Chapter One Hundred and Thirty

Getting an eSim was far easier than Lila had thought. She used Clare’s PayPal account to buy it after getting her permission, since she didn’t have one herself. Whilst it sucked that Lila needed to be 18 to get a PayPal account, at the very least Clare asked no questions as to why Lila wanted an eSim. She might have figured that it was because Lila’s physical sim card wasn’t working anymore, as Clare’s did, or figured it was none of her business. Either way, Lila was very grateful, tipping her sister an extra couple dollars for the inconvenience.

She tested that it worked after a short text message to Asher using the eSim – a simple ‘Hi, it’s me’ (which he responded to in kind) before bed that Monday night.

So, it was with a fresh face, and spring in her step that she hustled over to her Tuesday morning class, feeling mildly accomplished already.

Asher met her outside the doors to the basketball court, his PE clothes in their usual disarray and a bemused smile on his face.

“You seem like you’re full of energy,” he said with a nod as he opened the doors to the court.

“Of course I am,” she replied with a grin. “It’s all coming together.”

He cautiously glanced around before murmuring, “Should we really be talking about this?”

“I wasn’t talking about anything in particular,” Lila responded loftily. He shook his head with a smirk, and she smiled back once more, pulling him forward by the arm.

For all that talk about Lila being full of energy, Asher seemed quite the same as they walked over to where their classmates were sitting. They took their usual spot towards the front, with Asher checking in on her English progress with a raised eyebrow.

“I did do some more,” she insisted with a pout.

“You sure? You weren’t distracted were you?”

“Distracted? By what?”

“You know what I mean.”

She pouted again. It appeared that Asher wasn’t apt to being sidetracked today.

“I wasn’t. I’m almost done with it, actually,” Lila said petulantly. His eyes sparkled.

“Really? So we’ll be going on our date?”

“You make it sound as if you’re not the one who suggested it and imposed rules.”

“I suppose I did do that,” he chuckled, leaning back on his hands. “Still exciting, if you manage to get it through.”

“Of course I will,” Lila replied quietly, her eyes passing from his face to the scenery behind his shoulder. Then, she stopped altogether.

“What?” Asher asked, looking behind him and then back at her again. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Ayla’s back,” Lila whispered, her eyes unwilling to leave Ayla. Ayla looked extraordinarily pale and even thinner than Lila could recall ever seeing her. Her once-glossy, black curls were now lifeless, dull and frizzy. The pride that had seemed as though it were a part of her features had vanished entirely. The dark circles under her eyes were a ghastly greyish-purple, somehow accentuating both the size of her eyes and the whiteness of her skin. Her school jumper flowed off her frame as though it were several sizes too big, and she seemed to be constantly covering her hands with the cuffs.

The girl certainly looked like Ayla, but she was entirely different – almost as though the girl Lila once knew as the ‘Gossip Queen’ had been replaced by a mannequin masquerading as Ayla. She was alone, choosing to sit far away from the rest of their classmates and avoiding the gaze of everyone, preferring instead to look directly at the court underneath her.

“Wait, what?” Asher turned as if to look again, but she pulled his arm, shaking her head.

“Don’t,” she warned. “I’m… getting the impression that she wants to be invisible.”

“Then you should stop looking, too,” he murmured, shifting so that he could only look ahead towards the stage.

“Sorry,” Lila shuffled so that she was directly next to him, rather than in front of him, her mind and her heart racing. Ayla… was back. But was she? It looked as though she’d lost her soul – or at least something significant, or inextricably linked to who Ayla was as a person.

Grief was a funny thing. There was no timeline as to when someone would be ‘normal’ again. But something about how deeply Piper’s death – if that was the reason as to why Ayla was away – affected Ayla was niggling at Lila. If she hadn’t been privy to Ms Wang’s presentation on mental health, and how to support others at school, Lila was sure that she would’ve walked right up to Ayla and asked all the questions that had been clawing at her in Ayla’s absence.

Had that been the reason behind the timing of the presentation? Ayla’s impending return?

“… volleyball.”

Lila jumped. She’d been so far into her thoughts that she hadn’t realised that Ms Wright had appeared before her, a bundle of vests and two volleyballs by her feet.

