1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 93
“Like what? ‘I shot a wolf today and ate it’?”
Shay giggled. “People don’t eat wolves, Tally. Rabbits, I
think, and deer.”
“Oh, gross. Thanks for the image, Shay.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll stick to vegetables and fish. But it’s not
about camping out, Tally. It’s about becoming what I want
to become. Not what some surgical committee thinks I
should.”
“You’re still yourself on the inside, Shay. But when
you’re pretty, people pay more attention.”
“Not everyone thinks that way.”
“Are you sure about that? That you can beat evolution
by being smart or interesting? Because if you’re wrong . . .
if you don’t come back by the time you’re twenty, the operation
won’t work as well. You’ll look wrong, forever.”
“I’m not coming back. Forever.”
Tally’s voice caught, but she forced herself to say it:
“And I’m not going.”
They said good-bye under the dam.
Shay’s long-range hoverboard was thicker, and glimmered
with the facets of solar cells. She’d also stashed a
heated jacket and hat under the bridge. Tally guessed that
winters at the Smoke were cold and miserable.
She couldn’t believe her friend was really going.
“You can always come back. If it sucks.”
Shay shrugged. “None of my friends has.”