Chapter 2
When I finally woke up I still felt terrible and I noticed the burning had gone away. I grabbed my books and stood up. Then I swear out of nowhere some kid took one look at me and turned, running and screaming like a maniac. I wondered what his issue was and I remembered the Tracker, which I had momentarily forgotten. I rushed to the bathroom hoping that nobody was there, I mean, come on! Its bad enough already when I go in there when there are others because they make fun of me for being gay, now I have this crap to deal with! I checked every stall for feet and was thankful that there wasn't anybody here.
Taking a few deep breaths first, I went to the large mirror on the wall. As, I looked at the mirror my books fell from my hands as I looked with a face of terror and confusion. Right, square in the middle of my forehead was the sapphire outline of a crescent moon, indicating that I have been Marked. I had dark lines under my eyes and my face had gone terrifyingly pale which caused the outline to stand out even more. "Great," I murmured, "as if I wasn't a freak enough!" I punched my fist against the wall. I took a few more deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Now wasn't the time to get pissed of and break my hand in an attempt to take my anger out. I stood there for a while thinking of what I should do now. Then I figured it out, I had to go home and pack my stuff to go to Grandma's, she would know what to do! Before I left the bathroom I straightened my button down shirt, with my gray t-shirt underneath, and brushed my skinny jeans free of the dirt from the floor. Trying to hide my new Mark I tried to brush my bangs to cover it, but even doing that didn't really help. So I just exited with my head hanging low.
I guess I was unconscious for a while because school was already out but there were still a lot of kids in the parking lot. Which wasn't really that unusual considering it was almost Halloween and it was a Friday. I looked up slightly, trying to find my car, without revealing my Mark. I finally found it under a tree in an isolated spot. I started walking, hoping that nobody could see me.
Then coming from behind I heard a voice. "Hey! Hey Chris!" I turned around to see my friends, Jake and Meg. They both know I'm gay and actually support me all the way. Plus, Jake is bisexual and he has a crush on me that he still hasn't gotten over of. Meg is straight and single, plus she has a crush on Jake but doesn't now how to tell him (she told me). They were wearing their usual jacket and scarf nothing unusual. Then I heard right behind me "Hey I missed you," I recognized the voice as my boyfriend Dylan. Hell, I totally forgot! How am I supposed to explain this to my friends and Dylan! I looked restlessly from Jake with his bright purple and blue scarf to Meg, making googly eyes at Jake. Looking like a complete utter fool I replied without looking up, "Uh, hi guys." My voice was barely above a whisper and I realized that I had started crying.
What am I going to do! My friends will probably be terrified if they see if I've been Marked. Then stopping my confused mind I had another coughing fit. I fell to the ground and my friends freaked. I just laid there knowing that my Mark was clearly showing. I started to feel even worse than before as I waited for my friends to start screaming or make fun of me. I felt a coolness on my face and I opened my eyes to see that my friends were helping me up. I couldn't stop the tears from falling. My friends and I all headed to the shaded spot, which had a major effect on me. When I entered the shade my face started to cool down a little bit. I looked at my friends and saw their smiling faces full of concern and of love for me.
I started crying again and they all bent down to hug me. "Guys," I said between sobs, "I've been Marked. I have to got to the House of Night but I'm scared." Nobody said anything for a while until Meg broke the awful awkward silence. "It'll be OK," Meg said her voice filled with confidence with a hint of sadness, "No matter what, whether you're a vamp or a human. We'll be here for you. Right guys?" She looked at Jake then to Dylan before looking back at me with a sincere smile. "Right," Jake and Dylan said together. Jake gave me a don't worry look but Dylan gave me a sad look. I knew exactly why he looked that way. It was forbidden for a human and a vamp to be together. But I didn't want to face that ugly depressing truth.
Trying to change the subject I said, "Guys, I gotta go to my grandmas. She'll know what to do." I looked at my friends and they all gave me simple encouraging smiles. I smiled back at them, knowing that no matter what happened they'll always have my back. But my happiness was short lived, because I still had to go home first and it would help if maybe I had my friends with me. They knew how horrible my dad's new wife treated me. She would always call me a freak and a child of Satan. Dad normally would've normally been mad but he did nothing. My friends all knew this and so They tried to not say anything bad about my dad. "Guys," I said my voice still shaky from the pain I was experiencing, "will you guys come with me to my house and to my Grandma's?"
Jake and Meg looked at me with apologetic looks. "Sorry dude but, if I'm late my mom's gonna kill me," Jake said sadly. "Yeah same here, but hey promise that you will call us when you're better. If you don't I'll hunt you down," Meg said jokingly shoving my shoulder a bit and laughing. To see her happy face and everybody treating me the same made me forget for a while that I was dying from not being by adult vamps. It was like none of this ever happened. "You got it," I said with a slight smile on my face. Dylan put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I'll take you home and to your Grandma's." He had a big grin on his face but deep down, I knew he was deeply depressed. I laid my hand on his and looked up at him as I prayed that we can work this out.