Author's Note: Here is a new story I think I would like to try out. This first chapter starts how a little cheesy but it's a necessity for this story to get the plot formed. This chapter might move a little slow but believe me things will pick up! I had to get the basics in first. I hope you find it interesting.
Special Thanks: To Maryilee for telling me to go ahead with this idea. I was a bit leery about it! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters associated with Friday Night Lights. This is for entertainment purposes only!!
Spoilers: There's really not any at the moment. It's in the middle of Coach Taylor's first season.
Summary: Being a local celebrity is part of the job of a Texas high school football coach…even if you don't want it to be….
Working Class Hero Chapter One: Lucky Man
Introduction:
Being the head football coach of the Dillon Panthers is an honor. When you take on a duty such as this you are in charge and responsible for one of the greatest traditions in the history of the small town in West Texas.You were a working class hero..you weren't extremely famous but you were viewed as important. Every Friday night in the fall the lights cascade over the field and the leader of the team draws all of the attention of the town to that rectangular area for the next couple of hours.
When such attention is focused on people they tend to develop fans and the townsfolk begin to get interested in things other than football about the person leading their famed team. It's almost as if the coaching staff takes on the duty of a local celebrity and a lot of their privacy is gone no matter how much they try to avoid it. It can have its good points as well as the bad, mostly depending on how the team is doing that week.
Being a head coach means celebrity status, celebrity status means zero privacy and zero privacy can cause a snowball effect of emotions and events that might get out of hand….
Saturday mornings after a win were always so relaxing. After a victory coach never felt the need to hold practice early in the morning, if at all during the day.
He was never one for sleeping in too late but at least they could take their time actually getting out of bed. They usually woke up around the same time and just snuggled up close to each other, enjoying the peace and quiet. It was their time to be together away from anything and everything. Away from work, away from social events and most importantly away from people in town who seemed to always corner them to ask sports questions and pry into personal issues. It was always as if they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
Eric rolled over; facing his wife who had just woke up as well. He gave her a small smile, remembering the night before and how he and Tami had some nice "personal" time together when Julie was over at a friend's house.
She read his facial expression, smiling back at him. "Good mornin' Coach Taylor."
Kissing her gently he replied, "Good mornin' darlin'." She was so beautiful despite the fact that she had been asleep moments before. He wasn't sure how she could pull that off when he looked dead in the first moments of being awake.
"So what's the plans for today?" Tami shifted her weight under the covers, getting closer to her husband's body. It was evident that Julie was still asleep, the TV was not on in the living room and her loud music wasn't blaring in her room down the hall. On Saturdays she usually wasn't up until after 11:00 anyway.
"I hope nothing. I wanna be lazy for a change."
"For a change?" Tami let out a laugh as she pushed herself out of bed. "I need a shower."
Erick quickly sat up, pushing off the comforter and giving her a boyish smirk as he did.
"I need to follow you."
"Just what we need, another rainy day." Eric stared out of the screen door and into the street. The side gutters gushed with rainwater, but that's something the state of Texas was used to in the past few months from the out of the ordinary weather patterns they had been experiencing.
"Oh well, wasn't your plan to be lazy today anyway?" Tami stood beside him, her eyes taking note to the gray clouds passing over their neighborhood.
"You're right." He closed the main door, walking back to the kitchen. "Where's my daughter at?"
"Sleeping."
"I guess she'll miss my famous pancakes."
Tami tried her best not to laugh but let it slip. "Hon, I hate to tell you this but if it's not barbecue it's a lost cause for you." She never could understand how someone made the most phenomenal steaks and briskets but could screw up boiling water. Then again, it was one of the many quirks her husband had that made her heart melt.
"At least I have one thing I can cook, some of us can't say that about ourselves, can we?" He arched his eyebrow, playfully giving her a small push away from him.
Their childlike banter went on for most of the morning but it was their style of flirting and being with each other. Julie had finally got up from hibernation around 11:00 and they all three spent the afternoon together.
It was times like these that made Eric appreciate the small things in life. His daughter's laugh, his wife's sense of humor and most of all the chance to have that special time to share with them. He felt corny thinking like that at times but it didn't matter, he was truly blessed.
This was finally a weekend he got to do what he wanted to. It was too rainy to work outside so he didn't have to make an excuse as to why he didn't and the Panthers had an off week coming up so a Saturday practice really wasn't vital. It was a shame the weekend was only two days long though because it flew by.
Sunday they went to church in the morning and thankfully ducked away from as many people as they could. He felt stuck up when he did that but frankly he didn't want to mess with it at the moment.
Sometimes he felt trapped, like there were so many eyes on him that he didn't know whether to be polite and satisfy their curiosity about him or run with his tail tucked between his legs. He had to admit it though; there were times that he did enjoy the attention and the people crowding around. Back before he was a head coach he never got the feeling of people caring about his opinions, and now he finally had the spotlight, he just wasn't sure if he or his family were ready for it. They would have to be though because it was real life and happening at that very moment.
On school mornings Coach always tried to get to his office by 7:30. There were times that one of his athletes stopped by before class started just to sit and talk and he enjoyed giving them advice in any matter that he could help with. It also gave him a little time to drink his coffee and read the Dillon newspaper before the other coaches got there to begin business.
He leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed from the past two days. Why couldn't life be as laid back as that everyday? He grinned at that thought. Life wouldn't be life if that were the case. He needed a little stress to keep his mind going.
