Evie pinches her nose and leans forward. She breathes through her mouth. Voices blur together all around her, and she can't make out any words that are being said. Her skates feel heavy on her feet as she tries to push herself away from all the voices. Her legs feel like her step-sister's famous apple-less apple gelatin as they wobble so much that Evie starts to lose her balance but someone places an arm around her waist and helps keep her still and steady.

A voice finally comes through from the blur of so many of them. A voice with a sarcastic edge to it that belonged to a purple haired girl named Mal or Purple Dragon as everyone on the team called her. Mal's the jammer and official leader of the Auradon Dreamers, and she didn't believe that Evie had any place on the team.

"I told you, you wouldn't last Blueberry Princess." Mal quips, probably internally laughing at Evie's very sightly failure.

Blueberry Princess. The nickname Mal had given her. It wasn't an endearing name like the other nicknames her team members had. It was a mocking one, a reminder to Evie that she just didn't belong. That she wasn't tough enough to be a member of the Auradon Dreamers.

Evie pries Mal's hand off of her waist and manages to steady herself all on her own. "I can do this. Just give me a minute."

Evie moves towards the bench where the rest of their team sat. She takes a seat by one of the team's blockers, Lonnie or Warrior as she was known in the rink. Lonnie had taken Evie under her wing and taught her all about roller derby. Evie knows that she wouldn't have made the team without Lonnie's guidance.

Lonnie gives Evie a pat on the back and asks Evie if she wants to go to the hospital.

"It's just a nose bleed," Evie answers but her words come out like a bunch of puzzles mixed together. She shakes her head to emphasize she was fine but realizes that doing so was a mistake as her nose pulses in pain. She breathes through her mouth once again, her breaths heavier than earlier.

Gods, her nose could be broken...she's never had a broken nose before or a nose bleed caused by impact either. If it was broken wouldn't she need to see a doctor? No, if she sees a doctor it'll be telling Mal she's weak. That she is nothing but a spoiled princess that doesn't belong in the rink.

"You should still head to the hospital just in case." Lonnie pushes, concern in her voice.

Evie's nose pulses again and even though it would make her look weak to Mal she agrees to go to the hospital. Lonnie offers to go with Evie but the second jam is about to start, so Lonnie has to rescind the offer with a regretful frown. Evie says she understands and wishes Lonnie good luck.

Lonnie points to the cricket patch on the uniform she's wearing that Evie stitched on and designed to look just like Lonnie's mom's cricket, Cri-Kee. It had only been a week ago but Lonnie kept gushing about it and swore to Evie now that luck would always be with her. She repeats that same sentiment to Evie now and with a smile Lonnie skates over to where Mal and the other team members are huddling together. Whatever game plan Mal is planning Evie knows it'll go over much better than the one that caused the head referee to end the jam early.

Evie knows that they'll definitely win the second jam because it was all her fault that they even lost the first one. And if Mal had the time Evie's sure the purple haired girl would remind her of that. Evie heads off to the hospital and after a long wait, she finds out if her nose is broken or not. It's not, which for anyone else would bring them tons of relief but for Evie, it fills her with an embarrassment she's not sure will ever go away.

Mal was right about her. She couldn't even handle a simple nose bleed. The other girls on the team had gotten way more severe injuries than that and managed to keep coming back and doing their best. But Evie wasn't even sure if she could ever show her face back at the rink. Back in front of the Auradon Dreamers. Back in front of Mal.

Sadly, even if Evie tried really hard she couldn't possibly avoid one of those things. Evie heads back to her shared apartment, hoping her roommate is out even though it's really late now. Evie looks down at her uniform and spots some dried blood on it. She takes the uniform off and changes into pajamas, and then places her dirty uniform in her laundry basket. Part of her wonders if she should just throw it in the trash as she's convinced herself that she'll never gain the guts to ever wear it again. But she doesn't. She leaves it in the laundry basket and heads towards her bedroom.

She doesn't notice that her roommate's bedroom is slightly ajar until she hears her name being called from inside the room. Evie walks into her roommate's bedroom. Everything inside her roommate's bedroom is purple, even her hair. Evie couldn't judge as she personally had a strong preference for the color blue. She even dyed her dark hair the beautiful shade she preferred. A nice dark blue hue that matched every gorgeous blue outfit she wore and designed.

