Kenzie Kickstarts a Team

by Kit Rosewater

  “Oh.” Shelly stared down at the floor. “Well, I want to be friends with everyone.”

  Kenzie’s heart sank. Having lots of friends didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world. But what if it meant no more Duo . . . ever?

  “First jam,” Mambo called. “Positions. Pack—go!”

  Kenzie turned away from Shelly and faced the track. She watched as the blockers lumbered forward.

  “Jammers—go!”

  The two girls on the jammer line charged into the group. Kenzie tried to picture herself as a jammer, breaking through the pack and scoring a million points. But in real life, getting by the blockers seemed impossible. Kenzie couldn’t figure out how anyone was supposed to pass that many people without being flung into the crowd.

  One jammer took a hip check and fell onto her knees. The other jammer nudged her way out of the pack. She pumped her arms and skated hard to loop around again. She passed one blocker before she tripped and fell over.

  Mambo held up a finger.

  “Points: one to zero. Second jam.”

  The girls got back into position.

  The more Kenzie watched each jam unfold, the more nervous she got about their own scrimmage. The jammer had to be lightning fast and super tough. Kenzie would hardly have time to be sad about missing out on the Dynamic Duo moves. She was going to be plenty busy staying alive on the track.

  Soon the scrimmage bout was over. Both teams had fallen a lot, but the score wasn’t very close: five to zero. Kenzie hoped she would score at least one point for her team, especially since Shelly named them the “Kenzillas.” Kenzie’s cheeks flushed as she imagined falling behind on every lap. What if she didn’t get ahead, even once? What if the jammer from the Cherry Pits ran right over her?

  Kenzie cringed. She needed to get this scrimmage over with before her imagination kept her from stepping on the track at all.

  After Mambo called the end of the last jam, she and the two other coaches huddled together on the top row of bleachers. They murmured to one another, then made a bunch of scribbles up and down their clipboards. Kenzie closed her eyes and clutched her knees to keep them from trembling. She felt a hand over hers. She wished Shelly would leave her alone.

  “Hey.”

  Kenzie opened her eyes. The hand wasn’t Shelly’s. It was Tomoko’s.

  “You’ll be great,” Tomoko told her. “You’re such a good skater. And we’ll be there to help you get through the pack. Promise.”

  For the first time since they arrived at the warehouse that morning, Kenzie’s chest felt a tiny bit lighter.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “OK, ladies,” Mambo said. She finished her last scribble with a flourish, then set her clipboard facedown.

  “Second scrimmage. Kenzillas and Cherry Pits, let’s go!”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Tomoko pulled Kenzie up to standing. Shelly and Jules checked each other's gear.

  “Camila?” Jules asked. “Are you OK?”

  Camila’s usually warm olive skin had gone pale. Even the shiny curls in her hair seemed deflated. Kenzie reached for a helmet and placed it over Camila’s head.

  “You’ll be fine,” Kenzie said. “I promise. Helmets and knee pads make it OK to fall.”

  Camila jerked her chin back. “But I don’t want to fall.”

  “Falling is great!” Jules said.

  “Just focus on skating,” Shelly said. “Tomoko and Jules and I will work on blocking. Kenzie, we’ll try to clear some spaces for you. Anything you want us to do?”

  Kenzie sighed. “Are you and Tomoko going to use our Dynamic Duo moves?”

  “What Dynamic Duo moves?” Tomoko asked. “Shelly only showed me how to pivot and hip check.”

  Kenzie turned to Shelly. “Really?”

  “The Duo moves are for you and me,” Shelly said. “We’ll break them out at another game.”

  Kenzie squeezed Shelly’s hand. “If we can still get in,” she said.

  “Oh, we’re getting in,” Jules said. She clipped her helmet and put her hand into the circle.

  “Heck yes we are!” Tomoko said. She threw her hand in next.

  Kenzie and Shelly looked at each other. Kenzie felt a smile creeping on.

  “Let’s win this, then,” she said.

  “Camila?” Shelly asked. “Come on! Team chant.”

  Camila sniffled as she stuck her hand in.

  “Gooooo, Kenzillas!”

