Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two

It had been difficult to fall asleep that night. So many things had happened yesterday that her mind seemed to have trouble shutting off. Aside from the strange appearance of Mr Morrison and the subsequent secretive conversation he’d had with the teachers on this campsite, there was also the realisation that Elise had been lied to by Grace – and the realisation that Lila couldn’t bring herself to correct it. Then, the conversation with Ayla – the fact that she was a lesbian was a revelation that Lila had not even an inkling about prior to their chat, nor had she known that Ayla was in love with Piper.

But, most of all, the biggest thing weighing on her mind was the picture Piper had taken the day she disappeared. It even outweighed the stifling feeling of being in this tent with Elise and Grace, who had already tucked themselves into bed by the time Lila arrived.

She tossed and turned, trying desperately to fall asleep, but the image of the figure in the window kept her up. If only she could talk to Elise and Grace about some of the lighter stuff that happened that day. Like Dorothy’s reaction to Michael coming to help set up beach flags…

It didn’t help that she hadn’t found an opportunity to pull Asher aside and tell him what she’d discovered, either. Perhaps that would’ve made her sleep more restful.

Finally, after an exhausting couple of hours willing her body to sleep, she drifted off, waking only when the songs of what felt like three hundred birds over in the nearby trees commanded her to.

Elise and Grace had already left, so Lila took her time to gather her things for the day. Her phone told her that it was 7.15am, which was quite late for Lila.

It meant that there was an unfortunately long line for the showers, though she didn’t pass Ayla on the way there. She wasn’t quite sure how she should react when she did see Ayla next, so not being confronted with that decision so early in the morning was welcomed. She showered as quickly as possible and put her things back in the tent before returning with a rumbling stomach.

Breakfast was already underway, and she saw Asher pacing with two plates of food just near the pathway to the tents.

“There you are,” he said, his voice oozing with relief. “I got you some food. They decided to do bacon and eggs and all that. Might be a bit cold now, sorry.”

“You didn’t eat any?” she asked as she received a plate from him, along with cutlery. He shook his head.

“Food tastes better when I’m eating with you,” he replied. A moment passed and his cheeks turned pink. “Sorry. That… sounded-”

“Sweet. And I agree,” she smiled broadly. Her fluttering heart couldn’t calm down as she stood there and looked at him, so she gestured to the tarp before the bonfire as a distraction. “Let’s eat.”

They stopped short of Isaac, Elise and Grace, none of whom appeared to notice their approach. Lila and Asher promptly sat and dug into their food without many words exchanged.

Once they were done, though, Lila asked how he’d slept.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Same as usual… but as soon as I pulled the covers on myself, I figured out what you meant. Marlene, right?”

“Bingo.” Lila checked to see if anyone was listening in and met Ayla’s eyes. They exchanged a quick smile before Lila turned her eyes back to Asher. “I found something out yesterday. I think she needs to be on our radar again.”

Asher nodded. “Alright. I trust your judgement.”

“Thanks.”

There were far too many people for Lila to talk to Asher about yesterday, so she settled on other topics until the counsellors announced that it was time to pack up their tents and move along to their first activity.

Lila packed up the tent with Elise and Grace in absolute silence, the awkwardness still hanging in the air between them. She’d hoped that it would’ve dissipated by now, but she also wasn’t prepared to try and break it herself.

The hike to their next campsite commenced shortly after, with Asher taking her hiking bag once more. They stuck around the middle, behind Isaac, Elise and Grace. Lila noticed Isaac looking back at them every so often, but he didn’t make any attempts to come their way.

To Lila, it confirmed that Grace or Elise had said something to him about the conversation on the canoe. Truthfully, it made her feel deflated, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

It was clear that Asher was trying to keep her spirits up, though – which she appreciated greatly. He chatted away beside her, pointing out the various animals skittering around them, and didn’t fail to make her laugh despite her whirring mind.

