Around Sam Sam (Sam.)

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam hadn’t really had a study session in a really long time, mostly because he hadn’t been at Hammel for the last little while. Here and there Cam found time in his life to help those less fortunate that him. Most people wouldn’t have thought Cam would be the type of person to ask for help with schooling, but he was actually really good in school. Yes he had a social life, but school was important to him because he wanted to make something of his life, not just fuck around all the time.

The school decided to hook him up with someone named Sam, who was a couple years older than him. Cam found this amusing and wondered why someone had taken so long just to graduate high school. It wasn’t really that hard. And History especially wasn’t that hard. How badly was this Sam guy screwing up? Cam decided he wouldn’t ask, he probably didn’t want to know.

Sitting around at one of the tables in the library, Cam was keeping a beat on the table using his knuckles. He had brought everything they might need with him – textbooks, notes, due dates for assignments, and Skittles. Cam watched as people came in and out of the library, wanting to catch Sam’s attention. The light manipulator smiled to himself as a familiar face came through the door. Aw no way!

“Hey, I know you,” Cam said after the older guy sat down, “you had a party a couple weeks ago.” The blond smirked to himself and leaned back in his chair. Cam had had a great time, he had even started a few rounds of happy birthday for Sam. Cam knew how to have a good time without getting drunk himself, and people were hilarious when they were drunk – especially the birthday boy.

[Samuel Rixon]

Sam hadn’t really had much of a study session since his girlfriend had graduated and gone off to college. She was always busy with her own work and had a hard time setting time aside to go on dates, let alone tutor. And when given the choice, Sam always chose the date. As such, his grades had started to slide again. While he finally had a decent hold on his powers, well... his grades were starting to look like they were risking his chances of freedom.

In other words, if he didn’t pull them up to a passing mark, he’d be spending another semester at the institute.

His history teacher had hooked him up with some kid named Cameron for help. While Sam knew he needed the assistance, he didn’t really want to put forth the work involved. Who really cared if you could name all seventy presidents or remember when Hitler invaded Alaska? Jobs wanted actual skills, not stupid facts on the damn history of America.

Still. Apparently the powers that be dictated that he had to pass history. And that meant going to his study session and paying attention.

It probably didn’t help that among his beat up notebooks and textbook, Sam had also crammed Pixie Stix, soda, and several handfuls of Starbursts into his bag. Studying wasn’t any fun without sugar, and he had that in spades.

The pyro trotted through the doors of the library fully prepared to derail the session in any way possible. Even in the library he was sure he could find a way to procrastinate. Even if it was by looking up crude words in the dictionary. He spotted Cameron a ways away and headed back to him, not quite sure if he knew him or not. He’d seen a lot of people at the party Vincent had thrown for him, but most of the night was one big blur.

“Uhhh.” Sam plopped his bag on the chair beside the one he pulled out for himself. “Yeah! Vin threw me a bitchin’ birthday party.” Not wanting to admit he didn’t quite remember Cam, he just grinned proudly. “It was awesome. ... You know what’s not awesome? History.” Yes, this was going to be the tone for the study session. “Wanna see how many Skittles we can throw down the back of his shirt?” He pointed to a boy studying with headphones on a few tables over.

Cam. ... Good luck.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam had been warned by the faculty that Sam was a hard one to work with. Cam had said he could handle it, and they said that if he could actually help Sam, it would be a miracle. Cam didn’t think it was such a big deal, he was a helpful guy to begin with, but he couldn’t do the studying for Sam. If Sam wanted to graduate, well, that was up to him. If he failed it wasn’t Cam’s fault, plain and simple.

The blond really had no idea what he had signed himself up for.

“It was pretty bitchin’,” Cam agreed, leaning back in his chair, “should’ve brought my guitar and serenaded people.” But he didn’t really like picking up drunks, and he didn’t like it when drunks smashed his guitar, or threw it into the lake like what happened last year.

Cam laughed, attracting the attention of those actually trying to study in the library. “History is totally awesome, haven’t you ever seen 300 or Gladiator?” Cam asked, his fingers still keeping a beat on the table. Cam’s light blue eyes passed over the boy studying and he shook his head. “Nah, that would make them taste funny,” Cam said, eyeing all the candy Sam had brought with him, wondering how much of that stuff Sam had already eaten before he got here.

[Samuel Rixon]

The warnings weren’t for fun. They were serious. Sam had always been easily distracted, though he was admittedly better than he’d been when he’d still been smoking pot. Though it had been miserable, he’d managed to quit the habit last year. Though his concentration and impulse control was much better, it still didn’t say much for his schoolwork.

