Chapter Ten
The weekend passed with Lila begrudgingly holed up in her room, working through her various assignments and revision. Her only reprieve was coming downstairs for some water to find her parents and Clare milling about in the living room on Saturday night. Otherwise, she had found herself in a state of frenzied study, her focus surprising even herself.
Thinking on it, it might have been some odd form of escapism, to stop herself from thinking about the rumours or Valentine’s Day. Or maybe it was a way to pass the time in the hopes that Asher would message her that weekend. Lila thought it was more likely to be the first option as she scrolled her phone, eating some apple slices her Mum had prepared for her on Sunday afternoon. But no such message had arrived by Sunday evening, and she was admittedly starting to overthink.
'He must be busy with Holly,' Lila thought with a sigh. 'I thought he’d want to look into his Mum’s disappearance a bit more…'
With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Lila began to envision a scenario where Asher had told Holly about his Mum. He probably didn’t need Lila anymore, really. Especially if Holly was as nice and brilliant as everyone around her was saying. Had Lila become too dependent on Asher’s need for her?
Lila shook her head at the thought, pulling herself towards her desk again and opening her school laptop. She had agreed to help Asher, but if he didn’t need her anymore, that was fine. He didn’t necessarily ask Lila to find his Mum, just to help him with finding her. It wasn’t as though he wasn’t smart enough to put together the pieces. Maybe her investigation plan was enough help as it was.
'But what about Marlene? Did she do something to Asher?'
An icy feeling crackled through her veins as she desperately shook her head again. Marlene was creepy as hell, but surely she wouldn’t try to harm Asher. He was the son of her employer, after all. That’d just be a bad move.
'Unless she did something to Tabitha… and he’s next.'
“Oh, shut up!” Lila exclaimed, clutching her head in an attempt to banish the intruding thoughts, her heart racing. Breathing sharply, Lila signed into her laptop. She probably just needed to do some more work to put her mind at ease.
She checked through her emails to see if there were any new announcements or instructions from her teachers, but it was the same as it had been yesterday. Lila was about to exit out of Outlook before a ding sounded, announcing the arrival of a new email. It was from Asher.
Without a second thought, Lila opened it up, curious as to what he was sending.
Lila
Please finalise your portion of the script by next Saturday and send it through to me. I’ll edit it and send you the final copy so you can finish the slides. You can take a week from there to finish the slides and I’ll check it.
We’ll need to practice. I’ll book a room somewhere in the school library if I can for the week of the 27th. Remember the slides are due in to Turnitin on the 3rd of March. I don’t know what day Ms Shard intends for our presentation, but we need to be prepared to go first.
Regards
Asher
Lila sighed dejectedly. Her zest for working on her schoolwork was suddenly sucked out of her upon reading Asher’s email.
'Well, at least he’s alive… and still studious.'
----------------------------------------
Monday carried the same gloomy weather as the past few days, though the rain had abated by lunchtime. Given this, Lila decided to brave the tuckshop scene again, carrying her umbrella just in case.
It wasn’t long until someone fell into step with her along the way.
“What’s up, buttercup?”
Looking over, Lila saw that it was Cecelia, biting on a salami stick with a lopsided grin.
“Oh, hey. Nothing really. Are you almost done with the Bio assignment?”
“Ugh, I wish,” Cecelia bemoaned, chewing loudly. “Barely started.”
“You… do know it’s due next week, right?”
“'Course I do,” Cecelia snorted. “Got all the dates locked in on my calendar. Not that I check it.”
“Well, it’s the thought that counts,” Lila replied with a small smile.
“Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying to Lucas. He’s been so mean about the English project though, it makes me wanna cry,” Cecelia pouted. Lila didn’t respond immediately, though she was inclined to wonder if Cecelia would classify Asher’s email from last night as ‘mean’ too.
“I mean, we have an exam too, for both Bio and English,” reminded Lila. “Are you prepared for those, at least?”
“Eh, I’ll breeze through those. Exams are the only reason why I haven’t been kept down. I just work so well under pressure. Like 90 minutes of pressure.”
“At least you’re self-aware.”
“Yet she doesn’t want to change,” Lucas’ voice called from behind them. They both turned and waited for him to catch up.
“Going to tuckshop as well?” Lila asked as the trio resumed walking.
“Yeah,” Lucas said, slightly puffed. “I need a meat pie.”
