Unfortunately for Miguel, he’d taken a sip of his drink, and he coughs it up so hard, he almost chokes. “That’s horrible.”

“I know, but anyway, you know you’re my one and only, boo. Even if you’re going behind my back with that skank.”

Miguel rolls his dark eyes. “I’m going to tell Malcolm you called him that.”

“Don’t you dare.” I love Miguel’s new boyfriend, but more than that, I love that Miguel has actually dipped back into dating again, even if he’s gotta keep it on the DL. Robbie’s blackmail bullshit destroyed his last relationship, and it took him being dead for a month for Miguel to work up the courage to use the phone number left for him by the cute boy who’d been hanging out around Miguel’s lifeguard stand all summer. Mal knows everything, from Robbie’s blackmail to our fauxmance, and he’s still sticking around, so as far as I’m concerned, he’s the perfect guy.

Honestly, bonus points if he truly is a little skanky. Miguel deserves it.

“Maybe someday we’ll go on a double date,” Miguel teases, and it’s my turn to roll my eyes.

“Yeah, right.” But now that he’s in a good mood, I can’t help shifting the conversation back to the question that’s been on my mind even more than the new QB’s arms. “You know I’m dying to be captain, right?”

“Literally everyone in a fifty-mile radius knows you’re dying to be captain, sweetheart.”

“Okay, well, I’m thinking that if I can be the one to bring the squad around to welcoming Jack into the fold, be the great harbinger of unity or whatever, that’s gotta make them see me as a leader, right? Especially if it means Atherton’s first winning season in forever?”

He sighs heavily, a sign that my last stab at this isn’t gonna go anywhere. “I guess, but the squad isn’t gonna get on board with her unless the team does, and I do not see that happening anytime soon. Doesn’t help that she wasn’t around for two-a-days or clinic or anything. People keep talking like Tim put in the work and then got shafted. Never mind that he’s been getting a shot to prove himself all summer, and he sucks.”

“They’re not seriously pretending they wish he was still QB, are they? I thought they were bordering on mutiny.”

“They were, and he basically begged to be put out of his misery, but they’ll pretend it’s about anything other than that she’s a girl who’s better than Robbie ever was,” he says sourly, his fingers doing that nervous flicking thing they do when Robbie comes up.