This time, Lila and Asher were separated by both team and game. Despite the fact that two volleyball games would be running concurrently, there were still too many students for everyone to participate at once.

Lila was part of the first rotation of students, clad in a horrendously yellow vest that seemed to have stewed in the sweat of its previous wearer for far too long.

Just as she usually did, she tried as best she could, which really meant that she made as many passes to her teammates as possible – until her time was up and she was tagged out of the game.

She caught Asher’s eye as he was tagged in to his game. With a reluctant sigh, Lila supposed that this turn of events was surely by Ms Wright’s design. Lila gave him a small wave of encouragement, to which he responded with a bright, cheery grin that displaced the disappointment she felt upon realising that they wouldn’t be able to talk for the rest of the lesson.

He jogged off to his game and it soon started up again. Lila watched for a few moments before attempting to find a safe place to sit down. Should she face her game, or Asher’s?

As she pondered this, she eyed Ayla a few metres away, facing Asher’s game and without a vest. Had she not participated at all today?

Lila supposed that was appropriate since Ayla had only just returned. Besides, she looked fragile enough to keel over as soon as a ball made its way to her hands.

Should… Lila give her some company? Ayla looked as though the right kind of company could do her some good – but was Lila the ‘right kind’? She wasn’t sure. But she may as well try – right? Ayla looked incredibly lonely otherwise.

Lila shuffled over, still in two minds. Perhaps asking would be the best choice, given what was spoken about in PC yesterday. She took a deep breath and finally sat down about half a metre away, her hands knotting together in her lap. Ayla didn’t say anything. Lila wasn’t even sure that Ayla had noticed, so she chanced a glance at Ayla.

Their eyes met. Ayla’s face instantly distorted in disgust.

“Don’t,” Ayla snarled, the sudden venom in her voice startling Lila. She immediately scrambled to her feet, unsure about what the issue was but equally sure that she shouldn’t ask.

With her face burning from embarrassment and the feeling of having done something wrong yet also not knowing what she had done weighing heavily in her stomach, she stalked off to a different spot, far away from Ayla. She decided to face Asher’s game, the sight of him (though he was concentrating on his volleyball match) steadily calming her heart. He was clearly none the wiser to her strange interaction with Ayla but, even so, the idea that she could both talk it through with him and trust that he’d listen helped ease her mind for the moment.

He looked at her several times throughout the match, and she tried her best to look cheerful so as not to distract him. She hoped it worked, though a couple of his teammates called for him here and there when they shared slightly too long of a look.

It seemed that he’d be delegated the role of Setter, which appeared to be an effective enough strategy. In fact, by the time class was over, Asher’s team had won.

With a flushed, beaming grin, he jogged over to her, prompting her to stand with a smile on her own face.

“We won,” he stated breathlessly. “Did you see?”

“Couldn’t keep my eyes off you,” she replied earnestly. She watched his cheeks gain a deeper colour as he seemed to struggle to find a reply.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to you saying that kind of thing,” he murmured after a couple of seconds, face almost glowing.

“I don’t know if I want you to,” Lila grinned, reaching up on her tiptoes and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek, her stomach fluttering just enough to give her the right amount of height.

She had the distinct impression with the way he looked at her as she stepped back that if he could pop like a balloon, he would. This simple notion almost made her giggle, but she kept it together.

As soon as she registered this compulsion, he gently gripped her wrist, a glint in his strangely earnest eyes that made her exceedingly curious. His lips seemed poised to say something significant. What was he thinking about?

“Lila-”

“Move along, you two. Get changed and go to class,” Ms Wright’s no-nonsense voice cut across Asher’s attempt at speaking, causing him to instantly let go of Lila’s wrist as though it burnt him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Lila and Asher replied simultaneously, equal in their morose tones. Ms Wright gave them a firm nod, extending her hand out for their vests. They handed them to her, and she curtly moved past them, hurrying off other dawdling classmates of theirs. At least they weren’t the only ones attracting Ms Wright’s ire today.

“You were about to say something?” Lila said as they headed out of the Gymnasium’s court and towards the changing rooms. He shook his head.

