Chapter Fifty-One

The next morning began with PE, and Asher and Lila, along with two other students, were tasked with setting up the nets on the court today. They were the same nets as the ones used for volleyball but Ms Wright had brought with her an assortment of shuttlecocks and racquets with a mischievous grin.

“Today we’ll be playing badminton,” Ms Wright declared in a booming voice over the fwump and clack of Asher and Lila pushing the poles for the nets too far upright and toppling them over. Ms Wright gave them a quick glance before continuing. The other two students looked as though they wanted to die of embarrassment and swiftly passed Lila and Asher with their own set of poles.

“I’ll also allow you guys to play basketball while you wait your turn for badminton.”

A chorus of excited whispers resounded through the gymnasium, and Lila raised an eyebrow at Asher as they fumbled about to carry the net to its required destination.

“Sounds dangerous,” she huffed in a low voice. Asher laughed.

“More like chaotic,” he said. “What’s the bet that someone will try to use the racquet to dribble the basketball?”

“I’d give you a singular dollarydoo,” Lila replied in a monotonous voice, causing Asher to laugh again, dropping his side of the net next to his shoe. He jumped away from it, though his reaction was a touch too late and he swore under his breath. The net slipped out of Lila’s unsuspecting hands, clattering to the floor again.

“Lila, Asher, concentrate please,” Ms Wright’s frustrated tone shot towards them. They both gave Ms Wright a sheepish grin before rushing over and setting up the net. The other pair of students had almost finished setting theirs up already and both rolled their eyes at Lila and Asher once they approached.

Ms Wright assigned students to four teams, with two teams versing each other in basketball and badminton each. Whilst mostly even, some students would still sit along the sidelines. Lila was sure that Ms Wright would separate herself from Asher again as she waited by the nets for Ms Wright to assign their teams. She was surprised, then, when Ms Wright nonchalantly tossed them both overwhelmingly smelly neon pink gym vests.

“Looks like your dirty tricks won’t work this lesson,” Asher grinned as he pulled the vest over his torso.

“Shame,” Lila sighed, pulling her vest on as well.

“Alright, orange and blue, basketball please. Pink and yellow, badminton please,” Ms Wright announced once everyone put their vests on. Lila grabbed two racquets and a shuttlecock before Asher had time to process where he was supposed to be and tossed him a racquet. They waited for their pink and yellow classmates to head over. Asher wrinkled his nose at the racquet.

“I’m so not used to using my hands for sports,” he lamented, staring down at it for a moment.

“As the goalie, aren’t you normally using your hands?” Lila asked casually, twirling her own racquet through her fingers.

“Sometimes, but never with appendages,” he replied, swinging the racquet dismally. He almost knocked Ayla over, who was wearing a yellow vest, with said appendage and Lila stifled a laugh. Ayla glared at him and Lila so intensely that a shiver ran through Lila’s entire body, stopping her laugh immediately. With that kind of reaction, Lila hoped that Ayla would use the other net… but, alas, Lila couldn’t get everything she wanted.

Ayla swung her own racquet on the other side of the net, next to an apprehensive-looking yellow-clad Connor, whom Ayla had also glared at about twice thus far. It seemed that Ayla hadn’t forgiven him for slapping her in the face with a basketball last lesson. Though once Connor’s eyes shifted towards Asher, his face looked as though he’d rather feign sickness or even death than stand there, opposing Asher. Asher seemed to have noticed this, too.

“Poor guy,” he smirked, in a tone that didn’t seem sympathetic to Connor’s plight in the slightest. “He’s literally facing three sworn enemies.”

“That’s a bit dramatic,” Lila said, testing the weight of her racquet in her hands.

“Not for him, it isn’t,” Asher snickered. “He’s deserved it.”

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you be so mean to someone else,” Lila said, stretching her legs and walking towards the top right corner of their side of the net.

Asher didn’t respond as he tossed the shuttlecock into the air and smacked it towards Connor, who yelped and dodged it entirely. Ayla retrieved it, throwing another glare Connor’s way, before serving the shuttle towards Lila. Lila batted the shuttle gently towards Connor, who hit it back towards Asher. Asher hit it with force towards Ayla, who returned it with ease towards Lila.

The game proceeded this way for a few minutes, with neither side surprisingly losing. The hits between Ayla and Connor began to increase in power and confidence, and Lila responded in kind. Eventually, the sound of the shuttle ricocheted across the gymnasium, causing the other badminton teams to stop their game and stare at the foursome. Before long, however, Asher missed the shuttlecock to the groans of those in pink, including Lila. He bashfully retrieved it and they continued on with the game.

