Roller Hockey Rumble (2 page)
Frank slowly smiled. “Sure, I’ll bet,” he said in a nasty voice. “I bet we beat you guys in a game next Saturday. Ten o’clock. Winner takes all.”
“Takes all of what?” Charlie wanted to know. Frank looked around at the rink and nodded. “This place beats where my team’s been playing. So let’s say whichever team wins gets to use this rink whenever they want. The losers clear out when the winners show up, no matter what. Deal?”
Bizz didn’t hesitate. “Deal!” she cried, sticking out her hand. Frank spat on his hand and shook hers. Bizz pulled her hand away and wiped it on her pants. “Gross,” she muttered.
Frank laughed, gathered up his gear, and skated away. “See you next Saturday, lo-o-o-o-o-o-sers!” he called over his shoulder.
“What a jerk,” Bizz said, turning to look at her friends.
They were all staring at her.
“Uh, guys? Is something wrong?”
“Is something
wrong?
” X repeated. “Yeah, there’s something
wrong!
”
“You just bet the roller hockey rink!” Jonas exploded.
A hot flush crept into Bizz’s face. It suddenly dawned on her that her friends might have wanted to talk over the bet before she agreed to it.
Then she shook herself. “What are you guys worried about?” she asked, filling her voice with confidence. “We’ll win, and that guy won’t bother us again!”
“But if we lose, he’ll be in our faces all the time,” Charlie said, shaking his head.
Mark agreed. “Guys like him rub your nose in it when you lose.”
Bizz picked up her hockey stick. “Well, then we’ll just have to be sure we don’t lose. Now, who’s ready to play?”
But no one seemed to have much interest in playing anymore. After ten minutes, Mark called it quits.
“Yeah, I’m done, too,” Charlie said, popping out his mouth guard. The others started to take off their pads and helmets.
Bizz felt awful. Then she had an idea. “Listen,” she said excitedly. “How about if we come up with plays to use on Saturday?” The others looked up.
Encouraged, Bizz went on. “We can practice them all next week. Meet me at my house tonight, okay?” When no one replied, she added, “I’ll make dessert!” There were enough nods and murmurs of “yeah, all right” to convince Bizz they were on board.
When her friends arrived that night, Bizz handed them each a brownie, a glass of milk, and a sheet of paper covered with plays she’d come up with that afternoon.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” she said. “Jonas and I will be forwards. Charlie, you and X are our defensemen. Mark, you’ll be goalkeeper.”
“What about me?” Savannah asked around a mouthful of brownie.
“There are only five players on a roller hockey team,” Bizz explained. “You’ll be our substitute, okay?”
Savannah looked a little disappointed, but she nodded.
X cleared his throat. “You know, I think I’d make a better forward than defenseman,” he said.
“Oh,” Bizz said. “Well, I guess Jonas could play back and you could —”
“No way,” Jonas piped up. “You guys definitely want me on the front line. I’m the man with the moves. I’ll zig when they zag, tie ’em up in circles. I’ll —”
“We get the picture,” Bizz said. “Listen, X, the plays I worked out call for —”
“Plays
you
worked out?” X cut in. “What about the plays
I
worked out?”
Bizz held up her hands in mock defense. “Sor-ree! I didn’t know
you’d
made some plays, too. Let’s see ’em.” X handed over a grubby piece of paper. Bizz studied it, then put it aside. “Not bad, but the plays I came up with are better. So let’s —”
X stood up. His face was angry. “Who died and made
you
captain of this team?” he demanded.
“No one!” Bizz replied, bristling. “I just figured that since I’m the one who ... who . . .” Her voice trailed away.
“Who got us into this mess?” Mark finished helpfully.
Bizz glared at him. “I was going to say ‘who wants to win the most.’”
X grabbed his paper and shoved it into his pocket. “Yeah, well, I want to win, too,” he said. He sat back down and crossed his arms over his chest.
Silence filled the room. Then Savannah spoke. “What do you think Frank’s team is like? ’Cause I gotta tell you, Frank seemed pretty big to me. Big — and mean. What if the rest of his team is like him?”
Everyone turned and stared at Savannah. No one, it seemed, had given much thought to the competition.
“I’ve never seen him at the rink before,” Mark said. “I wonder where his team plays?”
Jonas snapped his fingers. “I bet I know! There’s an old supermarket across town that closed two years ago. I saw some kids playing roller hockey in the parking lot there.” He turned to X. “Maybe we could ride over tomorrow and scout out their team?”
“Good idea,” Bizz said. “Meanwhile, the rest of us will get to the rink and start practicing.”
“Make sure you sign up for the time,” X said. He stood up and shrugged on his coat. “I gotta get going. Thanks for the brownies. See you guys tomorrow.”
The others left soon afterward. Only after they were gone did Bizz see that no one had taken a copy of her plays. She stuffed them in her backpack for the next day.
The following morning, Bizz was at the skatepark when it opened. She hurried to the rink and jotted their names down on the sign-up sheet. They would have the rink for most of the morning.
Mark, Savannah, and Charlie showed up a few minutes later. Savannah had a brand-new mouth guard.
“Even though I’ll just be subbing, I figured I’d better have it,” she said.