The trio chatted some more regarding upcoming assessments, with Lila and Lucas attempting to encourage Cecelia to, at the very least, crack open her dusty textbooks for five minutes to air them out.
Upon reaching the tuckshop line, however, Lila was now surrounded by whispering voices and sideways glances. Lila couldn’t bear to look anywhere else but down.
“So… pretty gnarly rumours, hey,” Cecelia said, gently looping Lila’s arm through her own. “Isaac has been practically yelling about how they’re untrue by the lockers.”
“Has he?” Lila asked quietly. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Well, you get in and out so quick I don’t think you’d hear his first sentence,” Lucas replied, shaking his left leg as the line remained immovable.
“I see,” murmured Lila, still looking at the floor.
“… You’re not trying to get with Asher though, right?” Cecelia asked. Lila hurriedly removed her arm from Cecelia’s grip, her eyes hastily snapping to Cecelia’s curious blue-grey ones in shock.
“I wouldn’t even dream of it,” Lila spat, taking a step back, a wave of nausea crashing in her stomach.
“What the- Cecelia, you can’t just come out and ask that!” Lucas admonished, stepping between the pair.
“Don’t deny that you’re curious too! You were making bets with me and Rae on Friday!”
Lila stormed out of their spot in the line, leaving neither of them a chance to explain themselves. She made her way to the back, clenching and unclenching her fists as she stood in her new spot, breathing heavily. She pressed her hands against her cheeks, the heat of which was making sweat pool around her brows. She hadn’t expected Cecelia or Lucas to buy into the rumours, and the realisation that they did despite knowing her for years was hitting her like a freight truck.
After a few seconds, Lila glanced around to see whether Cecelia or Lucas followed her. Instead, she saw Asher standing next to her, his hand raised as if to tap her shoulder. Lila jumped at his sudden appearance, stumbling over her own shoes. At this, Asher rapidly turned on his heel and walked away, breaking almost into a sprint.
The line ahead of Lila moved closer to the tuckshop before she could fully process what she saw. Someone from behind bumped into Lila, pushing her forward regardless of her own agency.
'That… was odd…' Lila thought, shuffling forward again as a new gap emerged. Was he about to say something to her? Should she text him? The speed at which he had disappeared had her feeling as though he had mistaken her for someone else, hence why he left upon realising it was actually Lila.
Suddenly, she wished she hadn’t seen Asher at all. Seeing his face left her annoyed now, and she crossed her arms. Was he still sticking by the idea that they shouldn’t be seen together? Was that why he sent her an email instead of a text? Was that why he hadn’t asked her over or for more help regarding his Mum? But… at least he looked healthier than he had in the past few weeks. Perhaps he was taking her advice to get some rest.
Without warning, Isaac appeared before her, hands on his knees and heaving as though he had run a marathon.
“Li…la… d-did… Asher-?”
Lila flared her nostrils briefly and pointed in the direction that Asher had gone and Isaac gave her an appreciative wave as he jogged off that way. Now the annoyance was only being piled on even further. Why did Isaac seek her out? Was she the godamn keeper of Asher’s location?
“Move it or get out of the line,” the person behind Lila said exasperatedly, pushing her forward yet again.
“S-Sorry,” mumbled Lila, moving forward obediently. Deciding to no longer spend any more energy on Asher, Isaac, Cecelia or Lucas for the moment, Lila took her phone out of her skirt pocket and began absently looking through her social media apps.
A message from Grace flashed on Lila’s screen and she quickly opened it up. It was to Twisted Bitches’r’Us.
Hey sorry I’ve got to stay behind for my private music lesson. I’d try and get out of it, but my parents are paying $100 a week extra for it
Go for your life girl, Elise had responded. Lila, are you grabbing food now?
Yah, Lila replied, feeling relieved that maybe an actual friend would join her in this horrid line. In line now
Roger that. Coming, Elise replied. Lila locked her phone screen, waiting anxiously for Elise’s arrival.
“Oh hey, fancy meeting you here,” Elise beamed when she did arrive, slotting neatly next to Lila in line. “I brought lunch today, so I’ll just wait in line with you.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot this year,” Lila commented with a smile. “Saving for something?”
“Yeah,” Elise replied. “Thinking about going on a holiday.”
“By yourself?”
“Nah, with family, but I need more spending money than what I brought to Sydney,” Elise lamented, picking at a spot on her chin. “Anything exciting happen while you were in line?”
