My Tuesdays were, as expected packed. No, I wasn't avoiding anything. I really did like it this way if it freed up my weekends.
The eSports club at large had a social around lunchtime. I popped in to kiss hands and shake babies. The kind of thing that would get me more people with high stats. Thankfully there were no babies. I also kept away from the hands.
With two classes before lunch and one afterwards I had to space out my jitters. Seriously, my legs wouldn't stop twitching every time I sat down.
We were going to play in our first league match game and the group chat was going wild. Usually, I lurk there because there's a little layer between a professional and her wards, but we were all adults.
That evening they worked on team drills. We would work on going to dragon at the right time and we will go work on going to larva at the right time. These were good skills to build.
Then we made sure to venture out a little bit further and test some avatars and builds we hadn't played recently. The fact is that when you have a main that you play, it's hard for you to switch. That's why people had a preference for what lane they were in, but all data preference for which character they're playing. Characters could work well in more than one role.
Most characters had an established to build that worked for three rolls depending on what the player wanted them to do.
When their character and their lane went together? They would do better. People like to say that we've optimized the game to within the nth degree. And really, all it means is that there's a meta.
Really all the meta was was the game behind the game. Or the strategies and tactics that you would get after playing and seeing what works best for you.
Whether you like it or not there was a meta and you get punished for not following it too closely. Then again some people would never follow on my back secret life and they were just here to play a game.
It's okay if you want to win. It's okay if you just want to play a game. It's a fun game whether you win or lose. I like winning, but that's not everything. Ah, who am I kidding.
I grabbed dinner right before practice.
What the kids did was set up a discord server that we worked out of. I would pop and talk to him a little bit.
"Hey professor. I heard about this esports academy and was wondering if the college wouldn't have somebody to hire somebody to coach us," Raquel said.
"That's a bold opening statement," Murph said. "She's been talking about a clinic. A gaming clinic or something like that where we can train on different things."
"I will definitely look into it. It would be a bit different if I paid for it but I think I know a guy," I said.
"Really?" Racquel said.
"I'm not making any promises here. I just think that I'm going to go check out one of these academies Wednesday."
I might be a good motivational speaker, but I wasn't exactly a top-tier coach by any means. I wanted to manage the team. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about how Mr. Mean hired his coaches for thirty dollars an hour. He didn't pay them much.
I was also thinking about if he actually looked like Mr. Bean. That might be one of the reasons that his wife was getting divorced. I guess that it was infidelity or money or both. There was a chance for me to steal a coach at a premium.
Someone told me they would pay me a few $100 an hour to coach some kids in DOTA, I would consider taking them up on that.
I'm sure there were lots of people that excelled at the game. They needed some help selling themselves.
"Are you going to go to the one that's in Paramus? Or the one that's in Newark? There's like five in Manhattan," Racquel said.
"There are two in Palisades Park. Both on the main street," Esther said. "I live nearby one if you want..."
I wasn't surprised that she was so quiet. I was surprised that she waited so long to say something and then this was what she was going to say. If there was anybody on the team that might be qualified to be a coach it will be her. Her actually selling herself would never happen though. She might be a amazing student but she did not want to work in sales or marketing.
"Oh that reminds me Esther," I said. "You left something in my office. I will be there tomorrow in the morning if you want to drop by and grab it."
I carefully didn't say exactly what it was just to make sure that she knew I wasn't trying to give her a secret away. In this day and age. You shouldn't be embarrassed to read about girls loving other girls in a book. Smut on its own was a pretty common genre for women to read. It being a comic book as well meant that there were graphic depiction as what was actually happening. And yeah that was not supposed to happen in a school.
We would have a little chat about that if she did show up.
I can see right now that she was becoming a star. We just need to figure out a way to showboat her potential or tell her story.
"Hey guys, so I've been thinking about this a lot. We need to think about the narrative or the story that we're telling them with our games. Last year the team... How well did the team do?" I asked the group.
There was silence on the line for a long time.
"The team didn't do so well. We won three but we lost five," Racquel said. "That was spring semester. It was two wins and six losses in fall."
It's a place to start.
"We already won two of our games. They were preseason games. They don't really count but they're still games," Murph said.
