Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One

Lila was the first out the door once Maths was over, both eager to leave the lesson behind her and to get to Asher. Somehow, despite her being so speedy to leave, he was already waiting outside, bookbag slung over his shoulder.

“Shall we?” he asked warmly as she approached.

“Yeah. Locker room first?”

Asher looked down at her for a moment before pulling out two lunchboxes from his bookbag.

“Sure, but not ours. I came prepared,” he said, passing her one. “Here, give me that bag.”

“You sure? It’s got my textbook-”

“Perfect. It can even out my shoulders.”

“If you’re sure,” Lila replied reluctantly, passing over her bag. He put it over his left shoulder with a satisfied nod.

“’Course I’m sure. Let’s get going.”

They headed off, with Lila mulling over his choice of words – ‘not ours’? To Lila, that meant that they would be staking out the Grade 12 locker rooms – but there were two floors of those. Would that mean they’d have to separate?

“You said… not ours,” she mentioned quietly. He glanced at her and nodded.

“Yup. Not ours. I was thinking in Chem, actually, that we don’t know when they’d go for it. So… with that, we need to follow them from the start instead of waiting at Tuckshop for them.”

“Do you know which floor their lockers are?”

Asher shook his head. “Not a clue. But we should hurry. We’d need to split off, but each floor has that little alleyway just outside. I was going to stand there and wait for them to come past.”

“Then I’ll do the same.”

It didn’t take long for them to reach the entrance to the Grade 11 locker room. Lila almost continued walking through the doors before realising that Asher was heading up the stairs to their left. She followed behind him until she broke off at the first landing. He didn’t look behind him as he carried on up the next flight of stairs.

Suddenly being alone amongst a swarm of Grade 12 students, all jostling their way into the locker room, was making Lila feel anxious. No one even gave her a second look, as everyone seemed to be absorbed in their conversations about assignments, who was dating who, and parties that happened on the weekend.

It was actually quite strange, being invisible amongst this crowd of students who she knew only peripherally. At any moment, she thought she might get called out for going to the wrong locker room, but instead, she slid out into the requisite alleyway without any fuss at all. Were they really so oblivious? Or was she feeling extra vigilant because she knew she wasn’t supposed to be here?

Lila crept further back into the alleyway, unzipping her lunchbox while keeping an eye on who was passing by. Surprisingly, she wasn’t actually interested in what was in it, but instead trying to appear as non-suspicious as possible.

She shrank back even more as she saw Theo passing by, laden with textbooks, but even he didn’t seem to notice her. With a small sigh, she pressed her back against one of the walls of the alleyway, still busying herself with her lunchbox and looking out for any sign of Jason, Zack, or Jake. Was Asher having more luck? Had he been spotted?

More students passed by, including Alice and Willow. The sour taste left in her mouth from Alice’s verbal attack against her on Saturday returned with an unpleasant vengeance. She’d almost forgotten that she’d have to see Alice today at practice.

Following behind Alice and Willow were Livi and Vi. Livi appeared to be incensed by something, whereas Vi looked nonplussed, leafing through the pages of her book as Livi ranted. Lila quickly pretended to look busy going through her lunchbox once again. After a second or two, she looked back up again – only to meet Vi’s curious eyes.

Lila willed herself not to panic as Vi seemed ready to say something to her when Lila was saved by the loud, whiny insistence of Livi to move along so they could eat lunch.

Her phone buzzed and she almost dropped her lunchbox. She hurriedly grabbed her phone, clutching her lunchbox to her chest. It was a message from Asher.

On the move. Looks like they’re heading to Tuckshop after all.

Lila finally felt as though she had caught her breath, though at the same time, her panic started to rise. Tuckshop again? Were they not moving on a drop after all?

There was only one way to find out.

Okay, Lila replied, pocketing her phone. She headed down the stairs, carefully monitoring who she came across by sight and by her ears. None were of Livi’s group, nor Alice and Willow – something that relieved her once more. Going downstairs made it difficult to tell who was just ahead, after all, and she was still in Grade 12 territory.

She made it to the floor that was level with the path to Tuckshop. She assumed that Asher would still be tailing Jason, Zack, and Jake, so she hurried as best she could to at least see any of them in the distance. It didn’t take long for her to find Asher casually strolling up ahead, his lunchbox swinging from his left hand, his right in his pocket.

With an uncontainable smile, Lila speed-walked to him, lightly looping her arm around his left. He looked down at her, his eyes wide with shock until he registered that it was her wrapped around his arm. He chuckled, taking his free hand and reciprocating her touch with a small squeeze.

“Hello,” he said softly. “Seems like you’re happy to see me.”

“Of course,” Lila replied, her tone politely affronted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“There’s probably a few reasons,” he responded with a playful grin.

Lila tapped her chin as if she were thinking hard about it. “None that I can find.”

“Looks like I’m very good at hiding them,” he replied loftily. He gestured with his head in front of them, towards Jason, Zack and Jake. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary – certainly nothing along the lines of them conducting some illegal activity. Lila’s hopes that they would be doing a morphine drop were dwindling, though she tried not to be pessimistic. Just as she had tried to act casual by the Grade 12 locker rooms, perhaps they were acting casual to avoid suspicion too.

Once again though, Lila couldn’t find an ounce of warmth shared between Jason and his two companions. Zack and Jake seemed to be chatting, with a guffaw here and there, but Jason was far more interested in his phone.

