Impossible (5 page)

Bennett hadn’t always been popular or sporty. In middle school, he’d been quiet and awkward until I’d taken him under my wing after losing Luca, thinking that he could fill that gap. My logic didn’t work—Ben was nothing like Luca—but I’d still gained a good friend. Ben went from being chubby, covered in acne, and about as interesting as wallpaper, to becoming one of the hottest guys in school. And it was all thanks to me.

We weren’t as close as we’d been a few years ago—Ben was always with the guys—but we still looked out for each other.

I quickly straightened my outfit—wondering why I’d decided to wear a dress today instead of a skirt—and stood up as the boys reached us. Oliver’s eyes flicked to Kance and then finally rested on me. Under his bright blue gaze, a warmth spread through my body from the undivided attention. Okay, maybe the dress had been a good choice after all.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Oliver said as the boys all sat down. He looked amazing as usual in jeans that hugged him in all the right places and a snug white t-shirt that sent my imagination a little haywire.

“Pretty good,” Kance said, a smile lurking on her lips. Ugh. I hated how she was always so composed around him while I totally lost my nerve.

“Yeah, you guys look pretty good,” Bennett teased. He raised a cup to his lips and made a face at whatever the contents were.

“Coffee?” I asked, catching Ben’s eye.

Matthew Sutton elbowed him in the ribs and laughed. “Yeah, he’s trying to be all mature and sophisticated to impress some girl.”

Ben elbowed him back. “She’s not some girl. Her name’s Hadie.”

Hadie. The name tickled a faint memory in my mind. Hadie didn’t run in our circle, but I knew her from sight. She’d been in my art class in sophomore year and seemed like a nice girl. Ben deserved nothing less.

I laughed and gave Bennett a pout. “Aw, and here I thought we had something going on.”

Bennett grinned and pulled me onto his lap. “Of course we do, Ash. I’d never betray you like that.”

I noticed Oliver paying extra close attention to us, and couldn’t help feeling smug. Everyone knew that Bennett and I were just good friends and always joked around about dating. In truth, we had a very platonic relationship, but loved teasing each other. It was how we operated, but it was good to see that it was getting to Oliver.

Laughing, I stood up and caught sight of two people who’d just walked into the courtyard. Luca and Elly. Suddenly, I felt nervous as I wondered what they were talking about. Please, please, don’t let him tell her about the kiss. I was so close to getting Oliver. The last thing I needed was a scandal like that.

I nudged Kance—who was engaged in a conversation with Oliver—and nodded in Luca and Elly’s direction. Kance’s eyes darkened as she took in the sight of them. “We can’t have that now, can we?”

“No, we can’t,” I agreed and studied the cup in Bennett’s hand. “Hey, if you’re not going to drink that, can I have it?”

“Sure, but it tastes like crap,” Bennett warned.

“And stains like a bitch,” I muttered under my breath as I took the cup from him. Kance was close enough to hear me and she tried to hide her smile.

Elly bounded up to us enthusiastically, her short strawberry blonde hair bouncing behind her. When she caught sight of Oliver her dark brown eyes lit up. She was wearing a cream-colored top today. Perfect. “Morning, everyone! What’s going on?”

“That’s what we’d like to know,” Oliver said, nodding to where Luca had sat down on the wall a few feet away. “What were you doing talking to
him
?”

As Oliver’s meaning sank in, Elly’s smile faltered and her face went beet red. “Oh, um…he teaches my little brother guitar sometimes. He was just asking how my brother was. That’s all, nothing else.” She looked mortified.

A trickle of warmth filled my insides at her words. Luca spent his time teaching little kids how to play the guitar? That was kind of…sweet. He was just full of surprises.

“Be careful,” Matt said, “you don’t want your brother to turn into a freak like him. Besides, as if he can actually play properly.” Matt was one to talk. With his enormous body and bulky fingers, he’d probably break the guitar strings.

