Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Four

Instead of running off as soon as he arrived at her exam room, Asher stayed with Lila outside it until Elise, Isaac and Grace arrived on Friday morning. Isaac and Asher then toddled away, presumably towards the library where the study blocks occurred during exam week.

"Ready for the exam?" Elise asked, turning to Lila and Grace. Lila thought Elise was avoiding Grace's eyes, but she couldn't be sure.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Grace replied, adjusting her bookbag. "I'm absolutely ready for exam week to be over, though."

"Same," Lila smiled, her mind floating back to Asher for just a moment.

It was enough of a moment for Elise to waggle her eyebrows at her.

"We're here for the Cronulla riots, not whatever riots you wanna start in your bedroom," Elise teased.

"Says you," Lila replied, her face aflame. "Stop it."

"But it's just so fun now that you've taken that step. There's so many jokes I can make."

"I can make the same amount of jokes, you know. Maybe even more, what with your pool-"

"Door's open, let's go," Elise cut Lila off, her face as red as Lila's. Lila smirked in satisfaction as she filed behind Elise and Grace.

"What did Lila mean by 'your pool'? You don't have a pool," Grace remarked.

"Grace, please don't ask," Elise replied, her voice strangled. Lila couldn't help but snicker.

"Okay… but I'm so confused."

"I… I might tell you later," Elise mumbled as the girls crossed the doorway. There was no more chatter as they scrambled to find seats and sit down, Lila's amusement still plain on her face.

It swiftly disappeared once the exam started though. Time ticked away, and Lila's focus deepened with each second. Once time was up, Lila sighed and stretched. Modern History was one of her weaker subjects, but it seemed to go decently well. There weren't any unanswered questions, at least.

She stepped outside with Elise and Grace following behind her, the trio immediately bursting into discussion regarding the exam. They stood in a small circle, their complaints loud and clear.

"The heck was that?" Elise scowled. "Seriously."

"No idea," Grace replied, shaking her head. "I feel like I've been living in an alternate universe. Plus, that source analysis at the end? I could hardly make sense of it."

"Sounds terrible," came Asher's sympathetic voice. Lila looked behind her and immediately stood by his side, her arm around his.

"I reckon morning tea could fix your woes," Isaac added as he offered his arm to Elise. She took it with a smile.

"Maybe," Elise said. "Worth a try."

The group began making their way to the locker room, the girls still discussing the exam until there was a natural lull in the conversation. It was at this point that Grace glanced at Elise.

"So… the pool?" Grace asked.

"Ah, fuck," Elise said, instantly letting go of Isaac, who looked mortified.

"That's a weird reaction," Grace replied, her eyes darting between them both. Elise exhaled slowly.

"Lila just likes to tease Isaac and me," Elise said carefully, casting a look around. She then added, "'Cause I made the mistake of telling her that… ooh, can I just not?"

She turned so she wasn't looking at Grace anymore.

"I mean, you can but that makes me so curious," Grace said, her tone beyond bemused.

Isaac clapped his cheeks with his hands as if psyching himself up. "We've been doing sexual stuff behind the pool," he said in such a rapid-fire way that Lila wasn't convinced Grace caught that.

But, with the way Grace smirked at them both, it seemed that she had.

"Wait, is that what Theo meant?" Asher asked. Isaac's previous mortification paled in the face of his new expression.

"Uh, yup, yeah," Isaac managed to say, taking Elise by the hand and walking ahead of the group.

"Makes sense. It's pretty private," Asher said as Isaac continued to make his escape. Isaac and Elise both turned to Asher, their eyes wide with shock.

"Have you guys also been doing-"

"Absolutely not," Asher promptly cut Isaac off. "We just went there once to talk weeks ago."

Lila's eyes flickered to Grace, who still seemed incredibly entertained by this conversation. Lila and Asher had visited behind the pool after they discovered Grace and Ms Alexander's relationship so they could figure out what the hell had just happened in private.

Then, before Isaac could say anything else, Asher chuckled. "Imagine if we'd caught you two behind there."

"Nope, I don't want to," Isaac replied, tugging Elise along now. "I'm gonna hide in my locker! Don't look for me!"

"Telling us where you're hiding defeats the purpose of hiding," Asher called behind them as they picked up the pace. They then disappeared without a reply.

"Man, and here I thought I was embarrassed talking about that kind of thing," Asher said after a pause.

