Marked: Chapter 8
ZeldaQueen: So Zoey is at the House of Night and walked in on some girl blowing some guy. That surely isn't coming back to haunt us
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 8
ZeldaQueen: Neferet leads Zoey across the courtyard, taking her time to point out interesting details which I’m sure would be fascinating if the Suethors would bother to tell us what they are. Instead, they take time to beat us with a dead herring, as Zoey goes on about how she’s just shoved the blow job scene from memory, so it surely isn’t going to come up later or bite her in the ass.
They get to the girl’s dorm and we get a description of it
“Inside was a surprise. I'm not sure what I expected -maybe everything to be all black and creepy. But it was nice, decorated in soft blue and antique yellow, with comfy couches and clumps of puffy pillows big enough to sit on dotting the room like giant pastel M&Ms. The soft gaslight coming from several antique crystal chandeliers made the place look like a princess's castle. On the cream-colored walls there were large oil paintings, all of them of ancient women who looked exotic and powerful. Fresh-cut flowers, mostly roses, sat in crystal vases on end tables that were cluttered with books and purses and fairly normal-looking teenage girl stuff. I saw several flat screen TVs, and recognized the sounds of MTV's Real World coming from one of them”
ZeldaQueen: Stereotypical though it may be, I have to admit that it’s a nice description. Still, only powerful-looking women in those pictures, eh?
And then we’re reminded that all of the girls in the room immediately start staring at Zoey’s Uber-Speshul And Unique Mark.
Neferet introduces Zoey and asks the other girls to help her feel welcome. One girl stands up, and is described as “a tiny blonde and darn near perfect”. Right, and I’m sure she’s also thin enough to be anorexic and has giant boobs. Actually, she apparently looks like a young Sarah Jessica Parker, and Zoey takes time to give us an aside about how she thinks SJP is “annoying and unnaturally perky”. What a pleasant protagonist we have here.
Anyway, the blond girl has a “warm and genuine” smile and makes a clear effort to not stare at the Mark and Zoey starts to feel bad about comparing her to Sarah Jessica Parker when we find out that the girl’s name is Aphrodite. What’s Zoey’s first thought?
Why, about how “Aphrodite” is such a weird name and anyone who chose it must have “delusions of grandeur”. That’s very, very nice of you, Zoey Redbird. I guess you never figured that she just liked Greek mythology or had Greek relatives or some such thing?
Of course, there’s another matter regarding her name, but we’ll just get to that in a second, shall we?
Moving along, Aphrodite offers to show Zoey to her room, and Neferet weirdly hesitates before agreeing that it’s more comfortable for Zoey to be with someone her own age. We’re beaten over the head with how Aphrodite’s eyes flash with anger for some unknown reason, before she laughs. And, shock and horror, Zoey recognizes the sound and realizes that Aphrodite was the one blowing her boyfriend last chapter.
And all of a sudden, we get everything about her described in the most unpleasant adjectives available. Zoey says that her voice is “as fake and cold as Pamela Anderson’s humungously huge boobs” (PEOPLE PAY MONEY FOR THIS WRITING, DEAR VIEWERS, I SHIT YOU NOT!!!) Neferet leaves and Zoey is setting to pee her pants in fear. She tries to make idle conversation by saying she thinks the place looks nice, and Aphrodite says that it’s amazing. She then gives a laugh which is described as being like a sneer (what, you wanted subtly? What are you smoking?) and says “It's amazing here mostly because of me”
You know if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Aprhodite’s the book’s Mean Girl. How silly is that?
Aphrodite continues on in this vein, saying “this place is cool because I’m cool”, and I’m starting to understand what people meant when they told me that this reads like a teen Disney Channel movie. All we need is a goofy score at the end of each scene, while the protagonist makes a “what a loser am I” face.
Zoey, meanwhile, has come to the conclusion that Aphrodite is either joking or in need of medication. She decides not to get in a fight with “Ms.-Thinking-She’s-All-That”, which is rich coming from Miss “My Meanie Stepfather Hogs The Garage, Woe Is Me”.
They reach the room that Zoey will be staying in, and Aphrodite, the preppy fucker, gets all bitchfaced and goes on about how everyone just thinks that Zoey’s so unique and speshul with her colored-in Mark and implied Sue-per powers, and how she had better just keep her head down and not rock the boat. Zoey insists that she doesn’t want to cause trouble, and Aphrodite morphs back into a sweet, smiling girl and knocks on the door. Wow.
