Roller Boy

by Strykowski, Marcia; Strykowski, Marcia;

  He dusted off the knees of his jeans. She had a point there. Mamá was right about another thing, too. It was next to impossible to picture her at a skating rink. She never liked crowds and loud music. And this time the meet would be on a Saturday, when she and Ava both worked. Besides, they didn’t have a car, and taxis were a rip-off.

  “We could take the subway,” said Ava, still planning.

  “The subway doesn’t go that far out of the city.”

  “Where is it?” Ava asked.

  He shrugged. “I’ll be riding in Ted’s car. There’s no room for any more people.”

  Ava groaned and let out a big sigh. “I wish I had a car. Or at least a driver’s license.” She sighed again at the hopelessness of it all. “Do you think they’ll film it? I mean, like the whole meet?”

  “Yeah, probably.” He tossed the tickets onto Mamá’s pile of junk mail and went into the kitchen. All this skating he’d been doing gave him the appetite of a gorilla. As he opened and closed cupboard doors, his mood sank and he realized how much he’d wanted to have his family at the meet, but it wasn’t going to happen.

  Mateo continued to favor his good leg, stretching the sore one a little bit more each day until it felt practically normal again.

  As he expected, Mateo couldn’t sleep the night before the meet. Weird, just like with the last meet. The humongous store sign from the next block over must have been ready to run out of juice. Rather than the usual steady glow, it kept blinking. He’d never had a problem—heat, noise—nothing ever bothered him before while he tried to sleep. It seemed only skating meets could keep him awake. That night should have been easy—nice and cool, not too many trucks and sirens going by—but no, instead he lay sprawled out across the bed, trying not to see the irritating nervous twitch of the neon sign as it flashed onto his eyelids. He lay there like there was no tomorrow. Except there was. Finally his eyelids grew too heavy to ignore and he dozed. A moment later, or so it seemed, his alarm buzzed him awake again.

  He leaped out of bed and began to creep around while he got ready, so as not to wake Ava and Mamá. He could never understand why some people chose to get up at the crack of dawn. His brain felt like a truck had run over it after his restless night. But they’d decided—Ted, Hayley, Alex, and Mateo—to get an extra-early head start. That way they could do a dry run of their routines on the foreign floor before everyone else arrived.

  He was in the kitchen stuffing in breakfast when Ava joined him. “What are you doing up already?” he said.

  “I happened to wake up.” Ava eyed him curiously under the table. “Stand up, let me look at your outfit.”

  He stood.

  “That’s what I thought,” said Ava. “Your pants are short.” Then she laughed. “You’re finally getting taller, little bro!”

  “I am?” Mateo looked down to see his socks showing below his pants. They didn’t seem like they’d shrunk otherwise. He grinned. Maybe all this exercise was finally making him grow. “But are they too short?”

  Ava shrugged. “Too late to worry about it now.”

  “Well,” he said, “I do have a backup pair. Ted gave me some from a box of old costumes he keeps at the rink, but I liked my old ones better.”

  He went to his room, rummaged around a little until he found the new pants, and soon remembered why he didn’t like them. But he changed into them anyway, and then returned to the kitchen. He pinched a handful of black fabric. “They’re loose and stretchy.”

  “Except for the face you’re making, you look great now,” said Ava. “You do, I promise. Quit making faces.”

  He peered out the front window and saw the glow of parking lights from Ted’s big Buick down below in the street. “Time to go then,” he said.

  “Best of luck, Mateo,” Ava said. “I wish I could be there to cheer you on.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “You’ll be super.” Ava got busy with her scrambled eggs while he unlatched the door and slipped quietly down the stairs.

  Chapter 24

  It took about two hours to ride down to Bellingham for the Regionals. Even with leaving early, a traffic tie-up slowed things down through the heart of the city.

  They sat in the car the same as last time—Alex up with Ted and Hayley back with Mateo.

  “Is your leg okay?” she asked.

  He nodded. “So far, so good.”

