Caught by Julie Steimle (read my book .txt) 📕

a break to lather up the soap; then water mist again, another dose of chemical sanitizer and lather time. During his last blast of water mist, Aver Tellovii shook out his hair. He took his towel and dried off. Inside the stall shelf he picked up his undersuit and put it on, then stepped out into the room where a waiting Surface Patrol officer took the stall after him.

Chuckles erupted in the washroom around him. Some joke that he had not heard, he figured. Wondering only mildly what was so funny, he staggered with a yawn over to the mirror, rubbing his head with his towel.

With a sleepy wipe of his eyes, he then went straight into his morning routine, dressing first into his uniform then he worked on his hair. As routine, he pulled out his hair gel and gazed into the mirror. The moment he saw himself he dropped his bottle.

“Aaaargh!”

Confession

Zormna woke and rubbed her eyes as usual. She rolled off her bed to say her morning meditation. Then she reached for her drawer to take out her comb and glanced around the room at the other sleeping cadets who were also barely getting up. After rummaging through her drawer for a few minutes she remembered then that she had dumped it in the sanitizer two nights before and had borrowed one the day before. Closing the drawer, Zormna started for the door. Before she could even touch it, it opened. Standing there was Anzer Prenn who was another aide to the cadets in the Alpha district. She had a very unhappy scowl on her face.

“Cadet Zormna Clendar, you are to report to the Kevin at once.”

Zormna stepped back, bewildered.

“What for?” she asked. “You know, I haven’t showered yet.”

The anzer just shook her head disapprovingly. “Just come with me.”

Zormna nodded and followed the anzer out the room then down the hall, holding her clean undersuit in her hands.

They marched down the corridors at a very quick pace. Zormna had to jog to keep up. As she went after the anzer in her bare feet and stopped when she told her to, she soon found them outside the Kevin’s office door in no time. The anzer promptly punched the door com.

“Anzer Prenn with Cadet Zormna Clendar sir, as you requested.”

<<Send her in.>> The Kevin’s answer was brisk. Zormna could tell that the Kevin wasn’t the slightest bit happy.

The door opened. Zormna stepped inside, gazing first on the Kevin, who was glaring at her with a very disappointed fatherly expression. The second thing she saw made her laugh. She had to stifle it with her hand. Aver Tellovii stood there, red-faced and angry, but also with the brightest green hair she had ever seen, all originating on the top and extending down in streaks through his longer back. He didn’t lie to her after all.

“Don’t tell me you had something to do with this, Zormna,” the Kevin said, hardly smiling. “That is the last thing I want to hear right now.”

Zormna bit her lip and Averted her eyes to the floor, feeling the guilt seep down from the top of her head to her knees. They started to feel weak, and all she could do was stare at her toes.

“Aver Tellovii thinks you were the one that put chemical cleaner into his hair gel,” the Kevin continued.

She swallowed. She could barely peek at the Kevin. The angry expression had not left his face.

“I said you would never do a thing like that. But he says that you were just handling the chemical two days ago, and you had reason to attack him,” the Kevin said.

Zormna looked up this time. “Attack him? I haven’t laid a finger on Aver Tellovii!”

A chuckle came from the left corner of the room. Zormna glanced up and saw Alea Arden standing there near the door. He was covering his mouth, trying to look serious. On the other side stood Alea Her’nann, not happy at all as he glared at the younger Alea and Zormna. Zormna ducked her head again, knowing that there was no way she would get out of this without a direct lie.

The Kevin frowned. Aver Tellovii said nothing. He just stood there like his own hair was witness enough to her crime.

“Show me your hands,” the Kevin ordered.

Zormna rolled her eyes and stuck them out for the Kevin to see. They were as white as ever—pasty white.

The Kevin looked up at Aver Tellovii who stared down in shock.

“But she did it!” he cried.

Alea Arden still laughed to himself. Alea Her’nann, however, seemed to change his mind. He gazed at Zormna with a flicker sorrow for thinking she was guilty. The Kevin himself looked ready to dismiss her then reprimand Aver Tellovii for accusing his favored cadet.

“I think we’ve heard enough, Aver. Apparently your colleagues found it a good joke to lay on you, maybe teach you not to be so vain,” the Kevin said, standing up.

The Aver scowled as he glared down at Zormna. However, he did accept the Kevin’s explanation, and he prepared to leave.

Alea Her’nann joined the Aver and pulled him toward the door. “Next time you think that girl is guilty of something you make sure you’re right.”

Alea Arden just kept laughing with his hand over his mouth.

Alea Her’nann placed his hand on the door button.

“Wait,” Zormna said at last, closing her eyes and wincing in pain from guilt, knowing what will come next. “I did it.”

