Chapter Four


    The rest of the weekend flew by, despite Lila doing nothing in particular. Try as she might, the hollow feeling she had felt in Asher’s home refused to go away, so Lila had given up trying anything at all. She stayed virtually confined to her bed, which was unusual enough that her older sister, Clare, let herself into Lila’s bedroom on Sunday night.


    “What’s wrong?”


    “Nothing,” Lila sighed.


    “You haven’t showered. Or moved. The light’s not even on. I see you’ve eaten, at least,” Clare eyed the dishes stacked on Lila’s desk before coming in to sit in Lila’s desk chair, switching on the lamp sitting on Lila’s desk. Lila winced at the sudden burst of light and waved a hand to fend it off.


    “Daniel said he offered you juice this morning when you passed him in the hall to the toilet and you said no, thank you. That’s alarming, Lila. You’re never polite to him.”


    Lila snorted but made no effort to continue the conversation. Sighing, Clare rolled the chair towards the bed.


    “Boy troubles?”


    “No. And don’t analyse me with your psychology voodoo, sis.”


    “For the hundredth time, I’m only a second year and Uni hasn’t even started back up yet. I can’t analyse shit, and even if I could, I’d need way more training to be accurate. Plus, voodoo is a sacred religious practice – don’t be facetious.”


    “Since when have you cared about being accurate?”


    “Since you came home on Saturday afternoon after visiting a boy and then refused to talk to anyone and hid away in here. Girl, that looks like depression but I know that’s probably not it.”


    Lila turned to face the wall, glad that her double bed was pressed up against it. The two sisters sat in silence for a moment before Clare sighed again.


    “Mum said you’re getting better at driving,” she said simply.


    “I haven’t hit anything yet, so I’d call that a resounding success.”


    “You’re talking like Dad again.”


    “Maybe I’m just growing up, dude,” said Lila, turning back towards the ceiling, staring at it blankly. “You’re supposed to learn more words as you get older. May as well use ‘em before I lose ‘em.”


    “It’s not like they’re a one-time use-” Lila’s phone buzzed, cutting Clare’s argument short, and Clare reached out to take a look at it.


    “Hands off,” said Lila lamely, not even bothering to reach for it but giving Clare a sideways glance all the same to monitor what she was doing with it.


    “You haven’t opened over a hundred messages from Grace and Elise!” Clare observed, her pitch rising, concern now plain in her voice. “Did you guys have a fight?”


    “No,” Lila replied sullenly. “Nothing’s wrong, sis. Maybe my period is coming.”


    “False,” Clare shook her head, putting Lila’s phone back on the desk after plugging the charger in. “You had it like two weeks ago.”


    “Maybe I was faking.”


    “Don’t take all the heat packs next time you’re faking your period then, you ass. Ours are basically at the same time.”


    Lila didn’t respond, moving her gaze to the ceiling again. The cornices began to fall out of focus, their usually straight lines hazy as she continued to lay there. The sound of Clare’s slippers brushed across to where Lila’s bedroom door was, and by the small squeak, she could tell Clare had opened the door slightly. A sweet yet savoury scent wafted through the room and Lila sniffed the air, placing it immediately.


    “Is Mum making tocino?” Lila asked, her nose continuing to twitch as she inhaled more of the smell.


    “I don’t know,” Clare replied, her voice carrying a superior, all-knowing air of ‘I definitely know, but I’m not telling you’ that always drove Lila nuts when they were kids. “Maybe you’ll need to go downstairs and find out.”


    “That’s cruel and unusual punishment,” mumbled Lila, her stomach growling in agreement. “Everyone knows that’s my favourite.”


    “We were just hoping that you’ll drift towards it like Jake from Adventure Time and those special sentient sandwiches,” Clare said loftily.


    “Only if the scent carries me there,” Lila replied glumly, still making no effort to move.


    “I can carry you there,” Clare offered. Lila gave a half-hearted ‘ha’ for Clare’s proposal.


    “Look, Lila, we just want to see you,” Clare said pleadingly, placing a hand on Lila’s side gently. “Dad especially. You know he won’t say anything, but he’s worried.”


    Lila slowly turned around to face her sister, who was looking at her with puppy-dog eyes now. “We’ll cheer you up. Promise.”


    “God, you’re pushy,” Lila replied monotonously.


    “What are eldest siblings for if not to push the younger ones?” Clare asked, putting her hands on her hips, her dark brown eyes glinting in the light of Lila’s solitary desk lamp. “Whether it be swings, down the stairs, or to cheer you up, you can guarantee I won’t have any second thoughts about pushing you.”


