chapter one
let the summer fun begin

You know that part in High School Musical 2 when the whole of Mrs Darbus' drama class was staring at the clock, waiting for it to count down while chanting summer over and over again so they could all throw their papers in the air and finally be let out for break?

Yeah, that's basically how Dylan Valdez felt right now.

There she sat in her last class of her junior year, — english — sporting a yellow summer dress with white flowers on it, white converse, and one of Nini's extra cardigans that she was forced to wear after being dress coded for having a shoulders out. On her chest sat a necklace, a Saturn charm on it that EJ had bought her after their confession a few weeks ago. He had bought it because the charm matched the earrings that she wore to homecoming, which he later admitted to her was when he first began to like her.

She sat their bored, chin in the palm of her hand as she absentmindedly doodled in her notebook. The teacher was playing an old movie that was some rendition of a book they had read in class at the beginning of the year but Dylan wasn't really bothering to pay attention. The teacher was typing away on her laptop and whispered conversation was heard all throughout the classroom. It was the last day of school, after all.

Dylan suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Her eyebrows furrowed before she grabbed her phone from her pocket. Dylan turned it on to see who was messaging her, only to see her boyfriend's contact flash on the screen, EJ Caswell. She unlocked her phone, reading over the message, a smile creeping up on her face as she typed a reply.

She had been going out with EJ Caswell since she was seventeen, or in other words a little over a month (April 10th to be exact, when he had asked her to be his girlfriend after they had had dinner with her dad and Evelyn.) Meanwhile, EJ was already 18, seeing as he was a senior, but since Dylan was born in early September she was only a couple of months younger than him.

So, yeah, she had been dating EJ since she was seventeen. And while she hadn't admitted it aloud to many people, she really liked him, she liked him so much.

But why waste this time talking about EJ, when Dylan was so much more important.

EJ had been dating Dylan since he was eighteen. She liked High School Musical (especially since they did it last semester), animals, her friends and family — especially Nini (she would die for the girl), the marvel universe (they had to have a marvel marathon last time they hung out), taylor swift (she screamed every lyric after relating them to their relationship), writing songs (he especially loved perfect harmony), the theatre (secretly), dancing, being the best (her many perfect scores on tests shows this), she also likes EJ (as stated before). Her hair is dark brown and her eyes are brown, and she's eleven inches shorter than EJ, if you care about that sort of thing. EJ thinks she's beautifully perfect but that might just be his opinion.

Anyways back to what Dylan was doing in class. She was in the middle of typing out another message when she felt something hit her shoulder. She looked down to the side only to see it was a crumpled up piece of paper lying there (ha, EJ told you she likes Taylor Swift.) Dylan looked up to see who the culprit was only to be met with the raised eyebrows of her best friend, Nini Salazar Roberts, in the front of the classroom, (the two were originally sat together, but the teacher noticed the two girls just chatting at the back and so separated them.) Nini gestured towards the paper when Dylan sent her a confused look.

Dylan reached down and picked up the crumpled up paper. She carefully opened it, making sure she doesn't rip the paper. In Nini's, unusually neat, handwriting, in a pink pen, it read:

stop smiling at your phone, it's weird

Dylan laughed slightly, a small blush creeping up onto her neck. Dylan then turned it over to see more writing.

Seriously Dyl, like I know you like him but I have never seen you this happy, especially over EJ Caswell.

Her blush only deepened. Dylan rolled her eyes, a smile on her face as she gave Nini a look. She merely only raised her eyebrows higher as if to say you know I'm right. Dylan shook her head once more before grabbing her notebook and ripping a small bit of paper out of it, writing in her own pen :

First of all, why are you looking at me, you weirdo. Second, how do you know I'm messaging him? And third, you or gina (or both of you) always third wheel us so how do you know I'm not happy because I'm with you.

Dylan then crumpled up the paper. She double checked to make sure the teacher wasn't looking before throwing it towards the back of Nini's head. Dylan watched as it bounced off Nini's head, landing on the desk she was sat at. Nini opened the note, writing another message. She crumpled the paper again before throwing it back to her, and she caught. Dylan quickly opened it.

One, I was looking at you because I heard your phone vibrate extremely loudly. Two, you always message him, pretty sure he overtook me on your snapchat best friends list. Three, you literally ignore Gina and I when we're with you, you are happy because of him.

Dylan rolled her eyes and wrote another note.

You are still my number one best friend don't worry, I would never allow anyone to replace you — especially not a boy. Also, I don't ignore you, but I guess he's one of the reasons I'm happy.

She crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it towards her. Dylan then focused back on her messages, having ignored the last time it vibrated, when she felt the paper fall onto her desk again. She placed her phone down, picking the paper up and opening it.

awww I knew you loved me, and that wasn't so hard to admit was it?

Dylan laughed as she read the note, shaking her head as she made eye contact with Nini, holding her hands up in a love heart and mouthing an 'I love you' to her best friend, who returned the words and the action.

