Chapter Sixty
Lila spent last night after school running around Woolies, much to her sister’s chagrin, buying a couple Australian snacks for Ayaka to take with her, as a thank-you for the stationery. When she pulled it out on Friday morning in Japanese, Ayaka kept shaking her head in refusal. Lila insisted and Ayaka brought the humble package to her lap.
Ayaka dutifully followed Lila to her classes and seemed delighted to see Asher in English. He greeted them both warmly, though his face had a tinge of pink when he met Lila’s eyes. As their English assignment was due next Wednesday, the class was silent like the dead. Lila had almost completed her assignment, actually, which was surprising to her. In fact, she’d been on top of most of her schoolwork this term. Perhaps it was because of Asher’s not-so-subliminal messaging about studying. Or was it because she had spent less time at Asher’s place lately, which allowed her to focus at home?
Lunch consisted of a delightful slow-roasted salmon with fennel, citrus and chillies, served on a bed of white rice. The acidity of the blood orange and lemon mixed with the fresh spiciness of the chillies elevated the salty salmon to a flavour sensation Lila hadn’t experienced before. Ayaka couldn’t contain her compliments, which Asher bashfully received on behalf of Gabriel.
After lunch, Lila, Ayaka and Asher walked towards the STEM area. They reached the usual fork in the path, with Asher set to head off to the Chem Lab whilst Lila and Ayaka continued onwards to Maths. However, they were waylaid by a chortling Isaac. They watched in stunned silence as he clutched his stomach, wheezing between each chuckle. Every time he tried to stop and stand up straight, he would make the mistake of laying eyes on either Lila or Asher and restart his cycle of laughter.
“Maybe you should go,” Asher said tentatively to Lila.
“Well, now that I’m here, I feel compelled to ask why he’s laughing,” Lila replied with a frown, placing her hands impatiently on her hips. Isaac doubled over again, his high-pitched peals of laughter drawing the attention of passersby.
“You can’t think of the reason?” Asher queried, raising an eyebrow. The pink was returning to his face. He jammed his hands into his pockets and looked down at Isaac’s shaking form in apparent disapproval. Lila pursed her lips.
“Yesterday, most likely,” she reluctantly sighed.
“Bingo,” Asher said drily. He tapped his foot on the concrete floor momentarily before grabbing hold of Isaac’s left arm.
“Keep it together, man,” Asher huffed. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“I-I can’t believe I thought-” Isaac choked on his words as he raised his right arm to his eyes.
“Yes, yes, we know,” Asher snapped. “Come on, you’ll start some new rumours.”
Isaac snickered before gradually standing.
“I mean,” Isaac continued, wiping his eyes and looking towards the Chem Lab, “why did I think you guys would start getting it on in a storage room at school within a minute when you knew a teacher was coming to rescue you?”
“Dunno,” Asher replied, bopping Isaac on the head with the side of his hand. “’Cause you’re an idiot?”
“You’ve gotta admit, that was sus. Why’d you even ask Lila to hold it in her mouth? You made it sound like it was a condo-”
“I’m tapping out,” Lila interrupted Isaac hurriedly. “Bye!”
She pulled Ayaka away by her sleeve, her face cherry-red. Ayaka seemed confused by the whole exchange but didn’t ask any questions.
Once Maths and Design were over, Lila walked Ayaka to her meeting point on the lawn. As they approached the gaggle of Japanese exchange students, Ayaka looked up at Lila, her eyes narrowed in determination.
“Date him,” Ayaka said resolutely.
“Sorry?” Lila replied, her eyes bulging out of their sockets.
“Asher. Boyfriend,” Ayaka replied, gesturing wildly. Lila shook her head.
“No, no,” Lila laughed, waving her hands up in a ‘stop’ motion. “Friends.”
Ayaka pressed her lips together before whipping out her phone and typing rapidly on it. She showed her screen to Lila. ‘Asher is kind and smart. You would make a good couple,’ read the translation from Japanese to English. Lila could only muster a squeak as she shook her head.
“Why?” Ayaka asked, crossing her arms.
“He doesn’t like me,” Lila replied. “And… we’re better as friends.”
