Chapter 3

"You're late, Ms. Lively," Mrs. Queue, the English literature teacher, said as I entered the classroom.

At her comment, Connor, sitting next to the window, glanced at me and returned to his notebook.

I rushed to my desk at the front and took out my notebook.

"The poems I'd asked you to write, some of you were okay, poor and beautiful," Mr. Queue walked around the classroom handing out our work.

I was surprised when she gave me my sheet of paper when describing the person's poem, okay, and I saw my grade, 79 percent.

I've never gotten such a low grade in my life. I have constantly worked on getting high grades in hopes of winning over my mom's heart so she could be proud of me and one day accept me as her child. Now this poor grade will not allow her to do so, if she was ever considering it.

My gaze shifted to Connor as she complimented him on his excellent poem and handed him his sheet of paper. And I wish I'd received that remark as I watched him stare at his paper before inserting it between his books.

"Would you mind sharing your short love poem with the class?" Mrs. Queue asked as she returned to her seat.

Love poem, I was struck by Ms. Queue's words. The idea of Connor writing a love poem seemed unbelievable.

He shook his head no.

"Okay, I will not force you to," said Ms. Queue, walking from his desk.

His eyes, darker than space, slowly met mine, and I shyly looked away from their beauty.

****

At lunch with Bryson, his girlfriend, and a group of their friends, I couldn't stop thinking about Connor's love poem. I was certain he didn't write it. He didn't seem like the type of guy to do anything with love, known for rejecting almost every girl here at school.

I suddenly became sadder.

Why, out of all the guys here, did I have to be drawn to the one who is way out of my league?

"So, who's the unluckiest guy taking you to the Valentine party on Friday?" Elena, Bryson's girlfriend, asked, and soon after she and her girlfriends started after her in a peal of laughter.

They were mocking me, and I wish I'd turned down Bryson's invitation to have lunch with him.

Soon, everyone around the table is looking at me, eager to know as well, causing me to become very nervous.

Thankfully, Bryson comes to the rescue. "Just leave her alone," he told his girlfriend.

Before Connor, Bryson was the most attractive and popular guy in school. Now he falls into fifth position, after the triplets.

Bryson has white, blonde hair and rare, bright aqua eyes.

Bryson and I became friends in kindergarten when he shared his lunch with me when my mother forgot to pack my lunch. We've grown apart since we started high school. Well, I have distanced myself from him since he'd become popular here, for I felt I didn't fit in his company and the people he'd now surrounded himself with.

Still, he never makes me sit alone, knowing I have never had any friends except for him.

I looked away from Elena as she started staring at me with angry eyes, and my attention went to Connor and his family sitting in their usual seat next to the window. While the others were eating, Connor just sat there silently, staring through the window.

"Connor turned me down again," Jolene Elena's friend started moping.

I was shocked when his head spun towards our table and stared at Jolene the moment she called his name. But how could he have possibly heard what she'd just said way across from us and under the other students, all talking at once?

"I think he's gay; who could have turned down someone like me as well?" said Kathy, another friend of Jolene, and I'm even more surprised when his attention moved to her as well.

Suddenly, he picked up that I was watching him, and he immediately walked away swiftly from the lunchroom.

I was in so much shock at what had happened.

At the end of school, Bryson approached me before I got into the school bus.

"At lunch, I saw you staring at Connor as one of the girls who is head over heels for him," he said.

I was surprised that he was watching me.

Ashamed, I pushed a strand of hair from my face.

"Stay away from Connor; he's not the type of person for you," Bryson warned.

Immediately, I raised my head at his comment.

"What do you mean he's not the type of person for me?" I asked, upset, believing he meant Connor was way above my league.

Which is true; I just didn't expect him to make me feel less than I already am.

"Just stay away from him," he warned again, walking off.

As he did, I watched him as he went to his expensive, shiny sports car, in which Elena was waiting for him. I looked away from her piercing stare.

Elena loathes that Bryson and I are friends. She looks down at me because I was not born with rich parents like them.

My attention immediately shifts to Connor and his family as they head towards their ride. Connor and Kara are walking side by side, and his brother is following from behind. Connor and Kara would be the perfect couple if she weren't his cousin.

I find myself becoming a bit jealous.

I started to hate my dirt-brown hair, my eyes, and every single part of me that could never compare to Kara's beauty, and I agree with what Bryson said. Connor was truly not the guy for me. He was too handsome for an ugly person like me.

I looked away from them.

On my way home, I spot an elderly guy with a huge sign along the road, written, "Beware of the beast who hides in human skin that walks among us."

I didn't understand why I was so frightened when I read it.

Briggs, the elderly guy, was insane; he lost his mind when his daughter went missing. Nothing he wrote on that piece of cardboard was sane.

Arriving home, I went straight to my room and locked myself in. I sat at my desktop and typed in the search engine, "Beast who hides human skin."

Before I could click search, I paused to hear the front door downstairs slam shut. As soon as I'm home, Mom leaves. For years, she'd been working night shifts at the small hotel here. She came home when I was at school and left when I returned. I should be used to it. But how can I when I'm the cause of it--the reason why she can't stay in her own home, for I'm the one who took away the love of her life?

Tears filled my eyes, and immediately, I wiped them away, clicking the search button. I was stunned when I saw the search result for werewolves came up with images of gigantic wolves. I clicked the first link.

It took me to their abilities.

Inhuman speed--my eyes paused at that first sentence, and my heart raced, recalling how Connor flashed across the road to save me.

My heart raced faster, seeing another ability: having very sharp hearing, and I remember Connor's attention turning towards the table as soon as he heard his name.

Heals very fast. I read the third sentence, and now I know that I wasn't hallucinating when he'd saved me from the fallen sign.

"Connor is a werewolf." I was alarmed.