“That would have been sweeeeet.” Sam liked music, despite having zero musical talent himself. “’Cept you would’ve had to tell Vinnie to turn off the stereo, and he probably wouldn’t do it. ... ‘Cause he sucks.” Honestly, he loved his best friend. But any chance to put him down, he took.

The pyro gave him a look of clear disbelief over the fact that history was awesome. Awesome things existed. Drinking was awesome. Cartoons were awesome. Candy was awesome. Clouds were awesome. The sun was awesome. History did not fall under awesome. History fell under boring, snore-worthy, and coma-inducing. “Isn’t Gladiator where they fought to the death with a lion, or something?” Which was kind of interesting, but movies made a lot of that stuff up, didn’t they? That was what his teachers kept saying. Movies always got stuff wrong.

As for the Skittles plan, Sam was momentarily defeated before pulling out a Pixie Stick and downing the contents. “So... what’re we supposed to be leaning?” Way to go, Sam. You don’t even know what part of history you’re on. Bravo.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam shrugged. "Oh well, there's always another birthday." Not that Cam would be around, but Sam didn't need to know that, and he probably didn't care that much either. Maybe Cam would have to play some time before Sam's next birthday.

"Uh yeah, haven't you ever seen that movie? Or like, 300?" Cam asked. He had a whole list of awesome guy movies that also happened to be loaded with history. He always found that knowing these things always helped him with his classes and stuff. "Braveheart? No?" Cam could go on, he was just waiting for a look of recognition in Sam's eye.

Cam chuckled and shrugged. "I was kinda hoping you would tell me where you're at." He wasn't going to admit it, but he was already done everything for the semester. It was why he had time to help someone who was so far behind and so easily distracted. Being away with a lot of time to himself gave him plenty of time for studying and working ahead, seeing as his social life had all but disappeared.

Cam gestured at Sam's books, "Those might be a good place to start."

[Samuel Rixon]

Cam was right. There would be more birthdays, and this time next year he could buy his own liquor. And wouldn’t that be fun in the midst of college?

... Provided he actually gradated with his grades up enough to actually go to college.

That should have motivated him. Really, it should have. But clearly, it didn’t. Not if his behaviour was anything to go by. “Uhhh... I saw 300.” The problem was that was that he’d seen it with Vincent. And movie time with Vincent often devolved into things like playing gladiators and hitting each other with objects deemed ‘weaponry’. By the time they were done that, they never knew what was going on in the movie. “Don’t remember much. ‘Cept for guys yelling SPARTA.” Which he and Vincent had repeated. Endlessly.

This was why Cam should really, really pick up his books and move away from Sam.

The pyro looked at his books in dismay before flipping them open. Numerous pictures had been defaced with little beards and horns, not to mention speech bubbles spouting anything from swear words to random little sayings. He didn’t even look guilty about it. He just flipped to the last dog eared page and pushed it towards Cam. “I think we’re here. ‘s all about Rome ‘n shit.” At least that was a direction.

[Cameron Osiris]

"That doesn't even count man," Cam said, adding a 'pfft', to the beginning of the sentence. He was beginning to think that Sam had the same attention span as the candy he loved so much. So, none. At least Sam knew about Sparta, that was better than nothing.

Cam hardly noticed the doodles, probably because he didn't care. Most of his textbooks had those things in them to begin with, and they weren't the important bit. Cam scanned the page and mulled things over, a hand to his mouth. "So, here's an idea," Cam said, pointing to one of the pictures of a gladiator, who was also wearing a pen-made loincloth. "We should watch Gladiator, and I can point out all the important bits or something."

Cam smirked. "And I've got popcorn somewhere." He knew the textbooks pretty well, and movies were way better, and if he could bullshit his way through questions about the Roman Empire from watching actions movies, so could Sam.

[Samuel Rixon]

"What? WHY?" Because no, just because Sam was in the library didn't mean he came with volume control. "It totally counts, man!" He would argue simply for the sake of arguing. Primarily because the longer he could distract his tutor, the longer he could go without actually studying. At least Cam was on the right track. Sam's attention span varied, depending on the subject. But for schookwork? A gnat was pretty accurate.

Sadly, Sam and Vincent jointly were likely responsible for the vast majority of the doodles. (Though Chase Campbell would also be very, very guilty were anyone to ask him...) Most of the ones in Sam's book had been expanded on and improved throughout his stay at the institute. Such as the gladiator loincloth. Genius, that. Though now that he was looking at it... it needed a viking helmet too. One with horns. Big ones. ... Maturity, thy name is Sam Rixon.

