The Cheerleader's Guide to Roller Derby

Chapter Nineteen: Is There Always This Much Drama in Roller Derby?

As Traci approached me, I started to shiver. Maybe it was just my imagination but it seemed like she brought all of the frostiness of the morning in with her.

"Well," she said. "Isn't this just great?" She flipped her hair and jutted out her chin. "You can't be bothered giving me a ride or even answering your phone to tell me you were ditching me but you are all over making sure Phony gets here?"

Moni skated closer. "Phony?" she said, as the color drained from her face.

"Yeah." Traci started to go on, but then she stopped abruptly. She looked like she had been hit by a stun ray. "And Todd? Todd Emerson! You brought him here too? Jeezus, Shubby, I knew things were getting weird with you but, what the f..."

"Language!" Coach shouted, then escorted Traci toward the supply room.

In that same moment all of the eyes in the practice space turned toward us. I don't know how they hadn't noticed Todd before but every girl in the place seemed instantly aware ... There was a boy in the bunker. You could tell it in the way they straightened their pony tails, adjusted their leggings and sucked in their tummies.

If I hadn't been so concerned that Traci might escape the coach's grip and come back to wallop me I would have wanted to declare, 'Come on, you guys, it's just Todd Emerson. It's not like he's a real boy or anything,' but apparently Todd possessed more guy-quotient that I had guessed. At least to some of the girls.

Like Ima and Abby who skated slowly past and smiled in his direction. Even Cara seemed not to be immune to whatever pheromones Todd was throwing out there. "Hey," she said, "I don't think we've met before but any friend of Chantal's is a friend of mine." I swear she batted eyeliner rimmed lashes when she said it too. Even the little girls were in on it. They skated close to Ella Vader and giggled, all while throwing looks back in Todd's direction. What the hell?

It felt like I'd been whisked off to some alternate universe. I might have been stuck there forever if Red hadn't started up the Jock Jams song and called everyone to assemble on the track. I was still winded from, well, everything: the skating, Traci's outrage, Moni's hurt feelings, Todd's sudden rise to rock star status. Instead of skating out to the floor, I collapsed into a chair.

"Wow," Todd said.

"You can say that again."

"I would, but first I want to ask you a couple of questions."

"Haven't we already been over this?" I said. 

I was at my limit for polite conversation, especially when it involved Todd Emerson and what was sure to be a reload of the same thing he'd been trying to trip me up on since he first heard me utter the words 'roller' and 'derby'. 

"Like I said before, I just want to write an article for the Purple and Gold so I can put it on my college apps."

I must have really been tired because when I gave him my patented 'now go away and die' look, all it did was make him smile.

"Okay," he said. "So I'm still a little curious about that, but it's not what I wanted to ask."

I put my hands up in a 'let's get this over with' motion.

"Is there always this much drama in roller derby?"

Oh. That was easy. "Yes," I said. "Next question."

He smiled again and winked at me in what looked like the male version of batting his eyelashes. Great. Whatever was coming next would be a doozy, I was sure.

"Could you teach me how to skate like that? You were great with Moni and Ella. You made it look like fun."

Despite the compliment, the very last thing I wanted to do was to teach Todd Emerson how to roller skate. Even if it was something I had secretly desired for my whole life (which it was not) when would I find the time? Between derby practice, school, my counseling sessions with Ms. Hernandez, trying to maintain some semblance of a relationship with the girls on the cheer squad, and finding a dress for prom ... my days were already overflowing.