Days flew by fast as I spent all of my time between school and work. They had me working split shifts now, since they are too lazy and cheap to hire on a new person. I wake up, put in a few hours of work before school, go to school, then come back for some more afterwards. I didn't really mind it, it kept me busy, and who wouldn't like some extra cash, right? Per the usual, my parents were constantly worrying about me, they think I'm working too much. Maybe I am, but it's okay. I honestly wouldn't be doing anything else besides play Athalia Online, which then they would be worried about me because I wouldn't leave me room. Those two, constantly worrying.

I had been at work for about an hour as the morning part of my split shift today whenever my phone buzzed. I was in the back so I grabbed it out of my pocket, our managers were cool with having phones or iPods as long as we got our work done. A text notification greeted me as I looked at the screen. Jennifer – Text Message. There was only one Jennifer that I know and I'm fairly sure she gave me her number and not the other way around. I unlocked the phone to read the message, 'I thought I told you to text me! Rude!'

I automatically read the text in her voice inside my head, which I guess is a little weird, but oh well. "How did she get my number?" I whispered to myself as I sent back a reply, 'Sorry been busy. How did you get my number?'

I just about had my phone in my pocket when it buzzed again, "Really?" I said out loud in the giant storage room.

'Remember when you went to the bathroom? You left your phone. I figured why not!' Now I understand why I need to have a pass code on my phone. Better yet, now I know never to leave my phone somewhere.

'Now that's rude. What do you need?' I didn't even try to put my phone away this time as I could see she was already typing.

'Another tutoring session tonight?'

I sat there and thought for a second, I really wanted to say no just because that is interfering with my valuable sleep time, but at the same time, I know I was going to say yes because, well, she's hot. Maybe, deep down inside, I knew I was going to say yes because I'm tired of the same old shit. I want to be able to connect with people, you know, socialize like a normal human being. 'Sure, get off at 10.'

Well that was that, part of me hoped I wouldn't be tutoring until 3 am again, but at the same time, the other part hoped it was that long or longer. I decided it was time to get back to work, though the kind of mindless work I have to do it is easy for me to get lost in thought. More often than not it meant getting lost in my thoughts about plans that I have whenever I log into Athalia Online next. I let out a sigh as I stocked up some cereal, I was dying to be back in that world.

Before I knew it, I was sitting down in class waiting for it to start. I went through my routine of opening up my laptop and any assignments; there was an in class assignment posted last night that I got done in about 2 minutes. I looked over some of the code just to make sure everything worked like it should, which it did, of course. I didn't even notice someone standing right next to me, I guess I should have sensed the glare. "Not even going to say hi, huh?" I looked up to see Jennifer giving me the all too often glare.

"Sorry, got lost in..." I was cut off by her head peering into my laptop.

"Isn't this the assignment we are doing in class?"

"Yeah..." I said shamefully.

"Well aren't you just a little overachiever!" There was an odd sense of joy and humor in her voice, usually my classmates dread whenever I do more work.

"So I've been wanting to ask you something," she waited for me to make eye contact as I was zoning out into my screen, "you never answered any of my questions about AO."

"There's nothing to really tell," my nervous head scratch made its famous appearance.

I guess our talk caught the ear of a passing classmate, in particular Tyler, who stopped as he was walking by and turned toward us, "Did you just say AO?"

"Yeah," Jennifer turned toward the grinning ginger.

"I just got that game last night!" He said almost jumping with excitement, "I haven't even opened it yet!"

"Well that's exciting," Jennifer said, sounding almost half hearted, "I was actually just inquiring Nicholas here about his character," she turned toward me with a fake angry face and a raised voice, "which he is refusing to share!"

"It's not polite to poke people about their characters you know," Tyler defended me, as I sat there with a blank face.

"Spoken like a true noob," she teased.

"Hey! I've had plenty of hours in other MMOs!"

Their argument was actually quite entertaining, they were both going at it like an old married couple. I can't remember the last time I had a conversation with classmates before...god I'm depressing. When did I start acting like this? I used to be a happy, outgoing kid! Man I wonder where….smack! I got a slap right upside the head by you know who, and now the lecture, "ANYWAY! I fully expect an answer to my questions tonight!"

"You really had to smack me before you said that?"

"You wouldn't of listened otherwise," she said as she walked away toward her seat, she was right.

Tyler turned to me, "You guys got plans tonight?" he gave me an awkward, smiling face as he nudged me with his elbow.

"I'm tutoring her."

