Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-One


    Now that Wednesday of the final week of Term Three was upon them, marks for assignments and exams were beginning to be doled out thick and fast. English was first, and Lila could hardly handle her excitement for receiving A’s for both. The rest of their class had burst into a significant amount of chatter as classmates began comparing marks, bemoaning their scores, or celebrating loudly. Ms Shard surprisingly didn’t cut the noise as she sat behind her desk, looking through her laptop.


    “Asher,” Lila said breathlessly, pushing her rubrics towards him. “Look!”


    He grinned at her. “You seem surprised. You did some good work, my love.”


    She peered over at his rubrics and lightly tapped his arm. “Not as well as you.”


    He laughed, though it was tinged with sheepishness. “I mean, I only got a couple extra ticks here and there.”


    “Enough to get A+’s!”


    “I mean, yeah, but it was still only a couple of things-”


    She reached over and cupped his cheek in her hand, looking deeply into his eyes. “Well done, my love.”


    The warmth beneath her fingertips was instant.


    “Seems like you like praise too,” she murmured, her eyes still not leaving his.


    “O-Of course I do,” he replied, breaking their eye contact as he swallowed. “Why do you think I’ve been the Dux over and over?”


    She smirked, letting go of his face, fighting back her instinct to kiss him due to how adorable he looked right now. “Then I’ll say it again. Well done, my love. How’s your Dux standing?”


    “Intact,” he responded, his voice shaking ever-so-slightly. “I’m getting more marks today, but I think when I compare my results with Abdul, I’ll know for sure.”


    “Abdul? Like, the one that does Debating with you?”


    Asher nodded. “Yeah. At the risk of sounding like an ass, the Dux race isn’t as competitive as it is for the runner up title of Proxime Accessit. He’s one of the usual people who compete for that title.”


    Lila couldn’t remember who any of the Proxime Accessits for their cohort had been over the years. She’d only paid attention to Asher’s receipt of the Dux award, which was perhaps another sign that she’d liked him for much longer than she’d thought.


    “Don’t get me wrong, they definitely get close, but I think they feel like it’s easier to achieve Proxime Accessit than Dux.”


    Lila gave him a sharp look. “Yeah, you sound like an ass.”


    He hung his head and she laughed, lightly pushing his arm. “I’m kidding. I never knew you talked to the others about your scores like that.”


    “You’ve gotta scope out the competition for these kinds of things.”


    Lila smiled. “I love that you take it so seriously. I’ve tried for good grades, sure, but you make it sound like a sport.”


    His expression turned thoughtful. “Huh, I guess I do.”


    Ms Shard called for everyone’s attention, taking away Lila’s opportunity to respond. Ms Shard went through the rubric for the assignment, along with common mistakes and areas to improve across the cohort and in Lila’s specific class. Lila eyed Asher as Ms Shard continued through to feedback regarding the exam and noticed that he was incredibly serious as he took down notes even though he’d managed an A+.


    ‘Perhaps I should get some of that resolve going for myself,’ Lila thought as she hastened to also take notes. Most of the things Ms Shard said didn’t apply to Lila at all, but she noted them down anyway. She peeked at Asher’s laptop, surprised by how detailed his notes were. If most of the things Ms Shard was saying didn’t apply to Lila, then hardly anything would’ve for Asher – so why did he take down so many notes?


    “Yes?” he murmured, his typing not slowing for a moment. Lila returned her attention to the PowerPoint.


    “After class,” she murmured back, not willing to be told off for interrupting such a critical lesson for everyone else.


    He nodded, and they resumed their silence for the rest of class. Lila had almost forgotten her question until Asher brought it up on their way to her Bio class.


    She glanced at him before saying, “I was wondering why you were taking down so many notes from Ms Shard’s explanation.”


    He gave a shocked laugh. “Really? Why?”


    Lila shrugged. “Well, not a lot of it applied to me, so even less would apply to you, right? So why’d you write down so many?”


    He stepped closer to her, his silence suggesting he was thinking deeply about how best to respond.


    “None of it applied to me,” he confessed after a few more moments passed. “But you know how I said you’ve gotta scope out the competition?”