“I’ll see you at morning tea,” he said simply, turning to the boys’ changing room.

“Asher-”

“Don’t worry about it. It was nothing,” he called back, disappearing through the door to the changing room not a moment later. She would have stopped worrying, had he actually looked at her or offered to walk with her to her next class. But… in the absence of either of these things, it only made her want to know even more. She reluctantly headed to the girls’ changing room, shaking her head as if to clear it of her thoughts.

When she entered the changing room, it seemed that she was alone. It also seemed as though this change of scenery helped to alleviate her concerns about what Asher had almost said. Instead, her concerns about Ayla took its place. She changed as quickly as she could, just in case Ayla was about to come in and scold her again.

What was that anyway? Was Ayla mad that Lila had technically been involved in Piper’s expulsion? That wasn’t rational, considering the fact that Piper’s expulsion had nothing to do with her murder, given it had happened during the school holidays – right?

‘Besides, Piper expelled herself,’ Lila thought with a huff as she readjusted her ponytail. ‘I didn’t make her stalk Asher after she’d been warned.’

Although Lila knew that part of the story, it didn’t mean that Piper had been forthcoming about it to her friends. Or, if she had been, then perhaps Ayla’s thinking was driven purely by the turmoils of grief. Even if that was the specific reason, though it made sense to Lila, it didn’t make her feel better about Ayla’s hostile reaction to Lila simply sitting next to her.

Lila tried not to dwell on it during Design. Realistically, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she was ever friends with Ayla, nor had she wanted to be. Now that she was back at school, Lila didn’t even need to be worrying about where Ayla was anymore. And, from the looks of her, Lila could guess that she’d been away for reasons that definitely included grief. So, mystery solved.

So, with that unsatisfactory resolution planted within her mind, Lila threw herself into her Design assignment, with morning tea’s mission popping into her mind every so often.

Finally, Mr Dillon released them from Design and Lila almost ran out of the Applied Tech building. She was starting to get whiplash from all the things she was trying to concentrate on at once.

“Whoa,” Asher’s voice caught her attention before she hurried off too far and she turned her head to the left. He was standing a metre or so away, his hands in his pockets and an amused smirk across his face. “Where’s the fire?”

“Tuckshop, probably,” Lila quipped, moving towards him. He snorted.

“You’re not wrong. Let’s put our stuff away.”

Lila eyed him carefully for a moment before nodding. He seemed rather casual as they walked to the locker room, without a hint of the seriousness that he’d had in the Gymnasium. Pushing the point wasn’t the best idea, but at least he didn’t seem to be down or anything like that. It probably was nothing in that case. They talked about everything, after all.

Speaking of…

“So… I tried to sit next to Ayla during PE,” Lila said quietly. His carefree expression instantly turned bewildered.

“Why? I thought you said she wanted to be invisible.”

Lila paused. She had said that. And promptly forgotten it. Was that why Ayla was so mad?

“She… looked really lonely,” Lila replied lamely.

“Well, yeah, but she probably preferred it that way, as you said.”

Lila sighed. “Evidently.”

“Evidently?”

“Well, I sat next to her and when we looked at each other, she said ‘Don’t’ in this, like, really scary voice.”

“Scary… like Casper the unfriendly ghost?”

She rolled her eyes at him, an amused smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “No. Like… she was really mad. I don’t think she was going to hurt me, but… it sounded like she was on the verge of doing that.”

Asher was silent, his face stony. Then, in a measured tone – one that she knew well – he asked, “Do I need to have a chat with her?”

“No!” Lila shook her head vehemently, then his arm for good measure. “Nothing like that. I just… wanted to tell you about it. Besides, it was my fault. I was the one who saw she most likely wanted to be left alone, then just ignored that anyway. Should’ve expected it, really.”

“Ah.” He clicked his tongue before pulling her close, stopping their journey to the locker room altogether. “Are you okay? Sure, you did do that, but either way, she could’ve made her point differently. Ideally, in a way that was less hostile.”

Lila sighed again, this time with relief. She gripped the sides of his blazer, pressing herself against him even more tightly. “I’m okay now.”

