Chapter Sixty-One


    “You’re kidding,” Lila said in disbelief. The Banker looked up at Lila and immediately stumbled back, treading on the toes of one of the bodyguards. Lila strode up towards the Banker until they were about three metres apart. Instantly, two of the bodyguards sprang to the front. Asher gave a low whistle before he smothered a laugh with his hands. Lila whirled around towards Livi.


    “You’re playing games,” Lila said, her tone far more accusatory than she’d intended. Livi lifted her hands in a surrender gesture.


    “I wasn’t expecting this reaction,” Livi said haughtily. “I can assure you I’m not playing games. That is the Banker you’ve been wanting to see, in the flesh.”


    “Explain,” Lila said coldly. Livi’s smug smile immediately dropped as she shifted the position of her body.


    “I’m… confused,” Livi admitted, furrowing her brow. “There’s nothing to explain.”


    “I wasn’t talking to you,” Lila snapped, stepping closer to the bodyguards protecting the Banker.


    “I-It’s alright, guys,” a feeble voice behind the bodyguards said. “Let me talk to my sister.”


    “Sister?” Livi’s mouth fell open. The bodyguards obediently relaxed their stance and stepped away, exposing the student behind them again. Daniel emerged, looking both mortified and scared. Lila bristled as she looked at Daniel in his entirety.


    “Daniel, you better be fucking clowning me,” Lila hissed. He avoided her eyes and instead looked towards Asher.


    “I didn’t know you were doing the drop, Asher,” Daniel said, shock wavering his voice. He then looked at Livi.


    “Why didn’t you tell me that Asher and Lila were going to be here?” he asked impatiently. Livi’s mouth was still agape, but she hurried to answer Daniel.


    “I didn’t think it was important, Boss,” Livi responded meekly.


    “That’s a mistake I’ll ask you not to repeat,” Daniel said sternly. Livi nodded and remained silent. To see Livi so subservient disturbed Lila to no end, but she couldn’t focus on that now. Lila stepped up to Daniel.


    Slap.


    Lila’s hand connected with Daniel’s face so quickly that neither of his bodyguards had time to react. The slap was so loud it caused a couple birds in the trees lining the walkway to take flight, squawking. Daniel’s hand leapt to where Lila had slapped him, and he glared at her. Under Lila’s own fierce gaze, however, his glare melted away into a shameful grimace.


    “What the fuck, Daniel,” Lila managed to spit out. It was at this moment that Asher grabbed Lila by the arm and pulled her away from Daniel.


    “Lila,” Asher whispered into her ear. “Calm down.”


    She shook off Asher’s hand and took in a deep breath. Asher opened up his bag and pulled out a tote bag.


    “Here,” Asher said, stepping around Lila and thrusting it at Daniel. Lila watched on in stunned silence. She almost wanted to snatch the bag out of Asher’s hands. This was way too much money for her little brother to be handling. Daniel’s expression hardened into an emotionless, professional one as he accepted it.


    “Livi, the notebook please,” Daniel requested, holding his other hand out. Livi complied immediately and provided him with the notebook and pen that she’d been holding. He slipped both into the tote bag before pulling out several wads of cash, bundled together in rubber bands.


    “I assume there’s ten notes per band?” Daniel asked Asher coolly.


    “Yes,” Asher replied firmly. Daniel looked into the depths of the tote bag before nodding.


    “I’ll need to confirm this back in the classroom, but you’re free to go,” Daniel said, his tone entirely businesslike. “If I have any problems with the amount you’ve given me, I will need to reconsider the progress of Isaac’s debt. Now, I’ve got some important stuff I’ve got to do far away from you both. Goodbye, Asher.”


    Daniel immediately turned on his heel and swiftly marched away, his crew in tow.


    “We’re not done!” Lila shouted, hurrying behind before Asher caught her by the sleeve of her blazer.


    “Yeah, we are,” Lila heard his dismissive reply from the middle of the crowd of Grade 12 students. “See you at dinner.”


    Lila inhaled deeply, pressing her hand to her forehead. Daniel was the Banker? How? Why? When? It’d gotten to the point that he needed to be guarded. He’d also managed to enlist the assistance of several Grade 12 students… This was certainly a big operation – and one that was being handled literally right under her nose. He was still shorter than her, after all.


