"You know, I never hated you, I was just scared that you hated me."
"I could never hate you, I just don't know what to do around you. I guess that, I dunno, I get nervous around you..."
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Renjun Fencing AU coming soon!
The day of anticipation has finally come. It's Nationals! I wake up and change into an athletic sports top with shorts and do the rest of my morning routine before grabbing my fencing gear and heading to Julia's room to wake her up. "Julia, it's time to get up. We have Nationals today and we need to eat breakfast." At the sound of Nationals, Julia immediately gets out of bed and starts to get ready. I leave her room for her to get ready in peace and head down to the hotel cafeteria to grab us some fruits, muffins, and juice. As I enter the room, Julia is all ready to go, her hair in a high ponytail. We eat in silence and then make our way out to our shuttle.
The others eventually join us, and then we are off to the Nationals venue. When we arrive, I see that a bunch of other teams have already come. There are shuttle buses completely taking up the parking lot, coaches trying to take a headcount, fencers getting their gear checked and replaced if needed, parents trying to find parking spots. Bottom line, everything is a bit chaotic. We get out of the bus and then all line up to get our gear checked. After everything is all ready to go, we head inside the venue to warm up, stretch and get suited up.
Venue:
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I feel the stares of the other fencers as I make my way through the building. I make eye contact with Renjun and can tell that he's going through the same thing. I do some warm ups and stretches with Julia, Mark and Renjun. After everyone feels ready to go, we start to suit up. I put on my knickers (white fencing pants with a thick material), chest protector, under armor, my jacket with my electrical body chord wire, my lamé, and then I pick up my mask, foil, glove, and water bottle. I make my way towards my coaches who already have the schedule of which teams we will be fencing first. The girls are up first. The first team that we will be fencing is a team from Ulsan. As I make my way across the venue to our strip, I hear whispers coming from some of the other fencers.
"Omg wait, is that Aria Wong? You know from China's international fencing team?"
"Omg wait she's teammates with Huang Renjun? Isn't he like one of the best fencers in Seoul?"
"I feel so bad for their opponents."
I smirk to myself as I head over to our strip. I sit down in a chair and wait for my teammates, my opponents, and the referee to come over. After everyone has found their place, the fencing starts. Minnie is up first, and she does fairly well. She has a thing for sit counter attacks, and I don't know how, but she makes it work every single time. They fence to 10, and Minnie wins easily. Aera fences next. She has a bit of trouble since her opponent has long legs and long arms. She loses, but I'm proud that she put in a lot of effort. Julia and Renee fence next and they win extremely easily. I mean they're already pretty experienced fencers. The boys look on our bouts and continue to cheer for us. Before I know it, it's my turn. I step up to the strip, plug in my body chord to the machine and my foil, salute my opponent, and go to my starting line. Once the referee makes the call to fence, I advance, initiating the attack. I watch my opponent. She's small, which means a smaller target, but she doesn't move that fast. I hit her multiple times using the same tactic of a faint disengage lunge, so I end the bout pretty quickly. After my bout, the boys fence next. And let me tell you, they absolutely DESTROYED the competition like always. And that's how most of our bouts worked. It's one and done, so once you lose, you are eliminated.