Eventually, her breath was stolen by something other than the hike. As they rounded the corner through a particularly dense section of the forested trail, Lila heard the gush of a waterfall. She grabbed Asher’s arm in excitement.

“Asher, Asher – a waterfall!”

He laughed, his eyes twinkling. “Yes, that’s part of our trail.”

“C’mon, let’s go see!”

He laughed again, allowing himself to be pulled forwards by Lila. The power and beauty of waterfalls had always captivated Lila, and in this moment she couldn’t think of anything better than marvelling at one with Asher.

They pressed closer, towards the sounds of wonder from the classmates ahead of them and the rush of water. Eventually, Lila’s vision was flooded by the impressive sight, the smell of fresh water delighting her.

It wasn’t a particularly massive waterfall, but the lush green surrounding it was still beautiful enough for a small, “Wow.” to escape her lips.

“I didn’t know you liked waterfalls so much,” Asher smiled as she continued to observe, tracing the watery descent down into the rocky riverbed below.

“Aren’t they cool?” she replied, glancing at him.

“Well, yeah, but you seem enthralled,” he responded lightly. “Like you could stay here forever.”

“I probably could,” she grinned. “Anything to do with water and I’m happy. Though, I’m not a strong swimmer. Much more of a floater. And sand isn’t my favourite. I much prefer freshwater things, like rivers and lakes.”

“I had no idea.”

“Not like we’re really around water much.”

“True.”

They both turned to look at the waterfall again before Lila finally tore her eyes away. “Let’s keep going before we get left behind.”

They passed more shallow streams in which Lila could see some small, speedy fish. The water and scenery helped calm her senses as they climbed uphill. Finally, the crowd of students ahead of them slowed and she strained her ears to hear what was going on up ahead.

It seemed that they had reached another clearing – one next to a small cliff face. The students in front of them began to move again, which allowed Lila and Asher to progress to the clearing itself. Many of their classmates had already relieved themselves of their hiking bags, with some sitting on them, and others just lounging on the leaf-littered ground. The counsellors were handing out morning tea and asking for volunteers for abseiling. It seemed like this was an optional activity.

“Are you gonna try it?” Lila asked as she took a seat on the floor of the clearing, facing the rappelling gear and cliff face.

“Me?” Asher stared at her as though she’d lost her mind. “Definitely not.”

She gave a hearty laugh, opening her bag of morning tea. “Here I was, thinking you were pretty risky.”

He gave her a serious look. “Throwing yourself off the edge of a cliff in the name of fun isn’t a risk. That’s just asking for death.”

She laughed again. “Asher, there’s a billion teachers and witnesses here. If it wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t do it. Besides, it’s not the tallest cliff in the world.”

“Are you going to do it?”

Lila fell silent, looking uneasily at the cliff face. Despite what she said, it… certainly looked high up. He seemed to have picked up on her apprehension as he raised his eyebrows at her.

“Bit unfair, picking on me for not doing it if you’re not gonna,” he commented, though he added a smile at the end which showed he wasn’t necessarily upset.

“I just thought… well, you like doing sports and stuff,” Lila replied lamely.

“And so do you,” Asher nodded.

“And… you’ve been taking on some big risks lately.”

His smile broadened. “And so have you.”

“Though I guess you do get yourself in a tizzy about some of them,” Lila murmured, feeling her cheeks turn pink.

“A tizzy?” Asher snorted.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Lila huffed, ignoring his snort and meeting his eyes with a challenge behind her own. The emotion in his face flashed straight to panicked.

“H-Hold on-”

“Nup, that’s my final say,” Lila replied, shoving an almond into her mouth with shaky fingers.

“If you don’t want to-”

“I do,” Lila responded unconvincingly. “Besides, I might end up enjoying it.”

Asher sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll… do it too.”

Now it was her turn to look at him in alarm. “You don’t have to-”

“I know I don’t, but if you’re going to do it, I may as well. Like you said, I might end up enjoying it.”

“I won’t laugh at you if you don’t want to,” Lila said quietly, fiddling with another almond.