    “Well, that was interesting,” Livi clicked her tongue before swaying on the spot for just a moment. Then, she clasped her hands together before adding, “I guess I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.”


    Livi, Zack and Jake immediately departed towards the direction that Daniel had fled. Neither Lila nor Asher refuted Livi’s comment. Lila had far more important matters to consider than Livi’s provocations.


    “So… it seems all the Moloney siblings are hiding something,” Asher said grimly after they were truly alone as far as the eye could see. Lila looked at him sharply.


    “It’s not funny,” she huffed.


    “I wasn’t trying to be.”


    Lila scuffed her shoes along the ground as she tried to organise the thoughts swarming in her mind.


    “He’s only thirteen,” Lila said softly, putting her head in both her hands.


    “It’s incredible, actually,” Asher replied with a chuckle. This didn’t amuse Lila, either, but a question came to her.


    “What are you going to do about this?” Lila asked, slowly raising her head.


    “Me?” Asher asked, clearly taken aback.


    “Well, you wanted to take down the operation,” Lila replied, crossing her arms. “I agree that it’s not morally right for him to be giving out loans and all that, but… I don’t even know if he knows what he’s doing. Or, at least, the consequences of it all.”


    “You should talk to him,” Asher nodded. “At the very least, you could probably find out what the ins and outs of this whole thing is. If you do, we might be able to see if it needs to be shut down then, or if he could adjust it so it’s not to this level.”


    “I don’t want him to get into trouble,” Lila said, closing her eyes tight.


    “Neither,” Asher said gently. “Kinda owe the kid.”


    Lila glanced at him, confused. “Owe him what? Did you have a debt to the Banker?”


    Asher laughed. “He gave me your number, remember?”


    “You could’ve asked me for that,” Lila replied shortly.


    “I couldn’t bring myself to,” Asher said seriously.


    “Couldn’t bring yourself to?”


    “I… got pretty nervous,” Asher responded vaguely. Lila squinted as she contemplated this. It was no use – she couldn’t figure out why he would’ve been nervous.


    “Nervous about what?” she queried impatiently. “You seemed pretty confident inviting me over to your house.”


    “It was just how I felt at the time. I was supposed to ask you for your number before class ended, but chickened out. Dunno why, really.”


    Lila gazed intently at Asher’s face. He was overtly avoiding her eyes, looking instead at the scenery around them. There was something in the way that his jaw was clenched and his eyes darted elsewhere that gave Lila the distinct impression that he had a fair idea of the ‘why’. The pounding of her heart rumbled through her ears as she considered pressing the point. Her lips trembled, the question stuck on her tongue.


    “Anyway,” Asher sighed, staring up at a slanting tree along the walkway. “I’ll need to sleep on this. I’m relieved that Isaac’s part in all this is over, but now that I know that Daniel’s the Banker, I’ll need to think about what to do next.”


    “I suddenly don’t want to go home,” Lila replied sullenly. “I can’t just ignore this – I have to deal with it. Especially since I’m not about to tell Clare. She usually knows what to do about any problem that we have, but she’d berate him first and then tell our parents. Which won’t help in the slightest. And I’ve been thinking that there’s something… off about all this. Daniel seemed terrified that I found out. The Daniel I know would’ve laughed his ass off or been proud that he had some cronies or at least acted real tough.”


    “You can always come to mine,” Asher suggested, reaching out to slap the trunk of the tree. “Gabriel would love to see you. Plus, the spare room-”


    “-is made up, I know,” Lila interjected with a smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I should definitely go home. If Daniel’s as scared as I think he is, knowing that I know what he’s been up to, it’d be cruel not to go home. So even if I don’t wanna, I have to.”


    “Alright,” Asher replied, his voice tinged with dejection. Lila shook her head. No, that wasn’t dejection… surely.


    “Anyway... I should probably go catch the bus,” Lila said awkwardly, edging towards the direction of the locker room.


    “I can take you home,” Asher suggested simply, turning to face her after patting the tree once more.


    “It’s okay,” Lila replied quickly. “You don’t have to go out of your way for me.”


    “It won’t be an issue,” Asher responded with a grin. “George loves going to new places.”


    “I guess I’ll get home before Daniel does that way,” Lila trailed off. Asher’s grin split into a dazzling beam.


    “I’ll give George a ring,” he said excitedly.