She felt his hand brush the top of her head, his heartbeat from what she could hear picking up in speed. He took a deep breath, then stepped back from her, taking one of her hands in his.

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“Good,” he said simply, squeezing her hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it happen.”

“It’s not like you seeing it would’ve changed anything.”

He pursed his lips, clearly displeased by Lila’s observation before releasing a small sigh coupled with a shake of his head.

“You’re right. As usual,” he said reluctantly.

“I know,” she smiled, pulling him towards the locker room. “C’mon, can’t be late.”

They split off as soon as they pushed through the door to the locker room, with Lila shoving her things in her locker as haphazardly as she could manage without having the rest of her things topple out. She secured her morning tea and closed her locker with an almost frantic energy. The fact that they had a deadline for their investigation – though arbitrary, she could concede – was beginning to dawn on her, manifesting in her trembling fingers.

She dropped her apple with a sound of disappointment, watching as it rolled towards another student. To her surprise, said student was Isaac, who bent down and picked it up.

“Mm, floor apple. Tasty,” he commented, passing it over to her with a grin.

“You seem happy,” Lila observed, bringing her apple close to her chest as if to protect it like a mother hen did for her eggs.

“You reckon?” Isaac asked, his eyebrows raised in apparent surprise.

“Yeah,” Asher interjected from around the corner before sliding into the hallway and slinging an arm across Isaac’s shoulder. “Guessing your review wasn’t as bad as you’d thought?”

Isaac laughed, shrinking away from Asher’s touch. “They wanted to promote me to Crew Trainer.”

“So, you went for the .50cent pay rise?” Asher grinned, his eyes lighting up with elation. Lila privately thought that it was sweet, how happy Asher seemed for Isaac’s success.

“Me? Definitely not,” Isaac replied shortly. “I know I’m working now, but dude, being bottom of the rung is already busting my balls. I’m at my limit. Besides, who’d want to listen to me? Responsibility at 16 sounds like a terrible idea.”

Lila wrinkled her nose, the sweetness of the moment instantly evaporating.

“You’re right about that one,” Elise’s voice floated towards them, an easy-going smile on her face. Lila tried to hide her surprise at the fact that Elise had joined their conversation without any hesitation. Had Isaac and Elise made up at work yesterday? Or, now that Isaac wasn’t so moody and stressed over his review, he was more approachable for Elise?

“Which one? Busting my balls, being at my limit, no one wanting to listen to me, or being responsible at 16?” Isaac smirked.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that. What’d you say?” Elise giggled, her smile widening even further. Lila glanced at Asher, who seemed to be sending her a signal with his eyes – one that said he’d picked up on it too.

Isaac laughed again, before shaking his head. “I’m self-aware enough to know that I’m too goofy for anyone to take seriously. Not a very good trait for a Crew Trainer.”

“Eh, I disagree,” Asher said curtly. “You might be exactly what the newbies need to put them at ease.”

“Unless you give them ketchup packets,” Lila added seriously. “That’s weird.”

“But they’re so squishy,” Isaac pouted in protest. “Here, I’ve got one in my blaze-”

“Let’s get going, Asher,” Lila cut Isaac off before he could give them a ketchup packet. Asher immediately heeded her suggestion, waving goodbye to Isaac and Elise. Lila waved at them too, which they returned, before walking with Asher to the exit.

“Do you want one? To replace Jerry?” Lila heard Isaac say as she and Asher drifted further away from them. She was incredibly tempted to turn around and see Elise’s reaction but thought better of it. She hoped that Elise accepted Isaac’s offer, at least. Jerry was very mangled, after all.

Walking away from them, Lila felt that Elise and Isaac were in a good spot now – one that might not need any further intrusion from Lila and Asher for the moment.

“Well, I’m glad he’s in a much better mood,” Asher commented with a grin, stretching his arms above his head. “I was starting to get worried.”

“I reckon Elise was right. He was stressed about the review, so that’s why he’s been acting weird. But, now that he doesn’t have to worry about facing Elise after getting fired, he’s a lot happier,” Lila replied with a nod. “Must’ve made up with her afterwards – or at least become friendly again.”