    Clare huffed in a satisfied sort of way, as though she had said something absurdly profound.


    “I don’t think you should be pushing me down the stairs… Actually, that might be nice, sis. Then I might end up in hospital and won’t have to finish this English assignment with Asher.”


    Quick as a flash, Clare sat down on Lila’s bed. “Is that what’s wrong? I can help you with your assignment.”


    Lila groaned, grabbing one of her cushions and putting it over her face.


    “Just suffocate me. Or leave. Either works.”


    Lila could feel Clare’s weight disappear from the edge of her bed and heard Clare’s slipper-clad footsteps softly padding away across Lila’s room. Then, the footsteps bounded heavily in Lila’s direction and as she threw the pillow off her face, she saw Clare’s crazed, hell-bent expression mere centimetres away from her own shocked face before she was body-slammed. The force winded Lila as Clare curled her hands around Lila’s shoulders, pulling her into a far too-tight embrace.


    “Geddoff me,” Lila wheezed gruffly, flailing against her sister’s determined grasp.


    “No can do,” Clare announced, wrapping her legs around Lila’s, nuzzling her cheek. “I’m going to pull you outta here with love!”


    Lila gave a small shriek, “Anything but love!”


    The two sisters melted into fits of giggles as Clare began to tickle Lila’s side, shouting “I LOVE YOU!”. Before long, Lila’s door burst open with a boom as Daniel’s voice unexpectedly thundered, “Oi! Cut it out you dunderheads! The boys can hear you guys being stupid in here.”


    Clare rolled off Lila and onto the floor with an unceremonious thud as Daniel slammed Lila’s door shut. Lila could hardly stifle another giggle as she heard him stomp his way to his room down the hall.


    “I’m guessing by ‘the boys’, he means his Fortnite crew,” Clare said, sitting up.


    “Probably. He sure loves his juice and his games,” replied Lila matter-of-factly. She looked at Clare briefly before giving a heavy sigh.


    “Alright. I’ll come down for dinner.”


    “Excellent,” Clare replied perkily, getting up from Lila’s floor and brushing down her skirt. “You should probably message Elise and Grace back.”


    “Yeah…” Lila trailed off as Clare crossed her room again and opened the door. “Thanks, Clare. You… did manage to cheer me up a bit.”


    “Well, I’d hoped for ‘a lot’, but I’ll settle for ‘a bit’,” smiled Clare as she sank into a gracious curtsey in response before leaving, gently closing the door behind her. Lila waited until she could no longer hear Clare’s footsteps before picking up her phone to scroll through the messages. Most of them were from the group chat, but a couple were direct messages. Lila’s last message to the group chat had read, ‘Home now.’. She had not even looked at anything since. Which appeared to be a big mistake.


    We''re coming over in an hour if you don’t reply, a message from Elise read.


    Maybe two, Grace had replied.


    That had been 50 minutes ago. Lila bolted from her room, jumping down the stairs two at a time, skidding to a halt in the kitchen breathlessly before her Mum.


    “What, what?” her Mum asked, clearly perplexed, brandishing a measuring cup full of rice grains.


    “Elise and Grace might be coming soon,” Lila gasped, gulping as much air as she could after the sudden rush of activity after having no activity all day. “I-I didn’t see their messages and I think they were worried.”


    Lila’s Mum stood there, opening her mouth, about to say something but instead shook her head and sighed. “Lucky I made extra,” she said as if resigning herself to her fate, throwing the cup of rice into a rice cooker bowl.


    “Thank you!” Lila quickly rubbed her nose against her Mum’s cheek affectionately, taking a deep sniff like she’d always done since she was young, before turning tail and leaping back up the stairs. Lila banged on her siblings’ doors and called out, “My friends are coming over!” before throwing the shower on as she assembled some clothes.


    After what felt like the quickest shower on record, Lila dried herself and threw her clothes on just in time for Clare to knock on the bathroom door, declaring the presence of Elise and Grace in their family home.


    “Okay!” called Lila, shoving her toothbrush roughly in her mouth, not taking much care to clean her teeth properly. Once finished in the bathroom, she clambered down the stairs to find Elise, arms folded and tapping her foot impatiently on the landing.


    “Why haven’t you been reading our messages?” she snapped.


    “Biology assignment,” Lila replied with an attempted nonchalant shrug. Evidently, this convinced no one, as Lila could hear Grace snort derisively from the left-hand side where the kitchen and dining room were located, and Elise rolled her eyes.


