A/N: New part. Hope you like it!

Lydia

I woke up to the sound of something hitting my wall. I was about to check and see what Matt was doing when a second hit came and I realized it wasn't coming from the wall I shared with him. It wasn't one of the inner walls in the house at all. I went outside to carefully check and see what was going on. Was it a storm that bad, or worse a tornado?

Dillon hadn't had one in a while, but that didn't mean we didn't get them. In fact looking at our front yard, somebody might have thought we'd been hit. There was garbage everywhere. Matt's Panthers sign had been knocked down. It wasn't until I saw the words "Loser" on the side of our wall that I realized only our house was hit. My jaw was locked in a tight, angry line. Yep. It was a tornado. A tornado of drunken, pissed off Panther fans.

I fumed in my head as I cleaned everything up as fast as I could. I didn't want Matt or Grandma to see. I mean hell, ONE game. He plays his ass off and practically saves the day when Jason Street gets hurt, but ONE bad game and all that's forgotten. Lets just ignore the fact that up until he'd practically been training himself or that South Millbank's defense had gotten A LOT stronger since the last time we played them. No let's just forget all that, get drunk and destroy something. And they wonder why the rest of the country has a stigma about Texans. I was done picking up all the crap on the ground when Matt walked out.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

"Um, nothing." I shrugged. "I just, I wanted some air." Matt looked at me, confused, until his eye caught something. I followed his line of vision to his to that damned sign. "Matt…" My voice trailed off as he went and fixed the sign.

"Grandma can't know anything about this."

I'd hoped he wouldn't either, but I guess that was over. "I- I can wash the spray paint right off of that Matt."

"No, that's okay." He said. "I'll do it, can you just get started on breakfast."

"Okay." I started heading in, but turned back quickly. "Matt, they're just a bunch of jerks that'll probably be working at the gas station the rest of their lives just wishing they were young and getting out of Dillon like you are." He didn't say anything. "Matt?"

"Uh-huh." He said absently. "Make sure and put her pills out."

I went in, unsure if he'd even heard me.

Landry came and picked us up for work, the whole time going on and on about football. He dropped Matt off at the Alamo Freeze first and I hopped in the passenger seat and punched him in the arm.

"Um OW." He said. "What was that?"

"Really, Landry?" I asked. "Maybe it was for talking about that game nonstop?"

"People are gonna talk about it." Landry said.

"Well he doesn't need to hear it from his best friend, you idiot."

"You know, if you're gonna be punching me and name callin' I'm gonna have to ask you to get out of my vehicle."

"Just drive before I beat the crap out of you." I said.

When I got to work, all everyone could talk about was the game and how crappy Matt did. Some did it completely unaware that I was his sister. Some knew and whispered about me or just didn't care if I heard their conversations. I wished, not for the first time, that yelling at a costumer wouldn't get me fired. But I knew it would, and from the whispering that even my boss was doing, I could tell he probably didn't want me there anyway.

I could only hope that not many people were going into the Alamo Freeze that day. Matt didn't need anymore of that. Didn't those people get it? All their talk wasn't going to fix the game or make him do any better in the next one. He needed support but they were too busy hating him to see it. I swallowed as I picked up a sheet of paper from a couple I'd just served. "Here's a tip." It read "tell your brother to work on his passing." I rolled my eyes. Welcome to the glamorous life of being the QB 1's sister, I guess.

Nicky

I could feel all the eyes on me. They'd been on me for months now. As if they were trying to convey their sadness for Jason's accident with looks. But now the looks had suddenly changed. There was anger where there used to be sympathy. Both made me want to crawl under a rock.

"Slammin' Sammy", Dillon's biggest voice on the radio, had all but declared war on my family by announcing that we were suing the Panthers. Correction Sammy. We weren't suing anyone. Our parents were suing the Panthers, which really meant suing Coach Taylor and probably getting him fired. Me and Jason were less than thrilled with any of that.

