A/N: This is my first FNL fan fiction. I've just recently started watching the show and I absolutely love it! Let me know what you think, but please no flames. 3
There are three things in Texas that we do very big: hair, parties, and football. I've grown up my entire life surrounded by all three of these. My daddy has been coaching since before I can remember and there's always been one thing that he's done very well: win. Daddy's taken six different high school teams to the state championships, something he's very proud of and won't hesitate to admit.
Now, daddy has decided that head coaching jobs are too much and is going to make us move (again) so that he can be an assistant coach. I've lived all over Texas and even in Nevada when I was younger. Being the only daughter a football-crazed coach has always been hard. My older brother, Jesse is a football legend and is being looked at to a fullback for the Dallas Cowboys, something that makes daddy practically jump up and down. My mom is the only person in the house who really understands me. While I love football, there is a point where it becomes too much. That's what mom is there for. She lets me have the breaks I need from the daily lives of Coach Jackson and his football world.
So here I am, sitting in the car on my way to Dillon, Texas, and a place known for its outstanding football. This is where daddy will be assisting Coach Taylor with his daily activities and anything he needs. Coach Taylor. He and daddy are probably the most famous men to ever coach in Texas. It's going to be an interesting school year.
"To the right a little, babe," I heard my mother say from the living room. She was 'supervising' my father and brother setting up all the furniture. "No, back to the left." I chuckled.
"Honey," Daddy said soothingly, almost like he was trying to make sure he didn't hurt mom's feelings. "I think the couch will look fine if we just live in here. It looks good no matter how many inches we move it to the left." He sounded slightly winded.
I walked out of my room and down the hall in time to see Jesse and daddy finally set down the couch. Daddy sat down on it and just breathed for a moment. MY brother clapped him on the shoulder. "Not as young as you used to be dad?"
Daddy just laughed and lifted himself off the couch. "You better watch yourself boy." I rolled my eyes and walked past them to go get more of my boxes out of the moving truck.
As I was lifting my last box out of the truck, I heard a throat clear behind me. When I turned I had to look down to meet the eyes of the young man in the wheelchair who had tried to get my attention.
"Hi," He said with a very sweet smile. I set down the box and got out of the trick to shake his hand.
"Hi there," His grip was firm and his arm muscles bulged just when he moved them.
He reached into his lap and pulled up a plastic container holding what looked like cookies. "My mom sent me over to welcome you to the neighborhood," He handed me the container and smiled again. "I'm Jason. We live right across the street from ya'll."
"Well it's nice to meet you Jason. I'm Belle." We stood there for a moment. "Thank you very much for the cookies. They look great." Jason opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by my brother, who came barreling out of the house towards the truck.
"Yo, sis, need some help?" He didn't notice Jason until he was almost right next to him. My brother did a man nod and reached down to take Jason's hand. "Hey man. What's up? I'm Jesse."
The two did some kind of manly handshake before Jason spoke. "Jason. It's nice to meet you. I was just telling your sister about how we live across the street. MY mom made me bring over some cookies to welcome ya'll." Jesse's eye immediately went to the container in my hands. He took it and opened it, tearing a cookie in half before speaking again.
"Thanks man. These are great." I rolled my eyes. Boys are such….boys.
"So," Jason said, breaking the silence and talking over the sound of my brother chomping on the cookies. "What did you guys move to Dillon for?"
I answered quickly, since I knew my brother was too busy stuffing his face. "Our dad is the new assistant coach at the high school."
Jason looked up at us and smiled brighter. "No way," Jesse and I exchanged a look. "I help out coach Taylor. I used to be QB1, but…" He trailed down and looked at his wheelchair. "The Lord had other plans."
Despite the sadness of his situation, Jason still had that sparkle in his eye. He had obviously somewhat accepted his injury and moved on as much as one can when they're paralyzed.
My thoughts were interrupted when a loud pick up truck pulled up in front of Jason's house. Out stepped a God in cowboy boots. His long dark blond hair reached his plaid covered shoulders. He looked over at us, noticing Jason and starting walking over.
"What's going on 6?" He asked once he reached our driveway. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses, but I could feel him scrutinizing Jesse and me.