"You guys did great. You cut loose and you came together as a team. "
"But this time we're going to be up against Passaic and they've got that one guy, Lopez. He is like a genius jungler," Racquel said. "He is in his second year also. He went to high school with me."
We had our own genius jungler. Would be able to take down whatever they had. Unless this guy had an AP of 100, Combined with an AC of 100?
That would be unreal. I hadn't seen anyone in person with that high of a current ability. If I saw that I would assume that they were a known entity and not just somebody who played with their makes it home. Most of the people like that? They had an AP and an AC of one.
I didn't think my should be okay the game. But the gap between okay and professional grade was a vast chasm.
But we were bridging that gap one AC point at a time.
Murph had gone up again on his redacted ability. I was sitting good at around 700 Points. After our games tonight I might be close to the thousand I needed to see what he had now five points in.
We played several rounds between the A team and B team, talked through the logistics of the league game and I felt like it was a pretty good night. Only time would tell if we rose to the challenge.
The next morning, I had my customary two classes. It felt good to have them in the morning even though I knew that the first of the excuses were going to start rolling in. The one semester that I had classes that started around 8:00 a.m. so many grandmothers died. I didn't want to be the cause of any more more deaths.
It was just like having early classes made them pass away.
Thus, I didn't even blink about having a class started at 9:00 or 11:00. Being done with the didactic part of my day before noon was great. Before 1:00 was also an accomplishment. There was a lot of mental load involved with teaching kids and adults. Every so often I would get to do an evening class and there would be a student from a local high school that I questioned. If you're going to do advanced placement courses, that's one thing. If you can to take a business course at your community college when you could be starting for your high school exams? I wondered what you were going through.
So after I had a little bit of lunch and went to my office hours, I wasn't surprised to see Esther waiting for me. And of course Raquel was with her.
"Ladies, how are we doing?" I said.
"Well we have got club elections coming up. And we wanted to make sure that the team is separate from the club. It would be weird if we didn't make that distinction," Racquel said.
I nodded. The entity that was the school was one entity. Then there was the club itself. The club got money from the school to hold events. The team itself was affiliated with the school. It was a bit different than our sports that traveled.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
We still had to abide by some of the rules of the college. A big one was that anyone on the team had to be part of the school either as a student, a faculty member or staff. This meant I could recruit one of the janitors or Gladys. I wasn't too enthusiastic about Gladys but some of the staff were smooth talkers.
"I mean I support whatever happens. If you need me to count ballots I can understand that. When were we hoping to hold these elections? You're not thinking of leaving early are you?" I said, narrowing my eyes.
I hadn't checked with health file in a while, but I knew that she should be close to the last couple of credits she needed for her graduation. She might even be looking at it for your college already. Honestly, she probably should have applied by now. It didn't make sense for her to wait around when the NJ Stars program would admit her.
"I'm not leaving early. I'm just not going to take as many classes next semester because I can only transfer the stuff that I use in my associate's degree."
"What do you mean you can't transfer the stuff that's..." Esther said.
"She can transfer the 66 credits from her degree over to William Patterson. They'll take it the whole thing. But if she takes three credits in something they won't take? Then it's not guaranteed," I said.
Asked to put a hand over her mouth. This was technically her third semester. Summer one and two were very abbreviated three week affairs. It got shit out of the way but it wasn't exactly a whole 15 week semester where you could take 18 credits. Some students even took 21 credits. I thought that was too much personally. Especially for your first semester in community college. But it's really up to them. What they were doing with their lives wasn't it?
I was over at the camp of telling people that they should do whatever the heck they wanted. I was long past a part of my life where I gave people unsolicited advice. If you want advice from me? You have to solicit the hell out of it. And even then I wouldn't really give it out. Managing the team? I wouldn't call that giving out advice. It was more like leading my troops into battle.
"You planning on transferring your entire degree to a 4-year College after this?" I said.
Esther nodded.
"She was looking at Fairleigh Dickinson," Racquel said.
A bunch of colleges visited this week and we're doing career days and stuff for Hispanic Heritage month. I didn't notice that one being set up but then again I was busy working here. I wasn't trying to get this swag. For that I had the students.
