The Taming of Lilah May Read Online Free

comfortable with.
    I perch on top of a tomb shaped like a treasure chest, and Adam sits on the grass at my feet and rolls up another cigarette. After a pause, which is loaded with meaning and anticipation and stuff, and just when I’m sure he’s about to say something really amazing to me, he looks up from beneath his wing of fair hair and says, ‘You know something? You kind of scare me, Lilah May.’
    Then he gives an abrupt laugh and becomes very busy with stuffing the tobacco worms into his cigarette paper again.
    Somewhere behind the wall of the cemetery, the sun finally starts to sink down, leaving a blank greysky and an edge to the air.
    I zip up my leather jacket and hug my elbows.
    I scare him?
    â€˜But you’re the one in the big hard rock band,’ I say. ‘You’re far more scary than I am.’
    Adam smiles at this, but still looks a bit wary.
    Great.
    This date is going about as wrong as it could do. Or, to be more exact, it isn’t exactly going anywhere at all.
    So I’m frightening. I scare people.
    I never used to scare Jay. It was more the other way round, particularly towards the end.
    I get up, and toss my hair back over my shoulders.
    â€˜Maybe I should do something scary, then,’ I say. ‘Kind of live up to your expectations, huh?’
    Adam gets to his feet and lights his cigarette.
    â€˜Don’t be stupid,’ he says. ‘We’re good mates, yeah? You can just be yourself, can’t you?’
    My heart flops to the grass beneath his feet and is trampled to death underneath his red Converse boots.
    Mates.
    I feel like an idiot now. It’s all Bindi and herstupid suggestions. She kept passing me messages in class saying he was staring at me. How can she have got it so wrong? He doesn’t like me at all in that way.
    I feel the little flicker again. Red-hot, rising up from my feet towards my chest.
    I can’t see my own face, but I know what it looks like.
    Tight. Pinched. Lips sucked in. Eyes dark and cold.
    Anger sucks all my prettiness out of me.
    I head off towards the cemetery wall.
    I don’t yet know what I’m going to do, but my feet seem to be carrying me wherever they want and I’ve got no control over them.
    â€˜Lilah,’ calls Adam. ‘Come back. What are you doing?’
    I don’t answer.
    I’ve had enough of him now.
    The wall to the cemetery is high, and made of dark red bricks.
    I climb onto the top of a gravestone and then launch myself at the top of the wall with my hands outstretched.
    I heave myself up until I’m sitting on the top, drumming my heels against the bricks.
    â€˜Lilah,’ pants Adam. He’s rushed over and is staring up at me with concern. ‘Don’t be stupid. Get down.’
    I ignore him. It feels good sitting so high up above him, with the wind in my hair.
    Up here I feel all-powerful, like the world belongs to me and I’m above everything and everyone.
    It’s a strong wind, but I can’t stop what happens next.
    My legs push me up into a standing position, until I’m balancing on the thin line of bricks in my skinny jeans and my flimsy trainers.
    â€˜Oh my God,’ I hear Adam say. ‘Lilah. You’re crazy. Please will you sit down again? I’ll come up and get you.’
    I laugh at that. Bit late for him to go all romantic now.
    I don’t care about him any more.
    I don’t really care about anyone.
    I put my arms out, as if I’m flying, and then I balance my way, one foot in front of the other, until I’ve walked the whole length of the high brick wall.
    Adam’s face is ash-grey below me. He keeps looking around wildly to see if anybody’s coming to help, but it’s a cemetery on a weekday evening andthere’s nobody around.
    I reach the far end of the wall, sit down, and then jump onto the grass far below with a thud.
    Adam’s there in a flash.
    â€˜Are you OK?’ he asks.
    I can’t