Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two

Under the watchful eye of Ms Shard, neither Asher nor Lila so much as attempted to speak. For Lila, this was mostly due to the threat of being separated. Despite not speaking, however, Lila found herself drifting close to Asher in subtle ways. Brushes against his arm, small glances, touching knees – as if to subconsciously reassure each other that they were still there.

Once English was over, they started on their slow-paced wander to the library for Study. The sun was just peeking through the clouds today, highlighting patches of path here and there though definitely not warm enough for Lila to feel it. Instead, she relied on Asher’s hand, body heat, and light-hearted conversation to defrost from the wintry air enveloping them.

Settling into their usual spot in the library didn’t take much time, and it seemed as though Asher was rather conflicted. He looked up at Lila over his laptop screen and back down at his keyboard a number of times before sighing.

“Yes?” Lila queried.

“I want to talk to you,” he said quietly. “But… well, my first draft-”

Lila laughed, shaking her head. “Go for your life. We do have morning tea after this.”

He looked a bit guilty, but she nodded encouragingly at him.

“Thanks,” he said, looking back down at his work. He hesitated but started typing away, the speed increasing with each second. Again, his focus was unparalleled, and she found herself staring at him far more often than her Bio assignment.

Eventually, it appeared her staring had caught his attention.

“Did… you want to talk?” he asked, lowering his laptop lid. She shook her head.

“No, sorry. Just… distracted.”

“Is there something on my face?”

“No,” Lila felt the tips of her ears grow hot. “Except… I really like how you look when you start focusing. It’s somehow really attractive.”

“It is?” Asher looked totally surprised. “I didn’t know you felt that way.”

Lila squirmed slightly, now that his attention was devoted to her. “W-Well, like, I guess all I can say is that I like looking at you… but when you’re focused, it makes me want to know what you’re thinking. Y’know, what’s going on in there, and why it’s so important, that kinda thing.”

She watched as his cheeks slowly turned pink. “U-Uh, well, at the moment, it’s all fluff,” he murmured, his eyes flickering down to his laptop. “But, uh, I was thinking about the best way to justify this point I’ve made in my argument.”

Lila straightened up, her curiosity sparkling. “Tell me about it.”

“A-Are you sure? It’s… quite boring.”

“I don’t mind. You have a way of explaining things that makes even dry content interesting.”

He still looked unsure before he turned his laptop to face her.

“Well, this is the central topic…”

Asher was right – it was rather boring. But, Lila was also right – the way his eyes glittered and his voice grew passionate when he started going through his ideas, and the ways he was going to meet the criteria, thrilled Lila. She happily kept her eyes on him as he read out some excerpts to her, to illustrate his point, and she even managed to ask a question or two about his assignment that sparked even more excitement in him.

The noise in the library began to gather and she took a look around. All their Study classmates had disappeared, replaced with pockets of students from all grades, laughing and chatting without a laptop or notebook in sight.

Asher checked the time on his phone before immediately starting to pack up.

“Shit, I was talking for so long,” he said hurriedly, throwing one of his books into his bag. “Morning tea’s already started.”

Lila packed up as well and they speed-walked to the locker room, re-emerging with their various morning tea snacks and starting on a leisurely walk towards the Performing Arts block. Lila hadn’t noticed Elise, Grace or Isaac in the mostly-empty locker room and supposed that they were already having morning tea somewhere.

“So…” Asher trailed off, peeling apart his mandarin.

“So?”

“So, we’re going off to find a private place,” Asher said, fumbling with the peel but catching it before it could fall to the floor.

“I guess we are,” Lila replied, her voice suddenly coy. She looked down at her banana before looking up just as quickly.

“We’ve got a lot to chat about,” he continued. “You sure the Performing Arts area is private enough? Considering the, uh, shadiness of the topics.”

Lila shrugged, placing her banana in her pocket so she couldn’t see it anymore. “I hope so. Last time I was here with Elise, it was almost like a ghost town except the staff building.”

“I don’t mind exploring,” Asher said contentedly, popping a piece of mandarin in his mouth.

“Same,” Lila replied, taking a sip of her water bottle. “Especially when it’s with you. Whether it be creepy farmhouses, the shops, your employee’s house… nightclubs, wherever.”

He choked on his fruit, looking wildly around. Lila had already checked that no one was close enough to hear her and smirked as he swallowed hard.

“Lila,” he whispered, taking her hand. “You’re getting too risky.”

“I’m just in a risky mood,” Lila responded matter-of-factly. She squeezed his hand before lightly bringing her head to his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I checked beforehand.”

He sighed, patting the top of her head. “Giving me a heart attack.”

“You looked really funny, though.”

“Oi,” he said playfully, leaning close to her ear. “I can make you look really funny in a minute – starting from your lips.”