After about ten minutes, Asher and Lila were tapped out by other pink players and they waited on the sidelines. Their game had ended in a draw, which slightly annoyed Lila, but at least the rallies had been entertaining enough.

Once Asher caught his breath, he turned to Lila with a frown.

“You thought I was being mean to Connor?” he asked. Lila glanced at him, bemused.

“You’re still thinking about that?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t think anyone’s ever said to my face that I’m ‘mean’. Just ‘weird’ or ‘cringe’ or ‘up myself’.”

Lila blinked rapidly in an effort to stop herself from remarking on those choice descriptors.

“I mean, sure, he touched me but that was dealt with pretty quickly,” Lila shrugged after a brief pause. “He hasn’t done it since, so I’m not really holding it against the guy.”

“I am,” Asher said, his tone entirely serious. “Especially if you won’t.”

“Why? I’m fine with it now.”

“Shouldn’t be,” Asher muttered, taking a drink of water from his steel bottle.

“Well, that’s not really your decision,” Lila replied, bewildered.

“Exactly. So, I’ll hold it against him for you. I guess it’s not surprising that you’d be less sensitive to that kind of thing.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lila asked hotly. Asher held his hands up in a ‘surrender’ gesture.

“Just… from all the gross phone calls and stuff. You seem pretty resilient to sexual harassment now.”

“Looks like that’s my trauma certification,” Lila said dryly, folding her arms and facing away from Asher now. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“I guess I’m just… I dunno, I can’t help but feel a bit…” Asher faltered, ruffling his hair. “I don’t actually know what this feeling is.”

Lila could feel someone’s curious eyes on her back and she turned to see Ayla sitting along the edge of the gymnasium, staring at Lila. Lila hoped wryly that she hadn’t attracted a new stalker.

“Thanks,” Lila said, releasing her pose and looking at Asher. “I think I get it. So, thanks. I don’t think I need it, your defense of me, but you can do what you want, I guess.”

He looked at her for a moment before rubbing his forehead in apparent exasperation.

“When you say it like that, it feels like I’m doing something wrong,” he said. Then, he suddenly stared at Lila.

“What was that other thing you said?” he asked.

“What other thing?”

“Something about me being mean or something to ‘someone else’. Do you think I’m mean to you?”

“O-Oh,” Lila blushed as she looked down at her shoes. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“It looks like you did.”

“Well… when we first got paired for the project, I just… got the impression that you were a bit of a dick. I-I don’t think that now,” Lila added hurriedly. He seemed shocked and just nodded silently. Lila felt awkward now and shuffled to a different place on the court. Asher didn’t follow her and they were eventually called over to play basketball.

Asher passed Lila the basketball a couple times during this game but she quickly handed it off to other players as if it was scalding her. It wasn’t necessarily because Asher was passing to her, but more so because she was still not any good at basketball. The pink team won against the yellow team, much to Lila’s delight, and she was pretty glad that she didn’t hold onto the ball for any good amount of time. She may be competitive, but she knew when to quit while she was ahead to ensure her team’s win. She didn’t have to be the MVP.

Ms Wright wisely chose classmates other than Lila and Asher to pack up the nets and dismissed class for the day. Lila slipped out of the gymnasium as soon as she could and seemed to have escaped Asher’s notice.

The niggling feeling that she’d stuffed up the comfortability between herself and Asher followed her around all day. It got to the point that she wanted to skip having lunch with him today, and expressed as much to Elise and Grace as she swung her locker shut at the beginning of lunch.

“No,” Elise said, her voice strangely panicked. “Go have lunch with Asher.”

“You seemed all for me saying ‘no’ yesterday,” Lila said, raising an eyebrow at Elise. “Besides, doesn’t Grace have a music lesson today? Surely you want some company, right?”

Grace glanced over at Lila before shutting her own locker. “I’ve skipped my extra music lessons this week. Something important’s come up.”

“Something important?” Lila asked blankly. “During lunch?”

“Yeah, we… um, we were asked to do something by one of our teachers,” Elise said vaguely after shooting Grace a look that seemed more like a warning.

“Do you need help?” Lila asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Oh, hey Asher!” Grace suddenly said, waving enthusiastically at someone behind Lila. Lila turned around and sure enough, there was Asher, holding two lunchboxes.