“I’m not scared of you laughing at me. It just occurred to me that maybe I should try something like this, now that I’m new and improved. Old me just sat in the back, watching everyone else have fun with abseiling at the Grade 9 camp.”

Lila thought back to the Grade 9 camp that he mentioned. At the time, she was focused on making sure Grace was comfortable, given her elbow injury during that particular camp, whilst secretly glad that it meant she had an excuse to not participate in abseiling. With no Grace to fall back on now, in any sense, she figured that she may as well go for it – since Asher seemed like he was going to.

“Shake on it?” Lila offered her hand out to him. He looked at it for a moment before giving her a firm handshake.

With that, their fates were sealed and Asher put up his hand to be put on the list to go abseiling. Mr Vanderbilt noted Asher down with an air of surprise, which seemed to increase further when Lila requested that she be placed on the list as well.

Mr Vanderbilt moved on to other students who raised their hands and eventually Asher and Lila were called up to get harnessed in. They passed Isaac, Elise and Grace who all simultaneously appeared to choke on their remaining bits of morning tea, though none of them said anything.

“I didn’t realise we’d be going at the same time,” Lila commented as Rachael checked her gear over and jostled her harness to test how secure it was.

“I mean, we did volunteer at the same time,” Asher responded as Henry did the same with his harness.

“You wanna race?”

“You didn’t even want to do this half an hour ago,” Asher replied incredulously.

“Yeah, and?”

Lila caught sight of Rachael smiling as she turned to give Mick a thumbs-up.

“I’ll race you,” Asher said with a hint of reluctance. “As long as you’re reasonable.”

“Me? Reasonable? Since when?”

“Henry, I think I’ve made a mistake-”

“If you want to back down, that’s fine,” Henry said matter-of-factly. “Just let me know.”

They all stood there for a slightly too long pause before Asher tightened the chinstrap of his helmet. “Send me up,” he sighed, glancing at Lila. “I can’t back down now with the sad face she’s making.”

“Am I? Sorry. If you really don’t want to-”

“You better be prepared to lose,” Asher interjected seriously. Lila grinned at him.

“I think you’ll find that you’ll be the loser for this one.”

Of course, a race sounded like a good idea at the time, but instead of feeling competitive, Lila began to feel rather anxious as she approached the cliff. Knowing she was harnessed in helped though it didn’t erase the feeling entirely.

At the very least, Asher’s face seemed to reflect how Lila was feeling, though she couldn’t concentrate on it once they were encouraged to go up.

Soon the feeling of anxiety melted away as she began to climb. It actually wasn’t as bad as she’d been thinking, and she found herself enjoying the view by the end. She’d only been half-serious about a race, which made the fact that it ended up being a draw satisfying enough.

Finally, they both returned to the ground and unbuckled themselves from their harnesses and helmets before heading back to where they’d been sitting before with identical grins on their faces.

“Okay, that wasn’t the worst,” Asher conceded, propping himself up with his hands on either side of him. “Did you enjoy that?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Lila replied genuinely. “I’m glad we tried it. Though, I probably won’t make it my hobby or anything.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much one-and-done with that activity,” Asher laughed.

They watched on as more of their classmates joined in on the abseiling activity, commenting here and there. Before long, the activity wrapped up, with no more volunteers left (none of them being Isaac, Elise or Grace), and they were instructed to continue along the trail to the next campsite.

This journey was far shorter – likely to account for any tired individuals who had also decided to abseil – and Lila was relieved when the hike was over. As it had been for the previous few days, a pile of tents were waiting for them to set up.

Elise kept giving Lila sideways looks as the girls set up their tent in their designated sleeping area in sustained silence. Keeping her mouth shut to prevent asking Elise why she kept looking at Lila was extremely difficult, but she was glad to walk away from their tent having managed this feat.

Their final activity for the day commenced shortly after lunch, which involved another walk – this time, past all the tents and towards the back of the property – before they were greeted with many piles of twigs and some plastic bottles.

