The former G Revolutions manager didn't seem to notice the hum of hushed voices that followed them as she chattered excitedly. "They gave all the new students an orientation last week," she explained. "Those of us that were here in Japan anyway. The senior classrooms should be down this hallway… aha!" she exclaimed triumphantly as she turned the corner into the seniors corridor.
Bakuten Academy had a grand total of seventy-two students in its senior year, split into three classes. Steph looked down at her timetable to check which class they were in.
"It says twelve-B," she read.
"That's this one," Tyson said eagerly, opening the door to classroom to their left. Their teacher hadn't arrived yet and a hushed silence fell over the classroom as the students turned to stare at the newcomers. It was obvious, Steph figured, from the guilty looks on her new classmates faces, that they had been talking about the Bladebreakers.
"Well, this just got awkward," she remarked quietly.
"We should sit down," Ray suggested.
"There are no seats together," Tyson said, sounding dismayed.
Impatiently, Hilary peered over his shoulder to look for herself. "Yes there is - there's two in the front row." she observed. "And some up the back - we can sit in pairs at least."
Steph wasn't sure which would be worse - sitting with Hilary in the front row, who was bound to draw unwanted attention with her eager questions - or sitting with Tyson, who attracted unwanted attention by virtue of being Tyson. Steph wasn't keen on either option.
"That window seat up the back looks good to me," Ray said quickly. "Don't you think, Steph?"
Curious glances followed Steph as she and Ray made their way towards the back of the class and took their seats - Ray kindly offered her the window seat. A couple of students around them began to whisper amongst them sounds, and some of them aimed not so subtle glances in their direction. Eventually, a boy in the row in front of them turned around in his seat.
"Hey, you're Steph Summers, right?"
Steph looked up, surprised to see the boy with the blue highlights she'd seen in the courtyard earlier that morning. She hesitated, feeling a number of curious eyes watching them both and beside her, Ray offered her an encouraging smile.
Across the room, she could see Tyson was being similarly interrogated by his classmates. The World Champion was completely at ease as he fielded questions, and Steph could see Dragoon perched on his desk for his classmates to see. Beside him, Hilary had her text book open and was doing her best to pretend Tyson didn't exist.
Someone is certainly in his element, Steph thought with a sigh as she turned back to her expectant classmate.
Setting down her pencil, she managed a shy smile. "Yeah," she said. "That's me."
His face lit up eagerly. "I knew it," he said. "I saw you in the European tournament. You were awesome against that French guy. I'm Mike, by the way," he said, flashing her a smile. Beneath the dyed hair, he had dark features and blue eyes that couldn't possibly have been entirely Japanese. He wouldn't look out of place in a rock band, she thought.
"Nice to meet you, Mike," she said politely. She hoped he didn't expect her to start showing off her beyblade too.
"And you must be Ray Kon," he said, staring at Ray. "What brings you guys to Bakuten?"
"Well, we're competing in the upcoming tournament together," Steph explained hesitantly. "We're representing the BBA."
"No way!" he exclaimed.
Mike, it turned out, was exceptionally nice. He'd been a student at Bakuten since the ninth grade. Like Steph, he was an international student, and his father was German, which explained his interest in the European Championships. His mother was a journalist.
At some point in the conversation, Steph found herself only half listening - something on the cover of Mike's notebook had caught her attention. It was a sticker of a guitar with words scribbled in black marker underneath.
The Teenage Wolves … why did that sound familiar to her?
"So, are you ready for this morning's test?" Mike asked her, catching her attention again.
Steph blinked. "What test?"
"It's Bakuten Academy tradition to start the new year by making the students sit an exam on the first day of school, you know, to see how much study you did over the holidays."
"That seems hardly fair," Steph remarked.
"It's entirely sadistic," Mike agreed with a grin. "But that's Bakuten Academy for you. They like to keep the students on their toes."
He fell silent as their math teacher entered. She was an older, serious looking woman, with large rimmed glasses and a thick Japanese accent. As Mike had predicted, she had a handful of Maths test with her which she distributed to the class.
Mike mouthed a wordless 'good luck' to her before turning around in his seat. Across the room, she could see Hilary and Tyson conversing in low voices. Hilary was looking annoyed, and Steph could only guess Tyson had already asked if he could copy her answers.
Steph looked down at her own test. Mike certainly hadn't been lying about the test. At her old school, she had been placed in the accelerated maths class so some of the Math problems were familiar to her. Even so it took Steph the entire period to complete the test, and even she wasn't sure all her answers were correct when the bell rang announcing the end of the period.
"That was brutal," Tyson remarked after they'd handed in their tests and followed their classmates out into the hall. "Who gives a test on the first day of school?"
"The questions were rather difficult," Hilary agreed.
Tyson rolled his eyes. "Difficult, she says. If they're difficult for you, the rest of us have no chance."
Hilary twitched her eyebrow, clearly annoyed. An entire period sitting next to Tyson along with a math test she hadn't been prepared for had clearly unnerved her.
"Bakuten Academy students high acceptance rates at all the top tier universities around the world. And this is senior year - If you want any hope of graduating you should keep Dragoon in your pocket and concentrate on your school work instead of showing off to the other students."
With that, she turned around and stalked off towards her next class.
"What's her problem?" Tyson asked, watching her weave through the throng of students. "Am I just supposed to pretend I'm not the World Champion?"
"Maybe not pretend," Ray suggested, in his usual diplomatic manner. "But we probably shouldn't draw any more attention to ourselves."
Tyson huffed in annoyance and turned to Steph. "You don't think I'm showing off do you?"
Figuring that whatever response she gave would likely just irk Tyson further, she merely shrugged and focused her attention on the school map and trying to decipher the colour coded instructions Hilary had left her for getting between her classes.
Even with Dragoon tucked safely in Tyson's pocket, whispers continued to follow them around the school for the rest of the morning. As they left Maths, a small group of girls whispered excitedly to each other while stealing glances at both Tyson and Ray. Between Maths and History, another student double backed in the corridor to pass them, and Steph was certain she heard him mention her name to his friend.
History was no better than Maths had been. It was quickly becoming apparent that the the teachers at Bakuten Academy had no intentions of easing the students into their final year. There was no test, but their History teacher set them enough homework to fill their entire afternoon and then some. She almost didn't want to think about trying to juggle the workload with beyblade practice.
"Homework on the first day," Tyson muttered. "If we're not careful, we might actually learn something here." He had his map in hand after second period - it had the same colour coded lines as Steph's did.
"I think that's the purpose of this institution," Ray informed him. He and Tyson had Japanese for third period which mean Steph would have to find her way to her next class alone. "What class do you have next?"
"Chemistry," she said. "It's in Lab Three."
Ray checked his map. "That should be in the Science wing," he told her. "If you take that staircase there and turn left, if should be at the end of the hall."
"How come your map isn't colour coded?" Tyson asked.
"Because I can be trusted not to get lost on the way to the bathroom," Ray said simply.
Laughing quietly, Steph waved them goodbye and headed up the stairs toward the Science wing. As promised, Lab Three was at the end of the hall, where Tala and Kai were waiting for her.