Eventually, once they reached the steps down towards Tuckshop, Jason put his phone away. For the first time that day, Lila saw Jason say something to Zack and Jake, followed by nods from them both. Unfortunately, Lila and Asher were too far away to actually hear what was said, but from the way Jason, Zack and Jake split off as soon as they stepped off the stairs, Lila thought that it was instructions.

Lila and Asher exchanged a glance before continuing to follow Zack and Jake, who took a hard right, past the Tuckshop doors, and towards a large group of male students – around six – sitting around several tables pushed together. Jason, on the other hand, continued walking past Tuckshop altogether and in the direction of the Kennedy oval.

None of these students were the rugby boys that Asher and Lila were now walking past. It seemed that perhaps this was a different collection of sports players. One thing was for certain – this was the makings of a deal. Jason conveniently disappearing seemed to be part of the strategy to keep his involvement limited, exposing only Zack and Jake as those who were part of the ring. Smart.

“Over there?” Asher pointed out an empty table a few metres away – one that had a good line of sight of Zack’s front in particular. Lila nodded and they both sat down in such a way that they could see Zack from their peripheries. Lila checked and confirmed that he hadn’t noticed them. Instead, he seemed to be throwing himself into the set up of another card game.

“Should we just film the whole thing?” Lila asked in a low voice. “It was so fast last time, we hardly caught it with just our eyes.”

“If you think that you could do it in a way that’s not obvious,” Asher said quietly. Lila smiled, opening her lunchbox. She zoomed in to Zack, catching sight of his hands and face, before propping her phone next to her Tupperware container.

“Alright, I haven’t started it just yet,” she whispered. “It’s very important that we don’t talk about anything.”

“Yes, boss,” Asher said seriously, setting up his phone in the same way, but less zoomed in, taking in more of the table set up, Zack’s hands and even some part of Jake. It seemed that today’s lunch was an assortment of sushi rolls, which was perfect. They’d be able to pick up the rolls without disturbing their cameras much, if at all.

Lila double checked that everything was good before meeting Asher’s eyes.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Ready.”

They both activated their videos. Lila was glad that her phone showed that it was filming at the top edge of her screen. That way, she didn’t need to worry about it.

From what she saw via the zoom on her camera, it looked like they were paying Uno. Lila was tempted to ask if Asher knew any of the boys sitting around with Zack and Jake, but held her tongue. That wasn’t important now – especially as they were focusing on Zack in particular.

Lila concentrated on her food instead, which was the only way for her to stop feeling too anxious and jumpy. Eating in absolute silence like this was akin to torture once she finished her food, especially because she didn’t have any other means to track the time except by the movements of most of the student body around them.

Time ticked away slowly – almost as though it was mocking her. She really would rather that it sped up so that they’d see the deal go down.

She couldn’t even trust herself to look at Asher. It would be impossible, if their eyes met again, to prevent herself from saying something – anything – to him in this state of limbo. So, she was left to her thoughts.

She guided them to thoughts of her English draft – something suitably boring, at least. If she tried to think of something funny after all, she’d probably let out a laugh which wouldn’t be good.

Just as her mind began to wander to other things, her peripheral vision caught sight of some odd movements from the table Zack and Jake were sitting at. She remained silent, even halting her breathing, as she observed the boys packing up their game of Uno.

Once again, while it looked from a swift glance to the untrained eye that Zack and Jake were both helping to collect the cards, she saw that instead neither of them had cards in their hands.

This time, there were three small glass vials were in Zack’s hands, two of which he passed to the boy to the right of him and one across the table through handshakes. To Zack’s left, a different boy passed along an envelope across Zack and towards Jake’s awaiting hands. Both Zack and Jake rapidly zipped up their bumbags before passing their piles of Uno cards around the table to the waiting hands of other boys.

Lila and Asher continued to sit with bated breath. It would be best, before making any moves whatsoever, if Zack and Jake disappeared entirely – or perhaps joined up with Jason again. Footage of that would be even better.

She was glad that Asher appeared to be on the same wavelength as he stayed absolutely still. Lila bent her head towards the table, in an effort to not be recognised by Zack or Jake. She kept surreptitiously glancing at them every now and then from the corner of her eyes until, finally, Zack and Jake stood, stretching.

“Same time next week?” she thought she heard Zack say. Her heart began to race. Was that caught on her camera?

“Hell yeah. Don’t forget the stuff,” a boy she didn’t recognise replied. A separate one nudged him in the ribs, shushing him loudly.

“I won’t,” Zack replied with a nod. “Can’t play bullshit without a deck of normal cards.”

The two boys who had spoken to Zack seemed to relax their postures entirely as they indicated their agreement through grunts. Had Zack and Jake managed to set up another deal on their own? Jason would probably be pleased.

Zack and Jake began to shuffle away from the group towards the Kennedy oval. Was that where they debriefed with Jason? Or were they simply trying to meet up with him on his way back to their locker room?

Lila locked eyes with Asher before looking back down at her phone. They both turned off their recordings and she gave a long, slow exhale of relief, opening her smaller Tupperware container filled with an assortment of decadent cookies.

“Thank God,” she said through a mouthful of triple choc cookie. “Now it’s the next phase.”

“The dangerous one,” Asher murmured, selecting a cookie of his own from his lunchbox. “But we need to check our footage. Make sure we got what we needed.”

“Alright. Let’s head somewhere private,” Lila said, standing up and zipping her lunchbox closed. “Anywhere will do, I think – but we should keep our backs to a wall or something while we watch what we recorded.”