She shivered, a myriad of different scenarios exploding in her mind’s eye. Would she ever win against him in their implied battle to tease each other?

‘Figures he’s so good at this,’ Lila thought to herself, bringing her hands up to her face to cool it down. ‘He is a very good debater.’

She smiled to herself though, taking his hand once more. He smirked at her, seeming very pleased that he won for the moment.

“You’ve been really confident lately,” she commented as they walked up the road near the Performing Arts area. “Particularly… when it comes to teasing me.”

He met her eyes before he chuckled. “It’d be harder not to be confident, especially after you clued me in to the extent that you want me. All I’m doing is telling you what I’ve always been thinking – or, rather, hoping. Since I’ve basically got a goblin in there, running the show.” He tapped the side of his head and she laughed.

They finally arrived at the square within the centre of the Performing Arts area, casting a quick glance around each side.

“No one again,” Lila nodded. “That’s promising.”

“Is it?”

“Well, last time when there was no one, there were a couple of empty classrooms. They’d be private enough.”

“You sure a classroom wouldn’t be too… echoey? Or that people wouldn’t try to come in?”

“As long as we get out of there, like, five minutes before class starts, which we should anyway, it’ll be fine,” Lila said with a shrug.

“I suppose that could be fine,” Asher replied, taking another look around. “I guess it’s just busier after school around here than now.”

“Yeah, I’d say so. I mean, there’s vocal and music lessons going on all the time, but from what I could tell, they’re usually taken in the office building.” Lila pointed in the direction of said office building and he looked thoughtful.

“Alright, we can take a look at the classrooms,” he said, looping her arm in his.

Most of the classrooms looked to have black cardboard placed over the windows. It intrigued Lila somewhat and she pointed it out to Asher in a low voice.

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” he said, peering closely at one covered window. “I reckon they might be controlling for light, for whatever reason. Film class, maybe? Or maybe they’ve got expensive instruments or something laid out… isn’t the musical going to start running soon?”

“God, I’m glad you pay attention,” Lila grinned. “I would’ve been wondering forever about this.”

“I might not be right,” Asher chuckled.

“You sound right.”

“Comes with the territory of being the best bullshitter in the Grade,” he said playfully.

“Bullshitter?”

“Lila, I work very hard at my assignments, I really do… but sometimes I think the teachers don’t even know what they’re looking for. Most assignments call for at least a little bit of something pulled out of my ass.”

Lila snorted.

“Anyway, I’m not too keen on disturbing the peace of whatever is inside those classrooms,” Asher said, waving a hand dismissively at the cardboard clad ones. “I see some stairs by the auditorium. I think there’s a little alleyway there? Or maybe another classroom or two.”

“Alright.”

They continued past the classrooms, though Lila curiously peered into the gaps between the cardboard in case she could spot the reason for this change.

The classroom on the end, however, looked to have been covered a touch more shoddily than the rest. The glass of the door was rather exposed, with only half the cardboard concealing the room within. Lila eagerly peered inside. Was there a really expensive violin in there? From her limited knowledge of musical instruments, she knew that violins could fetch a fair price.

There was limited light, though enough to make out a familiar face. It was Grace, sitting atop a desk. She was facing the doorway at a slight angle, though she looked to be talking to someone just outside of Lila’s view. Grace smiled, her face almost radiant with joy before she giggled, clearly in response to something someone said.

“Hey, look, there’s Grace,” Lila whispered, pulling Asher close to her. “She usually has her vocal lesson now. Maybe we’ll hear her sing?”

“Is she a good singer?” Asher replied, also in a whisper.

“Very,” Lila murmured proudly.

They both inched closer to the door, with Lila straining her ears to try and hear Grace sing. But, instead of singing, Grace reached out a hand. For a moment, Lila thought Grace had spotted them and was waving – perhaps inviting them in – but that moment was shattered by what she saw next.

A female approached Grace and they wrapped their arms around each other. In an instant, they began kissing, and Lila watched as Grace’s hand drifted to the female’s hips. The female pushed Grace slightly further back onto the desk, widening Grace’s legs-

“Fuck,” Lila heard Asher mutter under his breath, the panic evident despite the lowered volume. He grabbed Lila’s hand and began dragging her towards the stairs he’d pointed out before. She stumbled, her mind reeling.

The female… wasn’t wearing a school uniform.

“A-Asher,” Lila gasped, attempting to stop him from continuing down the stairs.

“Lila, we’ve gotta get the fuck out of here,” he said urgently, tugging her arm. He looked extraordinarily pale, his eyes wild with anxiety. She pressed her lips together, deciding to follow his lead for now.

They hurried down the flight of stairs, reaching the bottom with a huff. It spat them out by the Aquatic Centre, the water in the pool lightly lapping the edges with the force of the wind cutting against Lila’s face.

