Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Ladies, I hope you had a good break from hockey,” Ms Wright declared, bright and early on Saturday morning on the Jacobsen Oval, the second-largest grass field on campus known affectionately as ‘Jacoval’. Lila couldn’t stop herself from yawning and she still had some traces of mascara from semi. Lila rested some of her weight on her hockey stick as she blearily looked at Ms Wright. Most of her teammates seemed to be feeling tired as well, as they expressed the occasional yawn and grumbling about being up so early. Ms Wright, by contrast, had a small, self-satisfied smile on her face as she looked at the hockey team before her with bright, energetic eyes.
Looking to the left, Lila saw the Under 18s male soccer team already jumping into warm-ups. The soccer and hockey teams usually shared the field at this time, with the Under 14s male soccer and female hockey teams sharing the other two quadrants. Lila hadn’t really had cause to pay much attention to the Under 18s soccer boys last year. But one scruffy-haired guy and his carefree friend caught her eye today as they reluctantly ran laps around their quadrant of Jacoval.
“Asherrr,” she heard Isaac yelling breathlessly. “Wait uppp!”
Lila chuckled before receiving a gentle nudge from Charlotte Jones, their team’s usual right-wing player. “Lila, stop staring at them,” she said playfully. “Ms Wright will rip into you if you’re not paying attention.”
“Sorry,” Lila whispered back, straightening up. Ms Wright started going through today’s warm-ups before releasing them to do so. Most of the Grade 11s in the team couldn’t shut up about semi to their teammates, which included Grade 10s and 12s. Lila was more than happy to listen to the gossip that some of her cohort had embroiled themselves into yesterday evening, including a story where Harrison had gotten absolutely decked by Charlotte after he dared to dance far too close to her without asking. Lila glanced back over at the Under 18s soccer team and saw that Harrison seemed to be in a sour mood as he despondently completed cone drills. ‘Serves him right,’ Lila thought with a wry smile, though she was disappointed that he hadn’t learnt his lesson after she’d rejected his advances last term.
Her muscles felt stiff, but Lila was sure that with enough sustained practice, she would get back into the swing of things. They spent that morning running through basic drills. Everyone on the team had already played for at least one year by now, so they didn’t require much instruction from Ms Wright.
As practice was wrapping up for the day, Ms Wright assigned each team member their place for their first match against Sandy Lakes High School in June. To Lila’s delight, she was given the same midfielder position that she had played most of the time last year.
They were dismissed around the same time as the Under 18s soccer team. Some of the boys came over to chat with the girls, but most seemed to be leaving in a hurry. Lila was about to leave when a voice called out to her. She turned and saw Asher jogging towards her. Now that he was wearing gym shorts and knee-high socks that covered his shin pads, she could see how toned his thighs were.
“Mornin’,” he breathed out once he reached her, hands on his knees. Lila smiled and returned the greeting. He tossed his sweaty hair out of his eyes as he looked up at Lila.
“Tuesday,” he said, sucking in a shallow breath.
“Yeah?” Lila asked, “What about it?”
“ANZAC Day?”
“Oh,” Lila said softly. “Yeah. Do you think she’ll be working at the café that morning?”
Asher straightened up, bracing his right side. “Yeah,” he said confidently. “I asked if she’d want to have breakfast with us and she said she had plans.”
“Well, she could have normal ANZAC Day plans,” Lila said thoughtfully.
“See you next week, Lila!” called Charlotte, waving at Lila as she passed with some of their teammates. Asher quickly stepped away from Lila, nodding wordlessly at his soccer counterparts as they also passed the two of them. After most of the stragglers departed, Lila and Asher slowly made their way off the field as well, meandering towards the carpark.
“She could have,” Asher conceded quietly. “But we could follow her and find out.”
Asher seemed to be waiting eagerly for a response from Lila, his eyes twinkling and hands on his hips. Lila looked down at her shoes briefly. Her mind flashed back to last night when she had danced with Asher – though she couldn’t think why it came to her now.
“Sounds good,” she said quietly. “I’ll come by early again.”
Asher’s face split into a wide smile.
“See you then!” he called, suddenly setting off at a sprint towards the carpark. Lila chuckled and shook her head. With reactions like the ones Asher gave her after she confirmed plans with him, Lila wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to say no.
<hr>
Monday started with English again. It was another reading class, though Ms Shard didn’t select either Lila or Asher to read this time. Lila didn’t mind this, as it meant Asher had more time to talk about the content of Romeo and Juliet with her. At the end of English, Asher slipped Lila ‘Monarchy of the Moon’ into her unsuspecting hands.
