She was a raven-haired shell of cocky athleticism. She spun, jumped, ducked, crouched and destroyed. She always got through the mass of very angry women beating the shit out of each other before the other point scorer which, Gail learned from the demo before the bout started, was called a jammer. Holly would burst out the front of the pack, spin around and arch an eyebrow and give her smug "You seriously thought you stood a chance?" smirk and called off the jam. Gail loved to watch Holly call of the jam. It was a thing of beauty. Jams were stopped when the first jammer through the pack put her hands on her hips. When Gail read it in the program, it seemed like an innocuous enough gesture but Holly turned it into a silent, but blatant, "eat me". She started the gesture from head height and brought it down like a karate chop, the side of each hand resting, not on the side of her hips, but just inside her hip bones, fingers pointing down and in for extra emphasis. This gesture was usually immediately followed by another gesture for the sake of the crowd. The follow-up gesture usually depended where on the track Holly was when she called it off and what the crowd's reaction was.
The fans for each team were relatively even in number, and were grouped by the teams they were rooting for. The end of a jam resulted in a delineated emanation of boos and hoots that reverberated off the metal walls of the hangar as a roar. Holly was clearly a fan favorite. The crowd loved her or loved to hate her. Either way, she gave them a show. Holly would blow kisses to her fans or slap their hands under the rail as they gathered around after an especially impressive jam. In Gail's mind though, Holly's best showmanship was reserved for her enemies. She mixed it up a bit and mostly kept it proportionate to the level of hating she received. Sometimes she would settle for just flashing them her middle fingers, nodding her head in self-satisfied victory. This was a Holly Humpabitch blow-off. That's what Gail labeled it as. When the crowd was louder and more fervent with their gestures, she would align her skates, one facing forward, one backwards, with her ass out toward the crowd so she could lift her skirt to all the jeerers. This gesture was often accompanied by a kiss, applied to her fingers and slapped to her ass – the Holly Humpabitch spank, so deemed by Gail. Finally, there was Gail's personal favorite. When the crowd was just downright off-the-hook rowdy, Holly would skate facing them, tongue flicking in and out of her victory fingers.
"Okay, Gail" Chloe yelled from three rookies down. "What do you call that one?"
"Well, Chloe, I think this particular display deserves more than a simple label, don't you?" Gail tilts her head as if she's talking to a toddler or a puppy. "This is a statement, and an important one that you may be unfamiliar with since you are from tiny, shiny people land. This woman," she points at Holly with two fingers, "this artist is not just trying to get ice cream from between her fingers as I suspect that is what you think is happening here. Do you see ice cream, my pretty princess? No. The message her action so eloquently, yet powerfully, conveys is, 'If you can't beat it, eat it'. And, once again this is not about ice cream or whatever else sustains the people of your species."
"Mmmm, ice cream." Chloe's response is so grossly innocent.
"Come here, I don't want to yell this," she urges Chloe while leaning in towards her.
Chloe obeys, leaning across Andy to get closer. Gail puts her hand up to hide her mouth as if she is telling a secret.
"Pussy!" Gail yells and almost causes Chloe to fall off the bench in surprise. Unfortunately for Gail, Dov catches her.
Chloe shakes her head but immediately resumes smiling as her eyes return to the track.
The rest of the bout passes in a beer- and Holly-induced haze for Gail. Holly is un-fucking-believable. Other skaters fall. Other skaters brawl. But Holly, Holly is fast, fluid, and agile allowing her to avoid a lot of the clashes. This doesn't mean, as Gail witnesses a few times during the bout, that Holly is afraid to lay down the hurt when she needs to. In one jam she actually jumps a tussle that was just breaking out, only to pile drive it the next lap when it became a 3-woman skirmish – two of them to one of hers. That particular battle ended with Holly holding another skater's head down while she air humped her and twirled a fake lasso over her head.
"You are a very lucky woman," Traci said, teasingly elbowing Gail in the arm.
"Hey, it's a Russian thing." Gail shrugs.
