Chapter Fifty-Four

As Japanese was ending on Friday, Lila’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw it was a text from Asher.

Food’s on its way, it read. He then sent a second text. Let’s meet up at the locker room

Okay, see you soon, Lila replied.

“Just before you all go,” Ms Takahashi called over the sounds of the class packing up. “Next week our exchange students from Shizuoka will be arriving. They’ll be here for two weeks, so please make sure you get along with them.”

Excited chatter filled the air as students began to leave. Lila briefly wondered what the exchange students would be like but put the thought out of her mind. She needed to go find Asher.

To her surprise, he rounded the corner of the Language Block that she just exited. He beamed at her and waved off an Asian student he was walking with that Lila didn’t know very well.

“Hey,” he said cheerily once Lila reached him. “Let’s go.”

“Who was that?” she asked conversationally as they began walking.

“That was just Gavin,” Asher said simply. “He does Mandarin with me. He’s from Shanghai, so he takes it super easy in Mandarin.”

“Oh,” Lila said, slightly surprised. “I didn’t know you took Mandarin.”

Asher flashed her a grin. “Full of surprises, I am.”

“And a great Yoda impressionist, it seems,” Lila joked. He chortled before his phone chimed. He pulled it out of his pocket.

“Looks like our food is here,” he said, putting his phone back. “Do you want to go there now, or still head over to the locker room?”

“I’m not carrying much,” Lila shrugged. “Let’s just go there straight away.”

They changed their route and Lila filled Asher in on the presence of Japanese exchange students. Asher lamented at the fact that the Mandarin class never had exchange students visit. As they walked and talked, the chill pressed in on Lila firmly, causing her to hide behind her scarf again.

They quickly came upon the same Science lab that they had visited yesterday, which was now surrounded by students. Asher exchanged a glance with Lila.

“If it wasn’t suspicious before, we’re literally at the cusp of being caught,” he whispered. Lila couldn’t help but agree. There had to be about a whole classroom’s worth of students milling around out here.

“Helps if the teachers are in on it, though,” Lila whispered back. Asher sighed and began to carve a path through the crowd. Lila traversed the clearing Asher left in his wake, trying to see if there were any students that she recognised. Most of the students seemed to be Grade 12s, though there were a few Grade 11s and Grade 10s that she peripherally knew dotted here and there. Everyone seemed to be in their own worlds and paid them no mind, which relieved Lila. Though… after last term, the almost complete absence of rumours about her was somewhat unsettling. She had faded into obscurity so quickly that Lila was confident that the rumours had purely been fuelled by Piper.

“What’re you standing out there for?” Asher asked suddenly, turning around to look at her. He’d taken a couple steps inside the lab and Lila had remained outside, staring blankly. She hurried inside.

“Welcome, welcome,” Livi’s voice called to them. Lila surveyed the lab – it seemed to just be Livi, Vi, Jake and Zack in here, despite the horde outside. Perhaps the students out there waited until the runners came by with food. Livi was in her usual spot, though today she had an emerald bow clipped in the side of her hair, exposing a small silver sleeper in her bottom-most ear piercing. It looked as though she had four or five running up her ear, but most were empty – most likely owing to their school’s strict piercing policy.

“Your timing is fantastic,” Livi said brightly. “Nate just left to grab your food.”

“Great,” Asher said with a smile. Livi sat up straighter and returned his smile with one of her own.

“What’s the deal with you two, anyway?” Livi asked, surveying them. Lila glanced at Asher.

“What do you mean?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You two are pretty cute together,” Livi laughed. “Just wondering if you’re, y’know, together.”

“We’re just friends,” Asher replied. There was an edge to his voice that Lila couldn’t quite figure out, but his answer caused her to stare at the floor. She heightened the scarf around her face again, in an effort to hide her burning cheeks.

“I see,” Livi replied. She paused for a moment. “Seems like you ought to reconsider the answer to that one, Asher.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Asher asked.