“Thanks again for letting me read it,” he said with a cheesy grin as they proceeded to walk towards the STEM area of campus, given that Lila had Maths and Asher had Chemistry. “I still can’t get over how cool the final battle was over shadow and light.”
Lila couldn’t agree more, so they delved into a discussion about the intricacies of the battle, and the potential future outcomes for the world of the trilogy. It seemed that neither had realised they reached the STEM area of the campus until Isaac walked past them as they were deep in conversation.
“Yo,” Isaac said, smirking as he placed a hand on Asher’s shoulder, making him jump almost a foot in the air. “You guys seem to be talking about something important.”
Asher turned to Isaac, his eyes lit up. “Isaac, have you read the ‘Secret Empyrean Kingdom’ series?”
Isaac looked at Asher blankly. “Uh, no?”
Asher desperately turned to Lila. “Lila, you gotta let him borrow the first book!”
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Lila looked startled. “I-I guess I could.”
“You’ll love it!” Asher said energetically, looking between Isaac and Lila. He then pulled out his phone, checking the time. “Dude, we’re gonna be late! See you later, Lila!”
Asher and Isaac hurried off, with Asher turning around briefly to give Lila a wave. Lila shook her head, smiling to herself as she, too, headed to class.
<hr>
Cecelia didn’t join Lila, Elise, and Grace for morning tea that day. Lila, Elise, and Grace spent morning tea discussing semi, cackling about the Nutbush, and sharing pics of their photobooth shenanigans.
PC was another free lesson, with Ms Wang supposing that no one would be able to concentrate on anything else for the week, anyway. Once Ms Wang turned her attention to her laptop, the class descended into fervent discussions, with students showing each other photos on their phones. Lila heard some discussions of a couple of afterparties but wasn’t too interested in the nonsense of parties she didn’t attend.
As Lila looked towards Grace and Elise, who were giggling about how the group dances went, she remembered what Elise had mentioned just before semi started.
“Hey, Elise,” Lila said slowly, stopping her laughter instantly.
“Yeah?” Elise asked, cocking her head to the side.
“You said that you had something to tell me? About Lucas, I think? Just before semi.”
“Huh?” Elise looked at Lila before realisation struck. She brought her right fist to her palm. “Right!”
Elise leaned in, beckoning for Grace and Lila to do the same.
“When I was taking photos with Lucas at my parents’, I asked him why he asked me to semi,” Elise said, a grin slowly creeping on her face.
“And?” Grace asked, her full attention on Elise.
“I got him to admit that he, like, is head over heels for Cecelia!” she said ardently. “I told him he needed to talk to her but I dunno if he did.”
“Oh, he sure did,” Lila said, her own eyes gleaming. “Don’t tell anyone else, but Cecelia and I stepped out while you guys were doing the partner dances. Lucas found us and he was actually really genuine with her. He said he didn’t wanna lose her and that she was too important to him. And she admitted that she’d been scared too and that he’s important to her. And basically, he broke her heart.”
Grace and Elise let out a shriek as Lila finished.
“Ladies,” Ms Wang said sharply from the teacher’s desk. “I’ve got some pre-prepared maths questions that would thrill you into silence.”
“Sorry ma’am,” Lila, Grace, and Elise said in unison.
“How romantic!” Grace said, clasping her hands together.
“Well, it was a bit less romantic with me standing behind them, but I managed to escape with my eyes intact. I don’t know if they’re dating, but I have Bio with them last today.”
“You have to ask them,” Elise said, grinning. “It’s compulsory.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Lila grinned back. “I’ll get the tea, don’t worry.”
<hr>
Cecelia still didn’t join Lila, Grace, and Elise for lunch that afternoon, and Lila could hardly sit still in Design due to her anticipation for Bio. As soon as Mr Dillon dismissed them, Lila sped out of there, quick as a flash.
She managed to sit down at her usual Bio table before either Cecelia or Lucas arrived. Lila could hardly contain her excitement, which travelled through her jittery legs, creating a rhythmic tapping sound. Eventually, Cecelia and Lucas arrived, their faces equally red and beaming like the Cheshire cat.
“Heyyy,” Lila said, drawing out the last vowel, a similar grin on her own face. “What’s up, you guys?”
Cecelia and Lucas exchanged a glance before sitting down in their usual places. Lila couldn’t help but notice that they seemed to be close enough to be touching slightly. Lila didn’t think it was possible that she could widen her grin anymore, but somehow she managed it.
“I take it you guys worked it out?” she said, resting her head in her hand.