“Lunch?” he said timidly, raising the lunchboxes in the air. Elise pushed Lila towards Asher before grabbing Grace’s arm.

“See you in Modern History! Bye!” Elise called as she and Grace fled the locker room with speed. Asher watched them go, seeming baffled in their wake. Lila tentatively looked up at him and gratefully grabbed one of the lunchboxes out of his hands.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, her face turning red. “Let’s go.”

They walked in silence towards the library. Lila grew anxious as the silence continued to be pervasive even as they sat down in a free meeting room. They didn’t encounter Grace, Elise, or Isaac in the library today, but Lila almost wished she had even if it was just for a moment of brevity.

“So…” Lila said as she unzipped the lunchbox she’d taken from Asher and pulled out a Tupperware container filled with a Thai basil chicken stir-fry with rice. A smaller Tupperware container held a modest-looking brownie and fresh, juicy-looking strawberries. Asher looked up at her, having already started eating.

“Do you always eat these lunches cold?” she asked awkwardly, opening up the stir fry. A delicious umami scent tinged with chilli and basil burst forth from the container. Asher swallowed before answering.

“I guess I can never be bothered finding a microwave.”

“I see.”

“Did you want this to be heated up?” he asked, standing up immediately and grabbing her Tupperware. She instinctively smacked his hands out of the way, much like she did with Daniel, and he looked at her, seeming offended. Lila was immediately thrown back to the awkwardness she’d felt during PE.

“S-Sorry, it’s a habit,” she said quickly. “Daniel always tries to take my food.”

“Siblings sound rough,” Asher said, hesitantly sitting back down. “That kinda fast response seemed more like it’s a battle every time you eat with him.”

“More or less is,” Lila said, pulling her food towards her, her face burning a bright red. “I… don’t need this to be heated up, by the way. If you’re having it cold, I’ll have it cold too.”

He seemed like he wanted to say something but shook his head and continued eating. The faint sounds of chewing only made Lila feel more on edge and she eventually slammed down her utensils and looked up at Asher.

“Sorry, about PE. I don’t even know what that was,” she said, faltering at the end of her sentence. He looked deeply into her eyes before looking down at his lunch and gently covering his Tupperware with its lid. Sighing, he looked back up at Lila.

“It’s fine,” Asher said through pursed lips. “I thought about it, and I was a bit of a dick earlier this year. For the record, I’m still holding it against Connor. He should’ve known better. We’re not toddlers. Hands to ourselves and all that.”

“Okay,” Lila said softly. He still beheld her gaze for a few moments before sliding a hand into his pocket. He then slowly pushed a $1 gold coin towards her. She looked at it in surprise.

“Wh-”

“Your dollarydoo. Seems like I need more faith in our classmates,” he said shortly, opening his Tupperware and eating again. Lila chuckled and pocketed the coin.

“Thanks,” she said. He nodded at her and they both continued to eat. The heavy pressure that had settled upon her shoulders seemed to be lifting and Lila began to feel more comfortable in his presence. Although, Lila couldn’t help but think that Asher still seemed bothered by something. With a sigh, she sat forward and asked him directly.

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“What gave it away?” he asked through a mouthful of brownie.

“You’ve just been sighing continuously while eating,” she pointed out. “And you’ve been chewing pretty loudly.”

“Must’ve been these crispy beans.”

“I would agree with you if I didn’t have the beans myself. Plus, I didn’t think eating a brownie could be that loud.”

Asher tossed the rest of his brownie in his mouth and she waited for him to finish it off.

“I… know that you’ve noticed I’ve been off,” he sighed, wiping his mouth with a serviette. “Though, I’ve felt off this whole year, to be honest.”

“That’s not unexpected, what with the shitshow of a year it’s been for you,” Lila nodded. He gave her a sideways glance before chuckling.

“Couldn’t have picked a better term for it. You know how I said my head was trying to explode, but I just wouldn’t let it?”

“Yeah,” Lila nodded again, picking up her own brownie and biting into it. Asher sighed again before thrusting his hand into his hair and gripping it slightly.

“Something else happened.”

Lila dropped her brownie on the desk and began clearing away the crumbs. “Like what?” she asked as she scooped the crumbs into her hands.

“Isaac happened.”

Lila’s heart sank. Her mind raced towards what Isaac had said to her about their fight regarding Lila, and what Asher had said about wanting to stay friends with Lila. Was there something else to their fight?