For their crash course in survival skills, Henry was the main speaker. It was clear that this was Henry’s domain, and he explained that their afternoon would be filled with survival fire lighting skills, water procurement, emergency signalling and navigation and emergency first aid.

They were broken up into groups of three, which worried Lila as their classmates quickly found themselves in the requisite groups. To her surprise, though, Isaac joined Asher and Lila, who were standing somewhat awkwardly to the side.

“Not grouping up with Elise and Grace?” Lila asked curiously. Isaac shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Nah. By the time I turned around, they’d already made a trio with Amy.”

“That kinda sucks,” Asher replied sympathetically.

“For them, maybe. I did all this stuff as a Boy Scout. We’ll smash through this.”

“Are you impatient?” Lila queried as they shuffled closer to the rest of the groups and sat down.

“Nah, just a show-off,” Isaac responded, his tone teasing as he leaned back on the palms of his hands. “It’s hard to get opportunities to shine like this when your best bud is the Dux. Just watch and learn, suckers.”

“Isaac, you do know that you shine far more than I do in many things, right?” Asher asked, raising an eyebrow. “Have you seen me try and draw a smiley face?”

Isaac snorted. “Yeah, you do suck at art. Like, absolutely suck at it. Like, as in you have two left hands-”

“Okay, you didn’t need to go that far.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The trio shared a laugh – or perhaps it was closer to a guffaw – before the counsellors shushed the students. It seemed that they were ready to commence. Without delay, Henry began demonstrating the survival skills that he highlighted in his opening segment before letting the students have a go.

Isaac was quite right – he was a show-off, and he was efficient at the tasks given to them by Henry. Though he was fast, he did take the time to explain to Asher and Lila what he was doing with more depth than Henry did, and Lila definitely felt more learned with Isaac’s supplementary explanations.

It ended up being a pleasant afternoon and Lila was almost sad to pack up by the end. She could see why being a Boy Scout had attracted Isaac years ago – not that she’d sign herself up for it. One afternoon was enough.

Once they were back at the main campsite, having been released for free time before dinner, Lila could feel that there was something different in the air. As she considered why this might be, she settled on the idea that perhaps everyone was starting to feel a certain type of way about having to go home tomorrow morning.

“Just going to grab a book,” Isaac said to Lila and Asher, who both nodded in response. He headed off to the boys’ tents without another word and Lila glanced around to see where Elise and Grace were.

She spotted them making their way towards the girls’ tents and she sighed, taking a seat on a spare bit of tarp.

“That’s a big sigh,” Asher commented, sitting beside her.

“It is,” Lila conceded glumly. “After talking to Grace, it really halted Mission Cupid.”

Asher laughed, gently nudging her with his shoulder. “You reckon?”

“Well, I’ve hardly spent time with Elise and Isaac together,” Lila frowned. “Hard to match ‘em up if they’re not in the same place. After all, Isaac allegedly likes Anika.”

Asher shook his head in apparent disappointment before saying, “While it’s true that it’s difficult to play matchmaker when they’re not together, I think Isaac’s spent plenty of time with Elise on this trip – so it’s not all gone to waste.”

Lila pursed her lips. “Yeah, I guess. Do you think she might’ve noticed that he’s been hanging around her?”

Asher shrugged, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Beats me. I’m not that close to her. Do you think she’s noticed that he’s been choosing her to go to?”

“Hmm…” Lila contemplated this before looking back at him. “She’s probably almost too focused on the fact that he’s near her, rather than thinking that he’s specifically going out of his way to do it so he can be close to her – even if it’s subconscious. Plus, I think she’s worried about Grace.”

Asher looked at her for a moment before turning his head to face his feet. “Are you going to try to talk to Grace again? Before we go back to school?”

Lila flopped backwards onto the tarp with a small wince, given the stone that had made its presence known in her right shoulder blade. She didn’t move again, instead attempting to focus on her opinion on the matter.

