In A Jam

by Megan Sparks

  “Annie, stop.” Coach Ritter stared at her with arms crossed. “Sit.”

  Annie plopped down on the bench and took a deep breath. Coach sat down next to her. Annie let out her breath. Oh, thank goodness. Coach didn’t seem like she was going to scream at her.

  A second later, Annie wished she was being screamed at. The disappointment in Coach Ritter’s voice was much worse. “I don’t know what to say to you. You don’t even have a valid reason for not showing up. And you didn’t even call. I thought you knew better than that. That you took the sport and this team seriously.” Coach Ritter shook her head in disbelief.

  Annie started to say something, anything, in her defence, but Coach continued before any words came out. “You’re a great athlete, one of the most promising on the team. I can see you playing in an All-Star league one day. It’s one thing to miss practice for a good reason, we all have things that come up, but you should have let me know as soon as possible.”

  “I—” Annie started to say it was an accident but Coach wasn’t going to be interrupted.

  “I know you weren’t at Rosie Lee’s. I stopped for a muffin before coming here and would have driven you over but your dad said you were with a friend.”

  From the way she said “friend” Annie knew Coach knew what kind of “friend” Tyler was, and wasn’t impressed.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just—”

  “I don’t want to hear it. You let me down, and you let your team down. If you want to remain a Liberty Belle, don’t let that happen again.”

  “Yes, Coach.” Annie stared at her clenched hands. Don’t cry, she told herself. Don’t cry.

  “Now, take those skates back to Jesse. You won’t be needing them today.”

  Annie looked up in horror. Any thought of crying was gone. “What?”

  Coach Ritter stood up. “I’ve taken you off the roster for today. You can still be an NSO if you like.”

  “You can’t do that. That’s out of order!”

  “No, it’s not. Girls who don’t take the team seriously don’t play. I suggest you apologize to your teammates, and then you can help keep score.”

  Coach Ritter skated away and started calling out warm-ups for the girls on the rink. Carmen, who had also missed the last practice, was still allowed to play. Just because she had a stupid work emergency excuse. It wasn’t fair.

  Annie kicked the bench in frustration. Last month she had been a non-skating official because she had a sprained ankle. But to be demoted to an NSO now was insulting and unnecessary. One practice. One measly, stupid, little practice and she couldn’t play today. So unfair. If she’d known this would happen, she wouldn’t have bothered showing up. She could have been at the movies with Tyler instead of being subjected to such humiliation.

  Maybe she should go. Ring Tyler up right now, get him to pick her up, and take her away.

  No, then Coach Ritter would kick her off the team for sure. “If you want to remain a Liberty Belle,” echoed in her mind. Not that being off the team would be such a bad thing, if this was how she was going to get treated. Still, if she wasn’t going to play roller derby any more, she wanted it to be because she quit, not because she’d been kicked out.

  With an internal grumble, Annie picked up the skates and dumped them on the counter in front of Jesse.

  “Looks like I’ll be keeping score today.” She rolled her eyes, not explaining what was going on. He must have known; he did try to warn her. “So unfair. One practice is not the same as missing a bout. She knows I’m trustworthy; I babysit her kids.”

  “I was afraid of that. Coach Ritter doesn’t make exceptions for anyone.” He gave her a sympathetic look before reaching under the counter and tossing her a black and white ref’s shirt. Annie sighed. On the back it had her derby name, Anne R. Key. She had got the idea from the song, “Anarchy in the UK”, by one of her favourite punk groups, the Sex Pistols. Jesse had put her derby name on the shirt with black tape last month when she couldn’t skate. She didn’t know whether to be pleased or sad that he hadn’t removed it.

  “Cheers.” She pulled the shirt over her head. It clashed horribly with her gold hot pants and purple tights.

  Jesse pointed to the easel set up on the rink. “Board’s all ready for you. Let me know if you need anything. A song or something to cheer you up.” With that he pressed a button on the sound system and on came the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)”.

  Annie smiled. Almost. Whatever else was going on, at least Jesse was a good friend.

