“Look at them all. What dorks.”
“Did we ever look like that?”
“Probably. But just because we were dorks doesn’t meanthey’re not.”
Tally nodded, trying to remember what being twelvewas like, what the dorm had looked like on her first daythere. She remembered how intimidating the building hadseemed. Much bigger than Sol and Ellie’s house, of course,and bigger than the huts that littlies went to school in, oneteacher and ten students to each one.
Now the dorm seemed so small and claustrophobic.
Painfully childish, with its bright colors and padded stairs.
So boring during the day and easy to escape at night.
The new uglies all stuck together in a tight group,afraid to stray too far from their guide. Their ugly little facespeered up at the dorm’s four-story height, their eyes full ofwonder and terror.
Shay pulled her head back in through the window.
“This is going to be so fun.”
“It’ll be one orientation they won’t forget.”
Summer was over in two weeks. The population ofTally’s dorm had been steadily dropping for the last year asseniors turned sixteen. It was almost time for a new batchto take their place. Tally watched the last few uglies maketheir way inside, gawky and nervous, unkempt and uncoordinated.
Twelve was definitely the turning point, whenyou changed from a cute littlie into an oversize, undereducatedugly.
It was a stage of life she was glad to be leaving behind.
“You sure this thing is going to work?” Shay asked.
Tally smiled. It wasn’t often that Shay was the cautiousone. She pointed at the collar of the bungee jacket. “You seethat little green light? That means it’s working. It’s for emergencies,so it’s always ready to go.”
Shay’s hand slipped under the jacket to pull at her bellysensor, which meant she was nervous. “What if it knowsthere’s no real emergency?”
“It’s not that smart. You fall, it catches you. No tricksnecessary.”
Shay shrugged and put it on.
They’d borrowed the jacket from the art school, thetallest building in Uglyville. It was a spare from the basement,and they hadn’t even had to trick the rack to get it free. Tallydefinitely didn’t want to get caught messing around with firealarms, in case the wardens connected her to a certain incidentin New Pretty Town back at the beginning of summer.
UGLIES 77Shay pulled an oversize basketball jersey over thebungee jacket. It was in her dorm’s colors, and none of theteachers here knew her face very well. “How’s that look?”
“Like you’ve gained weight. It suits you.”
Shay scowled. She hated being called Stick Insect, or Pig-Eyes, or any of the other things uglies called one another.
Shay sometimes claimed that she didn’t care if she ever gotthe operation. It was crazy talk, of course. Shay wasn’t exactlya freak, but she was hardly a natural-born pretty. There’d onlybeen about ten of those in all of history, after all. “Do youwant to do the jump, Squint?”
“I have both been there and done that, Shay, before I evenmet you. And you’re the one who had this brilliant idea.”
Shay’s scowl faded into a smile. “It is brilliant, isn’t it?”
“They’ll never know what hit them.”
They waited until the new uglies were in the library, scatteredaround the worktables to watch some orientationvideo. Shay and Tally lay on their stomachs on the top floorof the stacks, where the dusty old paper books were stored,peering through the guardrails down at the group. Theywaited for the tour leader to quiet the chattering uglies.
“This is almost too easy,” Shay said, penciling a pair offat, black eyebrows over her own.
“Easy for you. You’ll be out the door before anyoneknows what’s happened. I’ve got to make it all the waydown the stairs.”
78 Scott Westerfeld“So what, Tally? What are they going to do if we getcaught?”
Tally shrugged. “True.” But she pulled on her mousybrown wig anyway.
Over the summer, as the last few seniors turned sixteenand pretty, the tricks had grown worse and worse. Butnobody ever seemed to get punished, and Tally’s promise toPeris seemed ages ago. Once she was pretty, nothing she’ddone in this last month would matter. She was anxious toleave it all behind, but not without a big finish.
Thinking of Peris, Tally stuck on a big plastic nose. They’draided the drama room at Shay’s dorm the night before andwere loaded with disguises. “Ready?” she asked. Then shegiggled at the nasal twang the fake nose gave her voice.
“Hang on.” Shay grabbed a big, fat book from the shelf.
“Okay, showtime.”
They stood up.
“Give me that book!” Tally shouted at Shay. “It’s mine!”
She heard the uglies below fall silent, and had to resistlooking down to see their upturned faces.
“No way, Pignose! I checked it out first.”
“Are you kidding, Fattie? You can’t even read!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, read this!”
Shay swung the book at Tally, who ducked. Shesnatched it away and swung back, catching Shay solidly onher upraised forearms. Shay rolled back at the impact, spinningover the railing.
UGLIES 79Tally leaned forward, watching wide-eyed as Shaytumbled down toward the library’s main floor, three storiesbelow. The new uglies screamed in unison, scattering awayfrom the flailing body plummeting toward them.
A second later the bungee jacket activated, and Shaybobbed back up in midair, laughing maniacally at the topof her lungs. Tally waited another moment, watching theuglies’ horror dissolve into confusion as Shay bouncedagain, then righted herself on one of the tables and headedfor the door.
Tally dropped the book and dashed for the stairs, leapinga flight at a time until she reached the back exit of the dorm.
“Oh, that was perfect!”
“Did you see their faces?”
&l............