Jason rolled over towards him and they did a manly handshake (something I still don't understand). "Not much Riggs. Just meeting the new assistant coach's kids." 'Riggs' attention snapped to us and he pulled his glasses away from his face, although it looked as if it pained him to do so.
Now that I could completely see his face, I could tell that 'Riggs' was quite hung over and had been so many times lately. What would drive someone to drink so much is completely beyond me.
"This is my buddy, Tim Riggins. He's one of the best fullbacks the Dillon panthers have ever seen." Jason introduced Tim, who simply nodded, his attention focused on my face. "Tim this is Jesse and his sister Belle. Coach Jackson's kids."
Jesse seemed slightly unnerved by Tim's study of me and stepped up to shake his hand. "I'm a fullback too. It'll be a pleasure working with you." Tim cringed as they shook hands and I had to smack Jesse's arm to get him to back away from his fellow teammate. I rolled my eyes and moved to pick up the box I had set down earlier.
"Do you need some help?" I was surprised to hear Tim ask. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to offer help without something in return. I just stared at him.
"Sure, man," My brother, offered. I looked down and away from Tim, attempting to hide the redness of my cheeks after staring at him. "We have to move the rest of the furniture into the living room and dining room if you don't mind the heavy lifting."
Tim shrugged, brushing off the idea of heavy lifting bothering him. "Nah, just show me where to put stuff," At that, my brother and I shared a chuckle.
"Good luck," I said, remembering the way my mother had dictated the moving of the couch. "It was nice meeting you both," I said, smiling at Jason and stealing a glance at Tim before making my way back inside.
"Yeah," Jason called after me. "See you at school on Monday."
I almost groaned. School was something I was not looking forward to.
MONDAY
"Come on Jesse," I whined from outside my brother's bedroom door. "I don't want to be late. It's already bad enough being the new kid."
My brother opened his door and walked past me towards the kitchen. "Ok, I'm ready. Don't get your panties in a bunch, brat." I picked up the other cereal bar and threw it at his head, but he caught it with his football player skills. "Nice throw, sis."
Pulling up to Dillon High School was a scary moment. There were so many people milling around in the parking lot. Some of them looked over at our truck as we parked. Jesse just got right out, but I sat and stared at the building in front of me.
"Sis, come on," Jesse's voice was low and laced with sympathy. He knew that absolutely hated new schools. Ever since…
"Belle!" Jesse's voice broke me out of my stupor and I finally opened the door to get out. I walked around and stood next to Jesse, who placed his arm around my shoulders. "Let's do this."
The halls of Dillon High were more crowded and loud then anywhere we'd ever been. Girls and boys were running around and trying to either get where there needed to be or find their friends before the bell rang.
"Dad said we need to find the guidance counselor," I almost had to yell over the noise in the hallway to talk to my brother. He nodded and kept moving us down the hallway. As we were walking, I noticed Jason situated by some lockers and tapped Jesse's arm to get him to notice. He steered us towards him.
"Hey, Jesse, Belle," He and Jesse did their same handshake and I just nodded at him. He glanced around the hallway, and then smiled at us. "Crazy, isn't it?"
Again, I just nodded and felt slightly embarrassed that for some reason, I just couldn't talk. "You're telling me, man," My brother commented, also looking around. "Can you tell us where the guidance counselor's office is? WE have to get our schedules." Jason nodded and told us to follow him. AS we made our way down the hall, I could see Tim ahead, making out with some blond girl against the lockers. I rolled my eye. I knew I had been right about Tim Riggins.
When we reached the guidance office, Jason left and told Jesse that he'd see him at practice. An older looking secretary led us into the office where a younger looking woman was seated.
"Alright, so you two are Jesse and Isabelle Jackson." She stood up shook both our hands. "I'm Mrs. Taylor. Now let's find ya'lls schedules and get you all situated." She typed on the computer and two pieces of paper started printing. "Alright, so here ya'll are. Now Coach Taylor is my husband and he'll be happy to meet you Jesse." She handed me my schedule. "Now, I have a daughter your age. Her name is Julie. I'm sure you'll have a few classes together so you should seek her out. She's very nice so she won't have a problem helping you with anything you need help with." I just nodded. "Alright, off to class."
When Jesse and I were out in the hallway, he looked down at both of our schedules. "Shit, my class is the opposite way from yours. You gonna be ok by yourself?"
