by Elicia Hyder
“I know it will be put to good use.”
He offered his hand, and I shook it. “Thank you for being a friend to my mother. It’s truly been a pleasure to meet you.”
Bloomington, Indiana, didn’t know what hit them when the Music City Rollers rolled into town. Our entire league showed up and took over the hotel. And most of us, at least the ones who were skating in the tournament, brought an entourage.
It took Kiara and me both to finish up the jerseys that morning. We packed up the very last one, and literally drove straight to the tournament. Thankfully, the hotel was dog-friendly, so Bodhi came with us. Kiara had even made him a bandana to match the team’s colors.
There was a note stuck to our hotel door when we checked in.
All Music City Rollers in the lobby at 8 p.m. for jerseys and team meeting. If you’re skating tomorrow—NO PARTYING TONIGHT.
Kiara ripped it off the door. “That doesn’t apply to me. Bring on the booze.”
“Did someone say booze?”
I turned and saw Garrett coming down the hall behind us. He was carrying a case of his brewery’s beer.
“Are you kidding me? Your kids are here,” I said, shaking my head.
He pointed the corner of the box at me. “Correction. My kids are bunking with Granna and Pops. I’m bunking with you. Hey, Bodhi.” He scratched my dog’s head.
“You’re sleeping in our room?” I asked.
“Oh hell no.” Kiara was shaking her head as we walked into the room.
He followed us inside. “You’ve got two beds. You don’t want me to sleep on the floor, do you?” He grinned and put the beer on the dresser. “Better yet, you don’t want me to sleep with one of your teammates, do you?”
“Oh my god.” I put down the box and my skates’ bag, then let Bodhi off his leash. I looked at Kiara for help. “Do you mind?”
She rolled her eyes. “I guess not. But he can sleep with you.”
“Girls night! Girls night!” Garrett chanted in a high-pitched voice while opening up a beer.
“You’re an idiot,” she told him. “Give me one of those.”
He handed her a beer, then flopped down on the bed where I put the box of jerseys. “Does your team have corporate sponsors? I feel like roller girls would draw in my core demographic.”
“You’re probably right. And yes, we do. Remind me and I’ll introduce you to Medusa. She works with all our sponsors.”
“Is she the chick with all the tattoos and the purple in her hair?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw her in the lobby. She’s hot.”
“I know. Don’t get any ideas.”
“I think I’ve met her before,” he said, raising his beer to his lips.
“Probably. She used to be a bartender.”
He nodded. “That would make sense. What time does this shindig get started?”
“The tournament starts tomorrow at eight,” I said.
“In the morning?” Kiara asked, her voice jumping up a few octaves.
“Yes, but my first bout isn’t until nine forty-five.”
“Oh, thank God,” she said.
“Garrett, what time is it now?” I asked.
He looked at the silver watch he was wearing. “Seven thirty-two.”
“Hey, Grace. I’m starving. Can we get something to eat?” Kiara asked.
“You guys can go. I’ve got a team meeting downstairs soon.”
“Mmm, roller girls. Maybe I’d rather stay here with you,” Garrett said.
I pointed at him. “You need to stop.”
Garret laughed and stood up. “Come on, Kiara. Let’s get some grub.”
“You buying?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m buying. Since I’m kicking you out of your bed and all.”
She followed him to the door. “I told you. You can sleep with your sister.”
“We’ll see about that. See you later, Grace!” Garrett called as they walked outside.
“Bring me back a burger or something!”
“You got it,” he replied as the door closed behind them.
I had just stepped into the bathroom to fill Bodhi’s bowl with water when someone knocked on the door. “Grace, open up!” Monica yelled.
I walked back into the room and pulled open the door. All my girlfriends were standing on the other side. Monica, Lucy, Olivia, and Zoey. They were all wearing their bras outside their clothes. Olivia held a pizza box. Lucy held a six-pack of beer.
“Happy tournament weekend!” Zoey announced as I moved aside for them to come in.
Monica greeted me with a hug. “We just bumped into your brother in the hallway. I canceled your burger order, and he yelled at me about our beer.”
I looked at the six-pack. “I can see why. What are you guys doing here?”
“Celebrating. Duh! It’s your very first bout against other teams!” Olivia said, putting the pizza on the bed.
Lucy passed the beer around to everyone. “We figured we wouldn’t have much of a chance to hang out tomorrow, so we decided to have our party in here tonight instead.”
“You know we have to be downstairs in about twenty minutes, right?”
Olivia cocked an eyebrow. “Are they going to present the jerseys without you?”
I laughed. “Good point.”
Monica rubbed her hands together, standing over the box. “Is this them? Can I peek?”
“Yes. But you have to let me do it,” I said, moving her out of the way.
She was hyperventilating. “This is so exciting.”
The jerseys were folded neatly inside the box with the numbers facing up. I searched through them until I found Monica’s. “Dr. Hooker,” I said, handing it to her proudly.
She squealed as she held it up in front of her.
“Oh my gosh, Grace. That looks amazing,” Zoey said with wide eyes.
“It feels amazing too. Check it out.” Monica handed it to her.
