Astrid
Astrid is the first-person narrator and protagonist of this graphic novel. In the very first line of narration, she tells the reader that the story takes place when she was in fifth grade. The story begins on a rainy night when Astrid's mother takes her and Astrid's friend Nicole out for an evening of cultural enlightenment. Unexpectedly, this turns out to be her first encounter with the roller derby.
Astrid is immediately captivated by the ferocious energy and pageantry of the entire derby experience. As a result, she decides she wants to attend roller derby camp with Nicole. Things do not turn out exactly as she had hoped on that score, however.
While at roller derby camp, Astrid finds a new friend, Zoey, with whom she can bond over the sport. This friendship is destined for conflict, however, as both girls are training to become the team's jammer. Ultimately, Astrid learns the value of sacrificing personal desires for the greater good of the team goal while also learning that friendships are especially fragile things.
Nicole
At the beginning of the story, it is abundantly clear that Nicole and Astrid are inseparable. They are the closest of friends of the sort that you have in elementary school. Nicole has tagged along with Astrid on Astrid's mom's evening of cultural enlightenment when it meant going to the opera or a modern art exhibit. The roller derby is exotic and quite different, but Nicole's reaction is not quite the same as Astrid's.
Despite her pleadings, Astrid is unable to convince Nicole to attend roller derby camp with her. Instead, Nicole attends dance camp and this creates a severe severance in their friendship once Nicole begins hanging around with a girl named Rachel. Rachel takes great delight in bullying Astrid and manages to get inside Nicole's head and effectively turn her against Astrid.
Eventually, Astrid overhears Rachel telling Nicole to cut Astrid loose. Nicole does not reject this advice, which causes a scene between the three which leaves Astride humiliated. Although Nicole and Astrid eventually manage to heal the wounds which have erupted, their friendship seems unlikely to ever go back to how it had been.
Zoey
Most of the girls attending roller derby camp are a little older and more mature than Astrid. The primary exception is Zoey, with whom Astrid begins to bond as a result of the situation with Nicole. Zoey is a newbie at derby skating as well. Astrid can see she is having trouble, but has to admit that even Zoey is getting the hang of things better than her at first.
So close does Astrid start to become with Zoey that she even allows her new friend to dye her hair blue. Like Astrid, Zoey is fully into the idea of becoming a competitive skater and practices just as intensely. Eventually, this cooperative effort becomes a competition for the position of jammer. When Zoey is named jammer over Astrid, Astrid again erupts in angry frustration and makes a scene. Zoey refuses to talk to her afterward.
When the big match comes, Astrid has done much soul-searching and realizes she was not fair to Zoey. She makes amends and as an additional peace offering gets everyone else on the team to root for Zoey to help her overcome her performance anxiety. Zoey forgives Astrid and even sits with her after Astrid is injured sacrificing her body for so the team can win their match.