“He… asked to borrow some money.”

“Oh,” Lila said, slightly relieved. “Is that all?”

Asher grimaced before letting go of his hair and leaning on his elbows. “He asked for 3k.”

“T-Three thousand dollars?” Lila gasped, inhaling a bit of the brownie that was resting on her lips down the wrong pipe. Asher watched as she sculled some water down and cleared her throat. A shadow of a smile seemed to cross his face as she did so, but it disappeared just as quickly.

“Yeah,” Asher said once she calmed down. “It’s a lot of dollarydoos.”

“W-Why does he need that much?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock.

“He apparently owes some money to a girl. Or a guy. He’s not sure.”

“He doesn’t know who he owes money to?” Lila asked incredulously.

“All he knows is that they’re called ‘the Banker’. He got referred there ‘cause he was involved in some stupid bets at school.”

“This is a whole lot more than some ‘stupid bets’,” Lila said faintly. “Three thousand dollars in debt? You can get a semi-okay second-hand car for that price. I know ‘cause I helped Clare find the car she’s got now.”

“Some of that is the interest from the Banker,” Asher said with a heavy sigh. “I just wish he’d asked me for help earlier.”

“Has he stopped the bets?”

“Yeah. Said he learned his lesson. But he doesn’t have a job or anything and the Banker has apparently started to sic their goons on him.”

“Sic their goons?” Lila asked gingerly. That wasn’t the first time she’d heard that phrase, though she couldn’t think where she’d heard it. “What is this, some kind of gang?”

“Seems like it’s getting there,” Asher said darkly. “Apparently the ‘goons’ are some brawny idiots from Grade 12.”

“This is insane, Asher.”

“I know. Like I said, I just wish he’d asked for help earlier. I don’t know why he waited until he was drowning like this.”

Lila bit her lip as she recalled Isaac’s words, about feeling like a ‘fake friend’ when he dated Lila. Perhaps, perceptive as Isaac was, he didn’t ask for help because he didn’t want to take advantage of Asher? If that was the case, then Isaac must’ve reached his breaking point…

“Are you going to help him?” Lila queried softly.

“Of course,” Asher said fiercely. Lila blinked at him and he inhaled slowly.

“Sorry,” he said after exhaling. “That came out a bit more aggro than I meant it to.”

“You’re good,” Lila replied, waving her hands to indicate that it was okay. He gave her a small smile in acknowledgement.

“I’m going to help him, but I… wanted your help again,” Asher said, his words stilted. Lila pulled the coin out of her skirt and slid the dollar back towards Asher.

“I don’t have much, but here’s a contribution,” she said plainly. He looked down at the coin and pushed it back towards Lila.

“I can handle the money,” he said with a laugh. “That’s not what I wanted help on. Honestly, I didn’t want to tell you anything about this. Since that’d mean I’d owe you my whole life at this point. But… well, after all that you helped me find out about Marlene, it’d be stupid for me to not get your help on this.”

There was a darkness to Asher’s statement regarding ‘owe you my whole life’ that halted Lila’s breathing. She wasn’t sure whether she was imagining it, but perhaps there was something hidden in those words. But he’d brushed past it so quickly that Lila couldn’t find an opportunity to go back to it. ‘Besides, I’m probably oversensitive’, she reasoned to herself. ‘Especially after Uncle Adrian’s death.’

“Help on what?” she asked after a beat.

“I want to find out who this Banker is and help me give them the ‘what for’.”

“You’ve progressively been sounding like you’re part of a gang yourself,” Lila joked. He snickered.

“If this keeps up, maybe I will join a gang,” he said, shaking his head. Lila tilted her head to the side as she contemplated Asher’s request. An investigation into the Banker, he’d said…

“Have you heard about the Banker?” Lila asked, leaning forwards on the desk slightly, interlocking her fingers to make a rest under her chin.

“Not at all,” Asher said exasperatedly, leaning back in his chair. “It’s what stumped me enough to talk to you about it.”

“I’ve been hearing about the Banker all year,” Lila said quietly. He looked at her in surprise.

“You have?”

“Yeah, there’s been a bit of gossip going around school about the Banker. It… sounded like if people didn’t have money, they’d just go to them.”

“Well, that tracks.”

“What did Isaac tell you about his interaction with them?”

