Chapter 16

Monday morning saw Julie putting in a huge effort with her appearance. She wanted to attract the horny guys and delinquents. She wore a denim mini skirt that left most of her bronzed legs bare to the eye of all and sundry. She wore a strappy tank to draw attention to her bare, tanned arms and cleavage. If she'd learnt anything from her mom it was that the Taylor's cleavage was a priceless weapon of mass distraction.

As she strode into school she replayed the conversation she's had with her father on the way to school.

"Dad, I've uh a got uh a question for you?" she'd babbled.

"Sure honey, shoot away," he looked excited that she was speaking to him for the first time in two days.

"What did Tim actually say to you the other morning?" she asked assertively. She felt like jello on the inside but this was something she wasn't going to hear from Tim.

The Coach looked at her sideways through his squinting eyes "he asked if he could have my okay to see you, date you I guess". Julie sat there processing the information. Was there anything else? She looked at her father, turning on her pouting face that she knew melted his resistance. "Tim said that he had talked to you about going out sometime but that you'd agreed that my say-so was necessary." He spoke the last part through gritted teeth. Julie breathed a sigh of relief, her father believed her had curtailed any lip action between Julie and Tim, and he had thought he had cut the idea off at the knees. All the better to keep that one quiet, she thought.

"What is your actual problem with Tim?" she asked him seriously. His prejudice was currently ruining her life and the possibility of many hot and steamy romps in the future. Maybe that's what he sensed, father's intuition ruining the opportunity to get down and dirty with Tim?

"Julie we've been through this. He's one of those guys," the gritted teeth speech continued and his hands of the steering wheel curled tight.

"No Dad I want to set this straight. You invited him to live with us, so you obviously know for sure that I'm safe around him. You took his side in all those accidents against me your own daughter, so you like him a lot. You let him look after Gracie, so you trust him. You shook his hand at the end of the talk, so you respect him. What is there not to like? Your decision was completely contradictory to all your Tim-related actions. You would not have let any of your players stay with us and you know it, what made Tim different? Colour me confused if I am unsure as to why you won't let us date. All the obvious reasons why we should, you already know and you turned him down anyway." She had presented her arguments in a clear and calm manner. She has rehearsed the speech under her covers throughout the weekend knowing that he wouldn't change his mind. He was stubborn too. But she did know that it would give him food for thought., an inkling that he may have judged the boy wrong.

All those hours spent wrapped up in the sanctuary of her bed, Julie had had plenty of time to think. The situation would be resolved. There was a way for her to get what she wanted. Tim was just as stubborn as she was and having been turned down by the Coach. He would not approach her again, not if he didn;t have to. But she knew that although his will power could be strong, his need for her would be stronger. That was if it was as strong as her yearning was for him. She was counting on this pull. And perhaps her dad needed to see her other options in the Dillon dating pool. Maybe then he would give Tim the benefit of the doubt. Maybe then he would support her choice. That's what hurt considerably. That her dad hadn't trusted in Tim or in her. Despite all his support and care for Tim, her father had believed the hype rather than what he knew for sure. Worse, her father hadn't supported her choice, her judgement and her decisions. It was time to stop being passive.

Julie decided she would have to initiate a new plan. To smoke Tim out and to convince her father that Tim was not one of those guys. Fortunately there was a way to achieve both with one action. She would date ... someone who would be her dad's worst nightmare. Perhaps then Tim wouldn't look so bad in comparison. What she needed was one of those guys her dad referred to and linked Tim with. She needed an arrogant, loud mouthed, ass that'd treated her like crap in public. Sure this may be humiliating but she was willing to chance it. She would commit to the plan just long enough for the men in her life to get the point. If she were going to make a bad choice, she'd make sure it was an absolute winner. Maybe then Tim would give her the time of day. Hey negative interaction was better than being ignored. It was time to get her plan into motion.

Meanwhile the Coach was torturing Tim out on the field. The number of stair runs that number thirty –three needed to run was beyond insanity. Matt Saracen watched Tim and wondered what had happened in the Taylor house to infuriate the Coach to that degree.

Julie decided to slut-it-up. Not in actuality of course, she was a good girl after all, but some overt hip wiggling and leg crosses were useful tools. She had watched Tyra enough to see how it was done. She needed some bait and the best way to do that was to go to the places where the rats played. At lunch she sashayed her way past the back of the bleacher and the potheads. If there was anything her father hated more than his daughter dating a footballer again, it would be dating a leather jacket garbed, weed smelling, greasy haired boy who worshipped Marley. Her conservative father would swallow his tongue with just the thought. If Julie could do an evil laugh, this would be the moment to let it sound.

So used to not having girls around, the potheads did not note her presence for an exceptionally long time. Well it was that or they were so stoned that their eyes had nearly fused shut. Julie hadn't had any experience with this kind of thing and she realised, standing in the darkened area with musty smelling guys, that she really didn't want any. She shuffled off realising she wasn't that brave and that another option was necessary. They just stared after her, wondering if it really was Julie Taylor they had seen standing there.

Where could she go? Who would piss her father off beyond belief and set a fire cracker under Riggins' ass?

Author's Note – Okay you might have noticed (you might not have) that I am struggling a little at the moment. It's not coming as easy as I would like but I am trying! Any suggestions for the cretin that will help in Julie's task?