“Good idea. I reckon we could find a place like that along the way back to the locker room.”

Off they went, with Lila feeling more and more jittery with each passing step. They’d done it. They’d managed to secure a recording of a deal happening. Of course, she hadn’t yet reviewed the footage, but between both herself and Asher, they must’ve caught enough. Surely.

Finding a suitably private place to sit, particularly with ten minutes left of lunch, was harder than Lila expected. They made it all the way to their locker room, pausing just outside the alleyway. It looked to be empty.

“Looks like a good spot,” Asher said, gesturing that way. They sat down a few metres inside the alleyway, exchanging a somewhat anxious look as they did so.

“Well… time to look at the videos,” Lila murmured, pulling out her phone. Asher took a deep breath before taking his phone out too.

With quivering fingers, Lila pressed ‘play’.

To her immense relief, her video looked to be fine – exactly what she needed. She skipped about fifteen minutes of footage, almost right to the end. Luckily, Zack’s posture had remained in frame. She slowed down the video, not quite looking frame by frame, but almost.

Zack flashed a smile – one that looked relaxed, as though he was a gracious loser in this round of Uno. He tapped the top of the table three times before his hand disappeared. As Lila had seen in person, he pulled out the three vials, passing it to the two boys through a handshake. Lila was worried for a moment that the boy in front of Zack would block her view, but as he was angled to the left, it in fact gave a much better view of the deal.

She paused the video, rewinding it by several seconds. She narrowed her eyes, zooming in as best she could on the vials themselves. Of the three that she saw Zack pull out, one exposed the label on the front. Morphine.

She tapped Asher on his arm, showing her phone screen to him. He chuckled, showing his phone screen to her. He’d paused at around the same moment, too, though the vial label was a bit blurred. She saw a prominent ‘M’, though. In his video, she additionally saw the top of Zack’s bumbag. She also saw that Jake had his hand outstretched for the envelope coming his way.

“Looks like we’ve caught him red handed,” Asher sighed, stretching his arms above his head. He wiped his face, looking positively stressed, before meeting Lila’s gaze.

“I think you should come over for dinner,” he said simply.

“After practice? Won’t it be a bit late?”

“It’ll be fine – food’s usually ready by the time I get home. Besides… we should figure out what we want to say to him. You should also probably take out your physical sim card so you’re not accidentally texting him from your number. You gonna do that on Jacoval or something?”

“Definitey not,” Lila conceded. “I’ll ask Mum.”

Lila’s Mum seemed miffed by the late notice, given her short reply, but agreed nonetheless. Asher smiled brightly upon hearing this and moved to text Gabriel, letting him know Lila was coming over.

“Not much time left,” Asher said, reluctantly standing up. He held out a hand for Lila, who accepted the assistance in standing. “We’ve got our LOTEs, right?”

“Yeah. Japanese for me.”

After grabbing their things from their lockers for their remaining classes, they walked together to the Language Block. Asher looked pensive the whole way, most likely thinking about what to say to Zack.

Lila remained silent as she too considered the next steps. How did people even blackmail other people? He didn’t seem to be the brightest, which probably meant that manipulating information out of him wouldn’t be too absurdly difficult – unless he ran to Jason, or someone who realised that what the anonymous texter would be doing was a crime. Or, worse still, someone suitably qualified to figure out who the anonymous texter really was.

How much did soccer mean to Zack? Threatening to tell Mr Kovac could work, but it also seemed too specific. Not many people outside of soccer and hockey would know that Mr Kovac coached the Under 18s for soccer, and considering Asher and Lila did both, it would probably be too risky of a move. If Zack even thought about it for a second, he might realise that someone from one of those teams could be the texter.

So… then straight to the Headmaster? That could work. Even if Zack didn’t care too much for school in comparison to soccer, at least getting in trouble with the Headmaster himself would be a surefire way for him to panic.

Or… impressing upon Zack the seriousness of what he was doing, by threatening to go to the Police, would be best. Taking it outside of school would certainly be terrifying for anyone. Even her experience with the Police, despite it leading nowhere in terms of arrests or anything similar, was terrifying – and it wasn’t as though she’d done the crime that she was interviewed about.

But maybe the best plan was just letting Zack guide her towards what his worst fears would be. Perhaps his panic could just be induced by the simply letting him think that the anonymous texter would go to Jason, telling him he messed up.

“Thinking hard?” Asher queried as they slowed to a stop outside Lila’s classroom. She looked into his eyes, which seemed to convey a hint of playfulness.

“Hardly thinking, more like,” Lila joked. He laughed in response.

“With a face that serious, I doubt it,” he smiled. “I’ll see you after class.”

As promised, Asher was waiting outside her classroom once Japanese ended, still looking rather thoughtful.

“Thinking hard?” Lila teased upon reaching him. He glanced at her before shaking his head.

“Me? Impossible.”

She laughed. “I think I’d actually like to see you stop thinking. You might find some peace with it.”

“It’s been known to happen,” Asher replied lightly, plucking her bookbag from her shoulder. “Let’s get going, before Elise and Grace send out a search party.”

Lila fell into step with Asher, finding comfort in his mere presence on the short walk to Modern History. Although they’d be having dinner at his place tonight, they’d only have a couple of hours at most to spend together afterwards, since they had school tomorrow as well. She hoped they’d be able to squeeze in a bit of quality time, too. Time that they could be together without worrying about anyone, or anything else.

