**NOTE: Hi, I swear I didn't forget about this. My hard drive crashed again. And now all the files on my computer are gone. Woo-hoo. Anwayyy….Google docs has saved my butt, and we can now move on to chapter six. Side note, I totally haven't finished all the seasons of FNL because I am savoring it. I know when I do finish, I will fall into a pit of despair and go through severe withdrawals. Also, I really had to catch up on Walking Dead ;-). Me love some Rick Grimes. Okie dokie, enjoy!

Chapter 6

"Dear god, please tell me you have dry shampoo in that bathroom of yours." Hannah attempted to push up her roots in the back of her head, but found that a night of tossing and turning had permanently flattened her hair.

"Dry?" Julie asked, running her fingers through her wet mane.

"Oh, I forgot that some of us can just let their hair dry naturally and look like a million bucks."

"Shut up."

Hannah rubbed her tired eyes. "A paper bag will do just fine."

Julie rolled her eyes and retreated to her bathroom to brush her teeth. Hannah stood in front of the full-length mirror and examined her face. She'd been too lazy to wash off her makeup, and her eyeliner had traveled to her ears. Creases from the pillow now lined her cheeks, which only stood out more from the leftover foundation.

"Look out, boys," she mumbled.

Julie was eager to leave the house, but Mrs. Taylor had cooked eggs and sausage for the family, and Hannah wasn't about to pass that up. As she shoveled the hot eggs into her mouth, she could feel the Taylors' eyes on her. She slowed down her chewing and took a sip of orange juice.

"So, Hannah, when will we be seeing you again? It's been wonderful having you here. I'm glad Julie's made herself such a nice friend."

Julie snorted as she stabbed a sausage link with her fork. "As opposed to Tyra, Mom?"

Coach Taylor slurped his coffee. "Well, maybe just a little more wholesome, Julie."

"I had a great time, too," Hannah said. "Thank you both for having me."

"Julie tells us things may be a bit complicated on the homefront. Is that true?" Mrs. Taylor waited for Hannah to respond. Her eyes were warm and filled with concern. But they weren't expecting any particular kind of answer, which Hannah liked.

"Yeah, kind of," she said quietly.

"Well, you are more than welcome to stay any time, honey. Sometimes we all need little break to get us back on track." A warm smile followed, crinkling Mrs. Taylor's eyes.

The sincerity felt good, as if someone had put a warm blanket over Hannah's shoulders. It was amazing how much she could miss something that she never really had in the first place.

"I might take you up on that offer."

~9:00 A.M.~

"If I hear one more mention of that stupid game on Friday, I am going to jam a pencil in my eye."

"I'd actually pay to see that."

Hannah threw her pencil at Landry's head.

"Hey! You said your eye, not mine."

"Yeah, but I'm willing to bet a lot more people would pay to watch it happen to you."

Matt and Julie nodded their heads. They were gathered around the water fountain by Julie's locker, savoring the five minutes they had in between classes.

Someone down the hall shouted out, "Clear eyes," making Hannah grit her teeth.

"You can't really blame 'em," Matt mumbled. "I mean, it is a guaranteed win."

Landry stuffed a candy wrapper in Matt's bag. "Yeah, and the Tigers are just a bunch o' pansies, anyway."

Hannah looked down at her feet. The town's infatuation with the high school sport had only become more unbearable for her since the last conversation with her dad. She prayed they would win-not for their sake, and not even for her father's wallet. It was to keep Laurie around. If they won, and her dad made good on his promise to never bet again, this could work out. Hopefully.

"You're coming with me Friday night, right?" Julie asked.

Hannah shrugged and looked down the hall for an exit strategy. Instead she found Tim talking to a few members of the team. He looked over a boy's shoulder at her and smiled mischievously. For a moment he seemed as though he would walk over, so Hannah brought her focus back to the group of friends.

"Don't know yet. I may just stay home." For the possible fallout… she thought.

"There's a party afterward. We never go to those things. I was thinking the three of us-" The clearing of Landry's throat stopped Julie. "The four of us could go. Everyone will be there. Smash...Tim..."

"My two favorite people on the planet," Landry muttered.

Hannah narrowed her eyes at Julie. "We'll see."

~1:30 P.M.~

Hannah placed her water bottle under the spout of the fountain. She knew it would taste like toilet water, but the vending machines had eaten all her money. She waited, tapping her foot to the end of some pop song she caught on the radio.

It was times like these that she resented the quiet, alone time. It left too much time to think. In fact, she found herself craving another fascinating lecture on Meiosis in human anatomy.

When the bottle was full, she took a sip and then refilled it to the top once more. After screwing the lid, she turned around and jumped, a squeal escaping her. The bottle dropped to the floor.

"Jesus, you scared me." Hannah put a hand on her chest and felt her heart vibrate beneath her ribcage.

Tim grinned and bent down to grab the bottle. "Sorry."

"Yeah, you look real sorry."

Tim pressed his lips together to suppress the smile. "Well, you can't blame me. It was pretty funny."

Hannah snatched the bottle from him and fought the urge to stick out her tongue. She side-stepped to get around him. But he blocked her path.

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you about next Tuesday."

"Hannah turned to look at him and raised her eyebrow. "Well, well, we haven't even had one tutoring session and you're flaking already? What a surprise." She began to walk away from him, but he grabbed her elbow.

"No, I'm not flaking. I just wanted to know if maybe we could do it today. I have a test."

"There's no test in English this week, Tim." Her stomach released a tingling sensation as she spoke his name.

"No, it's a make-up. From before you started going here."

"And you're just taking it now?" He smiled sheepishly. "Well, what's it on?"

