Free Impossible by Komal Lewis

trouble with Mom, or I could just suck it up and take up his offer. I eyed the car, apprehension building up within me. I had to take a few deep breaths to ease the anxiety, before making my decision.
    With a sigh, I climbed into the car and shut the door. Luca reached over and his arm brushed against mine. For a moment, I stopped breathing. He was so close and he smelled so good, not at all how I’d expected him to. There was a clean, crisp scent about him, and I inhaled deeply, enjoying his proximity to me. He definitely didn’t smell like a rat-infested sewer.
    Luca’s bright green eyes landed on mine and I noticed that they weren’t circled with black eyeliner today. He buckled in my seat belt and settled back into his seat, looking pleased with himself. My breathing returned to normal and I wanted to kick myself for being so affected by him. I really had to get myself under control.
    Luca repulsed me—I was not attracted to him in the slightest.
    There was one question that was bugging me, a question I’d lain awake in bed thinking about all night. “Are you moving back into your old room?” I dreaded the answer.
    Luca glanced at me and gave me a smile that probably made Stacey Parker weak at the knees. It wouldn’t work on me though. “You noticed that, huh? Were you spying on me, Ashy? Did you stay up all night thinking about me?”
    I set my mouth in a firm line, not intending to give away how right he was.
    It wasn’t lost on me that he’d called me by the nickname he’d coined for me when we were kids. My Mom and brother called me that all the time, but it was different coming from Luca. When he said it, it meant a lot more.
    “I wasn’t spying on you. I have better things to do than watch you.” When he didn’t retort back with a smart ass comment, I continued. “So, why are you moving into your old room?”
    “You’re really obsessed with me, aren’t you?”
    “I’m not obsessed with you; I asked you a simple question. If you don’t want to answer it then I really couldn’t care less.” I felt outraged that he would think that.
    “Of course you care.” His smug tone only made me angrier. He gave me that stupid smile again, and I fought the temptation to punch him in the face. “The view’s better.”
    His simple answer made me feel all fluttery inside, which was stupid because I couldn’t stand to be near him. “Not for me,” I grumbled.
    “Ouch, that hurts.” Laughing, he rested his arm on the window sill. “So, where’s Kance? She picks you up every morning, doesn’t she?”
    “Oh, um, she had a few things to do.” My face flushed from the lie and I could tell that Luca had noticed. He knew me too well and he knew when I wasn’t being honest.
    “Then why were you standing out front for ten minutes waiting for her?” He spoke in such a casual tone that I felt like a complete moron for lying. Of course he knew something was up. Any person with a brain could tell something was wrong.
    I sighed and looked out the window at the expensive houses that passed by. The closer we got to school, the better the houses were. If you went past Statlen, and the school, you would enter Jackson Heights where all the wealthy families lived. “I really don’t wanna talk about it.”
    “Alright, Princess, whatever you say.” A few moments went by before Luca spoke again. “How come you don’t drive?”
    “Huh?” I turned to look at him, surprised by his question.
    “I’ve never seen you drive before,” Luca repeated, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “I just wondered why you never got your license.”
    Pain shot through me and I felt like I was being suffocated. This was something that I didn’t want to hear or talk about. My breathing became uneven as tears pricked my eyes. Why did Luca have to ask me this out of all the things he could ask?? Why did he have to be the one to ask?
    It was becoming harder to breathe and I let out a choking sound that caught Luca’s