The Kevin let his jaw drop, and Alea Arden burst out laughing, bending over. The Kevin cast him a dirty look. Seeing it, Alea Arden immediately clammed up, still with a smirk.

“What?” Alea Her’nann barked, whipping around.

Zormna shook her head. “I did it. I put the chemical in Aver Tellovii’s hair gel.”

The Kevin sat down.

Aver Tellovii grinned from ear to ear, pointing at her. “I knew it. I knew it, you little scammer.”

“Oh, knock it off, Tellovii!” Zormna snapped back. “You deserved it. You kept egging me on. You were the one that told me it turned people’s hair green. How stupid can you be?”

Alea Arden let a snicker escape, still trying to cover his laugh.

“You find this really amusing, don’t you?” the Kevin asked his second in command.

Alea Arden shook his head then nodded, wiping tears away now. “Look at them! You have a seventeen-year-old arguing with a nine-year-old about who deserved what. It’s funny.”

The Kevin shook his head. He did look at the two, and after a moment even he had to stifle a laugh.

“Well, he was picking on me!” Zormna replied to the three leaders.

The Kevin kept shaking his head. Even Alea Her’nann started to chuckle. The green hair really was getting to all of them.

Aver Tellovii set his hands on his hips and scowled.

“This isn’t funny,” Tellovii said. “I have permanent green hair now because of her.”

The head of the Alpha district burst out laughing now, trying hard to stop but failing miserably. The Kevin glared at his second then glanced soberly at Cadet Zormna. Zormna herself was not laughing. She knew she was guilty, and she knew that laughing at her handiwork, no matter how funny looking, was not a good idea—especially with the Kevin around. 

“You have seriously disappointed me,” the Kevin said to her, but he also cast a side-glance at Alea Arden who was wiping away more tears while trying to hide a grin.

The cadet nodded sadly.

“I know,” she said, staring at the floor again.

“Aver Tellovii has requested to take you to the Council,” he continued. “I now give my consent.”

Zormna winced. She knew what that meant. Not just K.P. but also other labor with a harsh mark on her permanent record. Sneaking off during class would never get her that harsh kind of punishment, but her computer tampering had. Standing before the council was terrifying. She knew she would not get off easy. Zormna glanced at the Aver, falling into a sulk. She was stuck.

Aver Tellovii looked vindicated, standing up properly in his green hair and uniform. Alea Arden smothered another laugh when he saw the young man’s stance, but he definitely sobered at the Kevin’s declaration.

Seeing justice served, Alea Her’nann nodded and prepared to leave. The Kevin nodded him out then turned to Aver Tellovii and Alea Arden. “You may go.”

Aver Tellovii saluted the Kevin, though not without giving Zormna a disdainful sneer as he left the room. Alea Arden also saluted the Kevin and nearly exited the room as well, gazing upon Zormna with his sympathetic grin.

“Don’t encourage her, Arden,” the Kevin said, just as his second in command was about to go.

The nineteen-year-old Alpha district commander smiled as he saluted his leader again. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Kevin,” he said with a laugh.

The Kevin gave him a warning glance but dismissed him once more.

“Zormna, you stay and close the door,” the Kevin said.

The small cadet nodded and did as ordered. When the door was shut, the Kevin sat down in his chair.

“Why?” he asked, now with a pained fatherly gaze.

Zormna felt even guiltier. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be telling that to Aver Tellovii,” he said.

She scowled. “I’m not sorry for that. I still think he deserved it.”

The Kevin looked at her disappointedly.

“Zormna…” He sighed in exasperation. “Zormna, you can’t do that. You can’t take revenge on people. Think of all the people you would have to take revenge on, Zormna. The P.M.s, the High Class. Think of all the people that have harmed you in the past. You can’t take revenge. It is wrong. It is selfish. And it is destructive.”

She looked guilty again and stared at the floor.

“I’m glad that you confessed, but that doesn’t change that you committed the crime,” the Kevin said.

“Was it really a crime to turn his hair green?” Zormna asked, looking up at her leader.

The Kevin stifled a laugh but nodded. “It was premeditated. You planned it. You probably had accomplices, though I won’t ask whom. I say such malicious planning deserves punishment with the Council.”

Zormna nodded, exhaling loudly. “Yes, sir.”

The Kevin dismissed her. Before she left the room he gave her a word of advice. “Next time you feel the urge to get revenge, go play a game of pronuk and burn off that excess energy.” Smiling, he added, “Just don’t do it during class.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave him a bow and walked out the door.

 

Summed Up

 

The Council ruled in favor of Aver Tellovii, who now stood in front of them with a shaved head, showing only a residue of green stubble on his scalp