Falling Hard

by Megan Sparks

  “Chief, we have a problem,” Lexie said to her pretend walkie-talkie. “Anglo girl, fourteen, seems to be suffering from delusions.”

  Annie pressed pause on her daydream and sighed. Lexie was right. Now was not the time. Tyler fantasies could wait, the cupcakes couldn’t. They put the cakes in the oven and started to think about the icing.

  “What about lavender? Think that will go well the berga-thingy?” Lexie read the flavours Dad had in stock while Annie sang along with Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Jigsaw Feeling”.

  “Why not?” Annie swung her ponytail around in headbanging mode then jumped when her phone vibrated in her pocket. Probably Dad wondering if he’d left his wallet.

  No, it was a number Annie didn’t recognize.

  “Hello?” Annie said as Lexie lowered the music.

  “Why haven’t you confirmed your spot on the squad? I thought it was very clear that everyone, even you, has to formally accept.”

  Annie blinked a few times. What? Who? “Is this Kelsey?”

  “No, the Easter Bunny,” she said so loudly that Lexie heard, making her stick out her teeth, and chest, and hop around like a cheerleading rabbit. Annie had to turn away to keep from bursting out laughing.

  “Oh, right. Sorry about that.”

  “Soooooo? Are you confirming?”

  Annie stared out of the lacy curtains Dad still hadn’t removed from the kitchen. “Um, can’t I let you know on Monday?”

  Kelsey made an exasperated sound. “You mean you actually have to think about it? People would kill to be on the squad.”

  Lexie pointed her fingers into a gun shape and pretended to shoot Annie.

  “It’s just—” Annie started but Kelsey cut her off.

  “Whatevs. Just remember practice is Monday. And please tell me you’re not actually listening to that crap I hear. So uncool.” And she hung up before Annie could defend the band now playing, the Dead Kennedys.

  “Boy, aren’t cheerleaders like sooooo sweet and nice?” Lexie asked in the same mocking voice she had used before.

  “Shut it.” Annie pushed Kelsey out of her mind. If she became a cheerleader, she’d have to deal with Kelsey all the time. How did her minions manage it?

  They took out the cupcakes and breathed deeply: the smell was heavenly. When Lexie wasn’t looking, Annie pinched off a tiny piece to taste it still warm; Dad always scolded her for doing that even though he did it too. They waited for the cupcakes to cool before adding the icing (which Annie also sneaked a taste of). Here Lexie proved herself an artist. While Annie grabbed a knifeful of icing and slabbed it on top, Lexie sculpted and shaped the icing of each cupcake into a beautiful form. There was no point in Annie helping her. She put the kettle on instead – you couldn’t have Earl Grey cakes without Earl Grey tea to compliment them – and tidied up. Once done, the two sat down with a cup of tea and cupcake each. The result? Bliss.

  “Ah.” Annie put her cup down and started on a second cupcake. “It’s a shame good tea is so expensive here. That is the one thing I miss the most.”

  “What, more than your mom?” Lexie asked.

  “No, of course not. It’s just...” How could she explain Mum to Lexie without making her sound uncaring? “Mum is very work-driven – some nights she wouldn’t even come home until two in the morning.”

  “That’s really late,” Lexie said. Annie nodded.

  “With me and gymnastics, Mum expected the same: the best. I trained with the top coaches in London. She kept saying that I was going to be the next Nadia Comaneci – she was the first gymnast to score a perfect ten.”

  “Yeah, I think I’ve heard of her.”

  Annie licked the icing slowly off her cupcake. “But when I couldn’t compete any more, I think Mum took it worse than I did. If I couldn’t be the best gymnast, then I had to be the best something else, but there’s nothing else I’m anywhere near as good at. I still don’t think she understands me. I love my mum, I really do, but she’s nothing like Dad.”

  Lexie peeled away the paper from her second cupcake. “My mom doesn’t get me either. I mean, she’s OK with my art, but I know she keeps hoping it’ll be something I grow out of.”

  “At least she’s not putting pressure on you.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Your mum is really nice. It must be great having her around all the time.”

