Hey everyone,

Here's the first fan fiction I've ever written. I know it's far from being perfect. I'd really appreciate it if you could write a quick review. I hope you enjoy the first chapter and won't condemn the story too fast. Feel free to give me your critics; I'm really just a newbie at this.

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for taking time to read the beginning of my story.

P.S. English is not my mother tongue (French is), so if you find some obvious mistakes, please correct me.

Thanks and ENJOY! :D

Chapter 1:

Tim Riggins never thought things through before acting. On the contrary, most of the time, he would act based on his most natural instincts. He was never very self-conscious either. He acted like an animal most of the time, roughly and without even considering the consequences. Well at least that's how he explained his attitude towards Julie two hours earlier. That was the only explanation he could possibly find. Yes, he had definitely been an animal…a wild and self-centered one.

The whole thing had started five months earlier, as he found himself living with the Taylors. He would never have thought he'd actually feel comfortable in their home. He always saw them as the happy, perfect little family, like the ones you often see in the commercials for cereals. He would never have guessed that they actually had real problems. Once he discovered the human part of them, he started to feel at ease, like he fit with them. He liked spending time with coach a lot. The two of them would just sit together watching some game tapes and Tim would eventually star giving Eric advice about the tactics they should use, even though he knew the man did definitely not like being given advice by one of his players.

He even got to know Tami better. He now knew she was the center piece that made the Taylor family so special. Before seeing the admirable woman she actually was, Tim had thought of her as Eric Taylor's wife and nothing more. He had imagined her shallow even, speaking when she was authorized to and only to paraphrase her husband, like she had no opinion. Now that he got to see her on a daily basis, he saw the influence she actually had on people. She was smart and charismatic. She was also the only one he ever saw stand up to his coach and even win arguments against him. Eric Taylor would just lean his head down and accept that his wife was right. It was very entertaining to see those arguments between them, when the coach he respected so much would just give up, admit he was wrong and subordinate to Tami's opinion.

His stay in the Taylor family had been very benefic to Tim and he knew it. He had found himself astonished to realize that there were other things to do after school other than watch TV and drink beer. He had never thought himself the kind to spend evenings in "family", playing games until he discovered, with the Taylors, how nice it felt to do these cheesy little things. Spending time playing Monopoly or chess now definitely seemed underrated to him.

After a week with them, he got used to everyone's presence and personality except for Julie's. He could just not figure that girl out. He first thought she was too spoiled but soon realized that was definitely not the case. It was quite the contrary actually. Her parents gave her attention only when they had to. Tami explained to him that Julie was going through her adolescent crisis and all she wanted was to get all her anger out. That's why both her parents had decided to ignore her bad behavior and let her realize, by herself, how stupid she was acting.

When Tami told him that, Tim saw how hurt she was to be forced to keep away from her daughter; give her space. Because of it, Tim actually started to dislike the girl. He was mad at her, judging her without even knowing her properly. He couldn't help it: Julie Taylor had a wonderful family that cared about her and all she could do was be a spoiled little brat. Rather than getting rude with her, like he wanted to, every time Julie exasperated him with her attitude, he decided it was better to just ignore her. It was not hard since she never even cared to acknowledge his presence.

The only words they had shared the first week were enough to persuade her, if she wasn't already sure of that, to never speak to Tim again. They were all having a nice dinner on a Thursday evening as Tim found himself annoyed, like never before, by the arrogant superiority and impoliteness she was showing. It was as if she wasn't with them at all. She was ignoring their existence with such persistency that it resulted in a complete destruction of the quiet family reunion. Seeing Eric and Tami leave the table, preoccupied for their daughter, was enough to make him react. Alone in the kitchen, on table cleaning duty, he had thought of the options he disposed of to make her realize how immature she was. Obviously, he wasn't planning to use any of them but, just knowing he could, made him feel better.

Once Eric, Tami and little Gracie left to visit a friend of Tami's who'd just moved into town, Tim found himself alone in the living room, watching a game on TV. He was finally relaxed, forgetting all about Julie when he suddenly heard loud music come from her room. First, he decided to ignore it, like he did with everything that bothered him about Julie. Then, not resisting the desire to provoke her, without even realizing what he was doing, he headed towards her room. His face was all red, his thoughts a ticking bomb, ready to explode.

Without thinking it through, he entered her room, determined to win the fight. No longer able to control himself, he shouted as loud as he could, so that it was, for once, impossible for her to ignore him; "COULD YOU PLEASE TURN THE MUSIC OFF?!!!" As soon as he said those words, he regretted it. Before getting in, in his mind, he'd been prepared to win the invisible argument between them, ready to make her surrender; glad she would finally give him some attention. Instead what he found in the large, pink room, was Julie Taylor, head on her knees, crying like someone being tortured. The image of the blonde, childish, haughty girl was suddenly replaced by a fragile, confused and obviously scared person he had never seen before.

