Never Tell

Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Elementary Blues

I can't believe it...besides being in an adorable new school uniform, its golden buttons embedded with an eagle for "Soaring to Excellence!" Gabriel, the 2,500 year old demon of Anglo-Saxon England, is now enrolling into a school with kids through grades kindergarten to fifth. 

I worry for the other children....wait, why is he avoiding the teacher? She is not demonic...why is he afraid?

And here I was...in front of the elementary school classroom, a year after getting Gabriel, trying to convince he wasn't going to die if he took the teacher's hand...

I'm going to be so-o late....

"I don't like it..."said the demonic child for possibly the sixth time. In his forest green crest jacket, white shirt with added silky red tie, and khaki pants and black shoes, Gabriel looked almost like a modern kindergartener. If not for his accent and how mature he acted, he could've passed for any other kid. His brown hair was still in its usual spiky style, as none of my combs could come even close to taming it, and his eyes still blue with hints of red in their depths. 

I sighed as he held my hand tighter, and tried to hide behind me when the teacher, a Ms. Marigold, approached us. She had bright olive-green eyes, pink rosy skin and dishwater-blonde curls tied back with a dark white ribbon. It had small red spots over a tiny tear on the left side where a soft, old scar rested on her left cheek. 

She bent at the waist in her worn, short dark pencil-skirt topped off with a dark jacket with the school emblem on the right breast over her white flowery blouse, its top three buttons undone- revealing breasts I'm sure she used to breastfeed at least twice if not more. "Well, hello there~" Ms. Marigold cooed and Gabriel glared at her, ducking behind my leg more.  

She smiled sadly and reached her hand out as if she was trying to pet a wild animal. I felt him tense behind me and I snatched him up before he could do to her what he did to Mom. To mask my actions, I settled Gabriel in one arm and extended my free one, "Emma Warren," I said with a flat smile.  

Fear was rising in me in a steady stream when the young-looking demon in my arms didn't relax as he usually would have. Something was up with him; he didn't feel comfortable for whatever reason and that meant it was very bad. What is going on, now? I thought, sullenly, I have a Geometry test today in third period. You better not make me late, Gabriel, just because you don't want to go to school. 

Ms. Marigold returned my smile, if with a bit more enthusiasm, as she stood and brushed imaginary dirt and wrinkles from her skirt, before she shook my head. "Ms. Daisy-Anne Marigold," she introduced. And I thought with a mental smirk, cute name. 

But then she looked cattily at Gabriel, who flinched, grasping black blazer's shoulder and squeezing tightly. My eye twitched, because well that kind of hurt. He may look human but 2,500 years does well to your muscles. 

My smile slimmed a little as I adjusted my white beanie on my head before giving Gabriel a look to calm down but he paid me no mind. He was getting paler by the second looking at Ms. Marigold as she continued to give him a flirty smile, as if she was trying to will him to smile back at her. 

My red bows glinted before clashing against my silver hoops and I wondered what was up. Gabriel said my bows were charmed for luck, hitting the closet metal on the wearer when something bad was happen. I had scoffed and said there was no way, but now that I think about it, I'd worn them when Emily died...they rang that day. 

And when we met Gabriel they didn't, so that would mean he was good, but they rang with the male demon Gabriel killed and the whore. And now again they were ringing, they were warning me about Ms. Marigold? What was she? A child molester?