"Lava-up chucker!" Flicker taunts.

"Flame vomit comet!" laughs Blaze.

Oh great. I was hoping that they didn't see my whole lava-up situation in the lake. But of course they did. And they'll find any excuse to taunt me. I clench my claws and try to ignore them, hoping that if they don't get a reaction out of me, they'll lose intrest. But this just makes them jibe and jeer more. 

"Need a bucket, dearie?" Flicker asks in a false sympathetic voice. "Oh, right, I forgot. You'll just burn it up! Hahahaha!"

Blaze grins evilly at me, and says in a mocking voice: " You aren't even a firewrym, you're a fire-worm!"

They both fall over with laughter at Blaze's joke, and I finally lose it.

"SO WHAT IF I'M A FIRE-WORM?" I yell at them. "I'M STILL BETTER THAN YOU! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FIRE! YOU'RE JUST PLAIN, ORDINARY WORMS!" 

Flicker and Blaze look at each other. They they start to laugh. Flicker begins to sing a song.

Rage overtakes me, and I can't think straight anymore. I take in a huge gasp of breath, and before I know what I'm doing, I breathe out a jet of flame. Blaze is out of the blast range, but Flicker isn't so lucky. Time seems to slow down, and I see the jet of fire racing towards her, see her expression of shock and fear, and feel a hot feeling of satisfaction in my belly. I wonder for a moment if this is what revenge feels like. Then Flicker is pulled out of the way by something or someone, and my blast of flame hits a stone pot, which clatters to the ground, spilling tasty-looking boiled fish onto the floor.

Stunned out of my rage, I breathe deeply, and try to calm myself. Then I see Mom. One of her claws holds Flicker's tail, which she must have pulled to get Flicker out of my line of fire. The other claw must have held the stone pot a moment ago. Her expression is one of pure shock. 

Flicker is the first to break the silence. "Mommmm. You're hurting me."

Mom turns on her, suddenly furious. She pulls Flicker down the corridor, and into her room, where I can hear Mom raging at her. Got what you deserved, little worm, I think happily.

After Flicker's getting-chewed-out session is finished, Mom tells Dad the whole story. He begins reprimanding Blaze, while Mom takes me aside for a little "talk." Mostly how I need to control my emotions and that she doesn't want to see me trying to firebreathe my siblings again. I nod, but deep down I still believe that Flicker desevered to get roasted to a crisp, cut in to little pieces and enjoyed by me and my friends on a little dragon-ke-bab. Oh well.

We all sit down to breakfast, and we're all enjoying the fresh-boiled fish from the lake, until Blaze speaks up. 

"Jeez, Mom. How did you boil fish like this? It's nothing like I've ever seen."

"Well-" Mom starts, but Flicker interupts her. 

"Wait a sec. Didn't Scarlet lava-up in the lake?"

Blaze eyes her, like they planned this out. Which they probably did, in their heads. The twin telepathy skill doesn't always come to twin dragons, but it's very prominent in these two. "And aren't these lake fish...?"

"EW!" Flicker hollers suddenly, making everyone jump. "I don't want to eat fish cooked by SCARLET'S LAVA-UP! GROSS!"

"Neither do I!" Blaze yells.

I growl. This is all to much for me. I sit up suddenly, knocking over my bowl of fish. I grab my schoolbag, storm out of our front archway, and pump my wings a bit to get the blood flowing. Dad chases after me.

"Scarlet- Wait-"

"It's fine, Dad! I yell. "I can fly to school ON MY OWN!"

I angrily take off into the sky. This is NOT how I wanted my first day of middle school to start.