    “Can we talk about it later?” Lila implored, clasping her hands together as if to beg for forgiveness. Elise glanced backwards before unfolding her arms.


    “Your Mum reckons dinner will be done in a few minutes,” Elise said curtly before whipping around and stalking off towards the dining room. Lila descended the stairs and followed, finding Grace standing just outside the dining room, staring up at a picture of Jesus that was proudly nailed to the back wall.


    “I feel like I might get smote standing here,” she said ominously. Lila smirked before linking arms with Grace, pulling her into the dining room and seating her at an empty spot. Elise, Clare and Daniel were already seated. Daniel was engrossed in his Nintendo Switch and Clare was scrolling through Instagram on her phone, whereas Elise patiently sat pin-straight in her seat. Her temper had seemed to cool a bit, and Lila gave her an apprehensive smile, which Elise returned with some measure of warmth. Lila reached for the bottle of tropical juice that was sitting in the middle of the dining room table and poured some into each available glass that was set up.


    “Clare,” called Lila’s Mum from the kitchen. “Can you please help set this out?”


    “Coming,” Clare replied, immediately jumping up, leaving her phone face down on the table. Clare returned shortly, carrying a serving dish containing the tocino and side dishes of tomatoes and fried eggs. Lila’s Mum followed behind with a large bowl of garlic rice. Lila gleefully armed herself with the spoon and fork that patiently sat next to her plate.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    “Good to see some life in you,” Clare laughed, putting the plate down on the middle of the table.


    “It’s my favourite,” shrugged Lila. “I bet you could even resurrect me with this.”


    “I’ll keep it in mind when you die,” Daniel said drily, helping himself to some food.


    “Thank you for letting us crash your dinner plans, Mrs Moloney,” Grace said courteously as Lila’s Mum settled into her seat.


    “No worries at all,” Mrs Moloney beamed. “I was making extra anyway. And it seems you’ve brought my daughter back down to eat with the family. She was in such a rush to get ready, I thought she might slip and die in the shower.”


    “Mum!” Lila cried, burying her head in her hands.


    Elise and Grace glanced at each other quickly before also helping themselves to some food. As everyone became preoccupied with their dinner, the front door swung open, and a deep voice that Lila recognised as coming from her Dad called out, “I’m home!”.


    “We’re having dinner, darling,” Lila’s Mum replied loudly, picking at her teeth with her tongue briefly.


    “Perfect,” Mr Moloney replied, appearing in the dining room. “Oh,” he said once he took stock of the going-ons of the room. “We’ve got guests. And Lila is here.”


    “Course I’m here Dad,” replied Lila through a mouthful of food. “Mum made tocino.”


    “Delicious,” Mr Moloney replied, a grin spreading across his face as he pulled out the chair beside Mrs Moloney.


    “How was work today, Dad?” Clare asked, sipping her glass of juice. “It’s odd that you had to go in on a Sunday afternoon.”


    “Well, there’s some things you can only do on Sundays,” replied Mr Moloney, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Like letting yourself into an empty jewellery store.”


    “You robbed a jewellery store?” Grace asked incredulously.


    “I would love to say that I did, Grace, but as it turns out, some money and jewellery have been continuously going missing without my interference. I went in to check the footage whilst it was closed to not give away the fact there’s an investigation afoot.”


    “And why is giving away the fact that there’s an investigation bad?” Lila interjected quickly, rice spilling from her mouth in her haste. Her Dad gave Lila a puzzled glance before responding.


    “Well, the bad guys can do lots of things if they know something’s going on before we’re ready to interview them,” he said simply. “Things like deleting footage, and intimidating witnesses, among others. It’s best practice to keep everything as confidential as possible, in any case.”


    “I see,” Lila said quietly, her mind briefly drifting to Asher’s appeal for help in finding his Mum. For a moment, Lila contemplated telling her Dad what was going on but was interrupted by a visage of Asher’s misty eyes as he explained that his own Dad forbade him to speak about the matter.


    “You don’t normally ask questions about my work,” Mr Moloney said, peering suspiciously at Lila as he brought his spoon to his mouth. “Everything okay?”


    “Yes, Dad,” replied Lila, coughing slightly. “Nothing’s wrong.”


    “She told me that too, before I body slammed her,” said Clare, looking doubtfully at Lila. “But I think she’s hiding something.”


    “Same,” piped up Elise, scraping her plate with her spoon.