“Or,” Asher gave Lila a sideways glance, his eyes sparkling with a flash of realisation, “they confessed to each other.”

“She would’ve told me,” Lila said doubtfully, furrowing her eyebrows. “Plus, she wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it if they did. The only logical outcome of that, too, is that they’d be dating. Which they’re not.” Lila paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I think Elise is just happy to be talking to a happy Isaac. Even though the thought of him liking someone else is painful, it didn’t sound to me like she wanted to just avoid him forever. I think after the museum trip, though it was super awkward, she started to see that continuing to hang out with him wasn’t that bad after all.”

Asher glanced at Lila again before sighing. “I did try to convince him that she likes him.”

“I know.”

“For now, I think leaving them be for this week would do some good. Let them get settled again,” Asher suggested. “Then, at camp, we can keep ditching them together.”

Lila chuckled. “Sounds like a perfect plan.”

They kept a casual pace as they walked towards the Tuckshop, with Asher checking in on her English progress. She was glad that Elise was out of earshot, but also glad that he had checked in. Somehow, getting his approval for how much she’d done made her feel slightly giddy, setting off the butterflies in her stomach again.

Then, as they approached the stairs down to the Tuckshop, they shared a nervous glance. Would they see something? Would they get caught? If so, would Jason’s group be scared off? Lila didn’t know them at all. She had no idea where they’d go if they were scared off. It was only incidental that they’d spotted them here yesterday after all.

“Let’s go,” Asher murmured, grasping her hand in his. “Not the first time we’ve watched someone.”

“Guess so,” Lila replied, squeezing his hand. She inhaled deeply before following his lead down the stairs.

It was bustling with students lining up to get into Tuckshop, with plenty of seats available for the moment. Lila craned her neck to see if she could find Jason, Zack and Jake.

“There,” Asher whispered, turning her shoulders slightly so she was facing a particular direction. Her eyes fell on the trio, who looked to be playing some kind of card game at a table in the far back. She was surprised, really, that Jason was partaking. He never seemed like the type to sit around and play card games.

“If we sit over there, I reckon they won’t notice us,” Lila suggested, gesturing with her left shoulder to a spare table diagonally across from the trio. “If we make it so we can both see them from the side, it’d be slightly harder for them to recognise us.”

“Deal,” Asher nodded, immediately moving that way. They sat down, eating their morning tea in total silence, with Lila keeping sight of the trio in her peripheral vision. Perhaps the silence would give away the fact that they were keeping their eyes on the Grade 12s, but no one around them seemed to care about what they were doing.

As they continued to sit there, Lila had the distinct impression that her assumption about Jason not being a card game player was correct. He seemed incredibly disinterested as the game progressed before he jumped up, pulling his phone out.

Lila exchanged another look with Asher.

“Do we-”

“No,” Lila shook her head. “We wait.”

“Can’t believe you read my mind.”

“I thought of the same question before deciding it wasn’t the right way to go. It seems like Jason’s the one who mainly sets things up. At least, he’s the one who gets all the phone calls. So, we let him go. If he catches us following him, he might abandon the drop altogether,” Lila whispered, leaning in so that Asher could catch what she said.

“Alright.”

“Besides, our target’s Zack, remember?”

“Yeah. Righto. Let’s see if Zack goes on the move.”

Lila’s gaze lingered on Jason as he began to wander down the path, towards the Kennedy oval. Even though she’d just said that they should stay and watch Zack… she really wanted to see what Jason was up to. Was he going to talk to Livi and Vi, maybe? Maybe even Harper? Or was he just walking away from the noise of students messing around at morning tea while he took a phone call?

She looked behind her at the group of rugby boys that Zack and Jake had passed morphine to last Thursday, before eyeing Zack and Jake once more. None of the rugby boys seemed to be in a phone call but if someone had disappeared, she wouldn’t have noticed. In saying that though, given how close Zack, Jake, and Jason were sitting to them at Tuckshop, would a phone call be necessary?

So… if it wasn’t necessary – then, if he was setting up a deal, Jason must be setting it up with someone else. Just how many people at Forestglade College were in on this?