Once they arrived, he handed her bag over before dashing off to his class with a wave.

“Not even a wave to us two? What are we, part of the decoration?” Elise huffed. Lila glanced at her in surprise. She hadn’t noticed Elise and Grace waiting outside the classroom for her.

“Oh, hey,” Lila laughed, “why’s the decoration talking to me?”

Elise pouted as Grace giggled, pulling them both towards the classroom. They didn’t have any time to talk throughout class today, which Lila was secretly grateful for. Her mind was running through various ways to present enough to Zack to get him to talk – to implicate Jason, or even Jason’s Mum, if he had any of that information. One wrong move and she could accidentally let it slip to Elise and Grace – either about blackmailing someone, or about the morphine ring as a whole. She didn’t have much brain space left to think of a way out of that mess if she fell into it.

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Finally, class was over. She waited for Elise and Grace to pack up before they exited together, meeting up with Asher and Isaac.

“The dynamic duo,” Elise smirked as they started on their journey to the locker room.

“You’re usually not waiting outside Modern History, Isaac,” Lila observed with a small smile. He was totally here to see Elise again, what with the way his eyes twinkled as he looked at Elise.

“I’m not, no,” Isaac conceded. “But I thought I may as well, since Asher came all this way. We’ve got practice together anyway.”

“Sure,” Lila drawled, exchanging a meaningful look with Asher. She saw Isaac’s cheeks flush, though he didn’t respond.

The group chatted amongst themselves, mostly about camp next week. It turned out there was a lot to pack that Lila hadn’t considered – things that she would need to buy at some point over the weekend.

“What you do mean expired mozzie spray won’t work?” Isaac complained, his hands behind his head.

“Isaac, if it’s expired, then it won’t work,” Elise replied with a long-suffering sigh.

“Eh, mozzie spray is mozzie spray,” Isaac insisted, waving a hand dismissively.

“Sure, until it’s expired,” Elise retorted.

“Are mozzies even active during August?” Isaac asked.

“Even if they weren’t, expired mozzie spray still wouldn’t do anything against them!” Elise gave an incredulous laugh after this statement, which prompted a frown from Isaac.

They continued to squabble amongst themselves, both with equally bright, teasing smiles. Lila felt an urge to just push Elise and Isaac into a kiss by force but kept her hands to herself – just.

Upon reaching the locker room, they said their goodbyes for the day before splitting off to grab their things. Grace and Elise said goodbye to Lila once again as they passed by, and not a moment later Asher and Isaac appeared beside her locker. Their presence was an almost oppressive demand for Lila to hurry up so they could head off to practice.

She closed her locker and they headed off to Jacoval, with Asher and Isaac talking about the upcoming game on Saturday – against Mulberry Heights. Neither Asher nor Isaac seemed to indicate that there was anything special about Mulberry Heights in particular, though Lila was instantly incredibly aware of the fact that Mulberry Heights was Holly’s school.

She knew that Asher had asked to sit out Mulberry Heights debates, but it seemed that he was perfectly comfortable playing soccer against them. It made sense, since Holly didn’t do soccer or hockey, so she wouldn’t be watching them. With that in mind, Lila relaxed a little.

As far as hockey went, Mulberry Heights wasn’t a tough opponent – they were renowned for being a cheer-heavy school. With a shudder, Lila remembered Holly’s suggestion that they compete against each other in cheerleading. After everything that happened, the idea of sharing a friendly rivalry like that made Lila nauseous.

They had almost reached Jacoval when the conversation between Asher and Isaac died down. Lila observed how content Isaac appeared and thought for a moment about grilling him about Elise.

“So, you gonna ask her out?” Asher asked not even a second later, a smirk upon his face. Isaac stopped in his tracks, looking towards Lila with a panicked expression.

“Y-You’re talking to Lila, right?” Isaac questioned in a strained voice.

“I know you’re not that stupid,” Asher laughed, shaking his head. “Of course I’m talking to you. About Elise.”

Isaac’s face turned pink as he vehemently shook his head. “N-Never. If I can help it.”

“What does that even mean?” Lila blinked.

“It means… I’ve gotta get changed,” Isaac replied abruptly, sprinting off down the hill and towards the changing rooms, skidding slightly before he jumped onto the concrete.

Asher sighed, placing a hand on his forehead. “Well, that answers that.”

“It answers absolutely nothing,” Lila replied, frowning deeply.

“Nope, it answers quite a lot. Poor guy’s confidence is still shattered, even though he generally feels better.”

“I mean there’s nothing against Elise asking Isaac out,” Lila said pointedly.

“There’s not, but somehow I think that’d hurt his confidence even more,” Asher replied thoughtfully. “Something about the expectations of society where guys should make the first move, and all that.”

“Really?”

Asher gave her a sideways glance before sighing once more. “Well, in a way. But I think it’d also hurt him because he’d feel like an idiot for not making the first move.”

Lila paused before giving him a sympathetic smile. “Is that for Isaac, or for you?”

Asher spluttered, before clearing his throat. “I-… both.”

“You mentioned that you had no idea how Isaac was with someone he had a crush on,” Lila said lightly. “What makes you sure about this?”

