Chapter 29

The crowd rushed onto the floor, and Dorothy found herself lifted up on her teammates’ shoulders. “Undead Redhead! Undead Redhead!” they shouted, bouncing Dorothy up and down.

Dorothy felt exhilarated. She had done it! Her team had played the Cheerbleeders and won, and it had been her coaching that had made their victory possible. What would Mom think now?

Like an apparition, Mom’s face appeared at the back of the crowd. At least she thought it was Mom’s face. Dorothy was bouncing and spinning too quickly to be sure. When she had circled around again, the face was gone.

It could have been anyone, she thought.

A wave of regret and sadness washed over her as she remembered the fight from earlier that night. Would she ever see Mom again? Or have a normal family again?

All of a sudden she wanted down. She wanted out of Galactic Skate. She wanted to be somewhere alone and quiet and away from the chaos of the cheering crowd.

She tried to get someone’s attention, calling and waving her arms, but her team was too caught up in the celebration to notice that Dorothy wanted free. Her eyes darted from face to face. Dinah Mite, Geekzilla, Rolling Thunder, Juana SmackHer, and Dee Tension were all beaming—overjoyed with their win. Gigi was so happy, she had an arm wrapped around Alex’s shoulder. Jade was there, too, supported by Grandma and Sam.

Then it dawned on Dorothy. This was her family. Was it a normal family? No. Of course not. But was any family really normal? The important thing was that they loved each other, right?

Finally, Dorothy was lowered from her team’s shoulders.

Alex’s dads had joined the celebration, and Jerry was dabbing his eyes with a monogrammed handkerchief.

“Alexandra, honey,” he gushed, “I’m just as proud of you now as when you were crowned Miss Grand National Star Grand Supreme.”

Alex blushed as her dads took turns kissing her cheeks.

“And you were quite the coach!” David said, extending a hand to Dorothy.

Dorothy shook David’s hand. “Well, we never would have won without your daughter.”

Dorothy looked at Alex and bit her lip. “I’m sorry I misjudged you. You were really amazing tonight, Alex.”

Alex swept her silky ponytail over her shoulder. “Don’t call me Alex.”

“Uh, okay,” Dorothy said. “Why not?”

“Because I’m the Alexorcist! Every player needs a skate name, right?”

“Darn tootin’,” Grandma said, coming up next to Dorothy. “Seems like we got us a real winning team here. Just like the good ol’ days…” Grandma’s voice trailed off.

Dinah started a round of, “I’m a roller derby girl! Derby, derby, roller, yeah!” and the whole team joined in.

Dorothy felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. She came face-to-face with Max.

“Nice work out there, Dorth.” Max was so close, she could feel his sweet, warm breath on her face.

And then it happened. One moment Dorothy was looking up into his twinkling brown eyes and the next moment his soft, full lips were pressed against hers. It was a quick kiss—gentle and a bit awkward, but it made Dorothy’s whole body fizz like soda water. The whole world seemed to spin as Dorothy’s heart fluttered out of her chest. Her first kiss! Max looked down at her and smiled his crooked smile. Everything was right in the world.