way I do things in my class, please see me after this and I can walk you through the purpose of these "monstrosities" you are referring to." Mr. Park coldly stated as he glared at Wendy before entering the classroom.

"Well . Good morning to me indeed." 

"Let's just go inside. We still have a long day ahead of us, Wen."

Mr. Park's class was nothing short of boring. I'm going crazy. Why is he the one teaching all this hard stuff? He can't even explain balancing chemical equations properly. I don't think he's qualified to demonstrate the exercises in the book. God knows what part of school would be left standing if he attempts to mix one of the chemicals together. I'm better off on my own studying these things. Thank god for YouTube. YouTube is truly my bestfriend. Thank heavens, I've done some advanced reading on this material he's teaching today. I might as well go up there and teach this to my classmates instead of that big chunk of boredom and suffering standing in front of us. At this point, I'm just waiting for the lunch break. 

1:00 PM

"Hallelujah! We're finally out of that hell hole. God, I hate lab. Three straight hours with Mr. Park makes me want to throw up and lock myself in an asylum. He drives me nuts, Rene."

"Wow, Wen. That's so sweet. Sounds like he's your soulmate."

"Jesus, Rene. Why are you so disgusting? Let's just get some lunch. My head is about to explode." 

I laughed and dragged Wendy in the direction of the school's cafeteria. "Come on, let's feed you before you go Wenzilla on me again."

The first thing I see as I entered the cafeteria is the massive line of people waiting to get their food. As soon as I saw that, I immediately wanted to cry. I hated waiting in line.

"Well, . This day just keeps on getting worse don't it? Why the is everybody having their lunch at 1:00 PM?" 

I can't help but burst out laughing seeing Wendy's clearly annoyed face. "Oh god, Wenzilla is about to come out. Wen, it's the normal time to eat lunch and aren't you used to this by now? Let's just go to our usual spot in the garden. I brought some packed lunch good for two today anyway."

"Alright, sorry. I'm just so hungry already. Three hours with Mr. Park and extreme hunger isn't really a good combination for me." Wendy said apologetically.

We walked in the direction of the school garden and finally escaped the mess that is the school cafeteria. As we stepped out into the garden, I could immediately see the calming scene right in front of me. Fall had just began and everything is coated in a pretty orange color. We chose to sit under our usual tree. A tree large enough to protect us from the blazing sun in the early afternoon. I took out my packed lunch and handed it to Wendy. We began to eat as we examined the scenery in the garden. Some of the school's clubs are using the lunch break to gather and do some last minute preparations for the annual org festival which will be held later. The art club is in the west, adding some finishing touches to their pieces which they will use for their showcase. The photography club is in the east, doing their usual photography stuff I don't know anything about. And across from our usual spot is the school's dance club working hard on polishing their routine for later. 

"Damn. The dance club really got some hotties on their line up this year. I think we should sign up later." Wendy said as she hungrily eyed the members of the dance club.

I eyed Wendy annoyingly and tried to pull her back to reality by giving her a little wave in front of her face. "What are you even saying, Wen? You don't even dance. And even if you did, why are you dragging me into this mess?" 

"Uhhh. I know how to dance.." I gave Wendy a look at this statement. "...A little bit." Still giving her the look. "Okay, fine I don't know how to dance! But what if I wanna learn? Isn't that what the school's dance club is for? And this is why you're coming with me. You're a great dancer, Rene! You should totally join and teach me as well. Stop wasting your talent and put it to good use. Please?" Wendy held on to me like a leach and gave me her best puppy look which made me want to puke out my lunch.

"Nope. Not getting dragged into this mess. If you wanna join, join on your own."

"Aww men. Why not?" Wendy whined.

"The application process for the dance club lasts until the end of the semester! That will take up too much of my time, Wen. I don't think I can handle that."

"Oh come on. If you n