Blood Relatives

18. A Real-Life Nightmare

"Good morning, class." Mr. Wilson said. Nobody seemed to notice. They kept right on talking, as if no one heard the bell ring. Loudly, he slammed his briefcase down on the desk in front of him. Mr. Wilson's eyes flashed as he smiled just a little menacingly. He was greeted with a stunned silence.

"Good morning." he said again. "Now that I have everybody's attention, I'd like to introduce you to our new student." He nodded to the back of the room, and everyone's heads turned to follow.

Carmine wasn't sure how she'd missed him when she came in. But there he was; coming up to the front of the room was a blond-haired boy with the most intense blue eyes she'd ever seen.

"Class, this is Adam." the teacher told them. He continued on, telling them about how they should all make him feel welcome or something, but Carmine couldn't be bothered to listen; she was too busy staring at him. How could he really be here? Wasn't he just a dream?

Sure, Carmine knew he was a demon, but she didn't think that meant he could actually be here. If he could stalk her in real life, what was the point of having her friends turn her? She sat perfectly still, trying her best not to attract attention to herself. Maybe if he didn't see her in class, he would just go away. She shifted casually behind the kid in front of her, hoping that would make her more invisible.

"Are you ok?" Conner asked, leaning across the aisle. Carmine looked over at him. He was staring at her, a worried look on his face. Behind him, Luke was wearing a similar expression. "You look kinda pale – I mean, more pale than usual." Conner added.

"I know him." Carmine barely whispered it. Of course, both Conner and Luke had no trouble picking up on what she'd said.

"How could you know him?" Luke asked. "He just moved here. You mean you saw him at the store or something?"

Carmine didn't say anything; she just shook her head an almost imperceptible amount.

"Then from where?"

Carmine didn't answer. She couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't get even more questions thrown at her. She was still trying to decide what to do when she realized that the teacher had finished his little speech and Adam was now walking down the aisle towards her. He found a seat almost directly across from Carmine – just one seat up. At least he was on the opposite side from Luke and Conner; she could just pretend to be more interested in them than in Adam. Carmine spent the rest of the period trying her best to ignore the new kid.

She kept catching glimpses of him out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or not. She was dying to know, but she didn't dare check; there was still a slim chance that he hadn't recognized her, and Carmine really didn't want to draw attention to herself. In her heart, she knew without a doubt that he was there for her, but she still refused to let go of the thought that it was all a horrible coincidence – the other option was just too terrible to think about.

The bell rang, and Carmine could see that boy – Adam – turning to face her. So, he had seen her. She knew he was going to try to talk to her. Desperately, she racked her brain for any excuse as to why she couldn't do it today. She knew she'd have to talk to him eventually, especially if she didn't want him to think she was scared. But today, she just couldn't do it. Maybe in a day or two, but not now – not this soon. She turned back towards the door, thinking about making her escape. As she looked towards the door, Conner caught her eye.

"Carmine, can I talk to you a second?" he asked.

"Umm, yeah. Sure." she said. This was perfect – Conner could be a great excuse. No way Adam would want to talk to her with Conner hanging around.