The Boy Next Door

Chapter 2: Welcome to the neighborhood

I rested my head on my cool window and glared at the moving trucks parked outside my teeth. New neigbors. How I hated them. Never knowing what to expect from them or what they will be doing during the late hours of the night. I grunted and scrambled to my feet. I walked over to the other side of my room and threw open the curtains to another window. A window that was equally inline with our new neighbors window. There house was only a few feet away from mine. I stared into the opposing houses window at the boxes and boxes of unpacked furniture. Looks like I was going to have a new "room mate." It almost seemed like that because our houses were so close and if both windows were open you could easily crawl into the other's from yours. Our last neighbors were druggies and were constantly trying to break into our house to search for prescription drugs. I had some akward confrontations with them. Once they had one leg in my window and the other in their's and were practically doing the splits. When I awoke to that I ran over and slammed my window down on there leg, causing them to fall and get stuck between our houses. After that, they moved out, and I never saw them again.

Regaining my self after that memory, I glanced at the clock. 6:00 pm. Still smiling, I ran downstairs to greet my dad at the door, like I do everyday, when he gets home from work. My mom was at the air conditioner, butter knife in hand, trying to scrape out and remove the banana and cookie. My little brother, was laughing and watching my mother do this. She was bent over, in a squat position with sweat pouring from here body. I couldn't help but let out a sly giggle. She caught it right away.

"Do you want to be doing this?," she asked me.

"I'll let you do it," I said smirking and walking into the kitchen. I was confronted with a huge mural on the wall created by purple and green crayons that presented stick figures.

"Oh god," I muttered.

Alex, my little brother, giggled with excitement.

"Do you like your present?," he asked innocently.

I rushed back over to my mom who was now swearing and threatening a oreo peice stuck in the power outlet.

"Uh, mom?," I asked nudging her.

"WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY NEED NOW ANDREA!," my mom yelled.

"Uh, Alex gave us a present," I said whispering. From the kitchen I heard a giggle.

"Come and see mama," he said playfully.

"Oh no, he didn't. Did he? Andrea please say its just a project from school," my mom pleaded.

"No, no its a mural. On our wall. In the kitchen," I said staring at my feet.

Its funny how my mother is afraid of Alex's "presents." Thats probually because the last time he gave us a "present" it was a chocolate cake frosted with our neighbors dog poop. We had made the cake and had chocolate frosting set out by it, when Alex asked if he could frost the cake, we thought nothing of it. Little did we know, he had no intentions of frosting the cake with chocolate frosting.

My mother rushed up to her feet and ran into the kitchen where Alex was putting the finishing touches on his present.

"ALEX, NO!," my mom screamed grabbing him and wrestling him into his room. He fussed and squirmed and bit my mother a few times, which gave him a few spankings. Just as all this was going down, my father walked in. He smiled and spoke, not noticing the scene.

"We got new neighbors," he said cheerfully. He then noticed the scene and the smile on his face dropped. He rushed over to my mother and Alex who were in an all out battle. In one swiftfull movement he plucked Alex up amd plopped him in his room, locking the door behind him.

My mother, flustered and worn-out, plopped onto the couch with my father to hear the scoop about the new neighbors. I joined them and sat down to listen.

"They look like a resonable family," he said happily.

My dad was the exact opposite from what I was when it came to new neighbors. Thats because he is a business man who is always looking for new people to sell his company's products to. When I think of new neighbors, I think of creeps staring and climbing into my window. My dad continued.

"I already talked to the father, he said he is looking for some tools to repair the house with," he said smiling even bigger. "So I think that if we send over a welcome basket, then we might be able to win their business over," he looked at me. I was their "welcome basket deliverer." I got up and walked over to out living room closet, which seems crazy, but its filled with welcome baskets. We always need one on hand in case somebody new arrives. I plucked one out and threw on my shoes. I glanced at my dad who was giving me a thumbs up and my mom who was now gathering her strenghth again to try and fix the air conditioner. I opened the door and put on my best smile.

The air outside was hot, but was slightly cooler than my house. A slight breeze ruffled my short loose dress and blew through my wavy hair. I walked along the side walk and greeted the movers with a smile. I bounced up the stairs to the house and rang the doorbell while putting on my best attitude. A few moments later the door opened and my heart exploded.

A boy, about my age, answered the door. He had pitch black hair and stunning green eyes that were easy to get lost into. He was beautiful. I stammered, "Wel-welcome to the neighborhood." I akwardly handed him the basket and twirled around on the balls of my feet, starting walking home. A few seconds later a voice called out. "Uh, thanks, I'll see you around." I felt color rush to my cheeks and my feet move faster and faster until I was against the door to my house.

"Did you win them over?," my dad asked.

"I don't know dad," I said walking upstairs to my room. But he sure won my heart over, I thought.