Coven | BTS 🔞

26| Starting line

6 am already, and the strident sound of an alarm was blasting in Alice's ears, making her burry her head under her pillow with a grunt.

"Good morning sunshine!"

Megan erupted in Alice's room, cheerful and energetic. Alice opened an eye and saw her friend jumping around the room, opening the curtains and picking up Alice's dirty clothes on the ground to put them in the laundry basket, her feet sliding on the hardwood floor like she was dancing.

The girl grunted louder, hating the fact that her roomate was a morning person.

"Leave me to die," she groaned, her sleepy voice muffled by her pillow.

"Come on! I'll make you a smoothie just like you like it!"

Megan finally left the bedroom, her blonde hair bouncing around and Alice turned on her back, opening an eye and squinting in the daylight. Her back was painful like she had a sunburn and she remembered that Jungkook had scratched her with his fingernails the night before. She sat up in her bed and rolled her shoulders, assessing the level of damage he had done. It stung a little, but it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought.

She had kicked him out the night before after they had sex. She had felt like somehow, he wanted to stay, but she needed to go to sleep early for her competition and didn't want his sorry eyes on her every time he saw the scratches on her shoulders, visible above her tank top. Alice didn't mind too much about them, although she was worried the scrapes would be seen when wearing her singlet for the competition, which was today.

The girl finally stood up and shuffled to the kitchen where Megan and a berry smoothie was waiting for her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking the glass in her hands and swallowing the purple goo in a few gulps.

"Are you ready?" the blonde asked, assessing her friend.

The night before, Megan had come back to the apartment around midnight, and she had met Jungkook in the stairs. His messy hair and flushed cheeks informing her of the previous activities that had been going on in her residence. Alice was thankful she didn't mention anything to her.

"I'm ready!" exclaimed Alice, putting down the glass on the table.

***

At 7:30, both girls arrived at the setting of the competition. The sun was shining high in the sky, but the air was cold and crisp. Alice watched the little puffs of fog coming out of Megan's mouth as she breathed, rubbing her hands together to warm them up. At least it wasn't windy, which Alice appreciated. Running in the cold was one thing but running with the wind hitting you in the face and making you deviate from your trajectory was another.

The race was at another University, a little further North of Downtown Seoul. The campus was bigger and more ancient, nestled on the side of a mountain that was part of a National Park. This meant that the whole run was deep in the untamed woods of the preserve.

The two girls entered the main building and walked through the lobby to get out at the other side, directly at the base of the mountain, following the directions of the volunteers.

They arrived on a large grass field where tents representing each University were planted all around. People were already warming up and stretching on the grass and the energy in the air was palpable, the excitement and enthusiasm mixing in the atmosphere and making the air thick with vitality. Alice breathed in deeply, feeling the anxiousness root itself in her stomach. This wasn't her first competition, but the thrill in the air always managed to heighten her nervousness.

The trail was going deep into the woods, delimited by small yellow flags along the path. A thick white line was drawn on the grass and at the two sides, flags were directing the runners into the forest. The end line was a little further, shown by a blue inflatable structure forming an arch for the people arriving to pass through. Again, another path, coming out of the forest this time, was directing the runners to the finish line.