Dillon was the Panthers. Attacking the Panthers was like signing your own death wish. Besides that, it was Coach Taylor. He'd been coaching Jase all the way since he played Pee Wee. It wasn't right to act like he didn't have Jason's best interests in mind when we knew he did. Everyone knew that. But nobody cared if me and my brother agreed it was unfair. They still hated us just the same. Went out of their way to make sure we knew it too.

I was waiting out in the parking lot after school when two guys walked over to me. Tucker Vreeland and Brenden Meems. They'd played with my brother since middle school

"Well if it isn't baby Street." Tucker said

"You lost or something?" Brenden added. "This is the Panthers parking lot. Don't even know how a traitor like you got in."

I rolled my eyes. "Leave me alone Brenden."

"I mean I don't think it's safe for traitors to be here." He continued

"Yeah," Tucker added. "Not safe around here at all."

"Okay first off," I said sick of them "you both sound like a couple of second rate, country fried John Wayne's right now, you do know that right? And secondly neither of you exactly scare me."

"Yeah, why's that?" Brenden asked.

"Well see Brenden, it's kind of hard seeing you as a threat when I just keep getting the mental image of me kicking your ass for calling Tucker 'Yucker Peeland' all the time."

Both boys turned a little red. "That was in the third grade Nicky." Tucker defended.

"Well that's how old you're both acting, so maybe I should too."

"I'm not afraid of you. I'm way bigger now." Brenden said, unaware of how dumb it sounded.

"Yeah," Tucker said. "There's no way you can beat him up like that anymore."

"Shut up man." Brenden said. I couldn't help laughing. "Sure, laugh it up Street. It's not like you're the one getting let down. You're family's suing coach. I mean its bad enough your brother had to go and screw up the team and get himself hurt but-"

I don't know how it happened so fast. In seconds my books were on the ground and I was on top of him. He was right, he was bigger than me and I couldn't beat him up, but I didn't care. Tucker pulled me off of him, but I just kept trying to get loose.

"Look what you did to my face you bitch!" Brenden yelled. I'd split his lip a little and left a scratch mark on his face. One of the benefits of fighting as a girl I guess. "You're gonna pay for that." He came toward me.

"What the hell is going on here?" I heard a voice and instantly recognized it as coach Taylor's.

Tucker let me go. "Nothing, sir."

"Doesn't exactly look like nothing Vreeland." He said. "You okay Nicky?"

"Coach she…"

"Did I ask you a question Meems?" Coach Taylor cut him off.

"No sir."

"Then shut your mouth. You alright Nicky?" He asked again.

"Yes sir." I didn't know what he thought of me at that point. I mean my family was suing him. Tucker and Brenden weren't wrong on that one.

"Alright." Coach said. "I want you both running those bleachers until you can remember how we treat ladies around here."

"But Coach she's the one who attacked me." Brenden said.

"Brenden you weighed in at 197 pounds last week. You're honestly trying to tell me that this young lady, near half your size, attacked you for no reason?" Brenden was quiet. "Fine you can go to the nurse if you feel like that tiny little scratch is worth it. When you're done you can join Vreeland on those bleachers. I'll come out in a half an hour and see if you've learned anything."

They both looked like they wanted to argue but thought against it.

"You need a ride home or somethin'?" Coach Taylor asked.

"No sir, my mom's coming to pick me up." I explained.

"How's she doing?"

"Alright." I said. There was an awkward silence for a moment. "Coach Taylor I-I'm sorry about all of this with suing you and all."

"That's alright Nicky."

"Mama and Daddy, they said we were suing the school and me and Jay didn't even want to do that, let alone sue you but now it's just… I'm just real sorry about all of it."

Coach waited, making sure I was done. I think he knew I just had to get all of that out. "Listen, I've known your family for a while now and I think very highly of all ya'll. So just know, no matter what happens, I believe your parents doing what they think is best for you and your brother."

I nodded. We both turned when my mother pulled up.

"Hey there, Joanne." Coach said.