“You’ll catch their attention,” Asher warned in a low voice. Lila readjusted her position, looking instead at her apple before taking a bite of it.

“Thanks,” she said after a few moments. He merely inclined his head with a small smile in response. She watched as he drank from his water bottle and recapped it with shaky fingers. Was he nervous too?

“Asher, are you okay?” she whispered, leaning in close.

“Me? I’m fine,” he replied, looking towards his hands. He quickly took them off the table with a grimace.

“It’s a lot of pressure,” Lila said after a pause. “Especially with everything else going on.”

“It is,” Asher said softly. “But we’ve got to get it done, and got to get it right. If we mess up-”

“We won’t.”

“Lila,” his voice was firm, his eyes intense. He took a deep breath before leaning in close as well, his voice almost a whisper. “I know you’re saying that to try and give me confidence, but we could. And if we do, it could cost a whole lot of things. Not just the chance to investigate them again. But they could catch wind of us poking around and go after your brother. As much as you can say he didn’t know, there’s no way of tracking who took what money – especially before Square, but even after if they were smart about it. He was the one running the show, so to speak, even if there was a shadow business under his nose. I don’t think the Headmaster would believe us over the Head Boy and Girl, either, if we tried to say it was all them without any hard evidence.”

“You’re right,” Lila nodded. “But you might be overthinking. If you think we’re going to fail, then we will. That’s just how it goes. Let’s instead think positively. One good thing about them scattering like this is that Daniel’s stuck in a room with a teacher for morning tea and lunch. He’s too busy with his own business to give orders to this one. So, getting evidence would also help to clear him – since he’s got an alibi. And if they check his phone, he won’t have been texting any of them.”

“True…” Asher sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Then, he straightened up. “Jason’s back.”

Sure enough, Jason crossed through Lila’s peripheral vision not a moment later. He sat down, his face rather smug, before nodding to Zack and Jake. Lila continued to keep an eye on them as best she could without turning her head and she could see Asher doing the same.

A few moments passed. She realised that she hadn’t taken a breath after a few more moments passed and surreptitiously sucked in a shallow one. Missing any significant movements from the trio because she forgot to breathe sounded like a dumb idea.

But there were none, besides a continuation of the card game. Had Jason texted them instructions instead of telling them? Occasionally, they checked their phones, but there was no hint of having received anything in particular.

Eventually, there were only a couple of minutes to go before PC started. Lila and Asher remained seated, idly packing up their bits of rubbish whilst still monitoring the boys.

From what Lila knew, the Grade 12s locker room and PC classes were in the same building as the Grade 11s were, taking up the top two floors. So, Lila reasoned, it wouldn’t be suspicious for Lila and Asher to trail behind Jason, Zack, and Jake.

It felt as though Asher had the same reasoning as he continued to linger, zipping and unzipping his sandwich bag full of the remnants of his bunch of grapes.

Then, Jason, Zack, and Jake finally began to move in the direction of the PC classes. Lila and Asher remained seated, looking down at the table between them, until they were far ahead.

“Let’s go,” Asher murmured, standing up. Lila followed suit, and they kept their distance from Jason, Zack, and Jake whilst still making sure the trio were within line of sight.

“Well, I guess that’s that for now,” Asher said quietly.

“It seems like they’ll do something at lunch,” Lila replied just as quietly.

“You think so?”

“Just from their behaviour.”

Asher seemed deep in thought before he nodded, seeming satisfied with Lila’s observation.

“Gotta get your phone ready, then,” he said with a small smile that betrayed his anxiety.

“Yours, too. Just in case,” Lila replied, leaning her head against his arm.

“Roger that.”

Jason, Zack, and Jake were quite slow walkers – frustratingly so. But as Lila continued to survey them, she couldn’t help but feel that their dynamics were odd. It didn’t really seem like Jason was even friends with Zack or Jake. Were they purely just his lackeys? At least Zack and Jake seemed to be friends in some capacity as they joked amongst themselves, but Jason never joined in or spoke up.

‘What a lonely life,’ Lila thought absently as they continued towards the lockers. Did Jason even have friends? Or was he one of those guys who was popular from a distance? Actually, was Jason even popular? From Lila’s limited interactions with him, he was more of an ass – though he did have a certain amount of charm.