    She nodded in acknowledgement, and he continued.


    “Everyone’s my competition,” he said frankly. “Even if I know that certain people have no way to catch up to me, they’re still my competition. So, I have to know where they fell to ensure I don’t make those mistakes for the next assignment. Even if there’s no way I’d make a particular mistake, it’s good to reinforce that through my notes.”


    “Huh…” Lila tapped her chin thoughtfully before grinning at him. “So, I’m your competition?”


    Asher looked entirely serious as he nodded. “Of course.”


    “How’s my ranking?”


    Asher’s expression turned contemplative. “For English, I’d say the upper-middle range.”


    Lila gasped. “With two As?”


    He confirmed this with a nod. “Yeah. How many people do you reckon get As?”


    “Well, a few.”


    “More than a few, my love. Your marks at the beginning of the year were closer to B+’s and A-’s, weren’t they?”


    Lila tightened her hold on his arm, a feeling of embarrassment washing over her. “Yeah, except for our project.”


    “Right. So, even though you’ve had two As this term, when consolidating the rest, you’re pretty solidly in the upper-middle range for English. As for other subjects, I don’t think we do anything else that’s the same, so I can’t really rank you.”


    “What about Maths?”


    “Ah, yeah, general Maths. Hmm…” he narrowed his eyes at her, as though he could scrutinise her standing with a single look.


    “Middle for sure,” he said with a satisfied nod.


    “But I haven’t even shown you my marks,” she huffed.


    “On average, are they an A+?”


    “No.”


    He nodded again. “Middle.”


    She must’ve looked displeased by this, for he pulled her closer to him and kissed the side of her head.


    “My love, whatever ranking you are for school, it doesn’t worry me,” he said. “As long as you’re happy with your grades, that’s all that matters.”


    “I can’t believe that you think my Maths is in the middle range.”


    Asher laughed. “What’s your average, then?”


    “B+.”


    “That’s the middle.”


    She pouted. “Maybe I’ll get an A+ for my exam when I get my marks back tomorrow afternoon. Then what?”


    “Drifting towards the upper-middle.”


    “Aren’t Cs meant to be the middle?” Lila asked with another huff.


    “How?” Asher laughed again. “If you’re in the D range, you’ve failed.”


    He was right about that one.


    “Why isn’t B the middle, then?” she challenged.


    “A surprisingly large number of our cohort score B+ or higher for Maths on average, which means a B is the lower middle.”


    She frowned, and he laughed once more.


    “Hey, you beat me fair and square in Bio, Japanese, Modern History and Design,” he said. “That’s a lot of subjects, you know.”


    “That’s not fair,” she replied, shaking her head. “You don’t take those!”


    He snickered. She pushed him and he jokingly stumbled down the path, her bookbag dramatically swinging from his shoulder.


    “What do you mean, I don’t take those subjects?” he asked, feigning surprise. “Didn’t you know the Dux is supposed to take every class?”


    They continued their banter all the way to her Bio class, with goofy smiles and giggles from both until he returned her bag at the door and headed off to his class.


    Just as it had been in English, Mr Johnson handed out their graded exams and assignments. Lila eagerly read through both rubrics, finding that she achieved an A- for the exam and an A for the assignment.


    “Gee, Lila,” Cecelia said, peering over at Lila’s cover sheet, which indicated what she had received over the course of this year. “Your grades are jumping up.”


    “Not that you were doing terribly,” Lucas added, peering over as well.


    “What’d you guys get?” Lila asked, looking over.


    Cecelia waved her hand dismissively. “Nothing that good,” she said, gesturing at her cover sheet, which displayed a B for the exam and a C+ for the assignment.


    “That’s not so bad, Cee,” Lucas smiled. “You’re improving, too.”


    Cecelia returned his smile before her eyes landed on his cover sheet. “Hey! Why’d you get an A for both?”


    Lucas laughed. “I offered to study with you, Cee.”


    “But studying’s boring!”


    “Studying’s how I got these marks.”


    “Lies,” Cecelia pouted. “You’re just smart.”


    “I’m glad you think so,” Lucas replied, stacking his papers. “I do work hard, though.”


