Chapter 16
“We’re. Dying out here. Ladies.” Maria was breathing so hard her words were coming out in bursts. “If we don’t. Catch up. We’re going. To lose.”
Kate and the rest of the team moaned their agreement, sinking on their designated seats. It was only halftime, but the stench of failure permeated their bench. The A-Bombs had a ten point lead, and if the Barbie Trolls didn’t earn it back early in the next half, they’d lose and lose hard.
The crowd was in high spirits, browsing at the mini market that had sprung up on the other side of the stadium, filling their bellies with crepes, fairy floss, burritos, and craft beer. Derby wasn’t huge in Australia, but there were enough interested hipsters, goths, indie rockers and pervs that the finals always drew a decent audience. Kate wished she was among them now, nodding her head to the pop-rock that was blaring through the sound system and eating jam doughnuts. She rubbed her spasming thigh, trying to keep the muscles from locking up. Thunderbox, The A-Bombs largest defender, seemed to have taken a particular disliking to her. Kate had no idea why, but she’d still been knocked to the ground a dozen or so times. She was going to have bruises tomorrow and not fun butt ones. Ugly limb ones.
Maria finished emptying a small bottle of water into her mouth and rounded on her teammates once more. “Where are your heads tonight, girls?”
“Getting mashed into the track.” Tam shot The A-Bombs sitting on the opposite side of the track a filthy look. “Those molls are playing dirty, even by their usual bullshit standards.”
“Don’t blame them for the fact we’re losing—”
“She’s not,” Casey interrupted. “Look at this!” She lifted her ice-pack to reveal a swollen eyelid. “This wasn’t even the worst one. Daisy twisted her ankle when number forty-four pushed her over and that big bitch has it in for Macca—”
Maria scoffed. “She hasn’t ‘got it in for Katie.’ She’s just being unfocused and sloppy.”
Kate felt her cheeks burn and was glad she was wearing so much novelty makeup. It wasn’t like Maria to call her out in front of the rest of the team, but then again, it was a final. Tensions were understandably high.
“Hey.” Tam nudged Kate’s side. “Don’t worry about it. You’re doing great.”
“You don’t have to lie.”
“Well, you’re not skating any worse than the rest of us. Besides, there’s no need for Maria to be so pissy. We can still win this back.”
“I hope so.” Something across the track caught Kate’s eye. Thunderbox, her purple Mohawk freshly spiked into stegosaurus spines, was giving her the finger.
“Oh geez,” she muttered.
“What?” Tam spotted Thunderbox. “Wow, you’ve made yourself a friend, haven’t you, Mac? Go on then, bird her back.”
Kate gave Thunderbox a half-hearted finger. The larger woman flashed her a grin that could only be described as ‘ominous’ and slashed a finger across her throat.
“God, that’s a bit full on.” Tam patted Kate on the shoulder. “Just ignore her, Mac.”
Kate tried, but in her mind the big defender was dragging her to the ground and taking a bite out of her face. She wished she hadn’t given her the bird. She’d never been any good at on-track razzing. She had a fundemental fear of confrontation, particularly toward people who looked like they might curb-stomp her.
As she listened to Maria’s proposed plays, Kate wondered, not for the first time, if she’d made the right choice joining the team. She loved skating, but she was one of the weaker members of the Barbie Trolls, and everyone knew it. Bigger players could knock her down with the effort it took to extinguish a birthday candle. She’d joined to make friends, but the only friend she really had was Maria and Maria was pissed off with her more often than she wasn’t. Come to think of it, she was probably depriving a much cooler girl of her rightful place on the team. Maybe when the sign-on forms for next year were passed around, she’d forget to add her name, let her insurance run out, and sell her six-hundred dollar skates on Gumtree. Maybe she should stop pretending she belonged in the ultra-cool derby world and adopt a cat and join a poetry reading circle. Embrace the void.