  By the time they finally reached their destination, Mateo couldn’t believe how far apart some of the houses were, almost what farm country must be like. They’d made good time with close to an hour to warm up and try out the floor.

  The rink looked amazing. Mateo was glad the floor ended up being pretty similar to theirs—smooth wood. Some rinks were made of concrete and he’d heard they could be hard to get used to. He slipped into his skates and took a few spins around. The floor felt good—not too different at all.

  He continued to tug at his stretchy dork pants, but otherwise felt pretty good. He could extend his sore leg out full length now. He wore the shiny gold shirt of Ava’s again and Hayley, coincidentally, already owned a gold skating outfit, so their matching colors would look good for the tango number.

  Mateo was no fool and knew that Hayley pulled the weight of their routine. She made him look better than he was. Somehow, she brought out the best in him, gave him confidence.

  As the arena filled with spectators and the first events were announced, the smell of junk food drove Mateo crazy. Luckily, he’d brought plenty of his own. He went over to his bag to sneak a snack. When he’d finished eating, it was almost time for the tango.

  The first pair up in their event looked as though they were pushing the limits of the twelve-to-sixteen-year-old cutoff. Geez, how old were they? Mateo wondered. They, along with another couple, were on before Mateo and Hayley and there would be one final couple after they’d skated as well. Silently, from the sidelines, he and Hayley watched the impressive routines. Unlike the local meet, results for events at this level wouldn’t be posted until the whole program was completed.

  Before long, Hayley’s and Mateo’s names were announced. They skated out together, hand in hand, circled once, and then took their places back to back at one end of the rink. The tango music began and they were off, gliding from one cross roll to the next. Mateo knew Hayley could have gone faster, but they kept to the slow timing they’d practiced for all these weeks. There would be less chance of messing up that way. During the second lap he stumbled for just a second and felt the panic rising. But then he told himself: You’re a skater; you can do this!

  Meanwhile, Hayley kept them in time. Although he was shaking by the time they took their bows, Mateo knew they’d done well and, most importantly, they’d gotten through without any major errors, except for his one tiny slip-up. Best of all, his ankle felt as strong as if it had never been twisted.

  “Nice job, kids,” said Ted, while Hayley got swallowed up by her parents’ hugs.

  Mateo shrugged, unsure.

  “Mateo,” said Ted. “Trust me, you did good. Your routine might not have been as fancy as that older team, but you certainly made a great showing for your first event of this kind.”

  Mateo nodded and moved over to a window. If only he could steady his legs, make them stop shaking, maybe he could get through his solo routine as well.

  Chapter 25

  About twenty minutes before Mateo’s solo event came up, he got antsy. He rolled back and forth alongside the rink wall, glancing at the audience now and then. So many people. Didn’t matter though—nobody he knew. But, just for the heck of it, he scanned their faces.

  Halfway down the stands about six rows up, a waving hand caught his eye. Was he seeing things? It was Ava! And holy guacamole, right next to her was a face he knew better than his own. Mamá sat there straight and square in her special-

  occasion wool coat with her big
pocketbook perched on her lap. Mateo broke out into a sloppy grin and waved back, unconsciously moving toward them.

  Ava pointed him out to Mamá, who nodded back prim-lipped. Ava turned to her left and he realized Jason was beside her. And Mike, next to him. His friends were here! He couldn’t believe it. Ava stood up and came down the steps to the edge of the rink. Mateo skated along the lane that circled the outside of the rink and tried not to crash into spectators lined up in the viewing area.

  “We all came in a limo!” Ava shouted across to him before he reached her.

  “Really?” He couldn’t stop grinning. “Cool.” He glanced beyond her. Mamá still sat, waiting to see what would happen next. Jason and Mike nodded and smiled at him. He beamed back.

  Ava’s face crumpled. “Did we miss your event?”

  “One of them, but I’m going on again.”

  “Yippee.” Ava did a little dance.

  “What about your job?” he called out to Mamá. He couldn’t believe she was really here.