  The girls rolled onto the track. The Cherry Pits were already in place. Kenzie skated behind the blockers, stopping next to a girl who was a whole head taller than her. Kenzie gulped. Maybe being short would help her squeeze through the pack, but how was she supposed to catch up with the other jammer in the first place? Her legs were twice as long as Kenzie’s!

  Tomoko smiled at Kenzie, then turned to the front. Someone in the main group let out a high-pitched squeak. Kenzie guessed it was Camila.

  “Pack—ready,” Mambo said.

  The eight girls in front crouched low. Kenzie took a deep breath. This was it. Her first real derby game.

  “Pack—go!”

  The blockers scrambled into motion. Kenzie balled her fists and closed her eyes. Whenever she imagined playing derby, she always saw hundreds of faces in the crowd. She could read the words on the signs as they waved. She could hear her name being chanted.

  But in real life, being on the derby track was way different. Even if there had been a huge crowd, Kenzie never would have heard or saw them. Instead, all Kenzie could hear was her heart thumping in her chest and her breath as it raced in and out of her mouth. All she could see was a flurry of wheels on the track.

  “Jammers—go!”

  Kenzie’s eyes shot open. She pumped her arms and kicked her skates out to the side.

  Don’t fall, she told herself. Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall.

  Kenzie and the other jammer zoomed forward. In just a few strides, the other girl slid in front. Kenzie could only see the backs of her skates as she worked to catch up to the pack. Kenzie groaned. Her worst fears were coming true. She wouldn’t even score one point by the time the scrimmage was over.

  “Incoming!”

  Shelly and Tomoko suddenly broke from the other blockers and pinned the Cherry Pits jammer behind them. The jammer swerved one way and then another, but Tomoko and Shelly would not let her through. Kenzie watched as a gap opened between two other girls.

  “Go! Go!” Tomoko yelled.

  Kenzie put her head down and barreled forward. She caught up to the pack and slipped between the Cherry Pits blockers.

  “Lead,” Mambo called as Kenzie broke out in front.

  A jolt of energy ran through Kenzie’s veins. She was the lead jammer! She could end the jam right now, before the other team had time to score. Or maybe she could earn some points herself!

  Kenzie bent her knees as she skated around a curve. She could hear the other jammer’s skates roaring behind her. She had to score fast, then end the jam before the Cherry Pits could get any points. She ducked under one blocker’s arm.

  Point!

  Shelly looked over her shoulder. She leaned into another blocker and cleared a path. Kenzie sailed past two more Cherry Pit blockers as the other jammer approached the pack.

  Point! Point!

  Kenzie touched her hip.

  “End jam!” Mambo called. She blew the whistle. “Kenzillas: three. Cherry Pits: one.”

  “Woo!” Shelly turned and gave Kenzie a high five. “Three points. You are on fire!”

  “I didn’t fall!” Jules yelled.

  Tomoko put a hand on Jules’s shoulder. “We’re so proud,” she said with a grin.

  The other girls turned to Camila. “Camila, you all right?”

  Camila looked frozen. She made a slight bob with her head. Jules tapped Camila’s fist.

  “You’re doing awesome!” she said.

  “Jam two,” Mambo yelled. “Positions.”

  Mambo blew the whistle once
, then twice as she pointed at the jammers. Right away, the other girl got ahead again.

  That’s OK, Kenzie thought. I’ll wait for my team to block her, then look for the gap.

  The jammer came up right behind Jules. Together, Tomoko and Jules swooped to the side to keep her from passing. Kenzie took a breath and hurtled forward. She passed the other jammer. The gap wasn’t as clear this time. Kenzie would have to weave between players if she was going to come out as lead jammer. Camila wobbled back and forth as she skated at the front of the group, blocking Kenzie’s way.

  “Hey,” Kenzie called. “Head right!”

  Camila held her arms out wide.

  “I can’t fall!” she cried

  “Camila, move!” Shelly said.

  Kenzie hung back. She didn’t want to slam into her own teammate. She felt something brush her arm. The Cherry Pits jammer had gotten by Tomoko and Jules.

  “Lead,” Mambo said.

  No, Kenzie thought.