It was Ayaka’s turn to shake her head. She typed rapidly on her phone again and showed Lila the results of her translation. ‘Asher likes you. I can see it in his eyes.’
For some reason, Ayaka’s observation made tears well up in Lila’s eyes. ‘Please stop teasing me,’ she thought as she buried her face in her hands. She suddenly couldn’t find her voice. Her face was again a deep scarlet and she tried to get her breathing under control to no avail.
“Ayaka,” a voice called. “Let’s go home!”
“Bye-bye!” Ayaka said cheerily to Lila. Lila looked up and waved Ayaka off whilst she hurried to her host parents. She wouldn’t see Ayaka again until Lila’s next Japanese lesson on Tuesday. Her brows knitted together as she watched Ayaka go. Lila contemplated asking Ayaka to hang out for lunch next week. However, Ms Takahashi’s warning rang loud and clear in her mind. The exchange students were to strictly stick by their assigned buddies for the week, or their own exchange classmates, to prevent them from getting lost.
With a heavy sigh, Lila trudged off to the bus station and headed home.
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Lila slipped her mouthguard into her mouth with a loud sucking sound. It promptly snapped tightly to her teeth and gums. Lila tapped it to make sure it was securely placed before throwing her mouthguard case back into her bag. Today was the big day – the real start of the hockey season.
She double-checked her laces were tied and her lugs were free from grass before heading out of the changing room, hockey stick firmly in hand.
Half her team was warming up, with Lila having left the other half behind in the changing room. Lila joined in the warm-up exercises, her stomach aflutter with nerves. Sandy Lakes High School had a good team last year. How would they play today?
Lila glanced over towards the Under 18s soccer boys and saw Asher in his full goalie get up, pacing inside one of the nets. Isaac was slightly ahead of Asher, jogging on the spot. Theo and Zack were stretching dynamically, talking amongst themselves. They stopped upon noticing Lila before both straightening up and waving at her. She waved back before feeling someone’s eyes on her.
Turning, she saw that Asher had stopped pacing and was looking at her, his gloved hands on his hips. As soon as their eyes met, he looked away, resuming his pacing with more vigour.
Ayaka’s translation from yesterday appeared in her mind’s eye. ‘Asher likes you. I can see it in his eyes.’
To Lila, Asher seemed to look at her like he always had. What was in his eyes that made Ayaka sure that he liked Lila? Given what Isaac had told Lila about Asher’s ‘flat out no’ to the idea of them dating, surely Ayaka was just misinterpreting what she’d seen?
Ms Wright called the team into a huddle after everyone had warmed up sufficiently. She gave her usual pep talk about having fun, even if they didn’t win. However, she did add that Sandy Lakes was probably a beatable opponent. Ms Wright also announced that she had half-time oranges for everyone, and a few of Lila’s teammates cheered.
In the blink of an eye, Lila’s match started. Energy burned through her legs like lightning as she intercepted, passed, dodged, and weaved. Her mind and vision were clear, her teeth gritting against her mouthguard. The speed of her attacks allowed her to break away quickly. Her mind was a constant roulette of strategies, flipping between attack and defence as needed. She kept the pressure on the players from Sandy Lakes, virtually breathing down their necks when they came within her midfield vicinity and had possession. Lila knew when to back off to avoid a foul though, which sometimes meant Sandy Lakes progressed a little further towards the goal than she would’ve liked.
As the match wore on, Sandy Lakes had encroached further into Lila’s zone. Lila finally wrangled possession from an opponent and directed Charlotte to a wide gap. Lila swung with restrained might, and Charlotte intercepted the pass with grace, charging up the field. She scored the first goal of the match to the cheers of Forestglade College spectators. Lila grinned, wiping her brow. She cast a glance at the spectator bench while they set up the center pass. Her eyes landed on Livi, Jason, Harper, Jake, and Vi sitting in a tight group directly in the middle of the bench. They seemed focused on the soccer game, which made sense considering Theo and Zack were playing.
Play continued until half-time was called. Lila breathed a sigh of relief as Ms Wright popped open a container of orange slices. Lila unstuck her mouth guard and immediately began biting into the cool flesh of her orange slice. It was certainly refreshing. They were in the lead, but only just. Ms Wright seemed happy enough with this turn of events but reminded everyone to keep their guard up. Lila disposed of her finished orange slice just as the half-time for soccer was called.