"I think they're still trying to get comfortable with the fact that we know about them," Lila replied.

"That makes sense," Grace murmured. "It's the same for me."

Asher and Lila exchanged a glance.

"Why did you tell them?" Lila found herself asking, though she wished she hadn't.

Grace gave a short, sharp laugh. "If you can figure it out, please let me know."

"So it was impulsive?" Asher questioned. Grace gave him a sidelong look and a deep, almost endless sigh.

"Yup. Turns out I am a kid."

Had that been something Ms Alexander had said to Grace? Grace seemed utterly despondent after saying that.

"Adults make impulsive decisions too," Asher said reasonably.

"I guess," Grace sighed again before shaking her head. "I'm gonna skip going to the locker room. See you later."

Grace broke off from them, heading towards the Performing Arts area, which was just visible from where they were on the path.

Now that they were alone, Lila glanced up at Asher.

"What a week," she said softly.

"Yeah, what a week," Asher echoed. Then, he looked down at Lila with a gentle smile. "Two exams left for me, and one for you. I bet you can't wait to just hang around during study and decompress."

Lila shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. Kinda wish I could just leave."

"I'm sure heaps of people are just going to sign in and then go home."

Lila sighed. "If only you didn't have a clashing exam so we could do that."

He laughed before becoming serious. "If you want to go ahead of me, you can. Gabriel's home, after all. He'll let you in."

"Definitely not," Lila replied. "I'll figure it out. I can entertain myself."

"I'd consider skipping my Chem exam-"

"No, thank you," Lila said sternly. "I'm not that desperate."

"I might be."

She met his gaze, which was rather playful. She lightly smacked him on the arm.

"Hey, I'm still thinking of what to cheer when you cross the stage for your Dux award. How am I supposed to do that if you skip out on your Chem exam?"

"Maybe I should skip it after all so you don't."

She lightly smacked him again, this time on his shoulder.

"Alright, alright," he chuckled. "I'll go."

Once again, Lila considered talking to Asher about Elise's Mum – and what was truly bothering her about it all. Instead, though, she could see that his antsy behaviour was going up a notch over morning tea. It was the final stretch and her comments about his Dux award seemed to affect him more than she'd intended.

So, they settled into easy-going conversations and jokes, time flying by right up until they needed to head to their final Language exams. Their lunchtime together was similar, though it was accompanied by Asher's Chem notes and more silence than morning tea.

Asher's phone buzzed towards the end of lunch and he stretched, closing his book with a smile.

"Ready to head on up to the study area?"

She shook her head. "I'll go with you to your exam."

"It's okay," he said quickly, standing up.

"But I want to take you to your exam," she frowned, standing up as well.

"Really?"

"Of course. I know you like to take me to my classes and things, but I'd like to do the same for you, you know."

"You would?"

"Yes," Lila smiled. "So, since I know you won't let me return the favour for classes, let me do so for your final exam. I only have nothing to study for, after all, so I've got time."

He pressed his lips together before smiling as well. "You're right. I won't let you return the favour for classes, but you make a pretty good point about having nothing to study for now."

Victory was a wonderful feeling as they wandered out of the library and towards the locker room. Lila decided not to visit her locker since she needed to kill time for the next couple of hours anyway. So, for once, she followed Asher to his. He seemed surprised by this but didn't say anything as he made his way further into the locker room.

His locker was located in the aisle just behind hers along the back wall. It was a top locker, which Lila felt was quite lucky due to his height. It didn't look particularly special from the outside, but now that she knew which one was his, perhaps she could surprise him with a note or something once in a while.

'Probably impossible to do in secret,' Lila thought as he fiddled with his lock. 'He's always here before me and always leaves after me.'

He swung the door open and she couldn't help herself – she eagerly peered around him to see what it was like inside.

"Oh," she said, taking a step back to survey it some more as he placed their lunchboxes in his school bag. "How… tidy."

He laughed. "You've seen my room. As much as I've let go of being so neat over my appearance, I can't quite do it with my environment. Especially not one that I see every day. I tried the first week of school and it gave me too much anxiety."

"You? Too much anxiety? Impossible."

His eyes met hers and he grinned, evidently catching on to the playful nature of her comments.

"Out of everyone on this planet, you know the most about how anxious I am," he said as he pulled out his pencil case, checking its contents.

"And aren't I privileged for it?"

"Is that sarcastic?"

