My Demons

Chapter Seven

Tess shouldered her backpack as she walked down the Wolverine high school's hallway. She headed for her locker, getting impatient at the slow hallway shuffle that everyone seemed to be doing.
"Excuse me" and "Pardon me" were words repeated often as she tried to weave through the crowd of people. As she made her way to her locker her mind whirled with worried and anxious thoughts. It had been two days since her father had told her that she was a seer and what it meant to be one. He told her that she could read Latin as well as she read English. He also told her about the deal he had made with the demon. Tess had been appalled with her father's explanation of the deal. Apparently Tess's cherished necklace actually had a spell on it that made her unable to recognize her powers. Christian had said it was for her own good, but Tess found his deed unforgivable. She jumped as someone bumped into her,
"Watch it!" She hissed uncharacteristically. Tess had been on edge all morning. Along with reading Latin something else had come along with being a seer. Tess's father said that demons would be naturally attracted to her, and not because of her looks. Her father said demons felt threatened by her, but he didn't know why. Tess couldn't help but feel he was lying about the 'why' part. Christian told her she needed to always keep a close eye on the people around her. The telltale sign for her to watch out for was anyone with completely black eyes.
That shouldn't be too hard...people don't normally have all black eyes. Tess thought as she finally stopped at her locker. She opened it and grabbed a couple of books she would need for a biology class,
"Hey Tessie!" She heard her name called and saw Levi squirming around people to get to her,
"Hey Levi," Tess answered as he finally reached her locker. Levi smiled,
"How are you doing?" He asked, leaning against the lockers,
"Alright, I guess," Tess said with a shrug and closed her locker. She copied Levi's pose leaning against her locker,
"Alright?" Levi said his smiling fading a little,
"What?" Tess asked, wondering what was bothering him,
"Tess, I heard about the guy that broke into your house over the weekend," Levi's voice held concern,
"Oh that," Tess sighed. Some people in the neighborhood had heard the banging around in the kitchen and her dad had told them someone broke in. Of course, the town was full of gossips and the story became quickly confused and mangled,
"Yea, that was pretty creepy, but it was no big deal," Tess said nonchalantly, wanting to change the subject,
"No big deal? Tess someone broke into your house, and he's still on the loose," Levi said, slightly exasperated. Tess looked him in the eyes not saying anything. Levi leaned off the locker and stood close to her, his hand touched her arm,
"Tess, I want to make sure you're okay," He said gently. Tess removed his hand from her arm, rubbing her thumb across his knuckle,
"I'm fine Levi," She said, keeping her tone even. Something in Levi's eyes said he didn't believe her, but he nodded,
"Good," He said. They stood there a moment, silence in between them. The class bell rang and they both turned their heads to look at it,
"Science partners if we get a project?" Levi asked, turning back to face her,
"Of course," Tess smiled and Levi smiled back. They began walking toward class making sure they weren't late on the first day back. Tess set down beside a couple of her friends at the one of the long tables. She got out her books and organized them carefully. Their teacher Mr. Falls came into class, well more like strode or pranced. His yellow shirt and green tie matched his black dress pants. Tess was surprised, as Mr. Falls normally wore outrageous colored clothing that did not match at all. One of the boys in the back said something about his choice of clothing,
"Did dress code go to normal?" The boy chuckled. Mr. Falls looked at him,
"No, it did not, but I decided to dress like this for the first day back from break," He said simply. Tess didn't take time to ponder his statement as she opened her science book trying to remember where they left off before the break,
"Before we get started," Mr. Falls began. Tess looked up from her book, confused,
"We have a new student who has enrolled and will be in the same biology class as all of you," Tess wondered who it was since this was advanced biology, most people didn't just join this class. Mr. Falls gestured for the student to come inside and he came through the door apprehensiveness written on his features. Tess's eyes grew wide and she immediately recognized the brown hair and golden eyes. The student seemed to recognize her too as his gaze fleeted over to hers for only a moment,
"This is Silas Grey everyone," Mr. Falls said, introducing him. Silas gave a small smile as everyone said hello. Tess heard some girls catch their breath. She rolled her eyes, of course every girl was going to drool over him. He was definitely hot and his pinpoint smile didn't help. The teacher gestured for Silas to sit down in an empty chair at one of tables. Silas sat down and looked at Mr. Falls,
"Now everyone, since it is the first day back from your break I have decided to take it upon myself to give you a project," Mr. Falls said. Tess groaned along with the rest of the class, she hated doing projects. She shot Levi a look and he laughed, seeing her unhappiness. Tess stuck out a fake pouting lip. Mr. Fall's eyes flashed in annoyance, silently telling them to be quiet,
"You will be creating four ecosystems, in four jars, and will monitor bacteria growth for about a week. I want a record on what elements in the ecosystems made the bacteria bigger, what made them more populated, what killed them, you know the drill. I want to know what kinds of bacteria your ecosystems produce. You will be allowed to add and take away things from your ecosystems but what you do must be recorded and have the results of the change. Does everyone understand so far?" Tess nodded along with all the other students,
"You guys will be working in pairs for this project also. So I will start with Silas and go around the room. The people that pick you are the people you're stuck with," Levi looked over at Tess and winked, Tess returned the gesture without hesitation. Mr. Falls walked over to Silas,
"Since you don't know anyones name yet just point at who you want to be your partner," Mr. Falls said to Silas. Silas began looking around the room his golden eyes taking in everyone. His gaze lingered when he got to Tess and she began sinking down in her chair.
