Chapter 1 - The Punisher

"Pick up your heels, Chaos!" Mr. Gonzer barked from the covered sideline bleachers. I glared at him in mutinous silence as I jogged past, half frozen and soaked to the bone.

I didn't just have a problem with authority figures in general, I had an even bigger issue with teachers on a power trip. Once, just once, I wanted to be the one dishing out the discipline to give Gonzer a taste of his own daily torture. If I was granted one wish, I'd use it to rip the roof off the bleachers, allowing him to experience firsthand how it felt to get blasted by a torrent of rain and mud. Just the thought of him covered in ooze made me all warm and tingly inside.

Too bad I never got what I wished for.

Not only was he the high school's gym teacher, Mr. Gonzer was also the principal, as well as a former Navy Seal. Some even say ex-mercenary. Nicknamed the Punisher he made...uh, more like forced all Freshman to run the mile through the pouring rain for basically two reasons. First, because he wanted to show us who was boss. As if we needed reminding. And second, because torturing his students with the lame Michigan weather at the beginning of each new school year was somehow supposed to build character, while also improving our attitudes.

Personally, I disagreed. Running in near freezing temperatures through the pouring rain didn't do a thing for my crappy attitude. It just made me cold, wet, and extremely prone to bad behavior.

On the last lap around the track I led the pack far ahead of my classmates, but it wasn't enough for Gonzer. Rounding the final turn, I heard him bellowing his disapproval for my so-called poor performance.

"C'mon, Darlin'. You can do better than that. Dig deep, Chaos!"

Nobody likes a monkey on their back. Especially me. I needed to fix that. So I decided to do just what he said.

I dug deep.

Gritting my teeth, I switched to an outside lane on my right and headed straight toward a giant mud puddle threatening to flood the bleachers where Gonzer had perched himself, so conveniently sheltered from the storm.

Anger spiking, I picked up speed as I approached. The instant my foot hit the water a fierce heat surrounded me, drawing pent-up energy deep down inside like a bomb ready to go off. The wimpy splash I'd intended to cause somehow morphed into an explosion; the effect reminding me of a stone tossed in water so that the energy spilled out in ripples creating a shock wave.

Only it didn't stop there.

A low bass drop made my ears pop as the rain soaked ground shook violently under my feet. Scrambling back to the track, I had to keep on running just to stay ahead of the earth shattering energy now biting at my heels like a heat seeking missile locked on a target.

Oblivious to the destructive power heading his way, Gonzer only seemed to care that I'd veered off course. Fumbling for the shiny silver whistle he always wore around his neck, the shrill sound it made as he blew it struck my ears as I shot past the finish line like a bullet.

The expanding blast reduced Gonzer's beloved shelter to a pile of splintered rubble in seconds, along with twenty rows of bleachers as if purposefully aimed.

Bulls-eye!

Heart slamming furiously against my rib-cage, body feeling like it was on fire, I skidded to an abrupt halt and spun around in hope of catching even a tiny glimpse of his reaction.

I wasn't disappointed.

The assault on my hearing was a small price to pay for the pleasure of watching his face, which at first appeared to be a mixture of half-embarrassment, half-shock, morph into an extremely satisfying look of pure rage, as the rest of the class fast approaching the scene took turns jockeying for position to gawk at Gonzer.

His once snow-white sweatsuit, now dripping wet and covered in muck, Gonzer climbed out of the wreckage apparently unharmed. Spluttering with fury, he clenched his hands into fists over and over until his face was nearly as red as my hair, before he finally turned around and skulked away.

I grinned triumphantly. Pissing off the Punisher? Priceless!

Somehow I had a feeling that would be the first and last time Gonzer ever called me "darling."

I was still standing on what little remained of the track celebrating when my little victory party was cut short by an ever increasing tide of whisperers and gossip mongers, which pretty much consisted of my entire gym class. Finally catching up, I tasted their fear like something metallic on my tongue. The look on their faces could only be described as pure horror. Almost as if they thought...no, scratch that. It was more like they knew I had caused all the carnage, but nobody wanted to be the first to confront me about it.

Not that I blamed them, of course.

Lately, trouble had a way of following me everywhere I went. Like that time last week when an upper class-man pissed me off and my resulting outburst seemed to be responsible for setting off the entire indoor sprinkler system. The whole school had to be evacuated until it dried out. Then there was that time the week before when the fire alarms kept going off every time I entered a classroom. Got sent home for that one like it was somehow my fault. And then there was also that time at the very beginning of school when the cafeteria caught on fire at the exact moment I realized the kitchen had run out of pizza on Pizza Tuesday. Yes, on one hand the fact that the school was going up in flames did shock me. And everybody else for that matter. But, seriously! Who runs out of pizza on Pizza Tuesday?

Instead of taking the blame, I decided to look on the bright side. The entire cafeteria had to be completely gutted due to extensive smoke and fire damage. Thankfully, long overdue renovations finally moved that part of the ancient school into the 21st freaking century. Which also ended up improving the sucky cafeteria food. So I figured it was a win, win.

Still, that didn't explain how I'd gotten my wish. Shaking my head slowly back and forth as I surveyed the scene, this was by far the biggest event yet to happen since school started. But that didn't make any of it my fault, did it? Then again, the devastation to Gonzer's favorite perch turned out better than anything I could've wished for.

