chapter nine
homecoming fun
The next day, Dylan was once again walking down the hall, her headphones on as you should've said no by Taylor Swift blasted through them. She sighed as she was interrupted but she smiled when she realised it was her two best friends.
Unbeknownst to Dylan, Nini had been in the toilets that morning trying to flush her homecoming dress as a statement for how she was done with boys and them dictating her life, despite it not working Nini still came to the decision that she was not going to homecoming and instead spending the night with Kourtney and hopefully Dylan.
"Dylan!" Nini greeted, both girls linking arms with the Valdez girl.
"Nini!" Dylan exclaimed in the same tone, a confused look on her face as she took her headphones out of her ears.
"Would you, Miss Valdez, do us the greatest pleasure of accompanying us for an anti homecoming homecoming this evening?" Kourtney asked her, a large smile etched across her face.
"Ooh, like a night on the town just us three?" Dylan wondered.
"Yes, see she gets it." Nini looked towards Kourtney with a teasing smile.
"So?"
"I would love to girls but I promised my dad i would go to homecoming since it's the first one since my mum left." Dylan explained with a sigh.
Both Nini and Kourtney shared a disappointed look but squeezed the girl and nodded in understanding.
"We get it." Kourtney nodded.
"You have fun." Nini rested her head on her best friends shoulder.
"Karaoke at my house tomorrow to make up for it?" Dylan suggested.
The two girls perked up once more, excited smiles on their faces. "We would love to!" They both agreed.
The three girls spent the rest of the day together, being the happiest they could and just hanging out. Nini ran lines with Dylan and Kourney spent the day telling Dylan how she should do her makeup and hair for homecoming to best suit her dress.
It was a fun day, and it was made on her way home. She was simply walking down the road, only one headphone in this time as it seemed the world was against her listening to her music peacefully when a voice spoke up from next to her.
"Come to homecoming with me?"
Dylan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, turning to see Big Red now walking next to her. His face was flushed, either from nervousness or the fact that he has been trying to catch up to her since she left school. Turns out Dylan can in fact walk faster than Big Red could skate.
"Pardon?" The two stopped walking.
"I asked you to go to homecoming with me." Big Red stared nervously. "As friends, of course, and we would have to go with Ricky as well but I told him we'd meet him there. We've been friends for ages and I know this is your fast school event since your mum left and an incredible girl like you doesn't deserve to go alone."
Dylan let a smile spread across her face. Despite being friend with Big Red for so long, his caring and loving nature never failed to put her in awe. Everyone needed a friend like Big Red and Dylan knew that she would treasure him forever.
Dylan stepped forward to hug the boy, a smile on her face as she answered, "Of course I'd go to homecoming with you Red. It would be an honour to go with a guy as amazing as you."
Big Red hugged her back for a few moments before the they let go, taking a few steps back. Dylan began to walk backwards, still facing the boy.
"I'll, uh, text you when I'm picking you up." He called after her.
"Awesome, I'll see you later!" Dylan shouted, putting both her headphones in this time as she spun around, continuing her journey home uninterrupted with a smile on her face.
✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑
That evening, Dylan was getting ready nervously. She had already phoned Nini three times, interrupting her travel to their girl's night but she did not mind, so that the Salazar-Roberts girl could reassure her that everything was fine and that she looked amazing.
Dylan didn't know what had come over her. Her mother loved to send her to school dances, in the prettiest of dresses but there was always something wrong with Dylan. Her hair didn't look right, her dress was too small because she had gotten fat or that she was too short. There were so many things that her mum criticised her about and over time Dylan began to be extremely insecure about herself, which was why she was so nervous to be in a pretty dress for the first time since her mum left.
She had put on a burgundy satin dress that came down to her mid thighs. It had a black belt around the waist, another piece of material attached to it so it had a flowy back coming down to just above her ankle. She had paired it with a pair of black sandal type stilettos. Her makeup was simply, a burgundy colour with a but of sparkle covered her eyes and a simple pink lip gloss.
