1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 113
bothered to search her. That meant that Tally had kept Shay’s
secret, and that she still had something to bargain with.
It also meant that Special Circumstances could make
mistakes.
Tally saw the other uglies come back in before lunchtime.
As they filed off the school transport, all of them craned
their necks to look up at her window. A few pointed before
she ducked back into the shadows. Minutes later Tally
could hear kids in the hall outside, growing silent as they
passed her door. A few even giggled, as new uglies always
did when tried to keep quiet.
Were they laughing at her?
Her rumbling stomach reminded Tally that she hadn’t
eaten breakfast, or dinner the night before. You weren’t supposed
to have food or water for sixteen hours before the
operation. She was starving.
But she stayed in her room until lunch was over. She
couldn’t face a cafeteria full of uglies watching her every
move, wondering what she had done to deserve her stillugly
face. When she couldn’t stand her hunger anymore,
Tally stole upstairs to the roof deck, where they put out leftovers
for whoever wanted them.
A few uglies saw her in the hall. They clammed up and
stood aside as Tally passed, as if she were contagious. What
had the minders told them? Tally wondered. That she’d
pulled one too many tricks? That she was inoperable, an