----- Wow thanks for all the supportive and hilarious reviews! I didn't think this story would be much of a hit, but I guess I was wrong! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! ----

Mindelle could see them better now, illuminated by the fading light of the sparkler. It was a group of them on hoverboards, maybe five or six uglies. In the night, with all of them clad in hoodies and jeans, she couldn't tell which were girls and which were boys. But it didn't really matter to Mindelle. Sure, she was incredibly questioning about what was going on, but she wasn't the type of girl who just approached people like that. She just wasn't bold.

She wasn't very far away from them at all. As the sparkler went out and darkness draped the group once more, Mindelle could still see the outline of their bodies. If she reached out a hand, she'd be able to touch the one that was off to the side, flinching at the flash of the sparkler.

Suddenly the one closest to her – he or she, Mindelle didn't know – went back just a little bit. Mindelle was startled, flung herself back, and gave out a frightened squeal as she fell of her hoverboard once more, capturing the groups' attention.

"What the hell was that?" "It's a girl on a hoverboard!" "I didn't notice her following us here," "I didn't even notice her at all!"

Once Mindelle regained her balance she had every eye staring at her. As she lifted her face up, a little bit of light from the moon trickled down, exposing her for what she was. "She's a pretty! A spy! Let's get out of here!" came the shout from someone in the group, and they all began to zoom away.

"Wait! I'm not a pretty, and I'm not a spy!" Mindelle yelled. She knew they heard but also knew none of them would stop. Why should they? To them, she was just a pretty, ruining their ugly fun.

But surprisingly, one did stop. Just long enough to jeer at her. "Oh yeah? So you're telling us you're an ugly? Nice mask you got there." "C'mon Oily-Face, let's go!" another ugly yelled out at him.

Only his question had caused some of the other uglies to stop, wanting to hear the answer. "Well…I'm not and ugly either but I haven't….I haven't had the operation." Mindelle sputtered. "How old are you, huh?" The ugly that had yelled at Oily-Face inquired. "Fifteen. No – actually sixteen. Today's my birthday."

"Happy birthday," came a voice from behind her. Mindelle whirred around, coming face to face with an ugly boy, who, Mindelle couldn't help thinking, was kind of good-looking for an ugly boy. All the same, she stumbled and slipped off her board once more.

"Aww Suck-Up look what you've made her do. Again!" someone complained. Getting back up, Mindelle couldn't help but think that all the ugly nicknames she had heard had been about appearance – never personality.

"Hey, just tell us the truth," an ugly girl said, coming up to Mindelle slowly so as not to frighten her off her board once more, "Are you an ugly or a pretty?"

Mindelle sucked in a breath, "Neither," she admitted, "I'm a natural."

There was a collective gasp and then someone snorted, "Figures Toothpick got the story out of her."

The uglies began to laugh then. Some chuckles and giggles before it just became a whole-hearted laugh. Mindelle looked down at her toes, too embarrassed and shy to do anything else.

"Hey," the ugly-but-attractive boy said to Mindelle, "Were you on the TV a while ago? One in a million or whatever? Mind…Minda?"

"Yeah, but it's Mindelle. Not Minda." She corrected before adding, "I didn't mean to…I mean I just…I tricked my board and then….you guys…" her voice faded away. "You aren't very good at boarding." A different girl pointed out. Now Mindelle could tell that there were five of them, two girls and three boys. So far the only names she had sussed out were Toothpick, Suck-Up, and Oily-Face.

"I know I'm not. Um, what were you doing? With the sparkler? Don't you think you could get…caught?" Mindelle ventured. "Well sure," Toothpick countered, "But haven't you heard about the Smoke? And David?" "David? What's that?" Mindelle was confused. "David is not a what," Oily-Face snapped, "David is a who!"

"Who?" Mindelle made a face, skeptical. Everyone laughed again. "I'm Boney. That's Suck-Up, the nice one. Oily-Face, the mean one. Toothpick, the only other girl. And Bruise." The other ugly girl introduced. "I'm Mindelle," Mindelle repeated in case she hadn't been heard the first time, "But who's David? And what kind of name is that, anyway."

Toothpick smiled and reached over to put a welcoming arm around Mindelle, "We have a lot to teach you," she said.

But the friendly arm just knocked Mindelle off her board once more, and the laughter began again.