She shook her head, sliding along the lockers so that her back was against his open one, their faces incredibly close. "I'm glad I know you so well, my love."

His cheeks had a pinkish hue as he steadily returned her gaze. "I was still busy in here."

"Were you?" she said loftily, tilting her head with a touch of mischief. "You'll need to pay your fare to carry on."

"My fare?" he laughed, shaking his head. "I doubt it's a dollarydoo."

"You'd be right about that one," she replied, pursing her lips ever-so-slightly. He laughed again, kissing those pursed lips tenderly.

"Admission granted," Lila said in her best robot voice, stepping aside so that he could continue his rummaging. He chuckled, affectionately brushing her cheek with one hand before using said hand to pull out his Chem textbook.

"You definitely seem to be in a good mood," he said as he locked his locker. "Stress of exam week leaving you?"

"You bet," she grinned, taking hold of his arm. "Let's get you to your exam 'cause after that, I get to finally go back to yours."

He started leading her towards his exam room with another light chuckle. "You say that as if you weren't over on Monday."

"Too long," she huffed.

"You've survived longer."

"And it's always been too long."

"Always?"

She paused. "Well… in the beginning, it felt like you were chasing me out."

"Sorry," he replied, looking legitimately guilty.

"But then it felt like you wanted me to keep coming back and… I also felt like coming back. So, pretty much always."

"I'm glad you did come back after how I was," he said softly, looking ahead of them. "I might not've, if you were like that with me."

"Well, that was a consideration. But… I couldn't leave you alone."

"And now you don't have to over this weekend."

She smirked. "Oh, I don't intend to."

"I feel like there's a hidden meaning behind those words."

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"I can spell it out if you want me to."

His eyes flickered to hers and he tore his gaze away just as quickly. "If you did, then I wouldn't be able to do this exam."

"That's probably true," she said coyly, patting his arm. "It's alright, I'll demonstrate it for you once we get back to yours."

He gave a slow exhale, shaking his head. "Your way with words when you're in this mood is ridiculous."

She grinned, though she couldn't add anything else of that nature. "Looks like people are heading in. I'll see you once you're done."

He looked disappointed as she relinquished her hold on him but with another shake of his head, his expression hardened into one of determination. She watched him enter before turning and making her way back to the locker room to grab her laptop. She then strolled to the library, her mind running through thoughts that were entirely unrelated to school and signed in.

The library was bombarded by rowdy students, all of whom were here out of obligation like she was. Even if she had something to study for, it'd be impossible with this racket.

To her dismay, her usual booth was overrun by some lounging Grade 12s, so she roamed around to find a spare square inch.

It turned out to be more difficult than she thought it would be. She almost gave up, having fulfilled her obligation of signing in at least, before spotting an empty chair next to a lonesome student. Ayla.

She seemed to have been given a wide berth, her head down and eyes lingering on her laptop screen. With no other available option, Lila decided to attempt sitting next to her without drawing attention to herself.

"Hey, Lila," Ayla said as soon as she reached Ayla's vicinity.

"Hey, Ayla," Lila replied, taking the seat next to Ayla and unpacking her laptop.

"How's it been?" Ayla asked though it sounded more like a polite question rather than a probing one.

"Alright," Lila said quietly. She was pretty sure her voice was drowned out by the chorus of boys faffing about at the next table. "How's it been for you?"

"Here and there," Ayla murmured, forcing Lila to bring her ear closer. "I've been meaning to talk to you, actually."

"You have? What about?"

"Jackson."

"Ah." Lila glanced at Ayla, finding that her eyes were shimmering. Had Jackson apologised to her as Lila suggested?

"Specifically that Asher punched him 'cause he was saying some messed up things since he was… upset. He, uh, apologised to me, actually. Said that… he was mostly upset 'cause he liked me and he'd thought that maybe he had a chance with me, but since I'm a lesbian he was pretty crushed, apparently. He also said this wasn't the way he wanted to confess to me, but he had to explain himself." Ayla gave Lila a fleeting smile. "He said you said he should apologise after he said sorry to you and Asher. I'm… not sure if that makes it better or worse, that he didn't decide to do it on his own. He said he was planning to avoid me until we graduated until you said that. But… he figured it was a bit of a dick move since we were genuinely friends."

She hesitated before adding, "I clued him in a little to Belle's feelings about him after he apologised. He might end up going for her, which would be nice. She's liked him for ages – I was surprised when he said he had no idea. He also said he might come back to the group but he needs more time. I mean, he's still healing from the black eye. Probably can't come back with one of those, considering how he got it."