They saw my eyes open wide.
Esther brought out something from her bag.
It was swag. I was so happy. She handed me over a mug and almost squelled into the light from just hand having it in my hand.
You so much Esther. This is the best thing ever and the thing you wanted. I have right here in my office and you can go still grab it if you want and..
Hold up Raquel said what thing did you leave and the professor's office because everyone wants to know what the Do you live in Millbrook or something? Was it your math notes? Was it some science textbook?
She left something very important to her that I was going to hold on for her until she returned. It was, of course something from her creative writing class.
"Oh shit a you're in expository writing to as well. Which textbook are you using? Of course I didn't see which girl I was giving it to." I was just holding it out and that was about the time that the wrong girl grabbed the book for me and I panicked. It was one thing. Buy your own smoke and talk to your friends about it. It was another thing to show someone else's smut to a third party.
"Is that level 99 villainess?" Raquel said.
Esther was mortified. I was mortified.
Then we all just kind of laughed for a little bit.
"You're a fan too?" I said.
"I thought I was the only one," Esther said.
"Girl there was a stack of like two dozen of those in the student center book shop," I said, looking her straight in the eye. "You didn't think that there was a reason that they sold it here of all places?"
"I guess I never thought about that," she said.
"It's simple supply and demand," Racquel. "Which is the other reason we are here. Scholarship money."
"Oh? We're finally there, huh?" I said. "You girls think that we can make a good case to the college?"
They both nodded.
"Well if you have a plan as to how we make this happen, then I'm all ears," I said.
"I didn't think that we would get this far," Racquel said. "But damn, Esther you have some good ideas. Alright what was the next step?"
"We need to raise forty thousand dollars to save Christmas?" Esther said.
"Please tell me you like Hallmark movies as much as you like..." I eyed the package, still in Racquels hands.
Racquel sheepishly handed it to Esther.
"Thanks, Bae," Esther said.
"Anytime boo."
"Do you guys need a minute?" I said.
"No. You said that you wanted to visit an e-sports academy? This one has a cash prize."
"You want to pay for your tuition with...cash prizes from non league games?" I said.
"And we want you to play on the team," Racquel said.
I leaned in, the classic pro gamer move.
"Oh ho ho," I said. "This will be a very merry Christmas indeed."
---
It wasn't that the Paramus Branch of the eSports Stars academy was particularly badly lit. When I walked in, it just felt darker. It had a very corporate feel. Honestly, I was surprised that it was as large as it was given the location. They had carved out a spot in what used to be a busy Mall.
Because of where it was that meant that you could easily walk to a food court from there, which was great because they didn't let you eat inside. They could have used an old Macy's or JC Penney location and this would have been great as well. They should have at least. It would have been right proper for them to buy up the lease for a building that used to be a Kmart and renovate it.
I arrived to see what exactly was going on and a young woman with an afro greeted me at the front counter. The sleek gray counter reminded me of every single upscale hotel in New York City. Places where they didn't have the room for something but they wanted to make it look opulent anyway. I looked at the various options they had and saw the league pricing, then I walked over to her.
We both clocked that we were at least on the same side. Two black women in the same geek space? I didn't know her but I would do just about anything to help her hide a body.
"Hello Miss how you doing?"
"I'm doing fine," I said. "Just checking it all out."
"For yourself or for a child?"
"For myself and potentially for my DOTA team," I said.
"Did you want to try some one on one coaching?" She asked. "Or is this a team thing "
Did I? Heck why not. Might as well see how far the rabbit hole went.
"What's the rate for a team session," I said.
"For five people it's $100 an hour. We book a minimum of two hours and then if you like that we can do a reduced price on three or more sessions. We make it 170 instead of 200," she said.
She had both a customer service voice and a practice way of speaking. That made me realize that she knew her shit cold. She was on it inside and out.
"I can give you the tour if you want," she said.
"I would really appreciate that."
She led me around and there were three big areas that had been designated like classrooms for different things. Surprisingly, each one of the rooms had about 20 computers set up in various States. The first one looked immaculate and I could tell it I was being prepared for something else. The second one was being used even though it was only around 4:00 p.m.
