“Marginally, anyway. Since we got cleared of the charges for Granger’s murder, they’ve stopped trailing me.” She rolled her eyes.
“Hey!” Jeremy grinned. “That’s awesome. And how about the stuff with me?”
“They’ll come around to you, too,” Caitlin said in a soft voice.
At least, she hoped her moms would. But when she’d told them she was going out with Jeremy tonight, their fakey-fake smiles had dimmed a little.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She slipped a hand in to grab it and answered without looking at the number.
“Congrats, co-captain!” a familiar voice bellowed into her ear. It took Caitlin a moment to realize it was her soccer coach, Leah.
“Wait, what?” she said into the phone. She could feel Jeremy staring at her questioningly, so she smiled at him and mouthed Coach Leah.
“You and Ursula were elected co-captains!” Leah’s voice was permanently set to booming. “I tallied the votes from today’s practice, and you two were the clear winners!”
Caitlin blinked. “Really?” She couldn’t stop a wide, stupid grin from spreading across her face. She thought after everything, her chances would be shot. And despite the fact that Alex had been arrested, she’d still worried that the Granger association would be a mark against her. Not that anyone had made it clear they even knew about the Granger association, but still.
And yet . . . she was captain anyway. Her grin grew wider. Not even the fact that she had Ursula Winters as co-captain could bring her down. Caitlin and Ursula had known each other for years, playing on traveling soccer teams and bunking together at soccer camps, but they’d always been rivals instead of friends. It seemed like Ursula was always trying her hardest to contradict Caitlin. If Caitlin said something funny, Ursula refused to laugh. If Caitlin suggested the team wear matching headbands for spirit day, Ursula said that was a stupid idea and they should do rubber bracelets instead. Caitlin didn’t know what she’d done to make the girl hate her so much.
Her mind briefly flashed to the conversation they’d had in Ava’s bedroom—the one about the list they’d made in film studies, and how Ursula had been in that class, too. But she quickly whisked the thought away.
“That’s right!” Leah trilled. “Congratulations, Captain! I know you’ll do a great job.”
Before hanging up, Leah said a few more details about how she’d need to start leading drills and helping plan spirit activities. Caitlin hit the END button and pressed the phone between her palms. Then she took a deep breath and looked at Jeremy. “I’m captain!” she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him.
Jeremy was stiff for a moment. “Captain!” he said slowly. “Of . . . what, the soccer team?”
“Duh! Yeah!” Caitlin released him from her grip and hopped off the bench, dancing a jig in front of him.
Jeremy looked at her cockeyed. “So this is a good thing?”
“Of course it is!” Caitlin stopped, realizing something was wrong. “What is it? You seem . . . I don’t know. Pissed.”
Jeremy looked alarmed. “Of course not! I just . . . I thought you were conflicted about soccer. That’s all.”
Caitlin sat back down. “It doesn’t mean I want to stop playing.” She reached for his hand. “There’s a game in a few weeks where the captains walk onto the field with their Homecoming dates. Will you do that with me? Please?”
“Homecoming?” Jeremy tugged at his collar. “Oh, god. Dances are so not my thing.”
“Come on. It’ll be fun!” She gripped her phone, realizing she had a million people to call. Her moms, Vanessa the Viking, Josh . . .
Josh. Of course she couldn’t call Josh—not with Jeremy sitting right there. And probably not ever. It kind of sucked. Josh would appreciate the captain thing in absolutely the right way. He wouldn’t ask her if she still felt conflicted. He wouldn’t bring up how he hated Homecoming.
Jeremy put his hands around her waist and gave her a squeeze. “Okay, well if you’re happy, I’m happy.” Then he stood. “We should get going. Come on, I’ll drop you off.”
He led her toward the parking lot, and Caitlin trailed behind him, her happy feeling the teensiest bit dulled. It wasn’t that she missed Josh or anything. She certainly didn’t want him back. She just wished Jeremy’s reaction had been . . . different. More enthusiastic. More understanding, the way he was about everything else.
“So,” Jeremy said, squeezing her hand and bringing her mind back to the moment. “Let’s do something Saturday night.”
“Really?” Caitlin’s eyes lit up.
Jeremy nodded. “I’ll plan all the details. You just show up. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said, getting on the moped behind him and grinning stupidly. He was going to take her out to celebrate, wasn’t he? Maybe to that new BBQ place they wanted to try. Or that Asian fusion place with the spicy food Josh was afraid of.
Suddenly, Caitlin felt a rush of euphoria. Jeremy was reacting in the right way. She was silly to have ever doubted him.
CHAPTER NINE