Chapter One Hundred and Seven

Thursday was yet another dreary winter’s day. Lila didn’t bother opening her umbrella on her way to English first thing that morning, despite being drizzled on.

Asher, on the other hand, was pacing outside their classroom underneath his umbrella, which bopped in time to his footsteps. It didn’t even seem like he noticed her presence, what with how absorbed in his own thoughts he appeared.

She stood there, a few metres away, her heart thumping in her chest. After her conversations with Clare and Daniel, she’d managed to put Asher and his weird behaviour, plus her recent odd, overwhelming and borderline obsession with sex, out of her mind. But seeing him just ahead of her, his face scrunched in clear rumination, and uniform sitting untidily on his frame in all the right places, made it all come flooding back with force. She was tempted to turn around and call in sick to Sickbay, but before she could do so, his eyes locked onto hers.

‘Uh oh,’ she thought as he drew closer to her, a handsome, joyful smile on his face. ‘I’m in trouble now.’

“Morning,” he said happily, extending his umbrella so it shielded her from the light rain.

‘Oh my God, he’s close,’ Lila observed internally, trying to will herself not to panic, or at least blush.

“M-Morning,” she stammered, pulling her blazer around herself for comfort.

“Are you cold?” he immediately asked, stepping even closer to her. She took a small step back, but not before inhaling his scent. She closed her eyes, her heart kicking it up a notch and running a mile a minute.

“You look cold,” he said softly. “Should we go inside?”

“Y-Yeah. If it’s open.”

Asher again lifted the umbrella high above them both and gestured for Lila to head inside. She swiftly entered, scuttling along to her usual desk and sitting down, already placing her requisite materials on her desk by the time Asher joined her.

“Eager?” he smirked, pulling out his own materials.

“Could say that,” Lila replied vaguely, turning her head so he couldn’t really see her cherry-red face. Somehow, her thoughts had increased in intensity, her curiosity having ramped up tenfold by the prospect of doing things that she’d never done before with her body. What would it feel like? Would it be painful? From her research, it would seem that it felt “good”, but what did that even mean?

She definitely didn’t want to expose her search history to Asher, by mistake or otherwise. Once she’d woken up from her nap last night, she’d been sucked into a rabbit hole of articles, advice and anecdotes regarding losing one’s virginity – and whether or not that was an outdated misnomer, or even something to value in this day and age.

She’d hoped, evidently erroneously so, that doing some light research would satiate her wondering mind enough to be at ease next to Asher. But all it seemed to have done was alight the fire of desire within her. Desire to explore the answers she was seeking – with him. His sturdy, capable-looking hands would probably caress her quite nicely, his long, slender fingers brushing against her from her neck down-

“Lila?”

Lila jolted, coughing slightly. Asher’s golden-brown eyes were wide with concern, looking intently into her own.

“Y-Yes?” she squeaked, readjusting herself in her chair so she was angled away from him.

“I was wondering whether you’d chosen your poems yet,” he replied, batting his eyelids in bemusement. “Is everything okay? You went really red all of a sudden.”

“D-Did I?” Lila pressed her lips together, looking down at her hands. She’d need to Google how to stop thinking intrusive, sexually-charged thoughts about her best friend when she had a spare moment.

“Sorry,” Asher said reflexively. “I didn’t mean to point it out.”

“I-It’s okay,” Lila replied, pulling her hair to the side as if to insulate her from his intense gaze. “I’ve… just got a lot on my mind.”

“Anything I can help with?”

‘God, yes.’ “No, not really. Just… trying to wrap my head around all these new assignments. They seem so much harder this term.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. I think it’s probably because they’re building on content from earlier on in the year that we’re rusty on. You can bring your stuff over sometime and we can study together.”

“Yeah,” Lila sighed. It probably would be the only thing she’d get up to at Asher’s place, besides gaming and watching videos. Her visit may as well be productive. “I’ll bring some stuff this weekend.”

“W-Well, you don’t need to this weekend,” Asher said, shifting his posture and swallowing audibly. “It’s a bit soon for study.”

“I feel like you’ve never said that in your life,” Lila replied, cracking a smile. He looked uncertainly at her before mirroring her smile.

“You’re not wrong,” he confessed. “I typically study as soon as possible once I know what to study for. But… I don’t mind taking it slowly this term. Especially if we’re going to study together. Two heads are better than one, and all that.”

“I see…” Lila trailed off. It made sense, in theory, but… there was still something a bit off about Asher. He seemed rather fidgety – more so than usual. Was he anxious about something?

“How was going back home?” Lila asked in a low murmur, her eyes following Ms Shard’s entry into the classroom. Ms Shard set herself up at the projector as Asher crossed his arms across his chest.

“It was… fine,” he finally said as Ms Shard victoriously clapped at the appearance of her PowerPoint upon the white projector screen. “I think Gabriel and Dad figured out what it was that needed to be figured out. At least, Gabriel didn’t seem so mad anymore. And he seemed to be getting back to his cheery self. I mean, he smiled at me, at least. Hadn’t done that all week.”

