AN: Ever been told that if you're doing maths homework in school? Well I wish someone would tell me that… Also since someone mentioned it, I changed the main characters in the story; they quite rightly pointed out that the ones I had listed weren't really in the spotlight all the time.
"Pay attention Skywarp!" Thundercracker tapped Skywarp. His friend looked like he was going to try and go to sleep.
"What? Flameburst never tells us off anyways."
"That doesn't mean that you can go to sleep in these lessons! Use Valium's lessons for that…"
"Skywarp. What is the answer to my question on the board?" Flameburst must have over heard them; he then decided to ask Skywarp about the work and he wasn't paying attention.
"What?"
"The question on the board. How do you find out what x is?"
"You need to rearrange the equation." Skywarp hoped that this would be right.
"One problem we have an expression and you need to make it as simple as possible."
"There aren't any common factors. How can you simplify that?" Skywarp knew Flameburst wouldn't ask an impossible question but he didn't understand why he couldn't answer the question on the board.
"This is why you need to pay attention. I was about to explain this to you all but I had to make sure that you were all paying attention first." Flameburst looked around the class and saw that all of them were paying attention now.
"You can simplify this. It involves using a method called the difference of two squares. Since there is an x squared and a negative square number, you can write this as two brackets. In this case the two brackets would be x+5 and x-5. In order for you to prove why this is the case you will have to expand these two brackets." Flameburst was indicating that they should do this.
"You have five minutes, since I know some of you will struggle with this."
Five minutes later…
"Right. Now one of you can show us why this on the board is the case. Any volunteers?" Flameburst looked around the group and saw the usual volunteers for answering questions.
"I know you all know how to do this, so why are only half of you volunteering answers?" Flameburst then saw the other half of the students reluctantly raise their hands.
"If you do this correctly I'll give your group five points…" Flameburst paused while deciding who was going to answer the question.
"Optimus." Why did he have to pick me? Flameburst held out the pen to him indicating that he should be getting on with writing the answer up. Optimus wrote on the board the working out for getting the expression that Flameburst wrote on the board in the first place.
"Yes that's right. Five points for Cobalt. Do you all see why there is no x term in this?" All of the students nodded their heads but Flameburst wasn't convinced.
"Skywarp, could you explain why?"
"If you add five to something then take it away again you get nothing."
"Exactly, so if you were given these brackets…" Flameburst wrote this on the board: (x+6) (x-6) "Who could write down what the answer is?" Flameburst again saw only the usual volunteers. Flameburst then looked at who wasn't planning on answering questions.
"Megatron. You can be the one that will answer this." Flameburst did that on purpose! Flameburst this time held out the pen to Megatron and he reluctantly wrote the answer on the board. x^2 -36. The teacher looked at the answer and then seemed happy that they all knew how to do this.
"It's nearly the end of the lesson now. I have got homework for you but you shouldn't take too long in doing it." Flameburst pointed at a pile of sheets on the table nearest the door. The class groaned. "Why do all the teachers insist on giving us homework to do?" Moonracer seemed annoyed that all the teachers seemed to give homework out at the same time so there was never any time to relax because they always had more homework to do.
"You know this stuff can only benefit you. Also this stuff that we just did in this lesson is important so you highlight the notes in orange so that you know it is important. Now go off to your dorm rooms and get on with this and any other homework you might have been given. This homework is due next lesson." Flameburst then let the group go, from what Moonracer was saying they had plenty of work to be getting on with; letting them go five minutes early wasn't going to hurt…
Why does this homework always take so long? Arcee was busy trying to do some of the homework that she had been set when there was a knock on the door.
"Go away I'm busy!"
"What was that? Oh yeah I thought your boyfriend came first!"
"You can come in and help if you want." It didn't take long for her boyfriend to walk through the door.
"What homework are you trying to do now?"
"Maths. Flameburst never sets much homework though."
"I thought that the only maths you'd ever need would be I+U=Forever."
"That would be sweet but unfortunately it doesn't quite work like that. Haven't you got any work to do? You could bring it here and get on with it."
"I do have some homework to do… But I'd rather be 'helping' you."
"It depends on what sort of help. If you mean with this work sure thing, if you mean something else it will have to wait." Arcee seemed amused at his reaction.