Asher looked over at the changing rooms before back at Lila. “You’re right, I did say that. But… even though I don’t know how he is with people he likes, I do know what he’s like when he loses his confidence. If someone tries to do what he’s not confident in for him, he gets frustrated with himself. I think… he generally thinks of himself as pretty capable. Sturdy, I guess you could say. So, when he’s shaken up like this, he feels pretty helpless. Then, when someone fixes it, he feels even worse about it, which means he has to overcompensate. Kinda like how he’s been obsessed with paying me back for getting him out of debt, even though I’ve told him a billion times that he can take his time with it and it’s fine. Not sure how he’d go with overcompensating Elise for asking him out first, but either way he’d be hung up on it for a very long time.”

“You know, that makes sense but… damn, it’s silly.”

“Silly’s one word for it. But… well, while I feel a bit stupid for not trying, I’m glad you made the first move. It made me insecure for a little bit, especially after seeing how upset you looked when I turned you down, but… it also made me realise that you actually do like me. I think I would’ve felt unsure forever if I’d made the first move. Sometimes, I feel like maybe… I dunno, sometimes I get a bit unsure, but then I remember-”

He cut himself off with another clearing of his throat. “Sorry, I should get going too,” he said, starting to head down to the changing rooms.

“Asher, wait,” Lila called, following behind him. He was evidently trying to escape as quickly as he could without running, but she caught up to him, gripping the sleeve of his blazer to get him to stop walking. He turned to look at her, his expression strangely anxious.

“Asher, please. I just… I want you to know that sometimes I feel the same. Like it’s… been this dream, that I might wake up and realise I made it all up in my head. But… please, don’t doubt me. I… I told you that before, months ago in a different context, but it still holds true,” she murmured. She couldn’t lift her eyes from the grass beneath their feet, suddenly unsure about why she felt quite so vulnerable talking about this.

“Then… please don’t doubt me, either,” Asher replied quietly. He gently brought a finger under her chin, tilting it up so that all she could do was look into his eyes. “I-”

“Mate, you gotta get changed. Mr Kovac’s gonna throw a fit,” Isaac’s voice, which sounded strangely gruff, startled Lila. She looked around Asher’s shoulders and saw that Isaac was already dressed in his soccer uniform, his expression slightly worried. “Like, seriously,” he added, his voice back to normal.

“Sorry,” Asher said, his shoulders slumping. “Here’s your stuff. Uh, I’ll see you after practice, Lila.”

She watched him go for a second before Isaac spoke.

“Sorry. It looked like a really… uh tender moment, I guess. But Mr Kovac’s been really strict on him since you guys started dating. I didn’t want him to get in more trouble than he has to,” he said apologetically. “See you later.”

He jogged over to his side of the oval, joining the warmups that his teammates had started to do. Had Lila been causing Asher trouble at soccer? He hadn’t said anything to her, and she hadn’t realised. But, if Ms Wright had noticed and been telling her off for how she was with Asher, then it made sense for Mr Kovac to do the same.

She cursed her denseness as she hurried to get changed, emerging not too long after. All of her teammates were in the process of warming up as well – Alice included. Lila sighed, still wanting to avoid Alice if she could. So, she picked a spot next to Charlotte, who gave her a polite smile. Despite having done hockey together for a couple years, and being in the same year level, she had never been close with Charlotte – but she was a far more comfortable option at the moment.

After a few minutes, Ms Wright directed her team into some drills before a practice game as part of today’s agenda. Realistically, Lila probably should have been practicing with Charlotte more often than she had been. In terms of the team’s setup, she passed far more to Charlotte than anyone else.

Alice didn’t approach Lila during practice, which ended just as they usually did – with a pep talk and reminder for their home game against Mulberry Heights on Saturday morning.

Lila had thought that she had gotten away scot-free as she trudged back to the changing room when Alice called out to her. She closed her eyes, wondering if she could pretend she hadn’t heard Alice when Alice called out again.

Lila reluctantly turned around, unable to completely erase the displeasure from her expression.

“Yes?” she asked coldly. Alice seemed taken aback by this and exchanged a look with Willow, who hastily carried on to the changing rooms.

“Lila, I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Alice said, gripping her hockey stick tightly in her hands. “Really sorry. For last week. It was uncalled for.”

“It was.”

Alice continued to stand there, squirming slightly. Clearly, she hadn’t anticipated for Lila to respond so noncommittally. Truthfully, Lila hadn’t either, but this was the route she was apparently embarking on.

“Um… t-that’s all I wanted to say. Sorry,” Alice’s voice was rather small, though she looked into Lila’s eyes as she said this. Lila exhaled deeply.

“I’m not going to say it’s okay, because it’s not. Not only was it uncalled for, but you embarrassed me in front of all of our teammates and Ms Wright. I think even some of the St Peters girls noticed. But… thank you for apologising.”

Alice’s face flushed, though her expression was one of relief. Lila glanced over at the soccer boys before looking back at Alice.

“You better go, before Asher gets here,” Lila said, gesturing to the changing room. “He’s… protective, I guess.” Lila stopped, considering this for a touch longer. She hadn’t ever articulated that before, but he definitely was – even before they started dating. To know that he felt she was worth protecting made her heart flutter for a second.

“Uh, I could tell. He’s… been glaring at me all practice. And even now,” Alice replied awkwardly. “See you on Saturday.”

Alice jogged off to the changing room. Lila sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. She wasn’t quite sure whether the apology benefitted her or Alice more, but ultimately she had received an apology. Lila could live with that since they didn’t see each other much outside of hockey practice. They’d probably go back to normal on Saturday, then for the rest of the season.

