Dorothy shook her head. “Uh…just a Halloween costume.”
Mom’s look turned angry. “And this?” she said, pushing a fake fingernail into the Slugs ’n’ Hisses logo on Dorothy’s T-shirt. “Is this for Halloween, too?”
“Mom!” Dorothy said, shifting away, but her skate wheels clacked together behind her back.
“Ah-ha!” Mom said, reaching behind Dorothy’s back to pull the skates out of Dorothy’s hand. She held them up in the air like a detective who had just found the murder weapon.
Mom’s eyes shifted to Grandma, who was now standing at the foot of the stairs. “You did this,” she growled. “You got my girls into roller derby, didn’t you?”
“But, Mom,” Sam said. “Roller derby is awesome. And Dorothy is really good. She’s in the championship bout tonight. You should come!”
“A derby bout?” Mom said, furious. She paced in front of the door like a caged panther. “Did it ever occur to you why I forbade you to roller-skate?”
Because you’re a control freak? Dorothy thought angrily.
“Because roller derby ruined my childhood,” Mom said, still pacing. “Other girls had normal moms. Moms who baked cookies, tucked them in at night, showed up to parent-teacher conferences and dentist appointments. And what did I have?” She planted her feet and shook the skates at Grandma. “Shotgun Sally! A woman too busy gallivanting around the country with her team to bother being there for me.” Mom lowered her head and her shoulders trembled.
“Oh, Dolly,” Grandma said, her high-heel boots clacking on the tile floor as she walked to her daughter, arms open.
Mom’s head shot up, and she held her hand out like a crossing guard. “Don’t call me that!” she snarled. “I’m not your Dolly anymore. I’m Holly now.” Mom wiped tears from her eyes and looked at Dorothy and Sam. Her voice was sweet again. “Don’t you like it, girls? I haven’t decided on a last name yet. I’m thinking about Wood, or Jolly, or Mackerel. You know, something with star power.”
Dorothy stared at her mom, dumbstruck. Holly Mackerel? Really? Dorothy was beginning to think Mom was crazier than Grandma. At least Grandma was fun crazy. Supportive and encouraging crazy. Sure, Grandma drove too fast and broke just about every parking law in existence, but she had their back, too. Mom only seemed to be worried about one person. Herself.
“We really have to go now,” Dorothy said, reaching for the skates. She didn’t want to talk anymore. She was too angry. “My team is waiting.”
Mom planted her feet in front of the door and held the skates out of reach. “No! Roller derby took my mom away from me. I will not let it take my children, too!”
“Take us away?” Dorothy spat. It was all she could do to keep herself from body slamming her mom. “It’s you who went away. Not us.”
“What did you say?” Mom’s voice was thin, like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
Dorothy’s heart thudded in her chest. She had never talked back to Mom before. She gritted her teeth and strained to keep her voice calm and even. “I haven’t noticed you tucking us in at night. Or baking us cookies or coming to parent-teacher conferences.”
Mom’s eyes widened with shock and hurt. “But that’s different.” She hesitated. “I’m different. It’s not like I’m playing stupid roller derby. I’m building a serious career, following my dreams. Didn’t you hear, Dorothy? I’m going to be a star!”
Right. Totally different, Dorothy thought.
“Okay,” Dorothy said flatly. “You go be a star. Send us a postcard or something.” She reached her hands out for the skates. “Now if you don’t mind, I have a stupid roller derby championship to win.”
“Fine,” Mom said, defeated, dropping the skates at Dorothy’s feet.
Dorothy barely managed to hop out of the way before the skates hit her toes.
Mom shook her head at Dorothy. “I always did think you took after your grandmother. Feisty. Rebellious. I did my best to tame you, but I see now that it was a lost cause.”
She turned on her heel. “I wish I had never come here,” she mumbled, then slammed the door so hard that the furniture jumped.
“That makes two of us,” Dorothy said to the door.
Sam burst into tears and flung her arms around Dorothy’s waist.
Dorothy sighed and held her sister tightly. She immediately regretted arguing with Mom. She should have bit her tongue, at least for Sam’s sake.