The pyro did perk up when Cam made his suggestion, however. "Seriously? But the teachers are always like 'movies are so lame, they aren't even right or anything, blah blah blah.' ... 's that a lie?" The idea of teachers lying about the historical accuracy, or lack thereof, seemed entirely plausible to him. "I have Netflix on my Wii! We could totally go to my dorm! You can meet Iggy then too!" Because no, Sam never did pass up a chance to show off his gecko, Iguana. "He loves movies."

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam only laughed and shook his head. "Uh huh, right, it totally counts." He wasn't going to be fooled into not studying. Okay, so maybe Sam seemed like a pretty fun guy, but he probably wasn't that smart. Well, probably not enough to figure out that Cam was easily distracted and easily convinced.

Shrugging, Cam didn't know what else to suggest. Was Sam going to argue everything? "I'm not a teacher so, how would I know?" It wasn't like this was going to get him any extra credit, not that this rate. The extra credit came from when your tutee (tutored person), actually passed whatever they needed help with. Plus teachers didn't really say those things to him - he had good grades.

Cam nodded, already getting out of his chair. "Yeah okay, gotta just grab some snack and we're set." He was grinning from ear to ear. Man, if this actually worked and paid off, it would be the easiest credit he ever got. And if they left the library, everyone around them would be happier too.

[Samuel Rixon]

Clearly, Cam's sarcasm was lost on Sam. The pyro just beamed, clearly pleased that he'd won that round. "Told ya so!" No, he wasn't taking this seriously. Even though he absolutely should have been. With graduation only a few months away, he was skating thin ice. His parents were already somewhat dismayed at his lack of drive when it came to school. He'd planned to shock them by actually graduating, but... it was hard. Due to a lot of slacking off, not to mention the classes he'd sat through in various states of inebriation, well... it was an uphill battle.

"I don't know. Figured they said that stuff to anyone that tried to watch movies to pass." Maybe it was all a big conspiracy, and the movies were actually perfectly accurate. They just didn't want anyone to know that. ... He'd probably been watching too many movies as it was to come up with that kind of idea.

"Oh man, you are speaking my LANGUAGE, dude!" Sam grinned and clapped a warm hand on Cam's shoulder as he bounced up and out of his chair to follow him. "An' after the movie, we can totally do MarioKart or something." It would be nice to play against someone that didn't try to kill him if he won. (*cough*VINCENT*cough*)

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam didn't understand how school could be so hard for some people. Actually, it seemed like more effort to ignore all of the adult advice in his life. He wanted to graduate and do something amazing with his life, and he had the energy to do it well. Besides, once you were done assignments, then you were free. Just like he was now, already done and ready for graduation. Maybe he could help Sam, maybe he couldn't - either way, he was graduating, and Sam wasn't his problem. Not forever.

"Oh you'll pass, I guarantee it." Sam probably wouldn't be getting onto the honor roll any time soon, but he would pass. Some knowledge on the subject was better than none, even if it was fictional, it was still based on something that actually happened. That's where the best stories came from.

Cam smirked and was glad to have his things tucked away in his backpack. The blond laughed a little and nodded. "Yeah fine, but you'll have to actually prove to me that you learned something." Playing Mario Kart probably wouldn't be that fun for Sam, because Cam sucked pretty bad at all video games. He was okay with that though, since he was amazing at life.

Walking towards dorms, Cam slipped into his and left the door open in case Sam wanted to let himself in. The blond set down his backpack and started rummaging through his section of cupboard space. "I got popcorn, chips and dip, some kind of candy..." He listed, replacing the books in his bag for snacks. Yup, great study session Cam, good job. "All set!" He announced, meeting with Sam once more. "Should I pack pajamas too?" He asked with a smirk and a wink. It didn't matter who it was, Cam was a flirt through and through.

[Samuel Rixon]

School had never really been something that Sam had put effort into. To him, it had simply been time to goof off and spend time with his friends. Who really used math formulas in real life? Or was expected to know which presidents appeared on Mount Everest? That’s right, no one. High school had largely been a game to him, at least until graduation was looming in the very near future.

It really hadn’t helped that he’d spent 85% at least of his time at Hammel in various states of being high. The saddest fact of life was that marijuana and school did not mix well. Or, rather, they did. But it didn’t contribute to good grades.

“Really? Sweet!” If movies were the way to pass, then he was set. As long as they weren’t documentaries, and there was lots of blood and guts, he was going to be fine. Cam was a genius.

