Well, it is Sunday night still and I am happy to report that I do not have school tomorrow. ^^ Which means I don't have to procrastinate on my writing homework till Tuesday night. I'm so happy, my first snow day in like, over four years. I'm gonna have a movie day and stuff my face with junk food. And lemme tell you, when you have a fast metabolism, aren't a huge eater, and come from a family with short skinny women on one side you really wanna try and gain more weight. And after living off of chocolate and everything I'm still waiting for it to kick in. XD What? I can joke about myself, can't I? Don't you guys do it to yourselves, too? Or would you rather have me joke about one of the characters? Cause if you want me to, I can crack a joke in the a/n next chapter or something. So anyway, I think I will take out the genres at the end of each chapter summary now cause I'm bound to only put family for at least half of them. But if you want me to, I can put the featured couple in instead.
Chapter Five Summary: As a sixteen year old, Dylan has finally gotten his permit and is determined to get his license. So who will be the parent to teach him and will he pass it on his first try?
Chapter Five: Teaching Mr. Dylan
"Final grade for my driver's ed class, solid eighty-nine." Dylan smiled to himself as he flashed the paper to one of his friends.
The African American boy beside him, of a much darker skin tone, took the paper and looked at it wide-eyed. "Dude," he gasped in a deeper voice, "do you know what this means? Easy acing on your real test!"
"One step at a time, Coop." Dylan sighed as he took the paper back. "You have no idea how long my parents have gone at it figuring out who would teach me."
"Dude, problem solved." Cooper shrugged. "The driving instructor already taught you. You're practically in."
"Yeah, and you know how long it took me to bring up my grade on the driving portion of the class after only being able to practice in there. I'm lucky I even got my permit like two weeks into the class." Dylan replied.
"Yeah, but you were a natural as soon as you got the hang of everythin." he shrugged. "Better than me anyway. I only passed with a seventy-two. Hey, can I borrow your brains for that math test on Friday?"
Dylan smiled slightly and shook his head at his friend. "Ask my mom, she's the one with the real brains."
"Great, then can I ask your dad for some of his jokes so I can impress the ladies?" he asked as smoothly as he could, especially with a couple of older women walking past them.
"Ok you know what, I'm getting away from you." Dylan decided. He adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder and started walking away, but then turned back around and pointed at Cooper. "And for the record, those girls were way out of your league." He turned back around and headed home. Hey, at least the driver's ed course was the only class he had to worry about that day, especially with it being summer break. The only reason Dill ever took his backpack with him was to carry around his notebook, textbook, extra writing utensils, a sketchpad, and of course his cell phone for emergencies.
He stepped up to the front door of his house, taking note of the two cars in the driveway. He knew both of his parents were home that day. His dad had taken a personal day from work and this was one of the days his mom was off. It was a decent balance as far as Dylan was considered; a daycare worker and a secretary. And he knew that come next summer he'd be on the job hunt as well. Smiling to himself as he imagined the look on their faces, Dylan stepped inside as his mom was carrying in a bottle of water from the kitchen into the living room. He smiled and playfully waved the sheet of paper in front of her.
Taylor raised an eyebrow as she slowly took the paper from him. "Good day at the class today?" she assumed.
"See the paper for yourself." Dill grinned. "Just took the last class today which included last minutes pieces of advice, a little booklet for starting drivers, and grades."
"Well I know I don't need to sit down for this." she shrugged confidently as she put the water bottle down on the counter. Her brown eyes scanned over each piece of information on the sheet, little by little, before getting to the final grade. "Active participation, concise grades, cautious driver, decently executed steps on the two practice driving courses..." she started, reading the minor teacher's notes, "...midterm grade, eighty-two, final grade ninety, and final grade for the class overall, eighty-nine!" She couldn't help but let out a squeal of excitement. Taylor quickly covered her mouth, knowing that revealed a too-girlie side to her. "That squeal never leaves this room."
"The squeal never happened." Dylan chuckled, barely having to look up at her considering he wasn't even half a foot shorter than her. "what do you think?"
"I think that after a couple more months of practicing there is no way you are going to fail that road test." Taylor smiled, giving him a hug. "And you were so nervous about the tests before."
"I just wanted to pass the class. How was I gonna pass with bad grades on the tests?" Dylan smiled as he hugged her back. "Hey where's Dad? He's gotta see this."
Taylor smiled as she pulled away, "He's in the back trying to teach your sister how to dribble a basketball right. I don't even know why he bothers, her hands are less than half the size of his."
"C'mon, let's go show them!" Dylan said eagerly, ready to rush out into the backyard.