“I mean… Grace is the one who told me to leave her alone,” Lila muttered. “So, shouldn’t she be the one to approach me?”

“Well… I know I said to give it some time when we first talked about it, but do you want to leave it for next week?”

“I don’t know… I mean, what would I even say?”

“You said before that you wanted to check in on her. You could start there. Look, I’m not saying you have to. I just… don’t like seeing you so sad, every time you look over at them.”

Lila pressed her hands over her eyelids. She couldn’t help it, not by a long shot, but hearing him say it like that was kind of embarrassing. She’d brought it on to herself, after all. Did she really have any business looking so sad?

“I’ll… think about it,” she said, slowly removing her hands. “I don’t want to push her too far away from me.”

“I know.”

“But… maybe she needs me to check in on her. To remind her that I’m still her friend.”

“It’s possible.”

Lila blinked up at him. “Don’t have anything more concrete than that?”

“Shit outta luck,” Asher replied with a lazy grin. “Wish I did. I’ve never had the pleasure of being in this situation before.”

Lila exhaled deeply. “I guess knowing you don’t have anything more concrete also helps me feel like I’m not supposed to know the answers.”

“Glad my uselessness is useful.”

She nudged him with her knee and he returned the nudge in kind. “I don’t think I’d ever consider you useless,” she said softly after a few moments, her gaze drifting to the sky, which had begun to fall into a myriad of reds, oranges and violets.

“You might be the first.”

Lila gave him a sharp look, expecting him to look playful. Instead, he looked gravely serious.

“Surely Isaac doesn’t consider you useless.”

“Perhaps… I’m overgeneralising. But… sometimes I wonder if he’d stick around if I wasn’t… well, smart and rich.”

“I think you’re being paranoid.”

He lowered himself onto the tarp so that he was lying next to her. “Probably. But… at least, you’re the first that makes me feel like… I can trust that fully. I know he took his time to ask for help with that whole fiasco last term, but he still turned to me in the end.”

“I thought that was more to let it out, rather than to ask you to pay it off. You kinda took it upon yourself to do that.”

“I know.” He paused before whispering, “I might’ve been afraid that if I didn’t, he’d drop me.”

“Asher… have you talked to him about that?”

“Definitely not.”

“Maybe you should.”

“But what if I do and I feel like he’s lying to me?”

“Asher, this is Isaac we’re talking about. He’s a bit too honest.”

“He managed to hide his… situation. That amount isn’t something that happens from one bad day.”

Lila didn’t have much of a rebuttal to this. So, she didn’t speak, for quite a while. Then, she asked, “Is this really how you feel, or are you just trying to protect yourself?”

“I… don’t know.”

“I really don’t think you need to doubt Isaac. He’s been a good friend to you for ages. Friendship is two-way. Sure, you’ve helped him out of a bind or two, but hasn’t he helped you in return without expecting anything?”

“… yeah.”

“There you go.”

He tapped his leg briefly before sighing. “I know logically that Isaac is a true friend to me, and I don’t need to feel paranoid that it’s all an act. But I just get so in my head sometimes. I hate feeling insecure like this.”

“I think it’d be rare to find someone who doesn’t feel that way from time to time. Sometimes it’s helpful to separate out what thoughts are based in reality, and what is coming from fear or intrusiveness. Are any of your doubts based on reality? I mean… he hid that he was in trouble, but so what? We’ve hidden a lot from our friends all year.” She gave him a meaningful look – one that she hoped conveyed the fact that Asher still hadn’t told Isaac that his Mum was missing, and had been since December. It seemed to land, given the tight grimace that he gave her in response. “Doesn’t mean they’re disingenuous or that your whole friendship is fake.”

Lila was well aware that this advice she was giving Asher could apply to her and Grace, but she didn’t want to confront that idea just yet.

“You’re right, as usual… sorry. I was trying to help you, and you helped me instead,” he said after a few seconds of silence.

“You’ve helped me plenty – even just by being here.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Of course I’m sure.”