"Okay everyone," the teacher announced, and Dylan looked up from the note to see the movie had paused. "There's a few minutes left until the bell, so I just wanted to say have a great summer. Stay safe, and have a lot of fun. See you next year. Pack up, but please, stay in your seats until the bell rings."

Excited chatter surrounded the entire room. Dylan put her notebook, her pencil case, and the notes back in her tote bag and zipped it shut. She made her way over to Nini's desk, ignoring the teacher's instruction, as she focused on the clock, only to see the second hand hit the nine. Her hearts started to race in excitement as she watched the seconds tick by, Nini grabbing her hand excitedly. Only a couple more seconds until it was finally summer, until no more homework, until no more waking up early, until the countdown to camp started, until her and EJ could finally be a proper couple as they hadn't had that opportunity —

The bell rang.

A swarm of people instantly rushed from their seats and out of the classroom. Dylan let an excited smile spread across her lips as she handed Nini her bag. Nini went to push her chair in when Dylan quickly pulled her out of the classroom by their interlocked hands. Dylan weaved them through the crows of people gathering around in the excited halls, clearly ready to get home and let their summer begin.

"Dyl, slow down." Nini laughed, trying to not fall over.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to find —"

"Dylan!" A familiar voice called.

The girl in question turned. Coming down the hallway was one of her best friends, Gina Porter. A large and happy smile was painted on her face, which made Dylan's heart warm — she was happy Gina was happy, especially after everything with Ricky. She was happily skipping along with Ashlyn, the two looking extremely happy.

"Hey G." Dylan greeted. "Hi Ash."

"You're not driving to camp with us, right?" Ashlyn asked, giving Nini a hug.

Dylan shook her head. "No, my dad said he has to speak to me before we go so he and Eve are dropping me off. If I'm late it's their fault."

"Oh my god." Nini laughed. "You might never get there then."

"I told him that, he didn't speak to me for hours." Dylan told them, the three sharing a laugh.

"What are you guys doing?" Nini asked them all.

"We're going to pack, Gina is hopeless at packing for some reason and then we're swimming." Ashlyn explained.

"You're free to join us if you want." Gina added.

Nini and Dylan shared a glance. Dylan was spending all camp with Ashlyn and Gina, and their was all summer to go swimming with the two. Besides, Nini was spending summer in California with her mum's and her new singing project. It was the last day that Dylan was going to see Nini before senior year.

"We're okay." Dylan responded. "We'll leave you to pack. Have fun swimming."

"See you later." Gina bid goodbye to the two, both her and Ashlyn turning and walking down the corridor.

"Ready to go, Dyl?" Nini questioned as they turned to walk towards the exit.

"Definitely." Dylan answered. "Come on. If we're late Eve will kill us."

Eve, or Evelyn, was Dylan's dad's girlfriend (well she was basically her step-mum). She worked for a magazine company, where she designed pages and wrote articles and reviews for things. She went to work later than Sebastian (Dylan's dad), and so graciously drove Dylan and Nini to and from school on days when Nini didn't want to walk. Dylan, on the other hand, was always a passenger.

She was waiting for the two when Dylan and Nini got there — unlike usual when they have to wait for her from all the pickup traffic. Dylan let out a breath and she climbed in the passenger seat, Nini jumping into the middle seat in the back like always.

"You're late." Evelyn commented.

"The hallways were crowded." Dylan protested as she put her bag in the footwell and buckled her seatbelt.

"Must be some crowded hallways if I managed to get right in front of the school before you got out."

Dylan shook her head, letting out a sigh, "We spoke to Gina and Ash for like, a minute. How long have you been here?"

"Like the last forty five minutes." Evelyn stated.

"That's on you then, we finished ten minutes ago." Dylan shrugged.

"Whatever." Evelyn put on her sunglasses, looking in the rearview mirror. "Seatbelt Neens?"

Nini nodded to the woman's question. The ride home was fun. Evelyn pressed play on her playlist once more. Once they finally got out of the parking lot due to the huge amount of traffic, Heartbreak Weather by Niall Horan instantly came on. Evelyn had turned up the radio and put all the window down in the car. The three girls all sang along loudly.

Finally, Evelyn parked her car in the driveway of their house, pushing her sunglasses up so they rested on top of her head. Dylan climbed out of the car, slinging her bag onto her shoulder. Her and Nini walked next to each other, their pinkies interlocked, making their way up the front porch of her house. Evelyn pushed the door open and the three of them walked into the air conditioned house.

Sebastian Valdez was already waiting in the backyard, his laptop in front of him as he furiously typed away, the man working from home today. A faint queen song was heard from the speaker through the door. Dylan smiled fondly.

Evelyn made a beeline to the kitchen and instantly got a smoothie from the fridge. "Are you guys going upstairs?"