Maria dismissed her team for the rest of the break. Kate was skating back and forth, trying to stretch out her hamstrings when Rapunzel came skidding up to her side. “Hey, Peach.”
“Hey,” Kate said, her new nickname making her feel slightly better. “Where have you been?”
“Around. You’re having a rough game, eh?”
“I…yeah.”
Rapunzel patted her on the back. “Don’t stress. I’ve got something that’ll make you feel better.”
Her shifty expression reminded Kate that her income was propped up by selling substances of dubious legality. “I can’t take anything, I’m already on Ritalin. Besides, isn’t that like, sports doping?”
“That only counts in the AFL and when you do it to greyhounds and stuff. Hang on, why are you on Ritalin?”
Kate found she didn’t have the energy to lie. “I have ADHD.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I was diagnosed when I was seventeen.”
Rapunzel eyed her up and down as though looking for some physical demonstration of her behavioural disorder. “Well, there you go. You know there’s decent money in Ritalin. If you’ve got a scrip, I could—”
“Not a chance.”
“Fine. Well, setting the topic of prescription medication aside, I’ve got a non-pharmaceutical gift for you.”
“What is it?” Kate asked nervously. It would be like Rapunzel to yell ‘refreshment!’ and dump Powerade on her head.
“Oh, nothing.” Rapunzel polished her fingernails on the front of her pink and white t-shirt.
“But you just said it was something.”
“Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t…”
“Rapunzel,” Kate said desperately. “What are you doing?”
“Okay, okay. I was skating through the crowd when I came across a tall blond gentleman who seems genuinely incapable of smiling.”
Kate blinked at her. Clearly, there was some kind of punchline coming, but Rapunzel didn’t say anything, just grinned and blew on her unvarnished fingernails. “Impressed?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I spotted a tall, blond gentleman in the crowd,” Rapunzel explained. “Are you surprised, Peach? A little turned on, perhaps?”
“Please don’t tease me,” Kate begged. “I’m already skating like crap, if I have another half like the last one, Maria’s going to kill me.”
“I’m not fucking with you!” Rapunzel grabbed her shoulders and steered her around so she was facing the entrance. “Cast your eyes to the Pepsi machine yonder. You’ll see.”
Kate did what she was told, though she was sure Rapunzel was wrong. She and Ty were over, and even if they weren’t, he’d made it clear he’d rather self-immolate than go to a roller derby game. She located the bright blue and black Pepsi machine, and began scanning for Ty’s doppelganger. She spotted a tall blond man who definitely wasn’t—
All the air rushed out of Kate’s lungs. “What the…? It’s him!”
“Pretty cool, ay?” Rapunzel said happily. “Thought it must have been.”
Surrounded by goths, hipsters, and weirdos, Ty looked completely out of place in his suit and beautiful checked coat. He looked like a visiting prince prepared to witness, if not join in, with the natives’ reverie. His expression was tense.
“He’s been skulking around the back of the stadium all game,” Rapunzel said. “I spotted him when we were lining up for the first play.”
“How did you know he was the guy I was seeing?”
“I didn’t but he kept staring at your arse. He wasn’t even pretending not to. It was like, single-minded perving. I thought we might have a Dexter situation on our hands.”
Kate stopped staring at Ty and turned to look at Rapunzel. “What?”
“Dexter. You know, the serial killer? Kind of looks like old mate.”
“I don’t think Ty looks like Dexter.”
“Yeah, but how often do you get good looking guys in suits coming to derby games by themselves? I figured it was worth checking him out and when I got closer, I realised he was probably your man having a bit of a regret-lurk on a Thursday night.”
Kate’s heart raced. “He came,” she said to herself. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘when I got closer?’”
“I went over and asked him what he was doing, staring at my friend’s arse with the laser-like focus of that laser that almost slices off James Bond’s dick,” Rapunzel said matter-of-factly.
“You…what did he say?”
