Hell's Belles (8 page)

True. That would definitely clash with her glamorous Victoria Beckham look.

She managed to keep from getting hit by a ball for the first five minutes of play, but she got distracted when she spotted some social committee members climbing the bleachers to hang up yet another poster advertising the dance. This sign didn't have a creepy horror movie character on it; it was simple and to the point.

DON'T MISS THE HALLOWEEN DANCE
LIBERTY HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 8 P.M.

Annie froze where she stood on the gym floor.

Saturday?

October 31st!

That's
what had been niggling at her when she'd seen the first banner that morning.

“Oh no,” she said. “No, please tell me that's a misprint!”

“What's the matter?” asked Lexie, ducking to avoid being clobbered by a ball.

“I thought the dance was going to be on Friday night!”

Lexie followed Annie's horrified gaze to the sign on the wall. “Saturday's the night of your Halloween bout, isn't it?”

Annie nodded.

“I didn't realize,” said Lexie, sidestepping another ball. “I guess I didn't pay any attention to the signs since I was never planning to go.”

Annie couldn't bring herself to move; she just stood there staring at the sign.

Which was why she didn't see the ball zooming toward her.

It hit her in the stomach so hard, she actually doubled over.

“You're out!” called the gym teacher, with a blast on his whistle.

That was fine with Annie. Clutching her gut, she made her way to the rows of seats and plunked herself down next to Travis, who was sitting with his head tilted back and a pile of tissues pressed to this nose.

Annie's stomach hurt, but she wasn't sure if it was from the impact of the ball or the thought of now having to choose between the Halloween bout — which had been her idea — and slow-dancing in the arms of her dream guy.

She turned to Travis, who smiled weakly from beneath his clump of tissues.

“I hate gym,” he said.

“Hear, hear,” Annie said with a sigh.

As she watched the last few minutes of the sadistic ritual known as dodgeball, she made a mental list of pros and cons and weighed her options:

The bout was an important event for the Liberty Belles.

The dance was important, too, as a rite of passage for a teenager new to the United States.

The team
needed
her.

Tyler
wanted
her. At least as his date for that one evening . . . but if they hit it off, who knew where that might lead?

There would be plenty of other bouts this season.

There would be only one Halloween dance.

She pictured herself bombing around the track as lead jammer, scoring points for the Liberty Belles.

She pictured herself cuddled up against Tyler, swaying to soft music.

Should she follow her heart? Or her conscience?

“
No?”
Tyler repeated the word back to her, as if she was speaking a foreign language.

“I'm sorry, Tyler,” she said. “I would love to go with you, I just . . . can't.”

They were standing outside the gymnasium.

When Annie had emerged from the gym, she'd spotted him immediately. Her first thought was that she should have spent more time fixing her hair after her disastrous dodgeball experience. She was probably all red in the face and still a little sweaty. Definitely not the way she wanted to look around Tyler.

Tyler had surprised her after class, which was actually very sweet. He'd gone through the trouble of finding out which class she had so he could be waiting for her when she got out.

She had a feeling that now he wished he hadn't bothered.

“I don't understand,” he was saying. “I thought you and I . . . I thought we . . . ya know . . . were kind of giving off vibes or whatever.”

“Yes!” Annie nodded fast. “Yes, I thought that too. I mean, I still think that. It's just that I have something else I have to do on Saturday night.”

“What's more important than the dance?” Tyler asked curtly. He seemed less bewildered now, and more insulted.

Moment of truth. She hadn't admitted to being a roller girl the first time, but now she was determined to tell him. With a sigh, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a flyer for the Liberty Belles versus High Rollers Halloween bout.

“I'm a roller girl,” she said, handing it to him.

“A what?”

“A roller girl. I'm on a roller derby team.”

For a moment, Tyler looked like he thought she might be joking.

“Seriously? Roller derby?” He shook his head. “Wow. I mean, I knew you hang out with those weirdos, but I just can't believe you play.”

Annie ignored the implied insult and began to speak in a long, breathless rush. “I really love it and I don't want to let my team down. It's a real sport. And it's really fun. Not just to play, but to watch. There's a great atmosphere and really cool music. I know the dance is a big deal, but I was kind of hoping that maybe you'd like to come and see me skate instead?”

Tyler looked at the flyer for a long moment. “I don't think that's really my scene.” Then he stuffed the flyer in his back pocket, turned, and walked away.

Annie watched him go, feeling the tears prickling behind her eyes. Obviously, Tyler wasn't a boy who was used to being turned down. Especially by the new girl with the funny accent who played roller derby!

Again, the image of them dancing in each other's arms crossed her mind.

“What have I done?” Annie whispered. “What in the world have I done?”

That evening, Annie entered the rink with her skate bag slung over her shoulder and a scowl on her face.

