Shelly Struggles to Shine

by Kit Rosewater

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-4197-4685-7

  eISBN: 9781647001834

  Text copyright © 2020 Christyl Rosewater

  Illustrations copyright © 2020 Sophie Escabasse

  Book design by Marcie Lawrence

  Published in 2020 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS.

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

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  For Cymeon, who drew the first “squiggle” of my life as a writer. Thanks, Mom.

  —K.R.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “They have to be here. They can’t not be here!”

  Fifth grader Shelly Baum leaned across the counter. She used her freshly licked-clean ice pop stick to point toward a pile of skates in the back corner.

  “There. With the tangled laces. Those are mine.”

  The woman behind the counter, known as Pearl Jammer on the roller derby track, turned toward the pile.

  “Those haven’t been cleaned yet,” Pearl Jammer said.

  Shelly sent a dragon breath of exasperation through her nostrils. “But I just wore them yesterday! If they smell like feet, it’s my feet!”

  Pearl Jammer sighed and fished out the pair of old roller skates like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. Shelly could even see the bunny ear squiggle in the long, looping laces.

  “These?”

  “Yep!” Shelly grinned. Her fingers fluttered as she reached for the skates. She checked for the spot of yellow paint on the back wheel, just to be sure.

  Shelly slipped her feet into the worn leather, then tugged and twisted and pulled the laces taut around her ankles.

  “You ready?” Shelly asked. She turned over her shoulder.

  Kenzie, Shelly’s best friend, plopped down on the bleachers next to Shelly. She stuffed her feet into her own pair of skates and took one last bite of her Sour Birthday ice pop—the Dynamic Duo’s favorite. Sour Birthday was a mix of birthday cake and vinegar flavors. It was a little sweet, a little sour, and a whole lot of wacky, which was a pretty good way to describe Shelly and Kenzie.

  “Ready,” Kenzie said as she clipped on her helmet.

  The girls bumped fists and slid onto the track for their usual warm-up. They had been going to Free Skate nights together at the Austin roller derby warehouse ever since they were in third grade. It had been a Dynamic Duo tradition until last month, when something incredible happened.

  “Wait up!”

  Tomoko waved from the side of the rink. Shelly and Kenzie stopped in unison.

  “Hey!” Shelly said.

  Tomoko pumped her arms until she was skating next to the others.

  A month ago, Shelly and Kenzie decided to turn their Dynamic Duo into a group of awesome skaters. Now, instead of practicing just with Kenzie, Shelly got to work on even more derby moves!

  Shelly let Tomoko and Kenzie get in front of her, then tried to zigzag between them to pass. Tomoko sprang across the track, switching her hips back and forth to keep Shelly behind her.

  “Jeez, Tomoko, you’re too good!” Shelly said. She brushed the sweat from her forehead.

  “Best blocker on the team!” Kenzie said. She nudged Tomoko and smiled.

  “What’s that about best on the team?”

  Bree, another member of the girls’ new group, shot across the track and nudged Kenzie’s side.

  “Hey friends.”

  “Hey Bree,” Shelly said. “Don’t worry, we’re talking about blocking, not jamming. You’re still the fastest.”

  Bree grinned and shot around the track, doing a whole extra lap around the others. She quickly caught up with the team again.

  Tomoko shook her head. “It’s like you have turbo jets in your skates!”

  Bree laughed. The four skaters clustered together, swerving around the corner by the front entrance.

  “Hi-yah!”

  Jules, the smallest and fiercest of the bunch, hopped onto the track and chopped the air in front of her as she made her way to the rest.

  Shelly looked at Kenzie and beamed. Not long ago, Tomoko, Bree, and Jules were nearly strangers. But now the five girls made up the Derby Daredevils, the raddest team in the Austin, Texas, junior roller derby league!

  Kenzie held up a hand.

  “Let’s practice!”

  Bree slipped behind the others and waited. Shelly, Kenzie, Tomoko, and Jules skated close together as the pack of blockers. Once the pack was half a lap ahead, Bree clack-clack-clack-ed around the track. As the Daredevils’ jammer, Bree’s job was to speed ahead and slip through the pack.

  Shelly listened as Bree came up from behind. While Bree worked on speed, Shelly and the other blockers practiced different moves to block the opposing team’s jammer and help Bree zoom through the pack. They had a list of game plays, which were pretty risky and only worked half the time. But the Daredevils were known for taking risks on the track.

  “The Flying Circle of Doom,” Kenzie whispered.

  Shelly, Tomoko, and Jules nodded. Kenzie was a great strategizer. She planned all of the team’s best game plays.

  “OK,” Kenzie said. “Get in formation!”

  Shelly tightened her fists and bent her knees, just like she always did. Maybe she wasn’t the best blocker, or the best planner, or the fastest, or the fiercest . . . but she definitely knew how to hold her ground.

  “Ahhhhh!”

  A squeaky voice sailed out of nowhere. Shelly’s knees buckled as a little kid crashed into her left leg. She wobbled back and forth.

  “W-whoa,” Shelly said.