    “Agreed,” Grace nodded.


    “Now, now,” Mr Moloney said smoothly, holding his hands up in a ‘stop’ motion. “Lila is entitled to her privacy.”


    “Sure am, Dad,” agreed Lila, shovelling more food into her mouth. She could see Clare shooting her a sideways glance but elected to ignore this as she inhaled her glass of juice.


    Dinner otherwise proceeded without much commotion, except for a few conversations regarding Grace and Elise’s high school experiences thus far, and what Clare was studying at university. In fact, no one spoke to Lila at all, which she appreciated. Despite her entitlement to privacy, Lila couldn’t help but think that her friends and sister would still grill her about what was going on out of earshot of her parents.


    So, there was nothing else for it. She had to think of a viable excuse, rather than tell them the truth – that trying to help Asher find his Mum was weighing heavily on her heart and mind to the point that she wasn’t sure she’d ever function properly again. How desperately she wanted to believe his Mum would be found, safe and sound, or even return home of her own accord. But with each passing day, hour and minute, the likelihood of Asher’s Mum being alive dwindled, and Lila was beyond sure that Asher, intelligent as he was, was hyper-aware of this fact.


    Plus, there were those complicated, bubbling feelings that seemed to surface whenever she thought about Holly, which happened far more often than Lila had anticipated over the past couple of days. It wasn’t as though she had a crush on Asher, nor was she jealous of Holly. It couldn’t be that. There was no way. He was just a classmate, just like all the others.


    ‘Besides,’ thought Lila as she jammed her fork into a piece of meat, scraping it unpleasantly across the bottom of her porcelain plate before holding it up in her clenched fist, ‘he’s taken.’


    She bit her lip as she recalled his face as he’d recoiled from her presence the previous night. She had been replaying the moment as though she had nothing else to replay in her mind. Was she gross? What did Asher mean by respecting that he was in a relationship with Holly? She hadn’t done anything…


    “… Lila…”


    Lila’s eyes refocused on Grace’s concerned expression as she tapped Lila’s arm urgently.


    “Your tocino fell,” Grace said, glancing down at the pitiful piece of pork that was lying down sideways by her cup of juice as if it was asking for mercy.


    “S-Sorry,” mumbled Lila, her face feeling as though it could match the heat of the Australian sun. She hurriedly stuffed the piece into her mouth, trying not to imagine it actually asking for mercy, before washing it down with juice. For some reason, despite the juice, Lila’s throat felt perpetually dry as she fought to avoid everyone’s stares.


    “You’ve been so weird,” Daniel said suddenly, glaring at Lila as though she was an imposter.


    “Daniel!” admonished Clare, reaching over and tapping his wrist.


    “What?” Daniel asked, rubbing his wrist before pouring himself and Lila more juice. “She’s like… not acting normal.”


    “Thanks, Daniel,” replied Lila with a sigh, sipping her cup. Clare continued to fuss at Daniel in low, angry whispers, but truthfully, Lila didn’t mind. The fact that Daniel had noticed showed to Lila at least that he cared enough to pay enough attention.


    “All I’m saying is that her gloominess is infecting the rest of this house,” Daniel shrugged. The rest of Lila’s family shot him looks filled with anger, but Lila instead nodded in agreement, tears welling in her eyes.


    “Yeah, I guess it would,” Lila murmured before she scraped the rest of her dinner into one spoonful, threw it into her mouth, and jumped up, startling everyone at the table. Lila couldn’t take it anymore. The atmosphere laying upon the dining room patrons was rife with unanswered questions and well-placed but stifling concerns that were just disrupting Lila’s thoughts.


    “I’m done, thanks for the food, Mum!” she said, flying out of the dining room and stumbling up the stairs and into her room, snapping the door shut. She could hear vague sounds of arguing downstairs, which she thought was probably targeted towards Daniel, given he had spoken last, and dived under the covers of her bed. It wasn’t his fault, really, that she had fled, but if she stayed any longer, she knew the truth would have come tumbling out of her mouth along with a flurry of tears.


    Eventually, a soft knock sounded at her door.


    “Lila…” It was Clare’s voice again. “Is it okay if Elise and Grace come in?”


    “… Yeah,” replied Lila dully. The door swung open, and Elise and Grace entered, looking about the room in a tentative kind of way. Immediately, Elise sank into the beanbag near Lila’s modest bookshelf and Grace perched herself on the edge of Lila’s desk chair.


    “Come on, Lila,” Elise said, “you know for a fact that you’re not yourself. We need our sunshine back.”


