Scattering Lilac Ashes

Chapter Forty-Two

Lila's hopes that Asher would be practising soccer with the Under 18s the next morning were dashed when she stepped onto Jacoval, bright and early. Isaac jogged over to her before she reached Ms Wright, looking anxious.

"He still hasn't been responding to my texts," Isaac huffed, bracing his left side. "He's usually the first one warming up, but he's not here."

Lila's heart slowly sank towards her stomach as she registered what Isaac had said.

"M-Maybe he's coming later?" Lila suggested, trying to give Isaac a hopeful smile. Isaac kicked the top of his right shoe into the field for a couple seconds before shrugging listlessly.

"Doubt it," he sighed.

"Fisher, get back here," growled Mr Kovac, menacingly stomping over to Isaac and Lila. "Stop flirting."

Isaac gave Lila a sheepish grin before sprinting back over to his quadrant of the oval.

Lila tried to concentrate on the exercises that Ms Wright was giving her that morning, but it was admittedly hard to focus. She looked over at the boys' side of the oval every few minutes. Asher never showed.

Ms Wright occasionally came by to talk Lila through specific manoeuvres and tactics. It seemed to Lila, though, that Ms Wright was actually checking in on Lila, but she didn't say anything of the sort. Lila tried her best to play off her worries by participating in the hockey drills, but she couldn't feign her usual level of enthusiasm that she had when training.

As practice was wrapping up, Lila had made up her mind. The facts remained that Asher had missed two days of classes, soccer practice and was ignoring Isaac. She was going to go over to Asher's house and see him.

Lila caught Isaac on his way off Jacoval, pulling him to the side before he could step off the field.

"What's up?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow, wiping sweat off his brow.

"I... well, hypothetically, right," Lila began, avoiding his gaze, "if, for example, I went over to Asher's place... um, but I wanted to bring snacks... What would his favourite snacks be?"

Isaac's jaw went slack for a moment as he looked at Lila before his face broke into a grin.

"Well, hypothetically, I would say that you can't go wrong with Double Coat TimTams. Or Kingstons," Isaac said, tapping a finger to his chin. "Or Snakes. But, this is all hypothetical, of course."

Isaac winked at Lila before starting to head off to the carpark.

"Thanks, Isaac," Lila said to his retreating back. He raised a hand in the air, indicating that he'd heard her, and didn't look back. Lila hurried to the changing room by the oval and picked up her phone. Looking at her text log with Asher, Lila could see that he still hadn't responded to her message about Piper's expulsion. Taking an expansive breath, Lila sent a message to Asher.

Are you okay?

Asher didn't seem to open it straight away. Sighing, Lila put her phone in her sports bag and speed-walked to the carpark. Clare was waiting in the short-term parking bay, blasting EDM songs as usual. Clare grinned at Lila as Lila threw her things into the back seat.

"Welcome," Clare said loftily, turning down the music. "Ready to go home?"

"Actually..." Lila buckled herself in tentatively. "Can we stop by Woolies or something first?"

"Sure. Why though?" Clare asked conversationally, pulling away from the carpark. Lila bit her bottom lip as she contemplated what to say to Clare. Though Clare had backed off since their last discussion about Asher, Lila was fairly confident that she would still not be pleased that Lila was planning to go over again. At the same time, though, Lila's parents were out all day today so Clare was her only ride...