Summary: Right after Holly gets a job in the LEP, she cuts her hair. Each auburn lock falling through the floor makes her think about choices, and especially their consequences. What will happen after?

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl.

Mmkay. I'm changing some things from the AF files. Root doesn't know Holly's a girl. He finds it out in the beginning of the AF files. Well, HE DOES NOW. So there. And there are probably a few other things. Oh yeah, Corporals. Root refers to Holly as a Corporal in Traffic. She gets promoted to one later.

P.S. I didn't know what Haven currency was. So I sidetracked the subject.

Haircut

Chapter Five

Holly sighed as she walked down the hallway. Man, this sucked. Already, she was in trouble with the Commander. She nervously started to push open the door, and then stopped, remembering that she should knock. She hovered by the door a few seconds, before almost being run over by something.

Apparently something with hooves. She looked up, and there was a cheerful looking centaur. She couldn't help but stare for a little; after all, she hadn't actually seen one before. And this horse-like creature with a torso of a man with a bright t-shirt and a tinfoil hat on his head wasn't exactly what she imagined one would look like.

Oblivious to her staring, the famous centaur grinned perkily at her and reached out a hand to help her up. She took it, a little warily.

"Hey there! You must be the female-gone-man everyone's talking about. What was it, Squat or something?"

Was that an insult? "Short, actually. Holly Short."

"Right, right." He then noticed that she was standing next to Root's door. "Got yourself in trouble already?"

"Erm… yes." She saw Trouble enter the hallway, apparently going to lunch. He was soaked in sweat and looked extremely tired. When she waved at him, he waved half-heartedly back.

"So, do you appreciate the casual genius?" When these words came out of Foaly's mouth, Trouble did a double take. He started mouthing 'no' over and over.

"Um…" Foaly's eagerness and bobbing up and down and Trouble's violent shaking of his head made Holly rather dizzy. "…okay?" It was more of a question then an answer. But Foaly took it as one.

"Great!" the centaur exclaimed happily. "How 'bout after lunch you come over here and I show you around my office?"

"Alright." She replied, despite Trouble's frantic mutterings. He sighed and mouthed 'later' when she looked at him questionably. Then he left the room, wincing after every few steps. She made a mental note to ask him about that.

"Well, you'd better get into Julius's office. He hates tardiness." She was about to ask who Julius was when she realized this must be Commander Root's first name.

"Right." She mumbled, a little down after remembering why she was there.

He grinned at her again, and trotted back to his Ops Booth. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door.

Or, she tried to. Apparently the door was the type you pull open, for some reason.

She thrust it open and hesitantly took a step in.

"KNOCK FIRST!" Wrong decision, apparently.

"Yes, sir." She replied blandly, not sure what to do. Should she walk back out and close the door, then knock? At the moment, though, she rather just stood there looking like a fool.

He stared at her blankly for a moment, apparently trying to remember who she was and what she had done to make him angry. Yes, Holly thought, he's probably sent enough people in here just today for him to forget their personal details.

Then, unfortunately, he remembered.

"Short," he said, leaning forward in his chair. "Sleeping on duty, were we?"

The old Holly, the one with the hair, would've stayed quiet and taken her punishment. This new girl opened her mouth in protest.

"No, sir."

"Is there a reason why your eyes were closed?" Holly struggled with her words. If she told him the truth, he wouldn't believe her, say it was a lie or an excuse, and probably fire her.

"You caught me when I blinked, sir?" The second unsure question-answer for today. Caught by surprise, the Commander blinked at her incredulously.

"Really?" he said, with a touch of sarcasm laden onto his voice.

"Uh, maybe, sir?" This wasn't going too well.

"Short, if it weren't for your great piloting skills and potential to be in Recon, you wouldn't even have made it into the Academy."

Well, at least he sort of complimented her. And insulted her. "Er… yessir."

"I'll let you off with a warning this time, Short. But only because you're a girl. Now, I have to get back to work."

Holly gaped in outrage. "Wha—" But she was cut off by the Commander himself shooing her out of his room and closing the door.

Utterly offended, Holly made her way back to the commons, where she sat next to a rather smelly Trouble.

The other officers could practically feel the anger feeling off of her, and for a minute, nobody spoke.

Finally, Trouble spoke up rather indignantly. "Well?"

Everyone stared at him blankly. He rolled his eyes.

"Well, aren't you going to ask me why I'm like this?" He indicated towards his slightly damp clothes.

A moment was spent still staring, when Holly ventured, "Why are you like that?"

"I had to take my Academy finals again. You know, to make sure I was ready for the Recon job." And just like that, all of Holly's anger was forgotten.

Before getting into Traffic, you had to spend a grueling five months, dawn-to-dusk, at the Academy. You'd learn some interesting things like shooting and gymnastics, and some incredibly useless things, like polishing tinfoil hats. Some said it was a request of Foaly.

"And? What'd you get?"

He groaned. "I just barely passed. I did well on the shooting, fair on the piloting, and horrible on the gymnastics. I couldn't even do a flip. I'm going to be sore for weeks." He waved his arms for emphasis, then winced at the pain.

"Well, at least you passed."

This seemed to remind her of something. "What was up with that episode with Foaly?"

"Foaly likes to take in the new kids." He shook his head. "It's insane, really. No one really puts up with him. They all leave within a week. Better just not to do it. I mean, he is a centaur, and a queer one, at that."

She thought about it for a second. Well, it couldn't be that bad. She could certainly deal with a centaur for more then a week, at least.

A grin spread itself out on her face. "How's about we bet on how long I can stay as his helper, or whatever?" The faces of the guys instantly matched hers. They loved to gamble. Of course, they were restricted from betting money, but there were many other things.

"I bet my entire Mud Man quarter collection that you can't stay longer then two weeks." A rather pudgy worker spoke up.

This turned a few heads. Mud Men quarters were extremely hard to get, since they were American and practically on the other side of the globe.

Trouble raised an eyebrow. "A little cocky, aren't we? I think the new girl can do it." He turned to smile at her, and Holly couldn't help feeling a swell of pride. "I bet my Recon uniform that she stays longer then three."

People were awed now. Trouble could always buy a new uniform if he lost, but then the lucky winner would have their very own Recon uniform. And they had to admit that was pretty cool. Not to mention Trouble giving up his uniform would get him in a little… well… trouble, and pretty much would also be betting his pride.

The faeries continued to make bets, and agreed that whoever had the closest number of days to however long she stayed would get the stuff. And by the end of lunch, it was a lot of stuff.

Now Holly had a few people stalking her, trying to win, and she had Trouble's pride resting on her also.

She began the walk to the Ops booth. And so, the bet would begin.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE

Wow, it was pretty long. For the normal chapters of this story, I mean. Well, I thought it wouldn't end anywhere else. And I think (gasp) I might have an inkling of a plot! Moohaha! Well, hope you like!