Hell's Belles Read Online Free Page A

SKATE!
    EIGHT, SIX, FOUR, TWO . . .
    WE CAN MOP THE FLOOR WITH YOU!
    But surprisingly, Holly didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she turned serenely to her teammates and said, “You know, there are really only two kinds of roller girl. The ones who are Liberty Belles . . . and the ones who want to be!”
    At that, the whole Liberty Belle team sent up a boisterous cheer.
    Then Coach Ritter and the High Rollers’ coach (whose jacket was embroidered with the name “Slammy Tammy”) appeared.
    Both women were smiling.
    â€œYou ladies certainly talk the talk,” said Coach Ritter. “We were thinking maybe you’d like to walk the walk. Or maybe I should say, skate the skate.”
    Holly’s eyes lit up. “You mean a scrimmage?”
    Coach Tammy nodded. “That’s right. Right here, right now.”
    â€œBring it!” snarled the tall High Rollers girl, punching the air with a fist. When she turned to skate toward the track, Annie noticed the name on her shirt read “Dee Stroyer.”
    Clever.
    And scary.
    After some quick pre-bout strategy, the Belles took to the track. For the first jam, Annie would start as a blocker. Holly was jammer, and Liz was playing pivot.
    Although there were rarely spectators at practice, Annie was suddenly aware of someone leaning over the side of the track. She glanced up to see Jesse.
    â€œHey, Jesse, will you keep time?” called Coach Ritter.
    â€œSure thing, Coach,” Jesse said. He nodded and pulled a stopwatch out of his pocket. Then he patted Annie’s shoulder in an encouraging way as she skated off.
    â€œToo bad you’re gonna get creamed in front of your boyfriend,” Dee Stroyer teased Annie, pointing in Jesse’s direction and laughing as she took her position with the other blockers.
    Annie rolled her eyes. She decided this wasn’t the time or the place to inform Dee that she and Jesse were just friends. Instead of taking the time to put Dee Stroyer in her place, Annie forced herself to focus on the task at hand, which was to block her opponents and help Holly to score.
    And, of course, to not get killed in the bargain.
    â€œYou’re going down, Belles,” sneered one High Roller.
    â€œAnd it ain’t gonna be pretty,” her teammate added.
    In the next second, the rink fell still. And then . . .
    The ref’s whistle blew and the scrimmage began. The moment Annie saw her chance, she flung herself hard in the path of the High Rollers’ jammer but was expertly blocked by Dee Stroyer.
    By some miracle, though, Holly plowed through the pack. On Holly’s next lap around, Annie and her teammates created a gap so that their jammer could sneak through, pass four High Rollers, and score four points.
    As the High Rollers’ jammer approached the pack, Holly slapped her hands against her hips, calling off the jam so that their opponents couldn’t score any points. Then Coach Ritter pointed to Annie, and Holly passed the starred helmet panty to her.
    For one millisecond Annie felt a thrill of excitement as she stretched the jammer’s cover over her helmet. But the thrill of acting as the jammer quickly turned to panic when she saw who was lining up beside her.
    â€œShouldn’t you be home eating crumpets?” Dee snickered as she took her place next to Annie on the jammer line.
    Annie willed herself to fire off a rude retort, but her mind was utterly blank. When the ref’s whistle sounded, both girls took off like a shot, running on their toe stops. But as Annie skated around the track, her mind raced with all the comebacks she’d been too slow to think of. Taking advantage of Annie’s distraction, Dee blocked her with a particularly vicious hip check low down on her thigh, sending her out of bounds.
    In the next second, Annie was sprawled on her stomach, stunned. She waited for the ref’s whistle, but it didn’t come. The coaches must not have noticed