Chapter Forty-Six

Lila had managed to avoid being alone with Clare on Sunday and Monday. She wasn’t necessarily intending to avoid her completely, but, at the same time, Lila wasn’t mentally prepared to talk to Clare. Seeing her as ‘Roxy Wurld’ on Saturday had sent Lila into a swirl of confusion that she needed to sort out before having any kind of discussion with Clare. Clare herself didn’t go out of her way to interact with Lila, either. Lila figured that Clare was probably gathering her thoughts as well, which made it easier.

Tuesday morning began with English. Asher’s demeanour had still been rather moody on Monday, but today he seemed ecstatic as Lila sat down next to him.

“It arrived,” he whispered dramatically to Lila. She blinked at him blankly.

“What arrived?” she asked.

“The kit,” he whispered again, looking around the room as if to make sure no one was listening. Everyone else seemed rather involved in their own conversations before class began.

“The- oh,” Lila breathed, her eyes widening in understanding.

“I think we need to try and get in when Marlene’s not home,” Asher said in a very serious and low tone. “You’d probably need to come over straight after school.”

“Isn’t she usually home from her café job at, like, 1pm?” Lila asked, her voice mirroring his. “So, she’d always be home even if we got there as soon as school ended.”

“Marlene and Gabriel swap turns to get groceries,” Asher replied quietly. “They go on Wednesdays for the Aldi specials. On Marlene’s turn, she usually heads off at around 3 to make it back in time for her 6 o’clock start. And guess who’s turn it is tomorrow?”

“I wouldn’t have expected them to shop at Aldi,” Lila said with a small chuckle.

“How else do you think you stay rich,” Asher asked in a somewhat grave voice, though the corners of his mouth twitched. “Gotta save whenever you can.”

“I never thought about it,” Lila said with a grin, before becoming serious again. “But alright. I’ll come over tomorrow.”

“Great,” Asher nodded. Ms Shard began the lesson shortly after. They were finishing up Romeo and Juliet this week, so she took some time to explain their assessment that morning before heading into more reading.

Study was next, however, given it was the start of week five, Asher didn’t interact with Lila much. He encouraged Lila to start working on her assignments as well, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She stared blankly at her laptop screen until it was time for morning tea. Asher departed with a soft ‘goodbye’, and Lila stretched her arms and shoulders before slowly packing up and wandering off to her locker. She had just opened her locker to put away her belongings when Elise accosted her and dragged her from her locker.

“Hey! I didn’t close-” Lila began shouting before Elise put a hand over her mouth. Lila looked up at Elise, who was ghostly white, and glanced back at her locker. Lila hadn’t noticed Grace was nearby until now. Grace looked sombre as she locked Lila’s locker and followed both Lila and Elise to wherever Elise was taking Lila to. Lila tried to ask questions, but her speech was too muffled under Elise’s strong grasp.

The trio eventually reached a secluded hallway behind the locker room that housed a loud, rattling external air conditioner unit and Elise let go of Lila, who fell onto her knees from shock.

“Why’d you kidnap me?” Lila asked through heavy panting.

Elise was about to answer, her fists clenched, when Asher and Isaac rounded the corner, armed with lunchboxes.

“Oh,” Isaac said, stepping forward tentatively. “This looks oddly horrifying.”

“Piss off,” Elise said sharply, her eyes flashing in apparent anger. She didn’t need to tell them twice, and they skedaddled away in a flash. Grace stood a few metres away, towards the entrance to the hallway, her back facing Lila. She looked like she was standing guard, which, given her unintimidating frame, probably wouldn’t be very effective.

Elise took a deep breath, glancing towards Grace before saying, “Holly’s pregnant.”

Lila stared at Elise with wide eyes before letting a nervous laugh escape from her mouth and slowly standing up. Elise took a step back, looking at Lila through narrowed eyes.

“That’s… not the reaction I was expecting,” Elise said, crossing her arms.

“O-Oh,” Lila stammered, shrinking backwards so that she was flattened against the wall. “T‑That’s terrible, brand-new news…”

Elise snorted. “I’m guessing that that was why they broke up,” she continued, giving Lila a piercing look.

“W-Who’s to say?” Lila replied with a poor attempt at a nonchalant shrug. She glanced towards where Grace was standing. If Lila timed it well, she could probably catch Grace off-guard and run past. However, she had PC with them next. Escape would only be a temporary solution. As Lila tried to think, she recalled that Asher had asked her not to say anything to anyone beyond Asher breaking up with Holly... but Elise had clearly found out via other means.

