Prologue

Two sisters just barely 15 months apart, much to Tami and Eric's surprise and chagrin. They got pregnant with Haleigh before Tami even finished college. Eric and Tami always knew they wanted more children, but when Julie came along 15 months later, overwhelmed was putting it lightly. However, Tami and Eric did what the Taylor's do best, they picked themselves up by their breeches and made the best of a difficult situation.

Tami stayed home to raise the girls while Eric began his career of coaching. At first it was mostly assistant coaching positions in small towns with small teams, but slowly with a passion for the game and love for the players, he built a reputation few could match. All the while Tami stayed home raising her girls in a family surrounded by unconditional love, wisdom filled guidance, and faith.

A closeness in age was about all Julie and Haleigh shared in common. Julie was smart, snarky, and gifted at dance. Haleigh was witty, fearless, and loved football. Despite a beauty they both got from their mother, with a good look the differences could be seen.

Julie was shorter with silky straight long blonde hair, chestnut eyes, pouty lips, and a rack any high school girl would be jealous of. Haleigh was tall and lean like Tami, with wavy blonde hair, legs that went on for days, and deep set sultry hazel green eyes that had Eric itching to clean his gun every time a boy looked her way.

Julie was her parents sigh of relief, their easy baby. She enjoyed reading, took her studies extremely seriously, and had little interest in boys so far.

Haleigh kept her parents on their toes from day one, with a love for football that left her playing rough and with the boys more than the girls from an early age. Coupled with a fearlessness that could rival warriors and the Taylor's stubborn streak, Tami and Eric had their hands full.

Though raised by solid parents, both girls carried themselves with dignity and self respect, never forgetting the solid ground their roots were weaved in.

They say opposites attract and maybe that's why Julie and Haleigh were so close. Like two bookends, they had complete support for one another. Their bond something nothing and no one could touch. Being sisters, and especially at a time of hormones, the house still broke out in screaming matches at times. The girls still argued on occasion, but for the most part their bond was as solid as the rest of Taylor clan. They were a bulletproof pack.

Wind Sprints

Her back slams hard into the solid ground beneath. The air knocks you of her lungs as Haleigh's muscles lock and refuse to release the ball. Her eyes never close, but it all moves in a blur until her pupil regains focus as the movement stops. Her lips shoot out a desperate gasp for air, but the weight upon her hinders all attempts to fill her lungs.

Her eyes find his, hazel brown and penetrating. Barreling down upon her like a loaded gun. It's mid August and humid as hell as his damp long hair reaches down to tickle her flushed cheeks. With a groan her free hand shoves firmly at his shoulder. "Get off me," She orders.

A sloppy smirk lifts the corner of his mouth in a sly sort of way. The feel of her curvy body pinned flush beneath his own spurring on his misbehavior. The beads of sweat on her skin meshing with his own, her panting breathe hitting his face in a way that made Tim think of only one thing. Savoring one more moment of their precarious position, he relented and climbed off her.

As Haleigh jumps to her feet, Jason's almost already to them as his jogs across the field. "Great catch. I'll tell yeah Hales it's too bad you're a girl. We could put you to some good use on the team." His hearty smile glistens in the setting Texas sun. His wholesome good looks blinding, like a slice of American pie, for those who are into that thing.

"Thanks Jay," Haleigh smiles up at him in return as the lowering suns rays pierce her eyes. Nothing beyond casual friends, she's always grateful for the way Jason indulges her love of the game. Some would argue he only tosses the ball around with her, because she's the coaches daughter, but Haleigh knows that isn't it. No, Jason is a breed of his own. What her dad in a quiet tone of respect would call… 'a good man'.

"I don't know Street, think I like her better as a girl." Tim speaks up, that seducing smirk returning to his lips as his eyes give her a once over before pining her where she stands.

All football, sex, and beer, that one. A one track mind that can't step outside the barriers he's set without crushing under the plight of his own pathetic life. A guy with a heart he hides from his broken world.

Tim's grin grows as he seems to notice the way Haleigh's breath halts with the look in his eye. Letting out a quick flustered breath, she puts him in his place. "In your dreams, Riggins." She shoot him down.

A deep laugh breaks the thickness mounting in the air. "You would Riggins, you would." Jason laughs as he gives his best friend a quick pat on the back before making his way over to stands.

Haleigh follows suit brushing Tim's remark off as a by product of a tick that boy can't help but scratch, and scratch with everyone he can. She knows she should expect it by now, but he still manages to catch her off guard sometimes.

Julie's walking down the bleachers to meet her sister as Haleigh passes the gate. "How's the book coming?" Haleigh asks as she leans into Julie, giving her sister a playful nudge.

A smile spread wide across Julie's face as the sisters made their way to the locker rooms to find their dad. "I'm almost done." Julie beamed, taking pride in her academic accomplishments. She worked hard for her grades, and was tedious in her quality of work, determined to one day go beyond this town and see the world her mind could only dream of now.

"I'm thinking of doing a comparison paper on the metaphoric parallels between this town's obsession with football and the book." The enthusiasm bursts from her lips, seems to dance from her pupil as she flips her bangs out of her eyes. It's as if the words are already being written in her mind as she speaks. Julie knows this town wont see her argument the way that she does, but she also knows it doesn't make her point any less valid. And being a Taylor, she's willing to fight the good fight.

