House of Night : Marked chapter 2 part 2

"Zo, really. Are you pissed or somethin'? Like, did Kayla say some shit about the party? You know I didn't really cheat on you.” Huh? Kayla had not said one solitary word about Heath cheating on me. Like a moron, I forgot (okay, temporarily) about my new Mark. My head snapped around so I could glare at him. "What did you do, Heath?” "Zo, me? You know I wouldn't…" but his innocent act and his excuses faded into an unattractive open-mouthed look of shock when he caught sight of my Mark. "What the —" he started to say, but I cut him off. "Shh!" I jerked my head in the direction of the still clueless Dustin and Drew, who were now singing at the top of their totally tone-deaf lungs to the latest Toby Keith CD. Heath's eyes were still wide and shocked, but he lowered his voice. "Is that some kinda makeup thing you're doing for drama class?” "No," I whispered. "It's not.” "But you can't be Marked. We're going out.” "We are not going out!" And just like that my semireprieve from coughing ended. I practically doubled over, hacking a seriously nasty, phlegmy cough. "Hey, Zo!" Dustin called from the cab. "You gotta lay off those cigarettes.” "Yeah, you sound like you're gonna cough up a lung or some- thin'," Drew said. "Dude! Leave her alone. You know she don't smoke. She's a vampyre.” Great. Wonderful. Heath, with his usual total and complete lack of anything resembling good sense, thought he was actually standing up for me as he yelled at his friends, who instantly stuck their heads out of the open windows and gawked at me like I was a science experiment. "Well, shit. Zoey's a fucking freak!" Drew said. Drew's insensitive words made the anger that had been simmering somewhere inside my chest ever since Kayla had cringed from me bubble up and boil over. Ignoring the pain the sun caused me, I stared straight at Drew, meeting his eyes. "Shut the hell up! I've had a really bad day and I do not need this crap from you.” I paused to look from the now wide-eyed and silent Drew to Dustin and added, "Or you." And as I kept eye contact with Dustin I realized something —something that shocked and weirdly excited me: Dustin looked scared. Really scared. I glared back at Drew. He looked scared, too. Then I felt it. A tingling sensation that crawled over my skin and made my new Mark burn. Power. I felt power.