“Well, it seemed like one of my visitors from yesterday might’ve taken a liking to Lila,” Livi said simply, as though it were obvious. Lila quickly looked up. Zack had changed his position so that he was facing out the back window, and Jake was looking past Lila. Livi grinned at Lila, who blushed once more.

“Won’t tell you who,” Livi shrugged haughtily. “That’d ruin the fun.”

Asher looked at Lila for a moment, though she didn’t return his gaze. Surely Livi was just messing with them.

“Speak of the devils,” Livi said chirpily, waving at someone behind Lila. Lila turned and spotted Theo, Harper and Jason standing in the doorway. They filed into the classroom and took the same seats that they had yesterday without so much as a second glance at Lila and Asher.

“Just telling the newbies that one of you might’ve taken a shine to Lila,” Livi called. Jason and Theo shot Livi a look, and she giggled in response. Lila took the opportunity to take a peek at Asher and was surprised to see him shaking, his teeth clenched.

“What’s wrong?” Lila asked him quietly. His eyes flickered to meet hers and he relaxed his jaw.

“Nothing,” he said stiffly. Lila heard Livi snicker.

“You shouldn’t tease them,” Vi suddenly piped up. Lila saw Livi pout.

“But it’s so fun,” Livi replied petulantly. “These two are the liveliest guests we’ve had for a while. They at least talk to us. Everyone usually just gets their order in and leaves, no questions asked.”

“Even so, you don’t need to make up lies,” Vi said sharply. Lila watched Livi bristle for a moment.

“It’s not a lie,” Livi said hotly.

“You say it to every girl who walks in here when there’s more than just Jake and Zack,” Vi replied pointedly. “Face it, you like playing with people’s hearts.”

“Theo, if given the chance, you’d date Lila, correct?” Livi called out. Theo’s eyes flittered to Lila’s for half a second before lowering back down to his textbook.

“Sure,” he said half-heartedly. “Though, I don’t normally go for white girls.”

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“I’m not,” Lila said suddenly. Everyone stared at her. Theo tilted his head to the side.

“You’re not?” he asked. Lila pulled her scarf down. She could have sworn a faint trace of a blush crossed Theo’s face as he immediately flipped to a new page in his textbook.

“So it seems,” he said faintly, pushing his glasses up his face.

“You do seem very familiar,” Jason said, narrowing his eyes at Lila. She raised her scarf again and didn’t dare say anything.

“Like I said yesterday, she does hockey,” Asher’s exasperated voice cut through the strange atmosphere that was mounting within the classroom.

“Alright, alright,” Jason replied hastily, raising his hands in surrender. “What did you do to him, Livi? He looks ready to punch me.”

“Nothing,” Livi said innocently. “By the way, Jason, if given the chance, you’d date Lila too, right?”

“Are you branching out into matchmaking now? Haven’t you diversified enough?” Jason asked incredulously.

“That’s not an answer,” Livi replied in a sing-song voice.

“You know that I don’t date,” Jason replied, crossing his arms.

“Ah, that’s right,” Livi said, tapping her chin. “You’re the ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ type. Does Lila fit your type?”

Jason looked Lila up and down, before turning to Livi. “Probably, though it’d be easier to tell if she was wearing less.”

Asher made a strange, jerky motion towards Jason. To Lila, it looked as though he’d stopped himself from lunging at Jason. Livi smirked in response. Lila wasn’t quite sure what she was witnessing. One thing that she was sure of, though, was that Livi seemed a lot more manipulative than Lila had given her credit for.

“Anyway, the person I was referring to is Zack, by the way,” Livi said with a shrug. Zack immediately turned around to face Livi, his face contorted with anger.

“I told you that as a secret,” he half-shouted. He quickly looked at Lila and fell silent.

“Oops,” Livi said in a childlike voice. She reached into her blazer’s breast pocket and pulled out a wallet, which was lined with a large number of notes. “Here’s some compensation.”

Zack begrudgingly shoved the $20 note Livi handed him into his own blazer’s breast pocket.

“Anyway, Lila, seems like the choice is yours,” Livi said smoothly. “It’s not every day that you get to pick between the Head Boy, the Dux and the star soccer player.”