Lila tossed up the idea of telling Elise about Cecelia and Lucas, but knew that if she did, Elise would march up to them and start a fight. Lila was far too hungry to deal with the fallout of that, so she elected to only tell Elise about Asher and Isaac.
“Yo, that is weird,” Elise said, cocking her head to the side. “Wonder what Asher was trying to do.”
Lila shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”
“Ooh, maybe you should tell your Mum that,” Elise nodded sagely. “She’d be so proud to have a devout Catholic daughter.”
Lila snorted. “I don’t think Mum cares either way what I believe, she goes on about independence so much.”
“I dunno,” Elise replied, shrugging. “You guys have a lot of Jesus pictures in your house.”
Lila laughed, her worries melting away in the presence of Elise. She looped her arm around Elise’s as they chatted more. Upon reaching the entrance of the tuckshop, Elise waved her off and made her way to the exit.
As Lila stood at one of the refrigerators housing all manner of chilled goods, a few snatches of conversation made their way to her.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Valentine’s… boyfriend…”
“Cute!”
“… movies…”
“… tickets already?”
“Yup…”
Lila bent down to inspect the lower shelves which held cut-up fruit and desserts, assessing whether she wanted either before standing up again, perusing the names of various drinks. As she did so, a female student bumped into her. Lila could almost see over the top of her head and looked down. The student was oddly familiar, but she couldn’t find a name for the student.
“S-Sorry,” the student said before scrambling off to the hot food section.
“No worries,” Lila replied, though she wasn’t convinced the student had heard her, owing to the speed at which she had dispersed. Lila shrugged to herself as she evaluated the drinks again.
“… no allowance again… hungry!”
“…lunch… from home?”
“… no time…”
“Should go… Banker…”
Lila leisurely picked up a carton of Tropical Punch and Sunshine Punch each, peering at both to compare the differences.
“… see? Asher…”
“Ugh, I know… bitch.”
“Isaac too!”
“… slut.”
Lila’s grip on the cartons tightened considerably as she swivelled around to face the offending students, however, no one from the crowd behind her stood out especially. Turning around again, she replaced the now severely dented Sunshine Punch back in the fridge.
'You’ll be fine,' Lila thought to herself, placing one foot stiffly in front of the other to make her way towards the hot food section. 'Just get something to eat and get out of here.'
Lila weakly picked up a takeaway box of potato salad and roast chicken and made her way to the cashier. The line was moving slowly here and Lila tried not to hear what else was being said but that was next to impossible.
“… Asian… so ridiculous.”
“Holly… too nice…”
“Someone… tell her!”
“Asher… making out… outside Bio!”
“EWW!”
Lila closed her eyes, trying to focus on something else.
“Wesley… dating…”
“You’re kidding…”
“Your items, dearie,” a voice called out to Lila. A large gap was between Lila and the kind-looking tuckshop lady, who was looking at Lila in a quizzical manner.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Lila said quietly, hastening to hand her items over.
Lila managed to survive the transaction and walked out to see Elise standing to the left, trembling from head to toe.
“What’s got you all fired up?” Lila asked, her brow furrowed.
“I’ll tell you what,” Elise snarled. “Some dumb bitches were calling you a hoe. I almost fucking decked them.”
“Don’t do that,” Lila pleaded. “You’ll just make it worse.”
“I know,” Elise replied stiffly. “That’s why I’m stood here, shaking menacingly instead of giving them the good ol’ one-two Elise special.”
“Let’s go,” Lila said, pulling Elise by her shirt sleeve so they could move along outside of the tuckshop area. They wandered for a bit as they ate, Elise seemingly cooling down enough to comically review her sandwich artistry – much to Lila’s delight.
After a while, they found a dry, secluded place to sit underneath an awning.
“Finally,” groaned Elise as she chugged her water bottle. “Walking around was killing me.”
Lila nodded in agreement, wolfing down the remains of her lunch in earnest now that they were seated. Elise paused, eyeing Lila, before speaking again.
“Look, I know these rumours suck. But, at least with Valentine’s Day tomorrow, I think you’ll get pushed to the side in the rumour mill.”
“That’ll be a relief if I do,” said Lila with a sigh. She gave Elise a hard look, sizing up her demeanour and mood. Upon being satisfied that Elise was not looking to jump down anyone’s throat anymore, Lila relayed what she had heard about herself that day.