“Where did you hear that anyway?” Lila finally asked, looking at Elise’s scrutinising face.

“Maccas,” Elise replied simply. “Reilly told me.”

“Did Reilly tell you anything else?” Lila asked, tapping her finger against her hip anxiously.

“Just that she’s really pissed that Asher dumped his pregnant girlfriend.”

Lila inhaled shallowly. Was Holly telling people it was Asher’s?

“Lila, I know you’re all weird about whether you have a crush on Asher or not,” Elise said with a heavy sigh. “But, as one of your best friends, I just want to give you my opinion. Don’t get involved with a teen dad. That’s way too much drama, and you’d only get dragged down by it all. Plus, you’re too young to be a step-mum. Let him work it out with Holly so they can be parents to their baby.”

It took every ounce of effort Lila could muster to not blurt out the truth. She needed to get to Asher. Now.

“Noted,” Lila said, nodding as she continued to edge towards Grace. Elise looked like she was about to say something else, but Lila didn’t stick around to hear what it was.

She suddenly dashed around Grace, who yelped in surprise, and hurtled herself down the hallway.

“Lila!” Elise called in alarm behind her. Lila didn’t look back as she barrelled down the pathway. Lila couldn’t hear Grace or Elise following behind her, and eventually she slowed down to catch her breath in the shade of a nearby building.

Lila unzipped her pocket and pulled out her phone. There were already texts from Elise and Grace asking Lila to come back, but she ignored those. She started calling Asher.

“Hello?” he said once he picked up.

“Where… are… you?” Lila asked, still huffing from her sprint.

“By the Art building, in that side alleyway by the hill. Why?”

“Don’t move,” Lila managed to say before hanging up. She made her way towards where Asher had said he would be. Sure enough, he was sitting whilst leaning against the brick wall under the awning of the Art building, Isaac by his side, his legs outstretched. There was no one else around them.

“What’s going on?” Asher asked when Lila approached. “You look spooked.”

“Elise… said that she’d heard Holly was pregnant,” Lila said urgently. “But she thinks it’s yours.”

Asher’s face dropped, and he turned as white as paper. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but seemed to be teetering on the edge of crying again.

“Asher, it’s fine,” Isaac said reassuringly, turning to face him. “We knew it was going to come out eventually.”

“It’s too soon,” Asher whispered, putting his face in his hands. “I don’t want anyone to know how inadequate I am.”

“Asher, it looks far worse on her than it does you,” Lila said, slowly lowering herself to the ground in front of Asher and Isaac.

“But I don’t want her to look bad, either,” Asher said into his hands. “And I hate myself for it. Maybe if I was vindictive, I’d feel better.”

Lila and Isaac exchanged a brief look, as if trying to find the right thing to say from the other’s expression.

“The consequences of her actions have to catch up to her at some point,” Isaac said gently. “We don’t have to tell everyone. But Elise looked real scary just now. I think Lila should tell Elise and Grace. At the very least that it’s not yours.”

Asher lifted his head slightly, staring at Isaac for a moment, before shifting his eyes to Lila.

“I… guess that’s fine. Since Elise already knows,” Asher finally said. “I’d rather not, but it might just be asking for more trouble if you can’t say anything. I doubt they’d just drop it after that… b-but can you at least ask them to keep it quiet for now?”

Lila was about to agree when Asher’s face appeared to pale even further. Both Asher and Isaac’s eyes were fixed on the same spot in the distance, and Lila turned around to see Elise and Grace walking towards them, their arms looped.

“Aha,” Elise said triumphantly upon reaching them. “Found you.”

“Elise, it’s not a good time,” Lila sighed heavily. Asher began to tremble, his expression incredibly distraught. Elise and Grace both stared at Asher as he looked down at his knees.

“Come on, mate,” Isaac said encouragingly, pulling Asher up by his arms. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Elise and Grace shot Lila a quizzical look, but she waved them off whilst she waited for Isaac and Asher to leave. Asher’s footsteps seemed to be faltering slightly. Elise, Grace, and Lila wordlessly watched them go.

“He didn’t look so good,” Grace said softly once they were out of earshot. “What were you guys talking about?”

“And why did you run away like a prison escapee?” Elise asked, crossing her arms.

“Asher… asked me not to tell anyone about why he and Holly broke up,” Lila said quietly, looking down at her shoes. “But… since you already knew about Holly’s pregnancy, I had to check what I could tell you guys. It’s… been really tough.”

Elise and Grace exchanged a look before staring at Lila expectantly.