“I guess you could say that,” Lucas replied with a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. Cecelia shot him a quick look before leaning in towards Lila, placing her hands on the table.
“We’re official,” she whispered, her blush deepening even further. Lila squealed, grabbing a hold of Cecelia’s hands.
“I’m so happy for you guys!” Lila cried, looking between the both of them. “You guys are so cute together. It was bound to happen.”
“Well, I was thinking it was never going to happen,” Cecelia said quietly, looking at Lucas again, who seemed bashful as he ran his fingers through his hair.
Mr Johnson suddenly appeared next to Lila, a stern look on his face.
“My, you all seem very joyful,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Let me fix that.”
He passed around worksheets to them before making his way around the classroom. Lila glanced at Cecelia and Lucas, who still looked incredibly giddy, despite Mr Johnson’s admonishment.
The trio worked through the worksheet, with Cecelia and Lucas returning to their normal banter, their smiles easy-going. Lila couldn’t help but watch how their minor interactions had changed with great interest. They seemed more tender with each other, and there was a depth to their eyes when they looked at each other that Lila couldn’t hope to traverse.
“A-Anyway,” Cecelia said towards the end of the lesson, once the noise level had begun to slowly increase as students finished up the worksheet. “Have you given thought to how you’ll handle the Asher situation?”
Lila looked up at Lucas, who seemed clueless as he turned to look at Cecelia.
“What Asher situation? Don’t tell me there’s another Asher situation. I don’t think I can handle another one,” he said, whipping his head back and forth between Lila and Cecelia.
“Nothing like that,” Cecelia said, shaking her head. She looked over at Lila. “Can I tell him?”
“I… would rather you didn’t here,” Lila said eventually. She didn’t mind if Lucas knew, really, but she didn’t want to hear an overview of what she’d told Cecelia.
“I don’t need to know,” Lucas said hurriedly. “If it would make you uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, nah, it’s all good. It’s just… I don’t want to hear it,” Lila looked up at the ceiling as she said this. She saw Cecelia and Lucas exchange a look in her peripheral vision.
“Okay,” Lucas eventually said. “So… do you have a plan for whatever it is that I don’t know about but will in about an hour?”
Cecelia snorted, but otherwise didn’t say anything. Lila sighed, looking back at them.
“I’m leaning towards just… letting go,” she said, though her voice cracked at the word ‘letting’.
“We can set you up with someone,” Cecelia said immediately, leaning in again, her eyes sparkling. “It wouldn’t even be hard.”
“I don’t think I’d be into that,” Lila said with a forlorn smile. “But thanks for the offer. I might take you up on it at some point… just… not now.”
Cecelia nodded, leaning back in her chair. Lila began packing away her materials, before stopping and looking at Cecelia and Lucas.
“Do you guys have any plans for ANZAC Day?” she asked.
“Oh,” Cecelia said, her tone surprised. “I honestly forgot about that. That’s tomorrow, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Lila said.
“You can come over, i-if you want,” Lucas stammered, blinking rapidly at Cecelia. Cecelia smiled at him, leaning into him briefly before returning to her original position.
“Sounds good,” Cecelia responded. Lucas’ face broke into another wide grin, and Lila felt giddy for them. After Cecelia’s devastation over the past couple of weeks, it felt almost like Lila herself was living in a dream.
“What about you?” Cecelia asked, turning to look at Lila again.
“Ah. Well, nothing much,” Lila lied. After she’d just said she was going to try and let go of… whatever the hell she was feeling, she wasn’t about to tell Cecelia and Lucas that she was going to hang out with Asher tomorrow.
“Sometimes a break doing nothing at all is good,” Lucas said wisely.
“Sure is,” Lila replied breezily. Mr Johnson dismissed the class and Lila waved goodbye to Cecelia and Lucas as she left. They seemed to be lingering, but Lila wasn’t interested in being a third-wheel at the moment.
Once Lila got home and settled in the living room next to her parents, she asked her Dad whether he could take her to Asher’s tomorrow morning at the same time he normally dropped her off. Her Dad narrowed his eyes at her.
“You know it’s a public holiday, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s… kinda why I’m going.”
Her Dad heaved a long-suffering sigh before shrugging. “Alright. I doubt I’d be able to sleep in, anyway.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Lila replied with a smile. They fell into silence as they watched Air Crash Investigations.
“I do want you to consider whether all this visiting business is excessive, though,” her Dad eventually said quietly. Lila pretended not to hear him. Having said that, her stomach twisted itself into knots. ‘I’m going to investigate Marlene,’ Lila thought to herself firmly, turning her attention back to the TV show. ‘I’m not just going to hang out.’