“N-no, I don’t,” Elly agreed with a nod, looking over at Oliver as if to gauge his reaction.

Jealousy quickly replaced the warmth. It was so obvious that she had a thing for him. Why hadn’t I noticed before? I took a step closer to Elly. “Hey, Elly, are you excited for cheerleading practice this afternoon?” Somehow I managed to smile at her, despite the dislike I had towards her.

Elly’s expression brightened at the change of topic. “Yeah, I’m super excited! I know it’s my first time, but I did gymnastics when I was in—”

My leg “accidentally” gave way, and I cried out as I lost my balance. I reached out to grab onto Kance and flung the contents of the coffee cup right in Elly’s face. The warm liquid hit her chin, neck and the cream silk top that she was wearing.

“No!” she shrieked, trying to wipe the coffee off her shirt. It would do no good. The coffee was already seeping into the delicate fabric, and spreading the more she tried to clean it.

We all burst out laughing and I made a sad face at her. “Oh, no, I’m
so
sorry, Belly. Let that be a reminder to you next time you decide to talk to losers like Luca and try to be on
my
squad looking like a whale.”

Elly’s bottom lip quivered and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Honestly, she deserved it, trying to fit in with people she didn’t belong with. We didn’t take well to posers like her. She was way below our standards.

“I-I…but I got into the team—”

I cut her off. “Honey, no one is going to be able to lift you. You
poor
thing.”

Kance eyed Elly up, a sneer on her pretty face. “Have a
great
day. Love your top, by the way. So chic.” We all burst out laughing again, and Elly let out a sob.

“Ashton! What the fuck is wrong with you?” an angry voice demanded from behind me, making my heart stop.

Luca

Ashton slowly turned around to face me, her eyes wide. She hesitated, biting her lip, but one look from her friend, Kance, changed her attitude completely. “What did you just say to me?”

I looked over at Elly and saw that she was crying. It was horrible to see her like this. She was such a nice girl and had come to a few of Skeptic Coil’s gigs last summer. She didn’t deserve to be humiliated like that. Not by Ashton. Not by anyone.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I repeated, pissed off at her behavior. “What do you get from spilling your drink all over her?”

Ash seemed like she was at a loss for words, but then her expression turned dark. “How dare you talk to me, you loser. Do you think I care what you have to say? Get away from me before I throw up in your face. People like me don’t talk to people like you.”

Her friends laughed at me and I really wanted to punch them in the face, but stopped myself. There were too many of them and I knew when I was going to lose a fight. Those bulked up jocks would whoop my ass.

“People like you deserve to be shot.” I walked over to Elly and put my arm around her. “Are you gonna be okay?”

She looked up at me with puffy red eyes and nodded. “I think so.”

I felt worse for not stepping in earlier to help her. At first, everything had seemed fine until Ashton spilt the coffee on her. Seriously, what had she done to deserve this humiliation? This time Ash had gone too far.

“Here, take this,” I said pulling off my shirt and handing it to her. “I have a spare one in my car.”

Elly sniffed and gingerly took my shirt. It would be too big for her, but it was a better alternative than the stained top she had on. “Thanks so much, Luca.”

“Hey, why don’t you get outta here, get yourself cleaned up,” I suggested gently. Elly nodded and gave me a small smile before heading towards the restrooms.

I turned back to glare at Ashton, not caring that I didn’t have a shirt on. I’d been working out a lot lately and I knew my body looked good. Judging from the way Ash’s eyes were fixated on the center of my chest, I could tell she had noticed, and it pleased me that she couldn’t take her eyes off me, like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Still, that didn’t change how mad I was at her. “I hope you’re proud of yourself, Ashton. Are you really that pathetic that you have to pick on other people to make yourself feel better? You’re all shades of fucked up, you know that?”

Ashton snapped out of staring at my chest and looked up with angry blue eyes. “Don’t talk to me like you’re better than me.”

