Later that evening, Mateo did the dishes without being asked and made sure his opened math book was in full view. He waited until Mamá was relaxing with a cup of her favorite coffee. Just before she flipped open a magazine, he said, “So, there’s this skating thing coming up that Ted wants me to help him with.”
“Ted is your boss, sí?” said Mamá.
“Right.”
“Then you should help him.” Mamá studied the celebrity on the cover of her magazine.
“It’s down in Rollins.”
“What is in Rollins?”
“The meet, Mamá.”
“Who are you going to meet, Mateo?”
This conversation was getting nowhere fast. Mateo pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat on it backwards. Mamá raised an eyebrow. He got up and sat on it the right way. “Okay, Mamá, here’s the deal. I’ve been skating, and I’m getting pretty good at it. Ted wants me to compete at this rink in Rollins.”
Ava came into the kitchen at that moment. Her eyes got wide. “You’re going to compete?”
“Nothing big, just a local event this weekend.”
“Local?” said Mamá. “Rollins is not close. How would you go there? What would you do there?”
“Skate. Against other kids.”
“Oh my gosh,” squealed Ava. Her hands flapped in front of her while her excitement took hold. Then her face fell. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner, Mateo?”
“It’s no big deal,” he said. “I was working up to it.”
“I wonder if I could get off work,” said Ava. “Can you, Mamá?”
“Us go to Rollins, too?” Mamá shook her head. “Too short notice. Besides, how would we get to Rollins?”
“No room in Ted’s car,” Mateo said, trying to hide his relief. He felt bad not mentioning that it was on Sunday, not Saturday, but he wasn’t ready to have anyone see him make a fool of himself.
Ava recovered from her disappointment and bounced back to her excitement mode. “You’re going to need a costume to wear,” she shrieked.
He’d been dreading that part. Ted and Hayley had talked about it the last time they’d met. And he’d seen pictures often enough. Even the boys usually wore stretchy pants and bright sparkly tops.
“I know just the thing,” Ava called over her shoulder as she raced off toward her room.
“Not so fast,” said Mamá. “Costumes? I want to know more about this.”
“You know, Ma. It’s like the ice skaters in the Olympics.”
Mamá smiled and her eyes lit up.
“Well, on a much lower level,” Mateo added quickly.
A minute later, Ava was back with a shiny gold blouse. He shook his head. “No way!”
Mamá didn’t look so pleased anymore, either.
Ava held the shirt under Mateo’s chin and measured it against him. “It’s a little wrinkled, but otherwise it will look great.”
“This is yours!” he croaked.
“So what? No one will know.”
“The buttons are going the wrong way. Remember you told me all about how boys have buttons on the right and girls on the left?”
“Mateo will not like kids to tease him,” said Mamá.
Ava sighed. “Like anyone would ever notice.”
She had a point. He doubted most of the kids he knew were up on button history. T-shirts and sweatshirts were the same for everybody.
“So, this with your black band pants will work,” said Ava.
“I’m not sure if those pants still fit,” he said.
“They’ll fit,” said Ava. “You haven’t gotten much taller since then.”
Mateo made a face. Geez, thanks for the reminder that he was still short. He had been in band the previous year for exactly two weeks when they needed someone last minute to play the cymbals. He had had the music teacher for homeroom and happened to be sitting right under his nose when the problem came up. For that reason, Mateo won the task. One of the other band members had black pants he’d outgrown, and since Mateo only ever wore jeans, he’d inherited the pants. After crashing the cymbals at the wrong moment in the middle of the wrong song, his band career ended as quickly as it had begun. So, yeah, that’s why he owned band pants. He sure hoped a different kind of crash—on skates—wouldn’t end his latest activity.
He took the shirt with a sigh. At least it didn’t have ruffles.
Before the night was over, Mamá wrote a note that said he could participate in the meet. “Only because school has not started,” she said. “This cannot get in the way of studies.”
