Miguel looks like he could throw up. “That puto! You know I’d never do that, right?”

I look down to the floor again, feeling as gross as the grime-encrusted grout. “Actually, I didn’t. I forgot all the good things about you and assumed the worst. And then like an idiot I tried to win him back, but I didn’t think about how you’d be hurt by that until it was too late. I am so sorry.”

“Whoa,” Miguel breathes.

“I know, Miguel, it’s so bad, but—”

He shakes his head. “No, man. Whoa, like, this is exactly the kind of storyline Má would look for in a telenovela. All triggered by one evil villain, who is clearly Dominic.” He smiles, and extends his hand. “Can we maybe be friends again? We both got caught up in his lies. I’m sorry he made me a part of hurting you.”

It’s weird how in one conversation, Miguel can seem like the guy I knew growing up. Our year difference doesn’t seem to matter anymore. I was such an idiot for thinking I couldn’t keep up when I finally joined him at Shoreline, and that whole time he wanted to keep up with me. I guess I’m not as innocent in all this as I thought, since I closed myself off and drifted away from him. It all makes me sad we didn’t get to make memories the past couple years together, but maybe we could pick up where we left off.

“Friends,” I say.

Miguel smiles, then: “So, what was making you get all aggro on your locker?”

I grunt. “Ross. Dominic’s not the only dick around, apparently. I caught Ross with another person.”

“Ouch.” Miguel sucks in a breath. “Back-to-back cheaters?”

I nod. “And they’ve been stalking me to try to explain. But I saw what I saw and there’s no taking that back.”

“Hang on a sec.” Miguel walks to the locker room door and peeks out. “Ross is still here.” He turns to me, holding the door open wide. I can see Ross sitting on the bleachers, twisting the hem of their faux leather jacket in worry. As the door squeaks, Ross looks up and meets my eye.

“Oh shit, Miguel. What are you doing?”

“Friend to friend, you need to talk with them. We got into this mess because Dominic lied to us both. But here you have somebody who wants to tell you the truth and try to explain? I wish I’d had that. Maybe weeks, maybe months, maybe years from now, you might regret not hearing them out. Just look what happened when we didn’t do that.”

“Wow, you don’t waste any time jumping headfirst into friend advice, do you?” I want to be happy that Miguel’s able to switch back into friend mode so quickly, but I’m too nervous thinking about what Ross might say.