"Why did you do it! I can't believe you could possibly be so stupid. Do you know that now, thanks top you, I'm locked up in this place for the next three months and I have a bedtime? Why did you do it!?!"

Beverly gasped for breath after making her speech to Mina, and then sat on her bed, trembling in rage and frustration.

Mina simply smiled and said "Do what?" Then she rose and sat next to Beverly. "What happened Beverly? You never showed up for the second class. I was so worried about you." She said it in a way that told Beverly she wasn't worried at all.

"You cheated, and now you make me look like the liar. I can't believe you would do something like this to me. I just can't believe it." Beverly moaned and thrust her head in her hands.

"It was fairly simple really." Mina began. "All I had to do was put my data pad on your desk. Then you did my test, with my number, through my transfer link, and I copied off you, with your PADD, through your number and transfer link. That way, I was done last, and you looked like you cheated. It worked perfectly. I knew you wouldn't check the number at the top, and I changed my access codes to match yours. Brilliant, wasn't it."

Beverly, furious though she was, had to admit that it was brilliant, and that she couldn't have come up with anything better if she tried. Still, though...

"You're going to pay for this Mina. Nothing you can say or do could ever cause me to change my mind, or make us friends now. You ruined the rest of my stay here, and I think it's only fair that I ruin yours."

Mina was quiet, and had no reply, something that enraged the already past agitated Beverly beyond belief. Saying nothing, she walked through the doors as they parted for her, as if aware of her fury.

* * *

The dining room was nearly empty, and far quieter than it had been at the same time last night. Beverly smiled gratefully, pulling a chair up against a small table, waiting for a past due Korbin.

She opened the file in her data PADD, eyes boring through it, lost deep in thought.
Truthfully, she didn't feel like studying, or even socializing tonight, but a promise was a promise, and her word was a s good as ever it had been.

The door opened moments later, Korbin blowing through in a gust of hurried footsteps. She looked around for a moment, blond hair flapping across that prominent forehead, and stepped towards the waiting girl, tripping over the chair legs at each turn.

Beverly felt like laughing...or moaning.

"Um, Uh, Ha Ha. Hey Bev. Can I call you Bev? Or Maybe I'll stick with Beverly. Yeah, definitely Beverly. Anyway, what's up?" Korbin looked around nervously, as if expecting lightning to strike her dead.

Beverly rolled her eyes, silently wondering why she had felt sorry for the pathetic girl standing slumped in front of her. Cursed with a good heart she though, contemplating weather or not to mumble it out loud.

"Sit down Korbin. I've had kind of a rough day, you could say. How about you?" Beverly scowled. Korbin leaned forward conspiritally, as though the red head were revealing the secrets of the universe to her.

"What happened? Did you break up with your boyfriend? Oh, wait, I know. Your boyfriend cheated on you. No, you have two boyfriends. That's it! Two boyfriends, and they just found out about each other! They didn't even know each other, and they became friends. Then, suddenly, they began talking about their girlfriends, and, what a shock, their only one had two one and onlys. Am I right?"

Beverly sat silent, eyes wide as saucers, a bewildered expression covering her face. "What? I don't even have a boyfriend. Where did you come up with that?" She couldn't believe this. First she was cheating on a test, now she was cheating on boyfriends she didn't even have.

'Well, it could happen. It does on the holodeck." Korbin said shyly, looking up at Beverly, but unable to meet her gaze, fearing the repercussions.

"Korbin, it's okay, I let my imagination run away with me all the time too, and, usually, my mouth goes with it and they both get me in trouble. Not that that's what happened today..." She let her voice trail off, surprised that she was inviting this discussion.

"What happened today? What really made it so bad? I won't tell anyone, I promise." Korbin's eyes were gentle, those of a true listener.

"Professor Jarcok accused me of cheating on the exam. He sent me to Admiral Parsons, who said that I copied off Mina, thinking I could get away with it, so I would have had time to "Improve my social life last night," which is exactly what Mina was doing while I was busy studying for the test that I should have passed, but now failed because of her."

There, it was all out. She sighed, uncertain if it was relief or the first indications of insanity.

"That is absolutely ridiculous. What happens now, you just failed that test?" Korbin sat, semi-patiently awaiting her response.

"Well, if it hadn't been for my past history here, it might have been that simple. You see, I used to have another roommate named Claire, Claire Voy. Did you know her."

Korbin shook her head.

"No, well, she and I were great friends, but she was a bit of a troublemaker, and I was always getting caught up in her schemes. She quit, and just recently I came off my latest probation. Now this comes along, and," Beverly deepened her voice, trying to imitate Admiral Parsons, "One more screw up in the next seven and a half years, and you're out of here."

"Who's out of here?" Tafton Hosgerb, a human classmate of theirs, had just walked through the sliding doors, hearing the last line of Beverly's monologue.

"Me." Bev stated, gesturing to Korbin, letting her tell the story, hoping it would come out semi-truthfully.

"Uh...It was Jarcock, and he was sitting in the dining room. No, that's not it. Okay, um it was still Jarcock, and he was walking down the hall, and he saw Beverly. No, no. He was standing in the classroom, and he walked up to Beverly, and told her to go to her quarters, I mean the office."

