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

The song ended just then, and Tally's last word fell into sudden silence. She tried to think of what
to say, but the conversation just faded out, like fireworks in a dark sky. The next song seemed to take a
long time to start.
 When it did, she was relieved and said, "Crim costumes should be easy, Shay-la. We're the two
biggest criminals in town."


Shay and Tally tried for two hours, making the hole in the wall spit out costumes and trying them
on. They thought of bandits, but didn't really know what one looked likeтАФin all the old bandit movies in
the wallscreen, the bad guys didn't look Crim, just retarded. Pirates were much better dressing, but Shay
didn't want to wear a patch over one of her new eyeballs. Going as hunters was another idea, but the
hole in the wall had this thing about guns, even fake ones. Tally thought of famous dictators from history,
but most of them turned out to be men and fashion-missing.
"Maybe we should be Rusties!" Shay said. "In school, they were always the bad guys."
"But they mostly looked like us, I thought. Except ugly."
"I don't know, we could cut down trees or burn oil or something."
Tally laughed. "This is a costume, Shay-la, not a lifestyle."
Shay spread her arms and said more things, trying to be bubbly. "We could smoke tobacco? Or
drive cars?"
But the hole in the wall wouldn't give them cigarettes or cars.
It was fun, though, hanging out with Shay and trying things on, then snorting and giggling and
tossing the costumes back into the recycler. Tally loved seeing how she looked in new clothes, even silly
ones. Part of her could still remember back before, when looking in the mirror had been painful, her eyes
too close together and nose too small, hair frizzy all the time. Now it was like someone gorgeous stood
across from Tally, following her every moveтАФ someone whose face was in perfect balance, whose skin
glowed even with a total hangover, whose body was beautifully proportioned and muscled. Someone
whose silvery eyes matched anything she wore.
But someone with bogus taste in costumes.
After two hours they were lying on the bed, which was spinning again.
"Everything sucks, Shay-la. Why does everything suck? They'll never vote me in if I can't even
come up with a non-bogus costume."
Shay took her hand. "Don't worry, Tally-wa. You're already famous. There's no reason to be
nervous."
"That's easy for you to say." Even though they'd been born on the same day, Shay had become
pretty weeks and weeks before Tally. She'd been a full-fledged Crim for almost a month now.
"It's not going to be a problem," Shay said. "Anyone who used to hang out with Special
Circumstances is a natural Crim."
A feeling went through Tally when Shay said that, like a ping, but hurting. "Still. I hate not being
bubbly"
"It's Peris's and Fausto's fault for not telling us what they're wearing."
"Let's just wait till they get here. And copy them."
"They deserve it," Shay agreed. "Want a drink?"
"I think so."
Tally was too spinning to go anywhere, so Shay told the breakfast tray to go and get some
champagne.


When Peris and Fausto came in, they were on fire.
It was really just sparklers wound into their hair and stuck onto their clothes, making safety
flames flicker all over them. Fausto kept laughing because it tickled. They were both wearing bungee