Scattering Lilac Ashes

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Monday started with English, and Lila and Asher sat next to each other as usual. It felt weird to no longer need to pretend to ignore each other.

"So..." Lila said awkwardly as Ms Shard started handing out everyone's marked criteria sheets for the presentation.

"Yeah?" Asher said, looking at her with a smile.

"Did you end up looking through the stuff?"

"What st- oh. Yeah. It turned out to be... a whole lot," Asher said, shuddering. "I still can't believe I never noticed."

"I don't think anyone expects to be stalked," Lila said frankly.

"I guess not... thanks, ma'am," Asher said, collecting his and Lila's marked criteria sheets as Ms Shard passed them. Lila's eyes almost popped out of her head as she looked at hers.

"Oh my God!" she cried, elation taking over.

"What, what?" Asher asked, hurriedly looking over at her sheet.

"I got an A+!"

Asher chuckled, relaxing back in his seat. "Is that all you're excited about?"

Lila flushed but rolled up her criteria sheet into a loose tube and bopped him on the shoulder. "Hey, not everyone gets straight A+s, you know. I'm allowed to be happy!"

"I know," Asher grinned, "your excitement is just... cute."

Lila dropped her tube, which unfurled on her desk unceremoniously, her heart thumping just slightly harder than before. "Don't call me cute," she said finally.

"Sorry, sorry," Asher said, clearly biting back his smile now, raising his hands in surrender.

Ms Shard took back command of the students, who had been either cheering, lamenting, or discussing their marks. She went through the criteria sheet, indicating what the teachers had been out looking for as she went. Lila still felt giddy, gleefully eyeing her criteria sheet as Ms Shard spoke. After Ms Shard was done with explaining the criteria sheet, she opened a new PowerPoint.

"Now, as a reminder, next term we'll be reading Romeo and Juliet. We'll take the first two or three weeks to read it in class. It may be a bit complicated, but we'll get there in the end," she said, flicking through the slides as she spoke.

A collective groan resounded from the class, but Ms Shard ignored them.

"Please bring a copy of Romeo and Juliet to class on Wednesday and we'll start on the history of the play."

"Ma'am," a hand belonging to Liam Davies, one of Lila's PC classmates, shot up.

"Yes, Liam?" Ms Shard asked, peering at him over her glasses.

"What's up with these old-as books? Why can't we have anything newer?"

A few giggles erupted from Lila's classmates as Ms Shard sighed.

"Liam, we will be moving on to contemporary literature later in the year. There's no need to fret. Now, please be quiet."

"I wasn't fretting. I don't even know what fretting is. Is that a 'fret'?" Lila heard Liam mumble to the guy sitting next to him as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair defiantly.

"Are you into Shakespeare?" Lila asked Asher as Ms Shard wrapped up her explanation of the intended assessment pieces. It didn't look as though there were any group projects scheduled for next term.

"I dabble," Asher whispered back.

"Didn't know you could 'dabble' in Shakespeare," Lila smirked.

"The more you know," Asher smirked back. "My favourite is 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'."