“It is true that Holly is pregnant, but it’s not Asher’s,” Lila said after a pause. “She’s about four months along. I know it looks bad that he broke up with his pregnant girlfriend, but she was cheating on him for most of their relationship.”

Elise and Grace were speechless, their eyes wide in shock.

“F-Four months?” Elise managed to choke out after a pause. “So while Piper was spreading stupid rumours about you sleeping with Asher and whoever, Holly was pregnant? By someone else?”

“How do you know it’s not his?” Grace asked. Lila bit her bottom lip as she contemplated how best to answer that question. Surely Asher wasn’t keen on everyone knowing he was still a virgin.

“She admitted that it was between a couple guys that weren’t Asher,” Lila explained after a beat.

“Lila, I gotta ask,” Elise sighed heavily, running her fingers through her curls. “Why do you know all this? I didn’t think you were particularly close with Asher.”

Lila’s face immediately turned a bright scarlet and she avoided Elise’s curious eyes.

“I… guess we are close now,” Lila murmured.

“Lila, are you hanging out with him still?” Grace asked gently, shooting Elise a silencing glare.

“I guess you could say that,” Lila replied in a small voice.

“How often?” Grace questioned.

“Not that often really… But… I… did go to his on Saturday,” Lila whispered. Suddenly, she was thrust into a flashback of her showering experience at his house, her face an even deeper shade of red than before. “A-And the Saturday before that.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“To do what?” Elise asked, clearly alarmed. “Didn’t Grace say that rebound relationships are a bad idea?”

“We’re not in a rebound relationship, or any kind of relationship,” Lila retorted defiantly. “He just needs help with some… things.”

“Getting his rocks off?” Elise snorted.

“Private things,” Lila snapped.

“She didn’t deny it,” Elise said, looking at Grace.

“You did just make it look worse,” Grace sighed.

“I know it looks bad, but it’s not for that reason,” Lila huffed. “But I just can’t tell you guys.”

“Look, I’m happy to believe you,” Grace said slowly. “But with Holly’s pregnancy and all that, it’s gonna take some time to digest. I just… still hope you know what you’re doing. Like I’ve been saying, I don’t wanna see you get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine,” Lila said firmly. “I am hearing all your concerns, guys. Don’t worry.”

The trio moved on to other topics on their way back to PC, given Asher’s want to keep Holly’s pregnancy and infidelity a secret. They didn’t discuss it in any detail in person, but there were many speculations about the father’s identity in the Twisted Bitches’r’Us group chat that night. Elise vowed to try and get that information out of Reilly during her next shift.

Lila contemplated telling Elise and Grace that she was going to Asher’s tomorrow afternoon, but knew that they would just try and press the issue regarding what they were doing. What could she even say? That they were going to try and break into the locked study because Asher’s very suspicious maid had hidden the key? To watch CCTV footage of the day his Mum went missing to find out what happened to her?

Lila had Study with Asher last the next day. She hadn’t seen him at all until that point. Lila figured that he would be excited like he had been yesterday morning when making the plans for that afternoon. Contrary to her expectations, however, he didn’t even look at her as she sat down at their usual booth.

“Hey,” she said, sliding her laptop out of its case and turning it on. He made a sound of acknowledgement, but otherwise didn’t seem to notice her presence. Lila inspected his face over the edge of her laptop screen. He looked as though he hadn’t slept at all last night. Still, he diligently worked through some Maths exercises, concentration furrowing his brow and tightening his lips.

Lila couldn’t help but watch the Dux in action, completing his Maths problems with only some slight difficulties. He loosened his tie as he worked, his eyes never lifting from his page. Every so often, he would sigh, parting his lips ever so slightly. They looked really soft…

Lila wrenched her eyes away from Asher as soon as that observation popped into her head. Why did she notice that?

Feeling perturbed, Lila tried to distract herself with some actual study today. It seemed to work, for a few minutes, before her eyes were drawn to Asher again. She slammed her laptop lid shut.

“I need some air,” she said stiffly, getting up and almost sprinting outside. She didn’t look back to see if he had heard her, nor did it sound like he was following her. She burst out of the doors of the library, inhaling the fresh air outside the building as though she’d never taken a breath before.

She decided to walk around the library a couple times to clear her head. Today, she was going to be attempting to infiltrate the study at Asher’s place to see what the CCTV showed about his Mum’s disappearance. Perhaps it was the nerves for this afternoon’s risky mission that was getting her so riled up? And she clearly kept focusing on Asher because of the daunting task. Yes… that was why.

