JD parked his car in front of the Taylors house and sat there for a moment, listening to the engine tick, then got out and walked across the lawn and rang the doorbell. He heard barking and yipping, then the door opened a bit and he saw Julie's face.

"Hey."

"Hey." There was a frantic squealing sound and skittering of feet, then a thump against the door. "Jordan, calm down. Umm, I guess I should have told you."

"What, that you have a potbellied pig?"

Julie laughed. "No, not a pig, but one of his nicknames is 'Sir Squeals A Lot.' We have two dogs and they spazz out sometimes when people come over. I'm gonna open the door and you can come in, they jump up when they're excited, but they aren't going to bite you." She opened the door and JD stepped inside and immediately had two dogs whimpering and squealing and frantically wagging their tails and jumping and trying to lick his face or hands. "C'mon, they'll calm down in a couple of minutes." Julie walked towards the dining room table.

"Julie."

"Yeah."

"Are you sure your parents are okay with me coming over?"

"It'll be fine."

"Have you even told them that you're working with me on a school project or that I'd be coming over?"

Julie sighed. "It'll be fine. It's not like they're gonna kick you out. Just sit down and let's see how much of this we can get done."

For the next hour JD and Julie sat working at the dining room table, gradually spreading out papers and books and pens and JD's laptop with two breaks to let Payton and Jordan out and give them both cookies as a 'reward' for Payton's stealing JD's phone and trotting off with it in her mouth, tail wagging furiously.

"Why do you give both of them, y'know," JD tossed his head toward the cookie jar which was labeled Payton & Jordan's Treats in Dillon High blue and gold. "Why give either of them a treat?"

"Oh, that's one of Payton's quirks, she's not doing it to be mean, she doesn't rip whatever she takes apart or anything, worst that happens is she drools on it for a bit. And she's learned she gets a treat if she drops it, but if she gets a treat then so does Jordan. You can't show favoritism to dogs, it can really mess up the chain of command of the pack."

"Yeah, I've heard about that with wolves, they have like the alpha male who goes around asserting his authority all the time, and the other wolves submit to him by lying on their backs or something."

"Yeah, and they'll expose their throat to him. It's symbolic, and ritualistic, but it's not. Same thing goes with dogs."

"So which do you like better, Payton or Jordan?"

"What? I don't-"

"C'mon, Julie, you have to have a favorite."

She scowled at him for a few seconds, then sighed and rolled her eyes. "Payton, I guess. We didn't have any pets for a long time, 'cause we were always moving every year or so, then we settled here in Dillon. When I was twelve we went to the Fair and there was a dog show with Wheatens and I fell in love with them. My dad was all, 'We are not getting a dog', but after a few months he came around and we got Payton. We haven't really had to worry about people papering our house or putting FOR SALE signs all over the front yard since we've had them. They start barking and pawing at the front door. My dad's even let them out a couple of times and they even cornered one guy, who turned out to be on the team."

"No way."

"Well, he wasn't on the team after that. My dad kicked him off in front of the rest of the team the next day."

"So he throws a guy off the team for papering his house but Tim Riggins gets to stay on the team even though he shows up drunk to practices and games, and skips practice a lot. Yeah, that's fair."

"Hey, I didn't say I agreed with it. But it hasn't just been papering and signs in the yard. We've had bricks thrown through windows and…other stuff. All over a high school football game."

"So you don't like football?"

"I….I guess I've learned to tolerate it. I mean, I'd go to the games, but I'd bring a book or spend most of my time hanging out at the concession stand or running around under the bleachers. It wasn't until Matt and I started hanging out that I, I don't know took an active interest."

"You mean you didn't bring a book to games anymore."

Julie's answer was covered by Payton and Jordan barking and whining and the sound of their claws on the tile as they ran down the hall and stood at the front door which opened and Tami came in, followed by Gracie. The two dogs whined and circled around Tami for a moment then turned their attention to Gracie frantically covering her face with licks and kiss while she squealed and patted both of them.

Tami walked down the hall and stopped when she saw JD. "Hey Julie. Hello JD, how are you?"

"I'm good ma'am, how are you?"

"Good. I have to say I'm surprised to see you here."

"Yes ma'am, well, we got paired up for a project in social studies and with my football practice and Julie's working at Applebee's it was hard to find a place and time to get together to work on it. I, uh, suggested the library, but I—"

"It always closed before JD got out of practice. We met up for a little while before school a couple of times, but we decided to come here. Sorry I didn't ask you or tell you beforehand."

"Well, I do wish you'd told me, but….it's okay. I don't suppose you'd like to stay for supper JD?"

JD blushed. "Thank you ma'am but I don't mean to impose and I'm sure Coach Taylor doesn't want me here." He began to clear his things off the dining room table.

"Honey, it's fine. We've had Buddy Garrity over a dozen times, it'll be fine. Although it sure won't hurt if you could help out with supper."

"I'm happy to help."

"You know how to work a grill?"

"Gas or charcoal?"