They head in and meet Zoey’s roommate, a girl with a big ‘ol Okie accent and who greets them with “Hi y’all! Ohmygosh, come on in.” And thus, we are introduced to Stevie Rae Johnson
Aphrodite continues to be a bitch, and speaks to Stevie Rae with a fake Okie accent and finishes up with “There, now ain't we all nice and cozy like three little corns on a cob?” It’s made pretty apparent that Stevie Rae is terrified of her, and I sympathize. There’s nothing like having the worst stereotype ever of a Mean Girl coming at you.
Zoey steps in at this point, politely gets Aphrodite the fuck out, and says to Stevie Rae in no uncertain terms, that she thinks that bitch is off her rocker. Stevie Rae laughs and the two are the bestest friends ever.
I will be honest, stereotype though she is, Stevie Rae is definitely the most pleasant person thus far. Although granted, the bar isn’t too high on that count.
We are given a description of what the room looks like, thus far
“The first thing I saw was the life-sized Kenny Chesney poster that hung over one of the two beds and the cowboy (cowgirl?) hat that rested on one of the bedside tables-the one that also had the old-fashioned- looking gas lamp with the bas shaped like a cowboy boot. Oh, nu uh. Stevie Rae was a total Okie!”
ZeldaQueen: By all means, Ms Cast and Ms Cast, any time you feel like providing characterization beyond blatant stereotypes, feel free. I assure you, it will be more than welcome.
So Stevie Rae is all perky and puppy-ish and asks if Zoey’s head is better. Oh dear lord, please don’t tell me that the entire school is already so obsessed with her that they’re gossiping about that! We also find out that Stevie Rae is from Henrietta Oklahoma, and that her mother was pretty cool about the whole Marked thing, as were her brothers. Her dad was bothered, but only because he had to ship his only daughter off to a vampire school in Arizona.
Zoey sits down and notices that there’s a whole bunch of stuff from home, which her grandmother brought from home. She sighs and shakes her head over what a scene there must have been, because isn’t it just ridiculous of her mother to be upset that her daughter was whisked away to live with vampires?
Stevie Rae starts to go on about the classes, and how much she enjoys Tae Kwan Do. Might as well bring this up now, I have heard that the classes are pretty cool. I’m not entirely certain why a class of vampires would have to be taught Tae Kwan Do, but whatever. Let’s see how that turns out. Oh, and there’s gushing about the school uniforms, and how students are allowed to add whatever they like to them to be unique and fun.
She finally wraps things up with how she’s glad to be out of boring old Henrietta, even she finds Tulsa to be intimidating. This prompts Zoey to go off on a litany about how awesome Tulsa is, and yes Suethors, I know you grew up there and I believe you’ve made your point just fine. Oh, and it seems that vampire kids are allowed out every so often, but there’s all sorts of loops to jump through.
But enough about that! It’s almost time for dinner and that means getting into your uniform! Zoey takes a good look at Stevie Rae’s uniform, and we’re told that she’s wearing Roper jeans, which “even made her butt look wide”, even though she’s a little pixie of a thing. I get the feeling that one of the Suethors is getting on a soapbox about fashion sense here, especially since Zoey won’t shut up about how tight jeans with no back pockets are totally not-cute and she just can’t understand how anyone could possibly like them. And…I can’t summarize the rest of this outfit. You all can have a look for yourself
“Brown leather, flat-heeled, pointy-tipped cowboy boots. Tucked into her countrified jeans was a black, long- sleeved cotton blouse that had the expensive look of something you'd find at Saks or Neiman Marcus, versus the cheaper see- through shirts that overpriced Abercrombie tries to make us believe aren't slutty. When she glanced over at me I saw that she had double-pierced ears with little silver hoops in them. She turned and held out in one hand a black blouse like the one she had on, and a pullover sweater in another, and I decided that even though the country look wasn't for me she was kinda cute with her mixture of hayseed and chic.”
ZeldaQueen: Dear lord, this is almost as bad as Meyer using Edward as a mouthpiece to bash sixties and eighties music while glorifying Muse! Although I find the Abercrombie comment hilarious because OH-EM-GEE A PREP!
So yeah, Zoey is handed a sweater with a silvery spiral design on it, and Stevie Rae tells her that it’s their sign
ZeldaQueen: She said "The sign on the shirt?" and I said "No, the sign on Highway 41". Here's your sign!