“W-Where to?” Lila asked, taking a gulp of air.

“I-I don’t know,” Asher sounded on the verge of hyperventilating. “Lila, that was a teacher.”

Lila didn’t want to believe what he said – and she might not have, if she hadn’t seen it for herself, and if she didn’t trust Asher as much as she did. Without a doubt, that had been a teacher. The figure looked far more developed than anyone she knew at school, and she had been wearing office-like wear. Given the absence of anyone else in the Performing Arts area, Lila also found it hard to believe that it was someone who’d just come back from a dress rehearsal, or was just heading to one.

And, aside from the clothes, Lila had a sickeningly sinking feeling that she knew exactly who it was.

“Ms Alexander,” Lila said softly. “The Music teacher.”

“This is bad,” Asher murmured, his hands gripping his hair. “Like, really, really bad. We need to tell someone.”

Lila bit her lower lip. On one hand, a teacher and a student being together like that surely wasn’t allowed – right? Lila knew that, for the younger grades at least, that was the case. But Grace was 16… the age of consent…

Plus, Grace looked so happy just now – the happiest Lila had ever seen Grace. Even happier than when Grace won the leading role in last year’s musical, beating out the Grade 11s and 12s.

“I… don’t know,” she whispered, taking a look around. There wasn’t anyone nearby just yet, but there were a couple of groups of students moseying down the road. “Let’s keep trying to find a spot,” she said, pulling Asher towards the pool.

Since it was lunchtime and also winter, the pool itself was devoid of any students. From this angle, she could see that alongside the back of the pool was a small, secluded alleyway.

“There,” Lila pointed towards it and Asher nodded, still looking shaken. They headed over that way and poked their heads in towards the alley, finding it both empty and also rather secluded. It ran the length of the pool, but was far too narrow to house anything useful for watching any races, despite the fact that it was raised so high in comparison to the pool. The other side of the alley was an ordinary fence, beyond which seemed to be an abandoned property. All in all, unless someone was standing directly at the entrance to the alley, it didn’t seem like anyone would notice that there were students in it. Additionally, given there was no reason to be around here, it seemed to be exactly the spot they were looking for – at least for now.

Asher took a few steps in before collapsing into a seated position, putting his face in his hands. She sank next to him, pulling her knees to her chest as she tried to think properly.

“Lila,” he said after a couple moments of silence. “That’s illegal as heck.”

“Is it? What are the rules, with the whole age of consent thing?”

Asher was silent, seeming to deeply contemplate Lila’s question. “I… don’t actually know.”

“Besides,” Lila paused, wondering if saying this was actually a good move, “it’s not the first illegal thing we’ve seen and kept quiet about.”

“Dammit, Lila,” Asher growled, slamming a fist onto the paved floor beside him. “This is different.”

“Is it?” Lila kept her gaze steady as she waited for him to respond.

“It is,” he replied defiantly. “That teacher’s obviously taking advantage of Grace.”

“To me… Grace looked really happy,” Lila said softly. “Plus, she looked like she invited Ms Alexander over to her.”

“It’s wrong.”

“So is break and enter, trespassing, lockpicking, stalking, and whatever else we’ve done in the last few months.”

His eyes flashed with anger before he looked down at his knees.

“The goody-two-shoes in me is screaming,” he muttered. He clenched his jaw, tapping his leg as if it would help him decide what to do.

“I know,” Lila responded quietly. “But picking and choosing like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth, too.”

He whipped his head up to meet her sincere gaze. He wordlessly hung his head and she continued.

“Besides, I don’t want to ruin Grace’s life, or her girlfriend’s life, if Ms Alexander is her girlfriend, without talking to Grace about it first. It’s not our secret to tell. Besides, it’s not like we’ve told literally anyone about ours. It feels hypocritical.”

“I’m so uncomfortable with this,” Asher whispered.

“… I know, but… but it’s also not your business. It doesn’t affect you, realistically. It’s not even like you take Music.”

“But Lila, don’t you want to protect Grace, too?”

Lila pressed her lips together, putting her head in her hands. The whole thing was making her head hurt.

“I do… but it didn’t look like she needed protecting. And from what I know about Grace’s relationship… they’ve been together since February, which is a while.”

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He remained quiet for a second before looking back at Lila. “Did you know Grace was into girls? You don’t seem so surprised that Grace is with a female, at least.”

Lila sighed. “Yeah, I knew that much.”

“So… when Isaac and I have been referring to her boyfriend, you were holding your tongue about Grace’s partner being female?”

“’Course.”

Asher shook his head. “It’s scary, how quiet Grace has been with her secrets…”

Lila pressed her lips together again. She hadn’t considered that, but now that he pointed it out, it actually was rather scary. What else could Grace be hiding?