"Look at you. " Tami smiled. "It's a gas grill on the patio. If you could go out and clean it off with the brush that's out there, I'll bring the steaks out in a couple of minutes. Do you eat salad?"

"Yes ma'am."

"All right, Julie will you set the table and get the salad together please?"

Julie and Tami went into the kitchen, Julie opening the fridge while Tami watched JD go out back and slide the glass door closed.

"Jules, what are you thinking?"

"What? Everything he said is true. We got assigned to do this project and I tried to get out of it, even offered to do it by myself and the teacher said I either work with JD or take an 'F' for the project, which means I fail the class. I told you and dad that like 3 weeks ago. And we haven't been able to get together and work on it because of football, as usual."

"Well, why didn't you go to his house or, or the town library?"

"Because his parents have split up and I didn't want to be in that huge house with JD and his dad. And you can talk to dad and keep him calm."

"Really? Julie, JD's dad fired your father."

"Actually the boosters voted to fire him."

"Oh come on. The whole town knows what a rubber stamp vote that was. They voted the way Joe McCoy wanted them to. And why should I calm your father down?"

Julie whirled around and shouted. "Because he hasn't done anything! Except what dad told him to do on the football field. I can understand dad's being mad at Mr. McCoy, but JD? But if you want him to leave now, before dad gets home, fine. But I'm not going to tell him." She turned around and threw some carrot slices in the salad.

Tami started to speak, then closed her eyes and sighed. "Okay, JD can stay, and I'll try and I emphasize that word, to talk to your father about this."

Tami opened the front door and went outside. She'd thought of calling Eric on his cell phone, but as usual he'd left it in the bowl where the change and car keys were kept. When he pulled up in his SUV, Tami walked over to the driver's side door. Eric got out and kissed her. "Hey babe."

"Sugar. Umm, look Julie has someone over and they're going to stay for dinner, and I –"

"Who? Riggins?"

"No. JD McCoy."

Eric's jaw clenched and he ground his teeth. "What is JD McCoy doing in my house?" He moved towards the front door.

"Eric. He and Julie got paired up on a project for school, and yes Julie did tell us about it, but we obviously both forgot about it with everything that's gone on the last few weeks. They've had a hard time getting together to work on it and they were here when I came home. And he's staying for supper. Listen to me, if you want to be angry and pissed off at a McCoy it should be Joe and not his son. All that boy has done is what you told him to do on the field in practice and games. You can and you will be pleasant to him while he's here tonight. Now I'm not thrilled by this any more than you are, but I'm not gonna throw the boy out before he eats supper with us. Not after I invited him to stay. And this is probably not going to be the only time he's over here working on that project with Julie. But I'm certainly not going to invite him to stay for dinner every time, all right?"

"Ai'ght, but I've got a lot of game tape to watch so he's not gonna be staying very long after dinner."

"Fair enough."

"They walked inside and were greeted with wagging tails by Jordan and Payton and Eric got a hug from Gracie. He picked her up and carried her along with a plate of steaks out to the patio where JD stood tending the grill.

"Coach, how are you doing?"

"Pretty good, yourself?"

"Good. Can I take that?" JD motioned to the plate of steak.

"Thanks. You can put it on the side there."

"Do Payton and Jordan get steak or is this just for us?"

Eric smiled and put Gracie down, watching as she walked into the back yard and frolicked with the dogs.

"Only on very special occasions. Their birthdays. Thanksgiving they get some turkey. They're already pretty spoiled. That reminds me. There isn't gonna be any feeding them from the table, is that understood? They're probably gonna be underfoot at the table, but no sneaking them anything."

"Yes sir. Are they allowed on the furniture?"

"Well, you don't invite them….okay Gracie and Julie might do it, but you aren't going to. They tend to invite themselves, well Payton does. I've only ever seen Jordan on any furniture once. Look, I'm not meaning to be rude, but I have a lot of game tape to go over and, well, it'd be kind of an unfair advantage to have you here watching it."

"Oh right, right. No, that's fine, I understand sir. Um, would you mind if I went inside and see if Julie and I can get a little more work done?"

"That'd be fine.

JD turned and walked toward the door. "JD. You're having a really good season, but you need to work on your tell."

"Coach?"

"I noticed it last year. You tend to tip off whether it's gonna be a run or pass play. If it's gonna be a pass, you have your right leg further back than your left. Makes sense, it helps you get an extra tenth of a second, but it can tip the defense off. And they will be looking for it."

"Thanks Coach."

Dinner was pleasant enough, though Julie noticed that Tami was careful to try and steer the conversation away from football although she did bring up the Cowboys plans for a new stadium, particularly the gargantuan video screens, which made Eric bring up the incident between Tami and the boosters over the Jumbotron at Dillon last year, though he skimmed over the controversy.

After helping clean up Julie and JD worked on their project for another 20 minutes before JD announced that he was going home. He thanked Eric and Tami and Julie for having him over and for letting him stay for dinner, got a hug goodbye from Gracie and gave Payton and Jordan some pats.