    Cecelia pouted again. “I know you do, but I’m not as smart as you, so you get a massive head start.”


    Lucas shook his head. “You’re smart, Cee. I’d never be able to pull together a film like you did for Media Studies.”


    “That’s not smart-”


    Mr Johnson took command of the class to go through the exam and assignment criteria before Lucas could outwardly refute Cecelia’s assertion. Lila took down as many notes as she could, since Asher’s comments about doing so still lingered in her mind, as Lucas and Cecelia whispered between themselves, no doubt carrying on their conversation about Cecelia’s intelligence.


    With a new pep in her step, her eagerness to tell Asher about her Bio marks once Mr Johnson released them hurried Lila along so swiftly that she bumped right into him. He brought his arms around her, stabilising her with a chuckle, and she took the opportunity to give him a hug.


    “Let’s go!” she said enthusiastically, separating from his embrace and pulling him by the arm.


    He followed along, swiping her bag as they walked, and she told him about her marks with relish.


    “You’re so cute,” he said once she’d finished telling him what part of the criteria she’d particularly excelled in. “I’m really proud of you.”


    She beamed, swinging his arm with happiness. “Proud enough for a reward?”


    “Of course. What would you like?”


    She spun to face him, walking backwards just ahead of him. “I think you know the answer.”


    “Hmm…” he murmured, his eyes alight with playfulness. “A speedboat?”


    She burst out laughing. “Definitely not,” she managed to say once she sobered up. “Where’d you even get that idea?”


    He smirked. “Plucked it out of the air, since I’ve got no clue as to what you’d like.”


    “We both know that’s a lie.”


    He held up his hands in surrender. “You caught me. A Nepalese duck.”


    She snorted, and his smirk widened to a grin.


    “I wonder if we’ll get the story behind that,” Lila replied, still walking backwards.


    “We did,” Asher nodded. “There was a duck in Nepal; her boyfriend found it and brought it back.”


    Lila rolled her eyes in amusement. “Silly. I meant the duck’s story. It’s an antique, right? So… who made it? How old is it? Why’d they make it? Who owned it?”


    Asher smiled. “That could be an in. She’d love to tell you, I reckon.”


    Lila pursed her lips as she considered this before spinning back around and clutching Asher’s arm.


    “Maybe,” she said quietly. “Let’s keep thinking, though.”


    “Sure,” Asher agreed. “An egg separator?”


    “Huh? What, no,” she chuckled, shaking her head and squeezing his arm. “Not about my reward.”


    “Ah,” he breathed, though there was still a hum of playfulness within his tone. “Still have no idea, though.”


    “You so do.”


    “Not a clue.”


    “Stop teasing me.”


    He smirked again before leaning close to her ear. “Alright, my love. As soon as I can, I’ll reward you for being such a good girl by making you feel so good, you can’t even think.”


    She blushed, though instead of shying away from his intense promise like she usually did, she stopped them both from walking and pulled him in for a kiss – one that was short enough to avoid attracting too much unwanted attention.


    “That’s exactly what I want,” she said once they broke apart, fixing his tie. “Tonight?”


    He blinked. “Tonight? Aren’t I going over to yours?”


    “Yeah,” she replied, giving him a once over before linking their arms again and proceeding to the locker room. “Closed door policy.”


    “I… don’t think it’s a good idea,” Asher said, his tone incredibly anxious. “I mean, you’ve got so many family members and it’s not the most private place in the world.”


    Lila sighed, squeezing his arm tightly. “I know, but it’s been so long,” she replied sadly. “I want you.”


    He didn’t say anything for a few moments before he stopped short along the path, the door to the locker room within their sight.


    “I want you too, but imagine if we got caught. I’m supposed to be going over to impress your Dad enough so I can be an intern with you, and talk to Daniel about his crush. I doubt either of them would be pleased if we did that. Plus, I’m still incredibly anxious about seeing them after knowing they know, you know?”


    His voice had morphed into a ramble, and Lila sighed once more, patting his arm.


    “Okay, my love. Tomorrow then,” she said, though she couldn’t completely disguise her disappointment.


    He glanced at her, his face anxious. “Tomorrow?”


