Vinny

2. Old School

"Ow dude! stop hitting my shoulder." Kyle said as Vince slammed his fist into the same spot on his shoulder over and over.

"This is for your stupid parm night," Vince replied as he hit him one last time, "You knew that was a serious match we had to win."

Vince and his video gaming buddies were preparing for an online gaming tournament, held as part of NSEUT. The National Shoot Em' Up Tournament was held in Los Angeles every year. Groups of varying size and skill levels gathered to play, and watch others play a multitude of First-Person Shooter games. Vince and his friends were planning on joining the tournament for five player tournament of their game this year. The match last night, however, was just a preliminary match in a much smaller tournament, yet if they place well in this tournament, they will be making a name for themselves.

"Vinny, it wasn't a real match man." Kyle debated, and he was right. The team had been having five weekly matches for the past year now as practice.

"We have to practice how we play, that's the only way we're going to get better," Vince, or Vinny as almost all of his friends and classmates liked to call him, explained, "The tournament is only a few months away and we have to continue to get better if we are to pose any threat to the other teams. You saw how good all of them were in the tournament last year."

That's what started them on their road to the championship after all, seeing the tournament last year, how intense the competition got, and most importantly how much fun everyone was having. Ever since the small group of four first teamed up they have practiced constantly, all in preparation for this upcoming year's amateur tournament. While the initial group was only four, they didn't get their fifth member until recently. A quick look around the table of fellow gamers comforted Vince's worries. Kyle, while easily distracted, was an excellent sniper and had always found a way to keep a cool head in any scenario. Then there was Doug and Ian, Doug was a good friend. He has been a lot more focused on keeping his grades up for scholarship and winning this tournament for the prize, rather than the typical high school things that almost every other guy in the school had on their mind, like girls and sports. His best friend Ian was very similar, which makes sense since they were practically raised by the same woman. Ian's mother had left when Ian was only four. The single father was constantly at work to support his son, so Doug's mother had taken Ian in, treating him as family after school instead of Ian going home to an empty house. And then in the two empty seats normally sat Vinny's and Kyle's gir--

"Hey, guess who?" chanted the chorus of the two ladies as they covered both Vince's and Kyle's eyes. The smell of freshly painted nails wafted into the boys' noses.

"Hm," Kyle said in a mocking tone at the need to ponder, then finished the thought with a grin, "I know it's you Cassie."

"Very funny Jess, but it doesn't work when you do it so often!" said Vince, as a giggle erupted from the two girls.

"Gotcha!" they exclaimed together as they removed their hands from in front of the boy's eyes, which revealed that they had switched places from their usual positions. Cassie had covered Vince's eyes and Jess had covered Kyle's.

"Oh, good one." Doug said sarcastically, who had seen the girls approach but kept quiet, happy to see his friends fooled. They girls joined the table, putting their lunch bags on the table. They pulled out what seemed like an endless amount of food from the small yet stylish bags. The guys of the table looked on in awe as they soon realized that their trays of standardized high school slop paled in comparison. But then again, this happened every lunch.

"How come you girls always bring the best food?" Vince whined in hunger for actual food.

"How come you guys can't cook?" Jess responded mockingly

"I can too cook!" Kyle responded rapidly

"Mac and cheese doesn't count hun" Cassie said, teasing him. Vince and Doug let out a laugh knowing it was true, but Kyle had to force his laugh out. He knows she is only teasing him, but she says that kind of stuff a lot, usually at her boyfriend's expense and it just rubs him the wrong way. Ian, being the quiet one of the group, even giggled a bit but quickly smothered the laughter as a sign of respect as he could sense Kyle's dismay towards the remark.

"What are you two laughing about? You guys can't cook either!" Jess said, which was followed by another round of laughter. Vince was, fine with jokes told about him, especially with how many he told of others. Kyle looked on at Vince and wished he could take a joke as well as he does, but they just get to him, get under his skin, and he can't help but feel like the butt of the joke instead of just a part of it. Vince was the last one to stop laughing, but once he did, the seemingly natural leader began to speak in a more serious tone.

"Okay guys, so we got a match against the Von-Dominators tomorrow night. This is a serious match and we need to be on our best if we have a chance against them." Vince said, his face shifting to a more serious position.

"They're over at UCLA, right?" Ian asked, more as a test to his memory than as an actual question. "Some German exchange students that found each other and made a first-person shooter club if I remember correctly."

"Yeah, they're studying some video game design, so they really know the ins and outs of the gaming process."

"How the hell did you get us a match against the Von-Doms?" Jess chimed in.

"They contacted me actually, they were watching the preliminary matches of the tournament, saw our match the other day, and more importantly, our potential, or at least until our sniper went AFK." Vince said, hitting Kyle in the soon to be bruised spot on his shoulder.

"Ow! I said I was sorry!" he exclaimed as he gripped his shoulder, "Good thing I'm not a pitcher anymore" he said happily joking at first, but the smile soon faded as he realized how much he missed the sport.

The group went back to eating, but just as all the ruckus at their table had come to an end, the doors to the cafeteria swung open. A new face walked through.