Ally Choi (12) spent most of the final wave desperately chasing her targets. 

On the last day of the wave, Choi woke up bright and early to surprise one of her targets at the gymnasium where they practiced. She organized a scheme with a couple of her friends to keep watch of multiple entrances, but in the end, Choi’s target never came. 

At that point, she began to lose hope.

That night, however, she was blessed with a stroke of luck. 

In the car with her family, music blasting, driving up to Los Angeles to visit some extended family, Choi was scrolling through Instagram when a photo of her target with a Costa Mesa ballroom location sticker illuminated her face.

On a whim, Choi decided to look up the location on her phone. At that moment, her eyes glinted with excitement. 

She whipped out her magnifying glass and detective pipe as soon as she noticed that she might be  close enough to win the nearing six-month-long game of senior assassin. Zooming in on the carpet in the background of her target’s photo, Choi analyzed its bright red swirls and was able to pin down the specific location by matching the carpet’s pattern to a photo online that helped her determine the exact location of her target. 

Choi was buzzing with a mixture of anticipation and nervousness as she approached the discovered location. 

Water bottle in hand, Choi crept around the entrance of the ballroom, finding her sniper spot in the doorway of a nearby bathroom. The water in the plastic cylinder shook, the camera lens blurred with the vibrations from her hand, her eyes grew drier and drier by the second. As she stared intensely at the doorway, Choi was ready to attack. 

Finally, Choi could put an end to constantly scrutinizing her surroundings, keeping a floatie on her person 24/7, and stressing about getting her targets out each wave. It was time.

A faint sound of laughter and heels clicking the ground grew louder and louder as her target approached. A rush of adrenaline coursed through Choi’s veins as she bounded toward the group. 

Phone steady and bottle pointed, Choi splashed her unassuming target. They stood frozen, wearing a shocked expression as Choi immediately began spewing a barrage of apologies. However, despite this wave of sorries, Choi was ecstatic.

She had won senior assassin.