  She walked into the rink towards her whiteboard. The derby track ovals were painted onto the rink’s floor, but there was still plenty of room out of bounds for officials and players. Annie’s scoreboard was just behind the jammers’ line, next to one of the team’s benches. In some bouts, like the first one Annie went to, audience members could sit right on the rink floor, but here spectators sat on the bleachers on the opposite side of the starting lines for optimal viewing.

  “Benched you, huh? Guess you’re not such a princess,” Holly smirked as she skated towards Annie, turned backward and got on her toe brakes for a perfect tomahawk stop. Annie braced herself for the worst. Holly would have to rub it in. It was in her nature. “Yeah, that’s never happened to me. I’ve never bailed on my team. Not for a guy at least. But for a Lady Gaga concert in Chicago? Totally worth it.”

  Holly winked. New admiration and respect for Annie appeared on Holly’s face as if they were now partners in crime. The older girl skated off on one skate and changed direction to face Annie while still on that skate. “Third row seats!” she mouthed and held out three fingers.

  Annie’s first real smile of the night crept onto her face. It was nice having Holly on her side, as if Holly suddenly admired Annie for being a bit of a rebel. Annie took a deep breath and headed over to the rest of the team. Now was the time, a minute before the bout started.

  “I’m really sorry for skiving off the other day, guys.” Annie looked at each of the girls in turn. “And I’m really, really sorry that because of it, I can’t play today.”

  Liz gave her a hug. With Liz on skates, the two were the same height. “I know, sweetie. We all make mistakes. The important thing is that you’re still here and you’re one of us.”

  The other girls nodded in agreement and headed to the bench as Jesse turned on the PA system to announce the start of the bout and introduce the members from each team.

  Looking like he’d been in a fight with a bag of flour and lost, Dad came rushing into the rink. He’d always made every single event of Annie’s, whether gymnastics, school-related, or roller derby. Annie loved him for that, but for the first time wished he hadn’t come. He glanced at the girls lined up by the benches. Each team was on either side of the chairs making up the penalty box. Annie could tell from his frown that he didn’t see her and was panicking. Reluctantly, she lifted a hand and waved for his attention. It took him a second to spot her away from the team. His expression changed from worry to surprise.

  “Beanie,” he said. He had started calling her String Bean, or Beanie, after she grew a foot last year and became too tall for gymnastics. “Are you OK? Have you hurt your ankle again?”

  Annie looked at the track. The opposing team, the Prairie Girls, were still skating around. “Coach Ritter pulled me from the bout because I missed practice on Thursday. I know, I’m sorry, and I’ll never do it again.”

  Dad sighed, running a hand through his hair which made it stick straight up. “In that case, I’m going back to Rosie Lee’s. I still need to make five kinds of cookie dough. I’ll pick you up at the end and we’ll talk about this then.”

  Annie nodded and watched him leave. Usually he helped out at the bouts as an NSO, but maybe he thought she’d taken his place. It was probably for the best that he had left. She just hoped his “talk” didn’t lead to another embarrassing discussion about avoiding pregnancy when all she and Tyler were doing was snogging.

  She glanced aro
und at the spectators. That was odd. Lexie wasn’t there. Lexie, like Dad, had always come to watch the Liberty Belles’ bouts. Probably because roller derby was the only sport she thought was cool. OK, so there were still some ruffled feathers between them, but Annie didn’t think that would keep her from watching the bout. If Lexie were here, she would have given Annie a much-needed hug. Or at least she would have before Annie started going out with Tyler. Lexie had been acting so weird lately it was hard to figure her out.

  Annie let out a slow breath and grabbed the black dry erase marker with one hand and the rag to wipe the board clean with the other. She was ready to keep score. The bout only lasted for two thirty-minute periods. She could stand the humiliation of being benched for that long.

  Annie’s humiliation was shared by her teammates when the bout started. The Prairie Girls were currently at the bottom of the league, but still managed to outplay the Liberty Belles in almost every single jam. After twenty minutes of the first period, the Belles were lagging by eighteen points. Not a huge gap, but embarrassing enough to really bother Annie.