Surely he had friends, right? Being Head Boy or Girl included a popularity vote from the cohort and a vote from the teachers, so he had to have some kind of sway. Maybe he was just sticking by Zack and Jake because of the morphine ring. Maybe he didn’t want to drag his actual friends into it, or they were smart enough to avoid it altogether.

Or he started it all up because he wanted friends.

Lila shivered. Feeling empathy for Jason was not on her list of things she wanted to feel. Besides, she was making that all up, based on the very little information she had on him. She was interested to know, however, when he started the ring. Was it in Grade 11? Was that why he’d been voted in as Head Boy by his peers? Or was it purely because of Daniel’s Banker activities that the morphine ring started?

She hadn’t seen when the missing analgesics had been noticed from the Forestglade Private Hospital. But, if she remembered correctly, her Dad’s services had been requested in August last year. Voting for Senior Leadership positions usually began at the end of Term 3 or the start of Term 4, depending on how many applicants there were. They were in Term 3 now, which would end around mid-September. Then, school resumed in early October. Each year was structured more or less the same, give-or-take a few days here and there depending on when the weekdays fell.

Had Jason bought his leadership position?

“You’re frowning quite a bit,” Asher murmured in Lila’s ear, making her jolt slightly. She blinked at him, realising that her hands were folded across her chest. She lowered them sheepishly.

“Guess I am,” she replied, fiddling with her skirt pocket.

“They’ve headed up to the Grade 12 locker rooms,” Asher said, his eyes flickering upwards towards the stairs. Lila’s shoulders instantly relaxed. The stalking was over for now, not that she’d paid much attention towards the end given how deeply she was thinking.

“Good.”

“In a sense. We’re going to be seriously late for PC, though. I have to run,” Asher responded quickly, giving her a swift peck on the cheek. She felt her cheek heat up, its origin point stemming from where he’d kissed her, and he grinned.

“See you at lunch,” he called, heading inside the locker room at a half-jog. Lila considered whether she should go to her locker or not for a moment and decided against it, hurrying instead to PC. If she was fast enough, she’d be able to avoid Ms Wang’s wrath at her tardiness – which Lila preferred, since she had Maths next.

Lila sidled in to her PC class, finding it rather abuzz for a Tuesday. Ms Wang looked as though she hadn’t started the roll just yet, so Lila victoriously sat down in her usual seat across from Grace and Elise.

“Hey,” Elise greeted in a low voice. Grace did the same, and Lila returned their greetings with a smile.

“Got worried for a moment that something happened to you,” Grace whispered. “Glad to see you’re okay.”

“Just… got sidetracked,” Lila replied, avoiding Grace’s questioning eyes.

“Making out with Asher?” Elise asked, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“No,” Lila replied almost too defensively. She cleared her throat and repeated it in a much softer voice.

“You totally were,” Elise teased, her smile cheeky. Lila was about to respond when Ms Wang stood and called the roll. Ms Wang further noted that today was another free lesson before sitting back down.

Lila glanced at Elise, who was still smiling impishly, her cheeks rather rosy. Seeing Elise back in a good mood, after the glumness of the museum visit and everything else between Elise and Isaac, made Lila feel at ease. Getting Elise and Isaac together would be much easier if they were friendly with each other.

“By the way,” Grace suddenly said, leaning in close to Elise and Lila. “I heard that Ayla’s back.”

“I heard that too,” Elise confirmed with a nod. “But I also heard that she looks terrible.”

“That’s not very nice,” Grace admonished.

“I didn’t say it,” Elise countered, her hands raised defensively. “Just what I’ve heard.”

“You’re not wrong,” Lila added quietly. “She was in PE with me this morning.”

Both Grace and Elise gasped.

“Did she say why she was away?” Elise instantly queried, her voice raising slightly. Lila saw Ms Wang frown in their direction and she huddled in closer to Elise and Grace, her voice barely above a whisper.

“No. She didn’t say anything at all until I tried to sit next to her. When I did, she just said ‘Don’t’ in this really aggressive way.”