"Coach." She said briskly. "Let's go Nicky."

I felt so embarrassed. "Mama…"

"Now." She cut me off.

I picked up my bag and got in the car. "Thanks again Coach Taylor." He nodded as we took off.

"So," my mother said "What'd he say to you? He try and convince you that we shouldn't sue him because he's a good person?"

"Actually he tried to convince me you're a good person." I said barely under my breath.

"Excuse me?"

I thought about what road I wanted to take with this. "Mom, this whole thing's messed up and he's not even mad about it. And then for you to be like that with him..."

"Be like what?" She said.

"You were kinda rude." I said. "You could have at least said hi."

"When you're suing somebody, I don't think its really appropriate to-"

"To what?" I asked "To say hi?"

She sighed heavily. "Nicole Johanna Street I have spent the ENTIRE arguing on the phone with the ramp guy over prices, your father is getting threatening calls at the store, your brother wont even look at me and quite frankly the LAST thing I want to deal with right now is a fight with my daughter over manners when, to be honest young lady, yours haven't been that impressive recently. Now either lose that attitude or don't say anything at all."

I'd had fights with my mother before, but I knew nothing was going to make either of us budge on this one. Coach was right. She believed she was doing the right thing. And I believed she had everything all wrong. And we were both too pissed and too stubborn to give. We drove the whole way home in silence.

Ella

Like it wasn't hard enough having the self proclaimed male slut of Dillon being my older brother. Like I didn't already have to walk around knowing he'd gotten with half of the girls I knew. No, my brother had to go and outdo himself this time. Lyla Garrity. The same Lyla Garrity who happened to be dating his best friend. Hell, more than friends. I mean him and Jason, they were like brothers.

And I mean aside from the fact that she was the girlfriend of his paralyzed best friend, she was Lyla Garrity. Condescending, super self righteous, pom pom carrying, bake sale throwing Lyla freaking Garrity. God's gift to Dillon. Tyra got on my nerves as much as the rest of the girls that made their way into my brothers bed (or the backseat of his car, or our couch, etc.), but knowing that he was with Lyla aggravated me to a whole 'nother level. Sure she'd put up with Tim for Jason, but she always had to make a big show of it being demeaning to her very nature.

I got sick of the stares and whispering and decided to eat lunch in the library. Food was banned but I'd learned if you sat all the way in the back by the computers the librarian couldn't see you. I made my way back there and was surprised to see who was already in my spot. I thought about slowly turning around before she saw I was there, when her teary eyes flicked up at me.

"Ella." She said, trying in vain to act as if she hadn't been crying.

"Hey." As much as I couldn't stand her, the idea of being mean to her at that moment felt like being mean to a sick baby bunny. I looked at her computer screen. The Official Lyla Garrity Slam Page. "Are you kidding me?"

Following my line of vision she immediately clicked out of it. "It's no big deal."

"Oh really? So that's why your mascara's all runny?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I deserve it."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay look, can you please cut the martyr crap? You royally screwed up and I'm not exactly on your freakin' fanclub, but this kind of group mentality stuff is just plain stupid. I mean how do these idiots really have time to put together an entire website when half of those pom pom pincesses cant even use a calculator for fear of breaking a nail."

"I'm one of 'those pom pom princesses' you know." Lyla said.

"Actually according to that you're the 'pom pom whore'."

She looked shocked for a while before she cracked a smile. "Wow. That kind of harsh honestly must run in your family. Tim's…"

"Okay, okay." I cut her off. "Hold it right there. No talking about my brother. That's gotta be rule number one if we're gonna be…" I paused for a second.

"Friends?" Lyla offered.

"Friendish." I compromised. Friends with Lyla Garrity? Never in a hundred million years did I think I could be friends with perfect Lyla Garrity. But then she wasn't perfect was she? For the first time since I met her I could see that she was flawed just like the rest of us and I know it sounds stupid, but somehow that made the idea of her acceptable. Who would have thought that being hated would actually make me like Lyla more.