[zapdragon555]

Cyril's eyes brightened as she seemed to understand his instructions, and he nodded quickly, leaning back in his chair. "Of course it's alright. I can check it, after you're done," he said, then blinked as the announcements pinged on the intercom overhead, announcing that there were only about five minutes left in fourth period before lunch. "Oh... mm," he murmured, his brows knitting together. He paused for a moment, then looked at her with an almost sheepish expression. "Do you have to be anywhere during lunch? If not, you don't have to rush." He inwardly hoped that guy wouldn't show up looking for him at least. Normally he was fine with it, but Sam tended to scare off most girls.

[Baconwizard]

Ava paused and glanced up at the ceiling as the announcements began, as if she expected to see the disembodied voice above her head. Blinking at Cyril's words, her eyes brightened for a moment, and she nodded her head. Whoever had said that Cyril Pearcival was an aloof guy obviously hadn't talked to him. "I usually just hide in the art room during lunch to do homework. So I might as well do it here, with company." Ava smiled at Cyril, fidgeting with her pencil, before she ducked her head and returned to the problem in front of her. Crap. How did she do this again? Biting on her eraser, Ava frowned; all of Cyril's neat instructions had flown right out of her head at his words.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril nodded at that, chuckling slightly. "Do you bring your lunch? If not, I could grab us something from the cafeteria," he mused. Of course, the cafeteria at Beckenridge Academy was not what one would call a normal cafeteria. Instead of the typical lunchline, the rather high end school had various cafes and small food kiosks centered in a food court fashion. It allowed for more variety, and for students to spend a little extra money. "You can tackle that problem while I'm gone, and I'll be right back. Anything you want?"

[Baconwizard]

Ava's head snapped up at that, her attention successfully diverted from the problem, and she stared at Cyril with wide eyes. "O-oh! Um, thank you... thanks a lot." Ava paused for a moment, a pleased smile growing across her face. "I always like the asian noodles. But if the line is bad, the coffee place has a good veggie wrap." Ava felt a little strange, having a boy get her lunch––she certainly wasn't going to let him pay for it––but he was allowing her to study. Which was the main goal, after all.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril's smile grew as she answered, making a mental note about the noodles. "Alright; I won't be long," he murmured, giving her a short wave as he stood up with a small stretch. "If you'd like to try the next few problems on your own, go ahead. If you get discouraged, I'll help you out," he chuckled, and moved towards the exit to the library.

Cyril made his way down to the food court, noisily buzzing with students filing in and out of lines and chattering loudly. Cyril gave a leering smile to a pair of boys that were being particularly loud, and he moved towards the thai food area to stand in line, ignoring the few surprised and even frightened stares that Cyril Pearcival was now waiting in line behind them.

[Baconwizard]

Waving back, Ava smiled at Cyril, and she watched him until he left the library. She let out a huge breath, her small frame deflating slightly. Well, that didn't go quite like she had expected, but it went much better than Ava had ever hoped. She glanced towards the door again, then back at the notes written in neat, precise handwriting. Cyril Pearcival's handwriting. Trying to keep her smile from growing to large for her face, Ava bent down over the practice problems, trying to puzzle them out. It was a little difficult, because whenever someone entered the library, Ava would straighten up to see who it was. She'd catch herself doing it, and her face would become warm, then she'd throw herself back into the hell of trigonometry. What was she doing? Just because a popular boy was tutoring her didn't mean that they were friends, or that he wasn't just being nice. Ava glanced at the door again, her hands absently fiddling with the pencil. Still... it was really nice of him to get her lunch...

[zapdragon555]

The line moved about as slow as it could, and Cyril sighed softly in irritation, tapping his foot slightly on the floor as he glanced around at the rest of the food court. He blinked as he heard the line shift forward, and he smiled slightly, wanting to get back up to where Ava was quickly.

Once he'd finally ordered two orders of asian noodles, he walked briskly back up to the library, his stomach growling a little at the smell of the noodles wafting in front of his face. He poked his head into the library, smiling at the librarian who gave him a look that seemed to say 'spill any of that and you're dead,' and he walked over to the table to set down both trays with a smile. "Success," he chuckled, looking at Ava. "How are the problems?"

[Baconwizard]

Ava's entire demeanor seemed to brighten as Cyril appeared with the food, and she beamed at him. "Great! I've finished two. And thank you so much for this, Cyril!" She exclaimed, her voice a little hushed so they wouldn't get in trouble. Ava looked up at Cyril, a sheepish look entering her eyes. "I can pay you back for the food..."

Ah, he had suspected that Cyril would be in the library. Samael slipped in through the doors of the quiet room, his violet eyes glittering as he saw the dark-haired boy talking to some underclassmen. Flirting, perhaps? She didn't quite seem like Cyril's type. Samael sighed through his nose, walking over to them. He hated to interrupt, he really did, especially when the girl looked so obviously smitten with Cyril. But unfortunately for her, Samael needed Cyril's undivided attention. He leaned against the corner of the table, hands in his pockets, a smooth smirk on his face. Arching his eyebrow at Cyril, Samael's smile widened. "Having fun, you two?"

When Samael suddenly appeared at their table, Ava stiffened, her eyes widening with surprise and confusion. She recognized the new boy, at least by name, almost everyone in the school did. Rumor had it that Samael was the king of anything shady or underground that happened on campus. Drug dealings, cheating rings, sex scandals–Samael was said to have a hand in everything. Quickly averting her gaze, Ava shrank a bit in her seat, her bright demeanor extinguished. She glanced at Cyril, a solemn note to her expression. Cyril was rumored to be best friends with Samael, as well...