Mateo gave her a smooch and told her, for the tenth time, not to worry.
Chapter 15
By the time Ava realized which day his event was on, she’d already made plans to go off with her girlfriends after church. Anyway, it would have been weird for her to squish into Ted’s car with the rest of them, rationalized Mateo.
Ted, Alex, Hayley, and Mateo met at the rink at eight on Sunday morning to ride down to Rollins together. They planned on arriving a half hour early to warm up.
Hayley lugged her costume in one of those big dry-cleaner bags while her skate bag swung from her other arm. “My parents usually come to all the meets, but last minute they had to visit my great aunt in the hospital,” she said.
Mateo shrugged, not sure how sympathetic to be.
“Her pacemaker’s acting up. But she usually bounces right back.”
“Too bad,” he said. “I mean, about the pacemaker. Good about the bouncing back part, though.”
Hayley gave a small grin and nodded.
Alex wore a green two-piece outfit. He didn’t look any more thrilled than Mateo was to be dressed up. Mateo held his breath that Alex wouldn’t spot his girly blouse, but it seemed to pass the test.
“What’s with the backpack?” said Alex. “You got a costume change?”
“Nope.” He turned to watch Ted pull into the parking lot. It wasn’t any of Alex’s business what he had in his backpack. Mateo had packed as much food and energy drinks into his bag as could fit. Trouble with day-long events was that he always had to lug his own snacks. Other kids could just grab a pizza or whatever, but he needed gluten-free food. Plus, the sweatshirt he’d worn to hide his girly shirt during the bike ride over to the rink was stuffed in there, too.
Mateo swung his backpack off his shoulders and said, “Sweet car,” as he climbed into Ted’s big Buick. He’d seen it parked outside the rink all the time, but he’d never looked inside. The seats were smooth tan, probably leather. Alex sat up front with his grandfather, and Hayley and Mateo sat in back.
“Are you nervous?” she said after they’d been riding a while.
Alex turned around and threw him a smirk. He’d just made the age cutoff to be still in the younger boys’ group and, even though Alex acted like he didn’t care and didn’t put much practice in, Mateo figured he’d probably easily place a win against the little kids.
“Nah,” he said to Hayley. Now if Mateo were a more truthful kind of guy, his answer would have been way different.
Hayley smiled. “It gets easier. It will be good to try out the rink ahead of time.”
He hadn’t considered that rinks could be much different from each other. What if it was a strange shape or had a weirdly textured floor?
“All you’ve got to do is focus on your routine,” said Ted, glancing in the rearview mirror at him. “Hey, have you got your skates?”
Panic washed over him. He always left his skates at the rink and never worried about carrying them back and forth.
Ted chuckled. “I tossed them in the trunk last night.”
“Thanks,” Mateo mumbled. Good thing that Ted was on top of things or he’d be out there in the center of the rink in his holey socks.
Not long after that, they hit a traffic jam. When cars f
inally started moving again, Ted compared his watch to the car clock. “Looks like we’ll just make it.”
“Will we still get to warm up?” asked Mateo.
“What’s that?”
He repeated his question loud enough for Ted to hear with his good ear.
“We’ll be cutting it close,” he said.
“It’ll be okay,” said Hayley. “Rollins is pretty typical.”
Forty minutes later, they were further south of Rabchester than Mateo had ever been. He was used to the emptiness of Roller City, but when they entered Rollins Roller Waves, there were skaters everywhere. Before they’d gone three steps, a tall, thin guy cut across their path. He looked confident and even pleased to be wearing a flashy red two-piece suit. Mateo wondered if he’d be competing against him. He quickly picked out a few other boys, too. They all seemed older, more experienced than he. Heck, like Hayley, some of these kids could have been skating ever since they’d learned to walk. He glanced down at his gold shirt and, with a sigh, tucked the tails into his dork band pants.