    “Yeah. Can I come over tomorrow?”


    He stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Y-Yeah. I’ll have to tell Gabriel, of course.”


    She frowned. “What’s up with the weird energy?”


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    “Weird energy? What weird energy?”


    “That weird energy,” she said, pointing down at his feet, which he shifted his weight between with painfully apparent nervousness. He relaxed his posture instantly.


    “Nothing. C’mon, I’m hungry.”


    She pouted but followed his lead into the now-packed locker room. She jostled her way to her locker, putting away her bag he’d left her and pulling out her morning tea. What was up about tomorrow that needed that reaction?


    She hadn’t figured it out by the time she took out her morning tea and met back up with him.


    “Asher, what’s up with tomorrow?” she pressed as they left the locker room. He gave her a sideways glance.


    “You’ll be coming over?” he replied, his tone questioning.


    “You started being real weird when I mentioned it.”


    He sighed. “My love, I’d made plans for tomorrow.”


    Ice suddenly gripped her heart. Plans? Were they with someone else?


    “Study plans,” he clarified swiftly, avoiding her eyes. “I mentioned that I wanted to work on some of my assignments over the holidays, remember? I thought if I started just a little bit earlier, I wouldn’t need to take away as much time from us.”


    She shook her head – not in response to him, but to dispel the strange feeling that had overcome her. It worked, and she nodded. “Yeah, okay. I don’t have to come over-”


    “No, I want you to,” he said firmly. “Please?”


    She faltered as she met his gaze. It was full of enough lust brimming to the surface that it made her newly defrosted heart stutter.


    “B-But what about-”


    “I’ve decided to work around it,” he replied pointedly. “Like you said, it’s been a while and I really, really want you.”


    Was it a wise choice to be alone in a meeting room now? The question was itching to get out as they passed through the library doors, but she couldn’t ask, opting to say something else instead.


    “O-Okay,” Lila stammered, clearing her throat. “I’ll just have to make sure it’s okay with my parents.”


    He winced but didn’t say anything, instead choosing to take her hand and lead them both to a meeting room. They found one and sat across from each other, like usual, but despite the low amount of energy it took to do that, her mind and her heart were competing to see which was faster. So many scenarios, all of them lewd, were flashing past her mind’s eye that she could hardly see her food.


    “Eat, my love,” Asher said kindly, pushing her sandwich bag towards her hands. “You won’t be able to think properly until lunch if you don’t.”


    She was struggling with that now, but she kept that to herself as she obediently took her bunch of grapes out of the bag and started eating them. She couldn’t rest her eyes on any part of him, for each time they drew near, her fantasies kicked it up a notch.


    They ate in silence, and it felt to Lila (or perhaps she was projecting with an edge of hopefulness) like he might’ve been struggling with the same thing. She didn’t want to ask in case it incited action right here, especially since her resolve to abstain was in tatters.


    So, she searched her mind for something else to talk to him about since the quietness of this meeting room was also wholly unhelpful in that regard. She hadn’t thought of any headway they could make with Marlene, so there wasn’t anything to report there. He’d be seeing her family tonight – had there been any changes besides Daniel’s crush?


    Then, with a startled gasp, she slapped her hand on the table. Asher jumped in response.


    “Wha-”


    “I haven’t told you anything about Clare!”


    He blinked at her. “I feel like I know too much-”


    Lila waved her hand dismissively. “Probably, but I’ve been meaning to update you about that other girl at the club. I just keep getting distracted.”


    He tilted his head in confusion. “What other girl?”


    “The one who crashed Clare’s set. Did you end up talking to Gabriel like you’d said?”


    Asher was silent for a second before his eyes shone with recognition.


    “Crap, no, I keep getting distracted, too.”


    She paused. “Maybe we should stop doing it so much.”


    “Vetoing that,” Asher replied with a shake of his head. “I love you and as long as you’ll have me, I don’t mind being distracted.”


    “But what if I distract you from something super important?”


    “Then it wasn’t super important. Unless you’re saying you want to stop doing it as much? Rather than just thinking we should.”


    “I don’t want to stop.”


    He smiled. “There we go. Back to Clare?”


