• The bus hissed as it applied its brakes, stopping at my corner. I trudge up the steps and slump in my usual seat in the front of the bus. My name is Zoe Creed and I am telekinetic. It all started in 1st grade when another student took my crayons and I got so mad, the crayons suddenly shot out of the box and scattered on the floor. Since then, I’ve been working on controlling my “powers” and finally got the hang of it in 4th grade. I’m now in 9th grade and I’m lovin’ it! As the bus wheezes to the next stop, the Devil Herself boards along with all her groupies. The Devil has a name and the name is Ruby Emerald. Her parents thought it was clever to name their demon after the precious stones since they’re filthy rich, owning Emerald Network, a huge television, well, network.

    Her blonde hair bounces as she runway-models down the aisle, groupies right behind her. The last one knocks my stuff out of my seat and she spins around yelling, “Watch where you’re going freak!” at me. She flips her short blonde hair at me and I ponder how it was MY fault since she’s the one who needs to watch out.

    I turn around slightly in my seat just enough to see what the vermin were doing. Some were applying makeup and others were messing with their hair. I grin mischievously, lower my brows, and nod. They all start screaming hysterically as Ruby gets jabbed in the eye with a mascara brush, making her cry and her makeup runs. Another screams as her hair gets pulled in different directions, messing and tangling it. Two of them get their earrings connected, even though they’re hoop earring, screaming as they try to separate. And for Ms. Knock-My-Stuff-Off, she gets smacked in the face with a Math book and her nose starts to bleed. I chuckle as all the mayhem starts to unfold in the back seat. The driver swerves around a car since he was distracted by the girls’ screams. “Oh my God, calm down girls!” he yells at them. They continue to scream.

    When I get off and walk towards the door, I hear the vermin’s heels clack on the sidewalk as they rush past me, hurrying to the girls’ room no doubt to fix themselves. I grin as one of them trips and breaks the heel off their shoes. She screams and picks up, desperately pressing it to the spot where it had broken off. “Try using some glue, stupid.” I say quietly enough so she doesn’t hear me as I walk past her. She still messes with her shoe until she whines and hurries to catch up with the other groupies and Satan. I walk into the cafeteria and set my backpack down at my spot then walk towards the line to get breakfast. There’s hardly anyone here this early so I get my breakfast quickly. Cereal, what a surprise! I think to myself as I fake smile at the lunch lady who just raises her eyebrow at me. I get my milk and swipe my card, rolling my eyes as I sit down. I rip open the cereal pack and slowly pour my milk. I stare intently as the milk hits the cereal and everything seems to go slower. I blink and the bowl is overflowing. I gasp and lean down to sip up the excess milk from the bowl, but some of it got on my tray. I get up to go get some napkins and someone bumps into me, “Watch it!” the punk yells at me. I stop momentarily as he walks away, but I decide not to mess with him since there are more students coming in. I get the napkins, mop up the milk from my tray, finish my cereal, and dump my tray.

    As I sit down, my best friend, also my only friend, shows up and I smile at him. He smiles back and hurries to sit down before someone takes his seat, although I don’t know why since no one sits by us. “I messed with Satan this morning on the bus.” I whisper at him and grin. He shakes his head and laughs, “What did you do?” he asks quietly. “One of her demon buddies knocked my stuff off and she told me to watch it even though it was her fault, so I just messed with their makeup and such.” I say, and then cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud as I stare at the cafeteria door. He turns and widens his eyes as Ruby as her friends awkwardly walk in. The one with the bloody nose has a chunk of toilet paper up her nostril, a self-remedy since she’s too stupid to go to the nurse. Ruby tried to fix her eye makeup, but it didn’t work very well, so it has tear streaks in it and her eye is red from when she got jabbed. The two who got their earrings hooked have red ears from tugging on them until they were sensible enough to remove the earrings to get separated. The one with the tangled hair was probably the one who looked like she recovered the most, but she had a few stray hairs sticking out from her head and she was holding her head like she had a headache and they all had pink eyes from crying. Lots of kids start laughing as they walk to their table, but before Ruby sits down she screams, “Shut up stupid peasants!!” Her face turns redder than her eye and everyone immediately shuts up except me and Zane (that’s his name by the way). She glares at us and we roll out eyes and turn around.

    “I thought you said you only messed up their makeup, but it looks like they got in a fight with each other!” he says to me in a hushed tone as we enter first period, Science. “I did! Just in an extreme manner.” I say and I grin once more, “But they deserved it…” my voice trails off as my face darkens. He puts his hand on my shoulder and pats in comfortingly. I smile and say, “Bah, as long as they don’t cause anymore trouble I’ll leave ‘em alone.” I say to him reassuringly. He smiles back and nods as we take our seats and pull out our books. Zane is a quiet guy, but he can get quite loud if he gets riled up. He’s the same age as me with dark brown hair that falls in his face, covering his eyes. He has these green eyes that sparkle like emeralds when they catch light. I sort of have a crush on him, but he’d freak out if I told him I like him since we’ve been friends since 2nd grade. I have short black hair with a blue streak in front. I have baby blue eyes that sparkle when I perform telekinesis. I guess you could say I’m pretty, but no one else is this blasted school seems to think so, besides Zane who told me I have nice features.

