Tokio Derby

I snuck out of the orphanage window with ease, my legs working in overtime with the skates on. I jumped off the roof and almost fell on my face, instead falling on my back. It hurt so much I thought my spine would crack and rupture my internal organs and I would become a vegetable. The soft green grass broke most of my fall; the must’ve used some weird chemicals in the grass because it was freezing outside. Some of the water went into the uniform skirt I was wearing and it almost made me run back inside the house, lock the doors, and snuggle up with the covers in the crowded room I shared with three other whiny little girls. But thank God I was wearing my jammer helmet, because if I wasn’t I would be on 1000 Ways to Die.

I picked myself up and started skating on the sidewalk. It was kind of relaxing to skate when nobody was watching. I had already gotten into enough fights in the orphanage as it is, the social workers there yelling at me for throwing food at some girls who made fun of my blue hair. They really shouldn’t have been so rude to me; at least I knew who my parents were. They left me one day and never came back though, but I still knew them. I still remember the note they left on the table when they shut the door so loud it woke me from my sleep. It said that they would be back in a few weeks and that they loved me, the liars.

I shook that terrible thought out of my head as I skated towards the abandoned building, a long skate which was probably about twenty minutes long including stops and red lights. But it was good exercise for my thighs; most of the people at the orphanage weren’t just voluptuous, they were just plain fat. As a derby girl they taught us to eat healthy and practice on our skates every once in a while, which I did in the back of the orphanage in the basketball court the kids never used.

I slowly reached the building, skating passed the crowd that was quickly making its way into the building. Some people noticed me as a derby grrl and waved hi to me and I quickly got into a conversation with some. Most of my conversations were about whom we were facing tonight, the old champions of the entire league, The Clique Crushers. One of their most famous members was Big Sal, a slightly big woman with flowing red hair and a red attitude. She was one of the toughest players in the league and she wouldn’t let anyone forget that.
I made my way into the back of the building through the red door that was behind the entire building. It led to our dressing room, most of the girls putting on their tutus and putting on lipstick in the mirrors of their lockers. I slowly made my way to my locker, waving hi to a few of the girls who noticed me and giving out the secret handshake that our team made up. I put on some make-up and eyeliner and put on some black lipstick, putting a kiss on my cold locker to make sure it worked. After that I pushed open the door and faced the crowd. I skated around for a while and waved to the crowd like a Disney princess to the crowd at a parade. I absolutely loved the crowds. They always have so much energy and enthusiasm you can’t help but feel that energy through your body. That was one of the reasons I stayed in roller derby; I couldn’t stand being a wallflower. I was such a wallflower before people would accidentally sit on me and I didn’t want to go through that again. I needed to be a social butterfly.

The announcer of the bout, a scruffy 20-something man who looked very sexy with his light brown beard and circus outfit- blew his whistle into the microphone, meaning he was going to begin announcing the players and that they should all get their butts out there. The doors behind me opened and the players made their way outside. The other team had weird orange safety patrols belts over their black shirts, each of the belts showing their name. We each quickly made our way to our seats in the middle of the circuit track, each team on a completely different side.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” he screeched to the audience, and they all quieted down. “It’s time to start the bout of the week!” The crowd roared after that for ten minutes, but he quieted them with a swift of his hand. “The champions of our league are going against the second place team from last year!”

I cringed, being forced to remember the way we lost to them last year and we had to treat them to dinner. They made fun of us and got drunk, calling us “turtles”, meaning we were slow. I also remember how one of the bigger members of their team pushed me out of the way and broke my arm. I had so sit in the sidelines as my team was destroyed.

The announcer continued. “It’s time for us to start the bout! Are you ready?” The crowd cheered, half of them on our side snapping as a sign of the Pushin’ Daisies and others stomping their feet for the other team. He silenced them again. “But as a bonus, we hired a band all the way from good ol’ Germany to play for us!” He pointed over to a corner in the room, but if we had a spotlight it would’ve showed the band. The announcer sighed. “If we had a light in here we could see them. But oh well, they’ll play while the teams are racing.”
We each took our positions, Big Sal and I standing behind the jammer line while the others formed a pack in front of us. The whistle blew and the pack took off and the music started playing, fast and awesome. There was something odd about this music, the way it made me feel like jumping up and dancing. I really couldn’t dance anything except grinding and the mashed potato, but still dancing nonetheless. The crowd obviously loved it, jumping up and some of the girls were screaming that they knew the band and loved it. They called it something like Tokio Hotel. What the hell is a Tokio Hotel?

