Lies Like Love by Louisa Reid Page B

staring at him. They were staring at each other.
    ‘Just, come if you can, yeah?’
    ‘Sure.’ And she smiled so sweetly; it was a pure sort of smile, no side to it. No flirty, sugary
let me hook you up and reel you in and get you dancing to my tune
kind of thing. And that had been worth the whole horrendous conversation.

Audrey
    Everyone was talking about it. Jen shrugged, said it was something to do. Better than watching paint dry. I didn’t tell her Leo had asked me. I wasn’t sure if I’d said yes or not. But Lizzy hung over my desk, annoying me.
    ‘You going tomorrow?’
    I shrugged.
    ‘We’ll look out for you, if you do. See you in the haunted house. Whooooo!’ she wailed in my face, then grinned, like that was funny. I didn’t trust her smile or her shiny hair. She wasn’t a flower; she was a weed. A foxglove.
    ‘Whatever,’ I said. ‘I’m going with Leo, actually.’ I don’t know what made me say that. Her mouth fell open.
    ‘God, you’re a bitch, aren’t you?’ Lizzy said, and for a second I felt really mean until her mouth puckered into that tight little O! of disgust I’d learned to watch out for. Not bothered, it didn’t matter, I talked back.
    ‘I guess I must be, if you say so, since apparently you know everything.’
    Jen linked my little finger with her own, shook. This was congratulations. I got back to my chapter – Heathcliff was shouting at Cathy again – hoping Lizzy hadn’t seen my hands shaking as I turned the page, and she walked off with her gang, looking over their shoulders, not ready to give up yet.
    The next afternoon when we got back to the flat there was a note pinned to the door. My name was on the envelope, written in black ink, in flowing writing. I snatched it, tore it. Gobbled the words:
Just in case you forgot. Fair tonight. I’ll be the one in the armour. Love Leo
.
    Love Leo
. Boys did not write messages to me like that. That was the kind of thing that happened in one of Mum’s soppy magazines, not real life. Nobody had ever asked me, me in particular, to go somewhere or be somewhere, as if I were important. As if my presence would make a difference. I hadn’t known I was waiting to be chosen. And the fact that it was Leo who’d seen something he wanted. I swallowed and looked at Peter, who squinted his eyes.
    ‘You look like you’re going to be sick, Aud,’ he said. ‘Are you?’
    ‘No,’ I shouted, squealing and chasing him inside. ‘No, I’m not.’
    Peter darted ahead of me and we made for the kitchen.
    ‘How about the fair, Pete? Shall we go?’ I called, rummaging in the fridge for something to eat. I gave him a piece of cheese, then found some crackers in the cupboard. Peter’s eyes widened as he nodded and chewed and I picked up my medication. Mum had left it out on the worktop, with a big note saying, DON’T FORGET!
    ‘Really? Can we?’ he said, pulling at my sleeve.
    ‘Yup.’ I popped the pill out of the foil. Held it in my hand. ‘I’m going to have to try and find some money though. Help me look.’
    Peter ran off and I stuffed the pill into the bin, grabbeda glass, filled it with water and sipped a little, left it by the note, just in case.
    We went through the pockets in Mum’s old jacket, searched the bottom of her bag. Scraped together almost seven pounds. Peter emptied his money box and that gave us another fifty pence in coppers.
    ‘Great. We’ll get a hot dog each, maybe candy-floss too, and go on some rides and meet Leo. OK?’ It came out in a big rush. We danced about a bit, holding hands. I swung him up and off his feet.
    ‘Come on, then,’ Peter said when I put him down, dragging me out, pulling me along, and even though I knew we shouldn’t do it we left the Grange behind and jumped back into the world.
    The field beyond the school flashed with noise. In the dark faces blinked neon, Halloween pumpkins, their skin too bright, back-lit. I didn’t recognize anyone from school – no sign of Lizzy and her gang