If there were two things that Dylan Efron could rely on in her messy, unstable, disaster of a life, they were High School Musical and starting over. Growing up with an unreliable mother like hers meant that Dylan had long since grown used to sudden...
If there were two things that Dylan Efron could rely on in her messy, unstable, disaster of a life, they were High School Musical and starting over. Growing up with an unreliable mother like hers meant that Dylan had long since grown used to sudden change, making the best of a bad deal, and taking care of herself. So when, out of nowhere, her mom packs their lives into a car and moves them from New York all the way to Utah to direct High School Musical The Musical at the East High, Dylan breathes through it and goes back to where her love of theatre first began. As she grows closer with the rest of the cast, she wishes more than anything that she could open up to them, tell them the truth — about anything, really. But the truth is never an option, so Dylan does what she's always done: pretend. But the truth has a way of coming out and, just this once, she might have found somewhere that she can actually belong.
Disclaimer: I don't own HSMTMTS, or any character other than Dylan.
Warnings: Child neglect, panic attacks, not always miss jenn friendly (no character bashing, but not always friendly)
(for those of you who are like me and like visual references for characters, Dylan's face is Sabrina Carpenter!)
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
★★★
The Start Of Something New
The First Day
There it was, in all its glory. East High. Just as magical as Dylan remembered it — as vividly as any toddler could remember the most wonderful, formative part of their life.
"Look, sweetie, we're home," her mom said.
Dylan rolled her eyes, double checking her twin braids in the mirror of her sun visor. Her mom was already back to staring at her phone, trying to load a video of We're All In This Together, so Dylan took her chance to get out of the car before Jenn attempted any further "sentimental bonding."
Staring up at the school, she tightened her grip on her backpack and followed the growing crowd of students inside. A boy in a denim jacket almost knocked her over with his skateboard, shouting an "I'm so sorry!" to her own "Watch it, asshole!" It didn't matter either way, really. It wasn't going to last. She wouldn't be here long enough for it to be worth getting sentimental. Even if her love of theater had started in this very building, in what was about to become her very own school gym.
She shook her head, ducking to the outskirts of the crowd to try to find her way.
"Hey, are you alright?"
She looked over — looked up, really — to see the most stunning pair of eyes looking down at her in concern.
She blinked, taking in the boy in front of her. At least six feet tall, gorgeous dark hair, a sharp jaw, and piercing blue-green eyes, not to mention an impressive body, no doubt explained by his varsity jacket; if she were her mother, she'd be threatening to climb him like a tree.