“Lila, that is so horrible. I am so sorry this is happening to you. I don’t even know why or where these rumours started…”
“I know. And now it seems like Asher doesn’t want to be in my vicinity at all.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t blame him. I mean, what if the rumours reach Holly? It’s not like she’s at our school or knows you. She’ll probably believe them.”
A sickening feeling weighed on Lila’s heart now. She had been so focused on how the rumours were affecting her that she hadn’t stopped to think about how it would affect Holly. Or Asher’s relationship with Holly. Despite the fact that Lila didn’t have a crush on Asher, Holly probably would believe the rumours, given there were so many flying around. Plus, there was also the fact that so many people knew Holly – if she hadn’t heard the rumours by now, it was only a matter of time before she did.
“That’s… a really good point.”
“Not like you’d be able to meet with her to clear it up, though. At least, not without looking like a psycho stalker.”
“… Also a really good point.”
“Sometimes I surprise myself. My last two remaining brain cells can cook up some good stuff once in a while.”
Lila sighed, patting Elise on the head affectionately. Elise smiled, clearly enjoying the attention.
“I just hope that Holly believes Asher,” Lila finally said, snapping her empty takeaway box closed.
“She’ll have to, if they’re really as in lurve as you say they are,” shrugged Elise. “Otherwise, if I didn’t trust my boyfriend and I heard this, I’d go absolutely nuts.”
Lila bit her lip, bringing her knees to her chest. Elise gently stroked Lila’s arm in a comforting sort of way.
“At least you’re not actually trying to go for him like some girls would,” Elise said reassuringly. “It’s probably better off that he’s avoiding you, anyway. For a whole load of reasons. One of them being that he’s just adding fuel to this nonsense fire.”
Lila nodded solemnly, raising her head to give Elise a slight smile. Elise returned her smile, but her eyes suddenly lit up, as if struck by a thought.
“Or… we could find out the source of these rumours and stamp it out.”
“What do you mean?” Lila asked, straightening up. For some reason, her heart was pounding in her chest. Elise smirked mischievously.
“Well, if there weren’t rumours flying around, neither you nor Holly nor Asher would be bothered, right? You guys are just trying to go about life in peace. It wasn’t your fault that you got paired with Asher for English. I mean, anyone with half a brain would know that he would want the best grades possible, which means spending a butt-load of time on it. Which means he'd be spending a butt-load of time with you to work on it.”
Lila nodded slowly, encouraging Elise to continue.
“So… let’s figure out where they’re coming from and clear it up.”
Elise fist pumped the air, showcasing excitement about the plan. Lila found herself chuckling at her antics.
“I get where you’re going with this, but how? How do we even find out where rumours start?” she asked, leaning forward so Elise had her undivided attention.
“We start with the most likely culprits!” Elise began stroking an imaginary moustache as if to imitate the great literary detective Hercule Poirot.
“Well, Isaac did tell me that Ayla Dean and Brittany Klein saw Asher with me outside the Bio lab, which I think is where it all started…” Lila trailed off thoughtfully.
“We can start there!” Elise jumped up, her movements jerky. “I sit next to Brittany in Maths.”
“I can try and talk to Ayla in PE, but… I don’t think she’d want to talk to me about it.”
Elise continued to twirl her imaginary moustache, as if deep in thought.
“That… is a hitch in the plan,” she admitted finally. “But I reckon if you try and turn her mind around, so that it’s clear that there’s no way you’d want to date Asher while he’s got a girlfriend, you might have a shot.”
“I guess it’s worth a try.”
“And, if you’re successful, Asher wouldn’t need to hide from you.”
“I mean, it’s fine if he wants to…” Lila mumbled, looking down at her fidgeting hands. “Even if we stop these rumours, he’s still dating Holly.”
“Just because you’re dating someone doesn’t mean you can’t have friends, Lila,” Elise replied, shooting her a stern look. “It’s obvious that you don’t want him to keep running away from you.”
“… Look, I don’t have a preference either way,” Lila said, trying to ignore the lump in her throat as she spoke. “But I may as well try and do something about these rumours at least. For Asher’s sake too.”
That afternoon, Lila had to go back to Biology. Now that they were some ways into the term, it would be next to impossible to find a seat away from Cecelia and Lucas without looking weird. And she definitely didn’t need to add more wheat to the rumour mill by a long shot.
