Before Kei got a chance to reply to Akira, her phone started buzzing. She ignored it the first time, but the caller wouldn't give up. They'd called again, directly after the first. She recognized the ringtone, frowning to herself. Why is Kirito being so annoying right now? She answered the phone, an irritated look on her face, "This better be important, Kirito. I'm a little busy here.." She snapped at the boy on the phone. He proceeded with a lot of laughter, which only irritated her more. She let out an annoyed huff, about to end the call when he suddenly stopped his fit of laughter.
"No, wait! Don't hang up! This call could save your GPA." He stated quickly. She could almost see his grin, even though she couldn't see the boy in person. Kirito was on the track team with her, and also in band. He was incredibly stupid, so she wasn't really sure how he could exactly keep her GPA high enough to save her extracurricular activities. She put a finger up, showing Kei she planned to take the call.
"Fine, I'm listening..." She walked away a few feet from Kei. She didn't want anyone to know she was struggling with her classes, so she kept her voice discreet as possible, "Just how do you plan to get my grades up?" she asked the boy skeptically. She was ready to hunt him down and kick his ass if this was some kind of joke. She was trying to have a serious heart to heart right now, after all. His phone call ruined the sincerity of the moment.. though she doubted a knucklehead like him cared anyway.
"Heh! There's this guy I know, he's really smart. I paid him, but now I don't even need the extra help. He won't do the work for you, but he'll keep your secret for the right price." The brunette snickered, thinking back on how he'd snatched her junior math test from her, thus being the only person to truly know how terrible her grades stood. That year they studied together and through some miracle barely passed. Sure Airdalen had higher standards on 'passing grades' than most schools, but their abilities were far below average. Akira wasn't even sure why Airdalen accepted her in the first place... She passed her entrance exams through some fluke, because if she would have actually tried, she surely would have gotten the very first 0% on their tests.. Academics weren't her strong suit, that much was for sure.
Akira thought on what he said for a moment, the reality of her situation hitting her rather hard. She'd agreed to study with Kumi and Varthur.. but Kumi switched schools and Varthur was dead.. She didn't really have an option if she wanted to keep her inability for school work on the down low, "Fine.. how can I contact him?" She asked with a defeated sigh.
Kirito snickered before replying, "I thought you'd never ask, I'll text you his number. Give him a call. Oh, and Akira, his name is Raiden." with that, the energetic boy hung up. She shook her head, but as promised a text popped up on her phone, Raiden's number highlighted in blue and underlined.
She looked to Kei, approaching him again, "Something's come up... we can do this another time. It's important.. I'll see you around though. I promise."
With that the girl ran off, only to bump into another student. The girl handed her a package with her name on it, and upon further inspection of the squishy bag, she realized it was her female Airdalen uniform. She nodded, apologizing for bumping into her. She wasn't familiar with the girl, but it still wasn't polite to leave without an apology. When she got out of the building, she finally made the call nervously. She waited until the boy picked up, before clearing her throat. This is a bad idea..
"Hi, my name is Akira, I go to Airdalen high school... my friend Kirito Ayanami gave me your number.. This is Raiden right?? He said you tutor students, and that for a price it could remain a secret? I was wondering how much it would cost... The tutoring itself and the price to keep it hush hush..."
She stood outside the gates of the school, leaning against them as she awaited his response. She looked around, making sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. She didn't want the entire school to know she was an idiot academically... She wasn't fairing so well in English or Mathematics.. Science had the answers right in front of her, so she did okay in that subject.. same as social studies... but she wasn't really good with second language or formulas.. they really confused her.