"I see," Lila responded. "I think… even though I encouraged him to apologise to you, the fact that he still did it shouldn't be totally devalued, you know. He could've ignored me and you wouldn't have known. Though, I was tempted to tell you the reason why he was being such an asshole to you."

"I guess," Ayla replied before sighing. "It's still radio silence from Brittany, though. While an apology from Jackson is nice, I think I'd prefer knowing why Brittany's so quiet. It's… I can't handle losing her as a friend, either."

"Have you talked to her about it?"

Ayla shook her head. "I'm still too scared to. It just feels like everything around me is so fragile right now – if I breathe wrong, everything's going to crumble."

Lila gave her a sympathetic look. "I don't blame you for feeling that way. Did you end up seeing the counsellor last week?"

Ayla nodded, pulling her arms around herself.

"How'd it go?"

Ayla shrugged. "I don't think it's changed anything for me. The counsellor just asked a bunch of background questions and I answered them, then mentioned that Piper was my best friend and that I was… well, am, in love with her. It kinda freaked him out, I think, and then time was up. I'm meant to see him again on Monday and then maybe again on Friday, depending on how that goes."

"Did talking help you feel better at least?"

Ayla shrugged again. "We weren't able to get into the stuff that's really been on my mind, so not really? I'm hopeful for the next session though, now that a lot of the background is out of the way. I hadn't even told him I'd been hospitalised over it."

"I see… would that change things?"

Ayla pressed her lips together. "I… think so. I was put on suicide watch, so I think he should know that."

"Oh my God," Lila whispered, her heart stopping for a moment. "Are you okay?"

Ayla gave her a half-hearted smile. "Enough to be discharged, right?"

Lila had suspected that Ayla had been hospitalised for something like that, but the confirmation of this hit harder than Lila had anticipated.

"Have you told your friends?" Lila asked, reaching out to lightly touch Ayla's shoulder.

"No, but I think they've caught on. I've… been a bit sadder this term, after all." Then, she laughed, shaking her head. "I think Piper would be turning in her grave at the thought of me confiding in you like this. I… don't know why I have been, but thank you for listening. Again."

"I'm glad you're telling someone, at least. I… are you… do you still-"

Ayla shook her head again. "Not anymore. I've accepted that she's gone now. It- I still wonder what could've been, and I think I will for the rest of my life, but… I've got to live my life for both of us, right?"

"Yeah. There's nothing else for you to do but move forward."

Ayla smiled, looking down at her laptop. "She would've been really happy if Jackson and Belle got together. She kinda thought the idea of friends getting together was kinda cute. Hopefully, I can make that happen."

Lila wasn't sure what to say but before she could attempt a response, Ayla looked up, her face brightening slightly.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be such a bummer. I don't think we've had a conversation where I haven't just unloaded on you recently. Um, excited for the holidays?"

It was at this moment that Lila remembered one of her plans for the holidays – visiting the grisly site where Piper and Jason's bodies had been found. From Lila's memory, it was also where Ayla had sat before Piper had been found, wondering where she could be.

"Um, yeah," she said nervously. "I've been visiting Asher a lot, so I think I'll be spending basically the whole holidays with him."

"Ah," Ayla uttered, "that sounds nice."

From there, the awkward silence that followed really impressed upon Lila the fact that, outside of Ayla's trauma regarding, well, Lila's enemy, for lack of better terminology, she barely knew Ayla. Did she even want to? Ayla wasn't necessarily a bad person, but… they didn't click.

Ayla seemed to sense this as well, with the way she pressed her lips together. Then, she sighed.

"Um… you're friends with Elise, right?"

Lila blinked at Ayla. She never expected this kind of turn in their conversation.

"Yeah… why?"

"I heard a couple things," Ayla said, her expression changing into one of keen interest – one that made Lila feel wary. "I heard Elise and Isaac are dating. Is it true?"

Lila hesitated. She'd almost forgotten, with how low Ayla had been feeling and looking, honestly, that she was still one of the 'Gossip Queens'. Considering Elise's initial reaction to the idea that rumours would be circulating about exactly this, Lila wasn't quite sure whether she should confirm it to Ayla.

However, Isaac was right. The rumour would only be the truth – that, yes, Elise and Isaac were together. Elise had seemed fine with that in the end…

"Yeah," Lila finally said with a nod. "They're dating. They're really cute, too."