Throwing her shoulders back and holding her head high, Lila made her way to her usual seat. Thankfully, Cecelia and Lucas weren’t in the lab just yet. Lila wasn’t sure whether this was good or not but tried to focus on pulling out her materials with quivering hands.
After setting herself up adequately, Lila thought briefly about all the things she could do or say when Cecelia and Lucas inevitably did arrive but had scarcely made any headway with a plan before they sailed into the classroom. Lila quickly looked back down at her notebook, opening and closing the cover in an attempt to look busy. In her peripheral vision, she could see both trying to catch her eye, however staunchly ignored these attempts.
They sat in their usual spots, scraping their lab stools along the linoleum floor and Lila still preferred to look anywhere else in the room. Her hands were still quivering, but was it due to anxiety or anger? Lila wasn’t sure. Either way, did she really need to interact with people who would think there was an inkling of truth in the rumours?
Eventually, Mr Johnson swept into the Biology lab, carrying bundles of papers as usual. With only a minute to spare before the class was scheduled to start, he hurriedly wiped down the remnants of the previous class’s work from the whiteboard. Once satisfied with the state of his whiteboard, he turned back to his desk and began to mark the roll.
As Mr Johnson began to go through today’s topic in detail, Lila felt a small ache emanate from her chest. By now, Cecelia, Lucas and Lila would have cracked a few jokes, exchanged witty banter, or at the very least spoken about something that happened recently in hushed whispers. But, with both of them as silent as a stone, perhaps what Lila was feeling was longing? Or maybe heartburn?
Lila subconsciously shook her right leg as she tried to home in on Mr Johnson’s words. He may as well have been teaching in Spanish today, with the amount of sense Lila was making whilst her mind was wrapping itself into knots.
Biting her lip, she attempted to write some notes, but was interrupted by the arrival of a small slip of notepaper with Cecelia’s loopy handwriting on it.
Lila, I’m really sorry about what happened at lunch, read the note. It was really rude. And pres- prez- pre… presumtus- I can’t spell it. Judgey. I was judgey. I know you wouldn’t try and do anything with Asher while he’s dating someone. I was just curious – just in case. :( -C
Lila slowly blinked at the note. She wasn’t quite sure how accepting she was of such an apology in note form but conceded that she wasn’t necessarily making it easy for Cecelia to apologise by ignoring her. Sighing, she folded the note and tucked it into her notebook. At the very least, she’d try and concentrate on class for now and figure out how to address Cecelia later.
After about ten minutes had passed, a new note tentatively slid across Lila’s notebook. This one was written in Lucas’ angular handwriting, with clear hesitation marks throughout.
Lila, I hope you’re okay. I’m sorry for being stupid. You deserve better than bets about whether you’re trying to get with Asher or not. I hope you can forgive me. And Cecelia. I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but she cried the rest of lunch.
Lila folded this note as well and placed it with the previous one, her subconscious shaking increasing in intensity. While Lila was sure that Lucas’ note had good intentions, there was something about it that bothered her. Was it the mention of Cecelia crying? Who cared about that?
Lila balled her hands into fists before breathing deeply. She couldn’t lie to herself – she did actually care, at least a little. Perhaps Cecelia did regret what she had said at lunch?
'And can I really blame them anyway?' Lila thought as she chewed the end of her pen, 'I’d probably ask the same thing if it was happening to someone else… though only to Elise and Grace.'
Despite this, Lila wasn’t about to respond to either just yet. They could at least sweat a little while waiting.
As it had been for the past few lessons, Mr Johnson shared around worksheets across the classroom, which began to fill with the excited babble of Lila’s classmates. Cecelia and Lucas remained unusually silent as Lila tried to process what the worksheet was asking of her.
“… I’ll move past it. It’s not okay, at all. But I’ll move past it,” Lila said softly, still staring at the worksheet.
“You don’t have to,” Cecelia replied in a half-whisper. “It’s fine.”
Lila looked up at Cecelia and Lucas, who were both seemingly absorbed in their own worksheets, writing down answers.
“I… don’t want to make Bio awkward. I know you guys were just curious and swept up by the rumours. For the record, though, I don’t even like Asher in that way. He’s just my partner for English. Nothing more,” Lila said firmly. Cecelia and Lucas exchanged a quick glance before they put their pens down, giving Lila their full attention.
“Thanks, Lila,” Lucas said, seeming relieved.
“I believe you,” Cecelia nodded, her eyes wide with seeming sincerity. “It would be pretty weird if you were interested in Asher anyway.”