Jesse looked up from where he was toying with the sound system and immediately did a double take. “Hey, who are you, and what have you done with Annie?”

Annie snapped out of her mood just enough to ask, “Huh?”

“Well, you look like Annie, and you're wearing Annie's T-shirt, but the Annie I know usually shows up with a huge smile on her face. So who are you and what have you done with Anne R. Key?”

Annie sighed. “Sorry, Jesse. I guess I'm just not having a great day.”

“Hmm.” Jesse slid a CD into the player and hit a button. “Maybe this'll help.”

Suddenly, the rink was filled with the sound of The Killers singing “Smile Like You Mean It.”

This time, Annie did manage a smile. Jesse was so sweet. “Thanks. I love this song.”

Annie made her way to the locker room, where the girls were all talking in low, concerned voices. The minute she entered, they stopped whispering and looked at her with sad eyes.

“Good news travels fast, I see,” she said, slumping onto a bench.

“Well, yeah,” Lauren admitted. “I mean, Tyler Erickson doesn't get turned down for a date every day.”

“Tyler Erickson doesn't get turned down
any
day,” Holly corrected. “Which is why you blowing him off for the dance is making headlines all over town.”

“I didn't exactly blow him off,” said Annie, kicking off her shoes and tugging her skates out of her duffel bag. “I would have loved to have gone with him. It was a schedule conflict.”

The girls exchanged glances.

“Yeah, that's what we were talking about actually,” said Liz.

“Look,” said Lauren gently, “ultimately the decision is yours, but we kind of put it to a vote. Some of us say it would be totally fine if you decided to opt out of the bout to go to the dance with Tyler. And some of us say . . .”

“Some of us say that would be absolute garbage!” Holly piped up.

Annie had a pretty good idea which side Holly had voted on.

Sharmila gave Annie a hug. “Ordinarily, I'd say it would be wrong to skip a bout for a guy. But you're new here, and you've never been to a dance before.”

“And Tyler's basically a god,” Carmen added with a grin.

“True,” Annie said. “And that made it even harder to tell him no. But it still isn't a good enough reason to miss the bout.”

“I know,” said Carmen, looking sheepish. “Which is why I agree with Holly.”

“It's great that you want to honor your commitment to your team,” said Lauren. “We're just saying that this one time, it would be okay to miss the bout.”

“I didn't say that,” said Holly, in a surprisingly calm tone. “I said the exact opposite. I mean, I like cute guys as much as the next girl —”

“Maybe even
more
than the next girl,” teased Liz, waggling her eyebrows.

“But life is full of tough choices, Princess,” Holly went on. “During the season, derby has to come first. Even if it means you won't be on the dance floor on Saturday night.” She surprised Annie by giving her a hug. “But I just wanna say that I think it's pretty cool that you decided to skate.”

“Right,” said Sharmila. “But if you change your mind, just this once, that would be cool too.”

“I missed a bout my first season,” Liz said, giving Annie's shoulder a squeeze. “I was basically failing French, and there was a bout the night before my midterm exam. If I didn't study, I would have crashed and burned on the test. So I skipped the bout and stayed home to hit the books.”

“That's different than a school dance,” argued Carmen. “That's school.”

“All I'm saying is that things come up,” Liz clarified.

“She needs to be loyal to the team.”

“And the team needs to be loyal to her.”

As her teammates debated, Annie's head swam. She knew it would be wrong to miss the bout, just like it would have been wrong to miss a gymnastics meet when she'd been competing at elite level. Other people were counting on her, and she made a promise when she joined the team.

But her teammates — her
friends —
were telling her that given the special circumstances of the situation, they would understand if she chose the dance.

It was the nicest thing they could have said.

But she still wasn't going to do it. She loved derby and she loved these girls. And she totally respected Holly and Carmen for being honest with her.

“Hey!” she called to get their attention, then smiled around at the group. “Thanks, everyone. But the fact is I wouldn't miss our Halloween bout even if the
real
David Beckham asked me to the dance.”

They all laughed and started getting into their gear.

On their way out to the track, Sharmila gave her another hug. “One more thing,” she said so that only Annie could hear. “If you guys are meant to be together, it will happen.”

“I don't know,” Annie said grimly. “He seemed pretty annoyed.”

Sharmila gave a dismissive wave. “That's how boys are. They pout. But trust me, if there's really something there, it will work out. And if it doesn't, it wasn't meant to be.”

Annie smiled. It sounded like good advice. Of course, coming from Sharmila, it was probably slightly biased. What guy
wouldn't
give her a second chance?

“Let's go, girls,” came Coach Ritter's voice across the rink.

Annie didn't have to be told twice. If there was one thing that was going to shake her out of her miserable mood, it was some high-powered derby action.