The center of the space had a snack stand, three overpriced vending machines that accepted credit cards. There was enough negative space there to give Marie Kondo anxiety. They could have used some of it for something but it was mostly posters of the various games. If it had been a little older, perhaps they would have a trophy wall. There was even a banana stand where the one other worker I had seen was peddling frozen bananas.
Still it looked like there was money in the banana stand. He had a line of five customers.
There was something phallic about gamers and eating hot dog shaped snacks. Was it in their blood? I have no idea. It was like turkey legs at Comic-Cons. What came first, the con or the turkey leg? The world may never know. It definitely wasn't the deodorant.
"That's the vip room we use for parties," she said, showing me the further room from the front. It was tucked away in a far corner in between two of the their 'classrooms'.
She honestly probably could have run the place in her sleep.
We walked into one of the rooms.
"Edwards! Fix your defenses they're running right past you," she yelled from across the room. "Bernie! This isn't the kiddie pool! Go get them."
"Yes ma'am," both men said loudly.
She immediately commanded the intention of the boys before they went back to what they were doing. I wouldn't even call them boys. They were definitely men just very young. I really couldn't place her age either. She could be eighteen or she could be twenty to twenty five.
"Ms. Rachel!" One of the boys said. "I got ganked!"
"Get back up on your feet, Jimothy!" she cheered.
She walked me back to the counter.
"I like to egg them on to do better. Unfortunately I have a lot of unpaid shadowing before they up my pay, but until then..."
I held up a hand. There's a way that a quiet professional works. She knew this place inside and out. If she left, this place might implode.
"Let me ask a strange question if you don't mind," I said. "Just between us girls, do you like working here?"
She sort of paused there at the desk and looked at me blankly for five seconds. I could see her checking to see if anyone else is watching. She looked up and I could see the security camera as well. She smirked.
"The pay is shit," she said. " But the hours work for me. "The boss man has been training me on how to coach this stuff and I'm getting pretty good."
"Kelly Thomas," I said, reaching out a hand to her.
"Rachel Lewis," she said.
"What would your price be?" I said.
"I'm sorry?" she said.
I tapped my hand against the counter. I wasn't propositioning her, but I did want her to know that I was serious.
"You've been working here for at least three to six months. Good enough to understand what's going on and good notes around the company. They trust you what running the company but your pay is shit because they can get away with that. They don't think you know your value. I know your value. What would you charge?"
"I would charge...how many people?" She said.
"Five people. But also give me a quote for ten."
"For two hours? I don't want to give a number but..."
"I think you misunderstood me. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Professor Kelly Thomas. I teach business at Bergen Community College. I also manage our DOTA team."
$300," she said, narrowing her eyes.
I smiled.
"How many hours coaching experience do you have?" I said.
"Two hundred," she said. "Boss man wants two fifty first, but there's functionally no difference between that. I would get those hours in about eight weeks if I kept this up."
"Two hundred and fifty hours? That honestly seems like a lot."
It did. I was wondering it took for her to do this. If she wanted a raise then this is what they were saying she had to do to get a raise and it made sense for her to do that. And the time is going to pass anyway so she might as well invest in herself. The current meta for jobs was switched every two years. Employers had no honor or family values.
"How about a trial?" I said. "You come and coach the team and then we see where it goes from there?"
He face dropped.
"What? Oh you think I'm not going to pay you? Not girl, your time is worth more than that," I said.
I quickly texted the group chat.
Kelly: I have a potential coach here for our game. Does anyone want to have a game night?
Amir: Don't forget that tonight is sip and paint. What night were you thinking?
Stacey: She has her game Thursday and practice Tuesday.
"How's Monday?" I asked.
"Monday could work," she said. "Those days are pretty dead here. Where would we be?"
"We would be in Ridgewood," I said.
I can see the gears turning into mind. She was thinking about whether this was more one awful whether this was more of a sure thing.
"Just so you understand, we can work around your schedule. It's me and my two friends," I said. "We're actually all heading out to a wine and painting event later tonight, otherwise I would say we could do it tonight. But right now it's only only going to be the three of us until I can get the team on board. Oh the team? We practice on Tuesdays."
We exchanged information and made a plan for her to head to coach us Monday night.