  Lexie sighed. “Except when she starts nagging me about not being popular. ‘When I was your age, everyone knew me and I always had a boyfriend. I don’t understand why you don’t.’ Of course, she was a cheerleader.”

  Annie laughed at Lexie’s perfect imitation of Mrs Jones. “Maybe we should swap mums like they did on that show on the telly.”

  “Yes! Can I go to London? Like today?”

  Instead of continuing the game, Annie let out the sad truth. “She’s probably working. Today, and tomorrow, and every day.”

  Lexie gave her a big hug, which Annie returned. “Probably because she misses you so much.”

  “Ta.”

  Annie jumped at her phone buzzing in her pocket. It was an unknown number.

  come down to the skatepark. a bunch of us are chillin.

  Jesse.

  How did he get my number? Annie wondered. Then she remembered that Coach Ritter had circulated contact details at the end of the last session. Jesse was a non-skating official, so he was on it too. Before Annie could respond, there was another text. This one from Lauren:

  Bring your skates and some munchies to the park. Picnic on wheels!

  As she was reading it, a text from Liz came in:

  Some of us are hanging out at the St Augustine Park on Dalton Street if you want to come.

  Annie turned to Lexie. From the expression on her face, Lexie was surprised by Annie’s sudden popularity.

  “Cheerleading?” Lexie said with a hint of resentment.

  “Better. Skate jam at the park. Let’s pack up the cupcakes, save a couple for Dad, and head down there.”

  Lexie was on her feet in an instant. “Now that I can handle. Skater boys are hot.”

  It took the girls half an hour to walk to the skatepark on the outskirts of town. Annie had never been there before but knew right away she’d be hanging out there again. There were half-pipes and rails, stairs and a flat track. Every person who owned wheels, whether skateboard, roller skates, bicycle, and even one boy in a wheelchair, seemed to be taking advantage of the lasting warm weather to show off their tricks.

  Liz, Lauren, and a couple of other girls who played roller derby were practising blocking.

  Holly was using the track like a figure skater and showing off her jumps to the roller hockey boys.

  Lexie placed herself at the picnic table with her sketchbook to guard the food; Jesse’s dog, Sid Vicious, sampled a few of the cupcakes, paper cases and all, as soon as they had put them down.

  At Jesse’s insistence, Annie climbed the ladder leading up to the half-pipe and laced up her rollerblades. It looked a lot steeper from up above than it did from the ground. Almost a sheer drop. Maybe the half-pipe wasn’t such a good idea.

  “If you die,” Lexie called out. “I’m moving into your house.”

  Annie stuck her tongue out and then grinned as she buckled the borrowed helmet. “Why wait? We have a spare room.”

  Before she could think about it any more, Annie went over the edge of the half-pipe.

  Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! She was sure she was going to die! The wind whooshed through her clothes as she went down. A second later she was going up the other side and slowing down big time. No way could she make it to the top. She suddenly realized that once the momentum stopped, she’d go back down – backward! That was so not happening. Just as her speed was about to give out, Annie turned 180 degrees and went down face forward. There were no panicked thoughts this time as she enjoyed the ride. She only made it halfway up the pipe before she turned again. Then one more time up and down before she stopped at the bottom.

  S
he glanced up at Jesse who was watching her from the top of the half-pipe. “I must be mad; I want another go!”

  “Sure, but it’s my turn now.” Jesse launched off the half-pipe as soon as Annie got out of the way. He zoomed down faster than Annie had and when he made it to the top on the other side, he brought his knees to his chest and grabbed the underside of the board with a hand while completing a 360-degree turn mid-air. He landed back on the pipe and returned to the other side where he started. Half the kids at the park cheered, but none louder than Annie. That was brilliant.

  Annie spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with skater boys, roller girls, and anyone else who showed up with wheels, or without. When she got home that night, totally knackered but feeling better than ever, she knew what she had to do. She couldn’t debate it any more. There was nothing to debate.

  She switched on her computer and wrote an email to Kelsey, copying in the cheerleading coach.

  Thanks for selecting me to be a part of the squad. Unfortunately, I’m not going to join at this time as it conflicts with my roller derby training. Good luck with the season ahead.

