chapter two
what's the first day of school without chaos?

"Okay so what happened if I got out of this car but instead of walking in I took a stroll into town and spent the day shopping?" Dylan wondered.

It was no secret that Dylan Valdez hated waking up early. Summer was supposed to be a time of sleeping in, but she had to get up early at camp most days and now she was back in school where she had to wake up early every single day. All she wanted to go was go back home and sleep but she couldn't, because she was currently sat in Eve's car outside of East High.

Usually she would be stood outside East High about to walk in with Nini and Kourtney, it being their best friend tradition. They had done it every year since they had been a East but this year was different. Kourtney had messaged Dylan saying she was going in early to find Carlos and Nini wasn't at East High anymore, leaving only Dylan.

Now at this point she would call either Ricky or Big Red to walk in with her instead but Big Red was in Egypt studying abroad for the first semester of senior year, and Ricky... well he could be anywhere.

Dylan was wearing a pair of black jeans and a light blue corset with one of EJ's jackets over the top paired with her black high top converse. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back since she decided to just leave it down. She had her Saturn necklace on that EJ had gotten her and one of Nini's rings she had stolen years ago.

Eve sent her a look, "No, Dylan, you cannot skip the first day of school."

"Why not?" Dylan asked with a pout, rolling her eyes slightly. "Nothing happens on the first day I wouldn't miss anything."

"But you would go into a downward spiral and then miss all of senior year." Eve commented knowingly.

"You are probably right." Dylan sighed. "Well I should get going."

"Bye Dyl, I'll see you later." Eve sent her a smile.

"Bye Eve." Dylan waved, jumping out of the car and making her way into the crowded hallway that was covered in people meeting up with friends after the summer. She made her way to the bomb shelter, which was dubbed as their official rehearsal room.

Their drama teacher, Miss Jenn had called them in to talk before the pep rally that kickstarted the new year. Everyone was chatting on the risers. Dylan saw her best friends, Gina Porter, Carlos Rodriguez, Ashlyn Caswell and Kourtney Greene. She also saw Emmy, which was a surprise, because that was a girl she had met at camp who played young Elsa. Dylan took notice that Seb Matthew Smith wasn't there. After the documentary, Seb thought Carlos cheated on him with one of the boys in the cabin – which wasn't true – and had been avoiding his ever since.

Dylan let out a small sigh, debating on whether to actually turn around and skip when—

"Dylan!" Ashlyn called loudly, rushing over to the girl.

"Ash!" Dylan smiled, hugging the girl tightly.

"D, I am so glad you're here, I was sure you were gonna skip." Gina also walked over, swinging her arm over the girl's shoulder and guiding her to the risers.

"I thought about it but I couldn't possibly deprive you all of my amazing presence." Dylan shrugged, sitting in between Gina and Ashlyn.

Carlos turned around with a smile, "Dylan, I love your hair. The change is amazing."

"Thanks Carlos." Dylan laughed softly. "Change isn't always bad I suppose, I'm learning."

"Proud of you." Kourtney added, patting her knee.

"Okay do I know we've got our big pep rally coming up in a little bit, but I wanted to grab you kids early for a special sneak preview of our show." Miss Jenn began before clearly her throat over the excited chatter in the room. "Wait, where's Ricky?"

"What a surprise," Carlos stated. "Richard Bowen's running late."

Gina giggled. "Yeah, see? Some things never change."

"Sorry," Ricky announced, rushing through the door. "Hello, I was in the bathroom thinking about senior pranks so..."

Dylan pointed over at him, "Consult me on them."

"Too much information." Miss Jenn voiced, gesturing him into the room.

Kourtney turned around to face Dylan again. "Senior pranks?"

"I was thinking about blowing something up in the science labs." Dylan shrugged. "Or putting super glue on our English teacher's chair."

Kourtney nodded slowly.

Miss Jenn cleared her throat again to get their attention. "Wildcats. This year, a special factor went into my decision about the musical. Some people may think they know you now that they've seen you on TV, but they don't know the real yous. Not really. And I want this show to be a safe space for you, where you can all sparkle and nothing is going to outshine you. And so, my babies..."

She took a couple steps backwards before taking a black sheet off of an easel. It revealed a sign that said Miss Jenn Presents – High School Musical. Dylan tilted her head and a shared a confused look with Gina.

"High School Musical... again?" Gina questioned.

"Now, Carlos!" Miss Jenn ordered.

"Oh." Carlos took something out of his pocket before running up to the easel. Next to Musical, he placed on something that resembled the letter E. Dylan narrowed her eyes at it.

"High School Musicale?" Gina inquired.

Carlos looked at it and noticed what was wrong. "Oh, my bad."

He flipped it around so it now read High School Musical 3. A smile quickly spread across Dylan's smile. Out of the movies, the third would always be her favourite.

"High School Musical 3?" Ricky read.

"I knew it was smart to come here." Emmy commented.

Interrupting their moment was the school bell, ringing to tell them the pep rally was starting soon.

"Okay, ahem." Miss Jenn let out. "Auditions are Friday, and I have no pre-cast this. So come with your hearts full and your minds open."

"You going for Gabriella G?" Dyaln asked, picking up her bag.

"I think so." Gina spoke giddily. "What about you?"

"I think I owe it to Nini to go for Sharpay." Dylan told her. "I also feel like more sharpay than ever now."