"Really?" Ayla leaned in, her interest in this topic somehow increasing now that Lila had confirmed this. "Since when?"

If Lila was unsure about answering the first question, she was definitely apprehensive about answering this one.

"You'll have to ask one of them," Lila said, attempting nonchalance.

Ayla leaned in closer. "You can tell me."

"I… don't think I can."

"Why not?"

"I haven't asked if I can."

"But surely it's fine. I mean, they're dating, right?"

Lila pursed her lips. "Why do you want to know?"

Ayla sat back, closing her laptop lid. "Someone told Steph, who told Belle, who told Scarlett, who told me that they saw those two getting handsy to the point of unbuttoning things by the water tanks in week one. But I've only seen them being all couple-y since, like, this week."

Lila face-palmed. 'Those two…' she thought with an internal sigh. Though, she was curious to see Elise's reaction to that tidbit of gossip. Just how many people had caught on to their relationship before Lila and Asher?

Ayla raised her eyebrows, leaning in again. "And Maxwell said he was sitting next to Isaac in detention, who looked real uncomfortable when the teacher was talking about being appropriate at school. Oh, and Haley told Melissa who told Bronte who told Charlotte J who told Charlotte C who told the whole group that she saw Elise walk out of the disabled bathrooms over near the Kennedy oval about two minutes before Isaac did in week three."

"Jesus." Lila couldn't help it – it slipped out before she could control her impulse. Ayla looked satisfied with this reaction.

"So you didn't know about that."

"Surely these are all just crazy rumours," Lila replied, attempting to deflect as quickly as possible. Ayla shook her head.

"I trust my sources."

"Sounds like your sources have many mouths."

Ayla shrugged. "But it's different when someone says they've seen it, isn't it?"

"Look, Elise and Isaac have been dating since just before the beginning of the term-"

"I see," Ayla interjected quickly. "So why don't they show it on socials?"

"They probably want to keep it private. Again, you should ask them-"

"They want to keep it private when they're getting up to all sorts of stuff on campus?" Ayla raised her eyebrows again disbelievingly. "It feels like the whole cohort's seen something."

And yet no one had approached Lila about it until now.

"Then it shouldn't be a surprise that they're dating."

Ayla shook her head again, this time with more force. "Everyone says that it's like they're just friends with benefits since they haven't acted like a couple until now."

Lila turned her attention to her laptop, inputting her password. "Does it matter?"

"Of course it does."

Lila eyed Ayla once more. Her face still had traces of her true, deep sadness within, but it was now overshadowed by her eagerness to know more.

"Look, they're cute together, and so what if they're handsy? Pretty much everyone's doing stuff like that."

"Including you?"

Lila blushed. "Well…"

"'Cause Heather said that Rae said that Belle said that Marcus said that one of the Grade 12s said that one of their friends saw Asher touching your boobs behind the IT building, like, last Monday. Not the Monday just gone, the one before that."

Lila held her face in her hands, hoping that her laptop could suck her right into it if she pressed the right buttons. People had seen them? No wonder people were catching on to the fact that they'd-

"So it did happen."

"Ayla, I appreciate your curiosity, but please let me just… pass out in peace," Lila mumbled through her hands.

Ayla laughed – a sound that Lila had almost forgotten she was capable of producing – before she said, "Aw, don't be shy! Wow, okay, so what happened? Did you guys do more?"

"No comment," Lila replied, her face burning.

"I'm sure you have comments. You can share at least one."

"Ayla… please."

Ayla sighed. "Fine, fine. Just so you know, I'm only repeating what's already been making rounds. I haven't told anyone anything new this whole term, just about. Except for Brittany. And maybe Scarlett."

'So, despite the implication, you have been adding things to the rumour mill,' Lila thought, her hands still over her face.

"But you're also friends with Grace, right?"

"Yeah."

"What's the deal with her and that Music teacher?"

Lila had never had to make such a difficult split-second decision in her life. Should she betray Grace's trust by outing Ms Alexander as a groomer to protect Grace and be released from this burden… or should she protect Grace's happiness by keeping silent?

She looked up from her hands. "… What Music teacher?"