Her long hair was in an updo, it was slightly messy but that was because her dad did it and it was the only thing he had learned how to do with her hair. It was a curled bun on top of her head, bits pulled out of it to frame her face and make her face look less round.
In her ears were saturn earrings. Her father had bought them for her when he was on a business trip. She had been left with her mum for nearly a week because of his business trip that he could not get out of or take Dylan with him on. He had found them in an old jewellery shop on the verge on bankruptcy and automatically thought of Dylan.
Sebastian had bought them for a price that was higher than what the shopkeeper expected. He took them home and gave them to Dylan when he saved her from her mother, and Dylan was so happy that he had thought of her while he was away and had treasured them ever since.
She looked in the mirror once she was finished. Dylan stared at herself for a few moments, the sound of more than a band by Lemonade Mouth echoing gently throughout her room. She had been getting ready to her disney playlist when her fathers voice called from downstairs.
"Dylan! You ready yet?" Big Red had been downstairs for the last forty minutes simply catching up with Sebastian while Dylan finished getting ready.
"One second!" Dylan shouted back.
Finally happy with her experience, Dylan took another deep breath, allowing a smile settle into her face before she stared to fiddle with the friendship bracelet on her wrist. Kourtney, Nini and Dylan had made them at a sleepover a few years ago and had each worn them ever since.
She made her way down the stair, gripping the bannister so she wouldn't fall down them. Her heels clicking against the hardwood floor caught the attention of her dad and Big Red, the two coming from the living room the see the girl.
Sebastian had a camera in his hand, pressing record as he had done every time she has an important event since kindergarten. He recorded her walking down the rest of the stairs.
"Hi, sweetheart." Her dad smiled.
"Hi dad!" Dylan waved.
"What's this now?"
"Junior year homecoming." Dylan blew a kiss to the camera, doing a twirl at the bottom of the steps before Sebastian turned the camera off.
"You look gorgeous." Sebastian complimented his daughter, hugging her and pressing a kiss to her head. Dylan smiled into the hug before turning to Big Red.
"How do I look?" Dylan asked Big Red.
Big Red froze slightly. The two had a running joke that he would always say she looked gross even when she didn't, and she would do the same to him. It started in like fourth grade when Dylan said sarcastically that Big Red look disgusting at a school event after he overthought his outfit for multiple hours. However, this was one time when he hesitated. He knew deep down how much this homecoming meant to her and she looked absolutely stunning but because of how much she hated change Big Red decided to respond normally.
"Absolutely awful." He told her.
"I've waited my entire life for a guy to say that to me." Dylan shook her head with a smile, hugging Big Red.
"Pictures! Pictures!" Sebastian exclaimed suddenly. Big Red and Dylan shared an amused look before standing opposite Sebastian. They took a few nice photos and a couple funny ones.
"We're leaving now." Dylan announced, grabbing Big Red's hand and pulling him towards the door.
"No!"
"Yes, we're leaving." Dylan kissed her dad's cheek, heading to the door.
"Bye Mr Valdez." Big Red called over his shoulder as they left the house.
Dylan slowed down once the door closed behind them. She walked next to Big Red, who turned to her and smiled.
"You look beautiful, by the way, truthfully." He complimented her.
"Thanks Red." Dylan blushed slightly at the compliment.
Like a gentlemen, Big Red opened the car door for Dylan, allowing her to get in before he rounded the car and jumped in the drivers seat. Dylan plugged her phone into the aux and pressed play on her songs, long way home by 5 Seconds of Summer playing through the speakers.
They drove singing along to Dylan's playlist as they made their way towards the school. Once they were there, once again Big Red opened the door for Dylan, taking her hand to help her out of the car.
They walked through the doors, making their way down the corridor and towards the gym. Outside, sat Mr Mazarra on a table, ticking people off the list who had bought tickets.
"Two for Valdez." Dylan told him. When he heard the last name the teacher looked up. "Hey Mr M."