    They began walking back to the locker room as Asher called George and explained that Lila needed a ride home. He confirmed it was fine with another grin. Once they were ready to go home, Asher led them towards the awaiting taxi. He opened the passenger side door for Lila, and she jumped in, greeting George cheerily. He turned to look at Lila, his heavily-lined face pulling into a kind smile.


    “Hello again, Lila,” George greeted as Asher hopped into the front passenger seat and buckled himself in.


    “What’s your address, Lila?” Asher asked, his hand poised over the GPS in the taxi. He input what Lila told him and they took off.


    “You were a bit late today, Mr Wagner,” George said, though he didn’t seem displeased. “Everything okay?”


    “Of course,” Asher replied politely. “Sorry for the wait. We just had to ask our teacher a few things for our assessment.”


    “I see,” George noted with a nod. “I trust you’re doing well in your schoolwork, as usual.”


    Asher and George continued with their small talk as they drove through the suburbs. Eventually, they fell quiet a few streets before reaching Lila’s house. The radio blared, covering the silence. Upon turning into Lila’s street, George lowered the volume and Lila pointed out the correct house.


    “Thank you for taking me home, George. See you in PE tomorrow, Asher,” Lila said as she got out of the car.


    “My pleasure,” George replied with another polite smile.


    “See you then,” Asher said, waving enthusiastically. Lila shut the door and hurried inside her house.


    Clare was sitting at the kitchen counter, scrolling through her phone when Lila passed.


    “Lila,” Clare called, making Lila skid to a halt just past the dining room. Lila trudged back towards Clare.


    “Yeah?” Lila asked impatiently.


    “Couple things. Mum and Dad aren’t here, they decided to go on a date night, and Gabriel called me in to work. Oh, and Daniel’s upstairs. He told me to tell you that but didn’t tell me why,” Clare replied lazily, not looking up from her phone.


    “Gabriel called you in?” Lila raised an eyebrow. Clare sighed and turned her phone screen off.


    “Yeah. Not for dancing, though. Apparently, they’re short-staffed at the bar.”


    “I didn’t know you worked at the bar, too,” Lila replied, genuinely intrigued.


    “’Course I do,” Clare snorted. “I’m your multi-talented older sister, after all. But when I’m at the bar, I’m Clare.”


    “Does anyone recognise you as Roxy?” Lila smirked.


    “Not as often as you’d think,” Clare shrugged. “I dress pretty plain when I’m at the bar. ‘Roxy’ embodies everything Clare is not. At least, not in my day-to-day life.”


    “I wouldn’t go that far,” Lila grinned. “It was Clare who decided to start working as a dancer, wasn’t it?”


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    “Sure was,” Clare winked. “But, man, I already had a couple shifts lined up this week.”


    “How do you even get enough sleep to go to Uni?” Lila asked incredulously.


    “Simple. I don’t,” Clare laughed, stretching her shoulders. “It’s Uni, though, not school. So, the time commitment is far less. I’ll survive.”


    “I hope so,” Lila said gravely. “Especially if you don’t want Mum and Dad to find out.”


    Clare exhaled deeply before stretching the rest of her body. “Yeah. Definitely don’t want that to happen. Hence why I’ve been smashing Uni with only 6s and 7s.”


    “I’ll pretend to know what that is,” Lila quipped.


    “7 is the best score you can get for a subject, 6 is just less. I’d say a 7 is like an A, A+. A 6 is an A-, B+. 5 is a B to B-, then a 4 is just the whole C range.”


    “Good to know,” Lila nodded. “Going to forget that immediately.”


    “You’ll remember when you get to Uni,” Clare replied, waving a hand dismissively. She turned her phone back on. “I’m gonna order pizza for dinner. Same as usual?”


    “Yes please,” Lila smiled, giving Clare a short hug. “When’re you going?”


    “I’ll get out of here at about 7,” Clare responded, squeezing Lila’s arm as they separated. “Pizza will be here around 5.30, so I’ll have enough time to eat and go.”


    “Cool.”


    Lila began making her way upstairs, curious as to how Daniel was already home. She put her school stuff away and changed into some house clothes. She clipped up her hair and took a deep breath. She was far too deep to pretend nothing happened. Asher was right – the fact that all the Moloney kids had secrets was not lost on Lila. It also wasn’t lost on Lila that she had somehow become the secret keeper for her siblings. Plus, there was no way she could avoid this conversation with Daniel if she wanted to get some sleep tonight.