Zoey and Lucy rubbed the fabric.
I looked in the box and found Lucy’s. “Lights Out Lucy, here you go.”
She clapped and reached for it. “This doesn’t feel real.”
“I know, right?” Monica asked.
“And Chemosabe,” I said, handing Zoey hers.
Zoey covered her face with it. “But Grace, I’m not even skating this weekend! I love it so much!”
“You’ve certainly earned it, Zo.” I dug around in the box some more. “And last, but never least…The Prodigy.”
“What?” Olivia asked, her head tilting to the side.
I pulled out a T-shirt I’d made with her honorary derby name on the back of it and our logo on the front. I held it out of her reach. “Someday, I expect to make you an actual jersey.”
She laughed. “We’ll see.”
Monica let another squeal loose. I pulled them all in for a group hug, and Bodhi barked in the middle of us.
Monica, Lucy, and I skated out into the arena together the next morning. The three of us held hands. “Good luck today, my friends. I hope we all survive,” I told them with a laugh.
“There are so many people here,” Lucy said nervously.
Monica pointed across the room. “Look! There’s our group!”
My eyes followed her finger across the room until they landed on Bodhi. My brother was holding his leash. My mother waved. Hope and Gabby held up a sign. It had my name and jersey number.
I blew out a nervous sigh. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
We skated out to the track and began to warm up. The people in the stands cheered.
Monica skated beside me. “Don’t forget, when they introduce our team, your name is Britches Get Stitches. Say it with me. Britches Get Stitches.”
I shoved her sideways and laughed. “You’re a jerk, Dr. Hooker.”
She did a 360-degree turn. “I’m just looking out for you.”
“Grace!” A woman was yelling somewhere. “Grace!”
I looked in the direction of the sound. Near the
door, Kiara was waving her arm over her head. Her other hand was holding onto a man’s arm.
It was Jason.
“Holy shit.” I took out my mouth guard and hooked it on the front of my jersey.
Not looking where I was going, I slammed into the back of Goldie Knocks. We both went down in a tangled heap.
“Britches, what the hell?” she asked shoving me off of her.
“Sorry. My bad.” Several people around the track saw it and were laughing.
I quickly pushed myself up and skated toward the door. Kiara’s eyes were wide as I approached. “Look who I found wandering around the lobby,” she said, looking up at him.
I slowed with a T-stop.
“I’ll let you guys talk.” Kiara grabbed my elbow pad. “Good luck. With everything,” she added in a whisper. Then she scampered back toward the bleachers.
“Jason, what are you doing here?”
With his delicious smile cemented in place, he looked around the room. “I heard there’s some badass roller girl debuting today. You seen her?”
“I think there’s a few of them.”
“Hey, is that Bodhi over there with your brother?”
“Yeah. Clay gave him back to me.”
“Good. Glad the asshole finally came to his senses.”
“Me too. Seriously, why are you here?”
He reached for my hand. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“Jason, I’m obviously not so good at getting things right with us, so I’d rather not guess if that’s OK with you.”
“Grace, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since I saw you last week. Hell, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head for the past five months…or maybe even longer, if I’m being honest.”
“Longer?”
He looked down at the concrete floor. “I had planned to ask you out in college. Then everything happened with Mom, and Clay beat me to it.”
I bit down on the insides of my mouth. “Does Clay know that?”
“Clay doesn’t have a whole lot on his radar outside himself.”
He could say that again.
“Well, you’ll be glad to know all these years later that he finally apologized for keeping us apart. Though I kinda doubt he meant all the way back to college.”
“Clay told you then?”
I nodded.
“You know that was the only reason I stayed away, right?”
I turned my ear toward him. “What was the reason?”
“I only stayed away because Clay said he’d dropped the charges if I did.”
My eyes doubled. “He did what?”
His head pulled back. “You didn’t know?”
“He just told me he was sorry for trying to keep us apart. That’s it. He said he’d drop the charges if you broke up with me?”
“That was the gist of it. I went to his place the day you were arrested. I broke his nose, and we made a deal.”
“Why would you agree to such a thing?” I rolled back a few inches.
“Because I love you. If I can ever keep you from becoming a felon, I’m going to. Besides, I knew a little distance wouldn’t hurt us. If we kept going the way we were, we’d probably ruin everything.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
He pulled my hand, rolling me closer again and rested his forehead against mine. “Can we try us again?”
My heart was hammering in my chest. “Yes.”
With a relieved sigh, he pulled me into his arms. “I do love you, Grace.”
“I love you too, Jason.”
Then he kissed me, and somewhere on the other side of the room behind us, I heard a group of people break out cheering. Bodhi barked, telling me it was my people.
“May I have your attention please?” a familiar voice boomed over the loudspeaker. I turned to see Medusa in the center of our track holding a microphone. “The Music City Rollers seem to be missing a skater. Britches Get Stitches, please stop making out with your boyfriend and get your ass over here!”
We won our first bout against the Hotlanta Brawlers, 164 to 144.
We won our second bout against the Chi-Town Rollergirls, 112 to 108.