Tafton looked slowly at Beverly, in disbelief. Beverly nodded, slowly and painfully.

"So Jarcock told Beverly to go to the office." Tafton summarized, hoping to put the poor confused girl back on track. The Chous were, in all fairness, a race known for their absentmindedness.

"Yeah, and then the Admiral. He said she was studying the dining room, I mean, she wasn't studying, she was improving her social life in the dining room. Now she's on probation for seven and a half minutes." Korbin finished proudly, not noticing the strange look on Tafton's face.

"Years," Beverly whispered, leaning over to her confused friend, being sure not to hurt the other girl's feelings.

Tafton nodded briefly, and didn't say another word.

The door slid open again, reveling Lennie and Scott, two of Tafton and Beverly's friends, and then Jack and Walker.

"Ooh, Beverly, upper classmen." the brunette girl whispered teasingly.

"Shut up, Tafton."

"Hello ladies, how are you this evening?" Scott had a terrible falsetto accent. Beverly cringed. Tafton gagged. Korbin stared intently at her scuffed boots.

"Sit down guys." Beverly said, introducing Jack and Walker to the group. Jack sat next to her, she noticed.

"Hey Bev, tough break." Lennie said sympathetically.

The other three nodded in agreement.

Beverly glared daggers at Jack.

"Wasn't me." He shrugged helplessly.

"That" said Walker, "Is what drinking glasses next to walls are for."
They all laughed as Beverly swooped her arm across the table in a mock attempt to hit him, causing him to fall backwards off the chair as he faked blocking her.

When everything had quieted down, Lennie asked, "So, what are you going to do about it? Did she confess to you?"

"Yeah. Shocked me. But, anyway, there's not much I can do." Beverly thought she was being logical.

"You're right," Scott said, "You're pretty much trapped here for the next eight years. I'd say that fairly well takes care of everything." That statement was far more reasonable.

"Okay, then, how do we get her to tell he actual truth. Why would she suddenly fess up now, when she would be in more trouble than ever. Her story is perfect."

"Yeah," agreed Lennie. "It is the perfect story. But, stories have to have proof to back them up."

"What do you mean," asked Tafton, who was as bewildered as Korbin had been earlier.

"He means," said Scott, "That someone had to have seen Beverly in the dining room or somewhere that night..."

"And no one saw Mina!" Jack interjected. "You're right. There's no alibi. If you want to win, you have to have evidence."

Beverly nodded slowly. She could see where this was going.

"Okay, then," Korbin spoke up. "Let's all get together and find people who saw Mina in the dining room, and people who saw Beverly go into her room and study."

"It happened yesterday, right?" asked Walker.

Beverly nodded. "I was studying from eight until ten. She was partying." She couldn't say it without a hint of bitterness creeping into her voice.

"Okay then, we're set." said Walker. "I'm in charge of the investigation. Jack, Tafton and I will take the upper classmen. Lennie, Scott and Korbin get the underclassmen."

"What about me?" asked Beverly.

"Stay out of it." Jack and Walker answered together.

"You'll only make it worse," said Walker.

Beverly's face contorted, and her eyes took on a look of pure hurt.

"He means you're to close to the incident, both emotionally and physically, to be able to see it for what it really is. Just give up on it...for now," Jack said.

"But when you give up on something, you just become an observer," Beverly noted.

"Exactly." Said Walker.

"Thanks guys, I mean it. This is the best thing anyone's ever done for me. Really." said Beverly. "I'd love to stay, but my bed time is in five minutes. Lucky me." She made a face, and walked off to the door.

The group all began to disperse after that, each discussing his or her own plans for extracting information from the other Cadets.

Jack had been talking with Walker, but, suddenly, he veered off to the right, toward the door.

"Where are you going now?" asked Walker.

Jack gave him a dirty look.

"I'll leave the light on for you. Don't be too late." Walker's voice was high and squeaky. He blew Jack a mock kiss.

Jack ran off.

* * *

Beverly walked briskly down the corridor, knowing that any second now her time would be up, and Admiral Parsons would hit the "Little red button" before she even had a chance to appeal.

She barely even noticed when she heard a voice call her name. There was no time to turn around. She was down to seconds. She might make it, as long as she never looked back.

The door whooshed open with one second to spare. The computer clicked as she pressed her fingers to the time panel, her own personal brig guard.

The door chirped moments later. She ignored it, figuring it was Mina. She could let herself in. Beverly didn't see any reason to hand out favors.

A minute passed before the chime rang out again. Beverly ignored it again, though this time she had to force herself. It could be important. She pretended to be asleep.

One last time, the buzzer gave a valiant effort, and still Beverly lay quietly in her bed. There was quiet, and hen the fall of footsteps. She was almost disappointed when there were no more chimes.

She wasn't disappointed for long. Mina swept into the room. "Hello Beverly. Isn't it a bit early for bed?"

"What are you doing home then?" Beverly asked. Her voice was smug, but it was a valid question.

"I have to get my beauty rest before my big date tomorrow," the other girl said.

"Wow Mina. Isn't that a risk?" asked Beverly, sounding aghast.

" What?" asked Mina.

"You should have started last week. Then at least you would have had a chance. Now though...Alas, there is no hope."

That said, Beverly was quiet, letting Mina's muffled insults lull her to sleep.