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1 " No! It was not me. I did not touch him!" " But you know who did. You were there," Shanti whispered, her face cracking, revealing visions of death. Of loss. Of misery so intense it sucked all the happy thoughts from the room and corroded their memories.Sanders took a step forward even as the Captain did, not knowing exactly what to do, but wanting to cure this woman of that pain. The sight of it broke his heart. No one deserved to see a loved on killed, and then get confronted with it like this. No one. "
2 " Petra turned to her. " Everybody lies about who they are. Name one person here who isn't doing that and I will drop out right now!" Shanti felt that snake of truth coil around her legs, threatening to squeeze. " I didn't mean..." " No one ever does." Petra said, shoving the baton back at Shanti. "
3 " Weren't you wearing a purity ring when we got here? Aren't you supposed to be saving yourself?" Shanti asked. " Yeah," Mary Lou answered. " And then I thought, for what? You save leftovers. My sex is not a leftover, and it is not a Christmas present. "
4 " I’m not that kind of Indian,” Shanti said, her practiced smile never leaving her face, though it faltered just a bit, and in that slight wobble was something hard and angry, something that looked like centuries of colonial oppression boiling up into an I’m-going-to-kick-your-ass-in-this-pageant-and-then-take-over-all-your-beauty-out-sourcing-needs hatred. "
― Libba Bray , Beauty Queens