Neither spoke for several seconds. Then, just as Lila contemplated closing her eyes and drifting off, she was interrupted by Isaac, who leaned over the both of them.

“Looking cosy,” he uttered, taking his book out from under his arm. He fell into a seated position beside Asher. “What were you guys doing after I left?”

“Making out,” Asher replied tonelessly. “It was a whole show and everything. Think we even got scored on our performance.”

Isaac hit Asher’s chest with the spine of his book, causing a tiny “Oof” to escape Asher’s lips. “I’ll sit between you two if you keep saying stuff like that.”

“He’s not lying,” Lila interjected just as tonelessly. “I’ve got detention until the end of the school year. And I’m being sent home after dinner.”

“You’re joking,” Isaac sounded completely shocked, his book falling to his lap. “Seriously.”

“Dead serious,” Asher replied frankly.

“I think my burial plot’s been bought,” Lila added. “Mum and Dad aren’t happy.”

“Nah, nah, nah,” Isaac’s voice sounded panicked as he waved around his book towards the two of them, which Lila could only partially see since she was lying down and Isaac was still sitting.

“Just teasing you,” Asher said, patting Isaac’s knee. “We were only chatting.”

“Oh, thank God. Thought I was going to have to throw hands with some teachers.”

Lila smiled, stretching her arms out in front of her. The relief in those words was certainly strong – surely strong enough to get rid of Asher’s fears for the moment. She really didn’t think Asher had anything to worry about when it came to Isaac, especially with his reaction to their teasing. She met Asher’s amused gaze before quickly looking away to avoid laughing.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, with Lila watching the rapid melding of colours in the sky until stars twinkled into existence against the now inky expanse.

Then, Isaac closed his book with an air of finality, prompting Lila and Asher to glance at him.

“You finished it?” Asher asked idly.

“Barely started,” Isaac replied, setting it down beside him. “Can’t read anything anymore anyway. Wish I had my iPad.”

Lila suddenly had an ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach as Isaac’s eyes appeared to glint in the semi-darkness at them both, like a cat that had spotted its prey.

“So… what happened with Grace?”

Lila groaned, covering her eyes with her hands yet again. Asher sighed with a similar amount of misery.

“What makes you think something did happen?” Asher asked after a beat passed.

“Uh, that,” Isaac replied plainly.

“We just had a talk with her,” Asher replied vaguely.

“Sure. But it must’ve been bad.”

“It’s… private,” Lila stated reluctantly.

“I can get behind that. But none of you have looked okay after it. It’s… worried me.”

“Even me?” Asher’s tone was bemused. Lila lowered her hands to look up at his confused expression.

“Yeah dude,” Isaac confirmed. “You’ve just generally been on edge.”

“I… have?”

“You don’t think I’d notice after how many years of friendship? You seem better when you’re with Lila, but otherwise, you keep swaying as if you want to pace but you’re stopping yourself. Not to mention how antsy you were last night when going to bed.”

Understanding brightened Asher’s face. “Oh. No, it’s not about that.”

“What, then?”

“Nothing.”

Lila guessed that Asher was referring to the outcome of the investigation her Dad was finalising. Though Grace was important, she couldn’t blame Asher for worrying more about the investigation. Isaac narrowed his eyes at Asher.

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked. Lila heard Asher’s breath hitch in his throat. Her heart began to race as she tried to anticipate what Asher would say in response. If… her Dad’s investigation had progressed in the way they thought it did, then it would probably be okay for Asher to tell Isaac – but should she suggest it when Isaac was sitting right there?

“I trust you,” Asher said finally. “I do. At the same time… I think… well, I’ll tell you later.”

Isaac tilted his head in apparent confusion. “What does that even mean?”

“It means…” Asher met Lila’s eyes before looking back at Isaac, “I will tell you. Later.”

“What’s the difference between later and now?”

“I… just need to sort it out in my head,” Asher sighed again. “Once that’s done, I can tell you what I’ve been so worried about lately.”

