Page 6 of False Start

Ass wipe.

He knows we practice Tuesdays and Thursdays, because here we stand, on a fuckingTuesday,with our skates on. These are all power moves, shows of dominance, pissing on Skateland as if he fucking owns it.

Well,he doesn’t. He might own the name of the Devil’s Dames, but he doesn’t own us. He doesn’t own the skaters, and if we organize, we can still come out in charge of our shit here.

“That’s it?” I ask, forcing him to freeze in place.

He turns around slowly, raising a single eyebrow in question.

“Not gonna assess our footwork, our individual strengths and weaknesses?” I snort.

“I’ve seen what I needed to see.” Turning to Mo, he adds, “I’ll hold open auditions to fill the final spots once the last of the grandfathered skaters get their chance to finish their speed tests.” He walks out without another word.

My anger consumes me. I worked my ass off for nearly half a decade and now it’s all been taken from me in less than five minutes. I spin toward Morgan for some sort of support, finding nothing but a vacant stare, as if they too are still recovering from the whiplash of the last hour.

Enough is enough. I need answers.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” The words comeout of my mouth before I even get a chance to stop in front of our newteammate.

I’m half a head taller, and even my bones look twice her size. Every blocker on our team is going to crush her in scrimmages. Sure, she’s fast, but fast means nothing if she can’t take a hit. And by the look of her, one check of my hip will send her flying.

“W-what?” she stutters out, clearly uncomfortable with confrontation. “I’m Nia. I-I was here a couple months ago.” She tries clarifying, like I wouldn’t remember when she chickened out of skating weeks prior.

“I know your name, princess. What are you doing here? Messing with all of my shit?”

She looks like she’s shrinking by the second.

“Harvey,” Star chastises.

“What? I’m supposed to be Eager Beaver over here because this chick rolls out of nowhere and bumps me from my position, and it’stotallyokay because she’s your long-lost friend?” I turn back to face Nia-Death. “Whyare you back here?” Arms crossed over my chest, I wait for an answer.

“I came back to Devil Town to skate.” Her voice is still meak, quiet, like she isn’t sure she really wants me to hear her.

I say nothing.

“I came back because this was my home.” Her eyebrows scrunch in the middle, her frustration showing while still trying to appeal to me.

My expression is a stone mask.

She lets out a heavy exhale and speaks again, “I came to see Lonnie.”

Bae-Ruthless gasps.

“Lonnie’s not here, andyoudon’t belong anymore,” Iwarn her. “Go back to wherever you came from before you disrupt any more of our lives.”

She looks around, confused, but she doesn’t miss the somber expression on all of her friends’ faces. “Where’s Lonnie?”

“If this was your home, you’d know Lonnie Green is dead.”

3

NIA

She drops the bomb on me, casually skating away like she didn’t just destroy my reality.

Lonnie is dead. Lonnie is fucking dead.

Lonnie, the only person in this entire world I felt closer to than family. Lonnie, the one who cared for me without judgment, who tolerated all my adolescent bullshit, who pulled me from the path I’d catapulted myself down, heading nowhere fast. Lonnie, who protected me when my mother tore me to shreds. Lonnie, who sent me off to college after my injury, who told me to take time to heal before I hurt myself worse than before.