Way better.

Pulse still galloping in my throat, I swallowed hard. Or attempted to anyway. My classmates weren't the only ones freaked out by the recent series of unfortunate events. Especially since it was my life being held hostage for some reason.

No longer feeling like I was about to spontaneously combust, my gaze returned to all the frowny faces staring me down like some kind of defective. I didn't appreciate all of the attention. Not one little bit. I had a bad habit of blushing so easily it was ridiculous. Now being no different, of course, as bright crimson splotches blazed an angry path across my face causing Kool-aid cheeks. Most of the time fear of morbid embarrassment kept my outbursts in check. I always made it a point to never do anything out of the ordinary to stand out. Or to make my classmates see me. I preferred to be invisible.

Until lately, that is.

As much as I hated their stares, I hated standing around in the rain even more. But since I had to go and scare everyone stupid, it became obvious to me that if we were ever going to make it to our next class, I would have to make the first move. Besides, I'd already reached my saturation point for one day.

I gave a weak salute and stepped forward. The brief movement spooked everyone, making them jump back. On the plus side, the collective motion of the crowd created a hole, which made for a convenient escape route.

Suppressing a smile, I darted through the opening and walked briskly across the flooded football field, dodging pieces of debris as I carefully made my way back to school. Half way there I glanced over my shoulder for a momentary reprieve from the rain, now coming down sideways. I couldn't help but notice my classmates all huddled together as they cautiously followed; a tangled mass of arms and legs like a giant tarantula crawling through the storm.

I turned back around and sniffed the damp air, holding it at the back of my throat. Right at that exact moment I realized I didn't just taste their fear, I smelled it too - assaulting my nostrils like vinegar. I've never fully understood how or why I had these strange abilities. Just that I did.

Finally reaching the girls locker room, I peeled off my muddy clothes and went to enjoy a hot shower. After getting blasted by the arctic temperature outside, the girls' locker room felt like a swamp.

Smelled like one too.

Once finished and toweled off I didn't bother messing with my waist length hair, other than to half-heartedly drag a comb through it once. Not that it much mattered. My hair couldn't be tamed. Staring at my reflection in the blurry mirror, I knew prettifying myself like all the other girls in school was kind of pointless. Especially when the only makeup I ever wore was heavy black eye shadow, and extra thick black eye liner. Not because I wanted to look like a hell-raiser, but because I figured the color matched my soul.

Pulling apart chin length bangs forever hanging in my face like a soggy curtain, I leaned in toward the mirror.

That's when I saw it.

Normally a shade just shy of puke-green, my eyes were now an alarming shade of green. I leaned in even closer, mouth dangling open to get a better view, and only ended up fogging the mirror so I couldn't see. Ripping off my towel in anger, I wiped the mirror dry and peered again. This time with my nose pressed up against the glass, there was no mistake about it. My eyes were now a startling shade of bright emerald green.

Great. Just great. Between my copper red hair, pasty white glow-in-the-dark complexion, and shamrock green eyes, I look like a freaking leprechaun.

Shaking my head violently back and forth until I resembled cousin Itt, I could only hope that no one noticed the creepy change in eye color. Besides, it was normal for me to wear my hair in my face. At least, now I had a reason.

With my bangs firmly back in place, I'd already finished changing into my favorite ripped up jeans, and over-sized black T-shirt by the time the rest of the girls in my class arrived.

Ignoring their stares, not to mention hiding another incriminating blush, I shoved my wet gym clothes in a duffel bag before opening my locker to search for a spare pair of sneakers I usually kept on hand to change into.

That's when it hit me.

I'd left my back-up pair at home yesterday to get washed after Gonzer had the brilliant idea of turning gym class into his own personal version of hellish boot camp.

"Mother Fudrucker!" I griped, slamming the locker door harder than I meant to. Could one more thing possibly go wrong today? The only thing worse than walking around with wet un-tamed hair, was walking around in wet shoes. Not that I ever worried about my hair, but still. It sucked.

With no other option than to shove my feet in and tie my super-soaked Reeboks, I grabbed my gym bag and stormed off, anger increasing with each step-as my sneakers made annoying little squishing noises like a pair of sponges. To top it all off, I'd accidentally triple-knotted my laces in frustration. So I guess that meant I had to wear these damn shoes for the rest of my natural born life.

Now even more irritated than before, I pulled a can from my bag, popped open the top, and slammed down a high-octane energy drink on the way to fifth hour. Unfortunately for me, not even the destruction of school property had enough power to cancel the last class of the day.

Making a b-line for my hall locker to exchange my gym bag for my messenger bag, I high-tailed it to Mr. Glen's computer class before he gave me yet another detention for being supremely late. But before I even stepped one sopping wet foot in Freshman Hall, my stranger alert system started going haywire. This time the heightened sense of awareness I always got right before something bad happened, wasn't because I was jazzed up on caffeine. Besides, caffeine didn't make the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand up, or cause goosebumps to chase down my arms.

No. I knew without quite knowing how that there could only be one possible explanation. Someone...ah, make that something was waiting for me deep in the bowels of my school.