“Well, first of all, the guy’s got a glare on him that could straight-up peel paint. I’m not convinced he’d smile if he was getting sucked off in a money tornado.”
Kate winced. “Sorry.”
“What are you apologising for?”
“I don’t know, I’m sorry.”
Rapunzel gave her a look.
“Sorry.” Kate clapped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry.”
“Okay, you’re clearly stuck in a loop.” Rapunzel yanked her hands off her mouth. “Listen to me. I went over to Dexter and said ‘kind of you to show up, but Kate’s new boyfriend won’t be happy you’re here.’”
Kate’s hands flew back to her mouth.
“I know.” Rapunzel said, with a smug smile. “It was ingenious shit. Your man straight up turned maroon. Jealous doesn’t even begin to cover it. He was glancing around, all angry, saying ‘Who is he? Point him out’ like he was going to initiate some kind of duel for your pussy and I was all, ‘new boyfriend doesn’t exist, but fair warning, Peach is a sexy girl, and if you don’t want someone else tapping her, stop being such a shitheel.’”
Kate shoved a knuckle between her lips and bit down so hard she tasted blood. “Are you serious?”
“Oh yeah. And then Dexter glared at me and asked if I could send you over to talk to him, which pretty much brings us to now.” For the second time, Rapunzel reached up and pulled Kate’s hands out of her mouth. “Stop it, you’ll fuck ya teeth. Now, do you want to see him or not?”
Kate glanced over at Ty who appeared to be buying himself a doughnut from a nearby vendor. After weeks of misery and confusion, he’d come back and she was wearing a blonde wig, roller skates and enough makeup to paint a deck. “I don’t know.”
“That’s fine. I’ll go tell him to piss off, shall I?”
For a brief moment, Kate considered it. There would be something satisfying in blowing Ty off without even seeing him, making him feel powerless the way he had when he’d told her he was leaving for Queensland minutes after they had sex.
“Righto,” Rapunzel said. “I’ll tell him to fuck off. You want me to say anything in particular? Like, maybe he should bring some fucking flowers next time instead of showing up empty-handed like a slack piece of shit?”
Kate grabbed Rapunzel’s arm. “No, um, I think I should go talk to him. He came here for me. I shouldn’t be a coward.”
Rapunzel looked a little disappointed. “Fair enough. Get over there quick, though, only seven minutes until half time’s over.”
“I’ll be fast. Thanks so much.”
“Anytime, Peach. Hope it goes down the way you want it to.”
So did she, though she had no idea what that would look like.
As Kate made her way toward Ty, the crowd parted around her like the proverbial red sea. At first she had no idea why, then she remembered she was in a skimpy uniform and skates with crazy makeup all over her face. She wished she was wearing something else but she needed to speak to him now or she’d go insane waiting for the game to finish. Why the hell had he come here? Surely it couldn’t be a coincidence, although knowing her luck…
As she drew closer, Ty turned toward her, balling up his brown paper doughnut bag and sucking cinnamon sugar from his fingers.
“Ty?”
He looked at her and when their gaze met, everything went very slow and soft. It was tacky to feel this way about someone who’d hurt her so badly, but Kate felt warm with relief. It had been sixteen days, sixteen miserable days but now her handsome, blue-eyed Daddy was back.
“Hi, Middleton,” he said in his deep, rough voice. “Come over here?”
Funny how his orders never failed to provoke the same reaction in her, a weakening in the back of the knees, as though he were a king and she was literally about to genuflect to him. Kate was aware of all the women staring at them, no doubt trying to weigh up her relationship to this beautiful, well-dressed man.
She straightened her spine, making herself as tall as possible. “You came to my derby final.”
The corners of Ty’s mouth kicked up. “I did.”
He moved toward her, his arms slightly raised, and Kate automatically took a step back.
Ty winced. “I guess I deserve that.”