Lila looked over at Asher and Isaac. Both were rather sweaty but appeared in high spirits. It seemed like their game was going well, too. Isaac’s eyes met Lila’s and he grinned for a second before bursting into laughter again. Asher swiftly kicked Isaac’s left shinpad and looked over at Lila apologetically, shaking his head.
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Lila chuckled before jogging off towards the other side of the hockey field. Half-time was nearly over and she had to get accustomed to the new side of the field that they would be playing from.
After just over half an hour, various fouls, and near misses, the hockey match was over – Forestglade College had won by two points. Lila’s body was aching now as she removed her mouthguard for the last time today. Most of her teammates seemed exhausted and, after a celebratory cheer, began to leave without much fanfare.
The soccer game was still going but looked to be wrapping up. Lila stopped herself from leaving to watch a little of the match. She saw Theo attempt a slide tackle, which was easily dodged by the Sandy Lakes opponent, who continued onwards towards an awaiting Asher. The Sandy Lakes opponent passed the ball to another Sandy Lakes player. They tore down the field with a determination that quickened Lila’s heartbeat. Would Asher be able to stop the ball?
Isaac successfully intercepted the ball for a split second, before the opposition intercepted it back. Lila could see the frustration emanating from Isaac in waves. The opposition’s striker had the ball now. They were rushing towards Asher in a slight zig-zag. Asher braced himself by bending at the knees, his hands ready for whatever direction the ball would go.
Lila’s stomach dropped. The striker kicked with obvious power. The cheers and screams from the crowd and soccer players echoed across the field. Lila’s eyes darted between Asher and the ball. It seemed like Asher reacted too late.
But he hadn’t. In fact, Asher’s seemingly delayed reaction wasn’t delayed at all – he was just reacting to something Lila hadn’t noticed from this distance. The spin on the ball forced it to go at an unpredictable – to Lila – angle. Asher deftly batted it away with his hands. The short, sharp blows of the whistle from the ref indicated the game was over. Forestglade College had won here, too – 2-1.
Lila whooped from her current position, which caused Asher to look around wildly. Lila gave him a thumbs up and he beamed at her. The soccer team began swarming Asher, yelling about his save. Lila smiled to herself and headed off to the changing room to grab her bag and go home.
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4pm on Sunday afternoon was announced with a buzz on Lila’s phone. Lila stretched her arms behind her head, yawning. She’d been studying all day and was grateful for any excuse to take a break.
She flipped her phone over so she could see its screen. A notification flashed – the buzz had been a message from Asher. Lila immediately unplugged her phone and swiped to her texts.
Livi texted, Asher’s message read. He hadn’t sent anything else.
Yeah? Lila responded.
Tomorrow, 4pm. Behind the auditorium, Asher’s subsequent text read.
Okay, Lila replied. Nice save yesterday btw
Lila expected a rapid response to this message. There was none forthcoming. Then, just as Lila was about to send a question mark, Asher sent a message.
Thanks, it read. I noticed you lurking
I do not lurk, Lila sent with a chuckle.
Fine, Asher replied. Looming, then
Not tall enough to loom, Lila shot back.
True, was Asher’s only response. Lila grinned again and was about to turn off her phone when another message came through.
I’ll bring the 3k in cash tomorrow morning, it said. Time to unmask the Banker, Asher’s follow-up message read.
Finally, Lila responded. Can’t wait.
Lunch again? Asher sent.
Yes please, Lila replied with an excited emoji. He sent a simple ‘thumbs up’ in reply.
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Neither Lila nor Asher could sit still during English on Monday morning. He’d whispered to Lila once she sat down that the money was hiding in his locker. The admission, though, seemed to plague him as his leg tapped incessantly on the floor. Lila ordinarily would’ve asked him to stop if she wasn’t doing it herself, too. She couldn’t stop fidgeting with her hands either. She was glad, though, that her English assignment was virtually done. All she needed to do was edit it - if she could focus her eyes on her work.
Lunch with Asher today consisted of a hearty beef stew, which they warmed up in one of the microwaves. Asher flashed Lila a nervous smile as he dug into the stew. Lila returned the smile with the same amount of nervousness. Today was the day that they’d be able to wipe Isaac’s debt with the Banker. Today was the day that they would find out who the Banker was.