  If only Coach would let me lace up my skates. I could help the Belles catch up.

  No such luck. At least not for the Belles.

  “Jammer Holly Terror gets sent to the penalty box for elbowing Crossing Jordan,” Jesse spoke quickly. “Which puts the Prairie Girls into a power jam!”

  No!

  Annie wanted to cover her eyes in horror. Holly said a few choice words on her way to the box. Not that it helped. For the one minute Holly was in the box, the Belles would be without a jammer, unable to score points or call off the jam.

  Lauren, Sharmila, Tashi, and Liz, tried to hold the Prairie Girls’ jammer, Guard-a-Lupe, back. Tried. Liz accidentally stuck out her skate and got sent to the box for low blocking. Guard-a-Lupe, a tall and heavy girl built like a bull, barged her way through the pack and raced back around to do it again. And again. When the ref finally blew the whistle indicating the end of that jam, the Prairie Girls had racked up fifteen more points.

  Annie wiped the old score off. With a heavy heart, she sighed and wrote the new score: “32 Belles – 65 Prairie Girls”.

  After the halftime break, things didn’t get better. Holly, Liz, Sharmila, and Natalia all scored some points during their turns as jammer, but so did the Prairie Girls. Instead of screaming at her team, Coach Ritter wore the same look of disappointment she’d had earlier with Annie.

  “Focus, girls, focus. Watch those gaps. Remember those plays we’ve been working on.” Coach Ritter clapped encouragement.

  “Guard-a-Lupe is back as the Prairie Girls’ jammer and jamming for the Liberty Belles, we have Sharrrrrmilaaaaa the Hun!” Jesse announced while Annie clapped her hands unenthusiastically. Jesse didn’t have to make it so obvious that he liked Sharmila. He’s probably imagining her in a pink and gold sari, Annie thought sulkily.

  “Sharmila the Hun breaks through the pack first, and yes! She’s your lead jamm-merrr! What a move. She rounds the corner, closing in on the pack again. Guard-a-Lupe is still trying to get through the pack but the Belles are standing firm. Sack ‘n’ Jill gets sent to the box for grabbing Lauren Disorder. Sharmila the Hun squeezes through a gap in the pack, passing Guard-a-Lupe for a graaaand slaaaaaam! And the Liberty Belles are back in the running!”

  Annie jumped up and down, cheering as loudly as she could. She wasn’t actually supposed to show favouritism as the scorekeeper, but at this stage she didn’t care. Sharmila scored a total of nine points – earning an extra point for passing the opposing jammer – and the Prairie Girls none, before she called off the jam. Even though Sharmila’s points didn’t even up the score, it was still a great play. The Liberty Belles were back in the game.

  Except the Prairie Girls weren’t surrendering. No one scored in the next jam. In the jam after that, both teams scored a handful of points. Not that it helped. The opposing team was still leading.

  Annie alternated between watching the girls in the rink and the clock. The nails on her left hand were bitten to the quick. The Belles could still win. Sixteen points behind wasn’t too much. A power jam in their favour could square things right up...

  But it wasn’t going to happen. Not today.

  The Prairie Girls were playing uncharacteristically well and the Belles kept getting penalties. When the buzzer sounded the end of the bout, Annie grumbled as she wrote the final score on the board: “89 Belles – 102 Prairie Girls”. The Belles’ first loss of the season. She felt worse than she had when Coach Ritter had scolded her earlier. Who knew whether the Belles would have still lost if Annie had been allowed to play, but at least she wouldn’t have this gnawing guilt in her stomach for not being there for them. Setting down the marker, she shuffled over to her teammates with a promise that next time they’d get the Prairie Girls back.

  Forget about quitting roller derby. That wasn’t even an option. Annie didn’t care if Coach Ritter decided she had been too easy on Annie and wanted to keep her as an NSO for the rest of the season. She loved the sport, and her teammates, way too much not to take it seriously. She was going to work harder to prove that she had what it took to be a good teammate; she’d make sure the Belles made it to the championship bout. And won.