He’d wanted to hug her. Why had she reacted as though he’d pulled a knife? Again, she was glad she was wearing so much greasepaint and pink glitter, it might be concealing some of her shame. “No, sorry, I was just…” She extended a hand. “How are you?”
Ty stared at her outstretched fingers. “I’m not going to shake your hand, Middleton.”
She only had a second of extreme mortification before Ty stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek, numbing half of her face. “Hi again. You make a cute blonde.”
“My name’s Princess Bleach,” Kate whispered. “If I’m not blonde, it doesn’t work as a name.”
“Makes sense.” Ty’s hands slid around her back. “You look beautiful.”
“Th-Thank you?”
“You’re a great player, too,” he added, as though all of this was very normal. “You’re quick. Seeing you get knocked to the ground was hard, though.”
Kate swallowed, trying to think of something to say that wasn’t ‘what the hell is happening?’ “I thought you liked seeing me in pain.”
Ty pulled her body closer to his, apparently unconcerned about getting glitter all over his fancy coat. “Only pain I put you in, sweetheart.”
Warmth spread through Kate’s belly like lava. She wanted to give into it, wanted to sink deep into the familiar gratitude of his presence, but she couldn’t. “Ty, what are you doing here?”
“Apologising to you.” He took her hand and pressed it flat against his chest to where his heart lay. “I couldn’t stay away. I know I left things unsaid before Queensland, but I fucking miss you. I want things to go back to the way they were.”
Kate had pictured this a hundred times, a thousand, and though it was better than she imagined; Ty coming to her derby final and holding her like this in front of all these indie nerds, she couldn’t help but question his motives. His motives and her heart’s capacity for forgiveness.
“Katie?” he said softly. “Please look at me.”
“I can’t. If I do, I’ll want to say yes, and I shouldn’t say yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the way things were was weird. I liked being with you, but there were so many times when I felt like I was a doll that got put in a cupboard whenever you were done playing with me. We never went anywhere except my place. I thought you were just a really private person but you were engaged once, you must have known how to…you must have wanted…” Kate stopped short of mentioning all the parties and special dates on Veronica’s Facebook page but she could see from Ty’s expression that he understood.
“I am a private person, Middleton but I never meant to make you feel like a toy.”
Kate’s chest tightened. “But you did. I didn’t want the world from you, I just wanted proper dates and a bit of romance and…” she fell silent, unable to keep listing the many tiny, silly things she needed from Tyler Henderson.
There was a short, painful silence.
Kate removed her hand from Ty’s chest. Part of her wished she’d been born without vocal cords and Ty didn’t know sign language but she was proud she’d said what she said all the same. “I should go. Half-time’s almost over.”
“Katie.” Ty cupped her jaw and brought their faces close again. In her skates she was almost as tall as he was.
“Yes?”
“Look at me.”
It was an order, like the velvety ones he used to issue in Aunt Rhonda’s lounge room. Kate met his gaze and when she did, everything changed. Without words, without any real explanation, she understood why he’d left, and why he’d come back. He was the dominant one but he hadn’t planned for this any more than she had. He’d jumped in feet first for the sex and then a tide of feelings had swept them both away. He hadn’t been ready, but he was ready now.
“I know,” she whispered. “I know you didn’t want to hurt me.”
“Never.” Ty’s eyes were hard as blue diamonds. “Never, Katie.”
They stared at each other until she had to ask, “So what now?”
Ty smiled, soft as a summer sky. “You want proper dates? I’ll give you proper dates. You want romance?”
He kissed her then, in full view of everyone. Kate had never experienced enough PDA to form an opinion on it, but as soon as Ty’s lips met hers she melted into his arms, ceasing to resist any element of his crusade to win her back. She had missed this, she had missed him so much. They were saying hello with their bodies and her body was so, so happy to be back near Ty’s.
A wolf-whistle sliced through the air, and she turned to see her teammates pointing and laughing. Their attention drew the crowd’s attention, and suddenly dozens of people had turned to look at her and Ty.