"If I help you with this do I get a reward?"
"If by reward you mean kisses Astrotrain, then… Alright." Astrotrain sat down next to Arcee and decided it might be a good idea to help with her homework.
Meanwhile…
"Are sure that's how to do this?"
"Of course! It's science, since when have I been wrong?"
"Alright Starscream. I get your point but I don't understand how your way of answering this works and mine doesn't."
"Because you forget that, since the questions tell us to ignore air resistance, gravitational energy = kinetic energy."
"Have we learnt that yet? Valium must have said that while I wasn't paying attention. How do you pay attention all the time?" Elita didn't seem to understand how you could pay attention in Valium's lessons.
"I don't. I just make a note of what the lesson was about and ask the older years; they have text books, Valium didn't give them to us for some reason."
"I can't think why not; we aren't any less reliable than them."
"Valium probably forgot to hand them out to us; like he keeps forgetting to collect in our homework."
"Speaking of homework, thank you for helping me with it…" Elita gave Starscream a peck on the cheek.
"You're welcome. If I'm going to receive thanks like that I think I'll help you with your homework more often!"
"Valium is going to be suspicious of you being in here. You'd probably be better off not going out that door…"
"Surely the students will be more suspicious in the morning. You know exactly what they'll think." I wonder what his response will be to this…
"Do you love me?"
"That's a bit out of the blue!" Starscream flushed a bit when she said that.
"Just answer the question. If you're going to answer yes please say 'I love you'."
"Since you asked…" Please say yes…Elita got the impression he'd say no.
"I love you Elita." I never thought I'd hear him say that! "Now I need to know if you love me."
"I love you too. Even though you stress too much about what everyone else thinks." Elita wrapped her arms around her partner and she seemed slightly happier when he copied that action.
"Do you think Valium will tell us off if we go to sleep during his lesson?"
"Why?"
"No reason. Let's get some sleep; just in case he does mind."
Both of them however would be shocked tomorrow; they were being watched…
Meanwhile outside…
"Why did those two have to be our first targets?"
"Because, Reflector, you know how to catch femmes in the act of kissing and such. Didn't you end up finding out about Violet's partner and her when we just started second year?"
"I think so. Surely those two should have checked if the door was open before they started cuddling like that… Wouldn't want Valium to see them doing that now would we?" Reflector gave a smug smile.
"We'd better not hang about here too long… Reflector go take a photo of those two already! We want to get them in trouble not us!"
"Don't shout too loudly Gears. You might wake them up. And I get the impression that she isn't the only femme getting help from her boyfriend." Reflector seemed slightly happier when Gears stopped talking at him. He walked into the room quietly in hope that he didn't get caught by either of those two or Valium; Valium would want to know what he was doing in there. Reflector sort of wished that he didn't have to do this… He wouldn't have liked it if he was the mech in question.
A couple of minutes later…
"We can't stand around here all night you know Reflector!"
"Will you stop whining Gears? You might wake them up!"
"Alright! Alright! Who else might be in here?"
"Chromia and her partner. Sky won't like us pestering her so…"
"We are going to have to get both of them! No one else can."
"I just hope that they don't find out that it was us that 'caught them in the act'."
"They aren't really doing anything Reflector…"
"You tell that to Valium when he sees these pictures tomorrow morning!"
"One of the mechs in first year said something about Dirge and Blaze. I think he mentioned Chromia too."
"You mean that they were apparently interfacing and they got caught by Chromia. I heard the rumour too. You think Chromia will have this image somewhere?"
"Probably. Go and find it!"
"Gears, do you have to be so bossy? I'll do that…"
A short while later…
"We should probably get the others we agreed on too."
"Good idea Reflector."
"They are going to be so shocked tomorrow morning!"
The next morning…
"Elita!"
"I wonder what Valium wants."
"You'd better go and find out before Valium comes to check and see where you are."
"And you'd better find somewhere to hide in case Valium decides to look in my room." Starscream listened to his girlfriend for once and went to hide somewhere.
"What did you want Valium?"