She started to head over to the changing room herself when she saw Asher speedily making his way to her. Practice was clearly over for him, too. She smiled as he reached her.

“What’d she want?” Asher immediately asked, his voice grim.

“She apologised,” Lila replied gently. “No need to worry.”

Asher looked unhappy before sighing. “Alright. Well, I guess that’s all you can ask for. Not like she can go back in time.”

“I know. I did thank her, but I made sure to let her know that it wasn’t okay.”

“Good.”

They strolled towards the changing rooms before splitting off to grab their things, meeting up again in the hallway.

“George will be here,” Asher said as they trekked up the hill to the carpark. “Dinner should be ready, more or less, when we get to mine. After that… we can talk.”

The car rode back to Asher’s was, as usual, rather silent on Lila’s end. She had greeted George, who pleasantly greeted her as well before he engaged in minor small talk with Asher. It was quite the contrast to Gabriel’s bustling energy, which immediately hit Lila in the face in the form of his exuberant singing before she could fully take her shoes off.

“Lila!” Gabriel called from the kitchen as she and Asher shuffled towards it, both with identical grins.

“Gabriel!” Lila replied, her smile broadening.

“I hope you’re hungry,” he said joyfully. “It’s already been plated up in the dining room. You can leave your bags just here.”

Marlene didn’t join them for dinner, which was a flavourful tomato-based lamb curry that warmed Lila right to her toes. Marlene’s absence reminded Lila that she hadn’t checked how Marlene was since Sunday.

“She’s much better,” Gabriel confirmed after she asked before blowing on his spoonful of curry. “Doing like work at the moment, starting a bit later and finishing a bit earlier. Mainly to avoid everyone else, I think. It was a nasty cough.”

“Doesn’t sound good,” Lila replied sympathetically, spooning some more curry into her mouth. She swallowed before adding, “Unlike this. This is delicious.”

Gabriel seemed quite chuffed by this. “Thank you, my dear. New recipe. Not quite a Rogan Josh, but I did take some inspiration from it.”

“Well, you can do this again,” Lila said warmly, dipping her slice of sourdough bread into the curry.

“For you, Lila, of course I will.”

Once dinner was over, Lila and Asher headed upstairs. Her body felt weary, but in the privacy of Asher’s rumpus room, her mind started to whirr.

“Did you want to have a shower?” Asher asked as he gently closed the door.

“Are you trying to say that I stink?” Lila asked, sniffing her shirt. She hadn’t prepared anything for a shower at Asher’s, and it was getting late. She doubted her Mum would let her stay over on a school night at such short notice, and time was getting away from them.

“Sorry, it did sound like that, didn’t it?” Asher replied sheepishly. “I just thought you might be more comfortable if you did. It doesn’t bother me.”

“So I do stink,” Lila despaired, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Was there deodorant in her bag?

“No, no, no,” Asher sounded panicked now, crossing over to her in an instant. He wrapped his arms around her and she tried to struggle against him. Then, he took a large, dramatic sniff of the top of her head, causing her to pause in confusion.

“Wh-”

He took another sniff and a giggle escaped her lips, her bemusement turning into amusement.

“You smell great. Just like my Lila,” he said softly, a faint smile curling his lips. ‘My Lila’? This lingered in her mind as she felt her heart begin to race. She was his – but to hear him say it without hesitation, with his hands holding her body; that was something she wished he’d say again and again.

Their eyes met for a second before he sniffed once more – this time down the side of her neck. The sensation startled her, breaking the thoughts about what he’d said. It was similar to when he kissed her neck in her room, but tantalisingly weak in comparison.

As though he had read her mind, he grazed his lips against her neck, his hands moving to her waist. She trembled against his touch, giving out small, involuntary whimpers with each jolt of pleasure his kisses gave her.

He unbuttoned the top button of her sports polo, his lips trailing further down to her clavicle. If it was even possible, the potency of his touch felt even more intense and, as if by reaction, her hands snaked their way underneath his sports polo, brushing against his torso.

If she had any more of this, Lila thought she’d collapse. She couldn’t find the strength to tell him though as he carried on, goosebumps following the path his kisses carved against her skin. Truthfully, she wanted to collapse, even just a little. She bit her lower lip, aching to feel his lips against hers – or to provide him the same amount of pleasure. Would… touching him there achieve that?

Then, as she started to lower her hands, pulling at the waistband of his pants, he broke away, his breathing heavy. It was now that she noticed that her own chest was heaving.

“W-We’ve got things to do,” he said breathlessly, avoiding eye contact with her. “Sorry. I don’t want to get carried away. Um. Time’s ticking. Do you have Zack’s number?”

Lila swallowed back her crushing disappointment at this moment of intimacy that she’d sorely craved being cut short.

“No,” she replied, pulling her phone out of her pants pocket. “I’ll ask Daniel.”

“Alright. I’ll just grab the sim ejector thing. I’ve got one in my room. You can sit down on the couch.”

He disappeared into his room and she dejectedly flopped onto the couch, opening up her Messenger app. That way, she wouldn’t accidentally text Daniel from her second number.

Y do u want his number? Daniel replied almost instantly to her question.

Asher needs it to organise something for soccer, Lila responded back. She was kinda proud of her quick thinking on that one.

And he doesn’t already have it?

Nope. Apparently not.

Not even FB?

Asher hardly uses it. I wasn’t even friends with him on FB until this year

There was a pause in their conversation, though she could see the typing animation that indicated Daniel was writing something appear and disappear.