She stepped away from him, her skin blistering under her makeup. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Ty said and to her amazement, turned and waved at her teammates, smiling the ten-megawatt smile she associated with the end of blow jobs.
The Barbie Trolls’ reactions were mixed—some girls flushed, others laughed, Rapunzel made her hand a cylinder and wanked the air. The only person who didn’t look at all amused was Maria. Her beautiful face was contorted into an expression Kate had only ever seen once, when her brother Mick bought fake Linkin Park tickets from a scam website—horror tinged with fury. Her stomach squirmed. “I should go.”
“Not just yet.” Ty pulled her in for another hug and his palms dipped to her ass. “I hope you know you’ll be wearing this uniform to bed tonight?”
Despite Maria’s expression and the very real possibility Thunderbox would smash her into the ground like a fence-post, Kate smiled. “I do know that, yes.”
Ty leaned in close. “Yes, what?”
Excitement throbbed from the tips of her fingers to her toes. “Yes, Daddy.”
Ty released her behind. “Get going, then. Good luck.”
“Do you want to come up closer? They have special spots for people who know players.”
Ty shoved his hands back into his coat pockets. “I’m okay.”
Kate kept smiling, but her giddiness deflated a little. She knew she should be amazed and grateful he was here, not already wanting more, but her hurt at being left in her bed hadn’t entirely faded. How could it? It would take more than a soulful kiss at a derby game to fix weeks of heartache and uncertainty.
There was no time for the Barbie Trolls to heckle her about Ty. As soon as she was near them, Kate was dragged into a team huddle.
“We can still win this.” Maria told them. “We just need to play fast and tight. No mercy.”
Kate remembered Thunderbox’s finger sliding across her throat. Was she just razzing her or was she in actual danger? Girls broke bones playing derby, it happened all the time.
“Kate,” Maria snapped. “Are you thinking about how we’re going to win this game or are you thinking about kissing?”
The rest of the team looked at her and Kate was sure, in spite of the greasepaint on her face, they could see exactly how embarrassed she was. “Sorry.”
“Concentrate,” Maria hissed. “That goes for all of you. Now hands in!”
Kate placed her hand on the sweaty multi-coloured pile and shouted ‘Trolls!’ along with her teammates. The siren wailed through the stadium and The A-Bombs shouted “Kill!” and broke their own huddle. The battle cry did nothing to ease Kate’s nerves, still, knowing Ty was watching her, she clenched her jaw. She would show him what she was made of tonight, make him look at her in a way he never had before. She moved toward the starting line, but Maria gripped her wrist. “You’re not jamming, Gilly is.”
“But—”
“Bench,” Maria said to her eyebrows. “Now.”
The second half kicked off. The A-Bombs were determined to maintain their lead, and the play was bloodier than any Kate had ever seen. Elbows connected with faces, knees with thighs and feet stuck out to send unsuspecting players crashing to the ground. Gilly managed to steal three points before Thunderbox shoved her so hard she went spinning into the crowd.
“Fuck,” Maria muttered, but she didn’t tell Kate to go on. Rapunzel helped Gilly to her feet, and she returned to the jamming line.
The A-Bombs scored two points and their fans, who seemed as rough as the players, cheered and heckled loudly. They were forced to go quiet, however, when Gilly broke through The A-Bomb ranks to steal six points. The gap was closing; there were only three points between the teams. Excitement thickened the air, the possibility of a comeback alive and electric.
Kate’s knees jiggled as she watched the plays. She wished she could help but knew she was probably doing more by keeping her butt on the bench.
It seemed impossible, but the game became even rougher, long minutes passing without either team scoring. Girls kept going down like ninepins, Thunderbox and Rapunzel the only two whose height and strength kept them upright. Rapunzel was gunning for the defender, but Thunderbox didn’t seem keen to confront her, she kept moving away or dropping back to avoid a collision.