    Lila tapped her forehead, thinking hard about how to approach this. Clare staying out of everyone’s business was definitely a good thing, for the moment. It meant that she probably would go easy on the probing questions during dinner tonight. But, no matter how well-meaning Clare was, with her new approach to not being nosy, Lila couldn’t risk the chance that Clare would slip back into her old ways.


    Lila bit her thumbnail as she continued to go through today’s events in her mind. Though Lila wasn’t exactly the politest to Daniel, nor was it out of the ordinary for them to be whacking each other, she felt increasingly guilty about this afternoon’s slap. Especially since Lila herself had slapped Daniel in front of his… coworkers? Lackeys? Employees? Friends? Daniel hadn’t even said a word before she let her emotions get the best of her. It wasn’t exactly the best example of an older sister that she could give him. Clare would’ve kept her cool…


    Lila sighed as she fell back onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. If she was Clare, she would know what to say – though, of course, Clare would then immediately tell their parents, and also scold Daniel. Despite the fact that Lila had no idea what to say, she at least knew that neither of those options would be fair to Daniel. Not at the outset, anyway. He was still her baby brother… and it didn’t seem like he was exuding the confidence of a successful kingpin. She still had the unsettling feeling that there was something wrong with the whole situation, aside from the fact that a thirteen-year-old was loaning out way too much money and organising a food delivery syndicate.


    With a niggling feeling in the back of her head, Lila recalled how Daniel had acted when he gave Lila the pile of photos he’d secured, with his mischievous jokes about ‘cleaning up the streets’ and putting the photos back up so he could be suspended too. Lila was sure that if he was proud of being the Banker, he would’ve owned it this afternoon once she found out.


    Lila checked the time on her phone. It was nearing 5.30. Stretching, Lila popped her head out of her doorway and looked down the hallway. It also bothered her that Daniel had arrived home before she did. Did he get one of his Grade 12 cronies to drive him home? Why? He’d said that he needed to confirm the cash Asher gave him in ‘the classroom’. Was that a ruse?


    “Lila, Daniel!” Clare’s voice shouted from the first floor. “Pizza’s here!”


    Lila swiftly headed downstairs and into the kitchen. Clare had already dished herself some pizza and garlic bread and was metres away from her usual seat in the dining room when Lila appeared.


    “It’s just on the counter,” Clare explained, gesturing with her lips towards the kitchen.


    “Thanks, sis,” Lila smiled before serving her own dinner. Daniel, still dressed in his school uniform, entered a few moments after Lila was satisfied with her helpings. Lila glanced at him, but he was looking very intently at his plate. His hands shook as he selected a couple slices of pizza.


    “I’m gonna eat in my room,” Daniel mumbled to Lila.


    “If that’s what you want,” Lila replied lightly, taking her plate and cup of soft drink to the dining room and sitting next to Clare.


    Lila scrolled through her phone whilst she took a bite of a pizza slice when Clare suddenly spoke.


    “Uh, uh, uh,” she uttered, shaking her head. “Get your butt back here, Daniel.”


    Daniel retreated from the direction of the stairs and reluctantly sat in his usual spot.


    “Clare, it’s fine,” Lila said quietly. “Let him go to his room.”


    “But I wanna know what’s the latest,” Clare pouted. “Since Mum and Dad aren’t having dinner here. We can talk about stuff we don’t want them to know.”


    “You’d just tell them anyway,” Daniel said scornfully, taking an aggressive bite of his garlic bread. Clare looked offended.


    “Okay, look, you’ve got me there… is what I would’ve said last year. I’ll have you know, I’ve turned a new leaf,” Clare declared proudly, sharing a knowing look with Lila.


    “That’s kinda true,” Lila conceded. “Yet to be tested is Mum and Dad coming to talk to me about something I’ve told you about.”


    “Case in point!” Clare announced, raising a finger. “I didn’t tell Mum and Dad about the photo.”


    “What photo?” Lila asked, taking another bite of her pizza.


    “The photo, Lila. Of you,” Clare said pointedly, taking a sip of her glass of cola. Daniel almost choked on his pizza.


    “How do you know about that?” he asked, his face pale. Lila narrowed her eyes at him. Ordinarily, he should’ve assumed that Lila told Clare… but his reaction seemed incredibly guilty. Clare gave him a sideways look.