Suddenly, Lila was unsure how trustworthy Livi and her group were. There was always the potential that they could betray Asher, take the money, and run. 3k was certainly a lot for high school students…
“Are you worried?” Asher asked, looking up at Lila. She blinked in surprise.
“I-I guess I’m nervous,” she grimaced. “Are you?”
“You could say that,” Asher replied tentatively. “I’m more nervous to know what this will mean for Isaac.”
“I see,” Lila said, spooning some stew into her mouth. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Lila asked the question that had been bothering her for a while.
“What are you gonna do when you find out who it is?”
Asher averted his eyes from her own expectant ones and instead looked at his food.
“Well, it’s morally wrong for someone to be loaning students so much money,” Asher replied carefully. “It makes me think that it’s not a student, and someone more dangerous. Like an actual gangster.”
Lila gave a short, incredulous laugh. A gangster? Asher’s face flushed as he stabbed at his food with his fork.
“I… guess that’s probably unrealistic,” he conceded in a mumble.
“I mean, it isn’t necessarily impossible,” Lila replied hurriedly. “I was just surprised.”
“A-Anyway,” Asher stammered. “I want to get to the bottom of this and see if it can be stopped. Thinking about more people like Isaac who are stuck in an impossible situation with a massive loan hanging over their heads… it’s not right. I mean, think about the younger kids. If any of them get mixed up in this... I don’t even know how they’d be able to resolve it.”
Lila smiled at Asher. “Once we know who it is, we can figure out a plan of attack,” she said. He nodded, and they finished their lunch, talking about their sports matches from Saturday.
3.20pm rolled around in a flash. Lila waved ‘goodbye’ cheerily at Cecelia and Lucas as they left Bio, holding hands without Mr Johnson’s overt notice. Now that Lila was alone, however, her stomach twisted and turned. The drop-off was in less than an hour. Would it go smoothly? Surely, they weren’t in any danger of being mugged or something by whoever the Banker was… or their lackeys.
Asher was staring at Lila’s locker as she approached, his school bag slung over his shoulder.
“Hey,” Lila said gently, rousing him from his thoughts. He glanced at her and moved aside so she could do what she needed with her locker.
“Hey,” he replied. He pursed his lips and shoved a hand through his hair.
“Have you told Isaac about what’s happening?” Lila asked in a low voice, putting her textbooks and laptop away.
“No,” Asher sighed, looking down at his shoes. “I wanted to get through this first. That way he can’t try to stop me, or otherwise interfere.”
“Makes sense,” Lila nodded. “Has he had his interview with Maccas yet?”
“Yeah,” Asher replied distantly. “Yesterday. He hasn’t heard back yet, though.”
Lila locked her locker and turned towards Asher, her arms folded against her chest.
“What do you want to do while we wait?” she asked.
“I… wanna go for a walk. My head’s just running through way too many worst-case scenarios at the moment,” Asher said sheepishly. “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to.”
“I’m down for a walk,” Lila replied instantly. “Let’s go.”
They wandered around campus, making small talk. She hoped that distracting Asher enough would help settle his nerves. The Banker, at the very least, seemed shrewd. Intelligent. If Asher had any hope of shutting down the operation, they’d both need to be on top of their game so they could extract enough information to formulate a plan.
“By the way,” Asher said suddenly, stopping in the middle of the pathway they were strolling along. Lila looked up at his face, which seemed amused.
“Yeah?” Lila asked inquisitively.
“You still have my jacket, yeah?”
Lila immediately looked away from Asher and continued walking down the path.
“Of course,” she said stiffly. Her face started to turn pink, but she readjusted her scarf so it obscured part of her face.
“I was just curious,” Asher explained, catching up to her quickly. “I don’t need it back anytime soon.”
“It’s a bit bulky for my school bag,” Lila said quietly. “Sorry for keeping it for so long. Thanks again for lending it.”
“No worries,” Asher replied with a small smile. “I’d do it again without a second thought.”