They moved outside to the football field, where the pep rally was being held. All of the theatre group sat together at the vey top. Dylan sat next to Ricky and next to Ashlyn, who was very engrossed in typing on her phone – she assumed to Maddox.

"Apparently there's some big announcement today." Carlos announced from his place in front of them.

Kourtney sat down next to him. "Unless we're all getting Daytime Emmy Awards for Frozen, mentally I'm not here."

Principle Gutierrez approached the microphone on the stage. "Good morning, good morning. All right, listen up. Listen up, everybody, settle down. It's hard to believe it's the start of another year here at East High."

Ricky shot both of his arms in the air. "Let's go seniors!"

All the seniors in the crowd cheered for themselves. Dylan clapped a few times, while also sending Ricky a judgemental look.

"This year we have a special announcement. Ooh. Something that's gonna impact all of us that are still here at East. So, I want you to welcome, and I'm obligated to say this phrase, the OG Coach Bolton."

Bart Johnson then came out from behind the curtains. "Hey!"

Dylan's mouth dropped in shock, her eyes widening. Coach Bolton? Here? What was this?

Ricky turned to Miss Jenn. "Did you know about this?"

"Mmm-mmm." Miss Jenn hummed in response.

"My name's Bart Johnson, but many of you know me as Coach Bolton from the High School Musical franchise." Bart explained. He looked to the cheerleaders. "Can I get a drum roll please?" They did as he asked. "Folks, we're getting the whole gang back together to make High School Musical 4: The Reunion, a movie that's gonna shoot right here in East High."

Dylan's smile dropped. Sure, that news might be exciting for some people, but considering how everything fell apart the last time something was being filmed, Dylan was afraid more people would get hurt... and bearing in mind she still couldn't read the reviews or comments on the Frozen documentary Dylan wasn't exactly happy about the news.

Oh, and it was another change to her already chaotic senior year.

"Wait, we're still gonna do High School Musical 3, right?" Ricky wondered.

"Why wouldn't we?" Miss Jenn replied. "This movie has nothing to do with us."

"Cool."

"Please join me in welcoming the new stars of the franchise." Bart stated. "You know him from his hit cancelled sitcom, Mack and Spark, and you know her from her viral TikTok videos that have taken America and part of Latin America by storm, it's America's favourite couple, it's Mack and Dani. Come on, guys, come on out."

Mack and Dani then came out from behind the curtain holding hands, and the crowd immediately erupted into cheers.

"Oh my gosh, I'm freaking out." Gina admitted. "Mack and Spark is my comfort show. I—I literally had a cardboard cutout of Mack in my room growing up and I would kiss it every night before bed."

"Well I gave up after season one, but he's adorable." Ashlyn agreed, shouting the last part towards Mack.

Dylan laughed. "Me and Nini used to watch Mack and Spark all the time when we were little. It's only thing that gave me joy when my mum was being... herself."

"I never saw it." Ricky revealed. "I—I've never seen that program."

Dylan raised her eyebrows at the tone of his voice. That was jealousy if she ever heard it.

Mack tapped twice on the microphone to get the attention. "I guess I should, uh, say something. For seven years, I grew up in front of a lot of you on Mack and Spark, where my talking dog Spark taught me valuable lessons, from friendship to food. And yes, I am talking about episode six-seventeen when Spark taught me to cook spaghetti al dente."

"Al dente!" Gina yelled at the same time he said it.

Mack looked up in their direction, his eyes right on Gina. "I see someone has watched every episode. I—uh, appreciate that. And, um, my role in this new movie, I will play the co-captain of both East High's basketball team and the drama club. Is it woke? Is it throwback? What if it's both? What if it's High School Musical 4?" The crowd cheered extremely loud. "Well, guess what? It is."

Dani planted a kiss on Mack's cheek before stepping in front of the microphone. "Thank you for your kind words, baby. I am so honoured to be here and to be making my acting debut in the franchise that launches so many careers, and also Bart Johnson's."

Bart raised his fists in the air in celebration. "Yes. Yes."

"So the tea is, she lip-syncs and can't actually sing live." Carlos voiced.

"Okay, we're on the same side of TikTok because I saw the exact same thing." Emmy responded.

"And for all of my haters who say I can't actually sing live..." Dani began, taking the microphone out of the stand and handing the stand off to Mack. "I just wanted to say this."

"She's not..." Dylan trailed off shaking her head.

"I think she is." Ricky nodded, patting her shoulder.

"The second hand embarrassment I'm about to feel." Dylan sighed.

Dani flicked a piece of hair over her soulder before opening her mouth, starting to sing in an extremely beautiful voice. "Lookin' forward from center stage to graduation day, time to get the future started. What we leave, what we take with us, no matter what, it's somethin' we're a part of. We learned to fly together, side by side. I just hope the rest of my life will feel as good as my..." A person then stepped up to the stage, playing an electric guitar. "High school musical, who says we have to let it go? It's the best part we've ever known, step into the future but hold on to high school musical, let's celеbrate where wе come from. All together makes it better, memories that last forever. I want the rest of my life to feel just like a High school musical, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

Dylan clapped a little, although she didn't stand up like everyone else. Her voice was good, sure, but this news...

Remember what Dylan said yesterday about how there was no way they would be filming at East High after what happened with Frozen? Well, she was so wrong!

( 💌 ) isobels notes
hey again
i keep disappearing and i'm so sorry
but like i have no motivation to write
this book but i promise i will finish it's
eventually :)