"It's not a big deal, Jess. I've been alone by myself before. I can handle it." He nodded, but reached forward and kissed my forehead before walking down the hall. I turned down a different hallway and started looking for my first class. The bell had already rung, so there were few students lingering in the hallway. I continued down the hall, completely lost, looking like an idiot. As I was looking down at my schedule, I suddenly ran into what felt like a solid wall. I ended up sprawled on the floor, staring up at the giant in front of me.
"Well, I guess you've already fallen for me," Tim Riggins stood in front of me, smirking down at me. He still looked hung over, but the smirk brought a certain spark to his eye.
I glared up at him and attempted to pick up the few papers that had spilled when I had bumped into him. He leaned down and handed me the last few before he grabbed my hand and roughly pulled me up. I over corrected and landed in his arms, his hands wrapping around my elbows.
"You good there?" He drawled, smirking down at me yet again. I continued to glare at him and pulled my arms forcefully from his.
"Yeah, thanks," I moved around him and didn't stop walking until I finally reached my first class.
My four morning classes had not gone well. All of my teachers had made me stand up and introduce myself to the class, to my horror. Nobody cares about the new girl though, so they just sat through it, rolling their eyes at my embarrassed answers. However, I had met Coach and Mrs. Taylor's daughter Julie, who was very nice and offered to sit with me at lunch.
That's how I ended up in the crowded and very loud lunchroom, carrying my tray and following behind Julie as we made our way to a table. I could see a few guys sitting there and I was praying that one of them was Jesse.
"Matt, Landry," Julie said as she sat down. The boy she called Matt leaned over and pecked her on the lips quickly before smiling up at me. "This is my new friend Belle. She's the new assistant coach's daughter." Matt nodded at me and mumbled a 'hi'. His friend Landry stood up and reached out to take my tray from my hands and set it next to his on the table.
"Well, welcome to Dillon, Miss Belle. If there's anything you need at all, don't hesitate to find me," He was very loud and obnoxious but not in the footballer way that I was used to.
"Why thank you very much Mr. Landry," I smiled at him, playing along in the southern lady role that he had established. The four of us just sat talking, the boys about football, Julie and I about how often we had to listen to boys talk about football.
Suddenly, more trays were being set on the table and big, rowdy guys were sitting down, all exchanging some form of greeting with Matt.
"Alright, now who is this fine new addition to our group?" A young black guy asked, looking at me. Julie rolled her eyes, but introduced me anyways.
"Smash, this is Belle. Belle, this is Smash. He's on the football team too," Smash nodded cockily and stretched his arm over the back of my chair. I just looked at him arm, eyebrows raised, and then back up at him.
"Oh!" He raised his hands up in defense. "New girl's got spirit. I like that." He winked. I stared at Julie, silently asking if he was seriously just flirting with me. She nodded as if to say that he does that with every girl.
I nodded and turned to him. "Yeah," I leaned towards him, and he in turn leaned towards me. "I've got spirit…how bought you?" He tipped his head back and laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the entire lunchroom. I stared down at my tray, cheeks flaming. Smash couldn't leave it at that though.
"Yeah baby, I got spirit. I could show me my spirit right now," I turned even more red and looked at Julie to give me some help. She opened her mouth to tell Smash off, but never got the chance.
"Yo, Smash," Tim's voice rang out behind me. "I suggest you get the hell outta my seat." Smash just lazily looked at him before stretching out more in his chair, relaxing his arm once again over my seat.
"I'm comfortable, but thanks for asking man," Tim looked furious and set his tray down forcibly next to mine, making the table jump. Smash stood and faced him, their chests puffing out dangerously. No one was moving. The entire lunchroom was watching their exchange. I couldn't take it any more and stood, putting a hand on Tim's chest and Smash's arm.
"Seriously," I rolled my eyes at them. "What are you guys? Four?" I turned to Smash. "Just let him sit there, please." Smash glared past me at Tim before removing his tray from the table and walking to the end chair.
I looked back at Tim, who was watching me with a strange look on his face. Almost as if he couldn't figure me out. "Sit, please." I said quietly. The lunchroom was being to murmur again, most likely about me and how the 'new girl' broke up an almost fight between two football players.