Lila shook her head, more for herself than for Asher. “Look, I think… we just need to focus on one thing at a time.”

“One thing at a time?”

Lila sighed, bringing a finger to her lips. “As much as… I want to sit down and talk to Grace about it… and then decide if we should tell someone else… I think, in terms of ranking illegal activity, the morphine ring takes precedence.”

Asher exhaled deeply, closing his eyes and resting the back of his head against the wall. “Are you sure it’s not just because Grace is your friend?”

“It’s not the only reason,” Lila said plainly. “It’s a reason, sure. But… there’s just so much going on all at once… and she does seem happy. I’ve never heard her bring up any concerns about her partner, either. So… I think… all things considered, it can be parked for now.”

“Lila…”

“I’m not thrilled about this, Asher,” Lila said sharply, shocking him into silence. “I don’t know enough about it, either. Meddling in someone else’s relationship… well, that’s what Piper tried to do, with you and Holly.”

Asher gently tapped the wall with the back of his head, his expression entirely irresolute. “I… I’ll need some time to process this anyway, I guess.”

“Same here.”

He gave her a sideways look before sighing. “Are you okay?”

“… I don’t know.”

He reached over, pulling her into a hug. She felt the tension leave her body as she returned the hug, her mind still busy with trying to comprehend what she’d seen. It felt as though she understood, to some degree, what had happened. But another part of her just refused to believe it, even though she saw it with her own eyes.

“I wish I could talk about it with Elise,” Lila said despondently.

“Isaac might have an idea, too,” Asher mumbled. “I don’t think we should tell them, though.”

“I know, I know.”

They sat like this for a while before a vibration buzzed in Asher’s pants pocket. He pulled out his phone, checked it briefly, and put it back.

“Isaac’s wondering why I’m not at the locker room, getting ready for PC.”

Lila winced. PC… with Grace. It sounded like hell, what with how she was still feeling about it all. As much as she was trying to convince Asher to stand down, Lila couldn’t entirely discount the idea that he was right. They probably should tell someone…

‘After you talk to Grace,’ Lila thought firmly. ‘Get her opinion first…’

Lila couldn’t see a world where, if Grace was as happy as she looked just now, Grace would want Ms Alexander to be reported… but if there were compelling enough red flags, perhaps protecting Grace by telling a teacher was the best option.

Asher helped Lila up and they began the journey back to the locker room, both extremely quiet. They held hands, but it seemed to be out of habit now, rather than a conscious decision.

“There you are!” Isaac sounded relieved once he spotted them in the aisle where Lila, Elise and Grace’s lockers were. “Thought I was gonna have to send out a search party.”

Lila gave him a half-smile before moving past him, and opening her locker. She still hadn’t eaten her banana, but she’d entirely lost her appetite now.

“Whoa, what’d you do to Lila?” Isaac asked, spinning to face Asher.

“Nothing,” Asher replied slightly too defensively.

“Did you find a private place?” Isaac questioned.

“Sure did,” Asher responded unenthusiastically.

“Yikes, sounds like you guys did something and you didn’t like it,” Isaac said, his voice sounding rather worried.

“Could say that. Need to grab my stuff. See you at lunch, Lila,” Asher said hurriedly, escaping from this aisle without waiting for Lila to respond.

“You okay?” Elise whispered once Isaac left to catch up to Asher.

“Yup. Fabulous.”

“Lila… that doesn’t sound okay.”

“’Course it doesn’t. I just said I’m fabulous.”

Elise sighed heavily, rubbing her forehead. “You make shitty jokes like that when you’re bothered.”

Lila finished pulling out her Design materials, slamming her locker door shut. “The short of it is… Asher and I kinda got into a disagreement.”

It wasn’t a lie, at least, and hopefully one that would make Elise back off.

“What about?”

Of course it didn’t. Lila bit her lip. Anything related to Grace would have to be off-limits.

“… He didn’t like the spot I found.”

“So you guys got into a disagreement? Sounds like overkill,” Elise said doubtfully, her eyebrow raised.

Lila closed her eyes, running through a list of disagreements that she’d had with Asher recently. She couldn’t think of anything beyond the Grace situation and their mild disagreement about waiting to have sex. She didn’t want to talk about either, but her brain wasn’t working well enough to think of something completely on the fly. “Fine… we got into a disagreement about sex.”

Elise was silent and Lila opened her eyes to see that she looked gobsmacked.

“Sorry,” Elise squeaked, hiding her face behind the notebook in her hands. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s fine,” Lila replied. “We’ve resolved it now. But… it still didn’t make either of us feel great.”

“I get it,” Elise nodded. “Even if you reach an agreement, just the fact that you fought can still feel yucky.”

Lila stared at Elise for a second. “That’s exactly it.”