“It, at least, sounds better. I… was thinking about Gabriel’s point, though. The one about why your Dad hasn’t helped you. I’m guessing your Dad hasn’t spoken to you?”

Asher shook his head, a glimmer of a contemptuous smile passing through his lips. “Not at all.”

Lila couldn’t add to that as Ms Shard commenced the lesson with an excited, flamboyant trill. It seemed that poems were Ms Shard’s area of interest as she started to break down what a poem was and could be with vigour.

It was a lesson that Lila sorely needed – and, thankfully, this need beat her other thoughts back enough that she could concentrate. Every now and then, she would glimpse Asher smiling at her, but he would look away as soon as he realised she was looking at him. Yet again, his odd behaviour crept into the back of her mind – but she couldn’t begin to dissect it, lest she miss something important from Ms Shard.

With a pounding head and burning, cramping hands, Lila was grateful for the class to be over. She’d written so many notes, even though they were on her laptop, that she thought her wrists were alarmingly close to falling off.

Asher walked with Lila to the STEM block with barely a peep, even about their English assignment. Strangely, though, Lila didn’t mind – she was more focused on how to click her wrists in the best way to minimise the pain she was feeling. Maths was next, after all. She’d definitely need to be functional to work through the new concepts Ms Wang was introducing.

They slowed down around the usual spot where Isaac would meet them, but it looked like he hadn’t arrived yet. Asher checked his phone before slipping it back into his pocket. Lila idly rotated her hands, wincing from the dull ache.

“Are your wrists bothering you?” he asked, his tone softened with worry.

“Kinda,” Lila lamented, looking down at them in distaste. “Dunno how I’m going to do my Maths exercises next.”

“Here,” Asher said quietly, reaching out his hand. Lila stared at it for a moment, unsure what he was wanting. It seemed like he was asking her to give him something. Then, with a rush of heat emanating from her head to her toes, Lila thought she knew what he was asking for.

She tentatively extended her hands out to his, and he grasped them both. She’d been right – his hands were sturdy. He firmly pressed down onto her palms before moving up to her wrists, gently rotating them. His eyes were entirely focussed on this task, and Lila felt, aside from the relief from his massage, tingles dancing underneath her skin, trailing from where he’d touched her.

She’d forgotten how to breathe as he continued to work, moving up to her fingers. His warmth, despite the incredibly cold air enveloping them, relaxed her hands even further. Her fingers twitched involuntarily, and she caught a smirk flash upon his face before it was overtaken by an expression of concentration.

“Hey guy- whoa, what’s going on here?” Isaac’s voice caused both Asher and Lila to jump away from each other. Her face was burning red-hot, and she raised her hands to her cheeks. Asher’s face was a deep crimson as well, his expression looking as though he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been.

“A-Asher was helping me,” Lila offered after a second of awkward silence. Isaac’s confused eyes met hers and he snickered.

“He was, was he?” Isaac asked suggestively.

“M-My wrists were sore,” Lila continued. Isaac turned to Asher, horror mixed with intrigue across his face.

“Took a lot of notes in English,” Asher replied bluntly, elbowing Isaac in the side. “C’mon, let’s get to Chem, dumbass.”

“T-Thank you,” Lila said hurriedly as the boys began to walk away. Asher turned to face her, a satisfied smile on his face.

“No worries,” he replied. “Sometimes it feels better when someone else massages you. See you at lunch.”

“See you then,” Lila responded, returning Isaac’s wave goodbye, before a goofy smile appeared on her face. She looked down at her hands, the fingertips pink with the residual warmth from Asher. He was definitely right. That felt… really nice. She briefly wondered how it would feel to interlock their fingers together as she flexed her hands.

‘Shut up,’ she chastised herself, pulling her bookbag on her shoulder. ‘Get to class, idiot.’

----------------------------------------

Morning tea was again without Grace, and again spent meandering around the school campus with Elise, linking arms and complaining about assignments.

Eventually, though, as they passed through the Performing Arts area of their campus, Lila became grave.

“Elise, I have a bone to pick with you,” she confessed, unlinking her arm from Elise’s.

“Oh?” Elise replied, looking both incredibly clueless and guilty. “What’d I do?”

“You,” Lila began before dropping her voice down to a whisper, “incited something.”

“… In…cited something?” Elise frowned, halting in her steps as she evidently tried to process what Lila had said. “… Violence?”

“Not violence,” Lila huffed. “I… can’t stop thinking.”

“About?”

Lila shifted awkwardly, suddenly feeling rather hot by her chest and face. “… Asher.”

“How did I incite that?” Elise laughed incredulously. “Feels like you did that perfectly on your own.”

“No,” Lila replied in exasperation. “It’s… it’s different.”

“Lila, I’m gonna need more clues than what you’re putting down,” Elise raised an eyebrow, her stance commanding a response.

“… Hey, shouldn’t Grace be around here?” Lila swiftly said, casting her eyes around, having suddenly decided that the thoughts she was having about Asher were far too embarrassing to express to Elise.

