Read Online Lies Like Love by Louisa Reid - Free Book Online Page A

not sad now, not now we’ve rescued him from the fair.’
    ‘True.’ There was a pause. I put my hands in my pockets. ‘Where’s Peter?’
    Leo pointed; he was whizzing down the helter-skelter and we wandered over and grabbed him at the end.
    ‘Can I go again? Can I, Aud?’
    His hair was all over the place, his cheeks pink. I pulled him close, kissed his face, but he struggled free, wiping at his skin; he was desperate to be off. I held on to him as he wriggled and grumbled.
    ‘It’s all right – I’ll take him,’ said Leo, handing over another pound coin and chasing Peter up the metal steps.
    I don’t know how they balanced on the little hessian mat. Leo was way too big, but somehow he managed it, Peter safe on his knee, and they came whizzing down, whooping together. Peter stared up at Leo with a look I’d not seen in his eyes before.
Awe
, I thought,
hero worship
. Mum had a photo of me looking up at my dad with just the same expression. I swallowed down the lump in my throat.
    ‘That was a laugh. What now?’ Leo said, coming over and slinging his arm round me, perfectly casual, so casualthat I didn’t freeze. Well, not exactly. I must have been squeezing Peter’s hand though.
    ‘What’s the matter, Aud?’ Peter said, peering at me and pulling away.
    ‘Nothing,’ I whispered, still hiding behind my hair, ‘nothing.’
    ‘Ghost train?’ Leo said, saving me.
    ‘Yeah.’ Peter jumped up and down, dropping my hand to hold Leo’s and I let myself be dragged on to the ride.
    Lizzy was a couple of places behind us in the queue. I pretended not to notice her when she hollered, ‘Hey, Leo!’ So loud he had to turn and look at her, but he just nodded and then we clambered into a car and were off, jolting into the dark. Peter jumped against me as a skeleton dropped into our path and I squeezed him closer.
    ‘Pete, it’s pretend. It’s fine.’ I could hear Lizzy screaming too and that made me grin. She should try living in the Grange if she wanted to know about scary. Leo took my hand again and we held Peter between us.
    ‘That was fun,’ I said. ‘Thanks.’ We climbed off, still laughing, jelly legs.
    ‘More?’
    ‘No, we should go.’
    ‘Seriously, it’s early,’ Leo said, scanning the field. ‘I’ll buy you more candy-floss?’
    ‘No, we really should go,’ I said, not wanting to, wondering if he’d take us back to the farm if I asked. The flat would be dark and cold. No way was I going to sleep on my own in my room. Peter wouldn’t mind if I crawled in with him. We stood for a bit. I looked at Leo again. Hewas tall and broad and looked warm and clean, his cheeks bright from the cold, his hair a bit tousled. He suited messy. The thing about Leo was, he made you feel safe. He made you feel OK about things. Peter felt it too.
    ‘Sorry,’ I said to Leo. ‘Mum’ll be worried.’ He opened his mouth to answer, but I gabbled on, like someone had flicked a switch and all the words I’d never meant to say were fighting with one another to be heard: ‘But, well, this was good, you know, so thanks for inviting us and everything. It’s been fun. Really.’
    ‘Good. I’m glad you came,’ Leo said.
    ‘Yeah, well, I was going to ask you –’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Well, I have this essay; it’s about that Jane Eyre book. And, I kind of didn’t go to school that much last year, not really, because I wasn’t that well, and now I want to do the essay but I got stuck. I did try, and then I thought, would you help me? Give me a couple of pointers?’ Hot coals in my cheeks, my eyes thick and stupid, I toed the earth with my shoe, grinding a hole which I hoped might swallow me up if he said no. I hadn’t planned on saying any of it, but I really did want to do well. And I wanted to see him again. Soon. He jumped on my words, speaking fast too.
    ‘No, seriously, that’d be fine, cool. Tomorrow? I’ll come over?’
    I nodded and grabbed Peter’s hand and ran, excited now for the next day,