  Two older boys zoomed past on either side. Shelly felt like she was in a wind tunnel. She leaned one way, then the other, then—

  CRASH!

  Shelly dropped onto her knees and rolled to the side of the rink. The team broke formation and surrounded her.

  “Dude,” Jules said, “that was a really good fall. And I should know. I fall a lot.”

  “Thanks,” Shelly groaned. She let Jules help her off the track. “Sorry I lost my balance.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Kenzie said. “We shouldn’t be practicing during Free Skate anyway.”

  The rest of the team stepped off of the track behind Shelly.

  “Dumb guys out there,” Bree said, “getting close to other skaters and freaking them out. They treat people like traffic cones.”

  Shelly nodded. If only those skaters knew what it was like to take a hip check on the track! She reached inside her bag and grabbed a pencil.

  “Skating around little kids is hard too,” Tomoko pointed out. She leaned over Shelly’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s that?”

  Shelly had her sketchbook open on her lap. She drew Kenzilla—Kenzie’s super-cool derby persona—with giant scaly skates shaped like dinosaur feet
.

  “That’s awesome!” Jules said. “You can show her stomping on all the other Free Skaters who knock into us.”

  Shelly smiled and drew stick figures skidding and sliding away.

  Kenzie pinned her elbows to her sides and wagged her hips as she stomped in front of the bleachers.

  “ROAR!”

  The Daredevils broke into laughter.

  “Perfect,” Bree said. “You gotta use that move in our next derby jam.”

  “I thought I heard derby talk.”

  The girls all twisted their heads toward the snack stand. Mambo Rambo, a junior league coach, stepped around the corner holding a bag of kettle corn.

  “What’s the point of Free Skate night?” Jules asked. “Just change it to an extra derby practice. Boom, everyone’s happy.”

  “Everyone?” Mambo swept her arm over the track. “Don’t forget the skaters outside of derby. They deserve to have their moment too.”

  Mambo took a seat on the bleachers next to Shelly. She smiled at Shelly’s picture, then turned to the whole group.

  “Y’all are looking pretty good out there,” she said. “Though, Jules, make sure you don’t swing your arms around. In a bout, that’s a penalty. You’ll end up sitting in the box.”

  “What’s the box?” Shelly asked.

  “It’s what happens when you break a rule,” Mambo said. She looked at Jules. “Like striking with an arm. So stick to hip checks.”

  Bree placed a hand on her hip. “Are bouts coming soon?” she asked.

  The Daredevils had been talking nonstop about bouts, the name for official derby games, ever since tryouts. They had lost their tryout scrimmage against the Cherry Pits, another team in the league. Shelly and the others were hungry for a rematch.

  Mambo gave a sympathetic smile. “I’m afraid bout season is on hold,” she said. “But you’ll see why soon.” She paused for a moment, then stood and left the bleachers.

  The Daredevils were silent until Mambo disappeared around the corner. They leaned into a huddle.

  “Did she . . . wink at us?” Bree asked.

  Kenzie nodded. “Yep. That was definitely a wink.”

  “What do you think’s going on?” Tomoko said.

  Jules rubbed her hands together. “Something good, I hope.”

  “Me too,” Shelly said. She glanced toward the snack bar and grinned.

  The derby coaches had something up their sleeves.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The next morning, Shelly’s mom walked her to roller derby practice. Her mom carried a paint-splattered satchel over her shoulder and had a pencil tucked behind one ear. Shelly ran ahead with her backpack, leaping across the sidewalk and bounding from bike racks to drain covers.

  “Playing the hot lava game?” her mom called.

  Shelly paused on a sewer grate. “Uh-huh. I’m stuck, though. There’s lava all the way from here to that stop sign.”

  “Hmmm.” Shelly’s mom took the pencil from behind her ear and drew an invisible line through the air. “Good news! I just made a bridge for you to cross over.”

  “Thanks, Mom!”

  Shelly hopped off the grate and onto the bridge.

  The satchel bumped Shelly’s side as her mom caught up to her.

  “Another class today?” Shelly asked, eyeing the canvas bag.

  Her mom nodded. “Uh-huh. Sundays and Tuesdays. You want to drop in this week?”

  Shelly tapped her chin. Her mom taught sculpture classes at the community art center. Whenever Shelly visited, her mom always set up a station for her. But sculpting actual objects was hard for Shelly. She was much better at coming up with flat pictures in her sketchbook.

  “OK,” Shelly said. She definitely liked seeing what all the other artists in the class were up to. Fen always made the coolest sculptures. And Mrs. Otterloo sometimes even brought strawberry hard candies, which no one else wanted except for Shelly.

  “Great,” her mom said. “I’ll see you Tuesday. Tell your dad hi for me!”

  They turned the corner to the derby warehouse. Shelly could see Bree and Tomoko chatting in the parking lot. She started to race toward them.

  “Love you!” her mom called.

  Shelly’s heels dug into the concrete. She made a U-turn and came crashing back into her mom’s side.

  “Love you too,” Shelly said. She U-turned again and leaped over puddles of lava until she met Bree and Tomoko by the front doors.

