by Megan Sparks
“All right there, Dad?” Annie asked. The words came out as if she had a potato in her mouth.
“What? Oh, yeah.” He looked away from the skaters warming up in the rink and gave Annie a huge hug. “Be safe.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” Annie said.
He sighed and kissed the top of her helmet.
Annie watched him leave then turned her attention to the other skaters. Right away she noticed how different everyone looked. In gymnastics, all the girls were similar: short and compact. Here there seemed to be girls of all shapes, sizes, and builds, even one who was close to Annie’s height though much heavier.
“Hi, everyone, great to see so many of you,” Coach Ritter said with a group of experienced skaters standing behind her smiling encouragingly. Likewise, the roller girls didn’t fit one image or mould. Annie recognized a few from school which included the short girl who’d asked the kilt question in English class.
“This workshop is pretty much a skills training, working today on agility and endurance. But really, it’s about having a good time. Here to help out are some of the girls in the league. Liz, also known as ElizaDEATH, is a senior and on her fourth year of roller derby.”
A tall blonde with broad shoulders and three piercings on each ear gave them two thumbs up.
“Holly Terror, one of our best jammers.”
That was the Kilt-Girl from Annie’s English class with the fire-engine-red dyed hair. Up close, she was the size of a ten year old but Annie knew she was sixteen. She got onto her toe stops and posed like a model.
Coach Ritter introduced the others and then got down to business.
“We’ll start with some stretches, really working on those hip flexors, before warming up. This will be a long and hard training, peeps, so make sure to drink lots of water.”
The girls spread out on the rink and crouched down on their skates, straightening out one leg then switching to the other. A heavy girl with spiky blondish-brownish hair was stretching next to Annie.
“Hi, I’m Lauren. You asked me a question in the cafeteria on the first day at school and I still feel bad that I didn’t know what you said.”
Annie remembered her. She had asked where to queue up and got upset that everyone was making a big deal about her accent. Now with the mouth guard, everyone sounded funny. “I’m sorry if I was rude. That first day was a bit overwhelming.”
“I bet.” Lauren smiled. Her mouth guard had a leopard-print design. Wicked.
Annie grinned back, glad there were no hard feelings.
They got up from their stretches and Coach Ritter got them to sprint around the track a couple of times in both directions. The quad skates felt different from Annie’s inline ones, her balance was a bit wonky, but even that didn’t slow her down too much. She and Lauren were the only two to pass all the other girls before finishing their laps. Annie stretched her right leg out in front to stop. Nothing happened. Except she crashed into the barrier.
Immediately, Liz was at her side. Annie hadn’t fallen but the wind had been knocked out of her.
“Are you OK? You’re trying to use your heel brake, except there isn’t one on quad skates. Happens all the time. Just remember to drag your toe. Great laps though.” Liz gave her a friendly pat on the helmet and skated back to the rest.
Next they had to skate backward twice in each direction. Here the quad skates did feel more awkward and it seemed harder to get a good flow. Other “Fresh Meats” were struggling with backward skating too, but Coach Ritter kept shouting out pointers while the girls in the league demonstrated proper technique. When they switched to the other direction, Annie thought about how she skated backwards on the rollerblades and applied that same technique to push off. Much better. Smoother. With a bit of practice, she might catch up with Lauren.
As Coach Ritter set up some cones, Lauren skated up to Annie. “Isn’t this great? You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to be old enough to play. Now I don’t have to take my brother’s BS about not being able to play football.”
Annie tilted her head to the side and then understood. American football, of course. “Do boys never play roller derby, then?”
“Not really. I think St Louis is the closest men’s team, but it’s almost like a different sport; most of them don’t have the you-know-whats to wear fishnets and pink bootie shorts.”
Annie laughed and turned her attention to the coach.
“Great skating everyone. Now I’m going to have you weave around these cones. I want to see you crouched low, back ends sticking out. That’s the skater stance and I want everyone in that position all the time. You’re down, you’re grounded. You’re up, you might as well be on the floor. Holly, why don’t you show them?”