    “Nicked a stack of photos from your room. Confronted Lila about it. Kept my mouth shut since,” Clare replied briskly.


    “You went into my room?” Daniel’s face turned red now, his voice distinctly panicky.


    “You stole my charger, dummy,” Clare replied, rolling her eyes. “Of course I was going to go into your room.”


    Daniel fell silent as he picked at his food. Lila glanced at Clare, curiosity settling in her mind. What did Clare know about Daniel after going into his room on her own?


    “Anyway,” Clare said, flipping her hair to the side as she broke apart her piece of garlic bread. “What’ve you two been up to? How’s school?”


    Lila didn’t dare look at Daniel as she replied carefully, “School’s fine. Exams are coming up and things are starting to be due. Otherwise, our team won the hockey match on Saturday.”


    “Nice,” Clare nodded with a grin. “’Course you smashed ‘em.” Clare then turned to look at Daniel expectantly.


    “Nothing to report,” Daniel said glumly.


    “What about dating lives?” Clare asked in a hushed voice. “Surely there’s something happening there.”


    “Definitely not,” Daniel sighed. “Don’t have time.”


    “You’re working that hard at school?” Clare looked surprised.


    “Sure am,” Daniel replied simply, his eyes flickering to Lila for a split second, before staring down at his plate.


    “Well, what about you, Lila?” Clare turned to Lila, her eyes sparkling with interest. “Any progress with Asher?”


    Lila immediately spat out some of her pizza as she spluttered to answer Clare’s question, her face as red as the tomato sauce under her toppings. She instantly grasped her cup of soft drink and drank deeply.


    “I’d say they’re going well,” Daniel said, perking up slightly. Lila immediately slammed down her cup.


    “There’s nothing going on, well or otherwise,” she half-shouted, her face still red.


    “Oh,” Daniel replied simply. “I thought you guys were dating.”


    “We are not,” Lila’s voice continued to rise in pitch as she became more flustered.


    “Sorry,” Daniel said defensively. “You just looked really close this afterno-”


    Daniel instantly cut himself off, reached for his own cup and took a swig.


    “This afternoon?” Clare asked, looking between Daniel and Lila. “Were you guys hanging out or something? If so, that’s a bit odd.”


    Lila’s eyes met Daniel’s. He was still preoccupied with his drink.


    “You could say that we were hanging out, in a manner of speaking,” Lila replied vaguely. Clare looked at her suspiciously before shrugging.


    “Righto.”


    “What about you, Clare?” Daniel asked, wiping his mouth and putting his drink down.


    “Oh, same as usual. Going to Uni. Going out with friends. Crashing at home,” Clare replied, her tone clipped. The two sisters’ eyes briefly connected, and they both looked away just as quickly.


    “I’m done,” Lila announced, getting up from the table before the rising tension in the dining room’s atmosphere could suffocate her. She picked up her empty plate, swigged the last of her soft drink and put both the cup and plate in the dishwasher in the kitchen. When she passed the dining room, both Clare and Daniel were getting up.


    “I think I’ll head off earlier,” Clare whispered to Lila as they crossed paths. They watched Daniel pass them both and go into the kitchen. “Something’s weird about Daniel’s energy tonight, but I don’t think he’ll talk to me. He might just yell at me again. So, I’ll leave that with you, as his other big sister.”


    “Okay,” Lila nodded. She wasn’t about to tell Clare that she knew exactly why Daniel was being weird, though she did appreciate that Clare was perceptive enough to pick up on Daniel’s behaviour. “Thanks for not digging too hard,” Lila added.


    “I’m screaming internally, don’t worry,” Clare smirked. “If my hair wasn’t an asset, I’d be tearing it out. But, like I said, your guys’ business is your business, just like how I have my own things I want to keep private.”


    It seemed that Daniel had already deposited his plates in the kitchen and gone upstairs by the time Clare and Lila finished their conversation. Clare gave Lila a reassuring nod before bustling into the kitchen.


    Lila decided to wait until Clare left before trying to talk to Daniel. Eventually, Lila heard Clare call out that she was leaving before the garage door slammed shut. It was now or never. A small pit formed in Lila’s stomach, which grew with every ambling step she took to Daniel’s room. She took a deep breath and counted to ten to calm herself once she reached his closed door.


    “Daniel?” Lila called, knocking on his bedroom door. She heard violent rustling before Daniel responded, indicating Lila could come in.


