Hell's Belles (20 page)

The High Rollers had divided the spinner into six triangular sections. Each section depicted a silly activity, such as a “Tug of War” or the “Hokey Pokey,” that would be performed by the player who'd been given the penalty and the opponent she'd fouled.

Laughing and hooting, the players from both teams skated to the sidelines, leaving Mae Hem alone on the track, pretending to be furious with her punishment. The “Penalty Mistress,” who was dressed like a circus ringmaster (and whom Annie recognized as Slammy Tammy), spun the wheel.

It landed on “Pillow Fight.”

Again, the crowd roared with delight.

Mae Hem scowled and shook her head as Lauren was led back onto the track by the referee. Each girl was given a long stocking cap and a matching granny-style nightgown to pull on over her derby uniform, then they were handed oversized bed pillows.

The whistle blew, and Jesse immediately played Metallica's “Enter Sandman.”

The crowd went crazy
as Mae and Lauren began to pummel each other with the pillows.

When the whistle blew again, the ref asked the fans to decide by applause who'd won the fight. The decision went to Lauren, which meant the High Rollers had to give up one of the points they'd already scored.

Mae's fury went from fake to authentic as she made her way to the sin bin to endure her penalty. Then the bout resumed.

Just before halftime, Liz scored, thanks to some hard-core blocking by Sharmila. Then Sharmila and Allison the Good Witch performed an impromptu routine in which Sharmila the vampire nerd removed the Kick Me sign from her own back and sped around the track after Allison, finally catching her and sticking the sign on the back of her silver dress. All the other Rollers then surrounded their captain and pretended to land kicks on her backside. The crowd laughed and cheered as the girls retreated to the side of the track to take their mid-bout break.

“That's what I call a halftime show,” said Lauren, skating up beside Annie.

“I know, isn't it great?” Annie said. She smiled wide as she looked around at the crowd. She was surprised to see that quite a few kids from high school had actually shown up. What was even better was the fact that they really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

But then she remembered that right now Kelsey was probably snuggled up against Tyler, dancing to some pop ballad and whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

So much for triumph.

Shake it off,
she told herself for the second time that night.

Then Coach Ritter came over and quickly checked Annie's ankle.

“I feel fine,” Annie said. “Really.”

“Well, kiddo, it looks okay, but if you want to rest it for a jam or two, I'll understand.”

Annie shook her head. “No thanks. It feels great and I'm not even tired. I'd really love to be jammer again, Coach.”

“We'll see,” said Coach.

Halftime ended and the girls took to the track. When Annie heard a series of wolf whistles, she turned to scan the crowd, certain it would be Dad, pretending to be a werewolf.

But then she remembered he was the timekeeper, and at that moment he happened to be consulting with a sideline ref. So it couldn't have been him whistling.

Lexie?
Annie wondered, but realized immediately that if Lexie were capable of whistling like that, Annie would have heard her do it before. And Jesse was too busy tinkering with the sound system to whistle at her.

Curious, she continued to search the faces — some masked, others made-up — seeking out the whistler.

And then the loud whistling sound came again, followed by a shout, “Hey, Anne R. Key! Give 'em hell, baby!”

Annie's eyes swept the crowd in search of where the deep, masculine voice had come from.

The masked monster!

“Looks like you've got a fan!” said Lauren, giggling. “Who is it?”

“I have no idea!” whispered Annie.

“Too bad he looks like Frankenstein's uglier brother,” Lauren teased, pointing to the rubber mask.

“Well,” joked Annie, laughing as the masked monster pressed a hand to his distorted rubber lips and blew her a kiss, “I suppose looks aren't everything.”

In the first few minutes, the Belles scored three more points. Pleased with their lead, Coach waved Annie over.

“Ready to be jammer again, kiddo?”

“Absolutely!”

“Well, then,” said Coach, laughing, “like the guy in the rubber head said, give 'em hell!”

Give 'em hell?

That was exactly what Annie intended to do.

As the jam kicked off, Jesse played “Werewolves of London” and Annie felt a surge of power because she knew the song was a tribute to her.

Once again, she found herself facing off against Dee. As they took their places on the line, Dee opened her mouth, ready with a rude remark. But to Dee's shock, Annie narrowed her eyes and spoke first.

“I've had it with your mouth, so why don't you save us both the trouble and keep it shut for a change?”

Dee gaped at her, speechless.

The whistle blew and the teams took off, skating hard. The rowdy fans sang along to “Werewolves of London” and in Annie's mind they were all singing just for her, especially when they howled along with Warren Zevon as he wailed out the “Ahhhh-OOOOOHHHH”
refrain again and again.

In no time, she became the lead jammer. And on her second lap of the track Annie passed through the pack again, scoring four points.

In the crowd, Dad and Lexie went nuts, and the masked monster shouted her name!

But the attention Annie was getting seemed to rile Dee. Furious, she slammed into Annie from behind.

The ref's whistle blared. “Penalty!”

Fuming, Dee skated off toward the sin bin, flashing a furious look in Annie's direction as she went.

Annie actually laughed. She wasn't scared any more. If anything, she was exhilarated. With Dee out of action for a full minute, Annie would have the opportunity for a power jam.

As play resumed, the Belles skated as though they were of one mind. They formed a wall, expertly blocking in one of the Rollers' blockers, which forced the rest of their blockers to stay near. This left Annie with a free lane, and she took full advantage of it. She flew around the track, letting the fans' cheers fuel her as she racked up an impressive thirty-seven points!