Yeah, don’t pick on someone your own size or anything, Kate thought and shouted, “Come on, Rapunzel, knock her over!”
As the timer dwindled down to ten minutes and the Barbie Trolls remained four points behind, Kate felt nauseous. They were so close, all they needed was one good run, but morale was dwindling and with it, their chances of winning. There was a scrimmage in the middle of the pack, and a sharp scream split the air. Jumping to her feet, Kate saw Gilly lying on the ground holding her forearm.
“I think I sprained my wrist,” she said as Rapunzel helped her onto the team bench.
Maria swore. “Can you keep playing?”
“Of course she fucking can’t.” Rapunzel extended Kate a hand. “Up you get Peach, it’s showtime.”
“She’s not jamming!” Maria whirled around to look at Casey. “Can you go back on?”
“No, she can’t. She’s injured too,” Rapunzel snapped. “And don’t you think about going up there, either. Peach is the obvious fucking choice.”
Maria jabbed a finger into Rapunzel’s clavicle. “Don’t you tell me how to run my plays.”
“Rapunzel,” Kate said, feeling sick. “It’s fine—”
“It’s not fine,” Rapunzel didn’t take her eyes from Maria’s. “You need to sort out your Sapphic fucking feelings, Mama Bear, and you need to do it when we’re not on the cusp of winning a fucking final. Now, let Peach jam.”
It was a mark of how serious Rapunzel was that she didn’t laugh at her unintentional condiment pun.
Maria glared at first Rapunzel then Kate. “She can’t go up there. Look at her. She’s not strong enough to push through the pack. Do you want to win? Or do you want to spend the last ten minutes of this game trying to keep Katie from killing herself?”
Rapunzel said something, but Kate didn’t hear it. Rage, genuine rage, was boiling up inside her. She couldn’t remember ever being so angry, it was wonderful—hot and sharp as a needlepoint. It made her fingers tingle and her heart race. It told her what to do. She stood up. “Gilly, can I have the jammer’s cap, please?”
“Sure.” Gilly gingerly removed the pink and white cover and handed it to her. “Good luck. Watch out for Thunderbox, she’s rabid.”
“Sure.” Kate pulled on the cap and without another word to anyone skated to the jamming line.
“And the Barbie Trolls have substituted Shrilly Temple with Princess Bleach,” the announcer, a chubby man in his fifties, shouted. “A risky choice this late in a high-contact game. Bleach is quick, but as you can see from those baby giraffe legs of hers, not very strong. One would guess it’s the last possible option.”
“Cunt,” Rapunzel growled, sliding up alongside her. “I’ll give him the last possible option. You ready for this, Peach?”
Kate thought about Ty, Maria, her parents, the guys at work, all the people who saw her as sad, helpless, baby Kate. She bared her teeth. “I’m ready.”
“Good. Go hard, no mercy.” Rapunzel clapped her on the back and sped off to the defenders line.
The skating official’s whistle blew, and Kate pushed herself forward with all her strength. The announcer was right—she was quick. Within seconds, she was attempting to shove her way around The A-Bombs as Rapunzel, Tam, Nikki, and Jenna tried to help her. It was like throwing herself into a sea of hot tangled bodies, no one accomplished much of anything and then the play was over and they all had to return to their starting lines.
Though Kate had well and truly thought the game couldn’t get more aggressive, it did. Jenna was sent off with a bloody lip, and Kate collected more elbows than she ever had in any previous games. She barely felt the places where they connected, though—all she could feel was the track moving beneath her feet like buttered marble and her clear bright anger. Three points, all she had to do was score three points in eight minutes.
Then the A-Bomb jammer broke through their defences and secured an extra point. They were now five points down. The crowd cheered and booed, and Kate felt defeat lay a soft hand on her shoulder. She skated back to the starter’s line and found Rapunzel waiting for her. “You feeling brave?” she asked.
“I’m feeling angry.”