Lila found herself glaring at a spotted gum tree upon reaching her conclusion. She couldn’t go back to Asher yet, though. She needed a drink of water, at least.

She wandered towards a nearby set of five bubblers and saw two boys mucking around nearby. Lila didn’t want to interact with anyone at this point, so waited on the other side of the brick building for them to leave. They seemed to be throwing droplets of water at each other, laughing hysterically. Lila didn’t recognise them, though. Perhaps they were in the grade below?

“Dude, I just got a loan from the Banker,” one of the boys laughed. “It’s so easy!”

“Far out, you already have a loan from the Banker, my guy,” the other one snorted. “He’s going to sic his goons on you. Those older boys sure are scary.”

“I’ll be right,” the first said. “They can’t catch me. As a wise man once said, I am the gingerbread man.”

She peeked around the corner, confused by the ‘gingerbread man’ comment. She saw one of the boys try to drink before the other one poked his side. He immediately spat the water back out before he rounded on his friend and chased him out of sight, calling him a “Dickhead!” all the while. Lila could faintly hear the other one yelling, “Hehe! Can’t catch me ‘cause I’m the gingerbread man!”

Lila wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t exactly keen on drinking from the same bubbler that had just been spat on, so selected the one furthest away. Lila felt sufficiently calm after some water, and so returned to her spot in the library without making a sound. It was the first time Asher glanced at her all afternoon (at least, that she had seen), though his eye contact was extremely brief.

“Welcome back,” he murmured, placing his left hand on the side of his head, tugging at a few strands of hair.

“Thanks,” Lila replied automatically. She immediately wanted to facepalm but resisted the urge. Thanks? Ridiculous.

Lila finally managed to find something that she could keenly work on in their remaining Study period. Once it was over, Asher stretched his shoulders and began packing away his things. Lila followed suit, minus the stretching, and once they were all packed up, Asher looked at her.

“Let’s go,” he said, nodding. “My taxi will be waiting for us.”

“Your taxi?” Lila asked, following Asher to the locker room. He seemed slightly bashful.

“Yeah, Dad made a deal with the local cab company to bring me home. He didn’t want me going home by bus. I can sometimes get lost in my own world and miss my stop.”

‘No kidding,’ Lila thought, remembering back to Asher’s confession that he hadn’t realised he was on the wrong bus until he was halfway to the city.

“Do you take the taxi to school?” Lila asked.

“Nah,” Asher shook his head. “Dad trusts me enough to not miss my stop when it’s the last one.”

“You know, I would’ve thought you’d be really on top of your travel routes,” Lila said with a small smile. “You’re normally very put together.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Me? Put together? You’ve seen me. Though, I guess if I was, it would be with sticky tape. I can be pretty organised with public transport, but it gets a bit difficult when lots of assessment comes up. I end up thinking about what I’m going to be writing down for those assessment pieces when I get home that I can sometimes miss the stop altogether.”

“It’s a miracle that Piper found your house, then,” Lila said with a laugh. He looked grim but seemed to entertain the idea, at least.

“It only started maybe last year? Or the year before that. From what I saw, she’d been following me around far before then.”

“Ew,” Lila said brusquely. “What a weirdo.”

“Agreed,” Asher said darkly. They briefly separated to get to their own lockers before coming together again with their necessary belongings.

“Let’s head off, then,” Asher said, leading the way. They didn’t talk much on this journey, with Lila mostly trying to dodge students who were roughhousing in the pathway, and students seemingly sprinting like a bunch of headless chickens in their haste to get home. Thankfully, they reached the lone taxicab sitting in the taxi bay in the carpark in one piece.

“Hello, George,” Asher said as he opened the back passenger door next to Lila. He gestured for her to get in, which she did. This was the second time he’d opened a car door for her, and she felt a little unnerved. Usually, she would be either fighting her siblings to see who could open the door first, or she’d be alone with the driver. Opening car doors for women seemed entirely too old-fashioned, and she wasn’t sure how to feel.

“Hello, Mr Wagner,” the polite-looking, elderly taxi driver said enthusiastically as Asher sat down in the front passenger seat. “I see we have a guest today. Is she just an acquaintance of yours?”

“Lila, this is George, my regular driver,” Asher explained, turning around in his seat to face her. “George, this is Lila. She’s a friend from school.”

“A friend, hey,” George said, turning the car engine on. Lila could hear the smile in his voice when he said that, but she didn’t feel a need to interject. Asher and George engaged in some small talk, and neither seemed to include Lila in the conversation. Lila preferred this, actually, as she was still trying to decide how she felt about Asher opening the car door for her.