Ayla flapped her hand. "The one that's leaving. Like, I heard from Larissa, who heard from Callum, who heard from Liam, who heard from Dorothy, who heard from Amy that Ms Alexander hovers around Grace in their Music class to, like, a big extent. Amy doesn't care when she's working with Grace, but it's apparently really annoying to get any help from Ms Alexander sometimes."

So other students were definitely noticing. Time was up for Lila's decision.

"Dunno," she shrugged, lightly touching the sides of her laptop. "Maybe she just needs extra help."

The idea that Grace needed extra help in Music was laughable since that was Grace's best class, followed closely by Art, but there was no way Ayla would know that.

Ayla looked disappointed. "You sure it's not anything weird?"

"What're you trying to say?"

"Lila, you're smart," Ayla replied simply. "You know what I'm trying to say."

"There's… no way Grace would be involved in something like that," Lila replied, pressing the sides of her laptop.

Ayla tapped her fingers along the edge of the desk as if searching for something to say.

"So, what, Amy's just jealous?"

Lila shrugged. "Probably. Ask Amy."

Ayla sighed. "I thought you'd have more intel."

"Why?"

"From what Piper told me, you're nosy."

Lila was the nosy one? That felt a bit rich, but she couldn't complain much more about a dead girl than she already had. Besides… considering all she'd learned about the Banker and the morphine ring, and everything else outside of school, she couldn't really deny it.

Lila glanced at Ayla, expecting her to look sad – or affected in some way – by her mention of Piper. Surprisingly, though, she just looked interested in Lila's response. Was Ayla always that pushy? Lila was glad that she hadn't had cause to interact with Ayla before this year. She had a treasure trove of secrets in her possession and the Lila of last year might've been worn down from Ayla's persistent gossip-hunting nature and told her some by now.

"I can be nosy, but I'm more focused on my studies now," Lila settled on saying, her eyes sliding to her laptop. "It's hard not to be, being Asher's girlfriend."

"Ahhh," Ayla breathed, prompting Lila to look at her. It seemed like this flicked a switch in her brain as she placed her fist in her open palm. "That makes so much sense."

Lila wasn't quite sure what to make of that, so she nodded instead of saying anything in reply. In fact, it seemed like there wasn't anything else for either of them to say. After a few seconds of silence, Ayla opened her laptop and began searching for something to watch on YouTube.

'Shouldn't there be a proper end to this conversation?' Lila wondered as she did the same. Lila was glad for this silence, though. She put her earbuds in and searched around for something to watch on her own, making note of videos she wanted to watch with Asher as she did so.

Lila started packing up five minutes before Asher's exam was set to end. Ayla glanced at her and gave a small wave before looking back at her laptop. Lila half-expected a question from Ayla about why Lila was leaving early, but there wasn't one.

With a skip in her step, Lila hurried off to Asher's exam room, hoping she'd make it before he left. Just as it was within sight, Asher exited, his expression pensive and walk aimless. Students tumbled out of the door after him and it didn't seem like he noticed the chaos unfolding just behind him. It also didn't seem like he saw Lila at all and she grinned, running at him.

The sound of her feet must've drawn his attention as he looked up at the last second before she collided with him, her arms around his torso and laptop bag slipping off her shoulder onto the ground. He gave a surprised laugh and lifted her off her feet, spinning them for a few rotations, both of their faces gleeful at their reunion.

"Seems like you're excited to see me," he commented as he bent to put her laptop bag on his shoulder.

"Of course I am," she beamed, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the direction of the locker room. "It's time to go."

He laughed again and before they could get any further, Isaac jogged up to them from the exam room, looking bewildered.

"Where's the fire?" he asked, looking behind him as if expecting to actually see a fire.

"There is none," Lila replied, her eyes glinting as she remembered Ayla's rumours.

"Well, that's alright then," Isaac replied, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. "Man, I'm beat. That really took a load out of me."

Lila raised her eyebrow at him. "Not sure that was the intent of the exam."

Asher snickered as Isaac turned red.

"Okay, I know what I said was worded poorly, but did you have to point it out?" Isaac asked petulantly.

"Look, I might just need to tell Elise that you've got a fetish for exams," Lila replied loftily. "I'm only going by what you said."

"You're terrible," Isaac frowned.

"I'm not the one getting loads-"

"Not sure about that one," Isaac cut in. That was enough to embarrass Lila into silence and he cackled.

"Not so talkative now, are ya," he said, pointing at both Lila and Asher. "Ha!"