“The Dux?” Lila asked. Theo lifted his head.

“That’s me,” he said drily, before writing down some more notes.

“That’s enough,” Harper interjected, standing up and crossing the room, her arms folded across her chest. “You’re terrifying the poor girl, and Asher looks ready to have a conniption. Your jokes are in poor taste.”

Livi pouted again. “Alright, alright,” she acquiesced, throwing her hands up in defeat. “I give up. Sorry, it was some light pre-lunch entertainment. Jason prefers older girls, Theo’s gay and I owed Zack an extra $20 for his work yesterday.”

“For the last time, I’m not gay,” Theo sighed. “Bisexual, Livi.”

“For a bisexual, you sure seem to only date guys,” Livi countered.

“When the pickings are girls like you, it’s hardly surprising,” Theo retorted. Livi gave a haughty laugh. Lila heard Asher exhale slowly and she glanced at him. His face was red and it seemed as though he didn’t want to look at Lila.

“I was only teasing,” Livi said gently. “It gets a bit dull in here, with such businesslike transactions. And the Banker doesn’t appreciate it when I get bored.”

“So you’re not the Banker?” Lila asked, raising an eyebrow. She saw Asher give her a quick sideways look in her peripheral vision. Her heart began to drum loudly in her chest as she waited for a response, her hands shaking by her sides. Livi pursed her lips before breaking into a smile.

“If you haven’t cottoned on by now, you shouldn’t trust anything I say,” Livi said sweetly. “Like I said yesterday, I could be the Banker, or I could not be. Perhaps by ‘the Banker’, I mean my good business sense side of me. Or perhaps by ‘the Banker’, I mean my boss. Oh, hello Nate. Just in time.”

Nate appeared in the doorway again, his arms carrying a large Uber Eats package. Another younger, red-haired boy followed him closely, also laden with a large Uber Eats bag.

“Oh, and Will came back too,” Livi said with an approving nod. “That’s a record for you, Will. Welcome back.”

Will looked up at Livi before his face flushed a bright red and she giggled. Nate pulled out a piece of paper from his blazer before opening his bag.

“Who’s Asher? Sounds new,” Nate commented, looking over his shoulder at Livi. Livi gestured to Asher, and Nate turned to face him.

“Here ya go. Butter chicken and lamb korma. Here’s your cutlery. Thanks for visiting,” he rattled off, already preparing the next order.

“Please come again soon!” Livi sang out, waving at Asher and Lila as they collected their food and began to leave.

“We will,” Asher promised, his voice severe.

“Livi,” Lila could hear Jason’s exasperated voice say behind her. “What did I tell you about pissing off customers?”

Lila didn’t hear Livi’s response as she tried to keep up with Asher’s long strides out of the Science lab. He again parted the crowd, which was starting to swarm towards the entrance of the lab, and Lila scuttled behind him. He didn’t say anything on the way to the library and remained silent until they found an empty meeting room.

“Which one did you want?” he asked gruffly.

“I don’t mind,” Lila said quietly. “I’ll have whatever you want the least.”

He looked down at the containers of food on the table between them and pulled the butter chicken close. Lila grabbed the lamb korma, and they began to eat in more silence. Every so often, Lila glanced up at Asher. His frown remained fixed on his face for some time before Lila sighed.

“Why do you seem so annoyed?” she asked.

“I’m not,” Asher replied tersely.

“Uh huh,” Lila replied doubtfully. “That’s exactly why you’re frowning at your butter chicken for existing.”

His frown deepened but he didn’t respond. Lila resigned herself to not hearing an answer. At least the lamb korma was good.

“Would you go for any of them?” Asher suddenly asked. Lila looked up at him, but his eyes remained glued to his food.

“I didn’t even think about it,” Lila replied truthfully. “Everything was happening so fast, I feel like I slipped into an alternate reality and got pulled back just as quickly. I still don’t know whether any of that was real or not.”

“I see,” Asher said quietly.