Grandma tutted softly and wrapped both girls in her strong arms. “She’ll come around, you’ll see. She may have changed her name, her hair color, and her address, but she’s still your mom and she loves you. She just needs some time to find herself. She’ll be back.”
“Really?” Sam snuffled.
“Sure,” Grandma said. “I promise.”
Just then there was a loud knock at the door.
“Mom?” Sam said, rushing to open it.
But it wasn’t Mom. It was two police officers in dark uniforms, displaying shiny silver badges.
Chapter 22
“Sally Kilpatrick?” one of the officers said, scrutinizing Grandma.
“That depends,” Grandma said, pulling at the hem of her short skirt.
“You’re the driver in this photograph, aren’t you?” the other officer said, holding up a photo radar ticket.
“And you want my autograph?” Grandma said, batting her eyes.
The officers did not look amused. “No, ma’am. We have a warrant for your arrest. Seems you have a few outstanding tickets to take care of.”
“You mean the love letters?” Sam asked.
“Yes, honey,” Grandma said. “The love letters. These are Grandma’s boyfriends. Nothing to worry about.”
One of the police officers turned to Dorothy. “Do you have another parent or guardian on the premises? Or will you be coming to the station with us?”
“Their mom is just around the corner,” Grandma said quickly. “You’re going to a roller derby bout, aren’t you, girls?”
Dorothy and Sam looked at each other and nodded. Technically, that was all true.
“We never miss a bout!” Grandma handed her duffel bag and keys to Dorothy. “I’ll meet up with you after my date with these two handsome officers, okay?”
Dorothy and Sam watched helplessly as Grandma, still wearing her ridiculous nun costume, was handcuffed and escorted into the back of the police car. They were completely alone now.
“How does Grandma expect us to get to Galactic Skate?” Dorothy wondered out loud. She looked down at the duffel bag and then at the car keys.
“Dead Betty!” Sam yelled. Both girls raced to the driveway, where the gleaming hearse waited like the magic carriage in a fairy tale.
Once inside, Dorothy slipped the key into the ignition. A sudden wave of nervousness washed over her. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She could barely even see over the steering wheel. “Maybe we should just call Gigi or Jade or something.”
“They’re already at the bout,” Sam said. “It starts in less than twenty minutes. Come on, Dorothy. You can do it!”
Dorothy sucked in a deep breath. Mom had called her “feisty” and “rebellious,” and she was about to prove her right. “Okay. Here goes nothing.” Dorothy twisted the car key and the hearse roared to life. She yanked the stick shift into reverse and tapped the gas pedal with a toe. The engine purred but the car didn’t move. Dorothy scooted forward in her seat and pressed her whole foot down on the pedal. With a deafening roar, Dead Betty rocketed backward down the driveway…and smashed into the mailbox with a metallic crunch.
Dorothy and Sam were thrown back against their seats and flung forward toward the dashboard. Luckily, they were both wearing seat belts. The restraints bit into Dorothy’s shoulder and waist, but neither she nor Sam was injured. Dorothy and Sam jumped out of the coughing, sputtering hearse to survey the
damage.
Dorothy’s stomach lurched. The rear bumper was twisted around the ornate cement mailbox post. Black smoke poured out of the exhaust pipe. Dead Betty wasn’t going anywhere now.
“Frappit, frappit, frappit!” Dorothy shouted. “I knew this was a bad idea. Grandma is going to kill us!”
“And how are we going to get to the bout?” Sam said sadly.
Dorothy shook her head. “We’re not.” She sat down on the curb. The sky had turned dark, and streetlights were casting yellow pools on the pavement. Somewhere nearby, kids were calling, “trick or treat!”
“Come on, Dorothy. We can’t let the team down,” Sam said. “The Slugs don’t have a chance without you.”
Dorothy’s body felt wasted—drained of energy. Like she had been sucked dry by those closet vampires after all. All she wanted to do now was close her eyes and never open them again. “It’s all over, Sam. I give up. Slugs ’n’ Hisses loses.”