  She raced through the pack, dipping out of Camila’s reach. The two jammers whipped around the loop. The Cherry Pits jammer was flying. Kenzie needed to score some points before the other girl called off the jam. She dove through the players.

  “End jam,” Mambo said. “Cherry Pits: four. Kenzillas: two.”

  The girls returned to the pack line.

  “Five to five,” Tomoko said, frowning. “We’re tied now.”

  “We still have another jam before halftime,” Shelly said.

  Jules turned to Camila. “What was that? You blocked your own teammate!”

  Camila’s eyes were glossy. “I wasn’t trying to do anything,” she said. “I just don’t want to fall!”

  Shelly sighed. Kenzie looked away. She never should have made Camila join the team. But it was too late to undo it now.

  Mambo’s booming voice rose above the others.

  “Jam three!”

  The whistle blew twice.

  Kenzie and the other jammer took off. Kenzie put every bit of energy she had into keeping up this time. The wheels on her skates barely touched the track. Both jammers reached the pack at the same exact moment.

  Kenzie grinned. She saw a gap open in front of her. She just had to make sure she got to it first.

  “Look out!” someone called.

  WHAM!

  Kenzie didn’t even turn her head before she landed smack on the floor. Jules was lying right beside her. Jules blinked at Kenzie and scrambled to her feet. She rushed to pull Kenzie up after her.

  “I—I didn’t mean to hit you,” Jules said, stuttering. “I was trying to hip check!”

  Kenzie nodded. There was no time to talk. The other jammer was far ahead of the pack and circling for another lap. Kenzie rushed after her, but she was only halfway around the track when Mambo blew her whistle.

  “End jam,” she called. “Cherry Pits: four, Kenzillas: zero. Total half score is nine to five. Ten minutes of halftime, then positions for jam four.”

  The whirlwind of skates slowed to a stop.

  Kenzie caught her breath and glanced over her team. Camila was already off the track. Shelly stood dejected in place. Tomoko stared at her laces. Even Jules had lost her bouncy energy.

  It wasn’t fair. They had worked so hard to get a group together, to come skate as a team on the track. Their chance to play derby was so close—they couldn’t lose it now. They just couldn’t.

  Kenzie gritted her teeth. She had a plan. The Kenzillas were going to come back from halftime and win.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The team sprawled out on the sidelines. Camila huddled on the bench. Tomoko bent over her knees, massaging her ankles.

  “Man, wearing these things will take some getting used to,” she said.

  “If we even make it into the league,” Jules said. She tightened one of her elbows pads. “I probably ruined everything.”

  Shelly sighed and took a swig of her water bottle.

  “You didn’t ruin everything,” Kenzie said. “It was a mistake. Mistakes happen all the time in derby.”

  “What are we supposed to do now, though?” Shelly asked. “I mean, you’re fast, but you’re not nearly as fast as the Cherry Pits jammer. No offense.”

  Kenzie dropped down on a knee and took off her wrist guards. She grabbed her own water bottle, then Shelly’s, then Tomoko’s.

  “What are you doing?” Shelly asked.

  “I’m making a game play,” Kenzie said. Her voice sounded stronger than she felt. “You’re right,” she told Shelly. “The other girl is faster than me. But we schooled them on the first jam. We can do that again. We just have to plan it.”

  “Maybe my plan is to stay on the sidelines,” Jules said quietly.

  Kenzie held her hand out.

  “Give me your water bottle,” she ordered. “You’re a part of this too.”

  Jules straightened up. She handed her bottle to Kenzie.

  “OK,” Kenzie said. She put three of the water bottles together on the floor, then moved her own bottle behind them, the way the girls set up on the track. “You guys are up here, and I’m behind you when the whistle blows.”

  Shelly crouched down next to Kenzie. “Right.”

  “I need help with stopping the other jammer and finding an opening. Shelly and Tomoko, you guys did a really cool move on the first jam. What was that again?”

  Shelly and Tomoko looked at each other.

  “Well,” Shelly said, “I tried to get in the jammer’s way.”

  “And then I kept the other team’s blocker from helping,” Tomoko said.

  “Great.” Kenzie pointed at Jules. “Remember how you tackled me in the last jam?”

  Jules dropped her head.