A genius who was apparently going to enforce this learning thing. Well. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had to do that kind of stuff before. Spencer had often made him prove to her he remembered the math concepts she’d taught him before indulging him in things that were more fun. Like making out. Or video games. Or a Family Guy marathon. He wasn’t picky. “Yeah, yeah. Fine.” He’d pay so much attention to the movie if it meant it was his ticket to games afterwards.

Much like a puppy, he tagged along behind Cam, bounding into his dorm behind him. “Oh my god, you are the snack GOD.” Cue the idiot pyro performing a little bow. As for the comment about pajamas, well... it didn’t actually register with him as a flirting tactic. Instead, he had something different in mind. “Slumber party in my room? AWESOME.” In other words, yes, he would be down for a slumber party.

And no, he didn’t care that he didn’t know Cam very well. A slumber party was a slumber party.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam wouldn’t be making out with the dude if he could help it. Sam was someone to be friends with, and despite being attractive, Cam just wasn’t interested when he was focusing on the fact that he was supposed to be helping Sam pass a class. Yeah, talk about a major mood killer.

Grinning, Cam jumped up to stand on the counter top, and tossed some goodies at Sam. “The more you worship the snack god, the more treats you receive!” He was trying to sound menacing, but it wasn’t really working and he broke down into laughter instead. “You’re easy to please,” he teased, jumping down from the counter and wiping his hands on the sides of his pants out of habit.

“Hooray!” Cam said, leaving Sam with the snacks and heading to his room. “Onesie or shorts and a t-shirt?!” Cam hollered as he glanced at the options. He shrugged and grabbed both, figuring he could decide later. “All set, lead the way for your mighty snack god.” Hopefully they would be off to do something resembling studying soon.

[Samuel Rixon]

Much as Sam dearly loved to make out, he was a one woman guy, and right now that woman was his Spencer. Yes, she was at college and they didn’t have a lot of time for each other at the moment, but he still wouldn’t cheat. Only assholes cheated, and he wasn’t an asshole. (Unless you asked one Vincent Verax, but best friends don’t count.) Besides, Cam was a guy.

The pyro beamed as treats rained down from the sky (or, you know, the cupboards), catching as many as he could in his uncoordinated way. “Didn’tcha know that food is the way to a guy’s heart?” Not that he wanted Cam in his heart. Or anything. He was just happy because SNACKS. “You’re the best tutor EVER. ... ‘Cept my girlfriend. But that’s because she’s hot and she gives kisses when I get stuff right.” Not that Cam wasn’t hot, but... again. Guy.

He craned his neck to follow Cam with his eyes as he disappeared, though the question made him light up. “ONESIE. DUDE. My bestie gave me a CHARMANDER onesie!” He’d been happily telling his best friend how terribly gay he looked in his skeleton onesie when Vincent had threatened not to give him his present. After a brief wrestling match and several uncalled for gropings, Vincent had finally given up the treasure. Sam loved his Charmander onesie, and worse it an embarrassing amount. If anyone had ever seen some older student going through the cafeteria in the morning or evening in a giant Charmander suit? Yeah. Sam.

Now that information was out in the open for Cam to do as he liked with, Sam gathered the fallen treats and headed out of Cam’s dorm and down the hall into his own. The keys on the lanyard around his neck were fumbled with before he shoved the door open and dropped the treats on the couch. “WELCOME TO MY KINGDOM, OH MIGHTY SNACK GOD.” Volume control? Respect for roomies? What was that?

[Cameron Osiris]

On the topic of cheating, Cam wasn’t going to say anything. Because one, he didn’t want to help Sam cheat, and two, he had done that once and wasn’t in the mood to be called an asshole, not for that reason anyways.

Cam laughed. “Course I know that,” he pointed to himself, “that’s why I’m an excellent chef. This candy, pfft, this candy is nothing compared to what I can do in the kitchen.” Yes he was unashamedly bragging, and he didn’t think it was a bad thing – not when it was the truth. The blond smirked, “Why isn’t she tutoring you then?” He asked, but he could probably guess why. Kisses only went so far, and Sam seemed ept at weaseling his way out of his studies.

“Aw man, no way!” Cam loved Pokémon, and Charmander would definitely suit Sam. Cam’s onesie was on top of his other pajamas. It was just plain dark blue with grey kitty cat faces patterned across it. Giggling as they entered Sam’s dorm, Cam plopped himself down on the couch, pajamas in his lap. He didn’t know much about respecting other’s privacy.

“Okay, so here’s the deal,” Cam said, leaning forward on his knees, “if you can answer some questions at the end of the movie, we can play Wii.” He thought for a moment, trying to decide on a reasonable amount. “Every correct answer gets you… Like a match or something.” Really it depended on what they were going to play.