  The next bout’s opposing team had better be prepared. Anne R. Key was not going down without a fight.

  Chapter Eight

  The Liberty Belles’ defeat brought Annie to two conclusions: the Belles were not invincible and she was never ever, ever, going to let her team down again. If they got defeated again, they’d do it as a team.

  To help in both regards, Annie had come up with a new training regime. Yes she was fit, but she had been even fitter in her gymnastics prime. It was time to get that back. And the best part was that she had convinced Tyler to join her for the workout. At least for today. It was the most perfect plan.

  Except that it was freezing on the school’s track where they agreed to meet after school. Annie got there first and immediately started stretching and warming up. Tyler showed up seven minutes later, his cheeks a deep red from the cold.

  “Hiya. Better start warming up.” Annie leaned over to give Tyler a quick kiss. He tried to wrap his arms around her for a deeper snog, but she shook her finger. “No. You, young man, will have to wait. We’ve got too much to do before that.”

  “Remind me why we’re here? Soccer season’s over,” Tyler grumbled as he began jogging on the spot to warm up.

  “We need the training.” Annie stretched an arm over her head.

  “Speak for yourself. I’m in perfect shape.”

  Annie grinned. “Yeah? Then this should be easy-peasy for you.”

  Tyler pulled up the zipper of his coat the remaining five centimetres. “Just ’cause I can do it, doesn’t mean I want to. I checked the thermometer in the car; it’s twenty-two degrees!”

  “What’s that in Celsius?” Annie asked as she did twenty star jumps.

  “Bloody cold!” Tyler said in a fake English accent as he blew into his hands.

  Annie ignored the chill. She had on her pink wool hat and matching mittens that her nana in Surrey had knitted, a yellow fleece, and enough blood circulating to keep everything but the tip of her nose toasty.

  “OK, shall we start with a circuit, doing everything for a minute and resting for thirty seconds?” Annie pulled out a page she’d printed from a fitness site online and consulted it. “Let’s start out with burpees.”

  Tyler let out a loud fake burp. When Annie gave him a disapproving look, he grinned and said, “What? I thought you asked for burpees.”

  “Very funny,” Annie said. “You know what I meant.” She set down the paper, then leaped into the air with her arms up. Then she bent to her knees, jumped back into a plank, did a push up, before jumping her feet back to her hands and leaping in the air again. She placed her hands on her hips and smiled smugly. Let him admire how fit she was.

  He did. He leaned over to kiss her. Annie let him for a second. OK, m
aybe two.

  “Nope.” She shifted away from him when he tried to put his arms around her. “You have to earn your smooches today. I’ll tell you the rest of the exercises just before we do them. If they’re really hard for you, I’ll let you take extra breaks.”

  Tyler gave her a dirty look and Annie grinned back. She had no doubt that Tyler could do everything on the sheet – he didn’t get his fit body by watching television all day long – but she liked teasing him about being the fitter one.

  They went through the training circuit, pausing only to position themselves for the next exercise. Once they’d had finished it, Tyler was definitely panting hard. Annie sipped some water, feeling a bit tired but not exhausted.

  “I still don’t get what’s the point in all this. We could have just as easily worked out in the gym. Or gone swimming at my parents’ sports club. I bet you look hot in a swimsuit.” He raised his eyebrow at her, but his charm was not going to work today. Annie had never been a quitter.

  “True, but if you train in the cold, when the air is thinner, it builds stamina. I want to get super fit for derby,” she said as she continued with some arm rotations. She hadn’t told him about being put as an NSO during the last bout. She still felt bad about her disgrace and she didn’t want him to think she blamed him when it was her fault. She should have stayed strong and insisted on going to the practice. All he knew was that the team had lost and she was determined not to let it happen again.

  “It’s cute how you’re so into roller derby. Even if it’s not a real sport.”

  Annie put her hands on her hips and stood straight, towering the full inch above him. “Pardon? Just because there’s no ball, doesn’t make it less of a sport.”