Dreamland Social Club(59)

Mr. Simmons laughed, and Jane just looked at him and shrugged.

“A mermaid?” he said, eyebrows raised.

“Long story,” she answered, and went to her seat.





CHAPTER eleven


A DISCO BALL HAD EXPLODED into a billion tiny pieces that floated in the air. Or at least that’s what it looked like. The building that housed Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink was an old landmark that had been shuttered up every time Jane had passed it before, and she felt happy that it had become protected property before Loki had come to town. It was elaborate and grand—if run-down and generally in disrepair—but Jane loved it for its oldness, for its history. It had once been a famous restaurant. She’d seen pictures of it in its heyday.

Legs hesitated by the line to get in. “Is this okay?”

She said, “Better than okay.”

“Oh, good.”

Legs nodded happily, and Jane made a mental note to be careful about what she said. She was pretty sure she would fall head over heels for the roller rink—makeshift and dingy as it was—and she needed to be sure Legs didn’t think it was he who was making her swoon. More than anything she wanted to get inside so she could find Leo, so they could talk.

She had never seen a giant rollerskate before and was surprised by Legs’s grace, though not surprised he’d had to bring his own special-order skates. The motion of skating came back to her faster than she’d imagined it would, and she felt steady enough making lazy circles with him, but he was a better skater—faster—and he soon took off to take a few laps of his own. She slid off the rink and turned to watch the flow. Compared to Legs, all the other skaters looked like little people. Debbie was there, H.T. and some of his crew, Babette, Rita—and Marcus. She dearly hoped her brother didn’t know she was on a date with a giant. Even though she really wasn’t.

She still hadn’t seen Leo.

Legs swung by and waved her back out, and they were just settling into the rhythm of a new song when she saw him reach out to take her hand. Right then someone blew between them superfast—saying, “Watch out, slow-pokes”—and skated off. It was Venus, her dark dreads flying out behind her.

Two seconds later a laughing Leo whizzed between them. “Sorry, lovebirds.”

Jane’s face burned as she watched him chase after Venus with such confidence that she couldn’t believe he was on skates. Then he shouted, “You can run but you can’t hide!” when he lost his prey in the crowd. He turned and skated backwards for a minute, looking right at Jane. “We need to talk,” she almost said, but then she didn’t. Leo didn’t like “talk.”

“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” she said to Legs, and she broke off toward the edge of the rink. Right then, something tugged on her leg and Jane looked down. Babette said, “Is something going on between your brother and Rita?”

Jane looked over at her brother—too fast, too guiltily—and Babette said, “I feel sick,” and skated away. Jane skated over to Rita and said, “She knows.”

“Crap.” Rita looked at Marcus, who just shrugged.

Jane skated back to the edge of the rink and made her way to the girls’ bathroom, where she found Babette by the sink, wiping tears from her eyes. Black mascara lines dragged down her cheeks.

Rita came in behind Jane, and Babette said, “How could you?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Rita smacked her gum.

Babette said, “Spare me. You’re a backstabbing slut.”

Color drained from Rita’s face. “If that’s what you think, then screw you.”

She skated out of the room, leaving Jane with Babette.

Babette glared. “You should’ve told me.”

Jane said, “I don’t know anything.”

“I saw a hot-pink hair band in the bathroom at your house.”

Jane took a second to find the lie: “It’s mine.”

Babette skated toward the door. “I think your nose just got bigger.”





Leo was coming out of the boys’ restroom when Jane came out of the girls’. They rolled together down the hall toward the rink, where they stopped by the rails. He looked down at his hands on the rail in front of him, shook his head, then looked up. “So when were you going to tell me?” He only looked at her for a second before he looked away.

She looked over to try to read the expression on his face as a sort of landslide of nausea started to create a crater in her gut. A new song started then, and its bass line was way too loud.

“When there was something definite to tell.” Jane’s heart started thumping too fast, to the bass line.

When he turned back he had to shout above the music: “When was that going to be? When your father turned up at the Anchor with a wrecking ball?”

“Please don’t be like that.” She was watching H.T. circle the rink; he looked like he was dancing on skates. “I only just found out it was going to have any effect on the Anchor at all, and then you weren’t even in school for me to talk to.”

“What are you even doing here?” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“This is a benefit for Coney Islanders for Coney. And clearly, you are not one of those.”