“Don’t change the topic. You can’t say you have a bone to pick with me and then back down,” Elise asserted.

‘Knew it wouldn’t work,’ Lila thought ruefully.

“Ever since you asked about… whether I’ve thought about banging Asher, or how long I’d wait to bang him, it’s all I can think about. I want my life back. Why’d you do that to me? How do I make it stop?”

Elise stared at Lila for a moment before breaking down into hearty, gasping laughter, clutching the sides of her stomach. Lila watched on in dismay, her hope for an answer rapidly dwindling with each rattling breath Elise took.

Eventually, Elise calmed down enough to stand up straight, the wide smile on her face the only remaining hint of her fit.

“Gee, Lila, I didn’t realise I’d started something,” Elise said breathlessly, wiping at her eyes. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yes,” Lila bemoaned. “He keeps trying to talk to me but I can’t even hear what he’s saying, I’m too into what’s going on up here.” She tapped her head for emphasis. “I can’t keep going on like this, especially since we’re not dating.”

“Whoa,” Elise blinked. “You’re, like, really upset about this.”

“Yeah. He’s my best friend. How am I meant to just hang out with him when I’m like this? He’s driving me insane by literally just existing,” Lila threw her hands up in the air in defeat before making a sound of utter discontent at her plight.

“… Honestly, if you figure out a way, let me know,” Elise sighed after a moment of silence. “I can’t stop thinking about Isaac in that way, either.”

“So that’s why you mentioned it,” Lila glared at Elise, before quickly dispelling her harsh expression.

“Sorry,” Elise said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to cause you grief like this.”

“Look, I know it’s not your fault. You can’t control my thoughts. My main gripe, I guess, is that I can’t do anything about it,” Lila confessed. “Maybe… if I could get it out of my system, it’d go away.”

Elise gave her a tight smile, seeming about to say something before shrugging, looking towards the auditorium. “Maybe. I wouldn’t know. Well, there’s one way you could probably ‘get it out of your system’, but that’s incredibly temporary.”

Lila didn’t need any further explanation than that. She brought a hand to her forehead, as if the pressure would relieve the burgeoning headache she was feeling.

“Best I can offer is that you distract yourself,” Elise suggested. “If it’s really too much, you should probably avoid him.”

“I have PE with him after PC,” Lila pouted. “Can’t really avoid him.”

“I mean, you could get on a different team to him or sit out or something.”

Lila sighed. “Yeah. I’ll try at least one of those options.”

She folded her arms across her chest, thinking further about what to do. No ideas were coming to mind, though… of course, consent was a two-way street. Even if she wanted to do those things with Asher, he probably wouldn’t want to. Especially after he’d rejected Holly for six months… maybe he’d remain celibate for the rest of his life?

Lila shook her head. That much was probably dramatic. Her eyes met Elise’s and Elise gave her a pitying smile.

“Let’s distract you. We’re right here, so maybe we can find Grace. She might be able to help – even if we just sit in the audience for her vocal lesson.”

“Well, I don’t have any other ideas.”

“Perfect.”

They took a peek into the auditorium, finding it absolutely empty – which wasn’t unexpected. It was morning tea, after all.

Outside the auditorium itself was an undercover square space with a squishy, protective rubbery centre. Dotted alongside the square were a variety of classrooms and the entrance to an office building, within which were private vocal rooms and the offices of the Performing Arts teachers. Elise and Lila shuffled along to each of the classrooms, peering through every window they could find. Again, these were empty.

“Well, only option we’ve got left is the office building,” Lila mumbled.

“Should be open,” Elise nodded. “Let’s have a look.”

They tentatively opened the squeaky glass door to the building. There wasn’t anyone wandering around the main lobby – at least they could take a look without getting in trouble, for now.

“Do you even know who her vocal coach is?” Lila whispered to Elise.

Elise shook her head. “Negatory.”

“Well, this’ll be finding a needle in a haystack.”

The offices themselves had a small window towards the top of the doors but it was mainly frosted. Only a small, two-centimetre gap of clear glass was around each of the window frames, below which was a small plaque indicating the teacher assigned to that particular office.

A few teachers were sitting at their desks, eating or looking through their school-issued computers. One had a male student sitting with them, seemingly deep in conversation. Lila and Elise wordlessly continued down the hallway, checking each office as best they could through the frosted glass but there was no Grace.

“Is she in any of the practice rooms?” Elise proposed, a slight, worried frown creasing her face.

“We can check,” Lila nodded. They carried on, deeper through the hallway, before turning the corner to find the four practice rooms. These doors didn’t have a window, but there was a small light above the doors indicating whether it was open or not. Each of the rooms’ light was green – which, to Lila, meant that they were all empty.

Wordlessly, Lila and Elise split up to inspect two rooms each. These doors were remarkably heavy – most likely due to the intense soundproofing that the school had installed for each of these practice rooms. As Lila predicted, the ones she checked were empty.

“Empty,” declared Elise, closing one room’s door with a disappointed sigh. “Man, I thought we’d get to hear some dope singing.”