The rest of the day didn't go any better. Thankfully, I had two more classes with Julie, one of which was also with Matt and Landry. I knew I would be having to stay after school for football practice and that just made the day move slower. Plus, everyone kept talking about how me, the 'new girl', had broken up a fight between two football players who absolutely hate each other's guts.
When 3:30 finally came, Julie and I made our way to the field and sat on the bleachers. The one thing that sucked about being a coach's daughter was the waiting around afterwards. Sitting there watching the cheerleaders practice and the guys practice (more like watch the cheerleaders) was torture for two girls who loved football but just didn't want to be around it all the time.
My brother fit in perfectly on the team. Although I could tell that he had heard about what had happened at lunch by the way that he tackled Smash and eyed Tim. There was no way that we weren't having a talk later.
"Saracen! What are you doing!" I looked up when I heard Coach Taylor yelling. Julie and I shared a look before returning our eyes to the football field. "Run the play, don't just stand there waiting!" I saw Matt nod shyly and wipe off his brow.
"Is your dad always so hard on him?" I questioned, looking over at her.
She nodded and sighed heavily. "Yeah. I mean he was hard on Matt before, but that was mostly because Matt took over literally right after Jason's injury. But now that we're dating, it's worse. Like ten times worse." I nodded and went back to watching the field. My brother was lining up with the other guys and I could tell they were getting ready to run whatever play Matt had just messed up on.
"Blue, 42, hut, hut!" Matt yelled. The guys slammed into each other as Matt caught the ball then immediately threw it to Smash, who caught it with ease, but didn't see Tim coming at him. Tim crashed hard into Smash. When the two came back up, Smash was taking off his helmet and getting into Tim's face.
"Don't think I won't take you down right here, right now, Riggs!" The rest of the team and the coaches were rushing over to the two of them, trying to stop the fight that was sure to happen. The cheerleaders had stopped practicing and were avidly watching what was going on.
Tim whipped his helmet off, pushing Smash away. "I'd like to see you try Williams." I shook my head as their teammates pulled the two apart. It was just like footballers to fight about everything.
"That's enough!" My daddy yelled. The fighting immediately stopped and the players all turned their attention to my dad and Coach Taylor.
Coach Taylor nodded at my dad and looked at the boys. "That was the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. I want to know exactly why you two are at each other's throats this time." Both Tim and Smash were silent. "Alright, fine. You boys get to run laps for the rest of practice. Have a fun hour."
Jesse turned to look at Tim and pat him on the shoulder. Tim just shrugged him off and walked over to the water cooler. He drank about four cups of water than angrily threw his helmet and cup on the ground. Smash was already running and the two were a whole football field apart. Something they both obviously needed to do.
An hour and fifteen minutes later, I was standing by the exit of the locker room waiting on Jesse. The door burst open and Tim came barreling out.
"Tim," I said quietly. He came to a sudden stop and just stood there, staring away from me and out onto the open field. "You ok?" He nodded sharply and then started walking again. Too fast for me to catch up. If he didn't want to talk, that was fine. I just hoped he realized that I wouldn't be so kind the next time he ignored me.
Jesse finally came out the door, hair wet from his shower and looking somewhat angry. "SO, you want to tell me what happened today?" He asked as we started walking towards the truck. I just shrugged and silently got in. "Don't avoid the subject Belle." He commanded, starting the truck and backing out. "I want to know why people were talking about you today. They said you broke up a fight. You seemed to have had a very productive first day, didn't you sis?" I glared at him.
"I don't know what happened ok? I'm just used to breaking up the fights so I did what I normally do." I shrugged again and stared out the window.
I heard Jesse sigh. "Whatever you say sis."
"So how was your first day, hon?" My mom asked as we sat at the dinner table. Jesse had already talked about his day (excluding the rumors he heard floating around school).
I looked up at my mother and smiled. "It was great." She and my father shared a look. I had never said that about a first day. It seemed to be a good surprise.
In my room, I laid on the bed listening to my iPod. It had been…an interesting day to say the least. One thing was for sure:
Life in Dillon, Texas was going to be very interesting.
Alright. That's the end of chapter one. I've already started working on chapter two so it should be up soon. Please let me know what you think. :)