    She took a deep breath, the need to switch gears again almost giving her whiplash. “Well, you probably don’t need to tell Gabriel that the other girl, her name’s Melody, is affecting Clare since Clare punched Melody hard enough to lose a few false nails.”


    His dumbfounded expression almost made her laugh. “Huh?”


    “That’s what I said.”


    “Seriously – what?”


    “Yeah. I get why, though.” Her eyebrow twitched, and the beginning stages of a smirk crossed her face as she said, “You’d relate, too, since you’ve been throwing punches.”


    He groaned. “Please don’t remind me.”


    “I haven’t found time to tell Clare about that, actually. Maybe it’ll give her a sense of solidarity.”


    “Please stop teasing me, otherwise I won’t go over tonight.”


    She raised an eyebrow.


    “… Yeah, that was an empty threat,” he admitted.


    “In that case, maybe I should mention it over dinner-”


    “I’ll rethink your reward.”


    She raised her other eyebrow and slowly blinked at him.


    “Okay, that’s another empty threat.”


    She snorted, and he chuckled.


    “So, why’d she punch Melody?” he asked.


    “Coolisimo’s solution to the tension between the two was to separate their shifts,” Lila explained. “Sometimes Clare’s a bartender, sometimes she’s a dancer, but their shifts still don’t cross over per se – except they can be rostered on immediately before or immediately after the other. Clare also said that it’s not like they’re banned from being patrons.”


    “I think I get where this is going.”


    Lila nodded. “So, whilst Clare was doing her set, Melody basically grabbed Alex and kissed him. Clare saw the whole thing, of course. I mean, you know where the stage is. She said she can see the whole club from there. Apparently, it was a lot, too, and Alex shouted at Melody to get out – loud enough to hear over the music-”


    “That meek guy?”


    Lila nodded again. “Yeah, then he wiped his mouth and disappeared. But since Clare was in the middle of her set, she had to keep going. Then, once she went back to their changing room, Melody was just sitting there, acting like nothing happened, and Clare started swinging, essentially.”


    Asher gave a low whistle. “Yikes.”


    “Melody fought back obviously, and then Gabriel and Alex showed up and pulled them off each other. They’re not supposed to be in the changing room, but I guess the fighting was loud enough that they had to intervene. This happened on Saturday, and Gabriel told Clare not to come in this week to cool down, I think. She said stuff like if they hadn’t intervened, she would’ve killed Melody, so it’s a wise idea – not that she actually would, of course. Still, though, who does that?”


    “No idea. I see what you mean about not needing to tell Gabriel that it’s been affecting Clare.”


    “Yeah. She’s a bit worried that she’ll be fired, but when I asked if he’d fire Melody, she said no.”


    Asher shook his head. “I dunno how he is as a boss technically speaking, but he wouldn’t fire Clare, especially since he knows there’re issues.”


    “That’s what I figured. Clare also said that stuff’s been going missing and ending up in her locker. She reckons that’s Melody’s doing, too. Started happening after they were separated by shift.”


    “What the hell is Melody’s problem?”


    Lila shrugged before she leaned forward. “You know how after Ms Wang and Mr Vanderbilt told us to keep our hands to ourselves at camp, I mentioned it was probably ‘cause of an incident that happened to someone in Clare’s grade?”


    Asher nodded, gesturing for Lila to continue.


    “Well, Clare said that Melody used to go here. But she was the one caught getting handsy at their Grade Eleven camp. When Melody first started working at Coolisimo, Clare asked her about it and Melody confirmed that it happened and she got expelled, not just ‘suspended and moved schools’ like Clare had thought. Before then, Clare kinda said that Melody was alright.”


    She tapped her chin, forming her theory carefully in her mind before expressing it to Asher. “I just think the timing is weird – like Melody started targeting Clare after that conversation. Seems like Clare might’ve caught Melody’s attention or maybe she felt embarrassed to confirm something like that in front of her new colleagues, ‘cause I think Clare said she asked in the changing room.”


    “Did Clare mention whether anyone else was getting targeted?”