  Best,

  Annie

  She hit “send” and grinned. Who cared if Kelsey thought she was a punk – Annie was going to be a roller girl!

  Chapter Thirteen

  Annie walked to her class on Monday feeling great. She couldn’t believe how much the cheerleading acceptance had been weighing her down. If she had known how easy it would be to send that email, and how good she’d feel afterwards, she would have done it sooner. Dad was a bit disappointed, but only because he was scared for her. She had explained to him that with Kelsey on the squad, cheerleading was more dangerous than he thought.

  And that was before Annie ran into her.

  Or rather Kelsey ran into Annie. Kind of, by accident on purpose. Just as Kelsey walked by, she performed the fakest trip possible and practically threw her iced coffee with whipped cream all over Annie.

  “Oh dear, I’m so sorry,” Kelsey said in the phoniest English accent Annie had ever heard while her subordinates pointed and laughed.

  Annie wiped the cream from her eyes. Only a bit landed on her face; thankfully it didn’t sting. The rest of the drink had gone down her front, quite literally; there were at least two ice cubes nestled in her bra. She shifted her shirt and bra to extract the invasive ice pieces before they did any damage.

  “What was that for?” Annie gasped when she finally found her voice.

  Kelsey didn’t even pretend she didn’t know what Annie was talking about. “Because you deserve it.”

  Annie shook her head to clear it. “Wha—”

  “No one, and I mean no one, turns down being a cheerleader. Is it because you think you’re too good for us? With your stuck-up accent and your punk tastes? Well, you’re not.”

  “No, I nev—” Annie tried to use Lexie’s trick of imagining Kelsey with a moustache to lighten things up, but it didn’t work.

  Kelsey shoved Annie’s shoulder like they did on television before a fistfight. “Because let me tell you, you’re going to regret turning us down.”

  “Look, it’s—” Annie really wished she knew how to respond. And make Kelsey listen.

  “You’re such a snob. And you’re not that good at gymnastics. Coach only wanted you for affirmative action or something stupid like that.”

  “That’s—” rude, uncalled for, incorrect, and spoken completely silently. If only she had left an ice cube in her bra to chuck at Kelsey.

  Someone else was obviously thinking along the same lines. A hand brushed Annie’s shoulder and the blob of whipped cream that had been there went flying straight at Kelsey’s face.

  “Get lost before I kick your pathetic, cheerleading ass!”

  Annie blinked a couple of times. The coffee must have distorted her vision. That couldn’t be Holly.

  It was.

  Short, feisty Holly looking like she was ready to pounce on Kelsey and tear her to bits.

  “How dare you!” Kelsey screeched as she wiped the cream from her cheek. “I’m going straight to the principal.”

  “You threw the coffee on me,” Annie said. It wasn’t the best comeback but at least she’d finally managed to defend herself.

  “Do us all a favour and go back to London, and take the leprechaun with you.” Kelsey turned away with a mighty swing of her hair, her two subordinates copying her to perfection.

  Holly responded by scooping up a handful of ice from the floor and throwing the cubes like darts to the back of their heads. “Oh yeah, come back and say that to my face, you witch.”

  Several chunks of ice hit their backs, but the girls didn’t turn back around, just walked away faster, though Lulu did let out a satisfying, “Ouch!”

  Holly mumbled a rude word before grabbing Annie’s arm and dragging her to the bathroom. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  In the bathroom, Holly grabbed some paper towels and tried to wipe away some of the coffee. Not that it helped. There was still a huge brown stain on Annie’s sodden pink shirt.

  “That stain’s not going anywhere. Not without a washing machine.” Holly wet a piece of paper and handed it to Annie to wipe her sticky face and neck.

  Annie took it slowly. While part of her worried that Holly was just going to play a meaner trick on her than Kelsey had, the other part wondered if she had misjudged her. Annie let her guard down a bit. “Thanks. You didn’t have to stand up for me.”

  Holly pulled out her make-up bag, not looking at Annie. “Trust me, I know.”

  “I thought you didn’t like me.” Annie didn’t look at her either as she wet more paper towels.