    She sidled in awkwardly, shutting the door behind her. In the short time that it had been since dinner, his hair looked wild, and he was half dressed in pyjamas, half still in his school uniform. His expression looked reminiscent of a particularly watery-eyed chihuahua.


    “Hey,” Lila said softly after a moment of staring at each other. Daniel’s eyes flickered down to the desk he was sitting at. He pointed at the tote bag lying behind him on the bed.


    “It’s all there. You can tell Isaac the debt’s cleared.”


    “Thanks,” Lila replied affirmatively. Daniel looked at her anticipatingly. Lila rubbed her eyes for a second or two before she crossed Daniel’s room and sat on his bed. He spun around in his desk chair so that he remained facing her.


    “You cleaned up in here,” Lila said simply. It was the same level of cleanliness as it had been when Lila forced her way in with Clare, but she wasn’t about to admit that she’d already seen it in this state.


    “You came in here to judge my décor?”


    “Of course not,” Lila scoffed. “I… was curious. About a few things.”


    Daniel’s shoulders slumped as he nodded in response. Lila picked at her nails, trying to pluck the most innocuous approach to this conversation from her head.


    “How did you get home before me?”


    He stared blankly at Lila. “Huh?”


    “W-Well, I… took a taxi home,” Lila explained, shifting uncomfortably. “And you said you were going to look at stuff in a classroom.”


    “Oh,” Daniel uttered, his perplexed expression turning into one of indifference. “Zack took me home.”


    “Zack did? I didn’t know he could drive.”


    Daniel smirked at Lila, his usual personality peeking through. “He was pretty stunned to know that we’re related.”


    Lila stared at Daniel, wondering briefly if he was privy to Livi’s likely false insinuations that Zack liked Lila. He looked sullen again now as he looked at the wall behind Lila and fumbled with the armrests on his chair. Lila sighed heavily before speaking. “Sorry for slapping you.”


    “It’s fine,” Daniel mumbled, glancing down at his fidgeting hands. “I get it.”


    “I shouldn’t have lost my cool.”


    “I would’ve preferred that. But it is what it is.”


    Lila looked up at the corkboard above Daniel’s desk. Some of the pictures had been shuffled, with new ones added. Isaac was still there, with the number ‘10’ marked on his photo. Knowing that Daniel was the Banker, it was pretty clear that this corkboard was the culmination of people who owed the Banker money. Now looking at it further, Lila supposed that the marked numbers probably represented to what degree the individual owed money, or an ID number. Not that she cared enough to ask what the numbers meant at this point.


    “You sure you can sleep at night, with all those people looking at you?” Lila tried her hand at a joke as she gestured to the corkboard. Daniel half-smirked in response to her efforts.


    “Not at all,” he replied, his voice strangely hoarse.


    “Daniel, how did this even happen?” Lila finally asked, giving Daniel a piercing look. His lips trembled.


    “I didn’t mean for it to get like this,” he said quietly. He got up and crossed the room to his collection of juice cartons. He pulled the top, which had been crudely cut to create a makeshift lid, off one and passed it to Lila, who took it curiously. It was filled with cash, top to bottom. She stared at him with wide eyes, quickly trying to count the amount of juice cartons that he had along the wall. She got to twenty before she gave up.


    “Is that why you drink so much juice?” Lila whispered. Daniel snorted.


    “I genuinely like juice,” he replied, before eyeing his collection again. “Though, it is part of the reason. I just don’t know where else to put it all.”


    Then, to Lila’s surprise, Daniel began to cry, though it wasn’t accompanied by any loud sobs. She quickly got up and pulled him into a hug, which he didn’t resist. Though he normally refused any kind of affection from his sisters since becoming a teenager, Lila could tell he needed this. He seemed much younger than thirteen as he gripped Lila’s shirt tightly, refusing to let go.


    “Daniel,” Lila said softly after a few minutes, caressing the top of his head. “Have you talked to anyone about this?”


    Daniel sniffled as he shook his head ‘no’. His crying had slowed down enough to where he could look at Lila now. Every now and then, he’d have a massive, shuddering breath, but he seemed much calmer otherwise.


    “If it’s affecting you this badly, why don’t you stop?” Lila asked kindly, directing him to sit next to her on the bed.


