Scattering Lilac Ashes

Chapter One Hundred and Forty

It turned out that, even with the thinness of her sleeping mat and the chill passing through her pyjamas, Lila had managed to fall asleep quite easily. Perhaps it was the exhaustion, both mental and physical, that had clocked her out as soon as she pulled her sleeping bag over herself last night, the twigs and rocks underneath her not bothering her as much as she'd thought they would.

Upon opening her eyes the next morning, she could tell it was far too early to get up. From the small window at the top of the tent, Lila saw that only the earliest sunrays had just begun to peek through. It was also far too quiet and still outside to suggest that many, if any, other girls had started stirring.

Despite the fact that her phone was currently an expensive lemon since there was no signal, Lila had taken the time last night to put it on charge via her battery pack. With a yawn, she checked the time – 6.05am. Breakfast wouldn't be for at least another hour to hour and a half.

The heck was she supposed to do now? There still wasn't any signal on her phone and it wasn't bright enough to read just yet. She did have some offline games, but she wanted to conserve at least some battery since it was only day two of camp.

With a sigh, she put her phone back, leaving it unplugged for now. So... would the next half an hour be spent wallowing in silence until Elise or Grace woke up since showering was so unappealing right now?

She couldn't put off talking to Grace any longer. Every time she eyed the glimmering bracelet around Grace's wrist, which she knew Ms Alexander had bought for Grace, her stomach would turn and she'd fall silent. The subsequent relief that she kept feeling when Grace wasn't around ultimately didn't make Lila feel good at all.

But what would the best way to approach this be? Sure, they were on camp now, and there was no way for Grace to contact Ms Alexander, and limited opportunities for her to run from Lila and Asher, but... would talking to her in the morning be best? Or the afternoon? After dinner?

Lila pressed her palms into her eyelids, trying to think. She didn't want there to be any opportunity for anyone else to listen in – not even Elise and Isaac. She didn't want to have the conversation without Asher, either, so trying to talk in the tent was a no-go, too. Though there were plenty of secluded spots, she was also well aware of the special attention that Ms Wang and Mr Vanderbilt had been paying to her and Asher after yesterday's warning. While she thought that Ms Wang and Mr Vanderbilt would doubt that anything would be happening with Grace involved, there wasn't any guarantee that they wouldn't lurk to make sure.

It was starting to look like this would be an opportunistic conversation. Not ideal, but there was no other way around it. They'd have to find a spot and just... go for it. How would the conversation even start? She'd been too anxious to plan it out, especially with the morphine ring investigation happening concurrently.

A half-stifled snore caught Lila's attention and she looked to her right. It seemed that Elise had startled herself into waking, with the small, grumpy sounds she was emitting. Lila waited with bated breath to see if Elise was actually waking up – and, to her relief, Elise rubbed her eyes and opened them.

"Morning," Lila said quietly, welcoming this new distraction.

"M-M-Morning," Elise yawned, stretching her arms up and hitting the wall of the tent. She frowned before yawning again, this time with her hands over her mouth.

Lila heard rustling on the other side of Elise, which probably meant that Grace was starting to wake up, too.

"What time is it?" Elise whispered, blinking as she looked at Lila.

"Just after six."

"Ew," Elise sighed. "Now that I'm awake, there's no way I'm going back to sleep."

"Yeah."