The bout ended in a dazzling victory for the Liberty Belles and the team collided in a joyous group hug. In the center of the happy huddle, Lauren caught Annie in a crushing grip, which Annie returned.

“We're tied for first place in the league!” cried Lauren.

“I know!” Annie shouted back. “I don't think anything on earth could be better!”

But as it turned out, Annie was wrong about that.

Because when she looked into the crowd she saw the masked monster removing the ugly rubber face.

And underneath it was Tyler.

Annie could only stare.

As she followed her team off the track to the sidelines, she was vaguely aware of the High Rollers joining the Belles to shake hands and offer their good-natured congratulations.

Then Jesse was there, holding up a high five, which she accepted, but she still couldn't bring herself to take her eyes off Tyler.

“That power jam was unbelievable!” said Jesse. “You totally owned it!”

“Uh-huh,” said Annie, her gaze still locked on Tyler. “I mean . . . thanks.”

“Listen,” said Jesse, leaning closer so only she could hear him. “I know it's kind of lame, but I was wondering if you might wanna —”

He stopped talking when he realized that Annie was still staring straight ahead. He followed her gaze, and frowned deeply when he saw who she was looking at.

“Great,” he grumbled. “So
he's
a derby fan now?”

Annie felt a little flutter in her chest and smiled. “Looks like it.”

Jesse shook his head. “I'll see ya later, Annie,” he said, then turned and walked away. But Annie was still too focused on Tyler to even notice.

His blond hair was rumpled from having spent so much time beneath the monster head, but it only made him look more boyishly handsome. He was smiling at her and Annie could have sworn those green eyes were actually sparkling.

Now he started walking toward her. She wished she could take at least one step in his direction, but she remained rooted to the spot, heart pounding like a drum. Then again, maybe he'd think she was playing hard to get by allowing him to come to her. She'd heard some guys liked the thrill of the chase. She sincerely hoped Tyler Erickson was one of them.

When Tyler reached her, he said, “You were amazing out there, Annie!”

“Thanks,” she managed to say. “But, um, what are you doing here?”

“Watching an extremely cool sport I didn't even know existed,” he said, chuckling. “Although, I gotta say, if someone had told me there was a sport where the girls wore fishnet stockings and dresses like that, I probably would have checked it out a lot sooner.”

Annie felt her cheeks flush as she realized he was referring to her sexy vampire dress.
God bless you, Lexie Jones! I owe you big time!

“Seriously though,” Tyler was saying, “I was totally impressed.”

“I'm glad you enjoyed the bout,” said Annie, relaxing enough to give him a smile. “But I thought . . . I mean, I was under the impression you were going to the dance.”

With Kelsey,
she added silently.

“Well, I was planning to go,” he said in a teasing voice, “but see, the girl I really wanted to take had other plans. Something about a roller derby bout.”

Annie's breath caught in her chest.

So he
hadn't
asked Kelsey after all. Annie had turned him down and he hadn't asked anyone else! It was all she could do to keep from bursting into a dance of absolute joy!

“Oh,” she managed to say.

“Ya know,” he said, reaching out to brush a strand of teased hair off her forehead, “the dance will be going on for at least another two hours. As long as we're already in costume . . .”

Annie swallowed hard, holding her breath.

“. . . do you want to go with me?”

Don't scream. Don't throw yourself into his arms. Just say yes.

“Yes.”

“Great. Why don't you go change out of those skates and I'll meet you out front?”

“Perfect,” said Annie, giving him what she hoped was an alluring smile.

She watched him make his way through the crowd and out the door.

“Hey!” cried Lexie, bounding up to her and giving her a hug. “What exactly did I just witness between you and Tyler?”

“He asked me to the dance! He still wants me to go with him!”

To Annie's confusion, Lexie didn't begin jumping up and down and shrieking with delight. “Oh.”

“Oh? Is that all you can say?”

Lexie shrugged. “Well, I mean, I'm happy for you. But what about the party at Liz's house? The whole team's going, and Liz said that since I'm the official costume designer, I'm invited, too.”

Annie felt her stomach drop to her skates. In the excitement of Tyler asking her to the dance —
again
— she'd forgotten all about the party Liz's folks were hosting for the Belles. She glanced over her shoulder to where her teammates continued to celebrate their win. Some of them were making plans to car pool over to Liz's house. Others were chomping into what was left of Dad's collection of baked goods.

“I don't think they'll mind if I miss the party,” she told Lexie. “Do you?”

Lexie's reply was a disapproving silence.

“They know how much I like Tyler. They were so sweet the day I had to turn him down. Some of them even told me I should miss the bout to go out with him, because it would be my first American high school dance.”

“That was very understanding of them,” said Lexie quietly. “And loyal.”

Annie sighed. “It's just one party. Honestly, I'm sure they'll be okay with it.”

Before Lexie could say any more, Annie felt two arms encircle her from behind. “Way to go, Beanie!” her father cried. “You were outstanding!”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Why don't you go grab your things and I'll drive you to the party?”

Annie wriggled out of Dad's hug and bit her lower lip. “About the party . . . I was thinking I might skip it. I've just been asked to the dance at school.”

Dad seemed a little surprised, but he was also clearly pleased.

“That's exciting,” he said cheerfully. “I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.”

Annie gave Lexie a look that said, “See?”

Lexie just rolled her eyes and walked away.

Annie turned back to her father with a hopeful look. “So I can go to the dance?”

“Sure,” he said. “Just tell Jesse I'd like him to have you home by midnight.”

Annie blinked, confused. “Jesse?”