Oh great! Please don't pick me...please no. She begged inwardly. Tess looked down at the table to keep herself from looking Silas in the eyes,
"Tess! Looks like your Silas's partner, you two come over to one side of the room while others pick," Tess had to keep herself from banging her head on her textbook. This is not what she had wanted, and when she reached the other side of the room she could see Levi wasn't happy either. Tess looked at Silas trying to keep her emotions from showing,
"I'm Tess," She said holding her hand out,
"Silas," Silas said in a friendly voice, flashing his perfect smile. Tess wondered if had expected her to swoon or something, 
"We met-"He began, but Tess cut him off,
"I know," She said quickly. She had not forgotten the comment he had made about her father. Thankfully, Silas didn't make any attempts of conversation after that. When Levi was paired with someone he came to the other side of the room, immediately walking over to Tess. He eyed Silas up and down,
"You any good at science?" He asked Silas,
"Apparently," Silas answered, "or I wouldn't be in this class," Levi looked at Tess. She shrugged in response. After everyone was paired up, Mr. Falls had everyone copy down the requirements for the project. The bell soon rang for the end of class and everyone quickly shuffled out of the room to their lockers. Levi was at Tess's immediately,
"Why did he have to pick you?" Levi asked, frustration flashing across his features,
"Okay so you know how our house was broken into?"
"Yea," Levi answered, looking at her like she was dumb,
"We just talked about it this morning," He commented,
"Yes, well anyways, Silas helped chase the burglar out of the kitchen," Tess said. She wished she could tell Levi the truth but there wasn't a chance that, that would happen, 
"But I had no clue he enrolled in school here," Levi frowned,
"So what? Does he think he's all hero now or something?" He asked,
"I don't know, but after he chased the man out of the house he said I shouldn't be so hard on my father," Tess said lowly,
"Whoa, wait. He doesn't even know your dad," Levi said,
"EXACTLY," Tess said punctually. Levi shook his head,
"Speak of the devil," He looked up from Tess as he saw Silas walking toward them. Silas glanced at Levi, but looked at Tess,
"Hey," He said lightly,
"What do you want?" Tess asked, she immediately regretted how harsh her words sounded. Silas looked at little hurt by the bite in her words,
"Umm, when do you want to start working on this project?" Silas asked,
"As soon as possible," Tess answered him. A tall girl named Casey ran into Silas. It obviously wasn't an accident. Tess knew Casey, and Casey loved attention,
"I'm sorry," She apologized, blinking her brown eyes. Silas smiled,
"It's okay," Casey giggled and Silas looked a little confused on what to say next,
"Swing by my house after five okay?" Tess replied rolling her eyes and opening her locker,
"Okay," Silas smiled,
"I trust you still remember where it is, right?" Tess said, as she grabbed some books out of the locker,
"Yes," Silas answered with a small laugh. Tess smiled,
Maybe this won't be so bad after all. She thought,
"Well if you two are done flirting, Tess and I have a history class to get to," Levi said looking at the two of them,
"Are you jealous?" Tess said raising an eyebrow, a teasing tone in her voice,
"Maybe," Levi smirked, he poked her in the ribs and she jumped back, almost knocking Silas over,
"Sorry," She apologized with a small giggle at her clumsiness,
"Its fine," Silas smiled again, his teeth were whiter than Tess could imagine. Levi looked between them uncomfortably,
"Come on Tessie, we're going to be late," He said grabbing her by the elbow. Tess laughed, and Levi interlocked his arm with hers. A small sign to Silas to back off. Tess didn't see it, but Silas interpreted the meaning.. He didn't know why Levi felt threatened by him, but things weren't looking good between them.