1 Welcome To Sweetwater

An audible gasp followed by a shower of whispers hits the field. Everyone shocked, everyone except Spencer, He was terrified. "I really fucked up." That was the only line running through 17 year old Spencer Jackson's head as the whole crowd stared down at him. By his feet are fluffy green tennis balls, and the metal baseball bat they were inside of. At one of the biggest Florida travel baseball tournaments of the year, Spencer Jackson got caught with a corked bat.

Spencer, spent the rest of the summer inside. Just like his tan, a smile that was once prominent on the field has faded. He was running away. Running away from his team, his teammates, and even his town but he was running away from the question he feared to answer most, "Why?" Of course everyone wanted to know why Spencer cheated but he couldn't find it in himself to tell anyone. Not his teammates, not his mother, and most certainly not his father.

Spencer was moving in with his uncle and two cousins in the heart of Texas. A smaller town called Sweetwater. A town that was unified under one single passion, high school football. While enjoying the sport Spencer had no desire to play. His heart belonged on the baseball field, or at least that's what he used to think.

Spencer arrived at the Abilene Airport early in the day. He was able to travel light seeing as he shipped most of his belongings throughout the week. Just like that, Spencer left his old life behind and even changed his phone number. He'll surely miss the people he was close with. Spencer looks at this situation as atonement. Atonement for betraying the game he loved most.

Without having to wait too long a new black 4 door sedan pulls up to the loop. After a small honk the passenger side window rolls down. In the car was his Uncle Brent. His dad's older brother. Brent is in his early 50's but if he told you he was 30 you'd probably believe him.

"Hey stranger! Long time no see!" well, it's been seven years. The driver yells loud enough for everyone in the pickup loop to stop and stare. Yep, that's Brent alright. Spencer grabs his book bag and heads towards the car. He reaches out and puts his hand on the passenger side handle. This handle cements the decision he made, the choice to run away. "How could doing something so cowardly feel so good?" Spencer thought. While holding the car handle a brief wave of relief splashed over Spencer. With this he can finally try to start anew.

The beginning of the ride was filled with various small talk like "How have you been?", and "You've gotten so big." It was about halfway through the 45 minute ride that the small talk stopped. Brent turned to Spencer while still being mindful of the road. Spencer tensed up, he didn't want Brent to ask the exact question he ran away from. He couldn't just ignore or lie to his uncle like he did the others but instead of "Why" the words that left Brents mouth were "Are you okay?"

Looking down at his lap, Spencer felt his fists tightening. "Am i okay?" He thought. "My problems might be small compared to others but they are still my problems. I'm 17 years old, I should be allowed to be sad. I should be allowed to have these problems, but thinking about talking about them makes it all seem so silly." Swallowing his thoughts Spencer let out a simple reply. A quick and quiet "Yeah, I'm okay."

Once arriving at the small Texas town of Sweetwater, Spencer immediately compared it to the busy city streets of tampa. Everything here is so quiet, It didn't come off as peaceful… just quiet. It was disturbing to see the amount of houses abandoned by time. Left there to wither away. The black Sedan pulls up to a decent size white house. The sun faded green shutters almost match the same color as the white siding. The grass on the lawn dried out, the bushes that accompany the sidewalk to the house are drooping away, This house is nothing like the Florida condo where Spencer used to stay but for some reason, this place felt like a home. A warm atmosphere radiates from this place.

"It's not much. But if you ask me it's just enough" Brent chimed in with a smile. As they walk to the door, the door handle jiggles before swinging wide open. Standing there is a girl, about 4'8 in stature. Her curly brown hair flowing over her shoulders. With a face that looks just like her moms there is no doubt that is Spencer's cousin, Evelyn who turned 13 last month. She rushes off the porch and gives her dad a hug, all while eyeing Spencer up and down like he's the competition.

"Hi Evelyn. I'm sure you don't remember me but I'm your cousin Spencer."

"I know, I saw pictures of you."

"Where?" Spencer asked. He wasn't a fan of pictures and he strongly rejected social media. No twitter, no instagram, no snapchat, and no facebook. Spencer never liked creating connections this way. Just a simple phone call or text was good enough for him.

"Ahh your mom would send pictures from your games." Brent chimed in. The word mom rings through Spencer's ears, out of everyone and everything he would miss back home, it would be her that he missed the most.

After the round of hello's Spencer's attention is brought back to the door. Standing at the door is Spencer's other cousin Colin with a cut off t-shirt on his back and a football in his hand. This was not the same chubby kid that Spencer used to play with back in the day. Colin and Spencer were only born a few weeks apart so they both are going into their junior year of high school. 6'4 in height with a toned body to go with it. "It's almost as if he was born to play highschool football." He thought.

"Sup dude." Colin says with a head nod.

"Hey." Spencer says with another short reply.

Spencer feels a hand on his shoulder. It's Brent.

"Well Spence, welcome to Sweetwater."