“C’mon,” Elise said chirpily, looping her arm with Lila’s. “Let’s get to PC. Maybe Grace has some ideas on how to feel better, being the most experienced out of all of us.”

‘No kidding,’ Lila thought grimly, allowing herself to be taken to PC.

It was yet another free time class, and Grace was yet again late, her face flushed and sweaty.

“S-Sorry,” she whispered, taking her usual seat at their table. “My vocal lesson ran over time.”

“No worries,” Elise smiled at Grace.

Lila couldn’t look Grace in the eyes at all, the realisation of which made her feel sick to her stomach. Would she ever look at Grace the same again?

Lila decided to at least try and busy herself during PC, so as to not look suspicious to Elise and Grace. It seemed to work for a time until Elise nudged Lila.

“C’mon, tell Grace about it,” Elise murmured. “She’ll probably have some advice.”

“I-I’m good-”

“Tell me what?”

Lila met Grace’s gaze for the first time today. It suddenly occurred to Lila that she was entirely unsure as to whether or not Grace knew that Asher and Lila had spotted her.

“U-Uh… um, well… A-Asher and I got into a fight at morning tea,” Lila began, looking nervously down at her laptop. “About… sex.”

“What about it?” Grace asked kindly, her attention seemingly devoted to Lila.

“Well… I, um, want to have sex as soon as possible,” Lila whispered, her face feeling hotter than a preheated oven. “And he wants to wait.”

“Wait?” Elise looked entirely surprised. “If he had a smidge less control of himself, I would swear to you that he’d drool just by looking at you.”

‘That’s kinda why we fought,” Lila said. “’Cause we both really want to… but he wanted us to grow our relationship first. Which, in the end, makes sense to me.”

Grace nodded sagely. “Yeah, I recommend doing that for sure. For me and my partner, at least, having a good, solid foundation really helped. We’ve had a few rough patches, here and there, but because we built that relationship first, we’ve gotten through.”

‘I’ll bet…’ Lila thought cynically.

“Thanks,” Lila said with a half-hearted smile. “I’m glad to know you’ve overcome things together.”

“Yeah,” Grace replied with a soft smile on her face. “We’re in a really good place at the moment. I… I’ve actually told her that I love her.”

Lila felt as though a knife had twisted in her stomach. Love? There was no way Lila could just go to a teacher now.

“That’s so cute!” Elise whisper-yelled excitedly. “I’m so happy for you!”

Grace blushed, playing with the ends of her hair. “She’s said it back to me, too.”

“Ahhhh,” Elise continued to whisper-yell as if she were at a very quiet stadium. “When are we going to meet her?”

Grace stiffened, her eyes darting between Elise and Lila.

“W-Well, she’s still not out… so…” Grace trailed off, closing her eyes. “It’s not my secret to tell.”

The answer, Lila now knew, was “never”.

She knew she had to be delicate about this. Talking to Grace about it in front of Elise was just not going to happen, and if she went about it too early then she might not even be coherent.

Lila fidgeted with her fingers for a moment before pulling her laptop closer to her. Elise and Grace seemed to take this as a sign that the conversation was over, which relieved Lila somewhat.

Despite her subsequent attempt to look busy, Lila couldn’t actually busy herself. The rest of PC passed painfully slowly and she was glad for it to be done when Ms Wang finally dismissed them.

Design also crawled by, but at least Lila had some interest in the design work she was doing. Looking through vibrant colours on her laptop ended up soothing her far more than she thought.

Then, it was lunch. Would Asher still be upset? She hoped not… but it wasn’t as though she was fine.

Lila hardly recalled how she arrived at her locker when she did, owing entirely to how muddled she felt. Closing her locker with a sigh, she felt someone lightly touch her shoulder.

It was Asher, holding their lunchboxes with a falsely cheery smile.

“Lunchtime,” he announced, thrusting one into her hands. She took it with another sigh.

“If we hurry, we might find an empty meeting room,” Asher added. She nodded and they set off, waving to Elise and then to Isaac when they passed by. But, when Grace appeared on the path before them, Lila felt an overwhelming feeling of apprehension. Grace smiled at them both, giving Lila a subtle thumbs up – her way of encouraging Lila given their conversation during PC, evidently.

Asher tightened his grip on Lila’s hand. Even if Lila wanted to wave at Grace, she had no free hand to do so. She settled for a smile and Grace walked by without a word.

“I hope you looked friendly,” Lila murmured to Asher, who glanced down at her.

“I think I looked more scared than anything else.”

Lila snorted. “Then the thumbs up was for you.”

He squeezed her hand, seeming to relax slightly. They carried on, arriving at the library without any further interruptions. The first room they checked was empty and Lila gratefully sat down, opening her lunchbox.