Holly skated towards them, spun around to change direction, kept skating backward and then got on her toe stops right in front of them.
“So, you know those gross public bathrooms you really don’t want to sit on? You want to get low enough so you don’t pee on the seat, but not so close that you catch something vile.”
There was a collective cringe from the girls as they imagined those public toilets. They watched Holly zip around the cones, crouched low, like it was the easiest thing. As they tried it out themselves, everyone shouted out suggestions and encouragement. Annie couldn’t get over how supportive everyone was.
“That was good fun,” Annie said when she skated back to Lauren.
“You’re a natural. I bet you’ll make the team.”
“If anyone makes it, it’ll be you. I barely know the rules or anything.”
“C’mon, guys.” Holly had overheard them. “It takes more than one day to become a roller girl, and even then we’re all still learning.”
She had a point. Annie’s gymnastics trainer always said that if you thought you knew everything about something, you knew nothing.
Liz, perhaps inspired by Annie’s crash, taught them how to stop. “The easiest way is to drag and press down on one of your toes. You can also do a snowplough with your legs wide and bringing your toes together like a V. This is really, really useful when you’re blocking in the pack. Makes you more solid. Just don’t let your legs go too far apart or you’ll end up doing a really painful splits.”
The girls laughed at Liz’s mock splits and her pained expression that seemed to be taken from experience. Liz laughed with them as she straightened up.
“If you feel more confident, you can try the T-stop,” she continued. “One skate forward and the other behind it to make an upside-down T. The wheels on that back skate scrape against the ground to make you stop. Warning, don’t let the wheels touch the other skate or you’ll wipe-out.”
“What about that one Holly does?” one of the girls asked.
On cue, Holly skated over, turned backward, and skidded to a stop on her toes. A few girls clapped as Holly gave a little curtsy.
Liz nodded. “That’s the tomahawk stop. Don’t try it unless you’re really good at switching from forward to backward. And try it slow the first few times.”
They practised the various stops. Annie mastered the basic toe drag and T-stop on both sides. The snowplough she knew from skiing holidays in France, but never felt it was a pretty stop. She practised it anyway, just because Liz said it was useful. With a deep breath, Annie tried Holly’s flashy tomahawk stop. She barely had enough momentum to turn from forward to backward but she did it! Next time, she would up her speed from slug to turtle.
The last thing Coach Ritter got them to do was play a “game” of Red Light, Green Light. “It’s simple. When I say ‘green light’, you go, when I say ‘red light’, you stop. If you move without a green light, you go back to start. If you fall, pick yourself up and keep going. First one to cross the finish line wins. OK, girls, places.”
The girls crouched behind the line, one skate forward and hand on knee.
“Ready ... green light!”
They dashed down for less than two seconds when Coach Ritter sho
uted, “Red light!”
Annie stopped using the T-stop she’d just learned and almost lost her balance. But almost wasn’t the same as actually losing it. With a few funky chicken moves, Annie managed to stay on her skates. Two of girls weren’t that lucky and landed with a thump that had them both moaning. But, laughing, they helped each other up before Coach Ritter shouted the next green light.
Halfway to the finish line and Annie was in the lead with Lauren right behind her. That’s when Coach started getting cheeky. She got Lauren to return to the start with “green lettuce”.
“And that’s why I hate vegetables.” Lauren skated back to the start but with a good-natured smile. With every stop, Annie felt more confident and more in control of her skates.
“Green tomatoes ... green onions ... green light!
Annie sprinted a few good strides before having to dig in her toe to stop. The rest of the crowd was a good three metres behind her.
Coach tried a different tactic. “I was driving the other day, saw a green car parked outside a green house. It was at a junction with a green light—”
Didn’t work. As soon as she heard light, Annie was off.