Haleigh wraps a supportive arm around her sister's shoulders. "Go for it Jules. Give 'em hell." Believing in her sister the whole way, Haleigh admires that spark of brilliance that always comes so easily to Julie, always has. A brilliance Haleigh has no doubts will take her sister far in life.

"Tim seemed charming as ever." Julie shot off her insinuation with a quick roll of her eyes, disgust filtering off on her heated breath. Her chestnut orbs darting to the corners to catch a brief glimpse of her sister.

Julie couldn't be bothered with football players, let alone ones like Tim Riggins. In fact she wanted as little to do with the sport as possible. Avoiding football players was at the top of her list for good ways to avoid the game that already seemed overly abundant in her house. That was just one way Julie and Haleigh couldn't be more different. Haleigh loved the game, while Julie for the most part couldn't stand it.

Haleigh couldn't hold back the dry laugh that burst from her lips with Julie's sarcasm. "That boy is like a dog with a bone. He barks at anything he thinks he has a chance at. Besides could you imagine Dad's face if I got involved with Riggins." Laughter erupting harder on her lips as Julie joined in. The noises meshing into a pitched rumble that seems to reach into the wide open expanse of the Panther's field.

Tim wasn't all bad, Haleigh could concede in private. She was raised well enough to understand a guy like Tim had reasons for being the way he was. Hell, everyone in town knew the dysfunction of the Riggin's home. Haley didn't hold that part of it against him, Tim just never seemed like the kind of mess she wanted to get mixed up in, especially not after what happened the last time she liked a boy.

As their laughter died down, Haleigh flashed her sister a mischievous 'all knowing' grin. "All joking aside, that Saracen boy was gawking from the sidelines again. I'm telling you Jules, somebody's got a crush." Haleigh teased unable to resist the right of passage she earned for being the older sister, if only by 15 months. Knowing whether mom and dad liked it or not, Julie was entering the age of dating, and Haleigh only wanted the best behaved boys for her little sister.

"He's a football player." Julie rebuffed, stating it flatly as if that summed it up and left no room for debate.

Haleigh let out a loud sarcastic laugh in response, "Guess it's good he never leaves the bench then." She jabbed, staring Julie down with eyebrows that tauntingly danced.

With a quick roll of her eyes, Julie dismissed her sister's come back. Not ready or willing to admit out loud, not even to her sister, that maybe Matt wasn't as bad as the rest of the football team.

Later that night the Taylor family enacted a well practiced routine. Eric and Haleigh sat on the couch dissecting game film, while Julie was nose deep in some thought provoking piece of literature, and Tami busied herself with random odds and ends. Which tonight happened to be scouting out houses they would only ever buy in her dreams. As mom pipes up with a convincing voice meant to entice Dad about the perfect house she's just spotted.

Julie can't resist throwing out her theory of the way Moby Dick is the perfect metaphor for football in Dillon. Her eyes zeroing in on Dad as she scrambles to the opposite side of the couch, nearest to him. Her lips dancing with amusement as she explained her thought process. A diligent well thought out argument that she nailed at every point. As she saw it, the whalers would be the players and coaches. Dad would be captain Ahab, and the state championship would the magical whale their chasing after.

Eric turns to his daughter as if she's grown another head and sprouted wings. "Are you sure you're mine?" He jokes with the most serious of faces. A dry sense of humor no one does better.

"I don't know Dad, think Jules made her case." Haleigh speaks up, siding with Julie's well fought argument, the sisters flashing each a quick smile they had mastered since infancy. A smile that promised they'd always have each other's back.

Eric's head whipped around to Haleigh as he realized he was out numbered. "Hey now, you're suppose to on my team." He shot back, a playfulness in his eyes to match a mischievous grin edging on his mouth ever so covertly.

Haleigh felt time stop as her father's eyes met her own. The mischief, the spark of fun alive in his pupil. Not an ounce of disappointment or anger clouding his gaze.

"I am Dad... I am." Haleigh couldn't stop the smile that swept wide across her face, she had missed that. Being his sidekick, the son he never had, Daddy's girl, without dark clouds from her recent mistake rolling in his eyes to ruin what they shared, what she held so sacred.

Gaze drifting as the moment passed and Dad turned back to the game, Haleigh caught Julie's eyes from across the room. A silent look of quiet happiness in her gaze, knowing better than anyone what it meant to Haleigh to have the special bond with their dad back.

Note: This is the first Friday Night Lights story I've written. As well as the first original character I've written. It's important to me to keep the character Haleigh fitting for the show and the fictional family she is suppose to be a part of. I plan on this story focusing on the Taylor family (Eric, Tami, Julie, and Haleigh), as well as Julie/Matt and Haleigh/Tim. I also plan on including other characters from the show, such as Jason, Tyra, Lyla, Billy, and more.

However do to the fact that my life is very busy and I also like to create videos… I only plan to continue this story if it gets a lot of feedback and people are interested in reading it. I have more in mind for this story, but I'm only going to write it if there is interest in this story. So please, if you like this story and want to see where it goes please leave feedback so I can know whether to continue this or not.

P.S. Parts of this chapter were based off of Friday Night Lights Pilot episode. Full rights to the show. I own none of that. No copyright infringement intended. For entertainment purpose only.