He stared down at a couple of pictures he had to the left, one of he and Tami and then Julie's school photograph from the year before when she was a freshman. He couldn't think about what he did right to have two wonderful people in his life but he must've done something to make the man upstairs smile.
There wasn't much going on in Dillon according to the newspaper. He honestly could say that he didn't care much for the press in general, but he had to read his paper everyday just to get a general idea even though about 85 of the articles were lies and false accusations. The coffee was a little strong, the secretary in the main office was never consistent with how it tasted but it didn't matter, if that was his only problem of the day he was set.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted when he heard footsteps down the hall. He looked up, seeing a man in his early 30's approach his desk, his arm extended for Eric to return his handshake. Eric didn't recognize him; maybe he was new in town and wanted to check out the program. That was nothing out of the ordinary, he was used to random people dropping by.
"Are you Coach Taylor?"
The man seemed a little nervous but Eric nodded, shaking his hand as he stood up.
"That's me, what can I do for you?"
The man smiled. "I'm Mike Billings. I just recently moved to Dillon a couple of weeks ago from Lubbock. I thought I'd come down and meet the men that's leading the football team here."
"Well thank you, I appreciate that. Feel free to have a seat." He sat down himself, trying to read this man's body language.
"So you are from Lubbock you say? Home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. They have a great pass offense up there."
Mike smirked as he looked at some of the pictures that Eric had on his walls.
"You got that right. Lubbock is a big football town, hence why I'm trying to get into it here too."
Eric folded his arms across his chest. All he could do was wonder why this man was so jittery and acting so nervous.
"Well what would you like to know about my team?"
"Right now I just wanted to come down and meet you. I've heard some good things about you." He stood up. "I see that they don't play this Friday."
"Yep, a much needed Friday off."
"It was nice meeting you, Coach. I can't wait to see you guys in action." With that comment he walked out, leaving Eric alone yet again.
He stared back at the empty chair. The man was nice to come in and show his support but it just seemed odd how he had been acting. Some people were that way though, they just didn't have the social skills that other people could carry with them.
He brushed it off and began focusing on the day before him. It was now 7:50 and McGill and the others would be arriving any minute.
Afternoon practice started at 3:30 with weights in the field house until around 4:15. Eric observed his boys through the window in his office as well as McGill and a few others on his staff.
"How's Riggin's grades looking?" Eric glanced over at Coach Davis who had been keeping an eye on a few of the players studies that were right on the borderline of failing.
"He's sitting at a GPA of about 74 right now. From what I understand he's being tutored by Landry Clark."
"Let's get them out on the field."
All of his players stood in a line in front of him as he gave his usual speech before their first round of conditioning began. He held a rolled up manila folder in his hand as he began to pace back and forth in front of them.
"Gentlemen, do you know what I have in my hand here?"
He paused for a moment, letting the question sink in as well as allowing their curiosity to peak.
"This is a folder with every one of your report cards in it. And every one of you knows where you stand about your eligibility to play on this football team."
He opened the folder, sifting through the stack of papers in his grasp.
"I'm not going to name any names for your privacy, but as I said, you know how you are doing. We will know if you let your grades slip, and if they fall under a 70, I don't care if it's a 69.9, you will not be on this team until you get them passing again. Understood?"
"Yes sir." The team uttered a weak response.
"What was that gentlemen?"
"YES SIR!"
"Okay, line up for your wind sprints!"
He watched on as they warmed up for their practice. He always took note to spectators in the stands that always dropped by to watch. Buddy Garrity was of course there as always, standing on the track along the sidelines rather than sitting where everyone else normally did. He wasn't sure about Buddy. He claimed he was there just to watch because he enjoyed it but Eric knew there was more to it. It was almost as if he was spying to inform the rest of the people in Dillon about how the team was looking but it was a free country and Coach couldn't do much about it.
He averted his eyes to the first row in the bleacher seats. It was Mike Billings. He tried to not make it obvious that he had noticed him but he gave a small wave and a nod, trying to cover up his suspicion.
'You are being paranoid.' He thought to himself. He turned back towards the field, blowing his whistle, informing the players to stop running.
"First string offense and defense, line up on the 20 yard line. Saracen, pick a play and let's do it!"
Even though it was a good day, Coach was happy to get home. He walked through the door at 6:15, practice had ran over a little longer than he wanted but sometimes that couldn't be helped. Tami was finishing up dinner and Julie was on the couch, reading her latest library book.
"Hey babe, what's for supper?"
She held a wooden spoon up, her hand underneath it to prevent any sauce from dripping on the floor.
"Spaghetti. Try this new sauce, it's delicious."
"It's very good." He paused, taking his hat off as he ran his hands through his disheveled hair. "So I met this new guy in town today."
"Yeah?"
"He stopped by my office this morning. Mike Billings. Does the name ring a bell to you?"
She turned back to the stove, stirring the noodles as she thought about the name.
"I can't say that I have, why? What gives?"
He shrugged. "He was just odd. I guess that's living in a small town though, you think everyone is weird until you get used to them."
He sat down at the table, hoping what he said was true. He was probably reading way much into the situation. Right now he was with his family and he'd have to put his work on the back burner until the next morning…Mike Billings was just a new Dillon Panther football fan…
TBC….Let me know what you think!