[zapdragon555]

Cyril, as much as he hated to admit it, had a sort of innate sense in knowing whenever Samael was nearby. Perhaps the other boy just had that sort of presence, or perhaps Cyril was more paranoid than in tune. He caught Samael in the corner of his eye, and turned his face to stare at Samael with a carefully guarded smirk. "Well, fun is one word for it," he said with a sigh, then glanced at Ava with a small smile. "I can't imagine tutoring would be very fun. But it is..." He trailed off, his brows knitting slightly at Ava's expression, and he flicked his eyes back to Samael, barely narrowing them and keeping the smile on his face. "...definitely helping her out, I hope..."

[Baconwizard]

Ava's eyes flicked up to look at Cyril as he spoke, and a small smile grew on her face. He definitely helped her out, to be sure. Samael made a slight disbelieving noise in the back of his throat. Leaning over the table to peer at Ava's notes, deliberately invading her space, Samael smirked, a skeptical look on his face. "Tutoring, huh... " Ava shifted slightly, uncomfortable, then let out a small breath as Samael leaned away. "Anyway, I have something I need to speak to you in private. Do you mind?" Samael looked at Ava at this, staring down at her. Ava's eyes widened, and she looked a little alarmed at being directly addressed. After a pause, Ava looked at Cyril, then back at Samael, and gave a small nod, more out of instinct than thought.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril's eyes flickered as Samael moved closer to Ava, and he felt a strange hostility rise up in the back of his throat. Of course, Cyril was well aware of Samael's reputation, except he knew most of the truths about it, at least more truths than anyone else knew for sure. And truth be told, a lot of the rumors were... scarily accurate. Samael knew things, and if he wanted to tell Cyril something in private, it was likely important and relevant to Cyril's interests. He gave a small smile to Ava, his brows knitted a bit. "I'm sorry; we won't be long, alright?" he said, moving away from the table--and his food, he thought ruefully--to snag Samael's sleeve and tug him away from Ava, towards a more secluded part of the library.

[Baconwizard]

"O-okay," Ava looked up at Cyril with wide eyes, then offered a small smile, nodding her head. She watched the two walk off, something strange twisting in her chest, then turned back to the notes and food in front of her. Sighing, Ava took a bite of noodles, the salty flavor not cheering her up much, then continued to look over her notes. The motivation to study had drained away, but Ava forced herself to focus. It kept her from thinking about other things.

Samael followed the tug on his sleeve, a satisfied smirk hovering on his face as they walked back towards the labyrinthine non-fiction area. Leaning against the shelf, he looked at Cyril for a moment, beginning to chuckle. "Making friends?" He asked, moving forward to pull a random book off of the shelf, flipping through the pages. An ornate, Renaissance painting of a flock of angels dominated the page, and Samael tilted the book so that Cyril could see, an almost derisive look on his face. "What rubbish," he murmured, shoving the book back on the shelf. "Anyway. The board has decided to take a vote on the issue with McAlester. If it passes, he'll be booted out of the principals office. That'll be quite unfortunate, because many people relied on his selectively blind eye."

[zapdragon555]

Cyril had leaned back slightly against the bookshelf, his elbow settling in a nook between books to prop himself up. His eyes flickered at Sam's initial words, before they grew more focused, hardening at this new piece of news. As well as a friend and general troublemaker, Samael was also Cyril's vanguard when it came to information about the inner workings of the school. Perhaps vanguard was the wrong word. Sam was more like a dealer.

"Is that so," Cyril's voice came out in a low sigh, running a hand through his hair as he stared at one large book behind Sam's head. "That's certainly a problem..." Of course there were things that Cyril could do, in these situations, or things he could ask Samael to do. People could be reasoned with, bribed even, with the right things and someone with the right information, but right then... a part of Cyril didn't care enough. His lips twitched slightly in surprise to realize it. Despite the tricky situation this created, Cyril wasn't exactly in a mood to say much more in response than that.

[Baconwizard]

Samael studied Cyril's face for a moment, a hard, scrutinizing look passing through his eyes. What was Cyril playing at? McAlester was a weakling, yes, but that's what made Sam and Cyril so successful. Well, it was mainly Sam. Cyril was as good a manipulator as any--better, even--but he preferred to shy away from the crowds that Samael drew in, and operate in the anonymous shadows. Samael made a scoffing sound, then turned away. It's a fifty-fifty chance it'll go either way. There are a couple of wild cards on the board this time around. Your father included. Samael's eyes flicked over to meet Cyril's, and almost sweet smile grew on his face. "What the board doesn't realize is that they have a couple of skeletons in the closet that they might not want the whole school to see."

[zapdragon555]

Cyril's posture changed slightly at the mention of his father, his eyes flashing with something one part interest, two parts anger. That did complicate things; the last thing he wanted was his father breathing down his neck here of all places. He got enough of that at home. "So what do you suggest?" he murmured, pushing off the shelf lightly and leaning a little closer to Samael, his expression one of a person dealing strictly with business, or perhaps dealing with a venomous snake. It was difficult to discern. "A direct approach? Or an anonymous nudge in the proper direction? McAlester took better to your direct involvement, but with my father on the board, it could complicate things..."