Rapunzel grinned. “That’ll work. I’m gonna J Thunderbox. It’s the only way you’ll be able to get past her.”
Kate recoiled slightly. “Are you sure?”
“Course I am, I was born to J.”
J-blocking meant bending down and arching your body back in a J shape, using almost all your body weight to knock a player off her feet. There was a strong chance you’d go with them, and the fact that you needed to drop your weight backward, like a trust fall in which no one was going to catch you, deterred most players from attempting it.
“What about a cross block?” Kate asked. “We can try—”
“No time. There’s less than two minutes on the clock, we need to go big before we go home. The question is can you back me up?”
“Yes,” Kate said, not knowing if it was true.
Rapunzel grabbed her wrist and shook it. “You’re stronger than anyone thinks you are. Let’s fucking show them.”
Again she thought of Ty and Maria. “Yeah,” Kate said. “Let’s.”
The ref’s whistle sounded, and Kate and the A-Bomb’s redhead jammer burst forward like bullets from a gun. As they circled the track, Rapunzel surged ahead, positioning her Viking berserker body in front of Thunderbox’s. She bent low, so low the crowd gasped but as she arched back into her, Kate saw Rapunzel’s aim was too far to the right. Thunderbox wobbled but pulled up straight again and with a flick of her hip sent Rapunzel crashing to the floor.
The crowd gasped and so did Kate, partially because she was scared for Rapunzel, mostly because Thunderbox had just met her gaze and her grin said that she was finally going for the kill. Kate skated faster toward the scrimmage. The crowd, perhaps sensing that blood was about to spill, seemed to swell around her like arteries.
“Get her,” a woman screamed and Kate had no idea if she was the ‘her.’ It felt like she was the ‘her.’ She remembered that Ty was out there watching her and so was Maria. If she got knocked down, she’d lose the game and any chance of them seeing her as anything other than a helpless baby. It wasn’t fair.
Like something in a movie she remembered what Rapunzel had said, you’re stronger than anyone thinks you are. Her expression had been completely serious, she hadn’t been lying or flattering or trying to pump her up for the game. She’d seen something in her that Kate had only ever seen in herself—a drive to persist even when everything screamed not to. She’d kept her aunt’s apartment even though it made her family hate her, she spat in Dutchy’s latte for saying football groupies deserved to be raped, and she went into Tyler Henderson’s office and gave him a sex note. She could be strong and Rapunzel had seen that and Kate had promised to back her up.
Thunderbox loomed large as a dinosaur in front of her. Ordinarily, Kate would have tried to skate out of her path, but not this time. She picked up her pace.
“Mac,” someone—it sounded like Casey—shouted. “No!”
She ignored them. As her and Thunderbox’s bodies drew closer, Kate swerved sharply right. The crowd gasped, but Kate knew she was okay, knew she’d stay on her feet. She could have easily passed Thunderbox then, but instead, she slammed her hip into the defender’s side.
The big woman was going to fall, Kate felt it the instant she struck Thunderbox’s stomach. She felt her weight shift against hers like a planet tipping on its axis, a pool ball tapped in exactly the right place so that it went spinning into the corner pocket. Kate didn’t have time to inspect the damage; she pulled ahead as Thunderbox collapsed, the weight of her body shaking the stadium floor. From the cries that emanated from behind her, it sounded like she’d collected a few other players on her way down. Kate barely had time to hope one of them was the A-Bombs jammer before she swerved around another blocker in neon green fishnets and a girl in gold booty shorts. The announcer shouted something, but Kate didn’t hear him. She’d passed three players. That meant she was two points down. She raced in front of a dark haired A-Bomb, and the crowd bellowed their excitement, expanding and contracting like Kate’s lungs. The Trolls only needed one more point to draw, two points to win.
