After driving around not knowing where we were going, we somehow managed to find a small pizza shop in the city. I remember coming her once with Noel after my first game earlier in the season after I took a cheap it to the face. Noel always said you could drown your pain in pizza, no matter how bad it was.

"This is..." Joe began to say as he chewed his slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Gross?" I chuckle and took a bite out of my plain piece.

"Bland" he said as he narrowed his eye.

"Suck it up" I tell him as I continue eating.

"Geez" he said as he narrowed his eyes at me then laughed a little. "'Rude much?"

I laughed as I dabbed my mouth with a napkin. "You have no idea."

We continued eating our gross and greasy pizza until it was six o'clock. Even though the factory was a few blocks away, I wanted to get there early and do a few solo laps.

"Ready?" Joe asks as he stands and grabs his key off the table.

"Yeah" I say as I follow him out the door and to his car. A few minutes later, Joe pulled into the empty parking lot. No one was there yet.

"Where is everyone?" He asks.

"It's not 6:30 yet" I say as I start to walk into the factory. "And I'm also the only one that shows up on time. Besides Gary."

"Who's Gary?" He asks as he opens the door and holds it open for me.

"Our coach" I say as I walk through. "You'll like him. I mean, the team thinks he's the dorkiest guy ever because he's really into physics and stuff. But he spends most of the time with us girls that he's actually turning into one."

Joe snickered. "So you brought me for my testosterone?"

"Yeah" I say as we walk towards the rink. "Sit down. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Where are you going?" He asked as he sat.

"Locker room" I say as I readjust my duffle bag that was digging into my shoulder. "If you think I'm skating in jeans you are dead wrong."

"Okay" he says as he throws his hands up in surrender.

"I'll be back in a few I say as I walk through a door that leads to the looker room. I turn around before I went through and saw Joe staring at me with a smile. "Watch out for ghost."

I saw his smile fade and I laughed. Before I could say anything else I went to the locker room. My duffle bag made a loud thud when I dropped it on the bench and then I unzipped it. I swapped my jeans for shorts, my t-shirt for a tank top, and my converse for skates. When I finished changing I heard voices coming out from the rink. I skated over and opened the door and saw Joe talking to Noel.

"Jane" Noel squealed as she rushed towards me and grabbed my hand. "Come with me."

Noel pulls me around easily back into the locker room and quickly shut the door behind her. She had a smile on her face that scared me a little.

"What?" I ask nervously.

"Joe" she said. "I know you said your school is a jock farm and all, but he is far from it. Wow."

"Down girl" I laugh. "You're thirty three, Joe's eighteen."

"Not for me" she said. "But thanks for the painful reminder."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"Listen to me" she said as she grabbed my shoulders. "There is a boy out there who is hot. I've seen the way he looks at you, and let me tell you. He wants you,"

"We're friends" I say.

"For now" Noel laughs. "So, how'd you meet him?"

"After the game last week my car broke down in the middle of the desert" I say. "Joe saw me walking and he drove me home."

"That's it?" She asks and she sounded disappointed.

"Yeah" I say.

"I feel like you're not telling something" Noel said as she narrows her eyes at me.

I sigh and place my hand on my friends shoulder. "You want to know?"

"Yeah" Noel says as her eyes light up.

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone. Got it?"

"I swear."

I leaned in closer and whispered in her ear. "We had a dramatic duet in the car." I push away from her before she could do anything else. 

"Bitch" I heard her yell as I went through the door. I chuckled and turned to where Joe was sitting but he wasn't there. Instead he was up on the rink helping Gary set up the cones.

"Hey there sunshine" he said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Don't call me that" I groaned as I stepped onto the rink.

"While your here, I want you to skate through these cones" he says as he placed the last cone down.

"I why would I do that?" I asked as I crossed my arm.

"Because I'm the coach and I say so" he said as he walked to center of the rink and sat down next to Joe. "Go."

I sighed and started to weave in and out of the cones. The cones were spread across the entire rink and they were easy to dodge.

"Faster" Gary shouted.

"Would a please kill you?" I asked.

"Yes" he said.

"You got this Jane" Joe said.

"Yeah yeah" I sigh. I start to push faster and harder as I went around the coarse.

As I skated, I thought about all of the people who had ever looked down at me. My parent, kids at my school, the old lady who lives down the hall. They added fuel to the flame. Because of them, I have to let off steam.

The faster I went all around me blurred. My legs pumped as fast I could make them. All of a sudden I felt something hit my foot and I went flying forward. I caught myself on the railing and it smacked my stomach. At least the railing was covered in foam padding.

"What the hell Gary?" Joe was immediately by my side.

"I'm fine" I tell him with a smile on my face.

"But I saw you go down hard" he said as he looked at me head from toe. "When you hit the railing I felt it to."

"I'm good" I tell him as I smack my stomach. "See? I'm all muscle."

"Did we miss something?" Noel said as she came out of the locker room with the rest of the team.

"Just gravity doing its job" Gary said but didn't look up from the play book. "Joe, you're my helper today. Clean up the cones."

Joe looked at me as if asking for permission. I nodded and he started to pick up the cones. Slowly, I skated toward the center of the rink and sat down on the bench.

"Are you okay?" Noel asked as she pointed to my abdomen. "Let me see."

I sigh and hesitantly lifted up my shirt. Since I have been doing derby for almost a year, I have gained so much muscle that it wasn't funny. Across from us Joe whistled. It was one of those sexy whistles where men on construction site whistle to women walking by. I pull my shirt down and I felt the blood rush to my face.

"It's just red" Noel tells me. "Oh, and I told you he liked you."

"Alright ladies" Gary said as he clapped his hand together. "Let's start."