Chapter Fifty

Week six of the term started with English in the morning. Asher was pacing outside the classroom before class started, seeming unsettled.

“You’re going to wear a hole in the ground,” Lila said playfully. He stopped dead in his tracks before looking at Lila. He didn’t seem like he’d noticed her before now.

“Oh, hello,” he said stiffly, though his facial expression still carried the weight of someone still deep in thought.

“How did your hangout with Isaac on Saturday go?” she asked, gesturing for him to follow her into the classroom. He complied but didn’t say anything. They sat down in their usual seats and Asher still didn’t say anything.

“… You all good?” Lila asked tentatively.

“Guess so,” Asher replied evasively.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Lila replied, raising an eyebrow at him. He met her eyes for a second before sighing.

“Can we have lunch again? Probably for the rest of the week,” he said, looking pointedly down at his desk.

Lila stared blankly at him. “For… the rest of the week? The week’s just started.”

“I said what I said,” Asher sighed, rubbing his face. “The hangout with Isaac was fun, but I need some more time, I think.”

“Sure,” Lila nodded. “I can get behind that.”

As promised, their lesson today was devoted to the assessment piece that they needed to complete based on Romeo and Juliet. Time seemed to pass within a blink of an eye to the point that Lila found herself slamming her locker door shut at morning tea.

“Bit aggro,” Elise observed with a grin. “Shall we go before you break it?”

Lila sighed, and Grace gently looped her arm with Lila’s. Lila couldn’t be bothered going into the tuckshop today, so she’d packed lunch, a rarity which Grace commented on as they made their way to their usual spot.

“Yeah, I reckon it’s ‘cause the weather’s cooling down,” Lila said nonchalantly. “I get so sluggish during winter.”

“Same,” Elise declared, pulling the neck of her navy school-issued jumper down. “I’m not keen for winter.”

“Hate to break it to you, but we’ve been in winter for three weeks now,” Grace replied matter-of-factly, slurping on her juice box. “Though, it’s only really been cooling down in the last week.”

“I don’t mind it so much,” Lila replied thoughtfully, unzipping her lunchbox. “Just wish I wasn’t so tired all the time.”

“Maybe that’s not a weather thing,” Grace said seriously. “Are you drinking enough water? Eating enough veggies?”

“’Course I am,” Lila said defensively. “I’m a cocktail of peak nutrition.”

“Which is why you’re holding a bag of mini-Pringles,” Elise said sarcastically.

“It’s sour cream and onion chips! I’ve got my calcium, my carbs and my veggies all in one. Peak nutrition,” Lila retorted, stubbornly throwing a Pringle into her mouth.

“You’re so dumb,” Elise laughed, pushing Lila playfully. They burst into giggles and Grace joined in.

“Anyway,” Lila said once the giggles subsided. “I’m having lunch with Asher this week.”

“The whole week?” Elise asked, exchanging a look with Grace.

“Yup,” Lila responded with a sigh.

“You don’t seem happy about it,” Grace observed, biting into a carrot stick.

“I’m not unhappy about it, I guess,” Lila said, though her eyebrows creased in frustration.

“You can say no,” Elise said, raising an eyebrow.

“I like having lunch with him,” Lila said quickly. “But… well, Isaac said that Asher was happy with us just being friends. And I am too, I’m not bothered about that. But I just… I dunno. I guess I’ve been wondering why he didn’t want to consider the idea of being more. So, I’ve been feeling a bit awkward. Like there’s something wrong with me. But I don’t like Asher in that way, so I don’t even know why I’m feeling pressed about it.”

“That idiot,” Elise said hotly, sharing another look with Grace. “I’m gonna pummel him.”

“Who?” Lila asked, taken aback by Elise’s strong reaction.

“Isaac,” Elise replied through gritted teeth.

“It’s not his fault if Asher doesn’t like me like that,” Lila said firmly. Elise gave Lila a hard look before sighing.

“Of course I know that. He’s still an idiot though,” Elise commented flatly.

Lila looked at Elise in puzzlement, but Elise didn’t meet her eyes. Grace moved on to another topic of conversation, and they didn’t touch on Asher or Isaac again.

Lila brought her lunchbox with her to Asher’s locker once lunchtime rolled around that day. He hadn’t yet arrived, and Lila could feel several eyes on her as she waited. She wanted to leave, but he rounded the corner, Isaac in tow. As soon as Asher saw her, his eyes lit up.

“Hey Lila!” he said excitedly, placing his bookbag into his locker and pulling out his lunchbox. “I’m glad you have lunch. I… kinda decided last minute to have lunch with you. Gabriel didn’t have time to pack you anything.”

Lila turned a bright red. “Like I said last time, he doesn’t need to.”

“Lila, we all know that he loves cooking for you. He always says that no one seems to appreciate his cooking like you do. If it was up to him, he’d probably make you lunch every day even if I wasn’t around,” Asher said with an easy-going grin.

Isaac smirked at Lila, before patting Asher on the arm.

“See you at Maths, Asher,” Isaac said before closing his locker and wandering off out of the locker room. Asher watched him go briefly, his expression both complicated and entirely unreadable.

