Chapter 35, enjoy!

Monday afternoon, the football players that didn't play basketball reported to the practice gym during their athletic hour, which also happens to be the last hour of the school day. During the off season, the boys typically alternate between lifting weights and goofing off in the gym playing dodgeball. Since the season had just ended, the coaches would be letting the boys play dodgeball for the week. Tim with his still sore shoulder took a seat on the bleachers as the others changed into their PE clothes. Coach McGill walked into the gym and spotted Tim in the bleachers.

"Riggins, Taylor wants you in his office," The coach instructed. Tim got up from his spot and made his way to the field house where Coach Taylor's office was. He knocked on the closed door and heard Coach Taylor shout for him to come in.

"Shut the door and have a seat," Coach Taylor instructed. Tim did as he was told, suddenly feeling like he was in some sort trouble, he was rarely ever called into Coach's office. Coach got up from his seat at his office chair and moved to the front of the desk where he leaned on his desk before Tim. "There is a scout from UT Austin coming in just a littlest bit. He insisted on this meeting, this isn't the way I wanted to do this, but here we are. I want you to know that this decision is up to you completely and I do not want you to let this recruiter get in your head and pressure you into committing to something you don't want. Are we on the same page?"

"Yes Coach," Tim answered. There was a knock on the door of his office, and again Coach Taylor shouted for them to come in.

"Your visitor is here," Coach McGill said as he opened the door. The recruiter entered the office and pulled the door shut behind him.

"Coach Taylor, good to see you again," He greeted with a handshake. "And Tim Riggins, nice to finally meet you. I am Kyle Childers from UT Austin," He greeted Tim with a handshake. "How is youd shoulder?" He asked as they each sat down.

"It's still a little sore," Tim responded.

"You played a great game on Saturday, I'm sorry it had to end the way it did," Kyle apologized.

"Coach Taylor may have already told you, but we would like you to play for us at UT Austin. I have all the information here," Kyle said pointing to the two binders in his hands. He passed one binder to Tim and the other to Coach Taylor. They each began looking at the binder which held all the information about the scholarship being offered and other details about the football aspects. "As you can see, we are offering a full ride scholarship, books, dorm, and education are all paid for, not a dime will be coming out of your pocket. On the next page there is a list of our majors, but you will probably opt for entering the NFL Draft instead of finishing college so that isn't really important. There on page 5 is our training schedule, it is a huge change from high school practicing schedules, but we believe that you will transition easily. And on the backside of that is the game schedule for next season." Jeeze this guy is acting like I've already committed. "You will also receive six season passes for your family and friends. Do you have any questions?" Tim was slow to answer, overwhelmed by the amount of information he had been fed in a short amount of time. But he knew waht he wanted. It was what he had wanted all along, and nothing this recruiter said or will say would change Tim's mind.

"Um no, I don't think so," Tim finally answered. Kyle pulled a paper and pen from his briefcase.

"Well then, if your ready I have the forms for you to sign," Kyle eagerly stated. "I'm excited to have you on our roster for next season."

"I'm sorry sir, I uh don't think this is right for me," Tim politely declined.

"This is a great offer your passing up. We are setting up to have a great team next year," Kyle tried to persuade. "Especially if you are playing fullback for us," He added.

"It is a great offer, but it's just not for me. I've uh just got some family stuff going on, and I need to be there for them, and that means more to me that football ever will," Tim confessed handing the binder back to Kyle. Coach Taylor internally smiled, he was proud of how mature the boy had become. Sure it wasn't under the best circumstances, but Tim and Julie had matured a lot over the past four or so months.

"Are you sure?" Kyle asked. "This is a great offer, and we are just about thirty minutes from here," Kyle added, hoping that if Tim knew how close the campus was to Dillon and his "family issues" it would change his mind.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tim confirmed.

"Well Tim, thank you for your time," Kyle thanked, gathering his stuff.

"Can I just say how proud I am of you," Coach Taylor said once Kyle had left. "Not because you turned it down, but because you didn't let him pressure you into signing."

"Thanks Coach," Tim responded.

"The bells about to ring, you can go on home," Coach Taylor instructed. Tim went home, and just a few minutes after he arrived Julie got home.

"Hey!" She greeted, shrugging her bag off her shoulders and onto the floor. "How'd you get home so early?"

"Your dad sent me home early, I had a meeting with a recruiter," Tim answered.

"Oh, well how'd that go?" Julie cautiously asked with a sudden worry that Tim had signed to a college and he would be moving away next year.

"I turned it down," He said, putting Julie's worries to ease. She knew Tim would always pick her and their daughter, but those recruiters can get pretty persuasive. "I'll always choose you two over football," Tim said wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, easing her earlier worries. "That night we found out you were pregnant, I told you I would be here for you no matter what and I plan to keep that promise."

Hope you enjoyed!