Isaac seemed dissatisfied with this response. But, instead of arguing, he just nodded. “Alright. Well. I only wanted to check in and see if you were okay since you’ve been avoiding Grace like the plague over the past couple of days.”

“It’s a bit of both,” Asher murmured. “She’s avoiding us, too.”

“I’ll give you that.”

“What has she said?” Lila asked, her voice almost inaudible.

“Just… that you got into a disagreement about something.”

There was something in the way that Isaac’s voice wavered that made her think there was more to the story.

“Are you sure that’s it?” she pressed.

“Yeah. More or less.”

“What’s the more?”

Isaac pursed his lips. “Basically, she said that you don’t like her partner.”

It was a lot closer to what actually happened than the explanation Grace had given Elise immediately after the canoe trip. Had Elise picked up on the discrepancy, or had Grace managed to corner Isaac on her own to tell him that?

“That’s not necessarily wrong,” Lila murmured.

“That makes it seem like there’s something else,” Isaac replied pointedly, with the faintest touch of impatience.

“Like I said, it’s private.”

“Did you meet them or something?”

Lila winced. She was beyond tempted to say that she had and that Isaac probably had too. But she settled for a non-committal, “Or something.”

Isaac gave a heavy, long-suffering sigh before flopping onto the ground next to Asher and using his hands as pillows in classic Isaac fashion.

“Don’t tell Grace or Elise that I told you, but Grace is regretting how she’s been acting,” he said softly. “She’s been preparing for you to want to cut her off.”

“I’d never,” Lila replied instant, sitting up in alarm.

“I’ve told her that. Elise did too.”

Lila clasped her hands together, squeezing them gently. What should she do now? She anxiously looked at Asher, who gave her a small, comforting smile.

“It’s a good sign,” he nodded.

She whipped her head behind her, trying to spot Grace and Elise, but they weren’t in her line of sight. Should she talk to Grace?

“What should I do?” Lila asked, pressing her hands together again.

“From my unenlightened perspective,” Isaac responded, having not moved a centimetre from his position and squinting up at her, “I’d wait.”

Lila’s posture deflated slightly. Wait?

“I don’t think she’s finished thinking about it all,” Isaac elaborated. “She only mentioned it today when you guys were abseiling. Which, come to think of it, why did you?” Isaac seemed to be addressing Asher directly with this question.

“Can’t a guy abseil without being interrogated?” Asher quipped.

“Sure,” Isaac snorted, “but never in a million years did I think you’d go for it.”

“Neither, to be honest. I’ve been trying a lot of new things this year, though. May as well keep it up.”

“Didn’t realise that having a heart attack was on that list.”

“No wonder – didn’t have one.”

Isaac chortled. “You really have changed. At the beginning of the year, before you two got paired up, I thought it was for the worse. You looked like death, man. Now, though, I think it’s been for the better.”

Lila saw Asher’s eyebrow twitch involuntarily. She suddenly wanted to ask if he was ever going to tell Isaac about his Mum’s disappearance, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” Asher finally said after a couple moments.

“Not sure either,” Isaac replied candidly.

The trio fell silent which was only interrupted by the announcement of dinner’s arrival. Lila eagerly headed over to the food, glad to have something else to distract her from Isaac’s comments.

She spotted Grace and Elise making their way over from the tents and scuttled away with her plate of food, back to where she’d been sitting with Asher and Isaac. Though she wanted to talk to Grace after learning Isaac’s information, she also trusted his advice to wait.

Isaac joined Lila and Asher for dinner, and their discussions mainly revolved around their upcoming assessments, now that returning to reality was upon them.

Eventually, Lila started to feel exhausted. She headed towards the tents, turning back only to find Asher hurriedly walking over.

“I’ll walk you as far as I can,” he said in a low voice, his hands in his pockets. “Damn, it’s cold away from the fire.”

“You can go sit by the fire,” Lila yawned, waving vaguely in that direction. “Don’t mind me.”

“I’m minding,” Asher countered. “Minding very much, all the time.”