“Sorry,” Asher said after a moment, shaking his head. “Let’s go.”

They wandered off towards their usual spot in the library, only to find it booked today. It made sense, given the hurtling speed towards the end of the term they were now facing, but it didn’t seem like Asher had a Plan B. The chill was palpable on their way here, and Lila had neglected to wear a jumper underneath her blazer today, so she wasn’t particularly keen on sitting outside.

“We could have a look and see if there’re other free meeting rooms?” Lila suggested with a shrug. Asher looked back at the closed door of the meeting room and exhaled in defeat before agreeing. They climbed up the stairs in the library to the top floor and inspected the meeting rooms up there. Most seem occupied.

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Lila approached one and hesitated at the door. She could hear muffled shouting, and despite her straining to hear what was being said, she couldn’t make out any words. There was a certain familiarity in the voices that she couldn’t shake, though. Asher looked at her, clearly bemused by her hesitation. Curiosity gripped the doorknob and Lila found herself swinging open the door.

The meeting room was occupied by Grace, Elise and Isaac, who immediately jumped up in shock. No one exchanged a word, but the faces of Grace, Elise and Isaac looked deeply guilty upon spotting Lila by the door. Lila still held onto the doorknob as Asher gently pulled her back by the neck of her blazer. The door snapped shut and she let go, blinking rapidly as she tried to process what she’d seen.

“That’s an odd bunch,” Lila said shakily. She could hear a shriek or two before more muffled, indistinct yelling, this time sounding louder than before.

“Maybe they’re having a group study session,” Asher said apathetically, marching off to another meeting room.

“Suppose that could be it,” Lila murmured, though she couldn’t shake the faces of her friends as being distinctly unsettling.

“This one’s empty,” Asher announced, throwing open the door to a darkened meeting room on the opposite side of the floor. Upon entering, the lights flickered on. They sat down and began eating without much discussion.

“What do you reckon they’re up to?” Lila asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Study,” Asher repeated with a shrug, drinking some water from his steel water bottle.

“They looked far too shifty for just study. And I didn’t realise study involved shouting,” Lila replied with a shiver.

“Maybe they’re hooking up,” Asher joked. Lila gave him a sideways glance.

“Elise doesn’t exactly have a great opinion of Isaac, and Grace is dating someone.”

“I’d say, then, that Isaac is probably just hanging out with them ‘cause I’m with you,” Asher shrugged. “They were just surprised you opened the door.”

“Maybe,” Lila sighed. “You’re probably right. I’m just overthinking it.”

Asher, though, seemed distinctly bothered throughout lunch. Lila wondered if he was overthinking the strange meeting that had clandestine undertones like she was, but he didn’t elaborate. They spoke about their studies again, and Lila mentioned that her training routine for hockey would be updating.

“Fair enough,” Asher said, his eyes seeming distant. “Mr Kovac mentioned that for soccer, too. Tuesday arvos as well.”

“They probably book the field altogether,” Lila said with a nod. “The younger cohorts will probably be there, too.”

Lila paused. Speaking of practice…

“Actually, I’m glad that you wanted to have lunch today. I talked to Clare after practice on Saturday but I didn’t want to text you over the weekend since I wasn’t sure if you were busy with Isaac, or if he’d see your phone or whatever,” Lila divulged in a hushed whisper.

Asher’s eyes locked onto hers as she continued. “It turns out that Coolisimo got broken into on the 27th of December.”

“What?” Asher seemed taken aback. “Broken into?”

“Yeah. Clare said someone stole some audio equipment while it was closed. Gabriel had to go in before opening to sort it out with the Police. Clare had to work overtime. Apparently, Gabriel was pretty stressed about it all ‘cause of the Police and insurance forms and whatever else you have to do when your nightclub gets robbed. Clare said that he didn’t join the dancefloor until mid-January. Uh, apparently, he usually has a dance or two every couple of days.”

Asher leaned back on his chair, seemingly absorbing the information.

“I… guess that fits. He didn’t want to go and sort it out ‘cause he was spending time with us as a family. And it also makes sense that Mum said he needed to go. She’s pretty efficient with those kinds of things. I wonder if he was thinking one of his workers could deal with it on his behalf, but Mum insisted he go on his leave early.”

“His leave wasn’t supposed to start until the 30th, yeah?” Lila clarified. Asher nodded.

“Your Mum probably sent him off early so he could deal with all that, but also have more time to himself. It sounds pretty stressful,” Lila reasoned.

Asher looked thoughtful again but didn’t add anything else. Eventually, Lila asked more specifically what Asher and Isaac got up to. She didn’t necessarily mean anything by it, but the question seemed to set Asher on edge.

“Why’d you want to know?” he asked robotically, clenching his fists and staring at his lunchbox.

“I mean, I don’t have to,” Lila said quickly, confusion knitting her brows together. “I just… was wondering. I mean, I know what we get up to when we hang out, but I guess I got curious about what you do with other people.”

Asher remained silent for a second. “We just… talked about things. Played a few games on the Switch. He went home after dinner.”

“Do you guys hang out a lot?” Lila asked. “Outside of school, I mean.”