“Same,” Lila turned to Elise, pressing her lips together as she considered the fact that these rooms were empty.

“You definitely didn’t see Grace anywhere, right?” Elise asked, also seeming to be considering this new information with a decent amount of thought.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Not at all,” Lila replied frankly. “But with the frosted glass or whatever for the offices, maybe she was somewhere out of sight. Or she might’ve gone for a bathroom break.”

“Well, guess there’s nothing else for us to do than to turn back and head to PC,” Elise shrugged. “Let’s go.”

They exited the building without much noise, successfully attracting exactly no attention to themselves. The path back to the locker room was much quieter, though Elise peppered Lila with questions here and there about upcoming assessments. It was obvious to Lila that Elise was trying to avoid talking about Asher as best she could, which Lila appreciated. In saying that, though, this wasn’t quite a distracting enough walk to rule out the impending return of her wild, untamed thoughts.

Upon entering PC, Lila and Elise heavily sat down at their customary table, waiting for Grace’s arrival. When she did, she appeared rather out of breath, which made sense considering how far the Performing Arts area of the school was.

“Hey guys,” Grace breathed, taking her usual seat.

“Hey,” smiled Lila, only half-listening to Ms Wang take the roll.

“How was your vocal lesson?” Elise asked with a smile of her own.

“Yeah, it was great,” Grace grinned, sucking in another heaving breath.

“We tried to find you,” Lila said matter-of-factly. “Must’ve missed you.”

“O-Oh,” Grace faltered for a second, her face turning extraordinarily pale. “You did, did you?”

“Yeah,” Elise concurred, the slightest of frowns creasing her brow. “You don’t look very well. Are you sick?”

“Must be,” Grace responded hurriedly, looking down at the desk. “I, um, had to go to the bathroom during my lesson. Tummy issues.”

“Ugh, tummy issues are the worst,” Lila groaned. “Do you need to go to sickbay?”

“I… should be okay, if I sit down for a bit,” Grace murmured, rubbing her stomach and leaning back in her chair. “If I do, can I ask you guys to come with me?”

“Of course,” Elise nodded firmly. “Just let us know.”

Grace remained quiet for the rest of PC, though the colour did slowly seep back into her face. Lila and Elise spent much of the lesson concocting theories about the next episode of the TV show they were watching, with some light mention of other students in their lives. It was distracting enough that Lila didn’t think about Asher more than four times – a success, given her previous track record of constantly thinking about him.

That all changed, of course, once she was sitting on the basketball court in the gymnasium, clad in her PE gear. With a long-suffering sigh, Asher plopped down next to her, his scent wafting over to her more intensely than usual.

“What do you reckon it’s gonna be this time?” he asked in a low murmur, leaning back on his hands and looking directly at her face.

“Dunno,” Lila replied, uneasily looking away, her heartbeat steadily increasing in speed and strength.

“Hope it’s dodgeball,” Asher grinned, flopping backwards onto the court, using his hands as a pillow.

“Good news, Asher,” Ms Wright called as she stepped over his prone form, a bundle of vests in her arms. “Your wish is my command.”

“Yes,” he breathed, sitting up with keen interest in his sparkling eyes.

“I didn’t know you were a fan of dodgeball,” Lila said, carefully watching Ms Wright make her way to the front of the class. If she just kept her eyes elsewhere, her thoughts surely wouldn’t escalate.

“I wasn’t until I realised that if we get out super early, we can just bum around for the rest of class,” he replied, his broad smile immediately attracting her attention. Her eyelids fluttered for a second before she tore her eyes away from him, opting instead to look at her knees.

‘Looks like I’m gonna have to be the last one standing,’ Lila thought dejectedly. While she loved dodgeball, being part of the last few remaining students was always needlessly awkward and people would eventually tap themselves out, instead of being taken out in the spirit of the game.

At the very least, from Lila’s previous knowledge of Asher and dodgeball, he seemed to be taken out relatively early. With the flurry of dodgeballs zooming past her, and his absence, she’d probably survive PE without those troubling intrusive thoughts.

That was what Lila had supposed before being smacked in the face with a dodgeball, tossed right from Asher’s hands as part of the opposing team, within the first five minutes of the game.

“Asher, what’d I say about the face?” Ms Wright shouted, blowing sharply on her whistle. Ms Wright looked like she wanted to approach Lila, but Lila waved her off. A smattering of chuckles and ‘Ooohs’ echoed around Lila as she walked off the court, somewhat in shock, and sat down along the ‘out’ side.

Asher jogged over to Lila, after clearly annoying Ms Wright about it.

He began to apologise profusely, his face as white as the markings along the basketball court, before Lila halted him with a raised hand.

“Don’t worry about it,” she mumbled, refusing to look any further at him. “Go enjoy the match.”

“I-I know you really enjoy dodgeball, though,” he added, a desperate edge to his voice. “Sorry I ruined it for you. I was actually trying to aim for Connor.”

Lila smirked half-heartedly. “You and everyone else.”

“He’s a slippery bitch, that one,” Asher said playfully. “Manages to stay in for ages.”

