Leave the Rings

Tally held her interface ring in front of her face.

Peris already had his off, stashed away in his backpack. But Tally eyed the ring with caution. Was this really a good idea? she thought, flipping the ring from one had to another.

"You ready yet?"

Peris was all smiles, excited about the new and thrilling adventure he and Tally were about to go on. He had taken his ring off without hesitation the moment the idea had gone between them to sneak away. Tally sighed. She loved their little expeditions, but was this going too far? Why couldn't Peris just be content in the greenbelt?

"I'm ready as I'll ever be," she replied with a sigh, and a little hesitation.

"Then let's go," Peris urged, ignoring her catution. "We only have so much time tonight."

---

She had to admit that sneaking around Uglyville was more fun then spying on it from the greenbelt. Tally and Peris were quietly tiptoeing around dorms, parks, and the spires that held the schools for the uglies. The sleeping uglies.

But they both knew that not all the uglies were asleep. Though all the lights in Uglyville were out, behind some of those windows and out in the woods were uglies who were very awake. And that was the danger. They had seen a group of them sneak over to New Pretty Town, to the fireworks, parties, and pretty faces they weren't allowed to join.

Her boldness getting the best of her, Tally wished they could have followed those Uglies to New Pretty Town. Neither she or Peris knew much about the town, other then that they weren't allowed in. And that they liked to stay up all night partying.

Peris was mumbling "This is boring," as they snuck past yet another huge, silent dorm.

"It was your idea," Tally reminded him. No way he was getting away with complaining when the whole thing was his idea.

"Yeah, I know," he snapped at her. He hated it when things went wrong. "I just thought it would be more...interesting over here." Glancing around in the darkness, nothing particularly fascinating caught his eye. So much for interesting.

Tally giggled. "Interesting? Come on, Peris. Everyone here is asleep!"

"But..." Peris was going to remind her about the uglies they had seen sneaking across the river when something distracted him. "They aren't." He pointed off into the darkness of dusk, but Tally could see what he was pointing at. There was another group of uglies out, and they were hoverboarding.

Tally vaguely wondered what time it was, but realized she couldn't check without her ring.

"We have to hide," Peris urged. "Those boarders are going to go right over us if we don't move!"

He was right, Tally saw. She noticed some bushes close by, and scrambled over to them as fast as her littlie legs could carry her. Flopping in the bushes, she made herself look as invisible as possible. Peris, on the other hand, tripped and took a hard fall as he tired to get out of the path. Stumbling towards the bushes where Tally hid, the uglies saw him.

Crouched in the bushes together, they heard the uglies whispering as they got closer, and Tally saw them slow to a stop where they had last seen Peris. Peris, though, was looking dejectedly at a scrape on his arm he had gotten from falling.

"You've got medspray, right?" He asked in a whisper.

"Shh!" Tally hushed him. "It's back with the rest of our stuff," she hurriedly assured him, while nervously watching the boarders coming to where they were hidden. Taking Peris's hand, she squeezed it tightly.

---

"So, let me get this straight. You're littlies."

Tally and Peris nodded.

"And you snuck into Uglyville."

More nodding.

"Wow." The uglies stared at them, arms crossed, with their hoverboards silently floating behind them. "Why? And how old are you guys anyway? Nine, ten maybe?"

Peris frowned. "I'm 12, and Tally is less then two months away from her 12th birthday too." Now Peris had his arms crossed as well, glaring at the uglies.

One of the uglies smirked at him. "Okay, you're 12. You just couldn't wait a few weeks or whatever until you guys got here to see what it's like?" Glancing at the other uglies, he whispered loud enough for Tally and Peris to hear "what dorks." The others grinned and nodded, as the ugly took another shot at insulting the littlies. "How about you guys just go back to your mommy and daddy, and leave the tricks to us uglies." He laughed again, then hopped back on his hoverboard. The others did the same. As they left, one ugly looked back and said, "At least you guys aren't completely stupid. Glad to see you were smart enough to take your rings off."

Tally and Peris stared as they hovered away, hardly believing what had just happened. She sent a questioning gaze into his brown eyes, and she got the same look back. "I think we should go back," She said quietly.

"This time, you're right," Peris sighed. Glancing at his arm, he frowned. "I really could use some of that medspray right now. Bad scrape, huh?" He grinned slightly, then pulled her in the direction of the greenbelt, and the safety of Crumblyville. The first notes of dawn were nearing, the dark sky beginning to lighten slightly, Tally noted.

She grinned. "I bet I can beat you back!" she challenged Peris, breaking into a quick jog.

"Can not!" He called after her, not bothering to keep his voice quiet as he ran to catch up with her. They laughed as he caught her, proving for the 100th time that he could run faster then Tally. Tally felt some of her anxiousness leaking out of her as they went back. Neither of them had been expecting, or particularly wanting, to have a run-in with any uglies. But going back to where they belonged, happy and laughing, Tally thought that finally, something that night was going right.

But when they got back to the greenbelt, Tally was horrified to notice that something was very wrong.

Their stuff was missing.