“Well, yeah,” Asher said, glancing up at Lila, his fists relaxing. “He’s my best mate.”

“He mentioned to me that you rejected hangouts with him over the holidays since I was going over to yours,” Lila said quietly. She instantly regretted saying it upon seeing the hurt look on Asher’s face.

“I… guess I haven’t been seeing him as often as I used to,” Asher finally admitted. “I hadn’t actually considered that…”

“I’m sure he’s not bothered by it,” Lila said hastily.

“Now that you’ve pointed it out, I’m bothered by it,” Asher said glumly. “Not that I really want to spend too much time with him at the moment.”

“Did something happen?” Lila asked conversationally, zipping up her empty lunchbox.

“No,” Asher said. “Well. Yes. But no. I… don’t want to get into it.”

“That’s fine,” Lila nodded. “You guys are still friends, though?”

“’Course,” Asher said gruffly. “It’s nothing like that.”

Lila thought that would probably be all she could draw out of Asher on the topic for now, so she changed it up. “How’s it been, otherwise? Processing the Marlene thing, and, well, everything else that’s exploded in your face over the past month or so.”

Asher gave a sarcastic laugh. “It’s been fabulous.”

“Is… there anything I could do to help?”

Asher’s eyes flickered to hers. “I guess my laugh was unfair. You’ve been great. I don’t think there is anything you can do beyond what you’re already doing.”

“If you say so. I’m open to doing more things,” Lila said, taking a drink from her water bottle. Asher’s face turned pink, and she almost spat her water back out.

“T-T-Things that would, um, help your processing,” she stuttered, her own face turning red.

“I figured,” Asher replied, staring intently at his lunchbox again, his face still pink.

“D-Debating!” Lila squeaked. He looked at her, seeming surprised by her outburst.

“A-Are you joining up again?” she asked, desperately trying to change the topic even if she had to shoehorn it. Asher stared at her for a moment before rubbing his face.

“Yeah,” he said, his tone sincere. “They’ll let me pass on Mulberry Heights, too.”

“That’s good!” Lila cried, far more enthusiastically than the situation warranted. “I was sad that you quit debating.”

“Me too,” Asher chuckled. “Though I’m more surprised that you felt that strongly about it.”

“I just feel strongly about it ‘cause it was important to you,” Lila said softly, calming down from her outburst and lacing her fingers together on her lap. “You stuck it out for so long, and you seemed really happy after Mr Barsch and Ms Shard said you should be the Debating Captain next year.”

“I guess I can’t hide anything from you for very long, can I?” Asher laughed again. “Debating is more or less my first love. Moreso than soccer. I only really joined soccer for Isaac’s sake, back in primary school, but debating was the one thing that I had found on my own. It started off as a way to stop me from being so shy when doing public speaking, but I found myself enjoying the way my mind was working to counteract the other team’s arguments.”

“I never would’ve picked you as being shy when doing public speaking,” Lila said incredulously.

“Well, it didn’t last long after starting debating,” he explained, scratching the side of his head. His face grew dark, however, and he exhaled heavily.

“It… made it so much worse that Holly told me all that bs after our debating match. She tainted debating for me. Felt like she’d ruined it forever. But…” he glanced at Lila with a warm smile. “I feel like you may have undone some of the damage.”

“What’d I do?” Lila asked, taken aback.

“You just encouraged me to look beyond the Holly fiasco. That I could still have debating as my first love, with all the memories I’d made doing it. You actually reminded me why I enjoyed it in the first place, last Friday. I can’t believe I’d forgotten.” Asher leaned back on his chair and stretched his arms towards the ceiling, before adding. “And there I go again, relying on you.”

“Sounds like you don’t want to,” Lila joked. He looked offended by the suggestion.

“It’s not really a matter of wanting to or not. But I do wish it’d be a bit more even.”

“Feels plenty even to me.”

Asher shook his head before bursting into hearty laughter. Lila joined in, and they moved on to other topics before packing up and heading back to the locker room. Just before they reached the entrance to the locker room, Asher gently touched her arm. She looked up at him questioningly, and his eyes were filled with immense seriousness.

“I’ll pay you back,” he said in a determined voice that drowned out all other sounds surrounding them. “For everything. I promise.”

“Asher, there’s nothing to pay me back for,” Lila said, stepping away from him slightly. The closeness of his body and the intensity of his gaze was making her feel dizzy.

“I’m serious,” he said, stepping closer to Lila. Her heart began to beat in her chest as if it was about to break out of her rib cage.

“F-Fine,” she managed to stammer, tearing her eyes away from his. For some reason, his current stature reminded her of the mafia bosses that she would see in movies her Dad watched when she was younger. It wasn’t exactly threatening, but definitely imposing.

“Geez. You feel like a reverse mob boss. Am I supposed to have you swim with the fishies?” she said lamely, stepping away again and clutching her lunchbox to her chest as if she could squash her heart back inside her body.

He snorted and stepped back, swinging his lunchbox on his arm happily. “If that’s your terms, I’ll swim.”

“I don’t have any terms,” Lila protested, but he had already begun walking away. He lifted a hand as a ‘goodbye’ gesture but didn’t look back at her.