"Do you care to explain this?" Valium pointed at the bulletin board. Elita looked at the board and seemed shocked. How did someone get this? On the board was a picture of her and Starscream cuddling together. She couldn't help but notice that there were similar images of the other couples too. Elita thought for a moment about her response.
"He was helping with my homework sir."
"Why do you two look like you are sleeping then?" Valium had a point. Elita didn't know how to answer that one.
"Have you got a problem with me going in your room?"
"No sir." Starscream better have found a good place to hide! Valium didn't really hear the answer he just walked right in. Please don't let him get caught…
"What are you doing in here?" Elita heard that then knew she was in trouble.
"You should have been in your own room Starcatcher!"
"I was going to go there but…"
"I don't want to hear it! You and Elita should go and see the head teacher now, while I go and inform the other students in this group that they will have to come and join you." Valium didn't appear to be listening to arguments today. Starscream walked off towards Elita and then both of them began to walk towards the dorm room door.
About ten minutes later, Ratbat's office…
"Would all of you care to explain why you have been spending the nights together?" Ratbat didn't appear to be happy about being woken up by Valium.
"What is wrong with us sharing a room with our partners?" Blaze was the one to answer.
"If you're all going to spend your nights curled up on the floor next to each other, then your grades are surely going to suffer." Ratbat was struggling to make a good enough point; Blaze was good at arguing.
"Not really. Not unless my boyfriend's cuddles wake me up!"
"I don't squeeze you that hard Blaze!"
"Enough! All of you will spend the day in the Unit for inappropriate conduct." Ratbat wasn't in the mood for arguing either so the students reluctantly walked off towards the Unit.
The Unit…
"Who took those photos?"
"I agree with Aquabolt. We need to know who it was to get them back." Blaze always seemed to be getting put in the Unit because of her boyfriend; though it wasn't entirely his fault either, it takes two to kiss.
"I'd like to know which femme took the shot of me and Blaze. Because that was in the femmes shower room."
"What were you doing in there Dirge?" Ramjet asked on purpose.
"You know fine well! You were there when Astrotrain pushed me through the door! And none of you even had the nerve to hang around!"
"My question is if that towel dropped, would there be any armour covering you up?" Thrust wasn't normally one to poke his nose into other people's business but Ramjet had drawn attention to the image and someone was going to ask at some point anyway.
"Yes." Dirge answered.
"No." Blaze answered at the same time.
"Which is it? Or was Blaze naked and you weren't?" Ramjet was hoping that would be his answer.
"Neither of us were naked. If that towel dropped we didn't want to be exposed like that."
"I'd like to know what Ratbat meant by inappropriate conduct."
"So would I Chromia." Firestar didn't get into trouble as much as the others; her and Ratchet were a bit better at the 'keep it a secret' thing.
"I think I know." Aquabolt had collected the pictures from the dorm notice board on the way out.
"If all of us didn't have any armour on in these pictures, what would probably be happening?
Everyone looked at the images and they noticed one thing in common. Our chest plates are touching so…
"Interfacing." Violet answered. All of the first years blushed a little bit.
"We would have to be; there would be no armour to stop the sparks from joining." Sky went on.
"We all must be more eager to break rule 10 b. than we thought!" Astrotrain was the only one to point this out.
"I hope you guys are going to enjoy your day in the Unit!" Reflector peered around the door. The robots in the Unit got annoyed. He must have been one of them getting these pictures.
"You'd better not strip down to get it on again!" Bluestreak was convinced that they would have done that before.
"What makes you think we'd do that where anyone could see?"
"I think you would, Blaze."
"Do you want another tickle fight Hook? We won the last one and it was two to one!" Sky was amused when Hook backed away from the door.
"We'll leave you lovers to make sparklings." Bluestreak wandered away from the door and everyone else followed; they didn't want to get told off for disturbing the people in the Unit.
"Since we're going to be stuck in here all day…" Aquabolt started to say something and hoped that the others got the same idea.
"And all the couples are here this time…" Moonracer seemed to have got the idea.
"Who wants to have a kissing competition?" Arcee hoped that's what the others were thinking.
All the mechs quickly answered with "What if a teacher sees?" To which they received the answer of being kissed by their partner.
AN: Those meanies without a partner! Maybe the femmes will get their revenge…