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

  “No, it was perfect,” Kenzie said. She smiled. “Just aim for a Cherry Pits blocker. I only need one gap to get through, so if you can hip check right before I get to you, I’ll be able to skate forward.”

  “Right,” Jules said. She pumped her fist.

  “And for Camila, I need you to . . . Camila? Hey, Camila!”

  Camila was staring into space. Her shoulders were shaking.

  “What?” she said, jerking her head.

  “Hand me your water bottle,” Kenzie said. “We’re going to bounce back from this.”

  “Five minutes!” Mambo called from the top of the bleachers.

  Camila stood up from the bench. She leaned toward her bag, arm outstretched. Suddenly her skates flew out from under her.

  Crash.

  “Oh no,” Shelly whispered.

  “Camila,” Tomoko said, “are you OK?”

  Camila was collapsed on the floor. She held her wrist close to her chest.

  “Is it sprained?” Kenzie asked. She reached for Camila. “Let’s see if you can turn it or not.”

  Camila pulled away. Her head sunk below her shoulders.

  “I can’t do this,” she sobbed. “I’ve always wanted to be tough. And to like sports. And to look cool. But I can’t. I’m not. I hate wearing skates and trying not to fall over. I hate it!”

  The rest of the group went silent. Kenzie winced, waiting for Shelly’s big “I told you so.” But when Kenzie looked back at Shelly, she didn’t see an angry face, or even an “I told you so” face. Instead, Shelly’s eyes were soft.

  Kenzie turned to Tomoko and Jules. Their foreheads were both creased with worry. No one was mad, Kenzie realized. They were sad.

  Camila buried her face in her hands. “My wrist hurts,” she moaned. She looked up at Kenzie. “You said elbow pads and helmets keep us safe, but my ankles hurt. And my feet hurt. Everything hurts.”

  Kenzie blinked. She had been so surrounded with her mom’s derby bouts and practices at Free Skate that she forgot that getting hurt in derby meant two different things. There was the bad hurt that came from falling wrong or slamming into the railing. But there was also the normal hurt from tying skates tight and giving hip checks. Derby wasn’t for people who didn’t
like getting hurt at all.

  Kenzie bent over and started unlacing one of Camila’s skates. Tomoko crawled to the other skate and helped loosen Camila’s foot out of it.

  “Let’s get Mambo over here,” Shelly said. “She’ll look at your wrist.”

  Camila nudged the skates away with her toe. “I . . . don’t want to play either way,” she said uneasily.

  “That’s OK,” Jules said. “Right?”

  “Right,” Kenzie said. She sighed. “I’m sorry for making you play, Camila. I should have listened to you before.”

  Kenzie stepped onto the bleachers.

  “Wait,” Tomoko said. “What happens now?

  Kenzie shrugged. “Mambo will look at Camila’s wrist.”

  “Yeah, but what about the bout? Do we really need five players? We can totally win with three blockers and a jammer.”

  “There has to be five,” Shelly murmured.

  Tomoko slouched over. Kenzie and Shelly nodded at each other. They didn’t have to crawl into the M&M brain to know what they needed to do.

  Jules patted Camila’s shoulder. “Dude. Sometimes it’s brave to back out.”

  Camila sniffed into her sleeve. She wiped her eyes. “R—really?”

  Tomoko nodded.

  “Better now than later,” Shelly said. “For real.”

  “Maybe we can still try out on our own,” Kenzie said encouragingly. “And then we might get put on the same team anyway. I’ll ask Mambo.”

  She turned toward the main bleachers before her smile slid right off. They wouldn’t all make it into the league on their own, Kenzie knew. It was too competitive. There were too many girls. The only chance the Kenzillas had had was as a team. And now their chance was gone.

  Kenzie was upset. But not with Camila. It was her own fault for rushing Camila into derby in the first place. Because of her dumb Hail Mary, Shelly and Tomoko and Jules were about to kiss their derby dreams goodbye. Just as they were figuring out how to kick butt on the track.

  Kenzie shook her head. Dreams or no dreams, they had to help Camila.

  She had to tell Mambo the Kenzillas were out of the league.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “One minute!” Mambo called, heading down the steps.

  Kenzie met her at the first row of bleachers.