“He said that he found out from one of the soccer boys that there was someone called ‘the Banker’ lurking around the school. Apparently, their younger brother regularly visited the Banker last term. He found the classroom they operate from, but the Banker wasn’t there. Instead, there was, like, some secretary there who made the deal. She wrote up a contract with the loan and interest amount, gave him some money, and sent him on his way. That was just before semi. He’d only asked for like 1.5k, but then he had to make more withdrawals and now we’re here.”

“What kinda betting culture do we have that it puts students in debt by the thousands?” Lila whispered incredulously.

“I dunno. I never paid attention. Never needed to bet on anything. I just feel like an idiot for not noticing that Isaac was doing that.”

“Is it for sports or something?”

“Yeah,” Asher replied shortly. “Netball and basketball, but he was going to start on soccer, touch footy, and hockey when the new seasons started.”

“I’m surprised he told you that much.”

“I had to drag it out of him. He just asked if he could borrow the 3k then told me to never mind, it was a stupid idea. Then he said he told you he was going to do something stupid, and you said not to, so I had to forget it ever happened. But he looked like he was in a lot of trouble, so ‘course I couldn’t leave it there.”

“I know you said you could handle the money, but that sure is a whole lot. Are you sure you’ve got it?”

“Don’t worry about it. My parents give me way too much money for me to do anything with when I win the Dux award.”

“Is that why you’re always gunning for it?” Lila asked with a sly smile. He playfully rolled his eyes at her.

“It happens to be intrinsic.”

“Intrinsic?”

“Ah. Like, my own internal motivation, for my own values. Not because of any external factors like money.”

Lila briefly wondered what the internal motivation was, but he swiftly moved on.

“Anyway, I want to wipe the debt with the Banker face-to-face. The fact that they’re giving loans of this amount to school kids is honestly disgusting. Maybe we can shut it down.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lila confirmed, nodding. “I’ll put my feelers out again.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Asher breathed a sigh of relief, his shoulders slumping. He held his head in his hands for a moment, as if nursing a headache.

“How’s your head?” Lila asked, selecting a particularly shiny strawberry. He looked up at her in confusion, before he glanced at his hands.

“Probably would’ve exploded if I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Glad you did ask for help, then. Doubt an exploded head will do you any good,” Lila said with a gentle smile. “You should probably eat your strawberries. They’ll get cold if you leave them out for so long.”

Asher snorted and tossed one into his mouth obediently.

“It goes without saying,” he said, grabbing a new one and squeezing it gently. “But Isaac’s part in this needs to be kept between us. I don’t even think you should talk to Isaac about it.”

“’Course,” Lila said confidently. “I care about him too, you know.”

“Y-You do?” Asher asked, clearing his throat strangely.

“Well, yeah,” Lila replied absently. “He’s been a bit odd at times, but he’s really helped me out this year. I guess this’ll be me paying him back.”

Asher fell silent and Lila took the opportunity to finish off her strawberries. It seemed that Asher was thinking intently about something though Lila guessed it was about Isaac’s troubles with the Banker. They spoke briefly about other topics, but it wasn’t anything substantial. Asher still seemed distant – as if he wasn’t truly in command of his body – up until lunch was over.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Lila asked, her voice somehow sounding unsure once they reached the locker room. She handed Asher the lunchbox that she’d eaten from, and he took it with a nod.

“Yeah,” he said, his energy suddenly returning. “Tomorrow.”

“I-I think we should get tuckshop tomorrow,” Lila said quickly. He looked at her in surprise.

“Was the cold lunch that bad?” he asked. Lila saw a few members of their cohort give them a curious glance as they passed and tried to pay them no mind as she answered him.

“It was delicious as always,” she said firmly. “But there’s a reason why we should go to tuckshop.”

He looked at her suspiciously, holding both lunchboxes to his stomach as if to comfort them. “What do I tell Gabriel?”

Lila laughed – she hadn’t expected either of Asher’s questions which, coupled with the absolute seriousness on his face, was too much to ask of Lila not to laugh.

“I’m serious,” he said, a note of panic strumming through his voice.

“I know,” Lila replied, laughing again. “Sorry. Um, just tell Gabriel that I wanted to treat you to something from tuckshop or whatever.”

Lila stepped closer to Asher and gestured for him to bend down so she could tell him something privately.

“There’s a reason why I’ve heard of the Banker and you haven’t,” she whispered in his ear. His whole body shuddered and he jumped up and away from Lila, the tips of his ears pink.

“A-Alright,” he said, looking desperately towards his locker. “I-I’ll tell Gabriel. See you tomorrow, Lila.”