“Then don’t act like your shit don’t stink. You’re not perfect, you’re not even close. You think everyone else is beneath you when, really, you’re the one who’s not good enough. Why don’t you take your daddy issues and go see a therapist? But stop picking on other people to make yourself feel better about your own crap life.”

Ash’s nostrils flared and she opened her mouth to say something, but Kance spoke instead. “That’s coming from the guy who was so messed up after his dad died that the only way he could deal with it was by dressing up like an emo and cutting himself.” She took a step towards me and sneered.

Behind her, Ash turned pale and I knew that Kance’s words had gotten to her too. No matter how much she tried to hate me, she would always love my dad. I waited for her to speak up, but she was such a fucking coward, all she did was stand there looking pathetic.

“Just because I dress like this doesn’t mean I’m an emo, and it doesn’t mean I cut myself.”

One of the guys, Oliver Carson, stood up and joined Kance. I knew him as the quarterback of the football team and one of the jerks who used to push me around a couple years ago. “You’re a freak of nature. She’s just saying it how it is.”

I stared him down, a vein throbbing in my neck. “Then that must make you a dumb jock.”

I knew I shouldn’t have said it, but I was so angry at them that the words fell out of my mouth before I could stop myself. The dickhead had it coming to him. He’d slammed me into walls, let the air out of the wheels on my bike, and pushed me around for years. It only stopped once I’d muscled up and started standing up for myself. What did he know about me? What did he know about my dad? Absolutely nothing.

Oliver growled and lurched forward, fists raised and aimed for my face, but he stopped suddenly. Looking around, I saw that Ashton had grabbed onto him and was pulling him back. He stared at her in surprise, like he couldn’t believe what she was doing. “Don’t stop me, Ashton. He called me dumb. I’m gonna beat him until he can’t stand straight.”

“He’s not worth it,” Ash said, her eyes pleading. “You’re gonna get kicked off the team if Coach finds out you got into a fight.”

Oliver’s body slackened and his eyes darted from Ash to me as his tiny brain processed her words. Finally, he backed away from me and grabbed his bag. He shot me one final look before storming off across the courtyard, his friends following after him like mindless zombies.

Once he was gone, I turned back and caught Ash’s eye.

“Ash, your mom would be so ashamed of you for treating Elly like that,” I said, pleased that she had the decency to look somewhat guilty. “And so would my dad.”

Without waiting for a response, I stalked off towards the school entrance so I could get my shirt out of my car. I couldn’t believe the kind of person Ash had become. And the thing that frustrated me the most was that she couldn’t see it. The Ashton I used to know would never put someone down like that. She’d be the one jumping in to stop it, but now she was the one who started it.

I kicked the chain link fence that enclosed the school and leaned against it, ignoring the looks that I was getting from the other students. Shirtless or not, I still got the looks. They all thought I was someone to be avoided. Little old ladies crossed the street when they saw me coming. Putting a shirt on wouldn’t change that.

“Is there a reason why you don’t have a shirt on?” a voice said from behind me. “Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

I didn’t need to turn around to know that Stacey was standing behind me. I’d know her voice anywhere. We’d been friends since middle school and “friends with benefits” for the last year. Stace wanted to take our relationship to the next level, but I wasn’t looking to commit. I mean, there was nothing wrong with Stace. She was a nice looking girl with dark red hair, a cu
rvy figure, and tawny brown eyes.

I just didn’t wanna get serious with her or take her out on dates and hold her hand. I cared about her, but I wasn’t in love with her. We worked fine just the way we were.

Besides, ever since Stace and me had started hooking up, Riley had been acting strange. If he’d had an interest in Stace before that, he’d never shown it, but now I could see the way his gaze would linger on her whenever she was close. Maybe it’d taken Stace to be with another guy for him to realize that he liked her. If he had feelings for her, he needed to tell her.

I shot Stace a half-smile as she joined me. “Ashton Summers.”

Stace’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you two have se—”