“Thanks,” Lila’s voice cracked and she coughed, hoping to cover it up
“I’ve been thinking,” Asher whispered. Lila faced him, puzzled. His eyes slid to hers before looking back at the road. “Never mind,” he said, shaking his head.
“You can’t just throw something out there and say never mind,” Lila teased.
“Sorry. I-It really isn’t anything important.”
“Let me hear it, then. It’s not like we aren’t trying to kill time.”
Asher exhaled harshly, rubbing his stubbled chin.
“I’ve been thinking about when we saw the movie together. W-Would that count as a date?”
Lila’s breathing caught in her throat, her feet firmly rooting her to the ground.
“W-What?” she asked, her eyes wide. Her scarf felt far too hot across her face, but she didn’t want to pull it down.
“Like I said, never mind,” Asher swiftly said, looking ahead, down the path they were taking. “It’s something Isaac brought up. It’s not like we’d planned it or anything. If Isaac and Grace and Elise didn’t get lost, it would’ve been a normal cinema hangout with friends.”
“Yeah,” Lila replied, beginning to walk again. “You’re right. It was just a cinema hangout. U-Unless…”
“Unless?”
“Never mind.”
“Hey, you can’t just throw something out there and say never mind,” Asher smirked.
“U-Unless you w-wanted it to be a date,” Lila faltered, pointedly looking away from Asher. He paused.
“Like you said, it was just a cinema hangout. Between friends,” he said eventually.
“Yup,” Lila nodded, still not looking at Asher.
“Let’s… head to the meeting point,” Asher said after a few moments. They changed their current course and began walking to the auditorium. Lila felt stupid for asking Asher if he wanted to consider the movie as a date. Why’d she even say that? It wasn’t as if she wanted to go on a date with him… Lila hoped she hadn’t made it awkward now. Though, it was Asher who’d brought it up…
The sun hung low in the sky, lengthening the shadows across the walkway behind the auditorium that they were now passing through. The eerie atmosphere hadn’t improved from the last time Lila had been here. In fact, it felt much worse given this area was the stage for the drop-off.
It was devoid of anyone else. Lila checked the time on her phone. They had two minutes before 4pm.
“You didn’t see anyone around while we were walking here, yeah?” Asher asked after inspecting his own phone.
“No one at all,” Lila confirmed. She was relieved to hear that Asher sounded normal.
“Are you… all good?” Lila asked after a moment.
“Yeah,” Asher replied confidently. “That walk helped a lot.”
Lila smiled, though the end of the walk hadn’t helped her much at all. In fact, it only added to her woes. She knew that she’d be bothered about her comment about the cinema hangout for a long time.
Lila bit her lip as she cast her eyes towards each end of the walkway. She had reached the middle of the walkway with Asher now and they both slowed to a stop. Asher also surveyed the surroundings, swivelling his head like a security camera.
Then, the sound of several pairs of feet sounded to the left. Lila and Asher instantly turned towards the source of the noise.
It turned out to be a group of tall, male Grade 12 students, none of whom Lila recognised. Lila estimated that there were about six people in this group. They seemed to be walking in a particular formation – perhaps a circle?
“Hello,” a voice behind Lila and Asher called. Lila jumped and spun around. It was Livi, waving. She was flanked on either side by Zack and Jake. None of the other members of her crew were with her.
“Hello,” Asher replied, standing as straight as a lamp post.
“Glad to see you made it,” Livi smiled, though her eyes felt cold. Perhaps Lila only felt this way due to her nerves, but the glint from Livi’s glasses seemed distinctly menacing. She was holding a notebook and pen in one hand. It was odd that Livi hadn’t addressed the other group of Grade 12s that had now reached Lila and Asher. But, judging by the fact that Livi didn’t send the group away, Lila could guess that they belonged here.
“So you are the Banker,” Lila said, shifting the weight between her legs. The smile instantaneously fell from Livi’s face.
“I wish,” she said with a humourless laugh. “It was so simple but so clever to set this all up. It irks me to no end that I wasn’t the one who started it.”
“Then who is?” Asher asked, pulling his school bag to the front of his body.
“He is,” Livi replied simply, pointing to the group of unknown students. Both Lila and Asher turned. The group of students to the left parted. Lila’s whole body tensed in horror as she recognised instantly who it was, a gasp escaping her lips.