A metre from the finish, Coach almost got Annie with “red robin” but gut feeling told her to keep skating even though she heard “red”. Annie crossed the line and threw her arms in the air in victory. Everyone congratulated her, and some of them, including Lauren and Liz, gave her hugs. There were no sour grapes, no condescending fake smiles from anyone. Everyone was genuinely happy for her.
Annie unbuckled her helmet to wipe the sweat from her forehead. Now that was brilliant. Tiring, but oh so cool. She couldn’t wait until the next practice.
Chapter Eight
Before classes started the next day Annie overheard two girls crying in the bathrooms. They hadn’t made the cheerleading callbacks.
“I checked the notice on the board like ten times. I can’t believe they didn’t want me,” one of them sobbed into her hands.
“My life is totally ruined now,” the other one wailed.
Callbacks? The only “board” Annie knew of was the one next to the principal’s office. Annie headed over there feeling a bit confused. Why hadn’t anyone bothered to let her know the callbacks had been posted? Unless she hadn’t made it...
Or unless she had and someone was hoping she wouldn’t show up.
She ran her finger down the names. Had she made it? Yes! There she was: Annie Turner.
Her name was with nine other girls, no guys. Callbacks, this afternoon. Not only did she not know the list had been posted, no one had told her that the callbacks would be today after school.
And she had nothing with her to wear.
Dad. He could bring her something. After all, he was the one really pushing the whole cheerleading thing. Not that she was trying out for him; she had to see it through for herself. She wasn’t a quitter.
She headed to her locker for the morning’s books and found Lexie there. Today she was wearing authentic bell-bottom trousers, a real tie-dyed shirt, and lots of homemade beaded jewellery. And a huge grin.
“Checked my supplies and we’re set to paint that bus whenever,” Lexie said.
Annie put the cheerleading callbacks out of her mind. “Brilliant. How about tonight? Dad’s going out to play basketball so he won’t be around to ask what we’re doing.”
“He doesn’t know?” Lexie asked.
Annie could just picture his smile when he saw it. “I really want to surprise him. How long do you think it’ll take?”
“Few hours, I bet. We might not have enough time to do it all today. Mom insists I get home by eight-thirty on weekdays. She’s convinced the predators start roaming the streets at eight-thirty-one.”
“What if you stayed the night?” Annie asked. “Dad won’t mind, my friends used to do it all the time in London.”
“Let me ask.” While Lexie called her mom, Jesse came over. He pulled off his large DJ headphones and grinned.
“Hey, how ya feeling after the Fresh Meat workshop?”
Annie rubbed her legs and moaned. “I’m aching all over. It’s like I’ve never used my thighs and bum before! And there are muscles on my back I didn’t even know I had.” She broke into a huge smile and added, “But I love it; it’s such fun and the girls are really nice.”
Jesse nodded as if Annie had just complimented his sisters. “Coach Ritter is real good. She was a great jammer, Miss Demeanour, before a shoulder injury made her retire. The Illinoisies won most of their championships because of her. She’ll make you work but she really knows her stuff.”
“She seemed great.”
Lexie got off the phone. “Mom said yes. Paint party!”
“Brilliant,” Annie said, then explained to Jesse, “We’re decorating my dad’s café tonight.”
“Sweet. What’s the theme?”
Annie explained the bus to Jesse and turned to Lexie. “Shall I ring when I’ve finished?”
“You do know that callbacks are this afternoon, right?” a rude voice interrupted loudly. Kelsey stopped right in front of Annie with her two matching minions on either side.
No thanks to you. “Yes, I know.”
“What callbacks?” Jesse asked.
“Cheer-weeding,” Lexie muttered. Jesse crossed his arms and leaned against the lockers.
Kelsey ignored Annie’s friends as if they didn’t exist. “In case you actually make the squad, you should know you’re not just a cheerleader during the games, you’re a cheerleader all the time.”
Annie turned her attention away from her friends to focus on Kelsey. “I don’t understand?”
