Dan Chelford is the current reigning Cents skipper. He’s Black with a mullet do that rivals my own, though he recently shaved off his moustache, so we no longer match. Dan’s been captain since I started with the team, and he’s great at it. Hilarious, self-deprecating, beloved by all, and quick-witted. Not that Gadget isn’t all those things, but he has some big shoes to fill.
“But first, a massive congrats to Gadget and his husband . . .” Dan says, but Eggo leans over and whispers to me, so I miss the rest of his speech.
“You’re going to Oz? For the whole summer?” There’s a crease in his brow that’s making my heart ache.
“I don’t want to,” I whisper back. “But . . .”
Mum’s been nagging me to visit. My guilt levels at being a neglectful son are rising. My girlfriend dumped me. Eggo’s going to Cornwall to hang out with his kid for a few weeks.
I feel alone.
And I can’t talk to anyone about it. I guess Abs’ll be around at least. Last year he spent every single second with Orlando, but since the pair aren’t speaking any more, and from what he told me yesterday might never speak again, I imagine he’ll be free to hang out more often. But as much as I love Abs and his snarky commentary . . . he can be a bit of . . . a bummer.
“Don’t go,” Eggo says. It’s barely audible, and the sudden overloud thumping of my heart makes me question whether he’d said anything at all.
“What else am I gonna—”
“Seriously, though,” Dan says, his deep voice cutting through the stuffy classroom. “I need to apologise for getting so pissed. At least I wasn’t throwing up in the koi pond. Hey, Pi?”
Jesus, now we’re talking about how drunk I was on Saturday. I groan, pull my cap lower, and slink down in my chair. God, I’d forgotten about the koi pond. Those poor fish.
Everybody laughs. Eggo smacks the hat off my head and ruffles my hair.
“Right, so . . .” Dan says, and the change in his demeanour is like a light being switched on. He’s in rugby-business mode now and is about to announce what we all already know. That they’ve awarded the captaincy role to Gadget.
Abs glares at the back of Jones’s head. If looks could kill, Gadget would be phasered to death.
“Some of you may have heard a few rumours about the capt—” Dan says.
Snatch interrupts. “We wouldn’t have heard them if you weren’t shouting your fat mouth off!”
Dan has the decency to scrunch his face up and look apologetic. “Well, whatever you heard is wrong. I got it wrong, okay? I’m sorry.” He holds up his palms like a bad guy surrendering to the sheriff in an old Western. “You may have heard that I told Gadget he had the position of captain, but well . . . Gadget has . . . withdrawn himself from consideration.”
I’m sitting up now, suddenly a lot less hungover. Abs turns to me, mouth hanging open. He’s been desperate to prove himself and win the role over Gadget, and I’d humoured him and said,“Yeah, of course, mate. You’re a shoo-in.”He’s my best bro after all, but I never thought for one second he actually might get it. This throws everything into the air again.
“I’m not going to go into too many details,” Dan says, cutting through the quiet chatter that had broken out. “But just so you all know, Gadget will not be the next Cents captain, through his own choosing. But Eksteen and I have been chatting, and we have someone in mind who we’d like to test out over the next few weeks, and if it all goes well, we’ll announce it at the awards ceremony at the end of the month. So we were thinking . . .”
He pauses. The room goes deathly silent. My heart thrums against my chest. It’s a drumbeat. The boys are slapping their thighs.
Abs is like a block of marble beside me. His foot shoots out, knocking into mine, and Dan turns to him.
Holy crap, maybe they will choose Harry. Now I feel guilty for ever having doubted him. I’ll make it up, I guess.
“Aiden,” Dan says.
Not Harry. Holy fucking shit.
“We’d really like you to give the captaincy a shot.”
Not Abs. Me.Me!
“What do you say?”
I try to steady my breaths. In all of my wildest daydreams, this is something I never imagined would happen. A chance to leadmy team to glory. Me, Pi, the foreign nerd who talks funny and chunders all over his teammate’s ex-boyfriend’s country estate.
Is Dan even sure he meant to say my name? Maybe he was planning on saying Harry, but looked at me and the wrong name accidentally fell from his lips. And now that it’s out there he can’t take it back or he’ll look stupid.
Abs turns his phaser gaze on me. I think I’m melting. Oh, god, how did this happen? How did they even choose me?