    Grace nodded affirmatively before adding, “Your whole family is worried.”


    “Even Daniel,” confirmed Elise.


    “Especially Clare,” Grace smiled, her eyes flickering towards the door, which was slightly ajar.


    “You can come in, you know,” Lila called reluctantly. Clare slid into the room and closed the door behind her.


    “I was just going to stand out there anyway,” Clare said with a shrug, leaning against the back wall.


    “I know,” sighed Lila.


    “Lila, we’re only worried because… well, you know what happened to Uncle Adrian.”


    “I know,” said Lila softly. “I promise I’m okay, really. Nowhere near anything like that.”


    Clare simply looked at Lila as if waiting for her to explain herself.


    “I’m probably being overdramatic,” Lila began, sweat pooling in her palms, a shaky undertone in her voice. She had to be extremely careful here. “But I can’t stop thinking about Holly.”


    “Who’s Holly?” Clare asked, casting a confused look at Grace and Elise, who had both leaned back in their respective chairs in seeming understanding.


    “Holly is Asher’s girlfriend,” Elise explained. “Asher being Lila’s partner for a school project.”


    “Uh huh…” Clare trailed off.


    “She’s super hot,” Grace added.


    “Oh. Are you gay?” Clare asked, looking at Lila as though assessing her ‘gayness’.


    “I’m pretty sure I’m not,” Lila said flatly, glancing quickly at Grace, who avoided her eye pointedly.


    “So, you like Asher then?” Clare asked, raising an eyebrow.


    “No,” Lila exhaled heavily, biting her bottom lip. She hadn’t settled on an effective lie. Perhaps she should go along with it?


    “Girl, I think you should stop lying to yourself,” Elise interjected sagely. “It looks like a crush, talks like a crush and walks like a crush.”


    “You’re so down bad,” Grace agreed. “What did he do to you yesterday?”


    “It’s not like he did anything wrong,” Lila said defensively. “I just… let him borrow my notebook. And when I tried to give it to him, he jumped back and said something about respecting his relationship with Holly. And… he mentioned that she was good at debating. That’s how they met. And he looked so happy talking about her…” Lila trailed off, the hollow feeling in her stomach suddenly making itself known again with a vengeance.


    “Hold up,” Elise said, waving her hands in a ‘wait’ motion. “What did Asher need your notebook for? Isn’t he a clear winner for the Dux this year too?”


    “The year has barely started. I don’t think anyone is in the running for Dux just yet,” Grace said plainly. “I’m sure he just needed Lila’s notes for the project.”


    Elise fell silent, folding her arms in a seemingly contemplative way.


    “I think,” Clare said with a small smile, “we may be fixated on something that doesn’t really matter here.”


    Lila tried her best to not convey any emotion in relation to Clare’s statement as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a trembling hand. The information that was actually hidden in her notebook – that is, the basis of the beginning stages of an investigation into the disappearance of Asher’s Mum – was something she had to protect at all costs.


    “Y-Yeah, Grace is right,” Lila piped up with a slight cough.


    Clare scratched the side of her head. “Look, I know I’m not the authority on crushes, but what even attracted you to this guy in the first place?”


    “He’s been acting all odd this year,” Elise commented, attempting to sit up higher in the bean bag. She instead flailed about for a moment before flopping back into her previous position in defeat. “He’s just been so different to usual, like he wears his uniform a bit differently, and has just been… well, I’ve been hearing from other people that he’s all, like, jumpy and erratic. I think he’s finally caught Lila’s eye a little too late.”


    “It’s basically an open secret that Asher has had a crush on Lila for ages,” Grace chimed in.


    “He has not,” Lila said hotly, her cheeks burning.


    “The poor guy didn’t say anything for the whole two months you were dating his best friend,” Elise retorted. “And I mean that literally. I think he lost the capacity to speak at all.”


    “He probably had a cold or something,” Lila reasoned.


    “For two months?” Elise rebutted.


    “Ladies, ladies,” Clare interrupted, gently gesturing for them to stop. “Whether or not he had a crush on Lila is irrelevant for the moment. Lila, what do you want to do about it? You can’t mope forever.”


    “But I quite enjoyed it,” Lila quipped, pulling her blanket up to her neck.


    “I’m not trying to say you shouldn’t feel your feelings,” Clare said, giving Lila a hard stare. “But you should be at least productive with your feelings.”


    “Do you want us to try and break Asher and Holly up?” Elise asked gleefully, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.


