“Funny how they were a whole lot friendlier when they thought Jack Walsh was a guy, decorating my locker and leaving me cookies like I was an actual member of the team. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Oh no. This girl is not baiting me. “Maybe I’m just as disappointed,” I say coolly.

She snorts. “Maybe you are. Somehow not one person in this school gives a shit that Sundstrom approached me, or are we all pretending we don’t know that because, oh right, he’ll get in deep shit if anyone calls him on recruiting? My stats make your last QB’s look like a joke. It’s the whole reason I’m here, and yet it doesn’t seem to count for a damn thing.”

Okay, number six might be a pain in my ass, but even so, I know it’d be cruel not to warn her to keep herself out of even hotter water. I pull up to a red light and turn to her. “Listen, I know being a badass is very important to you, but you can’t say stuff like that about Robbie,” I tell her. “It’s only going to make them hate you more. Robbie’s dead, so he’s a saint. He’s dead, so he’s the greatest they ever had. And the fact that you make him look like a joke is a very big part of the problem.”

She’s quiet for so long, I’d wonder if she even heard me if not for the cold look in her deep brown eyes and the defiant set of her jaw, bared by her omnipresent tight blond topknot. Then the light turns green, and I’m forced to look away and concentrate on the road again. Which also makes me feel freer to keep talking.

“I know you wanna prove yourself, and I’m not telling you to play any worse than your best. I just want you to get that if people are a little harsh right now, that’s why. They’ll chill out once the season starts and they’re getting wins they’ve never seen before.” At least I hope they will.

“If I were making him look like a joke but I were a guy, they’d be okay with it, though, right? It’s only embarrassing because I’m doing it in a sports bra.”

There’s no point in lying about that. She’s not stupid. “Correct.”

She sighs. “So what am I supposed to do, then?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “This kind of thing isn’t in the cheer manual. But I think doing team-bonding stuff like Midnight Breakfast is a good idea.”

“What if it isn’t?”

“Then … I don’t know. Pretend it went well even if it doesn’t. Be a leader, because it’s your job. Play like you came to play.”