19 THE RED LINE www.overtheredline.com
the red from the cut on your knee brighter, Mary's patent Mary Jane shoes glossier, Peter's tongue a fizzy neon pink. You float up in the middle of the room and the metal chairs start to shake. You can hear the horrified yelp when the chair lifts Peter up on his own and his eyes wide with fear and that cornered animal panic and you feel so powerful. Absently, you wish for a helmet like Magneto to finish the effect. You open your mouth and-The bell rings. Peter snickers, close to you. Get up, rage building in your system. You may not have real superpowers, but you are a supervillain and now is the time to show it. His eyes widen as you come closer and you shove him. Hard. The sound of him hitting the lockers with a clang and falling down makes you grin. One of his locs getting caught in the closing door of the next locker and ripping out, so easy like damaged hair does, makes you smile wider, deranged, a heady rush of power and you think, it would be so easy to take chunks of that hair and keep ripping it out. You lift up your arm and have the satisfaction of seeing Peter with genuine fear in his eyes and feel the sharp intake of breath his chest takes before a teacher comes up and grabs your hand. "Both of you, principal's office, now!"
In the waiting area, you and Peter are separated. He goes in first and comes out looking vaguely triumphant, even if he inches around you. Twitch like you're going to jump at him and smugly watch as he startles and nearly trips over himself to run out of the office. In the office, you stare into Mr. Johnson's runny blue eyes and your fingers twitch on your thighs. He seems to be settling him-