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Chapter Five: More than Gold

Two Weeks Later

Spencer took a deep breath before he approached the board with the starting lineup for the first game. The receiver room was crowded and GAU had done a great job scouting that year. Spencer had been told by his position coach that he had done everything to earn his spot on the field that weekend. The head coach was impressed with what he had seen from the Freshman who came to the team equipped with everything he promised on his signing day. Eyeing the list, Spencer arrived at his name listed under the wide receivers. Sighing with relief, he quietly walked out of the locker room.

Lately, he had a hard time getting excited about things. He didn't understand why and it kind of frightened him how muted he had felt recently. There were also days when the anger came in spurts and those days he shut down in order to keep himself from snapping on people. After the last conversation with Olivia, she had been avoiding him. No more texts. No more meetups at the statue in the middle of campus. All contact had stopped and if she saw him on campus, she went out of her way to not get near him. They were back to square zero.

"Spence," Jordan ran down his friend, almost out of breath once Spencer started to slow down to allow him to catch up.

"Damn, dude. You need to work on that endurance before you become QB1," Spencer joked, doing their signature handshake.

"Speaking of that, I'm thinking about changing my position. There's no way in hell I'm starting any time soon with Trevor at two. Once Harris is out of here, I don't think I got a shot if I'm being honest," Jordan admitted, his smile widening as Spencer stared at him in confusion. "You know how I used to play receiver sometimes back in middle school and freshman year before I started at QB?"

"Yeah, and then you decided QB was more like you and stuck to one. You really thinking about changing to catching the ball again? What's Coach Boone saying about that," Spencer questioned since Jordan hadn't told him anything about Coach Boone possibly being interested in having the player in the receivers' room. "We're already pretty stacked at receiver, bro. Where would you fit in?"

"Boone thinks I have enough skills to coach up more and potentially start next year. If I don't do something, I'm not seeing that field until my Junior year. I can't wait that long. I've been working out with coach after practice when I can," Jordan explained.

"And you didn't think to let your boy know? I could have been working with you," Spencer offered. Jordan was open about everything. There was no secrets when it came to the guy, so this was unlike him.

"I didn't know if it was a sure thing. Plus you haven't been the most approachable person lately either," Jordan explained to his best friend. "And I know it has something to do with my sister. I've noticed she's been avoiding you. What's going on now?"

"It's not like we've been spending every waking hour with each other. We just aren't that close anymore," he stated irritably.

Jordan nodded, shifting the bag on his shoulder. "I know things have been rough since she went to rehab but I would hope you two can fix things at some point. We've been best friends since diapers, dude. You can't throw away all those years of friendship. Plus, you love her. I know that much."

"We aren't the same people we were as kids. A lot has changed," Spencer added, not in the mood for more badgering from one of the Bakers. "I gotta get to class."

Jordan shook his head as his teammate walked in the opposite direction. He knew Spencer had struggled after the accident and none of them were the same after finding out about Olivia's addiction. They all felt some type of guilt for either ignoring the signs or flat out not noticing them fast enough. He even had his own guilt along with their older sister who was more estranged now than anyone.