Just after the horrified face she'd shown as he entered her room without notice, she seemed embarrassed, drying her wet eyes, unwilling to meet his gaze. The fight he was so eager to win no longer had its importance. Tim was astonished, unusually uncomfortable, having no idea what to do. His confusion was quickly broken by Julie who stood up, turned the radio off and said, still without daring to look at him: "I'm sorry, won't happen again."

The second after, an even more shocked Tim left the room, closing the door behind him. I'm such a coward; he'd thought once he was outside. He could, at least, have apologized. Instead he'd just left, more preoccupied with his own comfort than with helping the obviously desperate and in serious need of comfort girl.

Two weeks after the incident, everything was back to "normal". No one ever mentioned what had happened that evening. One thing was sure; even though they would never admit it, one thing had changed; they could no longer dared to look at each other.

Even though he didn't feel he deserved it, the Taylors were now treating Tim like he was part of the family. Although it was temporary, no one acted like it, probably avoiding to make him feel uncomfortable, except for Julie who, he could understand, kept ignoring him. Things didn't have time to get weird between them, as she barely ever got out of her room. She spent her time locked inside the pink space, listening to music. Tim now knew there was a huge possibility every time he heard Radiohead or Coldplay come out of the room, Julie would be inside, crying. He couldn't help feeling curious about the reason for so many tears. Sometimes, he could swear he heard her cry at night, too. Since there wasn't anything he could actually do about it, he presumed it was just a phase. Like Julie's parents, he decided to wait for it to pass.

Another two weeks after, Tim noticed the change in Julie. She spent less time in her room, trying to stay with her family more. Even though she still only casually interacted with her parents, he could feel there was improvement in her mood. While they were watching Forrest Gump together, for instance, she even laughed, sincerely amused by what she was seeing.

Tim's living with the Taylor family had progressed too, into something more solid. He now had his own weekly routine. His typical day started with breakfast. Since none of them, especially not Tim, were early risers, they would just sit in silence, eating together. Then he would go to school, have practice and come back spend the evenings with the Taylors. Weekends, Tim would go out with the team or spend the night at Street's, drinking and flirting; his old habits didn't take long to come crawling back.

On Sundays, even though he hated it, he went to church. Both Eric and Tami appreciated his being so easy-going. They knew Tim was not used to that kind of education. They were also aware he was not the tough kid with bad reputation he pretended to be. They simply thought of him as a boy who needed guidance, like their Julie. Only with Tim it was easier to interact, probably because he wasn't their son. They could give him advice and feel he actually appreciated it. That was not something possible with their daughter.

Things started to get complicated for Tim after a month and a half with the Taylors. On a Friday afternoon, Tami came to sit by him, making his attention switch from TV to Mrs. Taylor as she started to explain. "Tim, I just wanted to say that I'm very proud of the way you've been dealing with all that happened to you lately. I know it's not easy for you to be here, with us."

She stopped as if she were checking to see whether he wanted to answer, contradict her or simply add something. Seeing that it wasn't the case (Tim was staring at her, unable to understand what could have made her start this conversation), she continued: "When you came, I guessed you would be angry at us for taking you in instead of letting you alone, until Billy comes back. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I'm really glad you're here with us."

Tim didn't know what to say. He wasn't the best at sharing feelings. "Thank you Mrs. Taylor, I'm happy to be here too." It was all he could say but; at least, it was the truth.

Tami looked at him, hesitating for a while, and then, finally spoke: "Tim, I know this is a lot to ask but do you think you could talk to Julie for me?"

Whoa. He definitely did not see that one coming! Even the idea of confronting Julie again could make him sweat in no time. "Talk to her? About what? No offence, but why do you think she'd actually listen to me?" He said, knowing what he was talking about. Why would she listen to him after what happened?

Tami chuckled: "Tim, Julie and you are so much alike. You could really benefit from one another"

Tim Riggins was startled. That was definitely an affirmation he did not expect. Mostly, he wanted to laugh, assuming, from what he'd seen, that it was completely wrong. There wasn't one single thing he could think of, that they had in common. "I hate to say this to you Mrs. Taylor, but I don't think Julie and I would get along very well."

"Yeah, you're probably right. " Mrs. Taylor said without actual belief in her words." But, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about..See Tim, Julie's had a hard time lately, she broke up with Matt and I feel she is a little depressed. It's been almost two months since she actually went out or dated or even smiled heart fully. I'm sure you've noticed how she's absent all the time… She even stopped seeing Tyra, which must feel like the end of the world to her. The two of them were inseparable and now they don't even speak!" Yes, now she was mentioning it, he remembered how he used to see Julie hanging out, laughing with Tyra almost every day.

Breaking his thoughts, Tami continued: "Yesterday, out of the blue, she asks me if she can go to a party tomorrow night. I know Julie's doing a little better, I've noticed it but this whole wanting to go out again is worrying me. Julie hardly ever does things without purpose. If she is going to that party, she has a reason to and I feel it's a bad one." She sighed. " I think she got herself into some sort of trouble and I would really, really appreciate if you could attend that party as well, just to check on her if something goes wrong."