It took a moment for Lila to figure out what he meant by that, though it resulted in a blush when she finally understood. Knowing that she was on his mind all the time made her heart skip a beat and she absently touched the ‘A’ on her chest once more.

“Asher, I…” Could she say it? Had she found her courage under the stars, like her sister had suggested?

“You?” he asked after the pause stretched on for slightly too long.

“I… I, uh, think about you all the time, too.”

He grinned at her. “That makes me happier than you could know.”

Their eyes met. She felt like she could sink into the rich, warm gaze, filled with a tenderness that she’d come to love from him. She could say it, right? Right now?

“Oh, hey, Lila,” Cecelia’s voice pulled Lila’s eyes away from Asher’s and she looked over his shoulder at Cecelia. “You know, we’ve spent all week together, technically, but I haven’t managed to talk to you.”

Asher glanced at Cecelia and stepped aside. Cecelia looped her arm with Lila’s before Lila could react.

“Goodnight, lover boy. Sorry for stealing your girlfriend,” Cecelia called as she walked forwards, taking Lila with her.

In some respects, Lila was relieved. She hadn’t found her courage, after all.

“So,” Cecelia’s excited, bubbly voice brought a smile to Lila’s face, “how’s camp been? I noticed that you’ve been sticking by Asher this whole time.”

“It’s… been pretty eventful,” Lila replied. “How’s it been for you? Missing Lucas?”

“Like crazy,” Cecelia huffed. “How dare he be in 11A! I’ll have to rip him a new one for that.”

Lila laughed and Cecelia laughed along with her. It was this that she’d been missing from Grace and Elise over the past couple of days – talking and giggling about nonsense.

“You two seem really close, though,” Cecelia observed, slowing down as they approached her tent, which was a few spots before Lila’s. “Gotten any further?”

“Nope,” Lila sighed. “Well, not… physically.”

“Ooh, emotionally?”

“I guess,” Lila felt her face begin to warm up, and was glad for the cover of darkness which aided in hiding it from Cecelia. “I was about to… tell him I love him, back there.”

Cecelia stopped dead in her tracks. “WHAT! And you just let me take you? Let’s go back-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Lila insisted, removing her arm from Cecelia’s. “I lost my courage anyway.”

“Damn, I’m sorry. You should’ve, I dunno, told me to piss off or something.”

“I’m being serious – it’s fine. I’ll tell him some other time.”

Cecelia huffed again, before giving Lila a wide beam. “I’m actually beyond happy for you, you know. After everything you went through… even though you couldn’t tell him tonight, I’m sure he feels it too. It seems like it, anyway, with the way he was looking at you just now. You’ll get there, I’m sure.”

“Have you told Lucas you love him?”

“’Course. Like, after a week,” Cecelia gave a breezy laugh. “We kinda steamrolled ahead with our relationship, though. It just felt right, and he said it at the same time anyway. We’d been… actually, I don’t think I’ll tell you that story.”

She looked bashful enough for Lila to get the hint.

“Anyway, I’m pretty tired,” Cecelia said hurriedly, shutting down any opportunity for Lila to probe further – not that she wanted to. “Faster I go to bed, faster I can see Lucas. I’m so glad that they’re just dropping us off in the morning and the school’s letting us go home. You doing anything with Asher after?”

“Yeah, we’re going to go to a café near his place, then probably hang out at his for a while.”

Cecelia beamed again, nudging Lila with her elbow. “Sounds like that could be a good time. You’ll need to tell me if you do when we have Bio next.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Lila smiled. “If I manage it.”

“Good luck! And goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Cecelia.”

With that, Cecelia disappeared into her tent and Lila toddled off to her own, a small smile still on her face. Even just the small amount of girl talk with Cecelia put her in a good enough mood to be able to ease her into sleep – especially since neither Grace nor Elise were in the tent just yet. Plus, like Cecelia had said – the faster Lila went to sleep, the faster she’d be able to hang out with Asher without anyone else around.