Dylan had spent more time than people realised with Mr Mazarra since she joined the theatre, seeing as she had become very close with Ashlyn, who was part of the AV club. Mr Mazarra did not like the drama club very much but seemed to like both Dylan and Ashlyn, Ashlyn because she was in the AV club, which he ran, and Dylan for her sarcastic comments.
The teacher smiled at the girl before ticking her name off. "Hello only theatre student I can tolerate, you are sat with the other drama nerds at table 10." Mr Mazarra told them, "Take a picture on the way in."
The two smiled at the adult, walking into the gym. They skipped the picture, deciding Dylan's father had enough to last a life time and went to sit on their table. They greeted Ricky who had already turned up, Dylan hugging they boy as she did.
Carlos and Ashlyn who was also there quickly jumped up when they noticed the girl, squealing slightly as they hugged her.
"You look fabulous." Carlos practically squealed.
"Dylan, I am lost for words at your beauty!" Ashlyn complimented her.
"Me? What about you two? Look at you!" Dylan replied.
"I do look great." Carlos shrugged, making the two girls laugh slightly.
"Yes you do." Ashlyn and Dylan spoke in sync. The trio sat down once more, Dylan sitting in between Ashlyn and Big Red, the three chatting amongst themselves ignoring Ricky complaining to Big Red about EJ and Gina coming together.
"Excuse us," A voice spoke. Dylan looked up to see Gina and EJ, "These seats taken?"
Everyone stared at them awkwardly, surprised that the two had come together, and slightly tense after hearing Ricky's complaining. Everything was pretty tense anyway, with the knowledge that EJ had only recently broken up with Nini, and Gina wanted the role of Gabriella from Nini. Dylan looked around the silent table before standing up and hugging Gina.
"G you look gorgeous." Dylan told the curly haired girl, gesturing to her dress. "I'm loving the sparkles."
"You look beautiful too D, red is so your colour!" Gina returned the compliment.
Dylan smiled, looking at EJ. She looked his up and down, scrunching her nose up before she answered with a shrug, "You look fine too I guess."
Dylan spun around, sitting back down and ignoring the slightly offended look on EJ's face. He may not like the girl but he knew he looked better than fine.
After a while, and many snack, Dylan was back at the table, this time trying to comfort Carlos about Seb not arriving yet despite saying he would. However, her efforts were interrupted by Ricky and Gina's conversation growing in volume so it now caught the entire table's attention.
"Well I'm giving it anyways because I sort of thought you were classier than this," Ricky spoke, everyone's eyes widening as they listened to his words.
"Stop talking." Dylan hissed at him.
"But hey maybe you really are what people say you are," Ricky continued.
"And that is?" Gina asked.
"Dude." Rig Red warned.
"Stop it Ricky." Dylan added on, trying to get him to stop talking before he dug himself a deeper hole.
"You're a little too ambitious for your own good, or anyone else's." Ricky shrugged, taking a sip of his punch. Dylan sighed.
"You're an idiot." Dylan told him as Gina stormed off, clearly upset.
A little while later, Dylan watched Gina and EJ argue by the punch bowl, the two fighting with each other until Gina dumped a cup of punch of EJ's head before storming off towards the exit.
"Oh my gosh." Dylan gasped. Dylan was about to go after Gina when she saw Ricky follow after her. Deciding not to get involved with whatever that was, she slumped in her seat.
"He looks like a lost puppy." Ashlyn stated from next to her.
"Who?"
"Ej." Dylan turned to see EJ, looking around helplessly. Dylan took a deep breath, quickly making a pro and con list in her head before she sighed.
"Me voy a arrepentir de esto. I'll be back." Dylan stood up, walking over to EJ. She grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the gym and towards the boys locker rooms.
"Where are we going?" EJ questioned her as she pulled him along. Dylan ignored him, pushing the doors open and pulling him towards the toilets. "What are you doing?"