“Go,” Lila said softly, waving him off. “I better not see you until you get out legitimately. And don’t throw yourself into a ball to get out quicker.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Asher replied seriously, turning back towards the game.

Now that she was ‘out’ and Asher had returned, Lila looked up, watching the match intently. She hugged her knees close to her chest as her eyes followed Asher’s movements. He looked to be enjoying himself as he dodged and weaved through the onslaught of balls being tossed his way. Without meaning to, Lila felt her mouth curve into a smile. She loved seeing him enjoy himself-

‘Love?’

Lila straightened her posture as she considered this. Was ‘love’ too strong a word in this scenario?

‘You can love many things… like chocolate,’ she reassured herself, relaxing her shoulders. She was being silly. She liked Asher, sure, but love? That was a step way down the line – for after they started dating.

She was still perturbed by how easily the word came to her when concerning Asher, but tried to pay it no mind. She trained her eyes back onto the game, looking to see who was left. A few more people had joined her on the ‘out’ side, with some chatting breezily amongst themselves, and others sulkily clutching where they’d been hit.

As she looked between the people around her and those left on the field, however, Lila noticed that someone was absent – Ayla. Had Ayla been called for during roll call? Lila couldn’t remember – she’d been too focused on trying to remember how to breathe with Asher sitting so close to her.

Had Ayla changed schools, perhaps? This was the third lesson that Lila was supposed to have shared with Ayla and she hadn’t seen Ayla in any of them.

Lila couldn’t recall hearing any particular rumours of interest over the past few days regarding Ayla – or anyone else, for that matter. Of course, with Ayla not being around (if that was the case), this lack of rumours was rather expected.

Lila wasn’t able to ponder any further than that as, with a loud, meaty slap, Asher was struck on his left thigh. He seemed winded as he awkwardly stumbled towards where Lila was sitting, though his face was brightened with a jovial smile on his face.

“Finally,” he said, sitting down next to Lila whilst still rubbing his thigh. “Did you see? I put effort in. Didn’t get out straight away.”

“I did see,” Lila confirmed with a sage nod. “I’m proud.”

He beamed at her. “Glad to hear it.”

They sat in a comfortable silence as they continued to watch the match. It wore on for quite some time at this stable number of participants, with no one getting out for the next five minutes.

Then –

“So… excited about Saturday?” Asher asked idly, looking up towards the roof of the gymnasium.

“Not really,” Lila confessed with a sigh. “Practice is going to suck. St Peters always manages to win against us, so Ms Wright usually trains us hard.”

“Tell me about it,” Asher replied. “This year it’ll be different, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“The new intake of boys into our team – they’re mini soccer monsters. It’s actually insane. So, I reckon we’re in for a very good match next Saturday – entertaining, if nothing else.”

“I don’t doubt the prowess of my teammates, but St Peters is just… better,” Lila murmured. “Must be something in their water.”

Asher laughed. “What, like they’re drinking performance enhancing drugs?”

Lila rolled her eyes before falling silent at what he said. He glanced uneasily at her.

“You don’t actually think-”

“No,” Lila shook her head firmly. “I… just remembered the Grade 12s again. What’re we gonna do about them?”

Asher sighed deeply. “I don’t know,” he stated. “I feel like they’d slip up when the Banker gets sanctioned.”

“So, you wanna wait until then to do some more digging?”

Asher met her eyes with an intense gaze – one that she couldn’t decipher. It’d been a while since she’d encountered one of those. Her breath hitched in her throat. She tried to look elsewhere, but his magnetic eyes commanded her attention. Was there… longing in that look, or was it her own reflecting in his eyes?

“I… think that’s for the best,” he finally muttered, releasing his gaze and looking towards his knees, his cheeks reddening.

‘What was that?’ Lila thought, clutching the front of her PE shirt, casting her eyes towards the game. She couldn’t concentrate on any of it, the beating of her heart rippling throughout her body like the echoes of a gong and drowning out any observations she could have made.

After a moment, she pulled her knees to her chest for comfort again before nodding. “… Okay.”

They sat in silence, the sounds of their classmates yelling and shouting amongst the chaos of squeaking shoes filling the lull in conversation between them.

The longer they sat there, however, the more aware of Asher’s warmth, his scent and his presence Lila felt. She tried to think about something – anything else – but this was interrupted by Asher himself.

“So… I, uh, know you have plans for this weekend,” his tone was somewhat awkward, “but what about next weekend? After the game.”

“I… didn’t really have plans for next weekend,” Lila replied, stubbornly looking at the floor. “But Daniel wanted some help.”

“Daniel? With what?”

“He’s planning to tell Mum and Dad… y’know. About the thing.”

Asher gave a low, incredulous whistle.

“Brave kid,” he nodded, a seemingly proud smile on his face. “So, I’m guessing he wants you to be in on the conversation too, huh?”

“… Yeah. Uh, I did see whether he wanted you to be there too, but I think he was unsure. He did say that he might need pointers from you, though.”

