Authors Note: The first chapter is told through the eyes of a teacher. I repeat, a teacher. Just the first chapter. It's set mid-S1. The rest of the chapters won't be, but this is the prologue.

Prologue

He didn't know it, but he was the matchmaker.

His nose was stuffy. It felt like caterpillars were trying to find it's way up it. The inside of his throat felt like somebody had taken a razorblade and shaved off several layers of skin. He was constantly sneezing, and Texas had this way of making his allergies (which were non-existent back home) flare up at any moment. However, he had came here, to Texas, for love, and he'd suffer through the allergy seasons for love.

He was kind of a bitch today, and since Alice was pregnant at home, he didn't need to take that stress home. He'd get rid of it all here. New seating plan. No more Riggins at the back of the class being all chatty. Actually, he didn't know if he saw Riggins utter a single word, but people talked to him. Mostly girls. He decided to put Riggins at the front, and who to go next to? Who wouldn't talk to Riggins…? Saracen? No, they were football buddies or whatever. Stupid Americans and their cracked games. Julie Taylor would work out just fine.

Or so he thought.

He sneezed the next day when putting the new seating plan on the chalkboard, and because one sneeze is too lonely, the second one fallowed shortly after. He dropped the chalk when he brought his hands to his mouth so other people wouldn't be covered in his mucus.

Riggins arrived, not late, but exactly on time. He got in just as the bell rang. When he noticed there was a seating plan on the board and gave him a look that said, thank you. In that moment he really respected Timothy Riggins. As a teenager he was a wreck, all freckles and glasses, and though he didn't have the natural good looks that this guy had, or the girl problem, he felt like he really got Riggins.

Is it that all guys are the same?

Julie was already sitting in his seat, her pen in hand writing out the daily assignment, the thought for the day, where he put a quote on the board and they put their opinion. Miss Taylor had a habit of castigating everything that he whipped at her. She was his star pupil. Why did he put her with Riggins again?

Mandy came up to his desk, and as usual, wanted to talk about the Disney channel or whatever. She was such a weird kid, but she did make for a good story to tell his fiancé. "Hey Mr. Watts," Mandy smiled. It was obvious to everybody, with the exception of himself, of course, that Mandy had a unexplainable crush on him. Not that it was only him, it was pretty much all teachers.

"You should really be working on your assignment." he said after a couple minutes of Mandy telling him all about Amanda Bynes' new movie.

Mandy hesitated and then smiled. "Talk to you later?" she said it in a very hopeful voice.

She got back to her desk after about ten minutes which seemed like forever.

A couple days passed, and as he gave his ministry mandated lesson he randomly assigned a project. He saw the usual partnering… Clarke and Saracen… Mandy and surprise, surprise nobody… they were all usual except Riggins and Taylor had partnered up.

He heard a, "You wanna be my partner?" and then looked over and saw Julie reply with a blush and a, "Sure," and they got right on their assignment, something he hadn't seen done in a long time. He patted himself on the back for that one. He was making Riggins learn. He was man. He was god. He was Mr. Amazing Teacher.

His allergies started going away about six weeks, and his grade ten class was getting less and less involved with class, and more and more involved with football. The first football player to approach him was Riggins.

"So, you want an extra credit assignment?" he asked, looking at Riggins. He was leaning back in his chair and staring at the young football stud who was standing, without evidence of a backpack.

Riggins nodded and admitted, "I failed last year."

"I thought you had to pass to play."

"I had English on the off-season… so I was allowed to fail."

He nodded, "So, you're a junior."

"Yeah."

"And what does the new coach say about this?" It was obvious from his tone that (a) he didn't care much for football and (b) he didn't know the coach's name. He did, but that was irrelevant. And Football wasn't cool in Manchester, anyway. Well, football was, but the kind Manchester United played, not the sort the Dillon Panthers played.

"Listen, Mr. H, you're a nice guy," Riggins started, and really, he wasn't, but for some reason everybody in the US thought if you had a British accent you were trustworthy. He used to be normal, if he wanted to seem intelligent, he'd have to say something intelligent, and if he wanted somebody to trust him, he'd have to stop lying and stealing. But then a funny thing happened… he moved to Texas. He became "that British guy". Funnily enough, he was never called that back home.

"I know," Mr. H smiled, happy his image, his persona, was still believable. The persona of being pretentious yet happy-go-lucky. "Go on."

"I need to bring up my average."

Mr. H nodded. The truth was, the perky, good-looking new guidance teacher who almost every male teacher had a crush on, had sent him a memo about Riggins. This was one of the reasons for the new seating plan, though his allergies had been sort of a reason on their own. "Extra credit assignment?"

Riggins nodded.

"How about a test?"

There was a look of panic on Riggins' face. Mr. H had to admit that at times he was willing to be lenient and dishonour his beloved persona. "An essay." he said firmly. Riggins looked relieved, "In class," his face fell. Mr. H was well aware that Riggins hadn't written any of his own papers, and had deducted marks accordingly. However, he didn't want Riggins to flunk his extra credit project. That would be a waste of both their time. He decided it was time to throw a bone. "You can find a partner, if you wish."

There was a glow in his eye. He knows exactly who he was too chose.