  “It’s Bomb Shell!” they yelled. That was Shelly’s derby name. Shelly jumped into the air and splayed out her arms.

  “Kablooey!” she said. The girls all laughed.

  They went inside and threw on their gear, then joined Kenzie and Jules on the track. The Daredevils didn’t work on their secret formations in regular roller derby practice. The coaches—Mambo Rambo, Look Out, and Razzle Dazzle—kept all five teams busy with drills and exercises.

  Shelly skated between Kenzie and Tomoko. She watched the other skaters as they glided over the rink. Could she make a skate in her mom’s class? Shelly shook her head. What good was a skate made out of clay? She would probably just watch the others and doodle like she always did. She could finish her sketch of Kenzilla and add tiny buildings in the background for Kenzie to knock over.

  Fffttt!

  Razzle Dazzle blew a whistle.

  “Backward bubbles! Let’s go!”

  Suddenly the rink full of skaters slowed to a stop. One by one, players started wiggling and moving backward. Jules fell over right away, which was not so unusual for her. Shelly held out an arm.

  “You OK?” Shelly asked.

  “Yep!” Jules said. She grasped on to Shelly’s hand and shot back up again.

  Shelly moved her skates out and brought them together. Moved them out, brought them together.

  “Hey, you’re getting pretty good!” Bree said, looking at Shelly’s skates.

  “How do you do that so smooth?” Kenzie asked.

  “I pretend I’m drawing circles with my skates,” Shelly said. “And each skate is a pencil. So you go out, like this—”

  She moved her skates out wide. “—then you bring them in.”

  Shelly pushed her toes in, pulling her heels close. Kenzie and Tomoko studied Shelly’s skates as they practiced beside her. Shelly’s cheeks flushed—she almost never got to be the expert of a skating drill.

  The team did two whole laps of backward bubbles before the whistle blew again.

  Fffttt!

  “Crossover time!” Raz called out. “Take it nice and slow. Give each other some space.”

  The Daredevils spread out across the track. Every time Shelly looped around a curve, she did her best to lift one skate up and cross it over the other. It was so hard to keep her balance!

  Oof!

  Shelly looked to her side. Kenzie tripped over her skate and went down by the railing.

  “Nice fall, Kenzilla!” Coach Look Out called. “Way to land safely. Let’s bring in it, folks. To the jammer line!”

  Shelly waited for Kenzie, then skated over to a strip of thick red tape across the track. This was where Bree stood as jammer whenever the girls played scrimmages. Sometimes Shelly had to stand here when she practiced jamming during drills. It was also the main gathering spot for the league. All five teams took a knee in front of the coaches.

  “Excellent crossovers out there,” Mambo said. “Y’all are really working on your balance and control. Your roller derby toolbox is filling up.”

  “When do we get to use those tools, though?” one player asked.

  Shelly and the rest of the Daredevils glanced at the player. It was Molly, the jammer from the Cherry Pits.

  “Yeah,” another player said. “It’s a-bout time! Get it?”

  Mambo and the other coaches laughed.

  “We get it,” Mambo said. “Trust us.”

  Shelly squinted at Mambo. She had that twinkle in her eye again.

  “We won’t be playing local bouts for another few weeks. But Ra
z and Lo and I have something extra special planned for the league in the meantime.”

  Everyone leaned forward.

  “What is it?” a girl asked.

  Raz cleared her throat. “A chance to practice against some new teams.”

  “You mean like official teams?” Bree asked.

  “Not adult teams,” Lo said. “But a junior league from New Mexico is coming through Austin next week, and they’d like to play some roller derby with us! How would y’all feel about a tournament next weekend?”

  WOOOOO!

  If the warehouse had a noise meter, the dial would be cranked to ten. The skaters all broke into shouts and cheers.

  “This is going to be awesome!” Jules cried. “Awesome awesome awesome!”

  Jules popped up and danced in circles over the jammer line. She spun around and smacked the air like she was playing an invisible drum set. Shelly and the other Daredevils jumped up behind Jules and started dancing too. Shelly waved her arms like they were made of jelly. She shook her hips from side to side.

  “All right, all right.” Mambo clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Seeing as how your focus is scattering faster than a dropped bowl of ants, we’ll let you spend the last fifteen minutes of practice grouping with your teams. Don’t forget, you’ll need to coordinate your team look, and it won’t hurt to come up with some jam strategies.”

  Shelly turned and shared a grin with Kenzie. If there was one thing the Daredevils had down, it was strategy.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Shelly plucked her sketchbook out of her backpack and skated after the others.

  “Wait up!” she called.

  The five Daredevils settled together in a corner of the warehouse, far away from the other four teams. Shelly opened the book to a blank page and hovered her pencil over it.

  “This is great news,” Kenzie said. “We’ll get to show off our secret formations at a real tournament!”

  “We’ll have to practice extra hard this week,” Jules said. “Like, live and breathe derby.”

  Tomoko clapped her hands. “The sun’s going down later, so we can stay longer at the park!”

  Bree pointed at her. “Excellent. Every day after school, meet at the park for off-skates workouts.”