"Well, Evie should I be expecting your resignation from the team?" Her roommate and fellow teammate, Mal says in a gloating tone. Her nose wrinkling in delight.

Mal is sitting at her desk, her sketchbook is closed and her eyes are set on Evie. Evie tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling uncomfortable being under Mal's scrutinizing gaze.

"No," Evie answers shortly. Even though there was a part of her that still wondered if she should give up. If she should just let Mal think she's right about her. Evie tells that part of her to shut up because her mom didn't raise a quitter. She raised a conqueror. Well, a conqueror of prince's hearts but a conqueror regardless. "There will be no resignation now or in the future from me, Mal."

Mal's expression tightens at that answer. "There won't. Well, how disappointing." She then glances at Evie's nose with a raised brow, "I see your nose isn't broken."

Evie feels herself getting hot with embarrassment. She knew Mal wouldn't let that piece of information go. But she couldn't show that it embarrassed her. Couldn't show that anything Mal said could bite into her as one would bite into an apple.

"I had to make sure. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be safe." Evie's tone comes out defensive. She seemed unable to hide how Mal makes her feel.

"Well, your nose bleed cost us the first jam." Mal pauses."But we still managed to win."

Excitement bubbles inside of Evie, so much that she exclaims."We did! That's great!"

Evie felt so happy for her teammates but a thought niggles its way to the front of her mind. A thought whose voice eerily sounds like Mal. A thought that tells her she just brings the team down. Because she doesn't belong. Because she isn't strong enough or good enough to be on it.

Mal then announces to Evie that she's heading off to bed and Evie goes to leave but not before wishing Mal a good night. Mal doesn't reciprocate Evie's farewell, so Evie just shuts the door and leaves Mal to drift off to sleep and dream. Evie heads into her own bedroom and looks upon her reflection. There's still some dried blood on her face that didn't get wiped away by those sanitary wipes a nurse had offered her. Her blue hair is in disarray and strands of it are sticking up or clumped together with dried blood. Evie's mom would freak if she saw how Evie looked now.

Her mom valued beauty above all else. Because according to her, beauty could get you a rich husband. Could get you a prince charming who would take you away and let you live with him in a very expensive castle that should also have a built-in mother-in-law wing. Because mothers bless their daughters with beauty and daughters should always hold them above any and everyone else. Except, Evie didn't have all of her mom's beauty as her mom constantly reminded her. In fact, Evie seems to have so many shortcomings, that she sometimes wonders if she's even beautiful at all.

Then she looks at herself in one of the many mirrors hanging on her wall and sees that surely she's the fairest of them all. Well, except for now. She wasn't even in the fairest top twenty looking like this. She frowns but then stops herself because frowning causes wrinkles. Evie then grabs a bunch of skincare products that her mom sends her every month, so Evie's skin is in top shape for whenever she meets her prince charming. Because if Evie didn't look her best that meant no rich husband and that meant no mother-in-law wing for her mom. And her mom really wanted that mother-in-law wing.

Evie spends the next hour and a half doing her skin regimen. When she's done she looks as beautiful as a princess cursed to sleep for a thousand years. She admires the smoothness of her skin for a minute. And then grabs some of her skincare products and puts them back in her bedroom. She makes two more trips and then all of her skincare products are back where she took them from in the first place. Evie then grabs a moisturizing sleeping mask and slathers it all over her face. She then heads into her bed and tucks herself in. There she drifts off to sleep and dreams about designing uniforms for the Auradon Dreamers. Uniforms that Mal is so impressed with that she gives Evie an approving smile. And tells Evie that she was wrong about her and that Evie does have a place on the team. That Evie does belong.

A.N. I know nothing about roller derby, so I probably won't continue this until I do more research. But I had this idea about Isle Of The Lost era Evie and Mal vibe being in a roller derby au, so I wrote it. And there will be more characters who will make an appearance and I have so many ideas for this but I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks so much for reading! Hoping everyone's having a good day. Oh and an update for cursed and end of the summer is coming soon. So yay! Till next time!