“Oh, leave her alone,” says Cara, shooting me a look that’s somehow both sympathetic and a warning at the same time. “Ammo’s just full of team spirit.”

She’s trying to come to my defense, and usually I appreciate it, but this time around, it irks me. Of course, I can’t say or show that, so I just roll my eyes dramatically, complete with a little wrinkle of my nose. “No, you know what? I will do it. I want that Team Player trophy at the end-of-the-year banquet.” I toss my hair to give it some extra drama, and there’s more laughter. “But y’all are buying my breakfast if she sleeps naked.”

Everyone cracks up, and I happily join in. Amber, 1. Jack, 1. Everyone else … who cares?

My heart thuds in my chest as I stand outside Jack’s window that night, grateful she lives in a strip of single-story apartments, just like I do. Ordinarily I’d have another base with me, lifting me up, but tonight I’m the one member of the squad who’s on her own.

Just leave, my heart pounds out. Get out of this mess. No one will mind. Hell, they’ll thank you. And the fact that you’re wondering what she sleeps in is not good.

Unfortunately, I’m too stubborn and stupid to listen, and I’ve got the stepladder I brought with me. All I need to do is climb it and knock.

So, I do.

There’s a crashing sound and the flicker of a lamplight turning on in the window next to the one I knocked on, and then there’s Jack, low light highlighting her sharp cheekbones and the curves of her biceps bared by her tank top. I can see her lips mouthing “What the hell?” through the window before she throws it open. “Cheer Girl?”

“At your service!” I wave imaginary pom-poms. “I’m here to get you for Midnight Breakfast.”

She rubs her eyes and yawns. “What the hell is Midnight Breakfast? And stop knocking on my mom’s window. She sleeps like the dead, but if you do wake her, she’ll kill both of us.”

Oops. I scurry down the ladder and move it to the right window, then climb back up until we’re face-to-face. Behind her, there’s a pull-out couch messily covered in boring sheets, so I guess she sleeps in the living room. As far as I can tell, the walls are completely bare, and there isn’t much more to speak of, furniture-wise. It definitely does not look like a place a family has actually settled. “The varsity squad picks up the starting lineup the night before the first game and we all go to a diner to eat breakfast. At midnight. Hence the name. Didn’t anyone tell—You know what? Never mind.”