Lila didn’t respond immediately as she tried to register what Cecelia had said. Would it be weird if she was interested in Asher? What did that mean?
“A-Anyway,” Cecelia continued hesitantly, her voice dropping to a low whisper. “Are you going to do anything about the rumours?”
Lila blinked at Cecelia in surprise. “I… well, at first, I was just going to ignore them, but I think I’ll try and clear it up at the source.”
Cecelia and Lucas exchanged another brief look before simultaneously leaning forward, their eyes glimmering.
“Can I help?” they asked in unison.
“I…”
“Please!” Lucas said pleadingly, clasping his hands together as if in prayer. “I want to help squash it down, especially after what I did to you.”
Cecelia nodded fervently before adding, “Besides, I’m at least super nosy. I’m sure I’ll find something useful.”
Lila’s eyes darted between both of their eager faces before she closed them, sighing.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a couple more eyes and ears…”
Lucas and Cecelia high-fived, grinning. Though Lila was a bit unsure about having Lucas and Cecelia on board, they at least had access to more classes and therefore students than she did.
“Oh shit, here comes the teacher,” Cecelia said under her breath. Immediately the trio picked up their pens and put their heads down, attempting to look sufficiently studious. The effectiveness of this strategy was apparent when Mr Johnson meandered to their table, his wiry eyebrows arched in clear disbelief.
“You three look to be having a ball, going through this worksheet,” he said loftily. “Can I take a look?”
Lucas uncovered his worksheet and Mr Johnson perused it momentarily before making a satisfied sort of sound and straightening up.
“Looks like you’re progressing just fine,” Mr Johnson said, nodding and walking off to a table of giggling students.
“Ladies and gents, I didn’t think the mitochondria was that hilarious,” he called before he was out of earshot of Lila, Cecelia and Lucas.
“I’m going to try and talk to Ayla in PE tomorrow morning,” Lila said, scribbling down an answer to one of the worksheet questions.
“Oh God,” Cecelia replied, scrawling her own answer to the same question. “Are you sure that’s going to work out well?”
Lila shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I haven’t talked to her since, like, grade eight.”
“And for good reason,” Lucas said darkly, stretching his wrists. “Ever since she got boobs, she’s been such a cow. Even has the same thrilling mind as one.”
“I just think you’re still salty from when she rejected you last year,” Cecelia said haughtily, a grin creeping on her face. Lucas immediately began coughing, his face scarlet.
“She did what?” asked Lila, leaning in herself now. She hadn’t heard that story yet.
“I-It wasn’t anything, really,” Lucas replied, adjusting his glasses and looking fixedly at the worksheet before him, his face still rosy. “I’d, um, forgotten about it all, actually…”
“Sure,” snorted Cecelia. “From trauma, maybe. Dude, she destroyed you.”
“Why haven’t I heard about it?” Lila asked, looking between Cecelia and Lucas, who was chewing his lip.
“You’re not really a consumer of the rumour mill,” Cecelia replied with a shrug. “Besides, I think Ayla was too embarrassed to even tell anyone about it. Hard for a rumour to get in the rumour mill when one of the Chief Operators isn’t putting anything in it.”
Lila nodded slowly in understanding. Based on what Cecelia said, Isaac was right – Ayla was absolutely a key player in all the rumours around the school. Which meant she definitely needed to play her cards right if she wanted to get to the bottom of it all. Otherwise, it would likely get even worse. Lila held her head in her hands as she tried to think of a strategy.
“Maybe…” Lila began haltingly, “I should just act casual with her for now. I won’t try and pry about the rumours tomorrow.”
“That might be a good start,” Cecelia replied. “At least for now. Lucas and I can put our feelers out for anything else that’s weird. Ayla’s not the only person who spreads rumours.”
“Thanks,” Lila replied, smiling softly at Cecelia and Lucas.
“It’s the least we can do,” Lucas replied, adjusting his school tie, his face no longer pink. “I really feel terrible, Lila.”
“As do I,” said Cecelia passionately. “Like, seriously terrible.”
“Like I said, I’ll move past it,” replied Lila, holding her hands up in a ‘stop’ gesture. “But I’ll need both of you to stop hanging onto it, too.”
“Roger that,” saluted Cecelia. “I’ll dm you what I find out on Insta tomorrow afternoon.”
“Likewise,” Lucas said, inclining his head.