The place shook with loud music and shouting voices. Lights flashed on a floor that looked shinier than theirs. He wondered if that meant it was more slippery, too. He’d know soon enough, since it wouldn’t be long before he was out there doing his thing.
Mateo got his skates on and then rolled down the length of the room along the lane that circled outside the rink, as a quick way to warm up. It took a while to get back to where he’d started because more skaters were filling in the narrow area—skaters of all sizes wearing flashy suits and nervous smiles. He figured knocking somebody down wouldn’t be the best way to start the day.
Mateo spotted his group gathered around Coach Ted. He skated over and came to a stop about two feet from them. Nobody looked happy.
He took a double-take at Hayley’s tearstained face. “What’s up?”
“Someone stole my skates!”
“What?” he looked at her in disbelief. “But we just got here. Are you sure?”
“I put them right in front of that seat.” Hayley pointed to a nearby bench. “And then while I was over here talking, they disappeared.”
Ted stooped down and began peering under benches, as he moved towards the viewing area.
“Maybe it was another bench?” suggested Mateo.
“Nope.” Alex shook his head. “They were right next to mine.” He rolled a few feet to his left. “Right here.”
Hayley nodded in agreement. Her chin quivered. Mateo moved away from her to get a different view. The place was mobbed. Maybe someone had picked them up by mistake. He looked across the way, studying skaters from opposing teams. Nobody had more than the skates they were wearing and he didn’t see a single pair with pink wheels.
As he scanned the area, he noticed a girl looking at Hayley. She seemed familiar to him. He skated up to the edge of the rink until he could get a better look at her. Underneath the slicked-back hair and makeup he recognized her face, but at first couldn’t place her. Then it hit him. It was Mick, a girl who used to be in school with Ava, before she moved.
Mick used to be pretty tough, but here she was—all cleaned up, from her fancy blue wheels to a little crown thingy on her head. What was she doing here? Ha, she’d probably ask him the same thing. Obviously, like Mateo, she was an undercover skater. Or maybe with her, it was no big secret—just news to him. Mick could have been skating for years; maybe she even started at Roller City before she moved. He went back over to Hayley. She was holding a pair of gray rental skates.
“Do you know that girl in blue over there?” He nodded to the far end of the room.
Hayley squinted in her direction. “Oh, yeah, that’s Michaela Greenwall.”
He nodded. “How come she keeps looking at you?”
Hayley looked at the girl again and frowned. “I guess she considers me the competition. I beat her out by three points last year and she said really mean things to me after the meet.”
“Could she have taken your skates?”
“Why would she want mine? She has her own.”
“Maybe she likes yours better. I mean, the skates she’s wearing don’t have pink wheels, but still, she might have hidden them somewhere.”
Hayley wasn’t buying his story. “I don’t think we’re the same size.”
The overhead speaker system came on with an explosion of noise and then a deep voice. “If anyone has found a pair of white, Riedell figure skates with hot-pink wheels, please come to the main desk.”
Mateo glanced at Mick to see if she reacted to the announcement, but from such a distance her face appeared blank.
An enormous rink guard moved back from the microphone at the front desk. Then he walked towards the pinball area, his head spinning left and right as he looked for the skates and probably anything else that might be going wrong.
Mateo turned back to Hayley and kept his voice low. “If you don’t have your skates,” he looked down at the borrowed pair Hayley carried, “your special skates—maybe she thinks you won’t skate as well.” He said this last part carefully. They had to keep positive before hitting the floor.
“You’re right.” Hayley scowled down at the skates in her hand. “These skates aren’t good at all.”
Mateo continued to watch Mick while he talked with Hayley. Her team’s lockers seemed to be off to the left of the floor, past a row of fast food machines. Maybe she’d stuck Hayley’s skates into one of the lockers to prevent her from competing.
