Without Shay around, things felt incomplete, and she’d spent even more time here, sitting on her bed and staring at New Pretty Town.
Of course, there wasn’t much else to do these days. Everyone in the dorm was younger than Tally now, and she’d already taught all of her best tricks to the next class. She’d watched every movie her wallscreen knew about ten times, all the way back to some old black-and-white ones in an English she could barely understand. There was no one to go to concerts with, and dorm sports were boring to watch now that she didn’t know anyone on the teams. All the other uglies looked at her enviously, but no one saw much point in making friends. Probably it was better to get the operation over with all at once. Half the time, she wished the doctors would just kidnap her in the middle of the night and do it. She could imagine a lot worse things than waking up pretty one morning. They said at school that they could make the operation work on fifteen-year-olds now. Waiting until sixteen was just a stupid old tradition.
But it was a tradition nobody questioned, except the occasional ugly. So Tally had a week to go, alone, waiting.
Shay hadn’t talked to her since their big fight. Tally had tried to write a ping, but working it all out on-screen just made her angry again. And it didn’t make much sense to sort it out now. Once they were both pretty, there wouldn’t be anything to fight about anymore. And even if Shay still hated her, there was always Peris and all their old friends, waiting across the river for her with their big eyes and wonderful smiles.
Still, Tally spent a lot of time wondering what Shay was going to look like pretty, her skin-and-bones body all filled out, her already full lips perfected, and the ragged fingernails gone forever. They’d probably make her eyes a more intense shade of green. Or maybe one of the newer colors—violet, silver, or gold.
“Hey, Squint!”
Tally jumped at the whisper. She peered into the darkness and saw a form scuttling toward her across the roof tiles. A smile broke onto her face. “Shay!”
The silhouette paused for a moment.
Tally didn’t even bother to whisper. “Don’t just stand there. Come in, stupid!”
Shay crawled into the window, laughing, as Tally gathered her into a hug, warm and joyful and solid. They stepped back, still holding each other’s hands. For a moment, Shay’s ugly face looked perfect.
“It’s so great to see you.”
“You too, Tally.”
“I missed you. I wanted to—I’m so sorry about—”
“No,” Shay interrupted. “You were right. You made me think. I was going to write you, but it was all…” She sighed.
Tally nodded, squeezing Shay’s hands. “Yeah. It sucked.”
They stood in silence for a moment, and Tally glanced past her friend out the window. Suddenly, the view of New Pretty Town didn’t seem so sad. It looked bright and tempting, as if all the hesitation had drained out of her. The open window was exciting again. “Shay?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s go somewhere tonight. Do some major trick.”
Shay laughed. “I was kind of hoping you’d say that.”
Tally noticed the way Shay was dressed. She was wearing serious trick-wear: all black clothes, hair tied back tight, a knapsack over one shoulder. She grinned. “Already got a plan, I see. Great.”
“Yeah,” Shay said softly. “I’ve got a plan.”
She walked over to Tally’s bed, unslinging the knapsack from her shoulder. Her footsteps squeaked, and Tally smiled when she saw that Shay was wearing grippy shoes. Tally hadn’t been on a hoverboard in days. Flying alone was all the hard work and only half the fun.
Shay dumped the contents of the knapsack out onto the bed, and pointed. “Position-finder. Firestarter. Water purifier.” She picked up two shiny wads the size of sandwiches. “These pull out into sleeping bags. And they’re really warm inside.”
“Sleeping bags? Water purifier?” Tally exclaimed. “This must be some kind of awesome multiday trick. Are we going all the way to the sea or something?”
Shay shook her head. “Farther.”
“Uh, cool.” Tally kept her smile on her face. “But we’ve only got six days till the operation.”
“I know what day it is.” Shay opened a waterproof bag and spilled its contents alongside the rest. “Food for two weeks—dehydrated. You just drop one of these into the purifier and add water. Any kind of water.” She giggled. “The purifier works so well, you can even pee in it.”
Tally sat down on the bed, reading the labels on the food packs. “Two weeks?”
“Two weeks for two people,” Shay said carefully. “Four weeks for one.”
Tally didn’t say anything. Suddenly, she couldn’t look at the stuff on the bed, or at Shay. She stared out the window, at New Pretty Town, where the fireworks were starting.
“But it won’t take two weeks, Tally. It’s much closer.”
A plume of red soared up in the middle of town, tendrils of fireworks drifting down like the leaves of a giant willow tree. “What won’t take two weeks?”
“Going to where David lives.”
Tally nodded, and closed her eyes.
“It’s not like here, Tally. They don’t separate everyone, uglies from pretties, new and middle and late. And you can leave whenever you want, go anywhere you want.”
“Like where?”
“Anywhere. Ruins, the forest, the sea. And…you never have to get the operation.”
“You what?”
Shay sat next to her, touching Tally’s cheek with one finger. Tally opened her eyes. “We don’t have to look like everyone else, Tally, and act like everyone else. We’ve got a choice. We can grow up any way we want.”
Tally swallowed. She felt like speech was impossible, but knew she had to say something. She forced words from 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.”