Tim was ill at ease but at the same time, he felt relieved. He would not actually have to talk to Julie, like Tami said at the beginning. Without hesitating, feeling Mrs. Taylor's eyes waiting for him to answer, he just said with false lightness: "Sure, no problem!"

Tami was relieved. It was as if someone took something heavy off of her. It made her entire body relax, letting the blood run through it again. "Oh thank you so much Tim. I really appreciate it!"

"No problem, so where's the party at?"

"It's at this kid's house. You know the boy that was kicked out of the team last spring, the bold one with an earring"

"Jamie Andrews? She's planning to attend one of Jamie Andrews' parties? Oh..oh." Tim said playfully.

Tami was suddenly panic-stricken. Maybe this whole party thing was a lot worse than she actually thought. She should never have given her permission to go! Tim saw the look on her face and immediately felt the urgent need to stop the joke. "Just kidding Mrs. Taylor. Jamie throws a party every year and, every year, it's sort of lame."

Tammi sighed, relieved and throwing a half angry, half amused look at Tim.

"I don't think Julie will be in any kind of trouble except boredom but no problem, I'll go check on her. I was planning to go there with the team anyway." Tim reassured her.

"Thank you Tim, really!"

On Saturday, everything went back to normal, again. Tami didn't speak about the party, at all, even though Tim felt tension in the air all day long. Every time Julie made one of her short appearances, her parents would get all uncomfortable around her, as if they wanted to tell her something but wouldn't dare. Tim figured they acted that way because they were worried. It was hard for him to imagine someone worrying about a simple party but then again, the Taylors were one of a kind. Apparently, they were all stressed out about it. It was very amusing to see the contrast between a relaxed, almost absent Julie and the two over-agitated adults.

He definitely liked this atmosphere he found in the Taylor home. They were always overwhelmed, giving too much importance to every insignificant piece of happening but he didn't mind that. He thought that was what made them so unordinary.

Mostly, it was nice to see not everyone educated teens with beer and chicks, like Billy. When his brother left for a temporary job outside Dillon, Tim looked at his absence positively. He would miss him, for sure, but, at least, he'd get to live like a grown-up, doing whatever he wanted. At the time, he saw their time spent apart like a gift; he wouldn't have to explain a party at the house or bringing in some girl his brother had already been with. It is very ironical to see that things are never really as one plans them.

A thoughtful Tim was interrupted as Julie finally came out of her room, ready to get going. She was wearing slim blue jeans with a nice black top that accentuated the curves of her body really well. She let her long blond hair down which altogether looked very natural, even though she must have spent hours getting ready. She was wearing completely casual stuff but Tim couldn't get his eyes off of her. It was a different Julie he was seeing, one that seemed fun and happy. He found her very attractive even though he was trying very hard not to show it.

Eric and Tami did not see, in those few seconds, the looks traveling from Tim to Julie and backwards. They were gazing at each other with intensity, for the first time since the incident, none of them wanting to let go, when Julie finally looked away and said: "I'm ready to go. I'll be home by midnight." She wasn't even looking towards her parents as she spoke, too preoccupied by her appearance reflecting in the mirror. Suddenly, Tim was annoyed by her attitude again, forgetting the fragile girl he'd seen crying in her room. She was being rude again, almost arrogant, completely ignoring her worried parents.

"OK, sweetie, have fun!" was all Tami could say. She was apparently very nervous but tried to stay confident, knowing Tim would be there if anything happened.

Eric, on the other side, seemed rather exasperated as he said: "Could you please look over here!?" As a reaction to her father's request, Julie stopped staring at her own reflection and with narrowed, almost furious eyes, looked right at her father. "Julie hun, you know you looking at me like I never feed you ain't gonna change the fact I'm your father. You'll have to stop ignoring me sooner or later."

Julie continued focusing her intense, furious gaze on her father. If a look could hurt, Eric Taylor would most certainly have been wounded by this one. "Fine dad. What. Ever." She accentuated those words as if she knew it would irritate her father a little more.

Coach Taylor was a strong man; he could deal with his daughter. Well actually, it was more his being used to that little routine between them every time she went out that helped him stay calm and focused. In a way, she was like his football team, he had to coach her whether she wanted to or not. "Have a great time. Try to not hurt anyone. "Eric said, full of sarcasm, trying to get on her nerves as much as she did on his.

The result was not quite what he expected as Julie just turned around, as if she were disgusted, and got out in a second. In the end, the one hurting was Eric Taylor, who said with sadness to his loving wife: "You think she'll get over herself soon?" He really missed his old relationship with his daughter; it was starting to get way too heavy on his shoulders. He just bent over and sat down, like a kid who's just been yelled at.

Tami looked hurt too, as if her husband's feelings were directly transmitted to her. "Let's hope so." It was all she could promise since she knew nothing was ever easy with Julie.

Tim felt uncomfortable between the two mortified parents. If he could, he would have brought Julie back, just to make her see the result of her little mood swings…Instead, he excused himself and went to his room, to get ready for Jamie Andrews' party.