Chapter One
She wasn't here to make friends. She was here to complete her year as painlessly as possible so she could jet off to college and leave high school and everything that came with it behind. Those were the thoughts going through Emmy's head as she pulled her tan Jeep into the parking lot at Dillon High School. Usually the first day of school meant new beginnings and excitement, but Emmy felt neither. As she slammed her car door and stuck her keys into her backpack, she caught her reflection in the window. She could see her long, wavy, sandy brown hair sticking out from under the hood of her gray sweatshirt. Emmy had heard countless times how beautiful her hair was, but today she just wanted to hide. She frowned as she leaned over to brush a crumb from her bagel off of her jeans. Stuffing her iPod headphones into her ears, she sighed and headed for the entrance. The sooner this school year was over, the better.
Tired and possibly slightly hung-over, Tim Riggins rolled into the parking lot in his truck. He was about to park his car when a girl in a hooded gray sweatshirt stepped out in front of him. Tim was about to honk when the girl looked up. He didn't recognize her, but his attention was immediately captured. There was something about her eyes that Tim couldn't place his finger on. They were piercingly blue and they sent shivers through his body. After a few seconds of staring, Tim shook his head. Probably overdid it with the drinking last night, Tim thought as he snapped back to his car. The girl frowned and continued on her way as Tim parked his car, still in daze.
Yanking open the door to the school, Emmy was immediately met by noise. She turned up the volume on her iPod and reluctantly entered. She had received her class schedule in the mail and was trying to locate her locker when she was tapped on the shoulder. Whipping her head around, Emmy found herself facing a perky woman with long blonde hair. "Honey, we don't allow iPods or cell phones during school hours!" she said to Emmy. Emmy stared at her for a moment then slowly took the headphones out of her ears. "So sorry", Emmy began with the smallest hint of annoyance. After nearly being run over in the parking lot, Emmy was in no mood to deal with this person. "That's okay", the increasingly upbeat woman chimed. "You must be new! I don't recognize you". Emmy nodded. "Well I'm Mrs. Taylor, the guidance counselor, and if you have any questions or problems you just come and see me ya hear?" Emmy nodded again and turned away in the direction she thought she would find her locker. As soon as she was out of sight of Mrs. Taylor, Emmy stuffed her headphones back into her ears and cranked up the volume again. If everyone in Dillon was as perky as Mrs. Taylor, Emmy was going to have some serious problems. Rolling her eyes, she found her locker and began spinning the combination listed on her schedule. As she was on the last number, someone slammed into her and knocked her completely off balance. After gracefully avoiding a complete wipe-out, Emmy snapped her head to glare at the offender. Looking down at her was a huge and muscular guy grinning widely. "Watch it!" Emmy hissed. "Whoa! Calm down! The Smash was just tryin to welcome his new locker buddy!" "Locker buddy?!" Emmy answered incredulously. "Yeah!! You don't know how lucky you are! You must be new so you don't know alotta people around here, but there's not a person in this school who doesn't want their locker next to the Smash!!!" Emmy stared in disbelief. "Well, meet the first!" she retorted. Just then, a group of guys she assumed to be "The Smash's" friends walked by where she was standing. "Yo Smash!" one of them yelled. Emmy rolled her eyes and turned back to her locker. "Who's the hottie?" one of them said under their breath to Smash. Emmy tried to tune them out as she began cramming books into her locker. She wasn't exactly a stranger to this reaction. Everywhere she went she turned heads. No matter how hard she was trying to hide beneath a gray hoodie today, Emmy was gorgeous and athletic; a combination not many guys could seem to resist. Slamming her locker, Emmy started off toward what she hoped was her first class. "Don't worry baby! We'll get to know each other better later!" Smash called out after her. Headphones in ears, Emmy's music drowned out the sound of laughter behind her.
Tim Riggins shuffled through the doors of Dillon High School and groaned to himself. He was not in the mood today to deal with Tyra or Lyla or any of the drama that was hanging onto him from last year. Add after school football practice, and Tim was preparing himself for a pretty bad day. "Well hey there Tim how are you doin today?!" Tim turned to see Mrs. Taylor glancing up at him expectantly. Tim cleared his throat. "I'm fine Mrs. Taylor how are you?" He answered in the best gentleman voice he could muster. "You all excited for a new school year?" She beamed at him. "Oh yeah", Tim answered with a slight raise of his eyebrows. After saying goodbye to Mrs. Taylor, Tim made his way to class. Various football players high-fived him and a huge number of rally girls and non rally girls alike giggled and whispered in his presence as he made his way down the hallway. But Tim barely noticed all this as the bell rang and he slid in the door to his first class.
Emmy somehow found her way to her first class and took a seat in the back of the room. She glanced down at her schedule. Math. Good she thought. She was good at math and didn't need to pay attention. Making sure her hood was secure and her iPod was up loud, Emmy put her head down on her desk to sleep. Surely no one would care whether or not she paid attention. Wrong. What seemed like seconds later, Emmy was tapped on the should by a teacher who did not look too happy. "Would you like to put your head up and pay attention?" questioned the teacher. Emmy looked at all the kids staring at her, and then again at the teacher. "Not really, no", Emmy answered. Stifled laughter echoed around the classroom as the teacher straightened her back. "Well then," the teacher answered shortly. "I don't normally do this on the first day, but I'll make an exception for you." With this, the teacher, who Emmy now saw from her schedule was Ms. Colby, walked over to her desk and took out a slip of paper from the top drawer. She handed it to Emmy and said, "This is a detention slip. You may be new here, but that does not mean you don't follow the rules. You can report to my room after school for an hour and a half." Emmy took the slip without a word and shoved it into her backpack. "Now….", Ms. Colby began facing back to the class. "Calculus is a very exciting class…". Ms. Colby's voice trailed off as Emmy stared out the window thinking that she must have just set a record for fastest detention ever. Emmy's mind began to drift farther and she jumped when the bell rang dismissing the class. Rushing to get out the door before Ms. Colby could say anything else to her, Emmy gathered her things and stepped back into the madness that was Dillon High School.