“See you then,” Lila responded with a wave. He waved back and quickly disappeared around the corner of the locker room. The speed at which he disappeared confused Lila briefly, but she had more pressing matters to attend to. Her last class of the day was Modern History. She was going to corner Grace and Elise and force them to tell her what was going on.

Or at least, that’s what she tried to do.

They were analysing documentaries for Modern History today, and trying to ascertain what kind of biases the documentary makers may be holding. It was actually quite an intense class. Lila had no opportunity to talk to Grace or Elise in any meaningful way apart from asking for their opinions when the time came to consult their tables.

Once the lesson was over, Elise immediately scuttled off to her McShift with a hasty “See ya tomorrow!” to Grace and Lila. Lila watched her go with an uneasy feeling. Whilst Grace was the softest out of herself and Elise, she was definitely the most tight-lipped out of the two. That didn’t mean that Lila couldn’t try and get some information though.

“So, Grace,” Lila began, holding onto Grace’s arm gently and falling into step as they made their way towards the locker room at a much more leisurely pace than Elise’s near-Olympic level dash.

“Nuh uh,” Grace immediately rebuffed Lila, shaking her head. “You’re not getting anything from me.”

“C’mon!” Lila pleaded, spinning around so she was walking backwards ahead of Grace. “You can’t just expect me to believe that lame-ass story Elise concocted.”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Grace said simply, though her eyes didn’t meet Lila’s and she combed the ends of her hair with her fingers. Both of these together were a classic tell that she was hiding something. Grace may be the most tight-lipped out of the two, but she wasn’t infallible.

“Doesn’t seem like it doesn’t concern me,” Lila said, raising an eyebrow. “You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone.”

“I’m not going to tell you,” Grace said flatly. “Stop trying to get info out of me. You’re being a pest.”

“Whoa, whoa,” came a relaxed voice from the right of Lila that she instantly recognised. Isaac was strolling across the lawn beside them. He waved once they both looked at him and Grace groaned. Lila’s mind jumped to what Asher had said at lunch today. Isaac seemed relatively normal, not like a guy 3k in debt with ‘goons’ after him, though perhaps he was overcompensating with his easy cheeriness.

“What do you want, Fisher?” she asked, her tone suddenly severe. Lila looked at Grace, puzzled. She expected that kind of question and tone from Elise towards Isaac, rather than Grace. Did Isaac do something to Grace? They’d seemed to get along really well at semi.

“Is that any way to talk to your partner in crime?” Isaac drawled, his tone teasing. Lila’s curiosity burned the back of her throat. Isaac was a much easier nut to crack.

“Isaac, what were you doing with Grace and Elise in the library yesterday?” Lila asked immediately, her eyes narrowed. His green eyes flickered to hers for a moment before he instantaneously turned around and walked off in the direction he came.

“Hey! Isaac!” Lila called. Grace gripped Lila’s wrist tightly, preventing her from chasing after Isaac.

“Let it go, Lila,” Grace said gently. Lila looked back at Grace and retrieved her hand with a pout.

“You guys are so mean,” she said petulantly. Grace rubbed Lila’s left shoulder and linked their arms together.

“Yeah,” Grace agreed. “But it’s for your own good. You’d just ruin the surprise.”

“It’s a surprise?” Lila asked, perking up immediately. “For who?”

“For… Asher,” Grace said tentatively. “You spend so much time with him, we can’t risk you telling him.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m very good at keeping secrets,” Lila huffed.

“I know you are,” Grace sighed. “But Elise and Isaac want to keep it under wraps. It’s Isaac’s plan, after all.”

‘Could the surprise be Isaac’s attempt to mend the guilt that he feels about asking for money from Asher?’ Lila thought to herself. Grace glanced at Lila, but Lila remained silent as she pondered the question. Yes… that was probably it. It sounded like something Isaac would do. But why he’d enlisted Elise and Grace, Lila wasn’t too sure. So, she asked.

“Isaac just wants our help from a female’s perspective,” Grace explained. The two girls began to walk towards the locker room, their steps synchronised.

“Do you guys even know Asher at all?” Lila asked. “I mean, surely, he could’ve asked me if he needed help. Not only am I a girl, but I also know Asher.”

Grace shook her head. “We don’t need to know Asher to help Isaac with this. And, like I said, Isaac wants to keep it as hush-hush as possible. Unfortunately, you spend so much time with Asher that it can’t be guaranteed that you won’t spill.”

