I fell in love with Bella and the Bulldogs and just had to write this little introspective experimental vignette!

Companion piece to Confessions: Bella Dawson

Rated K+ for Knee-Jerking Realizations!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Bella and the Bulldogs.

Winning the playoffs didn't really come as a surprise to Troy. They were the decided underdogs of their high school division the entire season, and everyone knew underdogs always won. They had been the team no one thought would make it far because of their female (and very girly) quarterback.

But here they were. About to go celebrate their first place victory at The Lone Starcade. With their unstoppable QB/wide receiver duo, Troy and Bella had cascaded their team into a rough, but satisfying victory, defied all odds with their ragtag, odd team, and proven to every Texas high school in their district that girls could play football.

No.

None of that came as a surprise to Troy. He had expected the win.

What he hadn't expected, was the sudden realization that he had helplessly, inexplicably fallen for his longtime partner and friend.

And if he really stopped to think deeply about it, it seemed like he had liked her for a long time. And he realized, for a long time he had been avoiding his feelings. Dismissing his sweaty palms and sometimes embarrassing tripping around her. Denying his staring and jealousy when she talked to other boys. He had chalked it up to puberty and his haywire hormones.

Because it was ridiculous. And completely illogical.

How in the world could The Troy like TinkerBella? Sassy, coquettish Bella who made a point at every practice to point out his flaws as a wide receiver and make sure the balls she threw always ended up wedged in his helmet (or worse and much lower…). They were "friends" sure, if one considered friends people who liked to mock and tease each other ruthlessly. But more than friends, they challenged and respected each other, always pushing each other to do better to form the best QB/WR duo all of Texas would ever see.

And it wasn't like he was oblivious to her looks. Bella was beautiful. Especially as she had grown. Anyone could tell that. With her vibrant green eyes, flowing hair, and burgeoning feminine curves (not that he was looking or anything…), it wasn't hard to see that she was attractive. It was just that Troy never really paid attention to that. Unlike many of their opponents, he knew that ogling Bella would distract focus from the game and cause errors. He'd made it a point to stop thinking of her as a girl while he was playing. Especially after one momentary loss of focus during a game left him on a stretcher holding his privates in pain when he missed the ball.

So he knew when junior high had come to an end and his mind started to be filled with thoughts of her and lingering images of her dazzling smile, he had developed a problem. And despite his best efforts to rein it in, all he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss her during their arguments. How much her smile would light up his day when they completed a successful pass. How when she would accidentally brush her fingers against his, his stomach would flip violently. How easily she could make him laugh with her goofy antics. How she knew just what to say to cheer him up when he was having bad days. How she always had his back.

He couldn't stop thinking about her.

If he were to be perfectly honest with himself… He had it bad.

The Bella bugs had bitten him, and there was no going back.

And the weirdest part was the fact that he didn't start out liking her. No. He couldn't stand her at first. Her arrogance and condescension. Her snark. The fact that she just uprooted him from his position as the star of the football team. The fact that she was a girl on the football team (he'd since outgrown his misogynistic view, though).

But as they grew and became tentative friends, Bella mellowed out. Where her hair flips used to irritate him to no end, he now caught himself trying not to inhale the fruit scented air as she walked by. Her once irritating voice was now sweet, sweet music to his ears. She was no longer a thorn in his side, but a rose he wanted to stay beside forever.

She hadn't even particularly done anything. But during their team's post victory antics in the locker room, he had just stopped and watched her jumping around excitedly, laughing unabashedly, and he understood the shift in his feelings. Especially after she had given him a joyful, lingering hug.

And it was there, standing in the now empty locker room, helmet in hand, dumbfounded look on his face that Troy Dixon finally admitted to himself that he had fallen for Bella Dawson. Hard.