They whistle blew again and we were off. Big Sal was obviously leaving a trail, pushing people out of her way without using her elbow and her hips. She was big and tall and could obviously make a trail, while I skated cautiously past the pack. One of the girls from the opposing team used her hips to try and make me fall but someone from our team pushed her out of the way.

The ref blew the whistle, running over to the girls who were actually fighting on the field. I looked back. “Hurry up and go!” she screamed to me, and I got my head back in the game. I bent low and skated as fast as I could, and I finally made it past Big Sal. I kept skating with all my heart and when the ref blew the whistle for the end of the first quarter I knew this was going to be an easy game.

The party after we won the game-YEAH! IN YOUR FUCKIN’ FACE BITCH! - was held in the building. People were congratulating us and talking to the losers. They finally got a light for the band and we could all see what they looked like. The lead singer had black dreadlocks with some blond dreadlocks at the end and his voice kind of sounded like a girl, but he was really hot. His eyes sparkled with every lyric of the song and his smile could make girls faint. There was a guy on guitar that had the same beautiful eyes as the singer but had black cornrows throughout his hair. He had this weird kind of smirk that showed every time a girl screamed that he was hot. The guy on bass had brown hair that kind of went down to his shoulders and he looked serious throughout every song. Either that or he was always constipated, with the look on his face. I couldn’t see the drummer but I guessed that he had black hair by the way you could see it from the drum set.

They finished playing and stepped off the stage, the crowd going crazy. The one with dreadlocks went over to where a group of girls was sitting and made conversation with them. I watched as he turned one of the girls with red hair and whispered something in her ear. The bassist and the singer walked off to the center of the circuit track, where people could skate freely now that the game was over. They didn’t have any skates but they could probably rent some over where the snacks were served.

The music was loud but the people were even louder. There was house music playing and girls were grinding one another to get boys’ attention. I mostly stayed over near the concession stand and kept ordering nachos, but after the third one I couldn’t eat any more. There goes my dinner, I thought to myself, thinking about the orphanage and how they served some of the most terrible nachos in the world.

“Are you going to finish those?” a deep voice behind me asked in bad English fragments, and I quickly turned around. A short guy with black hair and glasses was looking at me, a smile on his face. He was kind of chubby, but it didn’t show through his Metallica shirt and black jeans. I pointed to the nachos, wondering what he was talking about. He looked so much older than me, but at the same time looked kind of like a teenager with his height. He shook his head yes and walked over to the opposite side of me at the table.

“I’m Clarissa,” I blurted out to him, nacho cheese almost spilling out of my mouth. I quickly shut my mouth before any more could come out and he laughed. “I’m Gustav,” he said back, taking a nacho and eating it quickly.

We easily diverged into conversation, and I learned a little bit more about him. He was the drummer of the band that was playing and was from Germany. He was on tour with them and noticed me skating along with the other girls. Gustav had no idea what the game was about so I told him how it was played. He listened without saying a word, and I pointed over to the concession stand and asked him if he wanted me to teach him how to skate. I made sure not to spill out some information about my parents and where I lived. He, on the other hand, talked about his family and his friends and his aspirations. He wanted to keep drumming until he was old and grey, and I could respect that.

“I guess,” he answered, his hazel eyes flickering through the fluorescent lights. We walked over to the concession stand after we finished the nachos and rented a pair of skates for him. We walked back over to where the tables were and I helped him put on his skated. He leaned on me until we reached the circuit track, making us both fall on the ground a few times. After a while he finally got the hang of it and started smiling and laughing when he tried to drag me and I fell. Gustav Schäfer was a really cool guy and I’m amazed that he doesn’t have a girlfriend yet.

We stopped skating around the time that most people were starting to leave. I waited for him to leave so I could skate back to the orphanage; he didn’t move an inch.
“Aren’t you going to go home?” I asked.