“Well, it’s not as though I’ve done anything like what he’s done – or done anything that I need to particularly confess to my parents about… ah… actually, maybe scratch that one. I’ve done a lot this year that might fall under that category. Not that I’m planning on confessing anything to my Dad.”

Lila chanced a peek at him. He looked thoughtful before his eyes flickered to hers and he gave her a lazy, charming grin – one that made her heart thump.

“I reckon I could whip something up for Daniel, though,” he said confidently. “I’ll have a think.”

“Thanks,” Lila smiled, looking back at the floor. “It’ll put his mind at ease.”

“Then I definitely need to think of something.”

Lila smiled again, though it was far fainter this time.

“… Everything okay?” he asked gently.

“Yeah,” Lila responded half-heartedly. “Just… thinking. I’m kinda worried about how our parents are going to react, when he tells them.”

“Did you want me to be there too?” his voice sounded hopeful – but surely Lila was imagining it.

“It’s up to Daniel,” Lila sighed. “And… I don’t want them to think badly of you.”

“Badly of me?”

“Well… while I’m not sure what Daniel’s actually going to say to them, the fact that you were helping him with it all is most likely going to come up. They… I dunno. They might think you were encouraging him or something.”

“I see…”

A short, sharp whistle blasted from the direction of the court, causing everyone to stare at the source. From what Lila could tell, Ms Wright was annoyed about another foul, so Lila rediverted her attention back to the floor.

“By the way… if you’re coming over on Saturday and Sunday, would you be staying the night?” Asher piped up once the squabbling on the court was stemmed.

“I… hadn’t thought about it,” Lila replied. “Do you think I should?”

“W-Well, I j-just thought it’d be easier,” Asher stuttered, his face a delicate rosy colour. “I mean, the sp-”

“Spare room’s made up,” Lila smirked. He returned her smirk with a nod.

“I’ll see,” Lila said. “No promises though.”

“I don’t want to pressure you, or anything, but… well, you’ve already stayed over. It’d… almost be a waste of time for you to go home only to come back the next day.”

“You drive a hard bargain,” Lila laughed. “Why, are you planning something?”

Asher froze. Then, his posture relaxed entirely as he shook his head. “No plans. Just… well. I thought we could take a stroll to the farmhouse this time. No rushing, all that.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Lila said softly.

“Besides,” Asher hurriedly added, sitting up straight, “we’re so close to finishing that game. I wanna see the ending – otherwise I’ll be thinking about it all term, and I won’t be productive.”

“Deal,” Lila chuckled. “Can’t have you thinking about irrelevant things, Mr Dux.”

“Exactly.”

The lightness of their conversation helped Lila feel more at ease, settling in next to Asher and commentating on the tail end of the dodgeball match. Somehow, Connor was still in, even though he was the main target. One of the guys stacked it spectacularly in an effort to toss a ball at his chest, causing a burst of applause and whooping from around the court.

“You know, I think we’re just contributing to Connor’s villain arc,” Lila commented idly, a half-smile on her face.

“Really seems like we’re just helping him get better, doesn’t it?” Asher agreed with a laugh. “If he wins this thing, even I could give him some credit for that.”

“I even think the fact that he’s made it this far deserves some credit on its own.” Lila paused, a horrifying epiphany crossing her mind. “Do you reckon this is bullying?”

Asher seemed to ponder this question for a moment before shaking his head. “If it was, Ms Wright would put a stop to it. Besides, do you see the insane smile he’s got going on?”

Asher’s observation was true – Connor looked to be having an incredibly good time, with the broadness of his smile and the determination in his eyes. Justin was cheering him on from the sidelines, which seemed to only strengthen Connor’s apparent resolve.

They watched on intently as the game continued, with some impressive dodges and dives being employed from all the remaining students. Lila was convinced that the game would just bleed into lunch, with there being no winners in the end.

Luckily, Lila didn’t have to see this eventuality – with mere minutes to spare, one of her classmates deftly decked the remaining students, resulting in a 1v1 standoff between themselves and Connor.

“Go Noah!” one of the girls called from the sidelines. Lila tried to see who had yelled, but couldn’t from this vantage point. From what Lila knew of ‘Noah’, he was decently popular – certainly a far cry from Connor.

Eventually, though, Connor mistakenly dodged right instead of left. With the unmistakable doof of the ball hitting his shoulder, the match was over. Several of Lila’s classmates cheered and carried on, with the rest slowly standing up and getting ready to head off to lunch. Ms Wright ended up waving them all off, dismissing them without missing a beat.

Lila had survived PE with Asher with her sanity mostly intact. As she promptly headed off to the changing room, she felt rather relieved. She could be normal with Asher. She’d been overthinking – stressing over nothing. Before class with him, she’d been most worried about blurting out her thoughts to him… that’d be a recipe for disaster.

If he was still intent on remaining a virgin for some time, he’d surely be repulsed by the suggestion that Lila was thinking those kinds of thoughts about him. Keeping a lid on it was the best course of action for now.