    Lila shook her head. “Nah, not unless you count the fact that stuff’s getting stolen from the others, but it’s all like inconsequential stuff. Lip gloss or whatever. I suggested to Clare that she change her lock and put a camera in to see what’s going on, and she’s done both of those things but hasn’t reported back.”


    Asher placed a hand on his chin, his face incredibly thoughtful. “Hmm… that’s all very strange.”


    “Yeah. I have no idea what Melody’s deal is, but I wish she’d stop. Clare loves working at Coolisimo, and she’s just started feeling okay to work there again after Mum flipped out at her.”


    “Were they friends at school?”


    “Didn’t run in the same circles, apparently. Clare only found out that Melody was gone a couple weeks after it happened or something like that.”


    Asher didn’t say anything at all for a few seconds before he sighed. “Next time you come over, so tomorrow, I guess, let’s talk to Gabriel about it all. I mean, Clare was throwing rocks and all that over Melody, which he still doesn’t know about, so he either has a good reason for keeping Melody or he doesn’t get the full picture.”


    “Yeah. Maybe he can fire her.”


    Asher pursed his lips. “I don’t think he’d fire her. It depends on what they’re already doing to fix the situation, but he’s such a softie. You know that.”


    Lila begrudgingly nodded. “I do.”


    “I definitely would’ve punched the hell out of her like Clare did, though.”


    Lila snorted. “I believe you. What’s another body to your roster, huh?”


    Asher smirked. “Exactly.” Then, he sighed. “In saying that, it definitely wasn’t the right move for Clare. It shouldn’t be encouraged.”


    “Trust me, she gets it.”


    “Good.”


    They sank into some more silence, this time tinged with pensiveness. Melody’s motives were entirely unclear to Lila. Why would she spend all that time fixating on Clare like that? Or Alex, at the very least. It kinda felt a bit Piper-ish to Lila.


    She shuddered. It wasn’t a good thought, considering how psychotic Piper had turned out, so she desperately looked at Asher.


    “How are we getting to mine?”


    He looked at her in bewilderment. “The bus?”


    “Cool.”


    That conversation died almost as quickly as she attempted to bring it to life. She racked her brain to think of something else to say when Asher spoke.


    “Do you reckon we’ll have time for a board game?”


    She smiled, relaxing almost entirely with this question. Once again, he seemed to know what she was thinking and what she wanted.


    They spent the rest of morning tea analysing whether or not they would have time for a board game, and if so, which, amidst jokes and laughter, before walking back to their locker room, hand-in-hand.


    <hr>


    The rest of Lila’s day plodded along uneventfully until Elise looped her arm around Lila’s at the beginning of lunch.


    “Lunch time!” she sang, wiggling Lila’s arm. “Ready for our double date?”


    Lila laughed. “A double date?”


    “Yup,” Elise grinned. “I mean, doesn’t it feel that way now that Isaac and I are out in the open?”


    “I suppose so. You seem to be in a good mood. Much better than yesterday, at least.”


    “You’re right about that one. I slept on what you said and now I feel a lot better about it all. I mean, it’s not like you’ve gotten sick from the Pill-”


    “Aaaand that’s my cue to turn around and stand at the exit,” Isaac announced, startling Lila as she hadn’t noticed his approach. Asher turned the corner behind Isaac, lunchboxes in his hands, and Isaac immediately pulled him by his sleeve towards the exit.


    Lila and Elise exchanged a look before bursting into laughter.


    “Seriously, are they ever going to stop being embarrassed about that stuff?” Lila asked with a fond shake of her head as she shoved her bookbag into her locker.


    “No idea. I’ll just be a sec.”


    Elise hurried off to her locker. Lila locked her locker and waited for Elise to finish whatever it was she was doing at her locker. Elise scurried back, looping their arms once more but prevented them from walking.


    “Are we telling them about our Saturday plan?” Elise questioned.


    Lila contemplated this for a moment. “On one hand, I want to keep it as a surprise,” she said after a beat. “On the other, they might’ve thought about doing something, too.”


    “Fair enough. I reckon we should say that they need to keep their lunchtime free.”


    Lila grinned. “Let’s.”


    They moved along with the general crowd to the exit, catching the attention of Asher and Isaac as they did so. As a group, they floated on towards the library, making casual small talk and jokes along the way.


