Part two. Featuring Hunter and Amity's fantastic rapport of "I'm only putting up with you because the person I like is close to you".

Also, finally getting into the nitty-gritty of roller-derby. I've been to a couple matches and they can get really intense.

Special thank-you to the WFTDA for having your entire rulebook online, this would be so much harder without you.

For almost a decade, Amity had lived with a regret.

She'd let her parents bully her into letting Willow go as a friend.

Well, 'letting go' definitely wasn't the right phrase. It was more like she'd taken Willow's friendship—one she valued because Willow liked her for her and not for who her parents were—and thrown it into a blender on puree until there was nothing left of it. She had so many memories of her time with Willow, like playing hooky from swim lessons and riding roller coasters and learning how to skate together. Hell, she never would've learned to skate if it wasn't for Willow's dads owning the rink and her being friends with Willow! But her parents… they'd sworn to not only make sure Willow didn't get into school, but that her fathers would lose the rink and they'd more than likely have to leave town.

So, as they'd commanded, Amity broke off the friendship on her sixth birthday. She'd watched Willow's eyes fill with tears before the other girl ran from the house and went home. And her heart had ached as her parents thanked her for doing what they'd asked and instructed her to select a new best friend from among the children of their work associates.

Boscha had been it, but they'd never really had a connection.

Not like Amity had with Willow.

And for almost a decade, Amity had avoided Willow. Avoided that regret, that guilt. She ignored the bullying Boscha and the others piled onto Willow. She knew it was wrong but she couldn't bring herself to stand up to her parents like that. So she stood on the sidelines of the conflict, watching probably the best friend she'd ever have in her life wither like a flower in a drought. Willow became quieter. More reserved. Fearful. And the guilt clawed at her stomach every time she realized what a coward she was for letting this happen.

Then this past summer had come.

Suddenly, the Nocedas had moved to Bonesborough. Amity had met each of them in turn, first Vee, then her siblings, and finally Mrs. Noceda. But because of that connection, she'd also been thrown back into Willow's life. And Willow had changed, especially now that she wasn't at school. She had new friends in Gus, Hunter, Vee, and Luz, a new passion for roller-derby, and just… no room for whatever Alador and Odalia had seen in her that was so despicable that she was no longer permitted to be Amity's friend.

It had been at that moment that Amity decided she was going to try and win Willow's friendship back.

Plus, you know, that Luz girl was kinda dorky and really sweet and had this cute way of speaking that…

Focus, Blight.

That was what had brought her to the roller-derby booth, and what had made her volunteer to help Willow out against Boscha. She'd been confident at the time that she was going to be able to help, that she would prove that she meant what she said about trying to be friends again, but…

"Can you even skate?"

"Shut up." She struggled to stay upright, her legs sliding beneath her as Hunter chuckled.

"How are you gonna block or jam if you can't even stay upright?"

"What does that even mean?!"

"Oh my—you volunteered for roller-derby without even knowing what it is."

"I know what it is! It's skating around a track!"

"Yeah, and it's a point sport. If you can't stay upright, you can't block the other team's jammer from scoring or score as a jammer yourself. You're going to get run over."

"How do you know all that?"

"I'm second-in-command, hello?"

"Oh… right."

Luz came over and helped her stand upright.

"You'll be fine. You've skated before, right?"

"Gilbert and Harvey taught me when I was little. I loved coming here." She lost her balance again, falling right onto her ass. "But I'm a little rusty."

"Amity, you really don't have to do this," Willow prodded, sliding over with the same ease as if she were walking. "You can cheer us on and we'll find someone else if you—"

"No. I said I was gonna do it and I just need to get my skating legs back."

"Okay… if you say so."

Amity clung to the half-wall that was beside the rink and slowly made her way out to the wood. Maybe it was just the carpet she was having trouble standing on. Maybe if she got out on the floor she'd get her footing back and she'd be zooming along after Willow like she always had. Plus there was all the padding, which inhibited her movement… slightly. Okay, a little bit. A lot of a bit.

She hit the wood and oh, this was worse, this was so much worse.

She felt like a baby giraffe struggling to stand upright as she moved along the wall still.

"We're screwed," she heard Hunter mutter.

"Give her a few minutes. She was really good when we were little," Willow replied.

"Okay, if you say so. I still don't think she'll be enough."

Fuck you, Noceda.