It was a colourful chicken salad, loaded with some beetroots and feta cheese, and Lila took a bite, concentrating on the flavours rather than the elephant in the room. Asher didn’t speak as he also started eating.

Lila couldn’t remain mute forever, though.

“… What do you think about it now?” she asked gently, lowering her fork.

He sighed heavily, closing his empty Tupperware container. “I’m still uncomfortable about it. I’d rather tell a teacher and have them do something.”

“Asher, Grace said that she told her girlfriend that she loves her.”

A grimace flashed through his face as he hung his head. “Love, huh?”

“Yeah…”

“From… my experience, I thought I knew what it was until I opened my eyes to what was really happening.”

For a moment, Lila’s heart stopped. Did that mean Asher hadn’t loved Holly in the end? Or was his perception of his experience with Holly tainting the love that he had felt, when he had it? She wanted to ask, but given the heaviness of the topic of Grace dating a teacher, Lila decided to ask another time. She took a moment to think before speaking again.

“But… this is Grace’s experience,” she whispered. “Can we really take it away from her like that? And besides… her girlfriend said she loves Grace too, apparently.”

“Has it occurred to you that Grace has been groomed?” His eyes were piercing as he waited for an answer.

Lila uncomfortably shifted her position in her chair. “Maybe she has… or maybe she hasn’t, and it’s true love.”

Asher looked like he wanted to laugh but he kept it in. Instead, he opted to say, “Sounds like a fairytale. But the thing about fairytales is that they’re made up.”

Lila exhaled deeply. “I know… but we also don’t know how Grace feels about it all – so we can’t say it’s just a fairytale, either. I can’t just… go behind her back like this.”

He looked into her eyes for a moment before running his hands through his hair.

“We’ll… do it your way, for now. From what it sounds like, she’s not in distress or anything like that. As you said before, this morphine ring is a bit more critical. And it’s our last week to observe them before the school either sanctions or dismantles the Banker’s operations.”

“That’s true. Their routines will probably go out of whack once that all goes down.”

“Or they’ll rigidly shoehorn it so that it remains exactly the same.”

Lila sighed again. She wished that time could both go faster and slower – though she supposed they cancelled each other out that way.

“I’ll keep an ear out at practice,” Asher said, lightly touching her arm. “Should I try and get in on juice with the boys?”

“Definitely not,” Lila rested her elbows on the table, looking intently at the empty space between them. “Livi’s reaction to you yesterday was interesting. She pretty much called you out for being a goody-two-shoes, which I suppose is fine, but I think that you might be on a ‘do not approach’ list for something like this. Especially since the soccer boys have known you for years. Never mind the fact that your Dad’s the CEO of the Hospital.”

“Alright, but I’m curious. I wanna see how these deals go down, if that’s what they’re doing.”

“Did you want to stake out the lab tomorrow? See if someone leaves again?”

Asher nodded. “After what you said, at this point, it’s the only way.”

“We’ll go at morning tea and lunch,” Lila tapped her fingers against the table. “More chances to see something.”

“You reckon we should bring trench coats and fedoras?”

She looked up to see him smirking cheekily at her.

“Sure, if that’s what gets you off.”

He snorted. “Never considered whether that would or wouldn’t. Wanna wear them for me?”

She flicked his wrist and he rubbed it with a snicker. She rubbed where she’d hit him too and his face softened into a smile.

“Jokes aside, it looks like we’ll need to do some more stalking. Do you reckon they’ll notice?” Asher questioned, brushing her hand with his and interlocking their fingers together.

“If it’s Jake and Zack again, I highly doubt it. Vi or Livi would probably notice. Jason… might be a wild card. Kinda like how Piper had no idea I was following her… he might be so confident in his plans that he wouldn’t think being followed is a possibility. Or he could have his head on a swivel, trying to make sure he’s not caught at all,” Lila finished her theories with a small, satisfied nod.

“Makes sense to me,” Asher squeezed her hand gently. “Now that that’s out of the way… did you want to hear about Daniel?”

Lila straightened up, taking in his expression. He seemed pleased, and he’d said it went well yesterday, so she didn’t feel the need to brace herself for anything particularly terrible.

“Daniel was really nervous at the beginning. If I hadn’t prepped Mr Lockwood on the fact that the Banker was a Grade 9 kid, I don’t think he would’ve taken Daniel seriously at first. But when Daniel started talking, I could tell that he’d done a lot of research and thinking about it all. I’m surprised that he went as deep into it as he did, but I reckon this whole Banker operation meant a ton more than he thought once he sat down about it. I didn’t really talk much. I ended up watching Mr Lockwood more than anything else. I think he was low-key impressed for the same reason,” Asher finished off his explanation with a smile. “Daniel went through a list of pros and cons to having it sanctioned. He was very thorough. It, uh, reminded me of your list that you had on your desk.”

