chapter five
dylan misses her boyfriend and her world turns upside down !!

Dylan let out a small huff as she stabbed her pasta with her fork. Her phone was leant against her bottle of Dr Pepper as EJ smiled at her through the screen. The boy had rang her, wanting to find out all about her first day of rehearsals and her audition for High School Musical 3. As soon as she answered his call, she delved into a recount of her days, ranting about how the auditions overlapped, how she danced with Mack – leaving out how well the two danced together – Quinn's comment and Dani's look.

"Wait, so you managed to hold your tongue against her?" EJ wondered referring to Quinn's snarky comment after Dylan helped her by stepping in.

"Yes I did." Dylan replied. "I'm growing."

"You did scare a famous TikTok star though." EJ reminded her.

"I never said I was growing that quickly." Dylan retorted. "But Quinn was lucky I held my tongue, you should've heard how she spoke to me. Like I get that she's the director but I didn't want to step in, I was forced. And it's not my fault, Dani was late, she was crying over steam showers like have some class."

EJ let out a small laugh as Dylan stabbed another bit of pasta. "Well I wouldn't be on the receiving end of your wrath Dyl."

"Thank you." Dylan sent him a smile.

"How did the musical auditions go?" EJ asked.

"It was fine." Dylan answered. "I had five minutes, literally sprinted down the hall, I've never ran so fast, absolutely bodied Now or Never and ran back again."

"It wasn't in the auditorium?" EJ questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.

"No. We had to audition in the rehearsal room, which was so weird, by the way." Dylan told him. "But it was good."

"You are going to get Sharpay and body the role." EJ wore a confident smile.

"Thank you." Dylan smiled once more, standing and putting her now empty pasta bowl in the sink. "Sharpay's a big role."

"So was Elsa, and you were incredible at that." EJ stated. "You're gonna do so well."

Dylan couldn't help but smile, a small blush forming across her cheeks. "I miss you."

"I miss you too." EJ replied. "We'll see each other soon."

"Yeah." Dylan let out a small sigh. "You auditioned for that acapella group, right?"

"Yeah, I got in." EJ nodded, laying down on his bed. "First practice is tomorrow."

"Do you need to join more curriculars?" Dylan asked. "I'm worried about you suffocating yourself."

"You're my breath of fresh air every day, Dyl, I'm not suffocating, I promise." EJ reassured her making Dylan blush once more.

"I wrote another song." Dylan told him, changing the subject slightly.

"Oh, yeah, what's it called?" EJ wondered.

"Edge of Great." Dylan replied. "I'll send you over the lyrics."

"Thanks." EJ sent her a smile. "Oh, I've got a surprise for you."

"Oh yeah." Dylan nodded.

EJ sat up in bed, pulling his shirt down to pull a chain out from underneath – the chain she told him to never take out because she found it incredibly attractive. Except this time, there was a 'D' charm hanging at the end of it.

"You listening to Call it What you Want forty two times the other week gave me the idea." EJ explained.

"How did you—"

"Airbuds." He shrugged.

"Right." Dylan nodded slowly.

"I was gonna get you one, but then I realised that you already have your Saturn necklace, and you would never wear a man's initial around your neck." EJ told her, making her smile grow with each word. "But I would wear yours because you really know me, and I love you so much. It means I always have you with me."

"EJ... you're a bit softie." Dylan awed, her nose scrunching slightly. "I want to kiss your face."

"Soon." EJ promised. "Do you like it?"

"I think it's one of the sweetest things a person has ever done for me." Dylan nodded.

"I'm glad." EJ let out a sigh of relief. "I had to message Nini to make sure you'd actually like it and I wasn't gonna mess everything up."

Dylan's heart melted at the thought of her boyfriend messaging her best friend frantically to see if she'd actually like the chain he had gotten, afraid that Dylan was going to hate it and break up with him when in reality it just made her fall for him even more.

The girl opened her mouth to say something when a notification popped up on her phone. It was from their theatre group chat, and it read Emergency cast meeting to announce the HSM3 cast list. There was another notification a moment later from Gina, saying to meet at her house.

