“Sweet.” She shut the back of the van. “All right. You ready for some serious action?” she asked, slapping her palms against her thighs. Beneath her thick glasses, Shanti’s eyes seemed gigantic, which made it easier to see the cool, green tinge in them.

“Yeah, sure.” I hoped we’d get to that action soon. As we walked back to the arena, I asked, “So you’re not part of the derby?”

“The what?”

“The… derby.” As I said it, I realized it sounded not quite right.

She laughed. “We don’t say ‘the derby’—makes it sound like horse racing or something,” she said, amusement continuing beneath her words.

Whatever.

When I didn’t say anything back, her face grew serious and she added, “Sorry—it was just cute, that’s all. I forgot your friend said you’d never seen roller derby, right?”

“Nope.” I was irritated. “Cute” wasn’t really my thing.

She must have noticed my face turn hard, because she briefly touched my back and said, “Hey. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk. Don’t be mad.”

I just shrugged, despite the weird warm feeling caused by her hand on my back. That feeling just irritated me more. I wasn’t here to make friends or have cutesy conversations. I wanted to know more about roller derby and if it might be what I needed right now. “So what am I supposed to say, then?”

“Just, ‘Do you play?’ or ‘Do you skate?’ ”

“Okay… do you skate, then?” I mumbled.

“No—well, not really. I dabble. But I’m just the team’s manager mostly. Once in a while I’ll throw on some skates, but I’m not very good at the aggressive part. It’s not really my thing.” She stared at her shoes as she said this, and I guessed she was a bit embarrassed by this admission of weakness. I would be.

“What does a manager do? Besides sell merchandise?”

“Whatever they need, really. I help tape them up, get their water, cheer, create pamphlets for the league, make those pins.” She pointed to my new savage bee pin. “Stuff like that. Roller derby’s pretty DIY.”

“How’d you get into this, if you’re not really into roller derby?” I held back the real question, which was How did someone as tame as you get involved in something so hard-core?

“My sister’s on the team. And the rest of the team is like my family too. Plus, I like roller skating, even if I’m not into all the pushing and hits.” She prodded her glasses up her nose.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the pushing and hits.