Lila wanted to protest, but kept her mouth shut. After all, only Asher and Grace really knew that she was good at keeping secrets at this point. If Isaac felt that way about it, then so be it. Convincing him would be difficult without telling him an example of a secret, and none of the secrets she was currently keeping were secrets she could tell him…

Lila hugged Grace goodbye before heading off to the bus, her entirely overfull schoolbag digging into her shoulders. She was taking home a few extra books than she needed to try and motivate herself to study something – anything. But, as she waited for the bus, she knew that with Isaac, Grace and Elise’s tantalisingly secret plan on her mind, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on studying at all tonight. Plus, there was the matter of the Banker to look into.

To her surprise, Daniel was already at home, drinking juice from a carton in the kitchen. As Lila watched Daniel inhale more juice while pouring a glass of water for herself, Lila recalled Asher’s explanation that one of the soccer boys’ younger siblings had dealings with the Banker. Perhaps Daniel knew something about it? At this time on a Tuesday, Lila knew her parents wouldn’t be home, and Clare had a tutorial at Uni now. If she had any opportunity to ask Daniel something that he wouldn’t want their parents or Clare to know, like being in debt, it was now or never.

“Hey, Daniel,” Lila began. Daniel looked over at her from the top of the carton and capped it with a sigh.

“I’m finishing this now,” he said. “There’s no need to yell at me for putting it back in the fridge.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything about the juice.”

“Oh,” Daniel said, looking at the carton in surprise. He looked back up at Lila, narrowing his eyes. “What, then?”

There was something about Daniel’s face that Lila couldn’t exactly pinpoint. She hadn’t really had a conversation with just the two of them for a while. Did he look incredibly tired? Or did he just look older? She couldn’t tell, but it wasn’t important.

“Have you… potentially… borrowed money?” she asked, attempting to seem nonchalant as she rested her back on the kitchen counter, still facing Daniel. He stiffened slightly.

“Might’ve,” he said, avoiding her gaze. He started to edge towards the exit of the kitchen.

“I won’t tell Mum or Dad. Or Clare. Promise,” Lila said resolutely, folding her arms against her chest. “If you’re in trouble, you can tell me.”

Daniel quickly looked into Lila’s eyes, before looking away. “Not in trouble,” he mumbled.

“Okay,” Lila said gently. Daniel paused, before glancing at Lila again.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked in a steely tone, still shifting towards the doorway.

“I’ve just been hearing stuff at school,” Lila said with a shrug. “Things like some kids are in debt to someone called the Banker. So, I got worried about you.”

Daniel stopped his escape. “I was in debt,” he said, his hands trembling. “But I paid it off.”

“Glad to hear it,” Lila replied with a smile. Lila suddenly remembered Daniel’s red headphones that Clare had interrogated him about ages ago. Had he bought those with money from the Banker?

“Hey, you remember when Clare was in your business about your new headphones?” Lila asked. Daniel rolled his eyes but nodded.

“Did you borrow money from the Banker to buy those? Is that why you didn’t want to tell her about it? So she didn’t know you were in debt?”

Daniel seemed to hesitate for just a moment before he nodded again. “Yeah. She’s a bit of an ass, whoever she is. It’s like she thinks they have a never-ending money pit, she just keeps lending out money like an idiot. And I was an idiot for asking for it. Besides, what would telling Clare do? Make her freak out even more?”

“She?” Lila queried, unfolding her arms in surprise. “Do you know who the Banker is?”

“No idea,” Daniel said emphatically, shaking his head. “When you ask for a loan, you talk to some girl. She could be the Banker, but she might not be. She at least handles all the transactions. And like I said, Clare couldn’t do anything about it even if I told her about the Banker, since I don’t even know who it is. I wanna know, though. They ripped me off.”

“I see,” Lila sighed, rubbing her forehead in frustration. “Probably why they don’t want people to know who they are. Do you know what grade they’re in, at least?”

Daniel shook his head again.

“Alright,” Lila said with another sigh. She gestured towards the stairs. “You can go play Fortnite or whatever.”

He rushed towards the stairs, still holding the carton of juice, and thundered up them two at a time. At least Lila got some information. It seemed like the Banker was at least real, and ripping kids off. It also seemed like they might be a girl, or at least they had a girl conducting the transactions. Hopefully, Lila’d be able to gather some more intel at tuckshop tomorrow with Asher…