She started spluttering, her cheeks burning. Why’d he have to bring that up?

He grinned at her before adding, “You should be proud of him, Lila.”

“I am,” she replied, briefly touching her cheeks before resting her hands in her lap. “He was pretty much a recluse last night, though.”

“I can imagine. Even though he did a really good job, he would’ve exhausted himself just on the stress of talking to Mr Lockwood alone, not to mention the fact that he was also trying to remember all the stuff he wanted to say.”

“Thanks,” Lila said softly. “For everything. You worked hard, too.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Not really. Daniel’s worked harder.”

“Doesn’t diminish your efforts.”

He paused before grinning at her. “Thanks, Lila.”

They fell quiet for a moment before Lila checked the time. Packing up sounded like a good idea.

They did so and headed back to the locker room at a relaxed pace. She remembered for a brief, horrifying second that her next class was Modern History with Elise and Grace as they neared her locker.

“I-I just remembered… I have class with Grace now,” Lila stammered, halting in her footsteps. “I don’t know if I can face her properly.”

Asher looked sympathetically at her, stroking the top of her head gently. “You’ll adjust. Besides, it’s not like we’re never going to talk to her about it. It won’t happen now, but it will. Then we can decide what to do.”

Lila solemnly nodded. “I’ll try to keep it in mind.”

“Easier said than done, I’m sure,” Asher murmured, kissing the top of her head. “I’ve gotta head over to Advanced Maths. I’ll see you on Jacoval?”

“Yeah,” Lila replied with a fleeting smile. He made to turn around when she gripped his blazer, forcefully pulling him towards her. She kissed him, which seemed to have summoned the disapproving fog-horn-reminiscent Isaac.

“Are you purposefully ignoring my advice?” Isaac complained behind Asher.

“We’re not,” Lila said, letting go of him and patting where her fingers had creased his blazer. “Is it a crime to have a goodbye kiss?”

“Out in the open, probably,” Isaac replied shortly.

“C’mon,” Asher said, taking hold of Isaac’s arm, “time for Advanced Maths.”

Isaac protested for half a second before shaking his head. “Yeah, you’ve got me there.”

They disappeared to their usual side of the locker room and Lila smiled in their wake.

Modern History wasn’t as terrible as Lila had been expecting. Their teacher had them working on their assignments today, which gave Lila the perfect excuse to put her headphones on and ignore Grace and Elise. They seemed similarly engrossed in their assignments and once class was over, they split off without much fuss.

Sitting at her usual table that she shared with Cecelia and Lucas, however, distinctly reminded Lila of Isaac’s assertion that they’d gotten into some trouble last term. The thought of their expressions when she would ask about it perked her up as she waited impatiently for them to arrive and settle in.

“Hey, Lila,” Cecelia greeted a minute later, Lucas in tow.

“Hey, Cecelia. Hey, Lucas,” Lila grinned.

“What’s got you in a good mood?” Lucas asked conversationally, pulling out his Bio materials.

“Well…” Lila tried not to look quite so excited to question them about it but wasn’t convinced that she’d achieved it. “I heard a rumour.”

“A rumour?” Cecelia’s eyes sparkled as she sat down. “About what?”

“You two.”

Cecelia and Lucas looked startled.

“What about us?” Cecelia asked, casting a look towards the teacher’s desk. Mr Johnson hadn’t yet arrived, as usual.

“Heard you two got caught being a bit handsy in the locker ro-”

“Don’t remind me,” Lucas groaned, slowly lying down on the table. He gave a shudder. “We got detention.”

Lila held back her laugh as Cecelia absently patted his shoulder.

“I was wondering if you’d heard about it,” Cecelia said softly.

“Only heard about it yesterday,” Lila explained.

“Why? It happened ages ago,” Lucas asked, looking up at her through his askew glasses.

“Isaac keeps telling Asher and me to find a private place around school,” Lila sighed.

“Good idea,” Cecelia confirmed. “I think Asher would be upset if his record was blemished by a detention ‘cause you guys were kissing.”

Lila shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Not perhaps,” Lucas emphatically shook his head. “The Dux? Getting detention for making out with his girlfriend at school? After not getting detention once in 11 years, or however long he’s been here for? Of course he’d be upset. I’m still upset and I’m nowhere near that level of prestige.”

Cecelia continued patting him on the back comfortingly as Mr Johnson burst into the room.

“Greenwood, sit up,” he said briskly, settling himself behind the teacher’s desk. Lucas obeyed immediately. Lila bit back her snicker, which quickly fell away in the face of today’s agenda – working on their assignments in total silence.