"I'm helping you, you looked like some lost puppy and it was stressing me out a bit." Dylan told him. EJ smiled at her without realising, it quickly dripping when he finally noticed that he was in fact smiling at someone he disliked.
"Take your jacket off." Dylan demanded. He did as he was told and handed it to Dylan. She began to wring the jacket, trying to get rid of any punch it had absorbed. EJ stood there awkwardly, watching her.
"Why are you helping me?" EJ asked her.
"I told you, you looked like a lost puppy." Dylan shrugged.
"That's not the reason." Dylan ignored him, walking around the Caswell boy to grab a towel. She threw it at EJ, who caught it. "What's this for?"
"To clean the floors." She spoke sarcastically, "What do you think? To dry yourself."
"Oh."
The two stood in silence, EJ trying to dry himself off as best he could. Dylan continued to wring his jacket out before she huffed loudly, dropping his coat in the sink.
"Can you talk please?" Dylan asked.
"What?"
"Just talk, about anything, everything. I don't care just say something. I hate the silence." She replied.
"Why are you helping me?" Ej repeated yet again. Dylan sighed, dropping his suit jacket into the sink.
"Look Caswell we are not friends okay? So I don't need to explain myself to you." She snapped at him, before taking another deep breath. EJ nodded, going back to drying himself when he heard Dylan's laughter.
"What?"
"You've got," She laughed, "you've still got punch like all over the side of your face." He tried to wipe it off but failed miserably. "Here, let me."
Dylan stepped forward, taking the towel out of his hands and began wiping the side of his face. She tried to ignore the boy's gaze fixed on her but eventually couldn't.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked him.
"Thank you." He whispered. Dylan furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head to make eye contact with him. She didn't realise how close she was to him, their noses about an inch apart.
"Huh?"
"Thank you, for doing this." EJ repeated.
"Your welcome." Dylan replied before going back to wiping his face. She sighed after a moment stepping backwards. "When my parents relationship was getting bad before their divorce, my uh, my mum, she would never help me get cleaned up. After I had fallen over, when I would graze or cut my knee. She never cared. She would make me do it myself so most of the time the cuts would get infected and my dad had to help me."
"After I fell over once, I had cut my knee and because my mom didn't care it got really badly infected. I had to go to the doctors and everything. On that day I vowed that I would never let anyone, whether I hated them or not be helpless in a situation where I could help." Dylan explained, "That's why I'm helping you. Because you were stood there helplessly, and I could do something to stop you feeling so helpless and so i did."
She looked up again, the two making eye contact one more time, "Because my mum's a horrible person. She's such a horrible person that she left me and now whenever I see her all she does is insult my life."
"Well I think you're a great person." Ej informed her. "I mean I know we're not the best of friends and you don't think that highly of me and yet here you are helping me. And you have stood up for Nini and your friends more times than I can count with no hesitation. You are an incredible person Dylan no matter what your mum says."
Dylan laughed slightly as EJ stepped forward, the two now as close as they were before. He watched as she played with her bracelet, a nervous habit she does that he had picked up on. EJ grabbed her hand, pausing her movement and causing her to look up at him again.
"You are amazing, don't let yourself forget it." EJ smiled at her. She smiled, sniffling slightly to stop any tears from falling at his genuine description of her.
"Thanks." The two stared at each other for a minute or two until Dylan cleared her throat, stepping back again. "I should go check up on Carlos, see if Seb's arrived yet and find a girl to dance with Big Red."
She picked up EJ's suit jacket and handed it to him, "Here you go. I tried to get as much punch out of it as possible."
Dylan smiled at him once more before walking away from him, confused on what just happened. Unbeknownst to her, EJ was staring at her retreating figure, confused on the feeling that had blossomed in his chest.
Dylan walked back into the gym to see Carlos strutting into the middle of the dancefloor. She smiled, walking over to Ashlyn and pulling her up, the two making their way over to the boy. Born to be Brave was blasting through the speakers, everyone slowly joining in.