    “No,” Lila said sharply. “Not at all.”


    “Do you want to make him jealous?” Grace queried, picking at her nails.


    “I… No. I’m good.”


    “Sounds to me that you want to a tiny bit,” Clare laughed.


    “Once this project is over, I’ll be fine,” Lila declared. “We won’t need to talk anymore, so whatever I’m feeling will just fade away.”


    Both Elise and Grace rolled their eyes at Lila in unison.


    “I’m being serious,” Lila said sternly. “He has a right to like Holly and have a relationship with her. I don’t have any rights or stakes to interfere with that. And I’ll just need to get over it.”


    “Whoa,” Clare said, placing a hand on her chest dramatically. “That sounded really mature for you.”


    “I try,” Lila replied drily.


    “One way to get over it is to get your own boyfriend,” Elise said in a sing-song voice, clasping her hands together dramatically.


    “Or girlfriend,” suggested Grace, idly staring at a mark on Lila’s wall.


    “I think Mum would rather you be pregnant than have a girlfriend,” Clare joked.


    “I think she’s a bit more progressive than you’d expect, for a Catholic Filipino lady,” Grace said nonchalantly.


    “Gender of my non-existent partner aside, I’m good. Truly. I’ll just focus on schoolwork,” Lila said earnestly.


    “That’s code for ‘get me a partner ASAP’,” said Elise with a firm nod.


    “You’ve never focused on schoolwork,” Grace concurred.


    “There’s no hidden meaning in my words,” Lila snapped, frustration leaking into her demeanour now. Wincing at her tone, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to reign it in.


    “I bet you wouldn’t say no if you happened to find yourself in the company of someone attractive,” Grace said loftily.


    “I’m not all about looks, either,” Lila sighed, rubbing her forehead.


    “Clearly,” scoffed Elise. “You just want to aim for the stars with the smartest person in our cohort.”


    “Are you sure you’ll be okay Lila?” Clare intervened, stepping forward slightly. “While I’m sure that you can handle a partner and schoolwork, I’m more worried for your mental health.”


    Lila waved a hand dismissively at Clare. “No worries here. It’s just been a rollercoaster of a term.”


    Clare looked as though she might argue but instead relaxed her pursed lips and simply nodded.


    “You do know you can come to me with anything, right?” Clare asked in a sombre voice.


    “Yes, sis, I know. Sorry I couldn’t come out with it before,” replied Lila, tucking her knees to her chest and hugging her legs.


    “Okay. As long as you know that. I’ll take my leave now,” Clare said cheerily, departing the room with a soft click of Lila’s bedroom door.


    “I must say,” Elise said conversationally, “your family is incredible. Intense, but incredible.”


    “I mean, if I was hiding out in my room, my Dad would just think it’s a normal Sunday,” shrugged Grace.


    “Mine would be alarmed that I wasn’t hiding away in my room,” Elise chimed in.


    “I’m never just holed up in my room unless I’m studying. Probably why I’m never in here. I prefer hanging out in the living room. We’ve… been through a lot. So, we take care of each other,” shrugged Lila. “I think it’s mostly because of Mum raising us the way she has. ‘Cause of the things she had to go through to get here.”


    “It’s really nice to see,” Grace added. “Not a lot of people have that. I feel like I’m being healed just by being here. Even though the Jesus portraits are a bit oppressive.”


    Lila stared deeply at her knees. While she couldn’t say her worries had melted away after having that discussion with her sister and friends, she definitely felt a little bit lighter.


    “Thanks for coming, guys,” Lila said softly, tracing her blanket’s patterning next to her right hip.


    “It’s the least we could do,” replied Elise gently.


    “You did worry us, for sure,” Grace said, getting up from Lila’s chair and stretching. “But I think we should take our leave.”


    “Yeah,” said Elise, glancing at her smartwatch. “Dad’s been here for about ten minutes. I’m guessing we’re taking you home, Grace?”


    “Yes ma’am,” saluted Grace.


    Lila walked Elise and Grace down the stairs and out of her house, waving at Mr Thorpe as Elise and Grace got into the car. Elise rolled down her window and thrust her head out.


    “See you at school tomorrow!” she called out as Mr Thorpe slowly rolled the car away from the Moloney family’s driveway.


    “See you, get home safe,” Lila replied, waving at the three of them before heading back inside. Once inside her room again, Lila checked her messages and saw only one. Her heart thumped violently as it seemingly sunk below her stomach.


    Please come over after school again.