“Livi is… very complicated,” Lila sighed. “Or at least eccentric. I can’t figure her out at all.”

“She’s the Queen of Misdirection,” Asher replied with a nod. “I can’t think of a better candidate for the Banker. She’d probably be able to wriggle out of any questioning.”

“Makes sense,” Lila agreed. “And you can’t tell what’s true or not with her.”

“Though that’s exactly what makes me nervous about concluding it’s her,” Asher said exasperatedly, leaning back in his chair.

Lila’s phone buzzed in her pocket and she checked it. It was a message from Elise to Twisted Bitches’r’Us.

R u free this wknd @Lila? it read.

We miss u, Grace sent.

Hockey prac tomorrow morning, then nothing, Lila replied. Elise instantly replied.

Wanna catch a movie after?

Sure, Lila replied. What time?

Let’s go 6pm, Elise sent with a thinking emoji. Most of the good movies start at 6.30 or 7pm on Saturdays

Sounds good, Lila sent back. Are you coming Grace?

Sure am, Grace replied with a grinning emoji. Lila turned her phone screen off.

“What’s all that about?” Asher asked absently, scraping the last bits of his food into the corner of his takeaway container.

“Just plans over the weekend with Elise and Grace.”

“Ah.” Asher exhaled slowly before throwing his disposable cutlery inside his empty takeaway container.

“That wasn’t too bad,” he said approvingly.

“Shall we do it again?” Lila asked. He looked at Lila briefly.

“I think we could have one more go of it,” Asher said contemplatively. “I think if we go again, Livi might end up slipping up.”

“I’m still trying to think whether or not her Banker comment was a slip-up or not,” Lila said thoughtfully.

“If she has more comments like that, it should reveal something,” Asher reasoned. “I can’t work it out as it stands right now either.”

Asher’s phone chimed, and he opened it up. He smiled at it and tapped on it rapidly before shutting the phone screen.

“Anyone interesting?” Lila asked, finishing off her own food.

“Just Isaac. He wants to hang out tomorrow after practice.”

“Have you told him you’d pay off his debt?” Lila asked.

“Not yet. I asked him to give me a week to think on it. Guess it’ll be a week tomorrow.”

“Good luck,” Lila replied seriously. “He’ll probably try and rescind everything, or say he’s paid it off. But we know from Livi that the loan is still active and even going to grow soon.”

“Yeah,” Asher nodded. “I’m glad you got that info. That was a good line of questioning.”

“I try,” Lila said jovially. Asher chuckled. He seemed to be in a better mood now, at least. Lunch continued in a carefree way for a while until Lila checked the time.

“Well, we’ve got Study next,” she said. “Do you need to go to your locker?”

“Probably should,” Asher yawned, standing up. “At least for my English stuff, since that’s last.”

They disposed of their empty takeaway containers on their way out of the library. Once Lila arrived at her locker, she pulled out her Maths textbook and the lunchbox Asher had loaned her. She’d handwashed it after dinner yesterday, so it was ready to be returned to its rightful owner. He seemed surprised when she met him outside his locker, but gratefully put the lunchbox away.

During Study, Asher was back to his usual routine, though he seemed distracted. He kept clicking the tip of his pen, and it was so constant that Lila finally had enough about twenty minutes in.

“Asher, please stop,” she sighed. He looked up at her with wide, round eyes.

“Stop what?” he queried, clicking his pen again.

“That,” Lila snapped, pointing at it. “Driving me nuts.”

“Sorry,” he said quickly, putting it down.

“You don’t seem as keen on studying as you normally do,” Lila said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Asher asked, shifting in his seat slightly.

“You just seem off. Ever since we spoke to Livi.”

“Nah,” Asher shook his head, though he didn’t meet her eye. “Just thinking about things.”

“I can give you a dollar for your thoughts,” Lila offered. He smirked though it seemed rather half-hearted.

“’Fraid my thoughts aren’t worth your dollar,” he said softly. Lila left it at that, though her curiosity didn’t die down. He’d probably tell her eventually. Right?