"My castle in the sky." Ashlyn and Dylan joined in with the singing, circling Carlos.
"Let my hair down and let it go.No more running, I run this show. Way up here, yeah, the view is gold. Born to be brave. Now I'm standing miles high. Like castles in the sky." Carlos joined in, the trio now singing and dancing together. Jumping up and down, Dylan quickly ran over to Ej.
"Dance."
"Nope." EJ protested. Dylan just smiled before pulling him up and forcing him to dance.
"You don't get a choice." Ej simply laughed as the two sang along.
"Bosses and queens, stand up on your throne, know who you are, this is your kingdom. Legends at heart, individuals. Go make your mark, be original."
When the instrumental came on, Dylan ran over and lined up on the other side of Carlos and began dancing with the group unaware of EJ now watching her dance, laughing and smiling with Carlos and Ashlyn in awe. When the chorus came back on everyone lifted Carlos up, gathering around him and hyping him up.
"'Cause I was born to be brave. I know who I am inside and I won't apologize. Made my mistakes and they gave me wings to fly to my castle in the sky. Let my hair down and let it go. No more running, I run the show. Way up here, yeah, the view is gold. 'Cause I was born to be brave. Now I'm standing miles high. Like castles in the sky, like castles in the sky."
The song finished and Ashlyn and Dylan brought Carlos into a group hug, all three of them laughing.
"I mean that was amazing." Ashlyn praised.
"Truly extraordinary." Dylan agreed. The trio then turned to see Seb making his way over. Dylan and Ashlyn smiled before walking away from the couple. Dylan walked over to the punch station, getting a drink when she felt a presence next to her.
"You really like dancing don't you?" Ej asked her.
"I love it." Dylan replied.
"I could tell, you looked happy... care free when you were dancing." EJ told her what he observed.
"It wasn't just dancing, it was being with my friends, having a good time, no drama." Dylan told him, "You should try it sometime, just living. No drama. No relationships. Just doing something you love with people you love."
Dylan didn't wait for him to reply, walking off to find Big Red, who was sat at their table.
"Hey Red wanna dance?" Dylan asked.
"It's a slow dance."
"So. Come on. You're my date you have to dance with me." She held her hand out which he took, the two walking over onto the dancefloor.
Dylan placed her arms over his shoulders, his hands hovering over her waist, almost like he was scared to touch her.
"You do know you can actually put your hand on my waist right not just hover over it." She laughed. Big Red nodded, resting them on her waist.
"I just don't want to make you uncomfortable." He informed her.
"That's sweet Red." The swayed continued to sway in time to the music, just enjoying each other's presence. "Thank you for bringing me today."
"No problem." He answered.
"I mean I know I haven really been hanging around you but thank you for asking me to come with you and picking me up and dancing with me. I'm glad it's you I came to my first dance with in years with. I couldn't ask for a better friend date." Dylan explained.
"Your welcome. I've had fun too." And the duo continued to dance, swaying when the slow songs played, jumping when the upbeat songs played. Until they were out of breath and Dylan's feet hurt and they decided to go home. Big Red put his jacket over her shoulders when she shivered and carried her shoes after she took them off.
He even walked her to the front door, her hugging him before waving goodbye and going inside, glad she had such an incredible friend by her side. Big Red hugged her back, taking his jacket from her hands and walked away from her house, happy to know he got to call such an amazing person his friend.
( 💌 ) isobel's notes
okay this is where ej's feelings
towards dylan change, and her
own unknowingly but she
wont think about them yet
i've just realised how much of
a slow burn these two truly are
but who cares
big red and dylan's friendship
chapter! their friendship
means to world to me because
i see a lot of books where the oc
is shown to be ricky's and reds
friend but then only ever
hangs out with ricky so here we
are
i also find the gif funny because
dylan is like stiles and big red is
lydia
this chapter was 4k words long lol
this is dylan's hair and dress
for reference :)