roller derby queen ~ j.g.

four

the first practice of the season was always hard, but for some reason that one was worse than normal. it didn't help that dakota hadn't skated almost all summer - she had tried, but the group home she had been staying at had been so restrictive that she couldn't do much for fun besides read or draw. she had been put back in a state home in early august, but hadn't been there long enough to make up for a whole summer's worth of missed practice. so her first practice with her team had been, quite frankly, hell.

after practice, all she ever wanted to do was take a shower. she was sweaty and hot, and then had to sit for the fifteen minute bus ride back to school. she wished that she could drive to practice, but driving off campus on a weekday was considered a 'special privilege' that had to be given to you, meaning that only the popular kids whose parents gave a metric shit ton of money to the school got to do it. as much as she hated jaylah's brother, she kind of envied her for being able to ride with him to and from practice. cole may have been an asshole, but at least his fancy sports car had good air conditioning.

as she rounded the corner to her dorm room, she had already begun to take her hair out of its ponytail and take her backpack off to hold it by the strap. she was completely prepared to just walk in, drop her backpack off, grab her towel, and get in the shower. however, when she opened the door, she heard the shower already running. uggghhhhhhhhh.

the fact that julie had decided to take a shower mid-afternoon annoyed dakota more than it probably should have. she felt gross and sticky, and now that julie was in the shower, she'd have to stay like that for at least another ten minutes before julie got out of the bathroom. she sighed before realizing that julie didn't know what time she was supposed to be back at the dorms. maybe if she knew dakota was back she'd hurry it up.

dakota knocked on the door lightly, hoping it was loud enough for julie to hear over the shower. it was. "oh, hey dakota," she said casually, like they were just having a face-to-face conversation instead of dakota just trying to get her out of the shower faster. it would have probably been less weird if it hadn't been the third conversation they'd ever had. "gimme like, five minutes and then i'll be out, alright?" dakota gave her agreement, and then went to unpack her gear bag. she liked to lay her stuff out next to her bed, because if she left it in the bag then everything would smell terrible the next time she opened it. she had tried to do that the first year she ever did derby, and it was rank.

as she was laying her stuff out on the floor between the wall and her bed, she couldn't help but look at the decorations julie had put up in the room. upon closer inspection, they weren't just regular quote-type decorations. in fact, there weren't any quotes at all (a stretch from last year's roommate, who covered almost the entire surface of her wall with 'inspirational' quotes and bible verses, which she quoted almost every day. looking back, it was a good thing that she only lasted four months of the year). the two things she noticed were a bunch of team pictures of kids in hockey gear and pictures of her with her friends, and newspaper clippings. the largest one read 'team USA topples iceland in riveting overtime shootout!', and had a picture of a hockey team holding up a large trophy, with julie front and center.

huh. she knew that the school's hockey team was good, it was something eden hall was known for, but she didn't realize exactly how good they actually were. not that she'd ever have a reason to notice. after what happened her sophomore year, she had vowed not to go to a single hockey game, ever. especially not after what happened in the hallway that morning. which reminded her...

dakota turned to the mirror that was over her desk and grimaced when she saw her nose. it wasn't terrible, definitely not as bad as when she had gotten it broken in a fight a few years ago, but it didn't look pretty, either. it was a mess of purple and blue, and it probably would be bruised for a few more days. she leaned back. maybe if she put a band-aid over it, it wouldn't look too bad-

"did you need the shower?" dakota turned and saw julie, wrapped in a towel with her dripping wet hair over one shoulder. she was running a brush through it, getting water all over the floor, and dakota might have made a comment about it if her brain hadn't gone blank. she whipped her head away, cheeks burning.

"uh, yeah." she said, not looking at julie. she probably moved faster than she should have when she grabbed her towel and practically ran into the bathroom, but she couldn't have cared less. she needed to get out of that room and away from her stupidly pretty roommate. ugh. she closed the door a little harder than she meant to before letting out a groan, sliding her back down the door until she was sitting on the tile floor.

no, no, no no no. there would be no finding roommates pretty, no being a useless lesbian. not if she had anything to do with it. girls already thought she had a crush on them just for existing, why would she give this one any more ammunition against her by finding her pretty? so no, she did not think julie gaffney was pretty, she was just... conventionally attractive. yeah, the kind of girl that boys liked. the kind of girl that liked those boys back. the kind of girl that dakota didn't care about.

she turned on the shower and shook out her hair from her ponytail. this year would not be a disaster. she'd make sure of it. no matter how much her roommate might try to make it otherwise.