Slinging her sports bag over her shoulder, having changed in record time, she happily exited, checking left and right to see if Asher had emerged from the boys’ side of the change rooms. She didn’t have to wait long for this as he stepped out, stretching his shoulders. His… rather broad shoulders-

‘Shut up,’ Lila warned herself, taking a deep breath. She’d been doing so well.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Asher smiled playfully at her, having evidently noticed her hovering around almost instantly.

“Yeah, it’s a big coincidence,” Lila replied, her voice brisker than she would’ve liked. He didn’t seem to notice as he gestured for Lila to walk with him along the road back to the locker room. They discussed the dodgeball match, both sounding in high spirits. Of course, Lila had to mention the fact that Asher had whacked her in the face so quickly in the beginning of the match – his reaction, a spluttering, apologetic mess, was hilarious, after all.

With a pep in her step, Lila corralled the rest of her friends (namely Elise and Grace) and they headed off to the library, three or four conversations running alongside each other at once. Apparently, everyone was excited to catch up with one another.

Upon seating themselves and unearthing today’s lunch, which consisted of Asian-inspired wraps alongside a healthy salad and a brownie for dessert, Lila launched into her tale of being a victim of Asher’s impressive chest passes to the face. Immediately, everyone playfully tore into Asher, who seemed incredibly embarrassed by this turn of events.

“Hey, in my defence,” he said, swallowing harshly, “Lila was in the way. If she wasn’t just standing around spacing out, I would’ve surely missed her.”

“It was going so fast, I couldn’t even see it until it hit me in the face,” Lila insisted. “It really feels like your excuse about trying to hit Connor was something you made up afterwards.”

“Nuh uh, not me.”

“Yeah, yes you.”

“You really think I wanted to hurt you?” Asher seemed offended by this potential notion, savagely taking a bite of his wrap. Isaac, Grace and Elise were watching their conversation unfold as though it were a tennis rally, which slightly distracted Lila.

“Who knows, maybe I liked it?” Lila replied, the words having fallen out of her mouth before she could stop herself. As soon as she recognised what she said, and given the overwhelming silence in the meeting room that they’d hijacked for lunch, Lila felt the heat emanating from her face. It honestly felt warm enough to heat up the wrap that had hardly made it to its final destination.

“If you did, then you would’ve told me earlier,” Asher replied with a satisfied nod. “Since you tell me basically everything.”

‘Not true, on both counts,’ Lila thought, her blush deepening.

“Well, kinks aside,” Isaac interrupted loudly, taking a large bite of his banana, “anywun got weeken’ planz?”

Elise wrinkled her nose at Isaac in distaste as he chewed with his mouth open. “Just work.”

Isaac nodded at her, swallowing roughly. “Well, I knew that. Tell me when you’re doing something interesting, yeah?”

“I never do anything interesting on weekends,” Elise replied, her face looking as though it was suppressing a smile. “Nothing at all.”

“How boring,” Isaac swiftly said, his face strangely pink. He looked at Grace, gesturing at her to speak.

“Uh, just… seeing my partner,” Grace said after clearing her throat. “We’re watching a movie. That romcom that just came out.”

“Oh, is that out already?” Elise asked, sitting forward in her chair. “Man, I wanna watch it. The trailers look hilarious. Let me know if it’s worth it, alright? I might see if I can work around my shifts to watch it.”

“Of course,” Grace smiled, taking a tiny bite of her carrot stick. Isaac looked thoughtful after Elise’s remark. From where Lila was sitting, it was a perfect opportunity to set up a date with Elise to watch that movie. Isaac opened his mouth just as Lila finished her thought, and Lila looked at him with bated breath. Then –

“Those trailers looked boring,” Isaac replied candidly. “I thought you were into action movies?”

“I am,” Elise nodded. “But a girl’s gotta watch a romcom every once in a while.”

It was painful, sitting there and watching Elise drop the biggest hint imaginable.

‘C’mon, Isaac,’ Lila thought, resting her head in one of her hands. ‘Offer to go with her already…’

“Did you wanna watch it?” Asher asked, looking over at Lila. “You look like you do. Maybe you should watch it with her, Lila.”

‘Idiot!’ Lila cried internally. She was so close to face palming.

“I’m pretty busy,” Lila responded, her tone measured yet pointed. She widened her eyes at Asher, hoping to convey the idea that Isaac should go with Elise instead via her expression. Asher just blinked at her in puzzlement.

“Surely you could spare-”

“Can’t,” Lila replied firmly. “So busy.”

“Surely-”

“I’m happy enough watching a movie on my own,” Elise interjected breezily. “Since my schedule’s hectic, I’ve done it once or twice.”

“You sure?” Lila asked, narrowing her eyes at Isaac, who returned her gaze with one of utter perplexion.

“Yeah. Besides, I wanna keep saving my money,” Elise shrugged. “S-So I might end up picking up more shifts.”

Lila watched on as Elise began to twirl a few curls that had escaped her messy ponytail. There was something distinctly coy about Elise, now that she had mentioned extra shifts. Isaac gave a long-suffering sigh before turning to Lila.