“Good idea,” said Bizz. “It’d be too bad if the puck knocked out your front teeth. Not that that would happen!” she added hurriedly when Savannah’s eyes widened.
Since there were only four of them, they decided to practice passing and shooting. Bizz started with the puck. She tapped it softly to Charlie. Charlie dribbled forward a few feet. Mark came alongside him, with Bizz close on Mark’s heels. Charlie flipped the puck to Mark.
“Drop pass! Drop pass!” Bizz called out.
Mark stopped. “I didn’t drop it!” He lifted his stick. “The puck’s right here!”
Bizz groaned. “I didn’t mean you’d
dropped the pass
. I meant you should
do a drop pass
. Don’t you know what that is?”
Mark shook his head. When Bizz looked at Savannah, she just shrugged.
“Oh, brother.” Bizz rolled her eyes. “A drop pass is one of the most basic moves of roller hockey! How’re we gonna win if you guys don’t even know how to do a drop pass?” She sighed. “Good thing we have a whole week before we play. Charlie, let’s show ’em how it’s done.”
Charlie took the puck from Mark and started to dribble. Bizz followed behind him. When they were halfway down the rink, Charlie lifted his stick and left the puck behind for Bizz to pick up. Bizz captured it, skated the rest of the way to the goal, and shot the puck into the net.
“See?” she called as she retrieved the disk. “It’s easy! And when it’s done right, it can really fake out the other team.”
“It’s gonna take a lot more than a few good drop passes to fake
that
team out,” Jonas said from behind them. “A
lot
more.”
X and Jonas stood outside the rink. They looked upset. “We just checked out the competition,” Jonas continued. He and X sat down at a picnic table. The others joined them.
“And?” Bizz prompted.
“And,” X said, “They. Are. Big.”
“How big?” Mark asked.
“Let me put it this way,” Jonas said. “If the zoo reports that its gorillas are missing, I know where to find them.”
Bizz tried to think of something to say that would wipe the worried looks off their faces. “You know, even if they win, I’ll bet they won’t want to come over here to play. Why would they, when they can play on that lot?”
Jonas shook his head. “Some big department store bought the property. The construction trucks have already started ripping up one side of the lot. No way Frank and his goons will be playing hockey there anymore. And if they win on Saturday, no way they’ll let
us
play hockey
here
anymore.”
Bizz felt her stomach tighten. It was her fault they were in this mess. It was up to her to make sure they didn’t lose. And that meant whipping them into shape — fast.
“All right,” she said, getting up. “So they’re bigger than us. Big deal! We can’t give up without a fight. So let’s go!”
Slowly, the others got up. As they skated onto the rink, Bizz said, “For the first play, let’s try —”
“Hang on!” X said, frowning. “What about my plays? And we still haven’t decided who’s playing forward.”
Bizz checked her watch. “We’re losing time, here. Let’s do rock-paper-scissors to see whose plays we use.” X nodded.
“Rock — paper — scissors — shoot!” they chanted together. Bizz stuck out her hand, holding it flat like a piece of paper. X’s hand was balled into a fist.
“Paper covers rock — I win,” Bizz said. “Now do it with Jonas to see who plays forward.” Jonas won and skated triumphantly to the front line.
“Now can we start practicing? Good.” Bizz consulted her paper. “Mark and Savannah will be our de- fensemen. X and Charlie will try to keep us from scoring.”
As X and Charlie skated to their positions, Bizz called the others to huddle around her. “Okay, I call this the stack play. Jonas, you start with the puck. Pass it to me right away, then skate toward the goal. Mark, you follow behind him. Savannah, you’re behind Mark. I’ll pass to Mark and take off for the goal. Mark does a drop pass. Savannah picks up the puck and shoots it back to me or to Jonas, whoever’s got a clear shot on goal. Got it?”
Mark and Jonas nodded, but Savannah wrinkled her brow in confusion.
“Hello, Savannah!” Bizz said impatiently. “Anybody in there? Do you understand the play or not?”
Savannah looked at Bizz with hurt eyes, but she nodded.
“Then let’s do it!”
They took their positions. Jonas dribbled toward the goal. X and Charlie immediately came out to double-team him. Jonas flicked the puck to Bizz. As
X and Charlie turned to attack Bizz, she shot the puck to Mark. Mark caught it. Savannah then skated up behind him. He looked over his shoulder and called out, “Ready?”
Oh, brother,
Bizz groaned inwardly.
Why don’t you just
tell
them you’re going to do a drop pass?
Sure enough, just as Mark lifted his stick, X swooped in, reached out his stick, and snagged the puck.
“Well, at least the defense is on top of things,” Bizz said as she watched X take a shot on goal. “Next time, Mark, try to be a little less obvious, okay?” Mark grinned sheepishly.
“Okay, next play. Three-man weave. Simple. Jonas, you, me, and Mark line up on the center line. I’ve got the puck. I pass to Jonas, on my right, then skate behind him and take his spot. Jonas, you dribble to the middle, then pass to Mark. Mark takes your place, you take his. Got it?”
“What do I do?” Savannah asked.
“Stay back and out of the way,” Bizz replied shortly.