They reached Asher’s house without any difficulty. Lila hopped out immediately. She’d decided that, though it was a sweet gesture, she was fine with opening her own car doors. It almost felt as if he was treating her like a child, though she figured it wasn’t the case.

“Hey, Gabriel,” Asher called out once they entered, shoes off and laden with schoolbooks.

“Hello, Asher,” Gabriel’s voice echoed from the butler’s pantry. He quickly bustled out, and his face erupted into a wide, cheerful grin upon seeing Lila.

“Hello, Lila!” he said happily.

“Hello, Gabriel,” Lila replied. His joy was infectious. It was easy to see why people at his nightclub would look up to him as a great boss if he was this friendly in that life too.

“We’ve just got this thing we’re working on,” Asher said vaguely. “So, we’ll just be in the rumpus room. What time were you thinking for dinner?”

“The usual 7pm,” Gabriel said, nodding. “That way, Marlene can join us. Gosh, that woman sure is busy.”

Lila and Asher exchanged a quick glance. Did Gabriel know that Marlene had a second job?

“B-Busy with what?” Asher stammered. Lila internally sighed. His delivery was not conducive to being discreet.

“Ah,” Gabriel said, looking up at them slowly. “She has a fun job. You know, like how this is my fun job. It’s at a local café. You should definitely visit the establishment, it’s very charming.”

“Charming, you say,” Asher said, briefly looking at Lila again. “Do you have a name for it?”

“No,” Gabriel replied, shaking his head. “Marlene took me there once when we both had the morning off a month or two ago, but I can’t remember the name. It’s just in the little shopping area a few streets away, though.”

“We should definitely check it out, then,” Lila said with a nod.

“You’ve probably seen it,” Gabriel said dismissively, heading back into the butler’s pantry. “You guys went over that way for brunch or something over the school holidays. Heck, you might’ve even eaten there.” Gabriel gave a hearty laugh before closing the door behind him. Lila smirked at Asher, who looked spooked again, before they headed upstairs to the rumpus room.

“Gabriel doesn’t suspect anything, right?” Asher asked quietly once he shut the door behind them.

“Of course not,” Lila said confidently. “What’s there to suspect, anyway? That his ‘charge’ is following the maid? For what?”

“Well, you know why,” Asher said, shivering in apparent anxiety. “But I guess it probably wouldn’t immediately jump to most people’s minds.”

“Definitely not,” agreed Lila.

“Can you give me a minute?” Asher asked, walking towards his bedroom. “I just want to get changed.”

“No worries,” Lila said casually, slumping onto the couch. He disappeared into his bedroom, closing the door gently behind him. He emerged a minute later, looking less weary somehow in a pair of tracksuit shorts and a longline black tee. In his hands was a medium-sized cardboard box that didn’t look to be all that heavy.

“I’ve noticed that you almost always change out of your uniform immediately,” Lila said curiously, sitting up.

“What? Oh,” Asher looked down at his outfit. “Yeah. I guess I do. I didn’t notice that I did that.”

“I mean, it’s not a criticism,” Lila said hurriedly as he sat next to her on the couch. “These uniforms aren’t exactly the most comfortable.”

“Are you uncomfortable?” Asher asked, his eyes flickering to hers. “I can give you a hoodie and some shorts or something if you’d like to change.”

“I am beyond good,” Lila replied instantly, straightening her skirt across her lap. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. He always offered the weirdest things – first, it was to stay over at his house, then showering at his, and now wearing his clothes? ‘Maybe he doesn’t realise how it’s coming across,’ Lila thought to herself as she readjusted her blouse as well.

“You look like you want to get changed,” Asher said pointedly. He got up and rummaged around his room for a few seconds before returning with a grey hoodie and some loose black shorts neatly folded in his hands.

“I’ll just leave them here,” he said, placing them on the kitchenette counter with a fond pat. “Feel free to get changed. You don’t have to, of course, but the option’s there.”

“Thanks,” Lila responded, her face tinged with pink. She still couldn’t look directly at Asher, but he returned, seeming satisfied with himself, and began opening the box. After all his unwrapping, he pulled out a small pouch with lockpicking tools. He held it up above his head victoriously.

“We got the goods!” he said excitedly. Lila laughed.

“I can see that. I’m surprised you hadn’t opened these already,” she observed. “And did you discover whether the internal locks are the same?”