“Don’t give up,” Sam said, sitting down next to Dorothy and placing a hand on her sister’s knee. “I believe in you.”
Dorothy shook her head. Her sister meant well, but they were completely out of options now. It would take at least an hour to skate to the bout, and even if they had money for a taxi, they couldn’t hail one from the mortuary driveway.
“Hey, look,” Sam said, pointing at a silver Lexus sedan that was headed up their street. “Isn’t that…?”
Dorothy squinted. As the sedan passed under a street lamp, Dorothy saw someone looking out of the backseat window. Someone with a silky blond ponytail rippling in the breeze.
Chapter 23
Dorothy and Sam leapt to their feet and waved their arms like two castaways who had just spotted a rescue plane. Dorothy never imagined she’d actually be excited to see Alex.
The Lexus glided to a stop in front of the funeral home.
Alex wrinkled her nose. “Aren’t you supposed to be at Galactic Skate?”
“Well, we…” Dorothy said, nodding toward the wrecked hearse, “don’t have a ride.”
The front passenger-side window rolled down and a handsome man with highlights said, “You do now! We were just headed there.”
Alex’s face blanched.
“The door, Alexandra?”
“Uh…it’s a short walk,” Alex offered brightly. After getting a stern look from her dad, Alex sighed, opened her door, and scooted over. The trunk door clicked open and Dorothy threw her duffel bag in back, then joined Sam inside the car.
“Uh, hi,” Alex said.
The two men in the front seat turned and smiled at Dorothy and her sister.
“Come on, Alex,” the man in the passenger seat prodded. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
“These are, um…” Alex shifted uncomfortably.
The attractive dark-haired man in the driver’s seat put the car in drive. “Give her a minute, Jerry. You know she’s sensitive about us.”
Jerry shook his head. “All right, David. But seriously, I’m just tired of her trying to pass us off as her bodyguards or pool boys or whatever she’s calling us these days. It’s the twenty-first century. Why can’t she just tell the truth?”
“Fine,” Alex said, her eyes dropping to her manicured nails. Her voice was barely audible. “These are my…dads.”
“Hooray!” The man in the passenger seat said. “Did you hear that, David? She claimed us!”
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” David said.
“You have two dads?” Sam asked, impressed. “We don’t even have one.”
“We have a dad,” Dorothy said. “We just don’t ever see him.”
Dorothy held out her hand to the dad in the passenger seat. “I’m Dorothy, by the way. And this is Samantha.”
“I’m Jerry,” he said, shaking Dorothy’s hand, “and this is my husband, David.”
“Now hold up,” David said, tilting his head to look at Dorothy. “You’re not the Dorothy who’s using Jerry’s old locker, are you?”
“Locker #13?” Jerry asked excitedly.
Dorothy glared at Alex. Alex bit her lip. Now Dorothy knew why she had been so touchy about her locker.
“So how’s my Mr. Pretty Penguin holding up?” Jerry asked.
“Uh, he’s good, I guess,” Dorothy said, not breaking eye contact with Alex. “Although he has some new lines on his face.”
Alex blushed.
“Don’t we all,” David said with a laugh.
Jerry sighed. “Ah, Mr. Pretty. I’ve always had a thing for beauty pageants. The dresses, the hair, the makeup. Did you know that Alex won forty-six crowns when she was little?”
“Really?” Sam said.
“You’re embarrassing me, Daddy,” Alex said.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop,” Jerry said. “But you know those were some of my proudest moments. I designed all her costumes. Broke my heart when she said she wanted to do artistic skating instead of pageants. But when Alex sets her mind to something…”
Alex huffed. “You still get to make all my outfits.”
“I know, I know. But it’s all medals and trophies now. I miss the crowns and sashes, honey.”
“I don’t,” Alex grumbled.
“Uh, so why are you guys going to my roller derby bout?” Dorothy asked suspiciously.
“What?” David said. “Don’t tell me you didn’t tell them that, either, Alexandra.”
“It was going to be a surprise, Dad,” Alex said.
