"Scott Westerfeld - Uglies 02 - Pretties" - читать интересную книгу автора (Westerfeld Scott)

"No problem, Tally-wa."
"So where were you last night, anyway?"
 Shay just smiled, like she'd done something bad.
"What? New boy?"
Shay shook her head. Batted her eyes.
"You didn't surge again, did you?" Tally asked, and Shay giggled. "You did. You're not
supposed to more than once a week. Could you be any more missing?"
"It's okay, Tally-wa. Just local."
"Where?" Shay's face didn't look any different. Was the surgery hidden under her pajamas?
"Look closer." Shay's long lashes fluttered again.
Tally leaned forward, staring into the perfect copper eyes, wide and speckled with jewel dust,
and her heart beat still faster. A month after coming to New Pretty Town, Tally was still awestruck by
other pretties' eyes. They were so huge and welcoming, bright with interest. Shay's lush pupils seemed to
murmur, I'm listening to you. You fascinate me. They narrowed down the world to only Tally, all alone
in the radiance of Shay's attention.
It was even weirder with Shay, because Tally had known her back in ugly days, before the
operation had made her this way.
"Closer."
Tally took a steadying breath, the room spinning again, but in a good way. She gestured for the
windows to transpare a little more, and in the sunlight she saw the new additions. "Ooh, pretty-making."
Bolder than all the other implanted glitter, twelve tiny rubies ringed each of Shay's pupils, glowing
softly red against emerald irises.
"Bubbly, huh?"
"Yeah. But hang on тАж are the bottom-left ones different?" Tally squinted harder. One jewel in
each eye seemed to be flickering, a tiny white candle in the coppery depths.
"It's five o'clock!" Shay said. "Get it?"
It took Tally a second to remember how to read the big clock tower in the center of town. "Um,
but that's seven. Wouldn't bottom-right be five o'clock?"
Shay snorted. "They run counterclockwise, silly. I mean, so boring otherwise."
A laugh bubbled up in Tally. "So wait. You have jewels in your eyes? And they tell time? And
they go backward! Isn't that maybe one thing too many, Shay?"
Tally immediately regretted what she'd said. The expression that clouded Shay's face was tragic,
sucking away the radiance of a moment before. She looked about to cry, except without puffy eyes or a
red nose. New surge was always a delicate topic, like a new hairstyle, almost.
"You hate them," Shay softly accused.
"Of course I don't. Like I said: totally pretty-making."
"Really?"
"Very. And it's good they go backward."
Shay's smile returned, and Tally breathed a sigh of relief, still not believing herself. It was the kind
of mistake only brand-new pretties made, and she'd had the operation over a month ago. Why was she
still saying bogus things? If she made a comment like that tonight, one of the Crims might vote against her.
It only took one veto to shut you out.
And then she'd be alone, almost like running away again.
Shay said, "Maybe we should go as clock towers tonight, in honor of my new eyeballs."
Tally laughed, knowing the lame joke meant she was forgiven. She and Shay had been through a
lot together, after all. "Have you talked to Peris and Fausto?"
Shay nodded. "They said we're all supposed to dress criminal. They've got an idea already, but
it's secret."
"That's so bogus. Like they were such bad boys. All they ever did in the ugly days was sneak out
and maybe cross the river a few times. They never even made it to the Smoke."