Almost

PROLOGUE

I hated, hated HATED Alfonso West. No, hate wasn't a strong enough word to explain my feelings for him. I loathed him, I despised him, I...well to sum it up in the glory of English language, I wanted to kill him.

Mama said it hadn't always been this way. She said that when West and I were little, up to the age of five, we were always at each other's house, playing in sandboxes, swimming in the pools, riding our tricycles, and we even shared snacks together.

Now, at the age of eighteen, it was hard to believe that I was ever friends with that sleaze, who just so happened to be my next door neighbour.

"Eli," Mama called from the kitchen. "Are you going to help me with these cookies or not?"

I sighed, walking into the kitchen and I plopped down on a chair. "I'd rather just eat them, if that's okay." I grinned at her.

Mama laughed. "Uh-huh, I know. But-" she whirled around and plopped a big piece of dough on my nose. "If you want any of these delicious, brown, soft, melt right in your mouth cookies, you have to help me."

She played a hard bargain. I sighed, acknowledging the fact that I was beaten, and stood up, wiping the dough off my nose.

"Where is Ayen, Ma?" I asked curiously.

I hadn't seen my sister in a couple of hours. Well, technically she was my half sister. We shared the same mother; you see my father dear went off with his ugly mistress, the way I wanted to describe it. Ayen had been a one night fling. Whenever she and I were arguing about something, I simply called her 'the accident.' It was hilarious.

"Oh she took the dogs out for a walk," Mama replied.

My mother was a vet, meaning the animals at our house accumulated frequently. We had a German shepherd, a Basset hound, a Boston terrier and then two rescue mixed breeds. You've probably guessed we went through a lot of kibble.

Mama and I made the cookies, and while they were baking in the oven I ran upstairs to take a shower. Afterwards, I brushed the comb through my sometimes unruly dirty brunette hair. I changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and after stealing a dozen chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk; I ran upstairs to my room and shut the door.

My room was probably the most awesome room in the house. It was shaped like a giant rectangle but it protruded out in one corner, leading to my bathroom. The walls were painted a light sky blue and in the corner on the right side there was a giant sun plastered on, and clouds were painted all around it. On the opposite wall, a large moon was drawn and painted in, and surrounded by tiny stars. The wood was hard floor, but I had a lot of bright rugs to help liven it up. My bed was the first thing you saw when you opened my door, and beside it was my night stand. Under the moon painting, there was my book shelf and my computer desk, and laptop, was directly under the sun painting.

Everything about my room was peaceful...until my horrible next door neighbour decided to crank up his music.

I wasn't exactly nerdy, but I will admit I liked the old, classy music. All of this punk rock stuff made my ears bleed, and that's exactly what West played.

Mouth half full of cookie, I stomped to my window and threw it angrily open.

"HOY!" I screamed. His curtains were drawn back, revealing him shirtless with just a pair of boxers on.

West was what girls considered attractive, though I'm sure if they saw the real him, they would all avoid him like the plague he was. He had black hair and an annoying charming dimple that certainly made teenage girls hormones go crazy; his brown eyes visible to rub on more his charm. He was tall and lean, and muscular because he was a basketball player. Even from my window, I could distinguish his abs.

"Do you just want to stare or do you actually need something?"

The dreaded voice snapped me out of my observation of West and my face heated up.

"Can you turn that crappy music down? Some of us would like to keep our hearing."

He laughed. "Now, why would I do something like that?"

I let out an irritated scoff. "Well because if you don't, I'm going to come over there and kick your ass."

He smirked. "I like the sound of that, sweetheart."

My mouth dropped. "First of all, eww. I have much better taste. And secondly, my name is Eli. Get it right, bonehead."

I demanded to be called Eli and not by my full name Elizabeth. It reminded me of Mama's very angry face whenever the name surfaced in the air, roaring. Besides, it wasn't like he wanted to be addressed as Alfonso either. So, everyone called him in his family name. I always thought he hated his real name for some reason, maybe because his estranged American military dad named him that.

He held a hand to his bare chest. "Ouch, that really hurts the heart."

"Giatay ka? What heart?" I asked seriously.

"You're feisty, I like that. How about you crawl out of that window of yours and give me a smooch?"

"I would, but you'd probably kill me with that terrible odour of yours. Haven't you ever heard of deodorant?"

"Haven't you ever heard of 'the more you hate, the more you love'?"

"Afraid, not."

With that I slammed my window shut and pulled my curtains closed. I couldn't resist peeking around at him though and I busted out laughing when I saw him raising his arms to make sure he didn't smell bad. I didn't think he smelled bad.

Honestly, he smelled delightful whenever I passed him by in the school halls. But I wasn't going to tell him that.