    Then, once they found themselves a spare meeting room, Lila and Elise exchanged a meaningful glance.


    “So,” Elise began, “we’ve decided that you two…”


    “Need to keep your Saturday lunchtime free,” Lila finished.


    Isaac and Asher looked at one another in bemusement.


    “Why?” Asher asked.


    “We’re not telling,” Elise said promptly, unzipping her lunchbox. “This looks good. Well done, me.”


    Isaac frowned. “C’mon-”


    “Nope,” Elise replied sharply. “Not a chance.”


    Isaac huffed but didn’t press the issue. Asher gave Lila an imploring look, and she shook her head.


    “I love you, which is why I won’t tell you,” Lila smiled. “Time to eat.”


    Asher continued to look suspiciously at both Lila and Elise, something that wasn’t helped by how mischievous both looked, though he did begin to eat his basil chilli chicken stir-fry and coconut rice without complaint.


    Eventually, the group did begin talking, joking and laughing about their grades, with Isaac still being playfully offended at the fact that Elise didn’t attend his Advanced Maths exam in disguise, to which she said she didn’t need to since he achieved an A- on it anyway.


    Slowly though, Elise’s energy dissipated, her face incredibly serious.


    “What are we going to do next term?” she asked quietly, fiddling with the zip on her lunchbox.


    “Continue to go to school?” Asher replied in confusion, though that quickly changed to a look that mirrored Elise’s when he laid eyes on her.


    “Yeah, but I mean… Grace’s… partner won’t be at school anymore. I don’t want Grace to be alone at lunch, but I don’t know how long I can keep pretending to be normal with her.”


    “Wasn’t it getting better?” Lila questioned, genuinely surprised by this admission.


    Elise gave a soft, sad smile. “Not really. What got better was my acting skills, which I didn’t know could, to be honest.”


    “It’s really hit you hard, huh,” Lila said softly. Tears sparkled in Elise’s eyes as she simply nodded. Isaac held her hands in his, his concern palpable with not even a smidge of humour in his expression.


    “It might get better over the holidays,” Lila suggested, looking down at her empty lunchbox. “You’ll come back next term having had more time to process.”


    No one said anything for a few moments. Elise then gave a big sniffle before brushing a wayward curl from her face.


    “I-I guess. How often are we going to have lunch with Grace?” Elise asked, her voice small.


    Lila glanced at Asher, who shrugged.


    “It’s up to you, my love,” he said, his voice kind yet statement unhelpful.


    Lila sighed. “Well, until the musical is over, she’ll be dedicating some lunches to rehearsals and all that. Plus, she’s pretty understanding of the fact that we want to spend time with our own partners, so we might not even need to worry about that. Not for a while, anyway.”


    Elise nodded, though it didn’t seem like Lila’s suspicions comforted her at all.


    Isaac looked between Elise and Lila before shaking his head. “Let’s not worry about that, Lise. Come on, it’s the last week of Term Three, you guys. Grade 12 is almost here, and then it’s freedom! What’re you guys doing over the holidays?”


    Lila hesitated. They hadn’t really made any plans aside from the more nefarious ones-


    “Not sure you should ask that one, mate,” Asher replied as he took Lila’s hand. She glanced at him and saw that he was looking almost sternly at Isaac.


    Isaac snorted. “Besides that.”


    Asher sighed. “No plans. Not really.”


    “You? Not having even a single plan?” Isaac asked incredulously. “Who are you?”


    “I already told you, I’m different now for good reason.”


    “Sure, but planning’s like your thing. You love plans.”


    “Do I?”


    “With a disturbing passion.” Isaac turned to Lila. “You know Asher as well as I do. Well, probably more at this point. He loves plans, yeah?”


    She couldn’t disagree. “Yeah.”


    “See!” Isaac said triumphantly. “Case in point.”


    Asher playfully rolled his eyes. “What’re your plans, then?”


    Isaac glanced at Elise. “Do you wanna go to the movies?”


    She shrugged. “Sure.”


    “There we go,” Isaac replied. “Plan made.”


    “Pretty sure I asked about ‘plans’.”