"Hmmm, I could use some tutoring myself...three a crowd?" He slowly looked over his shoulder at me as he had started walking away. I don't know what it is about this guy, but it was almost like a saw a little bit of myself in him. I never really saw him talk to anyone, besides give a compliment to someone every now and again. I always felt bad, he was the kind of kid that would always attempt to start a conversation, but it would either go unnoticed or die out quickly.

"You're welcome to join, 10 o' clock. Lab 4."

I could almost see his eyes light up as I answered, "Thanks man! Maybe you can give me some pointers on..."

"Mr. Pearson," the teacher interrupted, "If you don't mind, I think we will start class now."

The class chuckled as Tyler just now noticed everyone had found their seats and he was the only one standing. Man, his face was almost as red as his hair, "So-Sorry!" He squealed out as he quickly found his seat.

Look at that, I socialized like a normal human being and I actually enjoyed it. To think, I've spent the last few years going through not even trying to talk or befriend anyone. All I cared about was improving my skills so I can get a good job out of college. I stared blankly at the professor as he lectured on and on, hopefully it wasn't too obvious that I was tuning him out.

I started wondering how I was going to explain my AO character to those two, I took a glimpse back to see Jennifer peering into her computer and Tyler clicking away on his phone. Man, the way he was furiously typing at that thing, must be writing a book. How can I even begin to describe my character? Now that I think about it, I hate that word. Character. It's not a character, it's me. It's not just some role I play. Damn I get sidetracked easily. Let's see, first and foremost I'm a solo player, need to make sure they understand that. My character is built around speed, so I use lightweight armor. Actually, the armor I have now is meant for ranged characters, but it does the job. My primary weapon is a pair of long, curved knives that are known as speed blades in the game. So pretty much, my idea of describing my character is naming all the things I have...I let out a sigh. I guess that'll have to do.

As soon as class was over Jennifer and Tyler were on me like white on rice, we talked about the specifics of tonight while we walked out of the class. We planned out that I would bring some soda and Tyler was going to order pizza. Jennifer was going to...well...show up and look pretty. As I got into my car to head back for the second part of my shift at work, I realized something. "Damn," I said out loud as my car's engine roared to life. Mark was the manager on duty this afternoon, so it was going to be a long shift. He was a good manager, but he wasn't much for small talk. I'm on his good side because I do my job, but ever heard of the saying that managers work workers? Yeah that's true, I usually end up doing my job plus a few others when he is on duty. He gives me more responsibility because he knows I'll get it done, unlike with other people. Unfortunately, a side effect of lots of work when you have plans afterwards is the shift goes extremely slow. Oh well, off to work I go!

After my shift I was in such a rush to get going that I almost forgot to get the soda. After some casual small talk with the cashiers, I zoomed my way over to the school. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about hanging out with people. When I walked into the room, I found Tyler and Jennifer already there and arguing about something. "Good! Nicholas is here!" She pointed for me to sit down next to her, kind of scarily, after I sat down she continued, "Now explain to this noob that guilds are extremely important in AO."

"Why are you two arguing about this exactly?" I decided to avoid the question.

"Because," Tyler elaborated, "I feel like joining a guild is so restricting in a game like AO. You can literally do anything! Why restrict yourself into the ranks of a fascist-like system? I like to do what I want, when I want, and how I want!"

"Fascist-like?" Jennifer gave him one hell of a stink eye, "You have a leader system in order to establish a working order. It's the most efficient way to get work done. Organization is everything!"

"I'm not going to work my tail off so some fat ass can reek the benefits!"

"You really are stupid," she turned toward me, "now do you understand?"

I nodded, and decided to join in on the conversation, "I tend to lean away from guilds, myself."

"Why's that?" Jennifer shot an evil glare as Tyler's smile grew.

"My own reasons," I looked away from both of them. As usual, I was totally choking. Whenever I tried to start conversations or participate in the past, I always lose track of what I'm saying and my mind goes blank, much like when I get nervous for a speech. I couldn't possibly think of a way to explain how I feel about in game stuff to them.

"Really? You are going to join into the argument and that is your reasoning? Better elaborate further, Mr. Falcon," Jennifer gave her best impression of our teacher.

After watching Tyler bust up laughing, and fighting back a smirk of my own, I took a breath and just went for it, "In the game, if I were to join a guild, it would have to act more like a family. I believe that the point of teaming up with people is to help each other, so why wouldn't you split everything evenly? Even then, I would prefer a small guild. I don't like being associated with people, so if I am going to be, I better know who they are and what they are about," I stopped and gave out a half fake chuckle, "course I don't get along with people well enough to ever join a guild, anyway."