The last two A-Bombs were in front of her, a round blonde and a tall brunette. They were skating shoulder-to-shoulder with their hands joined and Kate knew they’d do anything—legal or not—to stop her passing. It was time to do or die. She skated faster, recklessly fast, unsustainably fast. As the track turned, she swung wide and grabbed the brunette by the hips. The woman shrieked and tried to elbow Kate in the face but as the joint descended, Kate leveraged her weight against the brunette and whipped herself forward. The brunette yelped and Kate turned back and watched her flop onto the ground, taking her teammate with her. She was still looking the other way when she crossed the finish line.
The buzzer sounded. Kate barely had time to register her amazement before the A-Bomb jammer slammed into her, wrapping her hands around her neck and pulling her to the floor.
As she struggled to fight the girl off, she heard Rapunzel bellow, “It’s fucking on!”
Kate had witnessed a few derby brawls, but she’d never been in one. It was similar to a scrimmage, but with a lot more hair pulling. Thankfully, it didn’t last long. A few staff members intervened and Kate found herself being hoisted onto her feet and hugged by her teammates in a manner that wasn’t so different from being choke-slammed.
“We did it!” Rapunzel shouted from somewhere behind her. “Peach did it! We did it! Suck my dick, A-Bombs! Suck it hard!”
“Rapunzel!” Tam scolded from somewhere to Kate’s left. “There are kids here!”
“I don’t give a fuck, we won!”
Kate suspected it was Rapunzel who flung herself on top of the hug pile, causing them all to collapse in a tangle of fishnet-coved limbs, but she didn’t care. Somewhere in her brain, it was starting to dawn on her that she’d led her derby team to victory right in front of Tyler Henderson.
After several exhilarating, sweaty minutes the hug ended and Kate scanned the crowd for Ty. He was leaning against a taco stand applauding and when she caught his eye, he smiled in a way that said she’d surprised him, maybe even impressed him, and it was like winning a second time. She was moving toward him when Maria tapped her on the shoulder. “Wait a minute Katie, the presentations are about to start.”
Her colour was still high but she looked calmer and maybe even a little embarrassed.
“I hope everything’s okay between us?” Kate asked, too happy to engage in any lasting animosity.
Maria smiled and patted her cheek. “Of course. I’m sorry for not putting you on earlier. You played beautifully.”
Kate smiled. “Thanks.”
The Barbie Trolls lined up to shake the losing team’s hands. Some of the A-Bombs were friendly, some sulky, but Thunderbox was the real surprise—she gave Kate a smile, albeit a strained one. “Nice work, even if it was a lucky shove.”
Kate shrugged and moved to shake the next girl’s hand when Thunderbox put out a hand to stop her. “I saw you kissing that guy at half time,” she said.
“So?”
Thunderbox stared down at her massive boobs. “So, I thought the tall blonde chick was your girlfriend.”
Several things occurred to Kate at once. “She’s not,” she said, trying not to smile. “I’m not gay or bi. Rapunzel is though, gay I mean, and she’s single. Want me to give her your number?”
Thunderbox’s eyes lit up, then she shrugged, feigning disinterest. “She wants it, she can come find me.”
The presentation went for much longer than anyone wanted, with speeches from the league president, then a stadium official, then a sponsor and then the medals were handed out.
Kate used the time to unpin her wig and wipe away the worst of her makeup, cheering loudly as Casey was announced as the league Best and Fairest. When the presentation was over, she was just about to attempt to duck into the crowd when Tam seized her collar. “I don’t think so, Macca. We just won the fucking grand final. We’re going out for a drink.”
“I’ll come out for a drink, I just need to find Ty!” Kate protested.
“So you can run off and canoodle? I don’t think so. This so-called Ty will come with us.”
“Tam!” Rapunzel shouted as she whizzed past. “Have you got her? Is she coming?”
Tam shook Kate by her collar as though she were a poacher with a successfully snared ocelot. “I got her!”
Rapunzel shot them both a thumbs up. “I’m gonna find Dexter and bring him with us,” she told Kate. “Meet you at the bar!”