In all seriousness, or as much seriousness as we can muster, the sign is that of Nyx’s silver labyrinth, which you’ll be disappointed to note does not have David Bowie in it. Instead, it is the symbol of the third formers (the class that they’re in) and “stands for our new beginning as we start walking the Path of Night and learn the ways of the Goddess and the possibilities of our new life”. Pretty impressive, considering it sounds like something you could get in bulk at Hot Topic only if you’re a true goff though, ‘cause Tom hides the good stuff from the posers.
Zoey is surprised to hear Stevie Rae tell her all of this so seriously, and I am too because that’s got to be one of the silliest, most clichéd things I’ve read yet. Actually, it’s something they were taught in “Vampyre Sociology 101”, which Neferet teaches, and bitch, this had better not be setting her up as a cheap McGonagall knock-off. We get more bashing of Henrietta, where the sports team (which sport, we’re never told) is the “fighting hens". Hey now, my grandmother used to live on a farm. Hens can be nasty mother fo’s.
Oh, and Neferet is Zoey’s new mentor, which is apparently really rare and an honor because she hardly ever takes on new students. Hoooo brother. *rubs head* This talk of Zoey’s speshulness reminds her of the filled-in Mark, and she promptly asks why Stevie Rae hasn’t asked her about it. Even though she kept complaining about people staring at it and talking about it. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, WOMAN!
Stevie Rae replies that they’re going to be living together, hopefully, for four years and she was taught in boring old Henrietta to always mind her own business, so she figured it was best if she didn’t go asking awkward questions. This brings up the matter that apparently not all vampires accept the Change and die before the four years are up.
Huh?
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I do believe that this is the first time it was brought up. Before that, we were told that Zoey would die if she didn’t get to the House of Night. And...now she's going to possibly die before four years are up? And she already knew this? That's nice. I guess the Suethors were too busy to tell the readers.
So they go and get ready for dinner and we get way too much description about the silk blouse that Zoey is wearing (although no black dresses or corsets are involved, thank God) and she goes all mystical and ponders whether or not she fits in with this strange, new world.
And then she heads off to dinner and thinks it’ll be just her luck if she gets diarrhea. What.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onward to: Chapter 9
Back to: Chapter 7
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 8
ZeldaQueen: Neferet leads Zoey across the courtyard, taking her time to point out interesting details which I’m sure would be fascinating if the Suethors would bother to tell us what they are. Instead, they take time to beat us with a dead herring, as Zoey goes on about how she’s just shoved the blow job scene from memory, so it surely isn’t going to come up later or bite her in the ass.
They get to the girl’s dorm and we get a description of it
“Inside was a surprise. I'm not sure what I expected -maybe everything to be all black and creepy. But it was nice, decorated in soft blue and antique yellow, with comfy couches and clumps of puffy pillows big enough to sit on dotting the room like giant pastel M&Ms. The soft gaslight coming from several antique crystal chandeliers made the place look like a princess's castle. On the cream-colored walls there were large oil paintings, all of them of ancient women who looked exotic and powerful. Fresh-cut flowers, mostly roses, sat in crystal vases on end tables that were cluttered with books and purses and fairly normal-looking teenage girl stuff. I saw several flat screen TVs, and recognized the sounds of MTV's Real World coming from one of them”
ZeldaQueen: Stereotypical though it may be, I have to admit that it’s a nice description. Still, only powerful-looking women in those pictures, eh?
And then we’re reminded that all of the girls in the room immediately start staring at Zoey’s Uber-Speshul And Unique Mark.
Neferet introduces Zoey and asks the other girls to help her feel welcome. One girl stands up, and is described as “a tiny blonde and darn near perfect”. Right, and I’m sure she’s also thin enough to be anorexic and has giant boobs. Actually, she apparently looks like a young Sarah Jessica Parker, and Zoey takes time to give us an aside about how she thinks SJP is “annoying and unnaturally perky”. What a pleasant protagonist we have here.
Anyway, the blond girl has a “warm and genuine” smile and makes a clear effort to not stare at the Mark and Zoey starts to feel bad about comparing her to Sarah Jessica Parker when we find out that the girl’s name is Aphrodite. What’s Zoey’s first thought?
Why, about how “Aphrodite” is such a weird name and anyone who chose it must have “delusions of grandeur”. That’s very, very nice of you, Zoey Redbird. I guess you never figured that she just liked Greek mythology or had Greek relatives or some such thing?