“The hotel can wait,” Gustav shrugged. “I can drive you home if you want.”

I calmly denied that, lying that my parents would pick me up. But he stayed by my side even when we were waiting outside for my “parents”. He probably realized that my parents weren’t here and was just there to make me feel better.

“I’ll go get the car,” and with that he was off like a rocket. I looked around, noticing that nobody was here anymore, and shivered, wishing I had brought a jacket with me. He quickly returned a pair of large keys in his hand.

We quietly walked over to a car and quickly got in. The car was nice, like it had never been used before.

“Aren’t you going to tell your friends to get in the car?” I asked, putting on my seat belt and watching the light flicker on as Gustav turned the ignition.

“I’ll come back and pick them up later,’ he replied, and we were off. I barely talked during the ride, but Gustav talked a lot. The music in the car was a calming mix of voices and I could easily recognize the lead singer’s- his name was Bill- voice through all of it. He was singing about being lost and wanting someone to rescue him. I closed my eyes and swayed a long with the music, letting it become a part of me so I could understand it better. I always did that with music, whether it had a fast tempo or it was a song that was mostly done in screams.

I opened my eyes and noticed we were back at the orphanage. The sign in the front didn’t show up through the dark night. We waited there for what seemed like forever, the only sound heard from the outside was the sound of snow hitting the car at a fast speed.
A thought popped into my head while we were waiting. What is he wanted to have sex with me or something?! I screamed in my head. My heartbeat increased as the thought became rampant. I’ve never even had sex before. What if he tries to do it without my consent?!

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice cool.OMG RAPISTS HAVE CALM VOICES!

“I’M FIFTEEN AND A VIRGIN!” I screeched, and I quickly made eye contact with him. His hazel eyes were wide. “Where the hell did that come from?!” he screeched back, color now on his face. HOLY CRAP! WHAT IF HE’S A CHILD MOLESTER?!

“DON’T BE A CHILD MOLESTER!” I squealed, and reached for the door. I opened it way too quickly while simultaneously unbuckling my seat belt and fell out of the car. I landed with my face in the snow and my butt still visible from the car.

My face reddened as I heard the other door and open and footsteps walk over to where I was. I looked up to see Gustav looking at me, his eyes wide.

“Why do you think I’m going to molest you?!” he screamed, creating an echo throughout the entire neighborhood.

“Because isn’t that what rock stars do?!” I said a little too quickly. “Have sex with girls and rape them sometimes?”

“Maybe Tom but not me,” he added, but I had no idea who Tom was. Gustav could probably see the look of confusion on my face because he explained, “he’s the one with the cornrows and plays guitar.”

I quickly got up and shut the car door, a look of embarrassment on both of our faces. We reached the door and just stood there for a while.

“So you’re an orphan?”He broke the silence. “What happened to your parents?”

“They abandoned me,” I looked down to my feet. “I have no idea where they are now. One minute they were here and the next minute they just up and left me.”

“I’m sorry about that,” he replied, and the door snapped open. Ms. Anderson, one of the worst caretakers in the orphanage, opened the door, all the little kids awake and staring at me and Gustav. Ms. Anderson looked pissed, her eyes with dark circles on them.

She yanked me by my ear into the building. “Where the hell do you think you’ve been?!” she hissed in my ear, dragging me to a chair in the large living room. She pointed over to Gustav. “And who the hell is he?!”

“I’m Gustav Schäfer ma’am,” was all that his broken English can muster.

“Like she gives a rat’s ass who the hell you are!” one of the kids yelled, and the other moved around him.

“Well,” he passed the little kids and looked Ms. Anderson dead in the eye. “Actually, I’m going to adopt Clarissa.”

We all stopped dead in our tracks. I barely knew Gustav and he was already talking about ADOPTING me?!

“What do you mean adopt her?!” Ms Anderson yelled, pointing to me. “Look at her! She’s a freak!”

“That’s how I like my girls,” he winked at me. “A little freaky. So what do you say Clarissa? Want to be Clarissa Schäfer?”

“Of course,” and then I ran to hug my new father.