  “She told Dr. Miglione about your meet,” said Ava. “Pat was listening in, like she always does, and swapped days.

  He was amazed. Mamá’s co-worker never wanted to switch days. He grinned up at Mamá.

  Mamá continued the story from her seat. “No work today. I am here to see my bebé.”

  “That’s great, Ma.” He laughed. Several people sitting in front of Mamá swiveled their heads around to see who was speaking in broken English. But he didn’t care; it was cool having his family and friends here. Here for him. Ava gave him a good luck hug. He nodded at the guys and then went over to where he needed to be to enter the rink for his performance.

  He took a deep breath, long and slow. Despite the shock of now having a familiar audience, his nerves started to settle down, his legs felt solid, and he was ready to show off all his hard work.

  He watched a husky kid do his routine, the first entry in Mateo’s set. He was a strong skater, but not as flexible as Mateo. After a minute, he realized he was the same guy as the one who had participated in the local meet a few months earlier—the one who always looked like he was enjoying himself. Thinking of this made Mateo wonder where that other guy was, the guy who had taken first place. Maybe he’d moved up into an older group. There were five boys in their category and Mateo was last. The three kids in the middle weren’t bad and he wondered if he was good enough to beat any of them.

  “Good luck, Mateo,” said Hayley coming up beside him with a big smile.

  “Thanks, I’ll need it.”

  “Just ignore it if you see any flashes while you skate. My family is going crazy taking pictures. I was afraid they’d blind you during our routine.”

  “So that’s what all those sparks were. No problema.” He glanced away and then pulled his eyes back and swallowed. “My family’s here, too.”

  “Cool,” said Hayley. “That’s great. Knock ’em dead.”

  Mateo continued to watch the skater ahead of him. He couldn’t wait to get out there. Weird how life could change so fast. Not too long ago, he was hiding his skating hobby, keeping to the shadows at the rink. But no more. The way he felt today he wouldn’t mind if he and Hayley had their picture splashed all over the place. Maybe someday they’d be on a big poster on a wall at the rink, like the National Champions picture Ted had posed for ages ago. Years from now, some kid would look up at the poster and say, “Hey, who’s that?” And Mateo would say, “That’s Hayley Nickerson, and the kid, well, that guy is closer than you realize.” He chuckled to himself and then went to line up at the entrance, feeling strong.

  When it was his turn, his name was announced and he could hear cheering from both sides of the rink—Hayley’s group as well as his own. He stood in the center of the floor, aware of the crowd of people watching. The first notes of the Batman theme music started, and Mateo forgot everything except skating. He whirled, twirled, and jumped better than he ever had. There might have been one beat he messed up on, but it didn’t matter. He knew those he wanted to impress most would never have caught the nearly invisible mistake.

  After he finished, he zoomed off the rink and over toward the stands to the sounds of clapping. He’d done it. His routine was over and this time he’d gotten through without falling.

  He rolled over to where his fans were sitting. Mamá stood up. Uh oh. Her face was twisted into a weird expression. He’d never seen her cry in public before, yet tears were streaming down her face as she clumsily made her way down the bleachers. Her big pocketbook was stuffed under one arm, while the other guided her from one rung to the next.

  Mateo helped her step off the bottom row and then they moved a few feet over, so as not to block those watching the next competitor.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked Mamá, the magic of skating forgotten.

  “Mi bebé, you were fantástico,” she said between sniffs. “I did not know. I am caught off guard. I thought you were doing this only for fun.” Mamá took a deep breath. “You have left me without air. I have tried hard to raise my niños on my own, never expecting anything more than…” Again she sobbed. Mateo put his arm around her quivering shoulders and let her cry it out.

  He looked up at the rest of them. Ava beamed from ear to ear. “Not bad, little bro!” she shouted. Next to her, Jason gave him a thumbs-up. Mike was grinning, too.

  He somehow got Mamá unattached and on her way back up to her seat. “You sure you’re all right?” he asked.