Of course, there’s another matter regarding her name, but we’ll just get to that in a second, shall we?
Moving along, Aphrodite offers to show Zoey to her room, and Neferet weirdly hesitates before agreeing that it’s more comfortable for Zoey to be with someone her own age. We’re beaten over the head with how Aphrodite’s eyes flash with anger for some unknown reason, before she laughs. And, shock and horror, Zoey recognizes the sound and realizes that Aphrodite was the one blowing her boyfriend last chapter.
And all of a sudden, we get everything about her described in the most unpleasant adjectives available. Zoey says that her voice is “as fake and cold as Pamela Anderson’s humungously huge boobs” (PEOPLE PAY MONEY FOR THIS WRITING, DEAR VIEWERS, I SHIT YOU NOT!!!) Neferet leaves and Zoey is setting to pee her pants in fear. She tries to make idle conversation by saying she thinks the place looks nice, and Aphrodite says that it’s amazing. She then gives a laugh which is described as being like a sneer (what, you wanted subtly? What are you smoking?) and says “It's amazing here mostly because of me”
You know if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Aprhodite’s the book’s Mean Girl. How silly is that?
Aphrodite continues on in this vein, saying “this place is cool because I’m cool”, and I’m starting to understand what people meant when they told me that this reads like a teen Disney Channel movie. All we need is a goofy score at the end of each scene, while the protagonist makes a “what a loser am I” face.
Zoey, meanwhile, has come to the conclusion that Aphrodite is either joking or in need of medication. She decides not to get in a fight with “Ms.-Thinking-She’s-All-That”, which is rich coming from Miss “My Meanie Stepfather Hogs The Garage, Woe Is Me”.
They reach the room that Zoey will be staying in, and Aphrodite, the preppy fucker, gets all bitchfaced and goes on about how everyone just thinks that Zoey’s so unique and speshul with her colored-in Mark and implied Sue-per powers, and how she had better just keep her head down and not rock the boat. Zoey insists that she doesn’t want to cause trouble, and Aphrodite morphs back into a sweet, smiling girl and knocks on the door. Wow.
They head in and meet Zoey’s roommate, a girl with a big ‘ol Okie accent and who greets them with “Hi y’all! Ohmygosh, come on in.” And thus, we are introduced to Stevie Rae Johnson
Aphrodite continues to be a bitch, and speaks to Stevie Rae with a fake Okie accent and finishes up with “There, now ain't we all nice and cozy like three little corns on a cob?” It’s made pretty apparent that Stevie Rae is terrified of her, and I sympathize. There’s nothing like having the worst stereotype ever of a Mean Girl coming at you.
Zoey steps in at this point, politely gets Aphrodite the fuck out, and says to Stevie Rae in no uncertain terms, that she thinks that bitch is off her rocker. Stevie Rae laughs and the two are the bestest friends ever.
I will be honest, stereotype though she is, Stevie Rae is definitely the most pleasant person thus far. Although granted, the bar isn’t too high on that count.
We are given a description of what the room looks like, thus far
“The first thing I saw was the life-sized Kenny Chesney poster that hung over one of the two beds and the cowboy (cowgirl?) hat that rested on one of the bedside tables-the one that also had the old-fashioned- looking gas lamp with the bas shaped like a cowboy boot. Oh, nu uh. Stevie Rae was a total Okie!”
ZeldaQueen: By all means, Ms Cast and Ms Cast, any time you feel like providing characterization beyond blatant stereotypes, feel free. I assure you, it will be more than welcome.
So Stevie Rae is all perky and puppy-ish and asks if Zoey’s head is better. Oh dear lord, please don’t tell me that the entire school is already so obsessed with her that they’re gossiping about that! We also find out that Stevie Rae is from Henrietta Oklahoma, and that her mother was pretty cool about the whole Marked thing, as were her brothers. Her dad was bothered, but only because he had to ship his only daughter off to a vampire school in Arizona.
Zoey sits down and notices that there’s a whole bunch of stuff from home, which her grandmother brought from home. She sighs and shakes her head over what a scene there must have been, because isn’t it just ridiculous of her mother to be upset that her daughter was whisked away to live with vampires?