“Out with it,” he demanded, chucking the rest of his banana in his mouth. “Woffs yer planz?”

“Bro, just chew with your mouth closed,” Lila frowned at him. He instantly shut his mouth. She glanced at Asher, unsure, suddenly, if she should mention their plans, sans farmhouse, for this weekend… not that they were very fancy. Literally just hanging out, as they normally did.

“Lila’s coming over to mine,” Asher said assertively, taking a swig of his water bottle. Elise and Grace both gasped. Lila shot them both disapproving looks.

“You guys’re acting like I’ve never been over before,” Lila grumbled.

“Just never heard Asher admit to these plans,” Elise said in a singsong voice.

“Not that you’ve ever asked me,” Asher countered sensibly.

“So, you got any particular plans together?” Grace asked, her expression shrewd.

“Well, actually,” Isaac began before Asher shot him down with a single glare.

“Just hanging out,” Asher replied firmly, the tips of his ears reddening. “That’s all.”

“You know, that sounds super suspicious,” Elise raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure that’s all?”

“Y-Yes,” Asher said, his tone unconvincing. An expression of distaste crossed Grace’s face.

“I suddenly don’t want to know any more,” she insisted, taking a much bigger bite of her carrot stick.

Asher began to splutter before pinching the bridge of his nose, the redness transferring from his ears to his cheeks. “We’re seriously doing nothing nefarious.”

“That, in and of itself, sounds bloody nefarious,” Elise cackled. “You’re not doing yourself any favours.”

Asher turned to face Lila, his eyes pleading for her to intervene and dispel the mess he’d gotten himself into. As tempted as Lila was to leave him to it, owing to how entertaining his reactions were, she supposed that she should step in.

“I feel like you guys have run off with an assumption that is definitely not going to happen,” Lila said brusquely. “We’re literally just going to hang out. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Lila heard Asher cough uncomfortably, but she didn’t want to look at him. Saying that, out loud, had actually taken the breath out of her lungs, leaving behind a pang in her chest. If she did look at him, she wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to keep it together and not cry from frustration. She wanted more – that much was painfully evident. But… it wasn’t just about her.

Elise, Grace and Isaac all shared a look before shrugging in unison, smoothly moving the conversation topic to Grace and Isaac’s bizarre Art prompt for their next assignment – ‘growth’. It was so abstract that their teacher simply smiled when students asked follow up questions, insisting that they would come to an answer that resonated with them in time.

“As much as I love Art, sometimes I just can’t with Mrs Bukowski,” Grace sighed.

“Same,” Isaac lamented.

“Maybe she wants you to grow a house plant?” Elise offered, her tone light-hearted.

“Dunno what she wants,” Isaac huffed.

“You’ll figure it out,” Lila smiled. “C’mon, chuck us some ideas.”

“Well, I was thinking of documenting the stages of something that can grow,” Grace said slowly. “But… that sounds super boring.”

“I was thinking of mixing some of my old old artwork with new artwork,” Isaac suggested lamely. “Y’know, growth of me as an artist.”

“That’s actually dope,” Elise said excitedly. “Even if you don’t do that for your project, I’d love to see something like that.”

“R-Really?” Isaac looked taken aback by Elise’s request before his face broke into a wide, dazzling beam. “I’ll have to show you one day, then.”

Elise looked delighted, matching his beam with one of her own.

‘Ask her to the movies, dammit,’ Lila thought desperately, looking between them both. It was so obvious that they should start pursuing something together, what with the warm, tender expressions they held.

But the moment quickly faded, with Isaac still not inviting Elise to the movies – or vice versa, for that matter. With a despondent sigh, Lila began to pack her lunchbox in preparation to head back to the lockers.

A few minutes later, the group began to actually toddle along to the lockers, occupied by their conversations regarding Grace’s observations of bunnies in Adelaide, complete with a presentation of photos of said bunnies from her phone.

Then, it was time to part from Asher again. Lila reluctantly handed him her lunchbox and he smiled curiously at her as they stood just outside the locker room doors.

“You seem annoyed about something,” he observed as Elise, Grace and Isaac bid their farewells and retreated to their respective corners of the locker room.

Lila waited until Elise and Isaac were well out of earshot before folding her arms impatiently. “There were so many opportunities for Isaac to ask Elise out on a date and he took none of them,” Lila complained. “Give him a talking to, will ya?”

“Opportunities?” Asher stared at Lila in confusion. “What opportunities?”

“When she was talking about the movie she wanted to see,” Lila insisted.

“Wh- oh. Right. I’ll chat to him,” Asher nodded. “Any other requests?”

“None for the moment,” Lila smiled, feeling far more relaxed now that Asher was onto it with Isaac.

“Roger that,” he grinned. “See you later, yeah?”

“Yeah… see you later.”

He began to walk off to his section of the locker room before turning around and giving her an overhead wave. She chuckled, returning it with a much more subtle one. He enthusiastically beamed before retreating further into the depths of the locker room. At least his sunshine was infectious – she carried his warmth with her for the rest of her lessons that day, despite being away from him.