Kelsey sighed as if she were explaining something simple to a toddler for the umpteenth time. Her minions rolled their eyes in unison. “It means that cheerleaders represent the school. People will expect you to look like a cheerleader, not some London freak.”
Kelsey gave a sound of disgust as she glanced up and down at Annie. Unlike Kelsey whose purple designer shirt and short suit looked like it came off the catwalk (her minions were sporting similar outfits), Annie was wearing her favourite Sex Pistols T-shirt and jeans. There was nothing designer about her clothes except that it was a genuine Sex Pistols T-shirt and not some knock-off.
Jesse shifted his weight. He was just a bit taller than Annie but just as skinny and not very intimidating. “Is that supposed to be an insult? Freak? Seriously, is that the best you can do?”
Lexie turned to him. “Brain waves are very painful for her.”
Annie bit her lip. Laughing at the cheerleading captain might not be the best idea.
Kelsey pretended not to hear, though her voice was considerably louder as she continued to talk to Annie. “You should really think about who you hang out with. And not such...” Kelsey looked at Jesse and Lexie up and down. “Alternative types.”
“Yeah, Annie. You really should think about it,” Lexie said with a mock serious expression.
“Alternative to what?” Jesse asked, looking amused. “A penguin?”
Kelsey ignored them, a clear sign that she either couldn’t think of a comeback fast enough or didn’t get their sarcasm. She just turned on her high heel with her minions behind her, though one, Lulu, let out a “humph” before leaving.
Jesse pushed his hair back and gave Annie a puzzled look. “You want to be a cheerleader? With her as captain?”
Annie tried to shrug it off even though the look on Jesse’s face was the same as it would be if he discovered Annie was a flesh-eating alien. Sure Kelsey was rude and annoying, but that couldn’t be true of all the cheerleaders. The pep rally had been loads of fun, their uniform was really nice, and most of all, now that Annie started the try-outs she wasn’t going to quit. “I’m quite good at gymnastics.”
“I never thought of you as the cheerleading type.” Jesse put on his headphones and walked off.
Lexie sighed as if she wasn’t surprised at Jesse’s response. Annie sighed too. Her school in London had
its cliques, of course, but Annie never felt that if she was a gymnast she couldn’t be friends with someone from a different group. Just because she wanted to be a cheerleader, didn’t mean she was going to start acting like Kelsey. There had to be another “alternative”, right?
* * *
Annie had to borrow clothes from lost and found; Dad was dealing with suppliers and wasn’t able to bring her leotard to school for the try-out. The options weren’t too great. She settled for a pair of boys’ long basketball shorts and a shirt she chose to wear inside out or it would have read “Hooters”. It was the beginning of the school year, there was nothing else that fit.
Annie knew she had to make the most of it – there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She wasn’t Dad, who’d have a laugh while wearing odd clothes.
As soon as Annie walked into the gym, it struck her how everyone looked alike, both the cheerleaders and hopefuls. Of course there were racial differences, but everyone was slim and pretty. Just by being a little taller than the other girls, Annie felt like she stood out.
And the borrowed clothing didn’t help.
Not that she wanted to look like them, but she wished there was more diversity in appearances.
Like in roller derby.
“OK, girls,” the coach said. “You’re here because you stood out in the try-outs. Unfortunately, we only have room for four of you on the squad. So make sure you give it all you got.”
As soon as she said that, the girls stepped away from each other. Almost as if they were afraid the others would ruin their chances of making it by being too close.
Kelsey came up to them and burst out laughing when she saw Annie’s outfit. “Looks like the circus is in town.”
Annie looked down. If only she could disappear, after taking a mighty swing at Kelsey.
I’m not going to let her get to me. I’m going to hit her where it hurts. By getting into the squad.
Kelsey taught them a new dance routine to an even more disturbingly catchy pop song than the one she played the week before. With every movement Annie could feel the soreness in her muscles from yesterday’s roller derby. Not that it bothered her. It was a nice reminder of a great night and how friendly everyone had been.