Tyler gave a little side smirk, "I don't know man, you are doing a pretty good job of getting along with us right now!"

Jennifer looked at me, "You're both stupid."

"Pizza!" Tyler hollered as he got a text, he then went bolting out of the room.

"Nick," I turned toward her, "thank you."

I was a little taken back by the sudden mood swing, and I half expected her to slap me and say something like "just kidding!" She barely made eye contact, "Don't make it all weird, alright? I just want to thank you for helping me out."

I continued to look at her, imagine that, she is shying away from my stare. Seems a little backwards to me. It was at this moment that I noticed she was blushing slightly; holy crap, I thought to myself, I made a girl blush. "It's no problem, really," I gave out a cheesy smile, "in fact, I should be thanking you."

It was her turn to be taken back now, "Why? You are dong extra work just for me! It's not like I'm teaching you anything..."

"You're actually teaching me a lot..." I looked down as I spoke.

"What do you mean?" I could tell she had a puzzled look on her face, even without looking up.

I put up a fake smile as I looked up at her, "Maybe I'll tell you one day, but for now, let's get some work done!"

She stared at me for a few seconds before agreeing. It was at this time that Tyler reappeared with a couple pizzas. There was then an ensuing argument about the best crust size, I swear, these two just like to argue for the hell of it. The next few hours were mostly me talking, or rather lecturing, about various functions and such. Jennifer kept right on track with what I was talking about, Tyler, on the other hand, needed a little extra help. It's okay though, I didn't mind. I don't think he really minded the occasional teasing he got from Jennifer whenever she got something that he didn't. It was all in good fun.

"Hey guys," Tyler looked up from his computer, this broke a good twenty minute drought in conversation as we were all working, "What if we met up in AO sometime?"

"I don't see why not!" Jennifer was quick to respond very excitedly.

"I'll have to see…."

"No," Jennifer interrupted me, "You will agree to his proposal," I stared at her, "now!"

I gave out a sigh, "Fine."

"Sweet!" Tyler jumped out of his chair, "I'll totally get my character set up whenever I get home tonight. What are your guy's usernames? I'll add you first thing!"

"Jiller_95," Jennifer said with a slight flush to her face, "It's silly I know."

Both of their eyes were on me, "ShadowFalcon."

Tyler recorded both of the names in his phone, "Wow! No numbers or anything, nice going, Nick! So when can we all log on?"

We all agreed to log on this coming weekend, Jennifer and I would meet Tyler in the Town of Beginnings. After that, we would show him around and teach him some tricks to the game. I was actually quite intrigued to see how Jennifer looked in AO. My appearance didn't change that much in game, besides some epic spikey hair and a more toned body. Of course, there is the matter of the graphics in game. They are spectacular, but they aren't real world recreating spectacular, though pretty damn close.

It was that time to head home again, I don't remember exactly, but I don't think I stopped smiling the entire way home. I walked in the front door to find my parents in the living room, "Hey."

"How's it going, son? Late night again?"

"Yeah I was tutoring a couple of...friends," I don't know why I hesitated to spit that word out.

"Oh man, the big f word, huh?" My dad was quick to tease.

"Stop it!" My mom came to my defense, "It's about time he made some friends!"

"About time? That's a confidence booster!" I joked as I kicked off my shoes, "I'm hitting the sack!"

I plopped in my bed, it was so warm and comfy. I wonder what it is going to be like meeting up with them in AO. I let out a deep breath, I'm going to have to log in early. I have quite the journey to get back to the Town of Beginnings. Now that I think about it, where is the nearest town with a warp? Unlike most MMOs, AO makes it quite difficult to get around to certain places. Only major towns have warp portals, so the more remote areas, which I'm in right now, take real travel time to get to them. I was just about to pass out whenever one last thought shot through my mind. I can't wait to meet my friends in my world.

A/N: Hey look at that! A new character. I hope you guys are hanging in there for the development of the story! Next chapter we'll finally get to spend some real time in Athalia Online! What are your thoughts on Nicholas? How do you think he will develop with his new found friends? If you are noticing hints of SAO character traits in my characters, then you are certainly right. SAO inspired me, so why not incorporate a little bit?!

Disclaimer: Town of Beginnings is owned by the creators of Sword Art Online. I do not own it, but it's an awesome name, so I used it.