Tally fell off. Again.
The spill didn’t hurt so much, this time. The momenther feet slipped off the hoverboard, she’d relaxed, the wayShay kept telling her to. Spinning out wasn’t much worsethan having your dad swing you around by the wrists whenyou were little.
If your dad happened to be a superhuman freak andwas trying to pull your arms out of their sockets.
But the momentum had to go somewhere, Shay hadexplained. And around in circles was better than into a tree.
Here in Cleopatra Park there were plenty of those.
After a few rotations, Tally found herself being loweredto the grass by her wrists, dizzy but in one piece.
Shay cruised up, banking her hoverboard to an elegantstop as if she’d been born on one.
“That looked a little better.”
“It didn’t feel any better.” Tally pulled off one crashbracelet and rubbed her wrist. It was turning red, and herfingers felt weak.
The bracelet was heavy and solid in her hand. Crashbracelets had to have metal inside, because they worked onmagnets, the way the boards did. Whenever Tally’s feetslipped, the bracelets got all hovery and caught her fall, likesome friendly giant plucking her from danger and swingingher to a halt.
By her wrists. Again.
Tally pulled the other bracelet off and rubbed.
“Don’t give up. You almost made it!”
Tally’s board cruised back on its own, nuzzling at herankles like an apologetic dog. She crossed her arms andrubbed her shoulders. “I almost got snapped in two, youmean.”
“Never happens. I’ve spilled more times than a glass ofmilk on a roller coaster.”
“On a what?”
“Never mind. Come on, one more try.”
Tally sighed. It wasn’t just her wrists. Her knees achedfrom banking hard, whipping through turns so quickly thather body seemed to weigh a ton. Shay called that “highgravity,” which happened every time a fast-moving objectchanged direction.
“Hoverboarding looks so fun, like being a bird. Butactually doing it is hard work.”
Shay shrugged. “Being a bird’s probably hard work too.
Flapping your wings all day, you know?”
“Maybe. Does it get any better?”
UGLIES 33“For birds? I don’t know. On a board? Definitely.”
“I hope so.” Tally pulled her bracelets on and steppedonto the hoverboard. It bobbed a little as it adjusted to herweight, like the bounce of a diving board.
“Check your belly sensor.”
Tally touched her belly ring, where Shay had clippedthe little sensor. It told the board where Tally’s center ofgravity was, and which way she was facing. The sensor evenread her stomach muscles, which, it turned out, hoverboardersalways clenched in anticipation of turns. Theboard was smart enough to gradually learn how her bodymoved. The more Tally rode, the more it would keep itselfunder her feet.
Of course, Tally had to learn too. Shay kept saying thatif your feet weren’t in the right place, the smartest board inthe world couldn’t keep you on. The riding surface was allknobbly for traction, but it was amazing how easy it was toslip off.
The board was oval-shaped, about half as long as Tallywas tall, and black with the silver spots of a cheetah—the onlyanimal in the world that could run faster than a hoverboardcould fly. It was Shay’s first board, and she’d never recycyledit. Until today, it had hung on the wall above her bed.
Tally snapped her fingers, bent her knees as she roseinto the air, then leaned forward to pick up speed.
Shay cruised along just above her, staying a littlebehind.
34 Scott WesterfeldThe trees started to rush by, whipping Tally’s arms withthe sharp stings of evergreen needles. The board wouldn’tlet her crash into anything solid, but it didn’t get too concernedabout twigs.
“Extend your arms. Keep your feet apart!” Shay yelledfor the thousandth time. Tally nervously scooted her leftfoot forward.
At the end of the park, Tally leaned to her right, and theboard pulled into a long, steep turn. She bent her knees,growing heavy as she cut back toward where they’d started.
Now Tally was rushing toward the slalom flags, crouchingas she drew closer. She could feel the wind drying herlips, lifting her ponytail up.
“Oh, boy,” she whispered.
The board raced past the first flag, and she leaned hardright, her arms all the way out now for balance.
“Switch!” cried Shay. Tally twisted her body to bring theboard under her and across, cutting around the next flag.
Once it was past, she twisted again.
But her feet were too close together. Not again! Hershoes slipped across the surface of the board. “No!” shecried, clenching her toes, cupping the air with her palms,anything to keep herself on board. Her right shoe slidtoward the board’s edge until her toes were silhouettedagainst the trees.
The trees! She was almost sideways, her body parallelwith the ground.
UGLIES 35The slalom flag zoomed past, and suddenly, it was over.
The board swung back under Tally as her course straightenedout again.
She’d made the turn!
Tally spun to face Shay. “I did it!” she cried.
And fell.
Confused by her spin, the board had tried to execute aturn, and dumped her. Tally relaxed as her arms jerkedstraight and the world spun around her. She was laughingas she descended to the grass, dangling by her bracelets.
Shay was also laughing. “Almost did it.”
“No! I got around the flags. You saw!”
“Okay, okay. You made it.” Shay laughed, stepping offonto the grass. “But don’t dance around like that afterward.
It’s not cool, Squint.”
Tally stuck out her tongue. In the last week, Tally hadlearned that Shay only used her ugly nickname as a putdown.
Shay insisted they call each other by their realnames most of the time, which Tally had quickly gottenused to. She liked it, actually. Nobody but Sol and Ellie—her parents—and a few stuck-up teachers had ever calledher “Tally” before.
“Whatever you say, Skinny. That was great.”
Tally collapsed on the grass. Her whole body ached,every muscle exhausted. “Thanks for the lesson. Flying’sthe best.”
Shay sat down close by. “Never bored on a hoverboard.”
36 Scott Westerfeld“This is the best I’ve felt since . . .” Tally didn’t say hisname. She looked up into the sky, which was a gloriousblue. A perfect sky. They hadn’t gotten started until lateafternoon. Above, a few high clouds were already showinghints of pink, even though sunset was hours off.
“Yeah,” Shay agreed. “Me too. I was getting sick ofhanging out alone.”
“So how long you got?”
Shay answered instantly. “Two months and twenty-sixdays.”
Tally was stunned for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“’Course I’m sure.”
Tally felt a big, slow smile roll across her face, and shefell back onto the grass, laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding.
We’ve got the same birthday!”
“No way.”
“Yeah, way. It’s perfect. We’ll both turn pretty together!”
Shay was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I guess.”
“September ninth, right?”
Shay nodded.
“That is so cool. I mean, I don’t think I could stand tolose another friend. You know? We don’t have to worryabout one of us abandoning the other. Not for a single day.”
Shay sat up straight, her smile gone. “I wouldn’t dothat, anyway.”
Tally blinked. “I didn’t say you would, but . . .”
“But what?”
UGLIES 37“But when you turn, you go over to New Pretty Town.”
“So? Pretties are allowed to come back over here, youknow. Or write.”
Tally snorted. “But they don’t.”
“I would.” Shay looked out over the river at the spiresof the party towers, placing a thumbnail firmly between herteeth.
“So would I, Shay. I’d come see you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Really.”
Shay shrugged, and lay back down to stare up at theclouds. “Okay. But you’re not the first person to make thatpromise, you know.”
“Yeah, I do know.”
They were silent for a moment. Clouds rolled slowlyacross the sun, and the air grew cool. Tally thought of Peris,and tried to remember the way he used to look back whenhe was Nose. Somehow, she couldn’t recall his ugly faceanymore. As if those few minutes of seeing him pretty hadwiped out a lifetime of memories. All she could see nowwas pretty Peris, those eyes, that smile.
“I wonder why they never come back,” Shay said. “Justto visit.”
Tally swallowed. “Because we’re so ugly, Skinny, that’swhy.”