[i]Street cred?[/i] Cecil thought amusingly. Val's speech was impeccable, and he started to believe it until he realized what she was doing. [i]Playing their drug-induced paranoia against them. Awesome.[/i] He turned back to Cameron just in time to witness his eyes widen, and nervously flicker to the kitchen and then back to him.

	"Cec? Can you believe this bitch?" Cameron said, but the usual arrogant roughness was gone from his voice. A nervous silence shrouded the rest of Cameron's group, but Cecil realized he had to follow suit to topple the pin that Val had knocked off-balance.

	"Yeah," Cecil said, drawing himself up. Cameron was nearly as tall as he was, but as Cecil approached, raising his voice, the other man seemed to shrink back towards the floor. [i]Intimidating. If nothing else, I can do that.[/i] "I do believe her. And if you fuckwits don't want to be shitting your cancerous guts out in an hour, I wouldn't touch that food." He made his eyes stern and bared his teeth, trying not to think about the trembling in his knees. If things came to blows, he was not certain he and Val could take on seven other students - especially students with the violent instinct of wild predators.

	Cameron froze for several long moments before a cocky grin grew on his face. Cecil relaxed his shoulders when he realized the grin didn't touch the other man's eyes.

	"You better watch your fucking mouth next time I see you," Cameron said, gathering the other boys with a twirl of his finger and beginning to walk from the room. "And keep your bitch on a leash." He nodded at Val. "You can keep this shitty foo-"

	Cecil stopped the man mid-stride with a heavy hand on his collar. "The keys. Unless you want SWAT taking you down for theft. Aren't you on probation or something?"

	Cameron glared back defiantly before turning his pockets out. Several jingles told of the keys falling to the floor. He knocked Cecil back two steps with a heavy shove, then departed behind his friends.

	Cecil waited until he could no longer hear their steps in the hall before moving a muscle. He turned to Val, uncomfortably aware of the sweat that had built on his body, but couldn't help a short laugh.

	"You're a genius," Cecil said. "But I really hope they figure this thing out before Cameron finds out everyone [i]else[/i] is eating the food, and not dying." He swept down, gathering the fallen keys into his palm. [i]I guess the basement is next.[/i] With the pair of them suddenly alone once more, the large windows before him struck him with an ominous anxiety. They were pregnant with insurmountable darkness, like peering into death itself, threatening to shatter the thin veil and swallow them whole. Despite his efforts, he was beginning to truly believe that his life was never going back to the way it was.

[@Andromeda]