    First period flies by since I was messing with people all hour, pushing pencils and papers off desks, moving books and flipping pages when no one is looking. I even messed with the teacher once by turning off the projector when she was demonstrating how to tell the difference between and animal and plant cell. I was not amused. Second period is P.E. and I have it with, guess who? Ruby. She wears super short-shorts that almost violate dress code, but she has short arms so her shorts never go past her fingertips and a white tank top that raises up and shows her belly-button ring. I wear baggy navy blue shorts and a light-blue T-shirt. “Nice outfit, dork.” Ruby says to me as she smirks and raises an eyebrow at me. I blink and shake my head up and down then say “Yeah, almost as nice as the hooker outfit you’re gonna wear for Halloween, eh?” She runs and tells the Coach as I get a drink from the fountain. There goes the tattletale, I think to myself as I wipe the excess water off my mouth. Coach comes in and gives me a dirty look, Ruby close behind smiling and head up as if she’s done a heroic deed. “Zoe, come see me in my office after I take attendance.” Coach says as she looks down at her roster. Ruby sticks her tongue out at me, exposing her tongue ring that sparkles when it catches the overhead lights. I imitate scissors with my fingers and she quickly pulls it back in.

    The rest of the day was pretty much boring; except for the fact it was raining. I love rain. The sound in makes on the roof an ground as it hits, the feelings of it hitting my skin, cool and fresh, and the smell after it gets done raining. It smells….renewed. Like the Earth has taken a big shower and is clean again.

    The next day Ruby sits in the seat next to me on the bus and her groupies sit in the surrounding seats. I look over at her and say in a calm tone, “Yes can I help you Satan?” She flips me off and says in a low tone, “If you ever insult me again, I will hurt you so bad, your brain with be leaking out your ears.” She motions towards her vermin and they grin evilly, glaring at me like I’m a punching bag instead of a human being. I look back at Ruby and say in a voice that didn’t waver, “How about after school? At the old playground? That should make you happy right Satan? You can even bring your groupies with you!” I grin and she frowns at me, but then regains her composure. “Sure thing, but you’re dead.” Then she rather stomps toward the back of the bus and plops in the seat, messing up her perfect blonde hair. She doesn’t bother fixing it. She appears to be actually using that brain of hers to concoct a plan. Ha! She’s going down! I think excitedly as I stare out the bus window.

    I told Zane about the fight and he thinks that it’s stupid and immature. “Oh c’mon! It’ll be fun!” I say as I walk besides him in the hallway with my hands in my coat pockets. He shakes his head and looks over at me, “Fighting is no way to solve conflicts.” He says in a slow, worried voice. I grab his arm and drag his into an abandoned janitor’s closet, “Are you forgetting about my,” I lift my hands up and motion my fingers to make air quotes,” powers?” I lift a roll of toilet paper off the shelf and drop it on his head. He rolls his eyes and bends down to pick it up “No I haven’t forgotten and I know you’ll probably win, even though it’s five against one.” He says as he stands back up and plays with the toilet paper roll. I poke his chest and grin, “Then why are you so worried? I’ll be fine!” I say in a confident voice. He suddenly wraps his arms around me and it takes me by surprise. “I don’t want you to get hurt.” He whispers to me. I blink, still in shock and then hug him back. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I’ll return without a scratch.” He releases me and grabs me by the arms. We lock eyes and stare at each other for a few seconds. God I never realized how beautiful his eyes were… I think as he suddenly kisses me and I widen my eyes. Holy crap! He’s a good kisser! Is this for real? What am I doing?? All these questions whiz through my head, and I kiss him back. He releases me and we both smile and walk out of the closet, careful not to let anyone notice us since it’s after school. Here we go…

    Ruby shows up in a short skirt and Pink tank-top, carrying a different purse than usual. Her groupies also have different purses, but I don’t take it to mind. I stand across from her and we stare each other down for a few seconds before she announces, “I’m gonna win because Daddy said so.” She grins and puts her hand on her hip and her groupies copy her. I shake my head and sigh, then look up as Satan’s groupies run at me. My eyes sparkle as they all go flying and land in mud puddles. They get up and run at me again, picking up rocks as they come towards me. They throw the rocks, but I stop them mid-air and the crumble into dust. They all stop for a second and stare at me. “What the heck are you?!” they scream as they all take a step back. I glare at them, eyes sparkling and say, “I can break every bone in your pathetic little bodies and no one would ever know it was me, so I’d suggest you all leave before I get any angrier!” I walk up to Ruby, and she trembles with fear as I stop a foot in front of her. “Are you ready to stop being a total jerk at school?” I whisper to her. BANG! I gasp and take a step back. I look down and see a hole in my stomach, a bullet hole. Ruby was holding a gun in her hand and she was frowning at me. “Daddy gave me a gun because he said he doesn’t like peasants like yourself, you little inferior!” I fall to the ground clutching my stomach and it’s bleeding all down my shirt and dripping on the ground. I take my hand off the wound and stare at my hand, which is covered in blood. I wince as I look up at Ruby and she’s wiping the gun off with a clean white cloth. I cough up blood as I slowly die from internal bleeding. Ruby’s smarter than I thought. Goodbye school, goodbye Zane, goodbye life… I fall on the ground and Ruby places the gun in my hand and one of her groupies calls 911 on a disposable phone. “Help! A girl just shot herself at the old playground by the school! Hold on.” She checks my wrist and stands back up. “Yes she’s dead.” It starts raining as they swings on the swings, waiting for the police and ambulance to arrive. I lay there in a pool of my own blood as it gets washed away by the rain. I love rain. It makes me feel renewed, but not this time…