Alright. Here. Also, y aren’t u home?

Thanks

Lila elected not to respond to Daniel’s question. He’d probably figure out where she was in a millisec-

Ew. Don’t make me an Uncle

Lila rolled her eyes, though clearly Daniel wouldn’t be able to see that. Of course he had the same line as Clare.

Wasn’t planning on it, Lila replied. She heard the sound of Asher’s bedroom door opening again and she looked up. The sim ejector tool in his hands looked incredibly delicate, and he passed it over to her as he sat next to her.

She carefully inserted it into her phone, releasing the sim card tray after a couple of seconds. She shared an apprehensive look with Asher as she extracted it entirely and placed it, plus the tool, onto the coffee table.

“I got his number from Daniel,” Lila said after another pause.

“Good. Maybe you should restart your phone, and send me another test text,” Asher suggested quietly, absently fiddling with his hands.

She did so, the silence between them perfectly highlighting how nervous they both were.

Lila let out a sigh of relief when Asher’s phone buzzed. So, everything worked.

“Alright, well… now what?” Lila asked quietly, her heart thumping for entirely different reasons than several minutes ago.

“Well… I guess we figure out what we want to say.”

“Did you have any ideas?”

“I mean, I thought about sending him a message with a screenshot of just his face and asking if it was him.”

“His name’s Zack Anderson, right?” Lila asked as she opened up the video she’d taken. She found a clear view of his face and screenshot it, cropping it so it was just his neck-up.

“Pretty sure, why?”

“Well…” Lila pursed her lips thoughtfully. “If we unnerve him in the beginning, he’ll want to engage, I think. Otherwise, he might think some girl is texting him or something.”

“I mean, he wouldn’t be wrong,” Asher laughed. “What were you thinking of saying?”

“Something like ‘Zack Anderson, is this you?’ and send the picture. See what he comes back with.”

“He’d probably just say ‘Yeah’. Then what?”

“Then… maybe we send a photo of the morphine in his hands – but not of his face in it or anything. Not just yet. The threat of us having more may be enough.”

Asher fell silent for a moment until he brought his head to his hands.

“Lila, I’ll be honest. This makes me feel sick to my stomach. Especially now that we’re right here, planning it, and about to actually do it,” he murmured. “I’m not supposed to be doing this. If my parents found out I was blackmailing someone… I’m starting to think I’m not built for this.”

Lila lightly brought a hand to one of his, caressing it in an attempt to comfort him.

“Asher… it-“

“I looked it up, Lila. Up to ten years in prison if we get caught for this.”

Her heart stopped for a beat. She hadn’t known that. Sure, she knew all along that it was a crime, but the idea of going to jail for ten years was hardly enticing. At the same time though, there was far too much to lose for far too many people. Resolving this involved both of their families - Daniel, her Dad and then Asher’s Dad, not to mention victims of addiction to morphine laid not just in Jason’s wake, but also his Mum’s wake. If they didn’t get this information to her Dad, who knew what kind of devastation laid ahead?

Sure, they could wait and see if her Dad solved it without their lead on the ring at Forestglade College… but how long would it take?

And, thinking back to the file of documents that they’d found in the old farmhouse – they’d hardly talked about the reason for why they were there. To Lila, it seemed like a sign that someone wanted them to solve it. Or maybe anyone who stumbled across the farmhouse. Perhaps Asher’s Dad had set it there?

Plus, even if they tipped off her Dad about the morphine ring at school – they had absolutely nothing, besides this video, even though they’d seen a drop happen in front of their own eyes. At most, all her Dad could take away from it was speculative rumours and hearsay. He might even think that the video could’ve been staged, or a depiction of a stage play.

Asher lowered his hands, inhaling deeply before sighing and falling backwards into the couch. They were quiet, with Lila figuring out how to put her thoughts into words without just throwing them all out at once, until Asher spoke.

“As much as I say that, and as much as I’m terrified… we can’t just sit on this information. We can’t just wait for more people to get hurt. I said before that people can die from it. And then we’ve got people who might be desperate to buy more and end up committing crimes themselves to get that money… or just drown, like Isaac did. Not everyone has someone that can help them out of a bind like that, too.” He finished expressing his thoughts with a grimace, as if to steel himself against his better judgement to not commit more crimes. He met her gaze, his eyes resolute. “Someone’s got to do it.”

Lila nodded. “Someone’s got to. Why can’t it be us?”

He gave a humourless chuckle. “’Cause I’m a giant wuss. And… in a way, we’re putting our futures on the line here.”

“Not that I want to sound noble, but… it’s worth it, right?”

His eyes were steady, as though carefully surveying her. “It is.”

“Then, let’s get to it. We won’t really know how it will go until he responds.”

“I still feel nervous about winging blackmail.”

“Preparing too much could go just as badly, right? He might not take us seriously if we don't respond to him properly.”

Asher sighed again, turning his eyes to the ceiling. “Alright. Send the picture of his face.”

She placed her phone in her lap before shaking her hands out, trying to rid herself of the jitters that were making them tremble. She picked up her phone again, opening a new message to Zack.

Zack Anderson, is this you? She sent, sans photo.

“I think we’ll see if he responds first,” Lila justified, glancing at Asher. He nodded, his eyes glued to her screen. They sat like this for several minutes, in complete silence, before Asher’s prediction came true.

Yeah, was the reply. Who is this

Lila shared another nervous look with Asher.

