Audible gasps heard from every direction of the field, the home team dugout, the away team dugout, the stands, even from the umps. Laying at his feet are the tennis balls that were used to cork his bat*. His eyes darting the fans sitting in the stands, darting back and forth until they lock with the eyes of Spencer's father. A shake of the head and a disappointed sigh. That's the last time Spencer was able to look into the eyes of his dad. Laying in bed with the morning Texas sun piercing through the windows, that scene plays in Spencer's head over and over again. "Why?" he thought "Why can't I just forget."
After the morning routine of getting ready for school, Spencer, Colin, and Evelyn arrive at the front doors. The walk to Spencer's class was usual, a couple of stares from people wanting to check out the "new kid" but other than that everything was normal, that was until he entered the classroom. All the eyes in the classroom that were glued to their phones look up at Spencer in unison. An uneasy feeling gathers at the pit of Spencer's stomach, some sort of primal instinct is telling him to run. Not wanting to make a scene and not being able to find the courage to say anything Spencer shuffles his way to his desk.
Spencer feels a tap on his shoulder, it's the girl who sits to his right.
"This is you right?" She asks while holding out her phone.
Spencer takes a look and his heart sinks. There he is on the screen, looking down at tennis balls on his feet. He knew there was a video of the incident out there but he didn't think it would find him out here in the middle of Texas. The internet is truly scary. All the eyes are on Spencer waiting for him to talk. What can he say? He's not able to find the right words actually, he's not able to find any words. That look on his fathers face flashes in his mind. The panic starts to set in. He grabs his school bag and attempts to leave but she grabs his arm. Spencer looks back at her to see a shit eating grin on her face. She's enjoying this.
"Cheater." She says with that same awful smile.
Tears well up in Spencer's eyes, not out of sadness, or fear of what'll happen next, but frustration. He yanks his arm away from her and bolts to the door, he pushes Luke out of the way who was trying to enter the classroom.
"You alright?" He heard Luke say as he passed him.
Spencer finds an exit. With a hand on the door a sudden thought pops into Spencer's mind, "I'm just running away again." He lets out a deep sigh.
"I'm so tired of running." With that Spencer gave up, he gave up on running away. Spencer knew this wasn't a revelation, it wasn't him putting the incident behind him, it was him just not caring anymore. He turned back down the hallway toward his homeroom class.
With another deep breath he walks in. Everyone's eyes once again are on him. Some people are laughing, some are just observing, and some are looking with pity.
"For fucks sake." Spencer mumbles under his breath as he makes his way back to his seat. Luke looks at him puzzled while the girl who started all of this giggles. Spencer finds his seat and looks over to the girl. She looks back at him and laughs with a snort.
"You laugh like a pig." Spencer said annoyed.
Spencer looks to his left without seeing her reaction. He acted as disinterested as he could in her to assure that she didn't have a chance to say anything more.
"Dude." Luke said looking over at Spencer.
"What?"
"You're like, good."
Spencer shoots a confused face at Luke.
"You were on the 18u Under Armor team right? That's the uniform you're wearing in the video."
"Yeah.. I was." That's all in the past though, Spencer thought.
"What's so special about that?" The girl said who was obviously eavesdropping.
"It's one of the best travel baseball teams in the country! Most pro's in the MLB have played on that team!" Luke exclaims.
To say most pro's played on that team is an exaggeration, but it's true that the Under armor team is the first stepping stone most people take to get noticed by colleges and pro scouts.
"Oh? So the cry baby actually has some talent?"
"Danielle. Stop." Luke says sternly.
"Danielle, what a cute name wasted on someone so bitchy" Spencer thought.
Luke looked like he wanted to talk to Spencer more but the bell cut him off. With that Spencer was safe.
For the rest of day Spencer is bombarded with questions. Videos besides the cheating incident also spread. Highlight videos of Spencer, stat lines, and even a newspaper article talking about Spencer's skill as a young ball player make their rounds. Again, the internet is truly terrifying. The final bell of the day was a gift from god for Spencer. WIth his bag already packed and ready to go, Spencer heads for the classroom door. As soon as he walks out he sees a familiar face leaning against the lockers on the opposite side of the hallway.
"Yo, Spencer!" Luke says with a wave.
"What's up?"
"Can you throw me some soft toss*?"
Spencer wanted to say no, he really truly did but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Somewhere deep down, he knew that this was a chance, but he had no clue just how this chance was going to drastically change the life he had been living so far.
In baseball, a corked bat is a specially modified baseball bat that has been filled with cork or other lighter, less dense substances to make the bat lighter. A lighter bat gives a hitter a quicker swing and may improve the hitter's timing
(Soft Toss - What Is The Definition Of Soft Toss In Baseball? 1. This refers to when a coach or teammate sits off to the side of a batter and softly tosses a ball underhand in front of the batter, who then hits the ball off a fence or into a net.)