A gravelly baritone joined the squeaky voice. “Who cares about her hair? Didn’t you hear what she said yesterday?”

  “What?” the squeaker asked. I was interested to hear what would be said next, in spite of myself, so I stopped under the pretense of getting some dressing for my food item which happened to be a salad.

  “She hates all blacks.”

  I froze with the spout half down. What were they saying?

  “Ooh! How do you know?” 

  “She said so.” The gravely voice was triumphant. I flexed my hand and the spout thudded downward. Slimy white ranch dressing glopped out over my hand and I cursed under my breath as I reached for the napkins. There weren’t any.

  “It figures. Look at her; she’s an accident waiting to happen! She probably wanted someone to blame it all on, so she chose the blacks.”

  My hands involuntarily curled into fists and I set the empty napkin holder down gently to prevent myself from throwing it. I slowly picked up my tray and turned to go. I might have made it out the door if the voices hadn’t spoken again.

  “Know what else I heard?”

  “No, what?”

  “She’s stupid. Like, mentally retarded. I-”

  The cafeteria went suddenly silent as I threw down my tray. It crashed against the tiles noisily, the contents scattering everywhere. I turned to face the voices and saw Jimmy and Suzanne standing together, heads inclined towards each other. “I am not,” I tried to say, but the only sound was a distant roaring that filled my ears. A few freshmen slunk out of the way and a single thought entered my barren mind, ‘My way is clear.’

  I charged like a rampaging elephant, like an infuriated bull. I lost track of time-there was no rhyme or reason in this fuzzy red world of mine. I felt pain in my fists but it wasn’t enough to pull me from my revenge. It was only when what felt like a steel bar wrapped around my chest and pressed me up against a brick wall that I heard the profane words flying from my mouth. The string of swears didn’t last long; the bar around me forced all the air from my lungs. The next thing I knew, I was in the office.

  The principal was furious; apparently the fight broke the school’s twenty year record, or something like that. I think that it was about time for something exciting to happen. You’d think the staff would have been grateful to be released from the monotonousness of their lives, but, no, they took the principals side. I guess some people just can’t handle change.

  “What possessed you  to…. To….” Evidently, the principal was having difficulty understanding me. “To…. To disregard all rules? To abandon sanity?”

  Hey! That wasn’t fair!

  He stopped and knelt in front of my chair; I crossed my arms and leaned back as he gripped the armrests. “What possessed you?” he repeated.

  “They called me stupid.” I muttered.

  Silence filled the room, stifling even the sounds of breathing. The principal’s mouth moved, but nothing came out; he looked like a fish drowning in air. The thought was so ludicrous that I laughed. I laughed at the principal, I laughed at the teachers, I laughed at myself, but, most of all, I laughed at Jimmy Carter and Suzanne Collins. They were all suffering from my rule, mine! I had power, I felt it! Enough to rule the world, the galaxy, the universe! My golden rule would rule all!

  Another fit of hysterics took me as the principal ranted and raved. I only caught snippets of his tirade, “…immature… you… make the school look… asylum! How dare… it! You’re suspended!… year, you’ll….”

  I was still laughing when he finished, so he called my parents to escort me home. I subsided into girlish giggles in the car, interrupted only by the occasional hiccup. I saw the doctor who proclaimed that I was suffering from stress and should get plenty of rest. So now, after purgatory, I get an hour to do my homework and eat my dinner, then am forced into bed until school the next day. But that’s alright with me. I know. I know about my power.

  They should fear me.