"I've got to go." Dylan spoke sadly. "Cast list is being announced."

"Good luck." EJ told her. "You've got it."

Dylan sent him a small, her nose scrunching up slightly. "Talk to you later, love you."

"I love you too." EJ responded easily. "Night Valdez."

"Night Caswell."

He hung up and it went back to her home screen, which was a picture of her, her dad, Eve, Nini, and EJ. The girl stared at the photo for a moment, a sigh leaving her lips before she grabbed a post-it note and scribbled down that she was going to Gina's in case she wasn't home when Eve and her dad got back from their date night dinner.

The girl stuck it to the fridge before she pulled her converse back on and made her way towards Gina's house. Dylan entered the house without knocking, knowing that the others were most definitely inside already. She climbed the stairs, smiling happily at all the theatre kids who were in Gina's attic bedroom, which was adorable.

"Hey, guys." Dylan greeted them all happily.

"Hey!" They all chorused.

"Girl, let's talk about you and Mack dancing today." Kourtney rushed over to her. "There was some serious energy."

"He was doing it for Dani." Dylan told her. "And I have a boyfriend."

"At least, put in a good word for Gina." Kourtney looked to the girl next to them.

"Yes, because Gina is very much single." Ashlyn cut in, nodding her head vigorously. Dylan shook her head, amusedly. Ashlyn was a terrible liar.

"He has a girlfriend." Gina pointed out, joining the conversation.

"And besides, me and Mack are not friends." Dylan stated.

"Didn't seem like it." Kourtney sang before her face turned serious. "If he tried to be your friend, Dyl, don't shut him out, okay?"

Dylan let out a small sigh. She supposed that it wouldn't be so bad being friends with Mack. All her other friends had either left or were too wrapped up in their own lives to even pay attention to her. And here Mack was, extending an olive branch and giving her a chance to be his friend.

It might be nice to have a friend outside the drama club. Outside the drama that laid inside the rehearsal room, one that wasn't going to go to California and never return or leave her behind while he went to college.

Dylan narrowed her eyes at the cut out of young Mack at Gina had in her bedroom. Maybe she could put up with him... maybe. But maybe she'd let him suffer a bit first, she wasn't joking about him writing his own version of 'A Billion Sorrys' to apologise to her with, that song was a masterpiece and gave her bullying material for the rest of her life – and she needed that with Mack too.

Dylan turned back to Kourtney. "I won't shut him out, Kourt, okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise." Dylan nodded. "But I'm not playing cupid for Gina either, I don't need to see that. I think we should all start dating outside the drama club."

"You're dating within the drama club?" Kourtney pointed out.

"Not anymore." Dylan stated. "He's at college and therefore not in the drama club anymore."

"What happened to 'Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat'?" Gina wondered.

"Not in this circumstance." Dylan sent her a small smile.

"Everyone, sit." Carlos suddenly announced, taking an envelope from Emmy. Dylan moved to a couch on the side, sitting down next to Ashlyn. "Everyone breathe. Today was big. We rehearsed for a Hollywood movie. But in my humble opinion, the following is even bigger."

Ricky suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, late as per usual. "Am I too late?"

"For Ricky Bowen, you're right on time." Carlos told him.

Carlos cleared his throat to get their attention. "Sharpay will be played by Dylan Valdez."

Everyone in the room instantly cheered. Both Ashlyn and Kourtney turned to shake the girl's shoulders. Dylan laughed softly, glad she had gotten the role she wanted. She just hoped she had the Sharpay energy to make it work. She had enjoyed playing Ryan last year but she wanted a change, and this was it.

"Ryan will be played by moi."

Dylan pointed to Carlos, talking over all the cheering. "Dream team! We will slay I want it All."

"Kelsie will be played by Ashlyn Moon Caswell." Carlos continued.

Dylan cheered for the girl, wrapping her arms around her friend and pulling her closer.

"Taylor will be played by own very own Kourtney Greene." Carlos stated. "With her understudy as the famous, controversial Hollywood exile known only as Emmy."

