1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 223
Tally put a hand on Shay’s shoulder. “Same goes for mine.”
Shay’s pace slowed. “Tally?”
“Yeah?”
“You were going to say something to me, back in the
library, before the Boss started yelling at you.”
Tally’s stomach sank. She pulled away, her fingers automatically
going to the pendant at her neck.
“Yeah,” Shay said. “About that necklace.”
Tally nodded, but didn’t know how to start. She still
hadn’t activated the pendant, and since her conversation
with David, she wasn’t sure she could. Maybe if she returned
to the city in a month, starving and empty-handed, Dr.
Cable would take mercy on her.
But what if the woman kept her promise, and Tally
never got the operation? In twenty-something years, she
would be lined and wrinkled, as ugly as the Boss, an outcast.
And if she stayed here in the Smoke, she’d be sleeping
in an old sleeping bag and dreading the day her water purifier
broke down.
She was so tired of lying to everyone. “I haven’t told
you everything,” she started.
“I know. But I think I’ve got it figured out.”
Tally looked at her friend, afraid to speak.
“I mean, it’s pretty obvious, right? You’re all upset
because you broke your promise to me. You didn’t keep the
Smoke a secret.”
Tally’s mouth fell open.