The Chameleon

"Don't make me angry."

"Oh yeah? What're you going to do? Hit me?"

"Probably worse."

"Oh really? Prove it."

"Do something to make me mad. Then I'll prove it."

I suddenly felt something hit the back of my head. Hard. I turned and saw Sean pick up the football that had rebounded off my skull. He was smiling.

That put it over the edge. I gould feel myself turning red. It was a good thing I was wearing long sleeves and jeans, but then again, my face and my hands were still exposed. I reached into my pocket and pulled on my thin winter gloves. Like that was going to help.

"What're those? Your sissy boxing gloves or something?" Sean sneered.

I felt the heat travel up to my face, and I saw the surprise in their eyes as they watched my irises turn bright red.

I felt my fingers heat up even more, and the flames burnt the gloves off of my hands. I suddenly ignored the fact that there were two other people in the room and raised my hands, making the flames grow and dance.

The rest of my body began heating up like my fingers, and almost simultaneously, every molecule in my body burst into flames like a heater caught on fire.

Through the fire in my eyes, I could see the boys back off and run. The red-orange tint in my eyes annoyed me a little though, so I toned it down a few notches until the blue put the fire out. I wasn't wet, but the floor around me was.

I sighed.

*  *  *  *  *

"Why do you let people get to you like that? What did you do, anyway?"

"I scared them with fire," I said.

I held my hand out and turned it red. The flames began dancing across my palm. When I closed it, they disappeared, and my hand was back to normal.

Jesse sighed. "What is it with these people? They know what you can do."

"Apparently not," I said. "They were asking me to, and I quote, 'prove it.'"

"Wow," Jesse said blandly.

"Yeah, really," I agreed.

"Are you even sure how it works?" Jesse asked.

I shrugged. "It's like a full-body mood ring. When I get mad, I turn red. When I'm ready to cool off, I turn blue. When I'm really happy, I'm purple."

"And when you're neutral, you're normal," Jesse finished.

I nodded.

Jesse sighed. "Those idiots are going to have to learn someday."

I smiled smugly. "I think they already did."