Inspired by the drabble I wrote in Juniper Berries called "Nil Desperandum". Having wandered around a BEGA classroom for 100 words, I wanted to stay there a bit longer to find out what happens after the maths lesson ends... this was meant to be a one-shot, but it wanted to be longer so I ran with it.

School's Out

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

Could time possibly be slowing down?

No. That was impossible. Einstein's theory of general relativity said that time could only ever slow down at the bottom of a deep gravity well, and Brooklyn was fairly certain that the gravity of the classroom was still the same. Just to check, however, he flicked at a stray pencil lead on his desk. Like he thought, it went flying, hitting Ming-Ming on the back of the head.

The turquoise-haired pop star jumped and put a hand to her head, looking around in all directions. Unfortunately for her, this caught the attention of Hiro.

"Ah, Ming-Ming, thank you for volunteering."

"What!" Her head shot round to the front.

"Ming-Ming, what is the process by which hydrogen peroxide is broken down into water and oxygen?"

She stared blankly at the blue-haired coach of the former BEGA team. Now doubling as their private tutor, Hiro had proved to be just as harsh as task-master over biology and maths as he had been over blading practice. "Umm... photosynthesis?"

Brooklyn winced as Hiro's eyes widened. "Ming-Ming, did I or did I not set that precise question as your homework two nights ago?"

"Yes, Coach Hiro."

"So why did you not know the answer?"

"iforgotcoachhiro."

"Pardon?"

"I didn't do it, alright?"

Strange, thought Brooklyn. He'd already heard that fateful phrase twice this morning, and it wasn't even eleven o'clock yet. Mystel had met his eyes earlier that morning, winked as he slid a mysteriously empty tin of drawing pins into his desk drawer and whispered, "I didn't do it, alright?" And Garland, temper frayed by repeated acts of God, or more accurately Acts of Mystel, had yelled this same phrase at the red-head when politely asked why the orange juice in the team fridge had been replaced with apple juice, which Brooklyn had a decided dislike for. Brooklyn didn't really understand this, as it wasn't his fault either, but was he yelling? No. Most unfair.

Back in the present, Hiro sighed and gave Ming-Ming a long-suffering look. "Ming-Ming, that is the third piece of homework in a row that you haven't done. I'm sorry, but that means a detention."

"Yes, Coach Hiro." Ming-Ming sounded miserable. Detentions with Coach Hiro were renowned for their severity.

Hiro turned back to the board and drew another circle on his already complicated diagram. Over his shoulder, he said casually "You will be tested on this topic this afternoon, so I suggest you start copying it."

Brooklyn looked down at his blank Biology notebook. Coach Hiro had been tutoring them for nearly a month now, and Brooklyn had yet to write a single note. It wasn't that Brooklyn was overconfident; he just never needed to learn. Information just filed itself away in his head, then conveniently presented itself in an orderly fashion whenever asked. He knew there had been several times when he'd actually answered an exam in his sleep, as he got the marks but couldn't remember any of the questions. Well, unless it was Maths... but that was another story.

Zeus suddenly tugged at Brooklyn's mind, and the red-head automatically ducked. A rubber flew over his head and smacked into the back of Ming-Ming's head.

"Hey!" exclaimed the small pop-star, hand flying once again to her head. She turned and glared at Brooklyn. "What was that for?"

Zeus growled at Venus, who raised her hackles and snarled in response. But before the god-beasts could clash properly, the familiar voice of Coach Hiro broke over the top of them.

"What's going on here?"

"Brooklyn hit me!" Ming-Ming wailed. "That's the second time today!"

"I did not hit you!" Brooklyn retorted. "That's not even my rubber!"

"Brooklyn," Hiro warned. "You've already upset the class once today. Don't think I didn't notice that trick with the pencil earlier. I want you to stay behind this afternoon."

Brooklyn gaped at him. The sheer injustice of it! He was getting detention because someone else – and he knew exactly who – had thrown a rubber at the girl in front of him!

Hiro picked up the offending item with a confused look. "This is Crusher's," he said slowly. "But Crusher sits in front of you."

He turned to look at the last members of the class. Both had their heads down, apparently diligently copying from the board. Garland might actually have been doing work. Unfortunately, even the best dissembling on Mystel's part couldn't hide the fact the he was drawing a very silly picture of Ming-Ming's hair on fire rather than the complicated biological cycle they were supposed to be copying.

Zeus made a suggestion. Brooklyn agreed wholeheartedly with it, and watched with delight as Mystel's pencil and paper slowly floated away from his desk and drifted across the room to land in front of Hiro and Ming-Ming, who blinked in confusion. Seconds later, a familiar sling-shot shaped launcher landed on top of the picture.

Ming-Ming looked at the launcher, and Brooklyn was pleased to note that it took her less than five seconds to work out what had happened.

After that, there was no peace in the classroom. Suffice to say, Mystel ended up in detention for improper use of a beyblade launcher – as did Brooklyn for using his Bit-beast's powers outside of the bey-dish and being a tell-tale.