    “I’ve tried,” Daniel croaked. He wiped at his face in frustration. “I’ve tried everything to stop this, but nothing’s worked. I’ve got too many investors. Even some of the teachers are investors. And, now that I went into Uber Eats, it got even harder to leave. Too many people use the Banker. Believe me, I want to stop. I’m always in debt to someone.”


    “Whoa,” Lila said, putting a hand on Daniel’s arm to stop him from saying anything more. “Back up. Investors? You’re in debt? What’s that all about?”


    “It started with me borrowing money from one of my crazy-rich friends. He’s never asked me for interest, or given me a deadline, so when another friend asked me for money, I got a great idea. Well, great at the time. I gave them a couple weeks to give me back the money, plus a little bit of interest. I gave my friend his money back, and I kept the interest.”


    Lila held back her tongue as she waited patiently for Daniel to continue. He stared blankly at his hands before continuing.


    “It’s spiralled out of control,” he whispered. “I’m continuously running in a cycle of needing to pay creditors and investors, and running to get loans out. That 3k from Isaac… well, Asher. Whoever. That really saved me, for now. But even though all these juice cartons are full of cash, the money gets rotated in and out so quickly that it’s like they’re not even here to begin with. And to think, this all really started ‘cause I wanted some money to impress a girl.”


    “A girl?” Lila straightened up. She hadn’t heard Daniel mention any girls in his life. She genuinely thought he didn’t have any interest for now, given Clare had asked earlier. Lila was definitely intrigued.


    “Yeah,” Daniel grimaced, tugging at his hair.


    “Who?”


    Daniel shot her a nervous look. “Livi.”


    “A Grade 12 student?” Lila was gobsmacked.


    “I know I’m stupid,” Daniel groaned, facepalming. “Please don’t tell me that I am.”


    “I wasn’t about to,” Lila replied, though this was only a half-truth. She had definitely contemplated telling him he was stupid until he asked her not to.


    His voice took on a desperate note. “Sis, I’m doing accounting, all day, every day, trying to balance these books. I don’t know how to do accounting. I’ve even got employees that I need to pay. I had to quit touch footy. I didn’t even attempt to sign up for soccer this term. Every day I’m just sitting in an empty classroom running calculations and crosschecking and just… I’m drowning.”


    “Sounds like it,” Lila sighed heavily, glancing at the juice cartons again. “You know, Mum would definitely be able to help but I don’t think we should tell her.”


    “I know,” Daniel said timidly, throwing his face in his hands again. He started crying silently, and Lila rubbed his back.


    “Let it out,” Lila said gently. “You’ve held it in for too long.”


    As though Lila’s permission unblocked what was holding Daniel back, he began sobbing openly, his volume unrestrained both in sound and tears. Lila patiently sat with him, her heart breaking in her chest even further with each passing minute. Eventually, he quietened down and flopped backwards onto his bed, an arm over his eyes.


    “I don’t know what to do, sis. I’m scared,” he admitted. Lila nodded, though Daniel couldn’t see her.


    “Well… I reckon I know someone who could help,” Lila said slowly. Daniel removed his arm from his face.


    “Who?”


    “Asher,” Lila replied simply. “He’s the Dux of my grade, after all. Smartest person I know. And… I reckon he’d want to help you.”


    Daniel didn’t say anything for a few moments before inhaling – seemingly to his full lung capacity.


    “Okay,” he eventually said. “These are all my books for the past… however long,” he pointed at the stack of notebooks neatly piled on his desk. The pile had seemed to have grown significantly since Lila dug around his room for the cinema gift card. “I think he’ll need to see them. But I don’t want to bring them to school, in case they get lost.”


    “Alright,” Lila responded firmly. “We have practice for sports tomorrow arvo, but maybe he could come over on Wednesday. I’ll just have to check with Mum, of course. Maybe… we’ll say he’s tutoring you.”


    “I guess that won’t be a lie,” Daniel gave Lila a half-smile. “Thanks sis. For being here. And for trying to help me.”


    “Ew,” Lila wrinkled her nose in jest. “Affection from you? I’ll burst into flames.”


    He laughed weakly. Lila counted it as a win in terms of bringing some life back to him. Hopefully knowing that Asher would be coming to help this week would lift Daniel’s spirits. She asked if Daniel wanted to talk about anything else for now and he shook his head. Lila bid him goodnight, reminding him that she was just across the hall, before leaving, gently closing his door behind her.