Dylan smiled, congratulating Emmy, knowing that if there was anyone to take Kourtney's place on stage, Emmy would be the one that could fill her shoes. The brunette then turned to hug Kourtney tightly.

"Here we go." Carlos stated. "Troy will be played by, not shockingly, featured extra number two, aka, Richard Bowen."

Dylan rolled her eyes, who could have seen that coming? Despite that, there was a small grin on her face, truly nobody else could play troy.

Ricky stood up, raising his fists in the air in excitement. "Let's go, seniors! Yes!"

"And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, Gabriella." Carlos voiced, his eyes trailing across all of them until they landed on Gina.

Gina's eyes widened, standing up slightly. "Oh my gosh, is it me?"

"Let me have my moment." He paused dramatically before smiling brightly. "It's you."

Dylan immediately squealed, rushing over to wrap her arms around Gina. "Gabriella era."

"I can't believe it." Gina breathed out.

"Believe it baby, you are Gabriella Montez, and no one could play her better." Dylan reassured the girl, although her mind couldn't help but wander back to Nini as she spoke... God she missed her.

"Um, excuse me, Ash, there's more." Carlos cut in as Ashlyn spoke a voice message to Maddox, who she had been texting nonstop since camp. "Martha, Kenidee."

They all cheered for the girl as she got up from her seat and began to do a pop, lock, jam and break, each of them hyping her up more.

"I am personally lobbying for Miss Jenn to play Miss Darbus." Carlos revealed. "And that's it."

"Wait, what about Chad?" Gina asked.

Emmy stood up in agreement. "Right. My—her boyfriend."

"Chad is not cast yet." Carlos explained after checking the list.

"I would get EJ back but boy is he busy." Dylan told them with a frown.

"I'm sorry, how do we not have enough people to fill out an HSM3 cast?" Gina questioned.

"It appears the movie sucked up all other potential drama kids. They're getting a hundred bucks a week, plus all the kettle corn they can eat. We can't compete with that."

"You guys, Dani just posted something really cryptic on Instagram." Kourtney admitted. She sat down on the table and they all looked over her shoulder at her phone. "It reads, Hollywood is brutal. Stay grounded out there, babes." Kourtney gasped. "Mack commented, Shit's messed up. Ooh, what kind of tea they got going on there."

To be completely, Dylan didn't find a bone in her body that cared. Dani's smug look as she walked away was enough to build at least slight resentment of Dylan.

Suddenly, her phone began to ring. Dylan pulled it out without hesitation, smiling at the thought that it would be EJ wondering how the cast list was. However, when she looked down at her phone, it was not the case.

Instead, it was an unknown number, starting with a 310 area code.

"Uh, guys... what area code is 310?"

"310, that's Hollywood, baby." Carlos responded.

Dylan shrugged, just completely and utterly lost as she sat down on the step that led to Gina's bed. "Maybe I'm fired because of what happened today?"

"Look if you're fired from the movie, you're still Sharpay." Ricky replied.

"Yes, Ricky. Thank you for that reassurance." And although she had no idea what Hollywood wanted with her, she answered the phone and put it on speaker. "Hello?"

"Dylan Valdez." Quinn, the director, began. "Hi. It's Quinn, the director. Sundance runner-up for Where Has All The Money Gone?"

"I remember." Dylan answered. "Um, if this is about what happened earlier, I'm sorry for messing up, it won't happen again."

She wasn't sorry, not even a little bit. Dylan was lying straight through her teeth, and one glance at Ricky told him that to the point that he broke out in quiet laughter, shaking his head at her.

"Listen, that is the exact thing that I need." Quinn stated. "I spoke to your drama teacher today and she said that you have the range, talent and ambition to really make a mark. And not just in the background."

Dylan straightened up a little bit, clearing her throat. "What does that mean?"

"Well, what I'm saying is... how would you like to replace Dani in High School Musical 4?"

And suddenly, just like that, Dylan's world turned upside down.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
another monthly update woo !!!
ej and dylan 4 life i love them
so so so so much !!
ALSO GO DYLAN BEING THE LEAD
IN A MOVIE YAYAYAY