"Yeah, I think so." Dylan nodded. "We might go out later."

"Okay, just let me and your dad know." Evelyn smiled before she headed towards the back garden.

Dylan smiled at her as she went, turning around to face Nini when the woman was out of sight. The two girls shared a laugh at practically nothing, making their way up the stairs and towards Dylan's bedroom.

"Eve is such an icon." Nini commented dreamily, falling onto Dylan's bed with a content sigh.

"Geez, Neens, anyone would think you were in love with her." Dylan joked, laying next to her.

"No." Nini laughed. "Just hope I can be like her one day."

"What have a step daughter as amazing as me?" Dylan turned to face her.

Nini smiled fondly. "Yeah, you are pretty awesome. But also, like..."

"I know." Dylan nodded. "Me too."

"This is the first summer since we met that we're not going on that annual summer camping trip." Nini spoke.

Every summer since they had become friends, Nini and Dylan had gone on a camping trip with Sebastian. When Dylan became close friends with Ricky, Big Red and Kourtney they both joined. They went for a week towards the end of August as a final outing before school. It was full of campfires, where they sang songs, told scary stories and all the usual campfire things, making s'mores, swimming in the lake. It was fun, and the friendship group looked forward to it every year - especially since they had the best airbeds money could buy.

Dylan remembers one year the girls had managed to convince Big Red, Ricky and her dad to allow them to give them all a makeover. It was the most fun thing they had done in years, and the girls took the time to not give them a good makeover and instead put makeup on them in the worst way possible. After that Big Red and Ricky had stolen the girl's clothes and performed multiple abba songs as loudly and badly as they could.

Dylan was upset that they couldn't do it this year, since Sebastian was working and Nini was not available all summer. It made her all the more sad that not only Nini but Big Red weren't even going to be at camp. She was also sure that Ricky was going on vacation with Lily instead of coming to camp.

"I know. I was really looking forward to it this year as well because we haven't hung out just the five of us for a while." Dylan pouted. "I'm going to miss you this summer."

"Me too." Nini leant over and wrapped her best friend in a hug.

"Let do something." Dylan suggested.

"Sure, what do you have in mind?" Nini questioned the brunette.

Dylan could tell that Nini thought helping her cut her hair at eleven o'clock at night, the day before she left for camp was not in the list of things she would have to do as a best friend.

Dylan had already washed her hair, and called her hairdresser just in case something went wrong. Sebastian's old friend was a hairdresser and so always did Dylan's hair whenever she needed it. The woman was on standby to come over if Nini cut it horribly wrong.

Nini and Dylan both stood in the bathroom of Dylan's house, Dylan was sat on a stool in front of the mirror, Nini stood behind her. She was wearing an old t-shirt that she was pretty sure was her like grandmothers at some point. Her hair had been sectioned off, and a part of it was tied up in a messy top knot. Nini held the scissors in her right hand, a comb in her left.

"I cannot believe you convinced me to do this." Nini commented, as she figured out how much to cut off. "How did you manage to do that?"

Dylan shrugged. "Because you love me. Besides, you owed me for dying your hair a few years back."

"My pink phase." Nini hummed, cutting the girl's hair with wide eyes.

"Don't make that face while you're literally chopping my hair off." Dylan told the girl, her eyebrows raised as Nini continued to cut her hair.

By the time they had finished, Dylan had called her hairdresser to just tidy up whatever Nini had done. Apparently, the girl was a natural hairdresser as Alicia barely had to do anything. Once that was finished, Nini plaited her best friend's hair, before making eye contact with her through the mirror.

"You'll write me while you're at camp won't you?" Nini asked her, resting her chin on Dylan's shoulder.

"Of course." Dylan smiled. "You wont forget me in California will you?"

"Never." Nini shook her head. "I should, uh, get home."

Dylan nodded, walking the brunette to the door. The two best friends hugged once more, both of them sending each other sad smiles as Nini opened the door. Nini stepped outside, holding up a heart with her hands as she mouthed an I love you, Dylan laughed slightly before returning the action and words. Nini walked down the driveway, turning around to wave goodbye, both of them secretly knowing they didn't want her to leave.

Once Nini was finally out of sight, Dylan took a deep breath, closing the door and leaning her back against it. She was just starting to feel alone when Eve and Sebastian bounced towards her, placing her phone in her hand. Dylan looked down to her buzzing phone, seeing that the group chat she had with the girls was blowing up.

Sebastian and Evelyn walked towards the living room, Dylan following behind, texting on her phone. And as they did, Dylan realised that no matter what, she was still happy, and she was still going to have the best summer ever because she had the best friends and family in the entire world. They loved her and she loved them, and that's all that mattered. She smiled to herself.

Here's to a summer of love and friendship.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
WELCOME TO DID I MENTION!
starting this book of strong with
some nini and dylan friendship
this book is gonna be full of
happy relationships and friendship
angst :)