PROLOGUE

My name is Alicia.

Alicia Smith.

I do not come from one of those rich pretentious perfect families that preach to their brat kids about the importance of being at the top of the food chain of society. In fact, my family is kinda messed up. My mum and dad got divorced when I was eight. My dad died a year later after the divorce, and my mum got married to one Sylvester guy six months after my dad's death. Sarah is the only real family member I have, and if I were to be reincarnated into this world and born into another family, Sarah is that only sibling I will pray to God to bless me with again. She took me into her arms and shielded me from the wraths of this world when we both lost the protection of our parents. For Sarah, I will go to the lengths and breadths of this world if need be. She is the reason why I am damn serious with my studies. And coupled with the messed up family I come from, I do not need to be told that I need to work hard not to end up like my parents.

My private life outside the four walls of Riverdale High might be gloomy, but my academic life is on fleek. On point. So prim and proper. Every subject I chose, every assignment I painstakingly completed since my first day of high school all boiled down to my zeal of getting into the most prestigious college in town.

I chose not to accept the fact that there could be so much more to my life than just academics. I chose not to align with the truth that a bias breaker like Luke Evans would turn my make-believe perfect world upside down.

Luke Evans is my arch nemesis. But he is also the Duke of Hastings that my heart secretly burns for. He crept into my heart, chipping off every wall I had built around myself to protect all the hardwork and perseverance I had put into trying to live the perfect life.

Right from the moment I was partnered with him for Mr Douglas's class project, Luke showed me in more ways than one that I am human, that I am not perfect. That I am allowed to make mistakes and that I am permitted to grow from those mistakes.

Through him, I experienced how it feels to be utterly lost in someone, and what it means to be so intricately consumed in throes of passion so deep that I find my judgement so clouded to the point that all I can see, or breathe, is him.

Sometimes, I think of the many ways he has crushed my heart, the hurtful stings of his words, and how I still always want to reach out to the only boy who always has me questioning if my senses are still indeed functional and intact.

I may not be graduating high school on the perfect clean slate I have already mapped out for myself, and that is all thanks to Luke Evans for gatecrashing into my heart and enchanting it to never be the same again.