understand.â
âDonât give me that shit. I completely understand.â Simon grabbed her wrist. âCome with me.â He dragged her into the hallway. âOkay. Iâm all ears. What the hell were you thinking?â
âI didnât get a chance to think.â Zoe pulled her sleeve gingerly back over the wound. âIt just kind of happened.â
âBullshit.â He folded his arms and frowned. âYou want this?â
Zoe shrugged. Sheâd just wanted to wipe that smile off of Heatherâs face, which sheâd accomplished beautifully. She opened her mouth to say that, but then she decided she didnât want him to know that about her.
âYou wouldâve done the same thing if you were me, Simon.â
He took an extra long drawn-out breath before answering. âUm, no, Zoe. I would not have done the same thing if I were you.â
âWhat would you have done?â
âTold them in no uncertain terms to get that cow brand away from my perfect, blemish-free skin, thank you very much.â
âOh, sure. As if.â Zoe wanted to tell him that would not have worked. She wanted to tell him that he had to be there to understand why she went through with it. He had to have seen the way Heather gloated. Zoe wanted to tell him about how Heather thought she couldnât do it. How she was just so bloodysure Zoe wouldnât go through with it. She wanted to tell him it was no different than Teoâs Gemini tattoo at the base of his neck. She wanted to take his hands and make him stay there until heâd tell her he didnât think less of her.
The look on Simonâs face made perfectly clear just how much less he thought of her. He turned on his heel and went back into the lab, leaving her out in the hallway feeling as if sheâd lost her virginity to some loser sheâd thought was cool when they were alone together, but in the light of day turned out to be a freak nobody else wanted to be in the same room with.
One thing didnât change after the initiation; Heather still acted as if Zoe did not exist. Well, even that did change a little; before, Heather had looked right through Zoe. Now, she didnât even bother doing that. If they were anywhere near each other, Heather ever so slightly turned her face away in a carefully executed gesture of dismissal. Lindsay, Janika and Jazz didnât know how to act.
âItâs kind of weird,â Janika confided in her when they were alone together in gym. âWe donât really bring in new people. Or, we did once, but she didnât really work out.â
Zoe figured Lisa Patterson would put it a little more emphatically than that.
âWell, I didnât ask for it, did I?â
âYou donât want to be a Beckoner?â
âI didnât say that either.â
âBut youâre acting like it.â
âItâs just Heather...â Zoe wasnât sure how to end the statement. She kicked at a basketball that had escaped in their direction. âShe doesnâtâsheâs just so bitchy.â
âBut thereâs the rest of us,â Janika said. âItâs not all Heather. Heatherâs just extra pissed off because of what happened at the park.â
âIs she ever going to be finished being pissed off?â
Janika shrugged as the gym teacher whistled for her to get into the game.
âSheâs been pissed off as long as Iâve known her.â
Then why be her friend at all? Zoe watched Janika snatch the ball from another girl and make a basket from halfway down the court.
Simon started talking to Zoe again towards the end of the week.
âIâve been thinking,â he said as a greeting. âCome with me.â He hooked her arm with his and pulled her towards the ravine.
Teo came along, until the three of them reached the trail that lead down into the ravine.
âArenât you coming?â Zoe called behind
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