“What kind of surprise?” Dorothy asked. She wasn’t sure if she wanted any more surprises from Alex.
“A fabulous one,” Jerry said.
“Just something I wanted you and the Pompoms to see,” Alex said.
Dorothy choked. “What? The Pompoms? They’re coming?” Dorothy could just imagine Alex ordering the Pompoms onto the track to ambush her team mid-bout. Isn’t that what she’d done that first night at the roller rink?
Dorothy narrowed her eyes at Alex. “And I suppose you invited your evil roller ballerina friends, too?”
Alex looked puzzled.
“You know,” Dorothy said, “those high school roller skaters at Galactic Skate—the ones you sent to attack us?”
“My teammates? No. I didn’t invite them. And they aren’t my friends, either. Frienemies, maybe. And I’ve never sent them to do anything.”
“What?” Dorothy couldn’t believe that Alex was denying her part in that attack. “Then why did you point at me and—” Dorothy ran her finger across her throat like a knife. “Next thing we knew you were gone and your teammates were all over us.” Dorothy shuddered involuntarily as the whole terrible scene replayed in her mind.
Alex looked shocked. “But I…I wasn’t telling them to attack you. Honest. I was just explaining what the Pompoms would do to me if they found out I was a skater. That’s why I left Galactic Skate so quickly. I didn’t want you or Jade or Gigi to see me roller-skate. I was hoping to find somewhere else to practice, but my dads made me go back the next day.”
Dorothy shook her head, not quite believing Alex. “So your teammates attacked us…just because?”
“Look, I’m really sorry if they were mean, but they’re not nice people, okay?”
Dorothy rubbed the back of her neck. “I want to believe you, but none of this makes any sense. For one, why would the Pompoms even care if you skate? They practically worship you, remember?”
“Maybe. But they despise roller-skating, too, remember? I didn’t want them to know the truth. ‘Alexandra Bijou, the sequin-wearing artistic roller skater with two dads.’ Does any of that sound normal to you?”
Dorothy shrugged. “Normal is overrated.”
“Amen, sister!” Jerry called from the front seat.
David chuckled.
“Look,” Alex continued, “I never meant to hurt you. I j
ust wanted to blend in, okay? And you show up in that sequined gym suit…It was like you were putting a spotlight on all the things I had worked so hard…” she glanced toward her dads in the front seat, “…so hard to hide.”
Dorothy sighed. She didn’t like it, but Alex’s explanation made sense. With the exception of one detail. “So, if you didn’t want to hurt me, why did you trip me in the cafeteria?”
Alex shook her head. “Come on, Dorothy. Think about it. That wasn’t me. Why would I go out of my way to bring attention to you?”
“Uh…” Dorothy couldn’t think of a good answer to that. Finally she nodded. “I’m sorry I blamed you, Alex.”
Alex nodded back and looked out the window. “I’m just so sick of the Pompoms. All the stupid projects. The attitudes. But most of all, I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not.”
“And who are you, really?” Dorothy asked.
Alex sighed. “Come on, Dorothy. You already know the answer. I’m a big dork. A weirdo just like you.”
Chapter 24
In the fifteen minutes it had taken to drive to Galactic Skate, the sky had grown black. Storm clouds obscured the pale, round face of the Halloween moon.
Dorothy thanked Alex’s dads for the ride and raced inside the building with Sam at her heels.
Uncle Enzo was selling tickets at the entrance door. He was grinning like a fox as he stuffed bills into an already overflowing cash box. The wrinkled old man from the skate rental desk stood at his shoulder, shaking his head sadly.
“I’m begging you, son,” the old man said. His voice creaked like rusty door hinges. “Call it off now, while you still can.”
Dorothy slowed, alarmed by the warning. Was the wrinkly guy asking Enzo to cancel the bout?
“Leave me be, Pops,” Enzo said, slamming the lid of the cash box. “I know it’s a gamble, but we’re just going to have to trust that the old curse is gone now. It’s been thirty years already.”
Dorothy’s Derby Chronicles: Rise of the Undead Redhead Page 10