"FWLS23" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

computer playing, were the same. I didn't see what the hush was
all about.

Apparently, the other kids didn't get the point either, as
they exchanged confused whispers among themselves, and shrugged a
lot. I slid up to them, exchanging the secret SF2 master's
handshake we learned at school. (It seemed that seven of the
kids here were on that top ten list I mentioned earlier. The
rest were scrubs.)

"So, what's this all about?" I asked the guy who was holding
the #4 slot. (I was at #2.)

"I dunno," #4 shrugged. "Some little nerd bumps into me, I
notice something he's carrying, and he invites me here. And then
I sit around for an hour. I don't get it."

"WARNING!" screamed my Suspicion. "Something is rotten in
Denmark!"

"Pipe down," I told myself.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. So what is that thing?"

"Looks like an SF2 console, 'cept for the weird sticks.
You're the guy who usually plays Jim Bob, right?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"I'm a J.Oxen guy myself."

"What, Mister Cheesepeedo?"

"So he's easy to win with. He's fun. Good throw priority."

"But his kicks--"

"Okay, it's ready!" one of the lab coats announced. "Who's
first?"

The guy with the funny bow tie quieted down the shrieks of
inhuman joy and shouts of "ME! ME!". "We'll take the top two
players first. It's only fair."

Ten groans of various pitches and consistences reverberated
around the empty warehouse as #1 and I pushed through the gaggle
towards the machine.