Stevie Rae starts to go on about the classes, and how much she enjoys Tae Kwan Do. Might as well bring this up now, I have heard that the classes are pretty cool. I’m not entirely certain why a class of vampires would have to be taught Tae Kwan Do, but whatever. Let’s see how that turns out. Oh, and there’s gushing about the school uniforms, and how students are allowed to add whatever they like to them to be unique and fun.
She finally wraps things up with how she’s glad to be out of boring old Henrietta, even she finds Tulsa to be intimidating. This prompts Zoey to go off on a litany about how awesome Tulsa is, and yes Suethors, I know you grew up there and I believe you’ve made your point just fine. Oh, and it seems that vampire kids are allowed out every so often, but there’s all sorts of loops to jump through.
But enough about that! It’s almost time for dinner and that means getting into your uniform! Zoey takes a good look at Stevie Rae’s uniform, and we’re told that she’s wearing Roper jeans, which “even made her butt look wide”, even though she’s a little pixie of a thing. I get the feeling that one of the Suethors is getting on a soapbox about fashion sense here, especially since Zoey won’t shut up about how tight jeans with no back pockets are totally not-cute and she just can’t understand how anyone could possibly like them. And…I can’t summarize the rest of this outfit. You all can have a look for yourself
“Brown leather, flat-heeled, pointy-tipped cowboy boots. Tucked into her countrified jeans was a black, long- sleeved cotton blouse that had the expensive look of something you'd find at Saks or Neiman Marcus, versus the cheaper see- through shirts that overpriced Abercrombie tries to make us believe aren't slutty. When she glanced over at me I saw that she had double-pierced ears with little silver hoops in them. She turned and held out in one hand a black blouse like the one she had on, and a pullover sweater in another, and I decided that even though the country look wasn't for me she was kinda cute with her mixture of hayseed and chic.”
ZeldaQueen: Dear lord, this is almost as bad as Meyer using Edward as a mouthpiece to bash sixties and eighties music while glorifying Muse! Although I find the Abercrombie comment hilarious because OH-EM-GEE A PREP!
So yeah, Zoey is handed a sweater with a silvery spiral design on it, and Stevie Rae tells her that it’s their sign
Click to viewZeldaQueen: She said "The sign on the shirt?" and I said "No, the sign on Highway 41". Here's your sign!
In all seriousness, or as much seriousness as we can muster, the sign is that of Nyx’s silver labyrinth, which you’ll be disappointed to note does not have David Bowie in it. Instead, it is the symbol of the third formers (the class that they’re in) and “stands for our new beginning as we start walking the Path of Night and learn the ways of the Goddess and the possibilities of our new life”. Pretty impressive, considering it sounds like something you could get in bulk at Hot Topic only if you’re a true goff though, ‘cause Tom hides the good stuff from the posers.
Zoey is surprised to hear Stevie Rae tell her all of this so seriously, and I am too because that’s got to be one of the silliest, most clichéd things I’ve read yet. Actually, it’s something they were taught in “Vampyre Sociology 101”, which Neferet teaches, and bitch, this had better not be setting her up as a cheap McGonagall knock-off. We get more bashing of Henrietta, where the sports team (which sport, we’re never told) is the “fighting hens". Hey now, my grandmother used to live on a farm. Hens can be nasty mother fo’s.
Oh, and Neferet is Zoey’s new mentor, which is apparently really rare and an honor because she hardly ever takes on new students. Hoooo brother. *rubs head* This talk of Zoey’s speshulness reminds her of the filled-in Mark, and she promptly asks why Stevie Rae hasn’t asked her about it. Even though she kept complaining about people staring at it and talking about it. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, WOMAN!
Stevie Rae replies that they’re going to be living together, hopefully, for four years and she was taught in boring old Henrietta to always mind her own business, so she figured it was best if she didn’t go asking awkward questions. This brings up the matter that apparently not all vampires accept the Change and die before the four years are up.
Huh?
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I do believe that this is the first time it was brought up. Before that, we were told that Zoey would die if she didn’t get to the House of Night. And...now she's going to possibly die before four years are up? And she already knew this? That's nice. I guess the Suethors were too busy to tell the readers.
So they go and get ready for dinner and we get way too much description about the silk blouse that Zoey is wearing (although no black dresses or corsets are involved, thank God) and she goes all mystical and ponders whether or not she fits in with this strange, new world.
And then she heads off to dinner and thinks it’ll be just her luck if she gets diarrhea. What.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onward to: Chapter 9
Back to: Chapter 7
Back to: Table of Contents