    Isaac looked at Elise again. “What about the arcade?”


    She shrugged again. “Sure.”


    “There, plans,” Isaac grinned.


    “I’d hardly call those plans. You don’t even have days set aside-”


    “Monday night for the movie, then Thursday lunch for the arcade?” Isaac asked Elise, cutting Asher’s protestations short.


    “Sure,” Elise replied with a small giggle escaping at the end.


    Isaac smirked at Asher, as though daring him to argue about their plans now.


    Then, before he could, Elise clapped her hands as if in reaction to a brilliant idea striking her. “What about a double date?”


    “Double date?” Isaac blinked at Elise. “Where to?”


    Elise tapped her chin. “We could bum around the city for a bit.”


    “Bumming around sounds like a euphemism,” Isaac replied bluntly.


    Elise smacked his hand. “Dummy. I meant hanging out.”


    Isaac chortled. “I know that.”


    Lila pursed her lips. She wasn’t sure if they could fit in a day with Elise and Isaac, depending on how their investigations went over the holidays – but, at the same time, she hadn’t hung out with Elise over the holidays in a very long time.


    “Sounds good,” Asher said, squeezing Lila’s hand as if he were asking for her confirmation. “The hanging out part. Not whatever Isaac had in his head.”


    Lila smiled, glad that he seemed keen for this. “Yeah. Sounds good.”


    They spent the rest of their lunchtime together negotiating when their double date would be before they performed a four-way shake on it per Isaac’s insistence, and hurried along to the locker room.


    Once Design was over, Lila rejoined Asher for a leisurely walk to Study, discussing possible places to go in the city with Elise and Isaac – including a joke about Coolisimo – all the way until they signed in with their Study teacher.


    Lila settled into her usual spot in their booth, her mind running through what she could do during Study, when Asher placed his hand on her laptop bag. She looked up at him in curiosity.


    “We haven’t played Minecraft for a while,” he said, his eyes glimmering with excitement. “What with exams and all that. Did you-”


    She beamed at him. “I’m down.”


    “Heck yeah! Let’s gooo!”


    His enthusiasm was as infectious as ever, and she chuckled. He set up their server and, when her character stood up from the double bed she’d made the last time they played, she was reminded of the fact that she hadn’t even told him about her crush at that point.


    She spun her camera around to find Asher, who was bobbing in and out of the crouched position. She laughed, joining him in this motion, before she looked over at him above her laptop screen.


    “Hey, Asher?”


    “Yeah?” he asked, whirling his character around towards their chests.


    “What’d you think, when I put my bed next to yours?”


    He met her eyes above his laptop screen. “That I was going to die from overthinking about why you did that. Settled on the idea that your choice was an economical one.”


    “Economical?”


    “Less block wastage since there wouldn’t need to be a walkway between our beds.”


    She laughed. “Yeah, like that’s a big issue in a game like Minecraft.”


    “What was I supposed to think?”


    “You know the answer to that one.”


    “Yeah, now. Didn’t help me then.”


    She giggled, bringing her foot to meet his under the booth. He reciprocated her touch with a grin. They quickly became absorbed by their game, hardly noticing that their time flew by. Once Lila noticed with a panicked nudge of Asher’s foot, they immediately packed up and rushed over to the locker room and then to the bus station.


    They reached Lila’s bus stop just as the last bus of the school run pulled to a stop beside it, both of them struggling to catch their breaths.


    “Let me guess. You guys were making out and almost forgot that you had a bus to catch?”


    Lila spun to face her brother, who looked incredibly disapproving of the idea. She smacked his arm.


    “No, you idiot. We were playing Minecraft.”


    “Is that what the kids these days call it?” Daniel asked, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. She smacked him again.


    “I didn’t realise you were that dumb. Get on the damn bus,” she retorted, gesturing to said damn bus. He raised his hands in surrender and sauntered ahead of them. Lila huffed, following behind and tugging Asher by the hand as she did so.


    Daniel had clambered to the back of the bus by the time Lila led Asher to a seat towards the front. Once the doors to the bus slammed shut, Lila and Asher engrossed themselves in a conversation regarding their Minecraft world and their plans for the next time they played.