“Just send the photo,” he whispered. She did so.

Seriously who is this

Does it matter? Lila sent. Then, with an apprehensive look, she selected the screenshot she’d taken of the morphine in Zack’s hands.

That’s not me, Zack replied.

I know about Jason’s operation.

What about it

Lila paused. “He’s admitted it,” she said softly, trying not to get too excited. “He’s actually admitted it.”

“Sure, but that’s hardly anything to go off,” Asher replied sagely. “Let’s see what else we can get.”

Little birdie told me he’s planning to throw you under the bus, Lila sent after an approving nod from Asher.

Rly? I don’t take the bus

“Is he serious?” Lila raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Asher.

“I’d say he’s a big jokester if he was,” Asher responded, seeming deeply troubled by this. “I think he’s dumber than I thought.”

Do u know which bus? I should avoid it. Is it the one outside my house???

“That… sounds like he’s not joking,” Lila sighed.

Also what bird? Magpie?

“Oh Jesus,” Asher laughed, pressing his hands over his eyes. “I can’t deal with this.”

“Stop laughing,” Lila implored, the telltale twitch of her mouth betraying her own desire to laugh.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Asher sighed, wiping at his eyes. “Surely he’s taking the piss, right?”

Hello? U there? I’m scared

“Doubtful,” Lila frowned. “Alright, well… where’s this bus that he should be careful of being thrown under? The Police? The school? Soccer?”

“Hit him hard with the Police, I reckon. Even if you’re a dumbass, you know the Police is serious business. He might get confused about why Mr Kovac knowing would be bad, and I don’t want to explain that he’d get kicked off the team at the very least – let alone expelled,” Asher recommended with a nod.

Jason’s going to talk to the Police about what you’ve been doing. He’s got all the proof they need

He wouldn’t

Lila tapped the side of her phone absently. Asher plucked the phone from her hands and began to type.

How do you think we have this video? He sent it to me to give to the Police.

Why would he send it to you?

Because I’m part of the CIA

Lila held her breath as Asher hit ‘send’. “Asher, what-”

The CIA? Oh shit

“Asher, we don’t have a CIA in Australia-”

“We know that. But I also happen to know that he loves the Rock and any movie he’s involved in. He’s in at least one CIA one. He’d listen to the Rock,” Asher’s eyes glittered as he looked back at Lila’s phone.

Mr Rock I’m so sorry

“Does… he think those movies are real?” Lila was starting to get very concerned about Zack’s mental capabilities.

“Beats the shit outta me, but I think we’ve got him,” Asher replied eagerly, straightening up.

I’m reaching out to give you a chance to save yourself. From what I can see, his hands are clean – but yours… yours are holding morphine, Asher sent with a flourish.

“Ooh, good one,” Lila said approvingly.

What do I have to do, Mr Rock. I can’t go to jail. My soccer career will be over

“I don’t have the heart to tell him that he’s not good enough for a soccer career,” Asher said softly. He handed the phone back to Lila and she pursed her lips. Now was the time to make their demand.

You have a decision to make. Give me evidence on Jason, and I’ll see what me and my CIA buddies can do about your involvement.

Evidence?

Anything you’ve got about him organising deals, or telling you where to go.

I don’t know if I want to… he’s my buddy

Your buddy who’s going to throw you under the bus

There was a lull in the conversation. Lila started to get worried – what if he went to Justin?

I need to think about it.

“What’s a reasonable deadline?” Lila queried, looking up at Asher.

“If you want to tell your Dad about everything this weekend before camp, I think… we’d really need it all on Thursday night, so we can process it on Friday or Saturday,” Asher replied after a beat.

“Alright,” Lila replied with a smile. “Sounds like a plan.”

You have until Thursday night.

Thank you, Mr Rock.

Lila sighed, throwing her phone beside her. Asher was right. It wasn’t a good feeling. Especially considering how naïve Zack seemed – unless, of course, he really was a mastermind. She’d almost prefer if he was. Preying on someone who was like this… felt villainous.

“It’s almost time for you to go,” Asher said quietly after a little bit of silence. Lila reluctantly began reassembling her phone, waiting for her sim card to settle in. She turned off her eSim before texting her Mum to pick her up.

She wanted to ask Asher about how he’d kissed her neck just before, but it seemed like a bad idea. He’d probably end up saying something about how he still wanted to grow their relationship.

It was a shame, really, how good he could make her feel. It just made waiting all that more difficult.

“So, I guess we wait,” Asher murmured after putting on a random YouTube video.

“W-Wait?”

“Well, for his response. I hope you know that I’m not going to let you read through all that stuff during our date, if it comes through then,” Asher said seriously.

“You think we’re going on our date?”

“Of course,” Asher grinned at her. “I trust that you’ll pull through.”

Lila tried not to feel too pleased by his vote of confidence. Her assignment was getting there. If she knuckled down tomorrow, while they were waiting, then she’d even be able to hand it in early.

He smiled at her again, this time with a fond tenderness. He reached out at touched her hand before kissing it gently. “By that look, you seem like you’ll be able to hand in your draft on time.”

“I will. I hope you’ve got a good plan in mind for our date.”

He chuckled, squeezing her hand. “I’ll think on it.”

She shuffled closer to him on the couch, leaning against his shoulder while they watched the video in contented silence. It wasn’t long until her Mum beeped her car horn outside, and they both dejectedly made their way downstairs.

At least their parting wouldn’t be for long.