"Here," Luz called, sliding out onto the wood and grabbing Amity's hand. She seemed to falter for a moment.

Amity, on the other hand, could feel her face turning red.

What the hell

"Here. We'll do a few laps to get you warmed up and then we'll get started with showing you the ropes."

Okay, so maybe Amity had a bit of a crush on Luz. It had been easier to deal with when Luz had been at a distance. Only the occasional interaction stemming from trips to the library. But now they were in school. She'd bumped into Luz a few times in the halls and found that her crush was growing with each day and she wasn't sure she could deal with it. Not if Luz was going to hold her hand and reteach her how to skate.

Thankfully, though, those couple laps helped Amity's body remember the process. Soon enough she was making her way around on her own and that was when the others stepped out to join her.

Ohh, this is gonna hurt.

"Holy shit, that's a lot of people."

Luz had to bite her tongue at Hunter's language, but she nodded.

"Boscha posted about it on her Instagram," Amity stated, holding up her phone. "She said 'come see me crush at roller-derby, today at 4 at Bonesborough Skate-O-Rama, be there or be a loser'."

"Half the school's gotta be here," added Gus.

Willow took a deep breath.

"Okay. So the five of us have a bigger audience than we planned. Boscha somehow managed to scrounge up a team who she's confident can take us. But here's the thing: we're better skaters. We know this game better than she does. We're a team and we can do this."

"What's the plan, Captain?" Hunter asked.

"Honestly, just score and hope a member of Boscha's team fouls out. Knowing who she hangs around with, they don't know the rules and they're gonna go too far."

"As long as I get to smack her in the face!" snickered Gus.

"Oh, we're all gonna get hit."

Luz took the opportunity to peer at the crowd.

Okay, we got Mom, Vee, Eda, and King. Eda's partner, Raine. And… who the heck is that?

The man sitting next to her mother was tall. Very tall. He was also dressed to the nines and looked very much like he just wanted to get this over with. He must've been the guy her mom went on that double-date with alongside Eda and Raine.

I'll ask later.

Luz grabbed the plain green helmet that was meant to mark her as a blocker. Hunter and Gus both wore plain green ones as well. Amity's had a star on it, marking her as their primary jammer. Willow's had a stripe, meaning she was a pivot—a blocker who could become a jammer should Amity be unable to do it. According to Hunter it was because she was the most experienced out of the five of them and she would be better able to handle the position.

"All skaters, please come to the track to begin play!" announced Harvey, one of Willow's dads.

Willow directed Amity on where to go as the jammer; unsurprisingly, Boscha's was none other than Boscha herself. Meaning that they'd be going against each other directly. Boscha leveled a glare at Amity.

"Wow, you're really burning your social life at the stake here, huh?"

"Not at all. I've been meaning to tell you that I'm not interested in being your friend anymore."

"Not interested? Bullcrap."

Luz took up a position between the line marked for Willow, which was the pivot line (Boscha's team didn't have one, she noted) and the jammer line Amity and Boscha were behind. Hunter, Gus, and Boscha's teammates all did the same. A couple of the rink's employees were serving as referees, making it easier for penalties to be spotted.

"YOU CAN DO THIS!" called Camila from the sidelines.

"Go Team Willow!" cheered King and Vee in unison.

"Team Boscha! You got this!" yelled a kid Luz knew to be part of Boscha's clique.

Luz took a deep breath. All she needed to do was wait for the whistle and block Boscha from getting out. And make sure Amity made it through the pack to score. Oh, and take a few hits if only to penalize Boscha's cronies. She might not have been as athletic as Hunter but she could still take a hit.

She kept up the breathing as she listened to Harvey Park explain the rules of roller-derby to the uninitiated and the chants of the crowd for the match to start. She had to do this. She had to do well and make sure they won. It was because of her big mouth that this was even happening. She didn't regret opening it, though. Her big mouth meant that Boscha was going to lose and lose hard.

The whistle came, and she was off like a shot.

Hunter wasn't surprised when Cat was penalized for elbowing Gus in the head.

"What did I do?!" she protested as she was escorted off the track. Boscha growled but play kept going.

Six more and she's out.

He had memorized the proper target and block zones for this, which was everywhere below the collarbone and above the elbows and knees. And despite being taller than literally everyone else on the track, he knew better than to just aim for their heads. It was after Amelia was penalized for the third time that Hunter realized how brilliant Luz's move of challenging Boscha had been. Boscha had chosen roller-derby as a show of feigned modesty, but she didn't know shit about the sport. None of her buddies did. He couldn't hide his grin. Well, it was trapped behind his mouth-guard but whatever. They were gonna win this.