  “Estoy bien,” she said. “And very proud.”

  Mateo stayed with Hayley and Ted for the rest of the meet, but he kept glancing over to the bleachers. He couldn’t believe they were really here, that they had seen him excel at something.

  Finally, the results were posted. Seemed like ever since not making the baseball team, he was continuing to check out scoreboards. Except now he could find his name listed with the others.

  “Ha,” said Hayley, “that new little girl is something else. She whipped me in figures!”

  “Yeah, but you’re first in freestyle,” he said as her name was posted. Hayley was always first, so it was really no surprise. He read the other names. Looked like Mick hadn’t competed this time around.

  Alex got fourth in his category, but he didn’t seem to care one way or the other. Before Mateo could even say anything to him, he had returned to the pinball machines where he’d spent half the afternoon.

  Hayley turned around. “Your event just got posted, too, Mateo. Whoa, second place!”

  He stared at the board. Me, second place? He couldn’t believe it.

  “Wonderful,” said Ted. He wore a huge grin, as they continued to wait for the dance results to come in.

  “What’s taking so long?” said Mateo.

  “They don’t always get posted in order,” said Hayley. “Maybe there’s a tie.” She moved over to see better.

  All the other competitors were swarming around in front of the display board and Hayley and Mateo got pushed further apart. He moved away from the crowd to an open area. By then, Mamá, Ava, and the guys had reached him. They congratulated him with hugs and slaps on the back.

  He glanced over to the boards, wondering if they’d posted their tango event yet. That’s when he saw Hayley zooming towards him. Her shiny hair caught the light and her cheeks glowed. He took a step away from his family and he and Hayley locked eyes as she got nearer. He nodded and braced himself, catching her in a perfect lift, just like they were used to doing in their practice routine. He raised her high off the floor, her legs soaring out behind her.

  “We got third!” she cheered into his ear. He spun her around and then placed her by his side. As he did, he noticed Jason and Mike staring at them. They looked like twin muppets, both with their mouths open.

  “Ya know, I think I could probably skate,” said Mike.

  “I’m thinking of giving it a try, too,” said
Jason.

  Mateo snorted. “Hey, how did your ceremony go?” Then he turned to Hayley. “Jason and Mike are on our school baseball team.” He looked back at his friends. “They’re awesome players and got awards today.”

  “Cool. Congratulations!” said Hayley. She grinned at them, but it wasn’t the huge smile she always had for Mateo, the one that lit up her whole face. He reached out and held her hand.

  Alex moved closer to them. He was looking at Jason and Mike, like they were rock stars.

  “I’m going to try out for my team,” Alex said. “What positions do you play?” Mateo finally realized Alex was much more interested in baseball than skating.

  Jason talked to Alex about their team for a few minutes.

  “Can we drop you off somewhere?” asked Mike to all of them.

  Mateo laughed again. “You might like this,” he said to Hayley. “Mike’s got quite the ride.”

  Hayley looked at Ted, who had come up to stand behind Mateo.

  “I heard you,” he said. “Go ahead, kids. Works well for me. Alex and I can go straight to my daughter’s home, rather than back to the rink.”

  “Great,” said Hayley. “I’ve just got to find my parents and let them know.”

  Mateo took a last look around the rink. It was hard to believe how much could change in less than a year. Who knew, back when he’d started his first roller-skating class that he’d ever get this involved. Guess he could say winning Ava’s crazy raffle had changed his whole outlook on life. His whole life. All because the door closed with the baseball team and opened onto skating.

  After Hayley got back, he followed the others outside. Despite a light drizzle coming down, he walked slowly as he thought about all that had happened.

  “Let’s go, Roller Boy,” said Jason, holding the door of the limo for him.

  Mateo laughed and climbed into the back seat between Jason and Hayley. Mamá sat up front and Mike and Ava sat in the middle row. Further and further into the city they rode until every sidewalk, curb, and storefront was as familiar to him as his own two feet.