Spaghetti & Paintballs

Say “change is good” to fifteen-year-old Finnegan Royal and you’re likely to get a few dozen paintballs fired in your direction. After leaving Atlanta with his dad a few weeks prior to the start of tenth grade, Finn finds himself having to start over with no friends, an unfamiliar small town and school, and most disconcerting of all... no paintball team.

Finn may have been a star paintball player in Atlanta, but in Blackwater, Florida (population 12,439) he’s just the new kid. He thinks he's caught a break by being invited to the local paintball field by a team of fellow students, but a prank has him arriving an hour early… and then he’s simply turned into a walking target for the other players. His school’s team isn’t welcoming him with open arms, and a game mistake further alienates him from a nearby town's team. The only glimmer of hope for Finn is some attention coming from Marisa, but even this young lady has him tongue-tied and tripping over every object in his path.

When Finn's not on the paintball field, he's finding work around town using the handyman skills taught to him by his mom, but even part-time work is causing trouble for the young man. And while Finn's dad is re-opening the town's only Italian restaurant and enjoying the repairs that Finn is making around the place, he's concerned that his son hasn't dealt with the loss of his mother to cancer two years earlier.

Life is definitely a bit overwhelming for Finnegan Royal, but things are looking up – the mysterious player named Ghost is showing him some attention on the playing field, Marisa has accepted Finn’s invite to study Chemistry while sharing a pizza, and the school's only paintball team is in need of some additional players for an upcoming tournament.

Finn is about to learn that while change is inevitable, sticking to his guns (or, in this case, his paintball markers) and remaining true to himself will get him through life’s toughest obstacles.