roller derby queen ~ j.g.

three

"okay, does anyone want to tell me why teachers deem it necessary to give homework on the first day?"

dakota laced up her skates as she listened to zoe's rant about her teachers, her classmates, and just the general shit of a first day that she had at lincoln international high school.
"-and then she tries to give me detention for skating on the sidewalk outside! school was over! why the fuck did it matter?" the rest of the girls dissolved into laughter as the strawberry blonde girl throws her hands in the air. "i swear i'm going to kill someone before the end of this year. i'm going to have to take my senior year from prison."

dakota raised her eyebrow at zoe playfully. "girl, you and i both know that you wouldn't make it in prison. i don't think they'd give you skates." zoe cracked a mischievous smile at that.
"oh, it's okay, i know i could get some. you know, for the exchange of goods and services." she popped her bubblegum loudly. "and i'm pretty sure my talents are worth a pair of skates. i have heard that i give a pretty good-" dakota reached over and slapped a hand across her mouth.
"do not finish that sentence the way i know you were about to. if i have to hear one more word about someone's penis being anywhere near you, i'm actually going to vomit." that sentence caused the rest of the girls' laughter to get even louder, and dakota couldn't help but grin. zoe took that opportunity to reach her tongue out and lick dakota's palm, causing her to yell and pull it away. "ew, gross!" zoe just stuck her tongue out at her.

margo calmed down laughing long enough to turn to dakota, flipping her dreads over her shoulder. "so we all know how our days went at our shitty public schools..." she giggled again but quickly regained her composure. "so dakota needs to tell us about her oh-so-wonderful, fancy private school." dakota rolled her eyes at how the rest of the girls 'ooh'-ed mockingly. they all knew how she felt about that school.

"ugh, do i have to?" margo scooted closer to her, throwing an arm over her shoulder.
"yeah, girl! tell us about your five-course lunches!"
"or your private bathrooms!" came from selena.
"or your favorite part!" yelled zoe, smiling deviously. "tell us about... the boys." dakota must have pulled a pretty spectacular disgusted face, because before she knew it the other girls were rolling on the ground laughing while she pretended to gag.

"okay, gross," she said once everyone had gained their composure again. "in all honesty, it's just as shitty as public school, but all of the assholes have money, three exotic cars and a boat, and they all believe that they're entitled to everything because mommy and daddy never learned how to say no." she rolled her eyes. "you all know how they are. do you remember how they treated me when i transferred in last year?" margo nodded.
"yeah! i thought i was going to have to go in and beat the shit out of some people."
"were those the same guys that waited for us after practice and then yelled at us from their cars?" heather asked. dakota rolled her eyes and nodded.
"yeah, the old varsity hockey team. the kings of the asshole squad."
"why'd they even bother with us? most of us don't even go to that school!"
"apparently during my freshman year, when i wasn't there, they had a whole thing with the jv hockey team, and jv ended up kicking their asses. they needed another target that couldn't fight back, i guess." margo pulled face at that.
"believe me, if they mess with us again, we'll show them fighting back." dakota smiled.
"most of them graduated last year, so i don't think we have anything to worry about."
"good," margo said with finality. "we should probably warm up before practice." she stood up and pulled dakota to her feet.
"wait!" selena called before they could. "where's jaylah?" dakota looked around and noticed that their teammate was missing, and they couldn't start practice without her. she began to pull her phone out to call her when she heard the squealing of tires on pavement and looked out the window just in time to see a red sports car peel away from the building, loud and obnoxious male laughter coming from it. it left a tall blonde girl standing on the sidewalk and her duffel bag on the ground.

jaylah picked up her duffel bag and walked with her head down into the lobby of the rink, setting her bag down on the ground. "hey guys," she said quietly, straightening up and beginning to tie her hair into a ponytail, sighing.
"jay, are you alright?" riley asked, standing up. jaylah looked up, looking surprised that anyone asked before giving a small smile.
"yeah, i'm okay. my brother's just a jerk sometimes." dakota narrowed her eyes.
"sometimes?" she asked, raising a single eyebrow. jaylah looked sheepish.
"well, maybe more than sometimes-"
"jay, your brother's an asshole and we all know it. i don't know why you let him push you around like that. if i were you, i'd-"
"okay, that's enough." margo walked in front of dakota, stopping her mid-rant. "we all know he's an asshole. we also have a practice that starts in," she looked down at her watch. "ten minutes, and i'd rather go and skate a few laps than trash-talk jay's brother beforehand. jay," margo waited until jay looked up at her before continuing. "you good to go?"
jaylah looked hesitant, but then nodded determinedly. "yeah. yeah, i'm good."

as the girls began to file into the rink, dakota lagged behind so that jaylah could catch up with her. before she could even say anything, jay put her hand up. "i know how you feel about matt. could you just leave it alone for now?" dakota's eyes went wide.
"jay, how could i leave it alone? all he ever does is push you around. i can't stand him at school, i can't stand the way he treats me, i definitely can't stand the way he treats you, i-" jay put up her hand again.
"nope. drop it." jay looked at dakota, sighing before she looked back at the ground. "i think it's bad enough he got held back for a year, because now he's just mad all the time about still going to that stupid school. you trying to get him to stop doing the shit he's been doing his whole life will just make it worse." dakota opened her mouth to defend herself, but jay beat her to the punch. "and don't tell me you weren't planning some grand rescue plan for me, i know you better than that. just-" she sighed. "let's have a good junior year, and not let my asshole of a brother get in the way."

dakota nodded. "deal." she then slung her arm around jaylah's shoulders, steering her toward the rink. "i'll even let you pick the music today. would doja cat make you feel better?" jaylah laughed, and they walked into the rink together, forgetting all about stupid older brothers named matthew cole.