Since this was just a quick match, it was going to be half the length of a normal game; that meant they had just half an hour of skating time to take Boscha's team down a peg. Already they were halfway through and taking a short break so both teams could get some water and breathe. Hunter was sitting on a bench; even when they weren't getting penalized for illegal hits, Boscha's team still did damage to the legal zones.

"We're doing great," Willow said, coming to a stop beside him.

"Yeah. How many penalties has her team racked up?"

"I've been keeping count," chuckled Gus. "If any of them get two more, they're out of the game. Why was this a bad idea again?"

"I don't remember," Willow mused with a smile.

Hunter liked seeing her like this.

"Well, we've still got a bit to go, so don't get too cocky," Amity cautioned. She'd been scoring well for the past few jams, once she'd gotten the hang of it. Unfortunately, so had Boscha, and the bully's team was only trailing by a few points.

Still not the strongest skater.

"I heard about this one move called the Whip," Luz stated. "Can we do that?"

"Okay. Who wants to launch Amity forward?'

"Launch who now?!" Amity squeaked, and Hunter saw Luz get that look of 'she's so cute' on her face.

"Yeah, that's how the Whip works," Hunter sighed. "You grab the jammer and use your speed and momentum to launch them forward."

"I don't know if I'm ready for that!"

"Worse comes to worse, we pull off a switch. You and Willow swap helmets while we play and then we can do her instead."

"Okay. Got it. Just let me know when to switch."

"We will, trust me," Willow assured her.

The announcement came for them to get back on the track and Hunter headed out along with the rest of the team. As he did so, he caught sight of a rather tall and well-dressed man sitting next to his mother. And for some reason, a feeling of familiarity came over him.

Who is that?

He didn't have time to think on it, though.

He had a match to win.

"Amity, now!"

Willow grasped Amity's helmet cover in her hands as they pulled off the switch in the middle of the pack. Quickly she put it atop her own helmet and began picking up speed. Boscha hadn't broken free of the pack yet, but that meant that getting out in front was more important than ever. The game had tied and this was the last jam they were going to have. If Willow didn't pass Boscha, she couldn't become lead jammer, which meant no scoring and a tie game. This was not going to be a tie game.

"Captain!" Hunter called, skating up alongside her. "Shall we?"

"We shall."

She reached out her hands and Hunter grasped them, spinning around to send her flying forward. Right past Boscha. The pink-haired girl let out a screech of anger as Amity managed to catch up to her and try to block her. As Willow took her position as lead jammer, she could hear several people in the crowd cheering for her. She was still going quickly, riding off the momentum Hunter had given her as she sped around the bends. She was coming back up on the pack. All she had to do was make it back through and end the jam.

She passed Cat and Amelia and the two guys whose names she didn't know. And then, once she'd passed Boscha and Amity, she slid to a stop with her hands on her hips, signaling the end of the jam. Just as she did, though, Boscha brought her skated foot around and knocked Amity off her feet, sending the other girl tumbling to the ground and rolling a few feet.

The jam was over, and Amity was hurt.

She was quickly taken off the track and Camila Noceda looked her over. Thankfully it wasn't too bad; Amity just had a sprained ankle that she had to stay off for a couple days.

"Guess you can't try out for the team proper," Hunter joked, looking at Amity with that (kinda cute) smirk of his. "Such a shame. You really didn't do too badly as jammer."

"Yeah, I'm gonna leave this one to all of you," Amity chuckled.

"Thanks for helping us out," Willow told her. "And… did you mean it? When you said you wanted to be friends again?"

"I did. I promise I did."

"Well… I can't say that we can do it immediately. Let's… take some time."

"I can do that. Time is something I can absolutely do." Amity nodded.

"We won!" cheered Luz, sliding over and grabbing them both in a hug.

"Luz, careful!" her mother called.

"Yes, Mom!"

Willow couldn't hide her giggle as Amity was tomato-faced red in the hug Luz had dragged them into. Oh, and Gus and Hunter had to get in on it, too.

She'd won her first match, and she'd helped take down Boscha.

It was a good day.

Darius was an interesting person, Vee had decided.