"Uh…'bout that…"

Hannah scoffed and shook her head. "You don't even know the name of the damn book? Unbelievable."

"It's Shakespeare. The one about the king and prince." Tim ran a hand through his hair and then rested it on the back of his neck. Even he could hear how pitiful that sounded.

"That narrows it down."

"Really?"

"Yeah, to like, ten plays."

"Oh."

"Let's see, there's Richard II, Henry IV-Part One, that is-and then there's Henry IV Part Two, Henry V, Richard the-"

"All right, all right, I get it." Tim chuckled and held up his hand. "I think it was a Henry. That sounds familiar. There's a fat guy in it. I think."

"Falstaff?"

Tim stared at her blankly. "Sure?"

Hannah rolled her eyes. Why did he have to be so goddamn adorable? Why couldn't he irritate her enough to let her walk away?

"Okay, Tim. I'll help you. After school."

"You mean after practice."

She sighed. "Uh-huh."

~5:30 P.M.~

I'm going to kill him, Hannah thought. Slowly and painfully.

He was late. Practice had ended a half hour earlier, and there was still no sign of Tim. She left the library and walked out to the parking lot. As she made her way closer to the gate, she stopped in her tracks. His truck was still there.

So, she turned around and headed for the locker rooms. And there he was, talking to one of the guys, his hair wet from the shower.

"Ah, there she is. Gotta go, man." Tim shook hands with the player and then shoved them into his jean pockets before walking toward her.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

Hannah gaped at him. "What took me so long? I was waiting at the library for you. Did you forget that?"

"Nope, I just wanted you to have to walk all the way out here so you could enjoy the view."

Hannah felt her face burn.

"Of the football field, that is." His smiled turned wicked. "It's a nice field."

As they walked back toward the library he started whistling. "It's Henry IV, by the way."

"Part One or Two?"

"I…"

"Hannah smiled and shook her head. "That's okay, we'll find out soon enough."

~6:30 P.M.~

"Would you stop doodling in your notebook, please."

Tim was resting his cheek on his hand, his elbow propped up on the table. He looked positively bored out of his mind. He placed a pencil between his nose and upper lip and tried to balance it.

"Are we done yet?"

"Not even close."

"But it's late and I'm hungry."

"What are you, four?"

Tim exhaled loudly-for effect-and leaned back in his chair. He put his hands behind his head, which only showed more of his biceps. The bastard.

"But we've been at it for like, three hours," he whined.

"Actually, it's been one. Well, more like forty-five minutes since you couldn't find the book in your backpack."

"One hour?" He looked legitimately surprised. "Oooohhh myyyyy goooood."

"Come on, this is like, the best history play of them all. Now stop being a baby or I won't help you anymore."

"Can't we just take a break?"

Hannah pinched the bridge of her nose. What a child. How could someone with man muscles be such a child? "We took a break when you left to get a soda. And go to the bathroom. Now focus." But he wouldn't. Instead, he just tilted his head back and covered his face with his hands.

"Tim?" she said timidly.

He had to look up at that. He peeked through his fingers and then lowered his head so it was level with hers. He raised an eyebrow.

"You do realize that I can decide your fate like that." She snapped her fingers. "I decide whether you play football, or whether you sit on the sidelines. All it takes is for me to leave, and you take this test all on your own. And since I don't give a shit about football, I really don't care if they play without you." Hannah rolled a piece of paper up into a ball and threw it at Tim's head. "So, suck it up."

Tim folded his arms over his chest, and a dark look crossed his face. He suddenly didn't look so smug. They glared at each other for a moment, before he eventually picked the book back up and flipped to the correct page with a little too much force. It ripped, causing both of them to jump slightly.

Now he was pouting, like a true four-year-old, and it took every bit of self-control not to laugh at him. It was too cute, the way his bottom lip jutted out, and his eyebrows knitted together.

"So," Hannah began, suppressing a smile and keeping her tone light, "what's the name of the 'fat guy' again?"

"Fallsworth."

She made the noise of a buzzer. "Try again."

He growled.

And so they continued, for the next sixty minutes.

~9:00 P.M.~

The sound of muffled yells through bedroom walls were never fun. The sound of feet stomping and doors slamming weren't fun either. But complete silence was the worst of all.

Henry and Laurie were sleeping in separate rooms that night. Hannah had cereal for dinner while her father poured himself a glass of scotch to go with his tuna sandwich. Laurie didn't eat at all.

It almost seemed silly, fighting over three hundred dollars. Sure, it was a lot, but it wasn't A LOT. Then again, things hadn't been going smoothly before all this either. The move had really shaken things up.

There was a knock at her door. Henry opened it a sliver, just enough to give Hannah some warning.

"Hey, monkey."

Hannah didn't say anything. She only looked up and him and nodded.

"Listen, that friend of yours, the one who let you stay over-what's her name again?"

"Julie Taylor."

"Right, right. Her parents are good people?"

"Her mom is the principal and her dad is the football coach."

"Coach Taylor?" Light bulb. "Of course. Listen, you think you could stay over there Thursday night? I want to do something special for Laurie. Maybe cook her dinner, talk things out. It'll just be better if we have some alone time. Think you could work that out?"

Hannah looked at her dad sympathetically. Hey, he was trying. "I'll see what I can do, Dad."

**NOTE: Okay, so this is the end of the chapter. Might be kinda short, but it just felt like the right place to end it. Another chapter will be up soon, I promise. Some big questions are forming, a lot of will they or won't they, for multiple characters. Starting to sound like a soap opera. But, it's my soap opera. Cheesiness and all. Toodaloo! (look, the cheesiness is already wearing off on me)