"Wait, Holly is Russian too? What's her maiden name?"
"Humpaho," Gail says without delay.
"Nice." Traci laughs.
Holly's team wins the bout, not by a landslide, but by an impressive margin. As the Score-gasms skate their victory lap, the rookiebots huddled to come up with phase two of the night. Between Andy's incessant chatter about the awesomeness of the bout, and Chloe's persistent ramblings about Dov and ice cream, not much planning had actually occurred when the emcee broke through the rumblings of the crowd.
"Hey roller derby fans, the Score-gasms will be out in the concessions and merchandise area momentarily. Now's your chance to get an autograph or a picture with your favorite skaters. Also, don't forget to stop by the merchandise booth for all the latest Score-gasm fashions. And, for you over-21 fans, join the Score-gasms and the Cunning Stunts at the after-party at the Black Penny tonight at 9:00 PM. Get up-close and personal, and possibly slightly inebriated with the most hardcore athletes in the city."
Chris looked up with puppy dog eyes. "Come on you guys. This could be fun."
The idea of a crowded bar full of rowdy derby fans wasn't really working for Gail, although a little streak of Holly shone through the blackness of drunk douches.
"No way," She said firmly with what she hoped was grave seriousness.
"Gail, come on. This is your kind of crowd you former half-goth freak." Dov covered his balls as he spoke the words. Chloe elbowed him from the side.
"Yeah, and I want to learn more about the sport. I think I might want to join," Andy chimed in.
"And," Chris added, "delicious, intoxicating alcohol and a possibly drunk Holly Humpabitch."
Gail just rolls her eyes. "Can we get out of here, please?" Noncommital was the best they were going to get for now.
They are making their way out when Andy and Chloe get distracted by the merchandise.
"Hey guys, can you wait a few minutes? Chloe and I are going to buy shirts."
"I'll only wait if you get Dov a purple tube top that says 'Roll out with your hole out'." Gail flashes Dov a fake evil smile.
"Well, Gail, since I drove, you will wait even without the promise of laying your eyes on my sexy man chest."
"Ooo. You're right Dov. I heard that concave is the new sexy. It's no wonder you have asthma. There's no room for your lungs when your sternum is touching your spine."
They have a momentary glare-off before Gail decides Dov's ineptitude at glaring is annoying. She starts looking around the outside of the hangar. There are a lot of skaters from Holly's team out and around, talking with their fans, signing programs, and taking pictures. On initial glance, Gail doesn't see Holly, not like she was looking or anything. As she wanders away from her friends Holly comes into view. She is just around the curve, out of site to Gail's previous position. Holly is surrounded by fans. It looks like she has been to the locker room, because she is now sans helmet and wrist guards, although she still has the rest of her pads and her skates on. Her hair, although still a little damp along her face, is as long, smooth, shiny, and just generally as beautiful as Gail suspected it would be.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Gail is annoyed by her diminished bitchy super-powers where Holly is concerned.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Traci speaks right next to Gail's ear from behind, catching her by surprise.
"Jesus, Trace. Nothing, I'm not looking at anything. You know, I'm just checking stuff out."
"Anything stuff in particular that you're checking out." Traci laughs and Gail just rolls her eyes. Still, she automatically turns her head back to find Holly again.
"Oh shit."
"What?" Traci asks as she follows Gail's line of sight to see what has rained on Gail's creeper parade.
There, talking to Holly is what's-his-nuts and crew. They gesture repeatedly over towards Gail while talking exuberantly. Holly has a smile on her face that Gail can't quite decipher. It is bigger than small but short of an outright grin. And it is so beautifully lopsided. Beautifully lopsided? Seriously? Gail shakes her head, trying to expel the mushiness from her head and chest. When she refocuses, Holly is looking right at her. She is nodding her head as the group of men keep talking to her. She looks back at them, nods some more, and glances back and forth between them and Gail. Finally, she takes a skating stride toward Gail and Traci as she looks back over her shoulder giving the guys a gesture letting them know she would be back momentarily.