Scattering Lilac Ashes

Chapter Fifty-Four

As Japanese was ending on Friday, Lila's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw it was a text from Asher.

Food's on its way, it read. He then sent a second text. Let's meet up at the locker room

Okay, see you soon, Lila replied.

"Just before you all go," Ms Takahashi called over the sounds of the class packing up. "Next week our exchange students from Shizuoka will be arriving. They'll be here for two weeks, so please make sure you get along with them."

Excited chatter filled the air as students began to leave. Lila briefly wondered what the exchange students would be like but put the thought out of her mind. She needed to go find Asher.

To her surprise, he rounded the corner of the Language Block that she just exited. He beamed at her and waved off an Asian student he was walking with that Lila didn't know very well.

"Hey," he said cheerily once Lila reached him. "Let's go."

"Who was that?" she asked conversationally as they began walking.

"That was just Gavin," Asher said simply. "He does Mandarin with me. He's from Shanghai, so he takes it super easy in Mandarin."

"Oh," Lila said, slightly surprised. "I didn't know you took Mandarin."

Asher flashed her a grin. "Full of surprises, I am."

"And a great Yoda impressionist, it seems," Lila joked. He chortled before his phone chimed. He pulled it out of his pocket.

"Looks like our food is here," he said, putting his phone back. "Do you want to go there now, or still head over to the locker room?"

"I'm not carrying much," Lila shrugged. "Let's just go there straight away."

They changed their route and Lila filled Asher in on the presence of Japanese exchange students. Asher lamented at the fact that the Mandarin class never had exchange students visit. As they walked and talked, the chill pressed in on Lila firmly, causing her to hide behind her scarf again.

They quickly came upon the same Science lab that they had visited yesterday, which was now surrounded by students. Asher exchanged a glance with Lila.

"If it wasn't suspicious before, we're literally at the cusp of being caught," he whispered. Lila couldn't help but agree. There had to be about a whole classroom's worth of students milling around out here.

"Helps if the teachers are in on it, though," Lila whispered back. Asher sighed and began to carve a path through the crowd. Lila traversed the clearing Asher left in his wake, trying to see if there were any students that she recognised. Most of the students seemed to be Grade 12s, though there were a few Grade 11s and Grade 10s that she peripherally knew dotted here and there. Everyone seemed to be in their own worlds and paid them no mind, which relieved Lila. Though... after last term, the almost complete absence of rumours about her was somewhat unsettling. She had faded into obscurity so quickly that Lila was confident that the rumours had purely been fuelled by Piper.

"What're you standing out there for?" Asher asked suddenly, turning around to look at her. He'd taken a couple steps inside the lab and Lila had remained outside, staring blankly. She hurried inside.

"Welcome, welcome," Livi's voice called to them. Lila surveyed the lab – it seemed to just be Livi, Vi, Jake and Zack in here, despite the horde outside. Perhaps the students out there waited until the runners came by with food. Livi was in her usual spot, though today she had an emerald bow clipped in the side of her hair, exposing a small silver sleeper in her bottom-most ear piercing. It looked as though she had four or five running up her ear, but most were empty – most likely owing to their school's strict piercing policy.