A different voice from the overhead speakers announced the first competition. Mateo kept his eyes on Mick, while one little girl after another slowly went around in perfect circles, competing for the best figures. There were five contestants. By the third one he’d slipped away and headed for the lockers. He grabbed his hoodie on the way. With the dark sweatshirt covering his gold shirt, he wouldn’t be as noticeable. He scanned the room again and then ducked into the locker area.
He took a last glance at the wide entranceway before he began investigating open lockers. Most weren’t locked because nobody wanted to waste a buck to bolt them. He flipped each one open and shut, one after the other. They had the usual stuff in them: shoes, bags, sweatshirts. A couple were filled with girly stuff—make-up and accessories. Mateo was feeling creepy and ready to give up when he flung open one last locker, over on the end in the bottom row. There were the skates—Riedells with hot-pink wheels; he’d know them anywhere. Feeling smug, he grinned—talk about easy-peasy. He reached in and grabbed Hayley’s skates.
At the same time, the overhead florescent lights flashed on and the huge guy he’d seen earlier came into the locker area. He wore a Rollins Roller Waves polo shirt with a skate emblem over the pocket.
“Can I help you?” the man said.
“Uh, no, I’m all set.” Mateo held Hayley’s skates low.
“Aren’t those the missing skates?” He shifted to block Mateo’s exit. “What are you doing with them?”
“Oh, these? Uh, I’m returning them to Hayley.”
“Are you the one who took them?”
“What?” He studied the guy’s face a minute, watched him chew his gum. “No,” Mateo stammered. “No, I’m returning them.”
The guy nodded, but Mateo could tell he didn’t believe him. Between his beat-up sweatshirt, wild hair, and guilty expression, Mateo couldn’t blame the guy.
The rink bouncer cleared his throat. “I’ll walk over with you.” He stayed by his side, so close that Mateo could smell his spearmint gum. When he tried to move away, the big guy grabbed a clump of sweatshirt from his shoulder.
Hayley saw them coming and her mouth formed a perfect Christmas caroler “O.” “Mateo! You found them!”
“You know this kid?” said the rink worker. “He was in the locker area.”
Mateo could feel his face going red. He squirmed a little, hoping to disconn
ect from the guy and wishing Hayley weren’t watching him being dragged along by his shirt.
“Mateo’s on our team,” said a loud voice. It was Ted coming up behind them. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d let him go this instant.”
The guy released his grasp. “You sure? I could take him down for questioning?” He seemed itching for action, like this was the biggest event in his rink-guarding career.
Ted moved a step closer and at full height came eye to eye with the other tall man. “That won’t be necessary.” Mateo had never seen Ted look so stern. “You’re done with this young champ.”
Mateo shrugged out of his sweatshirt and tried to look the part of a teammate and skate-finding hero. By then, Hayley had moved in beside them, as well.
The big guy eased away.
“You okay?” asked Ted.
“I’m good.”
Ted shook his head and threw a last glare at the rink cop’s retreating form, then he looked back at Mateo. “Thanks for finding the skates.”
“Yes, thank you so much!” said Hayley. She tilted her face up and smacked one on his cheek.
“Okay then.” Ted let out a deep breath. “Only two more sets before you’re on, Mateo.”
“On?” Mateo’s voice cracked. He hadn’t recovered yet, was still back getting that fleeting kiss. His face felt hot and tingly where Hayley’s lips had been.
“Yes, on,” repeated Ted. He shook his head again as though to clear it. “Mateo, remember, nothing else matters out there.” He put his hand on Mateo’s shoulder. “Except that you’re a good skater, a great skater. You got that?”
Mateo nodded slowly. He bit his lip as he held back a rush of emotions. Between Ted’s concern and Hayley’s kiss, too much was happening at once.
Ted got them registered while Hayley put on her skates and Mateo adjusted his laces. His event was fourth on the schedule. As he watched the competition before his, he felt his nerves kick in. Seeing how everyone gawked at the skaters, picking at their every move, made him wish he’d never
Roller Boy Page 8