CHERUB: Knight

18: Punishment

In his two months on campus, George had come to find that even if you have good intentions, the strict discipline usually caught up with you. So he found himself sitting in the office of his new handler on the third floor.

"This wasn't how I wanted to introduce myself to you," the woman behind the desk said, offering him a handshake. "I'm Rose Cameron, but you call me Miss when you're in trouble."

"Yes, Miss." George didn't think he deserved to be in trouble, but he said nothing as he shook her hand. Rose was only slightly taller than he was and she had long blonde hair running down her back, but her grip was like a vice and George had to massage his hand afterwards.

"Now, just to let you know," she said, pulling a file out of her desk drawer, "I was a Cherub so I know how it all works. You can come and speak to me if you've got any problems, but I'll also be looking after your class schedule and any punishments you might accrue," she said with a knowing smile. "Best to keep on my good side."

"Anyway," she said, flicking through the file before fixing her gaze on George, "Care to explain how you've been a qualified agent for less than twenty-four hours and there are now two broken doors in one room and another room which looks as if a pack of rabid dogs were let loose in it?"

"It wasn't me, Miss," George began, but the look on Rose's face suggested she'd heard that line hundreds of times before.

"You're friends with Rex?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Did you know that he was out for revenge?"

"Well, he did tell me, yeah, but-"

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"I tried! He just wasn't going to listen."

Rose clapped the file closed. "If someone is going to cause trouble, you should come and tell someone before it gets out of hand."

"But Miss, you kow how it works, nobody ever grasses."

"I know, but if we head it off before it happens, nobody gets into trouble," Rose replied, not giving an inch. "Instead, there are two doors that need to be replaced along with practically an entire wardrobe and some bedding. Two of your fellow agents are going to get severe punishments. Do you think you should be punished for letting that happen?"

George wanted to say no, but he didn't think it would be tactful to argue, so he just said nothing.

"There's a report in your file about being involved in a similar incident before basic training. I'd love to turn a blind eye to this so you'd think I'm friendly, but I can't."

"I pulled her off him, doesn't that count for anything?" George tried.

"Not in my book. I appreciate that your role in this was minor at best, but the sooner you realise that this kind of thing only leads to punishment, the better. You'll still get the rest of this week off to recover, but you'll do an hour in the recycling centre every evening," Rose said severely. "If I hear about one more incident of this type, you'll be straight in front of the chairwoman. I hear she takes this kind of thing very seriously, and you can expect much worse."

George just nodded, pleased to have got off relatively lightly.

"You can go. I'll see you at the end of the week to sort out your classes."

Rex was sure to be in a foul mood after getting smacked around by Jemima, so George gave his room a wide berth. He knocked on Letty's door, partly because he didn't fancy rattling around in his room for the rest of the evening and partly because he wanted to know if she got punished too.