The Claws Within

Chapter Three

           By the time Maggie's last class came around, which just so happened to be the class that she had with Ms. Martin, she knew five things about the man who would be replacing Ms. Martin:

1. His name was Alden Wilson and he was single.

2. He was 23 and single.

3. His family owned the majority of the town, oh, and he was single.

4. He lives in a mansion out in the middle of the woods.... and... did anyone not mention that he was single?

5. And because he was single - every female, from student body to staff and faculty, had a major crush on him. It was obvious by not only the gossip that floated around but also by the swooning looks that they gave him during lunch hour which the entire high school had shared. Maggie had taken the advantage of avoiding Mr. Wilson by sitting outside that day, near the woods where the trees hid her.

Maggie was proud to say that she was not attracted to the man but was sad to silently announce to herself that everyone else was, including her good friend Sara. And because Sara had transformed into a big goggly eyed pushover who could not stop talking about how Mr. Wilson was such a better fit than Ms. Martin, well, to say the least Maggie had ditched her friend to the giant swarm of girls who flooded into the classroom where they eagerly awaited to speak to him.

And for the first time her life she seriously considered skipping class. Maggie was afraid of losing her temper to the arrogant man who thought he could storm in here, get her favorite teacher fired and replace her, and then expect everyone to admire him for his good looks all the while ignoring his cruel, mean hearted ways. All the while ignoring the sweet Ms. Martin who was probably bawling her eyes out by the minute.

Maggie hesitantly turned away from the classroom. She began walking down the hallway away from the chaos, but only to be stopped by a voice that called after her.

"Maggie," he called out to her. She forced herself to turn around and face him, "You are coming to class, aren't you?"

She gulped but nodded, making her way back to the class. When she looked up at him she noticed that his hair was dark brown and wavy, almost to the point that he had some curls. It was longer than most other men, coming down to the bottom of his ears. His face was muscular like the rest of his body, and something about him seemed off and the only word she could think of was 'feral'. He was feral, she concluded.

He held the door open for her and she gripped her backpack closer to her shoulder to avoid eye contact with him. She did not want to stare into his stern green eyes in fear of that it would cause him to be pay more attention to her in that instant.

She sat down at her desk, which unfortunately was in the front row of the classroom. She wished that she was not one of Ms. Martin's favorites so that she did not have a desk in the front, she wished that all those times she spoke voluntarily that she had not, otherwise she would have had a desk in the back of the room away from Mr. Wilson.

"Oh, and Ms." He paused, staring down at the roster and smirking widely, "Roselen?"

Maggie nodded at the correct pronunciation of her name. Mr. Wilson said it again as if testing her full name on his lips, "Right," he said more sternly this time, "Ms. Maggie Roselen, I will see you after class since you were late."

"What?" She sneered loudly.

But he ignored her and instead began to teach class.

Maggie put her head down on the desk as the tears threatened to appear, not because she was sad or upset but instead because she was frustrated and mad, and there was nothing she could do.

She dreaded the next hour. She dreaded having to talk to Mr. Wilson. And quite frankly, at this point in time, she dreaded her life.