"Hey, is that Elise?" Lila asked, pointing in the distance behind Isaac. He turned and Lila took the opportunity to take Asher's hand and start running off towards the locker room.

"Oi!" Isaac shouted behind them, giving chase. "I'm not done with you!"

Lila and Asher continued to flee, breathlessly giggling all the way until they arrived at the locker room door. A few of their cohort gave them strange looks and Lila sucked in a deep breath before heading inside. Isaac caught up just as Asher stepped in, grabbing the back of Asher's blazer.

"The… hell… you guys," he puffed as Asher helped pull him inside. "What's up with all this energy?"

"Just happy that exams are over," Asher replied as Isaac let go. "Aren't you?"

"Clearly, but a nap would be good."

They disappeared towards their aisle, bickering about the merits of a nap or no nap after exams and Lila headed to her locker to take out her bags.

'God, I need to clear this out,' she thought as she jerked her school bag out, taking with it an assortment of papers and notebooks. She bent low to pick them up and put them back, grumbling to herself as she did so.

"That's a lot of bags," Elise commented behind Lila, who turned to check that it was indeed Elise who spoke.

"I'm staying at Asher's from tonight until Sunday."

"I see. Lucky."

Lila stood, double-checking she'd gotten everything that she needed before locking her locker. She placed her bags on her shoulders and turned, leaning against her locker with a smirk. Asher appeared next to her and took her bags off her shoulders. Isaac carried on past Lila and Asher towards Elise's locker, which prompted a bright smile from Elise.

"Still revelling in the results of your success?" Asher asked with a smile. Lila nodded, turning to him.

"You know that half the cohort, or at least it feels like it, knew about those two before we did?"

"What?" Asher blinked at her.

Elise and Isaac approached them, stopping before Lila's locker with satisfied smiles.

"Guess we'll be seeing you guys tomorrow," Isaac said, glancing between them both.

"Yeah," Lila replied, smirking again. "I think it's my duty as your friend to tell you the water tanks and the disabled toilets near the Kennedy Oval are a no-go."

Elise and Isaac's smiles dropped as they turned a bright shade of red.

"W-What? How do you know about that?" Elise stammered. "I didn't tell you about those spots."

Lila's smirk widened. "I had an interesting afternoon with one of the Gossip Queens. Apparently, a whole bunch of people know that you guys were getting handsy to the point of unbuttoning things-" Elise squeaked and Isaac looked like he'd been shot, "-by the water tanks in week one and someone saw you leave the disabled toilets first, Elise, then Isaac followed a couple of minutes after in week three. So, people are reckoning that you guys are just friends with benefits. Or at least, you were until you started acting couple-y this week."

"Damn, guys, taking every opportunity you can, aren't ya?" Asher teased. "I don't think there's anything we could do that'd top that."

"I-uh… well, ner," Isaac uttered lamely, taking Elise's hand. "Bye!"

Elise couldn't look at Lila or Asher as she trailed behind Isaac.

Asher snickered after Elise and Isaac left the locker room and took Lila's hand.

"And here I thought we were bad," he said, leading her to the exit. "Maybe we should go for it in the library after all."

Lila whipped her head to face him.

"I'm kidding," he chuckled. She must've looked disappointed in some measure since he nudged her shoulder with his.

"If we're real sneaky about it, maybe one day we could go for it in my library."

Lila's heart sped up as she contemplated this, the imagery in her mind's eye something she wouldn't mind reenacting. Her mind then flashed to the image of Marlene punching the life out of the Uni student months ago and she shuddered.

"Isn't there CCTV there?" Lila said, looking up at Asher. "I thought you didn't want people to know."

It seemed like he'd forgotten this with the mortified expression on his face. "Never mind then."

She pressed her lips together before she squeezed his hand. "Could practise unpicking the door to the study so we can delete some footage."

His exhale had a quiver to it as he shook his head. "God, save me from all these thoughts running in my head."

She laughed, though she'd like to be saved from hers, too. "I thought you weren't religious."

"With what I'm thinking about, I'm hoping there's one somewhere that can hear my prayer."

She felt a shudder of anticipation run through her. "Let's get going so you can tell me about it."

"Tell you? I'd rather demonstrate."

She couldn't think of a response – in fact, she could hardly think at all – as they hurried along to the carpark where the taxi was waiting for them.

Lila was incredibly glad that George wasn't a talkative type, since she was still having trouble thinking anything else that could be said aloud to someone other than Asher during the entire car ride.