He was elegant and charming, but he had this kind of quality to him that was weirdly slimy. Kinda like a lawyer on TV; not like Phoenix Wright, but more like one from those courtroom dramas Luz watched sometimes. He had yet to explain what he was doing at the rink, or who he was (he was Mama's boyfriend, probably), but he was nice enough to keep an eye on her while her mother went to give first aid to Amity.

"I can't believe Alador's kid took a hit like that. He would've crumpled," chuckled Darius.

"Who's Alador?" Vee questioned.

"Amity's father."

"Oh."

"Okay, just gonna let Hunter and Luz get changed and then we're leaving," Camila sighed, coming back up to them. "I apologize for the delay."

"It's not a problem, Camila. As long as we get there."

Mama nodded, and Vee went over and tugged at her sleeve.

"Yes, mija?"

"Mama, is he your boyfriend?"

Eda and Raine both started cackling with laughter as Darius barked for them both to shut up. Camila chuckled and shook her head at Vee.

"No, he's not. I promise, if I'm going to start dating, I'll let you kids know right away."

"Besides, Camila's not exactly his type," Eda snickered. "She's a little too… female for that."

"Edalyn, I swear, you're walking."

"Big deal, I can walk home."

Darius let out a frustrated growl and Vee watched as Luz and Hunter came to join them.

"I'm gonna stay in bed all day tomorrow," Luz announced before looking at Darius. "Hi, stranger. Who might you be?"

"I'm Darius. I'm a friend of your mother."

"He's not her boyfriend. I asked," Vee told her siblings.

"Who are you, then?" Hunter questioned.

"I'll explain when we get back to your house. It's why I'm here."

Luz and Hunter glanced at each other. For as much as they fought, both of them tended to think the same way. It was probably why they butted heads so often. And Vee could tell what they were thinking.

What kind of bad news does this guy have?

They did get their answer, though.

Darius knew Hunter's birth parents.

Vee couldn't help but stare at the picture Darius had set on the kitchen table. It was like looking at a grown-up Hunter with blue eyes and no gap in his teeth. The woman beside him was very pretty and she had Hunter's eyes and that gap the man lacked. Altogether she could see how they'd created her older brother, though it was still hard to wrap her head around the fact that the tiny baby in the picture was Hunter. It was hard to even think of him as ever being a baby; he'd always been her big brother who'd been protective of her, almost like an adult but not really.

He hadn't said much, and Hunter had been silent throughout everything since the words 'I knew your birth parents' had tumbled out of Darius's mouth. Luz had been full of questions in his place. Eventually, though, Hunter had taken a deep breath and asked a question of his own.

"Why are you telling us this?"

"You deserve to know. And… there's still a living relative on your father's side. Just one. An uncle."

"You mean a piece of—" Eda started, but Raine shook their head.

"Not the time."

"You know him?" Hunter murmured.

"Unfortunately. I wasn't here when Emily and Caleb died. I didn't even know you existed until you moved in here. But I remember Phillip. Special kind of bastard."

"This is a lot to take in…" Hunter shook his head.

"I need you to be careful," Darius instructed Hunter. "Be on the lookout for anyone suspicious and keep an eye on your sisters. Your uncle is a dangerous man."

"How will I even recognize him?"

"He's got a nasty scar on his face." Eda motioned across her own face, slashing right across the nose. "Ugly. Scar didn't help."

Hunter picked up the picture of himself and his parents.

"…he's already done something. Hasn't he."

"He called your mother earlier this summer."

Camila nodded. Vee had noticed how silent she was being throughout all of this, as if she were trying to get a handle on her anger. It wouldn't surprise her if their mother had already given Darius an earful about waiting to contact them.

"Just… make sure he stays away. Please."

The look on Hunter's face said he wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight.

Vee was sure she wouldn't be, either.

Yes, Boscha's team being really bad at this game is entirely because they don't understand it as well as they thought they did. Willow and Hunter have been practicing for months and there's no way Luz didn't pick it up; Gus and Amity never do things by halves, either. So they were screwed from the start.

Also, I just realized this, but I made a parallel between Hunter's birth family and his adoptive one; he has an uncle from his birth father who sucks and is his father's only living relative. Meanwhile he has an aunt from his adoptive father who cares about him deeply (if anything happens to Camila Lola gets the kids) and is his adoptive father's only living relative.

So long and thanks for all the fish!