  Holly focused on her reflection as she retouched her eyeliner. “Who says I do? The fact is you’re one of us now and no one messes with my roller girls.”

  Annie smiled. It wasn’t exactly a vow of friendship, but she could live with that. “Thanks.”

  “Yeah, well just don’t make me regret it.” Holly rolled her newly made-up eyes, but there was a slight smile on her face. Annie relaxed a bit more.

  The bathroom door opened and in walked Liz. She took in Annie’s stained shirt and Holly’s nonchalance and looked worried. “What happened?”

  “Kelsey,” Annie sighed, still dabbing at her shirt. “She was a bit put out that I chose roller derby over cheerleading.”

  “Put out?” Holly sniggered. “She went freaking psycho.”

  True, that was a much better description. “She said no one turned down cheerleading,” Annie said.

  “I did.” Liz shrugged. “Three years ago, before Kelsey was at the school. It was a different crowd back then with some really nice girls but I decided it wasn’t my thing. I wanted to be part of the game, not just cheer from the sides.”

  That was easy for Liz. She didn’t seem like the sort who would take any rubbish from anyone. She was cool and popular just for being who she was.

  Annie threw the paper towels in the bin. They hadn’t done much good. She’d have to wear a wet and stained shirt for the rest of the day. Or borrow the Hooters shirt from lost and found again. “I just wish I knew why Kelsey hates me so much. I didn’t mean to bump into her on my first day in Liberty Heights. It was an accident. Really.”

  “If I had bumped into her, it wouldn’t have been an accident.” Holly puckered at her reflection to apply more lipstick.

  Liz placed a comforting hand on Annie’s shoulder. “She’s obviously intimidated by you. The only way she can deal with it is to be nasty.”

  “Why? I can’t even tell her off.”

  Holly set down her make-up and raised an eyebrow at Annie. “Yeah, we need to work on that.”

  “You’re new and foreign, therefore more interesting. You’re also prettier and skinnier than her, which in her mind, counts for everything. And you’re by far a better gymnast,” Liz said.

  Annie narrowed her eyes. Liz was just saying that. There were only a couple of videos of Annie competing on YouTube, and t
hey weren’t easy to find. “How do you know?”

  Liz grinned. “I saw the try-outs. My little sister wanted to be a cheerleader. She didn’t make it. I’ve tried to get her into derby, but it’s not her scene. It’d be awesome if we could put some of your gymnastics moves into derby, but that’d be too dangerous.”

  Holly finished primping and sighed. “Trust me, I’d give anything to double axel over the pack. Just can’t get enough height.”

  Annie and Liz grinned at each other. Any height Holly lacked she made up for in attitude.

  “Thanks, both of you. It’s so nice to be part of a team again.” Annie looked down at her shirt. It was still wet and stained. If rumours spread as easily as they did at her old school, everyone was going to know what had happened.

  Annie bit her lip. She wasn’t going to cry. Not in front of Liz and Holly. They’d take back everything and think she wasn’t tough enough to be a teammate. She stared at the floor, hoping they didn’t notice she was about to break down.

  Liz gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Hey, look, I have an extra shirt in my bag. Might be a bit smelly, but at least it’s dry.”

  Annie took a deep breath and gratefully accepted the shirt. She took off hers and put on Liz’s. It was a baggy black one but it didn’t smell too bad. Annie took another breath. She felt much better now.

  The bell rang, causing Annie to jump. She had forgotten they were in the school loos. English next. She glanced at the mirror. Well, she wasn’t going to win any beauty contests today but the borrowed shirt at least gave her more confidence. Not enough to pull Tyler into a good snog, but better than having him see her covered in coffee.

  Liz held open the door and the three headed out towards class. “Look, forget about Kelsey. You’re one of us now. We’re a good crowd, you’ll see. And we got your back. Trust me, no one messes with a derby girl.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Annie got to the roller rink, laced up her skates, and sprinted five laps around the rink before she felt human again. The morning’s Kelsey coffee catastrophe had been on her mind all day with Kelsey’s words ringing in her ears, “You’re such a snob.” Annie was glad to finally have a release.