1269_UgliesFreeBook

90 Scott Westerfeld
her dry throat. “Not be pretty? That’s crazy, Shay. All the
times you talked that way, I thought you were just being
stupid. Peris always said the same stuff.”
“I was just being stupid. But when you said I was afraid
of growing up, you really made me think.”
“I made you think?”
“Made me realize how full of crap I was. Tally, I’ve got
to tell you another secret.”
Tally sighed. “Okay. I guess it can’t get any worse.”
“My older friends, the ones I used to hang out with
before I met you? Not all of them wound up pretty.”
“What do you mean?”
“Some of them ran away, like I am. Like I want us to.”
Tally looked into Shay’s eyes, searching for some sign
that this was all a joke. But the intense look on her face held
firm. She was dead serious.
“You know someone who actually ran away?”
Shay nodded. “I was supposed to go too. We had it all
planned, about a week before the first of us turned sixteen.
We’d already stolen survival gear, and told David that we
were coming. It was all set up. That was four months ago.”
“But you didn’t . . .”
“Some of us did, but I chickened out.” Shay looked out
the window. “And I wasn’t the only one. A couple of the
others stayed and turned pretty instead. I probably would
have too, except I met you.”
“Me?”