Elise looked as though she was about to say something angrily in response when Grace touched Elise’s arm, cooling her fire instantly.

“She must be just trying to readjust back into school life. It’s the beginning of week four now, so she’s been away from school for five whole weeks,” Grace said sensibly.

“I guess,” Lila shrugged. “Either way, I’m definitely not going to approach her again. It was lowkey kinda scary.”

Elise disdainfully wrinkled her nose. “Doesn’t have to be a bitch about coming back, if that’s the case.”

“Elise,” Grace said warningly, shooting a glare in her direction. “Poor girl lost a friend in a horrific way. If either of you died like that during the school holidays, I’d be a bitch too. And that’s if I ever came back here.”

Elise folded her arms across her chest with an indistinct grumble. They were otherwise silent for a second or two before Grace spoke up again.

“On a lighter note,” she said, pulling the left sleeve of her jumper up. “Look at what my partner gave me!”

It was a dainty, gold bracelet that was similar to the one that Lila had helped choose for Ms Alexander, though it was clearly much more expensive – one bought with adult money, that’s for sure. Instead of three stars, there was a cursive ‘M’ in the middle with a small diamante in one of the arches. Lila almost wanted to throw up.

“Cute!” Elise breathed, taking Grace’s wrist into her hand. “I’m guessing her name starts with ‘M’?”

“Yeah,” Grace blushed, looking fondly down at the bracelet. Lila’s eyes flickered to Elise. Had… Elise missed the fact that the waitress at the yiros shop told them Grace went there all the time with ‘Mia’?

“Won’t you get told off by a teacher for wearing it?” Lila managed to ask after a beat.

“Nah,” Grace replied, tucking it back underneath her jumper. “Jumper covers it. Plus, I’ve got Music next, then a vocal lesson at lunch. The teacher’s really nice, so even if I take my jumper off and she sees me wearing it, she won’t say anything.”

‘Because she bought it for you,’ Lila thought with an internal sigh.

“Well, that’s fine for Music, I guess, but what about other teachers?” Elise questioned, sitting back slightly.

“If it happens, then… I’ll just keep it on me somehow. I mean, you’re wearing something Asher got you every day, right Lila?”

Lila’s hand grazed against the slight bump made by the necklace Asher gave her under her dress. “I guess. But that’s a necklace. Bit harder to hide a bracelet without a jumper.”

“Could make it into a necklace somehow,” Grace smiled. She looked down at where her bracelet was, though it was still hidden underneath her jumper. “I don’t want to part with it.”

“Man, you guys are making me jealous,” Elise pouted, placing her chin in her right hand. “Wish I got gifts.”

“Maybe you should ask Isaac,” Lila suggested with a mischievous grin. “I’m sure he-”

“No way,” Elise said flatly, her expression dropping considerably. “Besides, it’s different when you get gifts that kinda say that you’re someone’s. I’m not going to ask Isaac for something like that. We’re not dating, and he likes someone else, remember?”

“Did you ask him if he likes someone else?” Lila responded with a raised eyebrow. Elise faltered, shaking her head.

“Then how-”

“Look, his review went well. I’m just going to enjoy his company, now that he’s in a good place, and try not to think or worry about it for now,” Elise said curtly, cutting Lila off entirely. Lila sighed.

“Alright, alright. Sorry for bringing it up,” she said gently.

“I know you mean well,” Elise replied, her tone somewhat meek. “Please, don’t take it personally. I just… don’t want to get hurt.”

“That’s relatable,” Lila nodded. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

The girls began to talk about other things – with Elise mentioning how devasted Andy the McManager looked after talking to Isaac yesterday – until PC ended. They split off to their classes, with Lila stopping briefly by her locker to grab her Maths stuff before hurrying off. She wasn’t quite convinced that she’d be able to get much work done, what with the thoughts swimming through her mind. She was starting to get exhausted – between the problems with Elise, Grace, and the morphine ring that she wanted to resolve, she wasn’t sure how much capacity she had left.

As she sat down in her usual seat, watching Ms Wang wipe down the whiteboard, she hoped that, at the very least, she could resolve the morphine ring over the coming week. Otherwise, she might just about explode from stress.