I had scored a total of sixty-eight points so far that day.
After a short dinner break, we returned to the arena to find out who we’d be playing in the championship bout, the Silicon Beach Babes…or Richmond. The score from their last bout was still on the screen.
Silicon Beach, 82.
Richmond Vixens, 209.
“Holy moly,” Lucy said with a sigh as we all stared at the board.
Monica nudged my arm. “Is that…?” Her question faded into a gulp.
There was a lone Richmond skater wearing the number 6VI6 circling the track. Her face was painted with a solid black stripe across her eyes. “Demoness,” I whispered.
“Why is she in uniform? She’s not a B-team skater,” Lucy said.
“Isn’t that cheating?” Monica asked.
Jason looked at me. “What’s the matter?”
I groaned. “We’re gonna get creamed.”
“Excuse me,” a woman said, walking up to us. She was wearing a Chi-Town jacket. “Are you Britches Get Stitches?”
“I am.”
She stuck out her hand. “My name is Bad Ghoul. I’m Chi-Town’s league president. I just talked to Susan about your team’s jerseys. She said you made them.”
“That’s right.”
“Everybody’s talking about them. They’re amazing. Do you do them for other derby teams?”
I smiled. “Possibly.”
“Here’s my card. Let’s talk sometime next week.”
“OK. Great. Thank you,” I said.
She waved as she walked off.
Lucy pointed at her. “You know, you could do T-shirts and jackets and lots of other stuff on that machine of yours. The new business could offer more than just jerseys.”
“You have a jersey business now?” Jason asked.
“Sparkled Pink is going to start offering athletic wear, so it seems,” Monica said.
“Not Sparkled Pink,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll start a completely separate clothing line. Thinking of calling it Lexceptional Ink.”
Jason’s head tilted. “Lexceptional?”
“It’s a long story, but now it looks like I’ll have plenty of time to tell you all about it.” I leaned in and kissed him.
“Music City!” Medusa yelled. “Locker room. Now!”
“Wish me luck,” I said.
He shook his head. “You don’t need luck. You’re a badass.”
“Thanks. Pray I don’t die.”
In the locker room, we all gathered around Medusa.
She paced back and forth with her hands on her hips. “It’s been a long day, ladies. It’s been a good day, but a long day. For some of you, this is the most roller derby you’ve played in your entire career collectively. You’re tired. You’re sore. Some of you are even injured.” She gestured toward Rocksee Rolls, who had suffered a busted lip in the first bout. “But this next bout is what you’ve been training for. This is why we’re here.
“I know some of you are freaking out right now, thinking, Oh my god we’re playing Richmond. Oh my god they’re letting Demoness skate…well don’t. The only people who matter out there are the girls standing around you right here, right now. You’re going to give every shred of energy you have left, not to Richmond—no, screw them. You’re going to give that last drop of sweat and blood to your sister. To your family. We are your family.
“You’ve already blown out two games tonight.” She held up two fingers. “Two games! And for some of you, this is the very first time you’ve played against another team. That’s incredible! That’s phenomenal!
“Well, listen up. You haven’t come this far to only come this far. You’ve got the heart to win this. You’ve got the skills to win this. You’ve got the balls to win this. Now let’s get out there and shut their shit down!”
Everyone clapped and cheered.
“Bring it in, bitches!” she yelled.
We all crowded in the center of the room and put our hands together in the middle. “On three!” she said.
Then we all yelled our team’s motto together.
“Be brave! Be strong! Be badass!”
“Call off the jam! Call off the jam! Call off the jam!” Medusa was screaming from our bench.
I double-tapped my hips, and the jam whistle blasted four times. Heaving and in pain, I skated back to the bench. I gave Lucy a weak high five as she skated by to replace me as jammer. Someone threw me a bottle of water, and I plopped down and ripped the star off my helmet.
I looked at the scoreboard. Richmond was up, 154 to 151. It was closer than any of us would have believed before the start of the bout. There were less than eight minutes left on the clock.
Sweat poured into my eyes, and I splashed my face with water, then dried it with the tail of my jersey.
Medusa’s hand came down hard on my shoulder. “Don’t get too comfy. You’re going back in.”
My head fell back toward the ceiling as I tried to catch my breath.
“Hooker, I want you on offense!” Medusa yelled down the bench. “It looks like Demoness is jamming again next, and Britches, we need points!”
No shit.
The jam ended, but not before the Vixens added seven to their score. 161 to 151. Richmond.
I skated back out, and Demoness lined up with me at the jammer line. On the starting whistle, we bolted forward and began fighting our way through the pack. We both made it out about the same time, and Demoness cut toward me. But Monica came from behind, intercepting her with a huge hit that sent Demoness flying out of bounds.
Screaming and laughing as the ref signaled I was lead jammer, I skated around the track.
Pushing my skates as hard as I could, I rounded the final turn before the pack. My blockers divided to allow me to pass. Then Monica skated like a bowling ball toward the Richmond blockers and busted them apart. I slipped through the center, claiming four more points.
With wild and flailing arms to get my attention, Medusa was striking her hips on the sidelines.