It seemed none of her classmates were pleased with the ‘total silence’ condition, but complied without incident. Here and there, as Lila worked, she could hear some whispers and giggles, but Mr Johnson didn’t seem to notice.

With Bio wrapping up and Lila having actually made some headway in her assignment, she headed off to grab her things for hockey practice. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure she could muster the requisite energy for practice given everything that had happened today. She already knew that it would be intense, as they’d started their round-robin tournament in earnest – which meant that Saturday featured part two to their St Peters face-off, and this time at the opposition’s school.

Half an hour later, she ruefully waited for Willow to retrieve the hockey ball that she’d missed during their drill. She should’ve skipped out on practice and pretended she was sick…

“You’ve been sighing far more than you’ve been paying attention,” Alice observed, getting into position to complete the next stage of the drill.

“I have been,” Lila admitted, whacking the hockey ball Willow passed her towards Alice.

“Any reason?” Willow asked, receiving the ball from Alice again.

“I…” Lila pressed her lips together. She could ask for advice… but she’d have to do it in such a way that didn’t reveal Grace’s identity, or the fact that a teacher was dating a student.

“You missed that,” Alice said, pointing to the ball that whizzed by Lila. She dejectedly chased after it. She hit it towards Alice once she reached it and watched as it sailed through Alice’s legs. With a groan, Alice hurried after the ball. She returned a moment later, looking at Lila with pursed lips.

“You were saying?” Alice questioned, not touching the ball as she waited for a response.

“I guess I could use some advice. Pass it, come on,” Lila said, lowering herself into position. She received it and passed it on to Willow.

“Advice?” Willow queried, passing the ball to Alice who let it rest against the inside of her hockey stick, her eyes not leaving Lila’s face.

“Yeah… well, just… if you had a friend, who… was in a relationship with someone you didn’t approve of… what would you do?”

Willow and Alice exchanged a look.

“Say my piece once then never again,” Willow shrugged, tapping her stick on the ground in a wordless demand for the ball. Alice passed it over, her face thoughtful.

“I guess it depends on why you disapprove. If the other person was hurting your friend in some way, I’d see what I could do to help them see the red flags. The main issue is that you can’t make anyone do something, especially your friends. You can guide them through advice and whatever, but they have to decide to take it and do something about it,” Alice eventually said, her eyes following the pass from Willow to Lila. Lila whacked the ball over to Alice, who caught it just as Ms Wright clapped.

“Alright, ladies. Time for a mock game,” Ms Wright called, pointing at various people and assigning them to separate teams.

There wasn’t nearly enough players for a full game, which meant that Lila had to work twice as hard. She had no capacity to think about anything else besides surviving practice and almost collapsed when Ms Wright wrapped up practice with a grin.

“St Peters again on Saturday,” she reminded them with another clap. “We’re nearly there. You’ll smash it. See you Saturday morning.”

She dismissed them with a flourish of her hands and Lila trudged over to the change room to collect her things. She exited into the cold air, seeing, to her surprise, that the soccer side of the oval was already rather empty. Asher was still on the field, his hands on his hips, looking towards the change rooms. He immediately started jogging over to Lila as soon as he apparently registered that she’d emerged.

“Hey,” he smiled once he was within a few metres of her.

“Hey,” she smiled back. “No stuff? Also, where’s Isaac?”

“He’s already run off for a shift. I was gonna grab my stuff now, but… I just wanted to mention that the boys left to grab juice.”

Lila raised her right eyebrow. “Which boys?”

“Only the Grade 12s,” Asher said. “I only heard it when they passed me just now and they all left in a group together up to the carpark.”

“The carpark that we can’t see into unless we’re at the top.”

“Yeah. That one. Y’know, also the only one.”

She rolled her eyes playfully at him and he grinned at her.

“Anyway, that’s my intel. We don’t have class together in the morning, so I’ll see you at morning tea,” he said, stepping closer to her.

“See you then,” she replied softly, taking one step towards Asher. He bent his head towards hers, his eyes beginning to close when the sharp bark of Mr Kovac caused them to spring apart.

“Wagner, not on, mate. Do that elsewhere, please. Better yet, go home. Separately.”

“Yes, sir,” Asher responded gloomily. He gave Lila a small wave before jogging towards the change room. Lila chanced a glance at Mr Kovac who looked sternly down at her.

She immediately started to speedwalk to the carpark when Mr Kovac called her back. She reluctantly turned around.

“I can see that you’ve improved his mood considerably,” Mr Kovac said, folding his arms across his chest. “Good on you. But we can’t just allow all sorts of funny business on campus, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” Lila mumbled.

“Good. Off you go.”

She didn’t need to be told twice, scurrying up the hill without another word. Asher hadn’t yet left the boys’ change room, but seeing as they’d already said their goodbyes, Lila dived into her sister’s awaiting car, longing for bed.