“Well, I wanted to open these with you,” Asher said, bashfully lowering the kit. “I did check the locks though. These internal locks seem to be similar to the one on the study, at least.”

“I guess we’ll just have to practice, then,” Lila said, standing up to look at the doors inside the rumpus room. It seemed the guest bathroom and Asher’s bedroom were lockable.

“I’m happy to practice on my door,” Asher said, getting up and cradling the kit in his arms. “But we should be on opposite sides of the door. Just so one of us can lock it.”

“Sure,” Lila replied. Asher glanced at her.

“If I’m using the kit, that means you’ll need to lock it from inside my room,” he said after a pause.

“Oh,” Lila breathed. “T-That’s fine if you’re fine with it.”

Asher shrugged. “Righto, let’s go.”

While Asher worked on the lock on his bedroom door, Lila sat on his bed and waited. It was pristinely made, and she felt slightly guilty for wrinkling it. His desk was the only place in his room that showed any disarray, with schoolbooks and paper piled on top of it. It still felt as though she shouldn’t be in here, but considering it wasn’t the first time she was, she began to feel a bit more comfortable. She could hear the lockpicks wiggling in the lock, with the occasional swear word from Asher. It was actually kind of amusing, hearing him struggle. She hadn’t ever really experienced him struggling per se. Even working through his Maths exercises this afternoon – clearly, it had taken some amount of effort, but it hadn’t seemed like an overt struggle by any means.

‘Though, I’ve seen him struggle emotionally plenty,’ Lila thought to herself. She looked out at the window and watched the wind bend the nearby trees, tearing off leaves as it went. She began scrolling on her phone as she continued to wait, and fifteen minutes passed before she made her way to the door and sat slightly in front of it.

“Do… you need a hand?” she asked. He yelped and she heard a thud on the other side of the door before Asher began groaning.

“You okay?” Lila asked, pressing herself against the door.

“I’m fine,” he eventually managed to say. Lila leant back on her hands and heard Asher trying the lock again.

“Are you sure you don’t want to swap?” Lila asked after a few more minutes.

“I think I’ve almost got it,” Asher said slowly. Now that Lila was so close to the door, she could hear clicking within the lock. Then, one resounding click.

“Yes!” came Asher’s voice. He suddenly pushed the door into Lila, who cried out in a mixture of pain and surprise.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” Asher said, closing the door with a snap. Lila rubbed the side of her hip and tentatively stood up. She opened the door, a grimace on her face.

“Glad to see you could open it,” she said.

“Did I hurt you?” Asher asked, his eyes shimmering with concern.

“I’m fine,” Lila replied, still rubbing her sore spot.

“You don’t seem fine.”

“I was the idiot who sat right at the door. Of course you’d want to open it,” Lila said, leaning on the doorframe now, her arms crossed. Asher fiddled with the lockpicking kit and they stood there for a moment.

“Do you think you’ll be able to unlock the study?” she asked. Asher still looked guilty, but he nodded.

“Should be fine. Though it wouldn’t hurt to practice again.”

“Okay,” Lila said, moving back into Asher’s room and locking the door. She decided to sit on his bed for the entirety of Asher’s lockpicking, which didn’t take him longer than two minutes.

“Wow,” she said as he stood hesitantly in the doorway, having swung open the door incredibly slowly. “That was really fast. You learn quick.”

“One of my talents,” he quipped, seeming relieved that she wasn’t getting bashed by the door.

“Confident now?” she asked, rising to her feet.

“Yeah, let’s go,” he said, gesturing for her to follow him.

They crept across the landing, checking furtively to see if anyone was up there. It was only 4.15pm now, so at the very least Marlene would still be at the shops. The coast was clear.

Lila’s heart pounded with every step she took, seemingly unable to breathe fully. Her stomach was twisting into knots. What if they got caught? What if Asher couldn’t open the door? What would they find on the CCTV footage?

These questions looped in her mind as she stood in the hallway, standing guard in case Gabriel or Marlene showed up. Asher worked on the lock for the study in a deep squat, immersed entirely in his task. The rhythmic clicking was the only sound breaking their all-encompassing silence. Lila occasionally glanced over at Asher. His unending concentration was inspiring, really. Were his good grades only based on his intelligence? Or was his ability to be able to fully focus on the task at hand, to the point where he could forget to get off the bus, part of it too?

Click.

Asher’s breathing seemed to halt and he slowly turned towards Lila. The expression on his face was unreadable, but Lila could tell that whatever he was feeling, it was incredibly intense.

“We’re in.”