Taylor smiled and rolled her eyes as she followed him out. They went through the dining room and went out the back door. The backyard had been redesigned a bit in the last few years; instead of it being completely covered in grass there was a minor basketball court cemented in, and off to the opposite end close to the fence was a child's swing set. And of course right there on the basketball court was Chad trying to teach three-year-old Cheryl how to now shoot the basketball into the net.
"No come on Cherry, hold your hands like this." Chad instructed as he assisted the little girl through. Cheryl looked at him confused, but Chad only told her to keep her eyes on the ball and net. "Now just try to aim it just right and bend your knees as you get ready to make that big shot...
And he seemed to be in so much focus until Taylor interrupted him. "Hey Chad, come over here!" she called.
That was just when Chad was helping Cheryl shoot the ball towards the net. He lost his concentration and Cheryl ducked down, using the little common sense she developed at that point, as the ball smacked Chad on the head and nearly caused him to fall over. Cheryl covered her mouth, "Oopsie."
Dylan chuckled as he watched and Taylor couldn't help but laugh. "Aw, are you ok?" she asked in a playful tone as she walked over to check on her husband.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Chad sighed. "But I think the ball kind of had it in for me after you locked it away last week."
Taylor poked him in the chest, "Only to prevent you from breaking something in the house."
"Cheryl was the one who wanted to play with it first." Chad said defensively, pointing to the little girl.
"But Daddy, you played wit it fiwst." Cheryl said innocently. "Member? You was spinnin it on your fingew?"
Chad rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and Dylan chuckled. "Somebody's in trouble." he sang.
"And somebody's gonna be skipping dinner if they do that again." Chad replied sarcastically. "So what's so big that you had to interrupt our imaginary game?"
"See for yourself." Taylor replied simply, putting Dylan's grades right in his face.
Chad nearly stepped back in shock as he felt like the paper tackled him. Then he grasped it and skimmed everything through. "Whoa, somebody's gonna have their license soon!" he grinned. He hit Dylan a high five and rubbed his head. "I'll take you out driving this weekend and we'll see what you're made of."
Dylan didn't say anything in response because he knew where this was going. Taylor would already be at him.
"Nice try Chad." she said sarcastically. "But I know how your driving was in high school. Now it may have improved over the years but I'm still not going to trust you to teach Dylan to drive. Especially with his insurance rate."
"Hey it was gonna be high anyway. Mine practically skyrocketed at his age." Chad replied.
"Yes, and it was a miracle you didn't hit or kill anything." Taylor informed him. "And we should also consider defensive driving classes to decreate the rate a bit. And it wouldn't hurt us to go to one of those, either. I can look up information for all of that by January."
"Can we focus on getting him his license, first?" Chad asked. "And I think I'm the perfect candidate to drive him." He turned to his son. "Tell her Dill. You trust me behind the wheel, right?"
Dylan bit his tongue and thought for a minute. "Most of the time..."
"See Tay? What did I tell you?" Chad asked confidently, his hands on his hips. "He trusts me entire-" He stopped right away with wide eyes. "What did you just say?"
"Most of the time..." he almost hesitated to repeat.
"And there you have it." Taylor smirked. "I win. I'll review his skills and assist him with further teaching on the proper way to handle a motor vehicle."
"But it's supposed to be a father-son thing." Chad moaned.
"We do that when I watch some sports with you." Dylan shrugged. True, Chad didn't play sports anymore but he had gotten back into basketball just for fun as soon as Cheryl started getting her tiny hands on a ball. And Dylan wasn't that much into sports either, but he tried to understand and he used it as his chance to have some attempted guy time with his father. But it was obvious that while both kids were close to their parents equally they did have their favorite parent.
"Look Chad, just let it go." Taylor said. "Besides, it will give you more bonding time with Cheryl. You love doing that."
"Just wait till she turns into a teenager." Dylan joked, remembering how he saw so many fathers of girls in his class freak out when they were with boys.
"He's got you there." Taylor giggled. She proved her point by quoting all of the things Chad planned for their little girl. "She's never getting her hand at boys until she's our age. There is no way I am ever going to see her get close to a guy. Oh just wait until she learns the dangers of having a hormonal teenage boyfriend..."
"Ok, that does it!" Chad interrupted. "You better start running, Tay, cause you have a two second head start before I start chasing you."
"Oh I'm so scared." Taylor said sarcastically. And that was when Chad started after her, causing Taylor to run right back into the house with him directly behind her.
Dylan couldn't help but laugh at his dad's antics. Cheryl, on the other hand, just cocked her head from confusion. "They're wewd."
"You mean 'weird'." Dylan corrected with a smile as he picked her up. "But really, we're all weird sometimes Cherry. Now let's go watch Boomerang on TV, ok?" Besides, what else could be weirder than watching cartoons that were around in the nineteen-seventy's?
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"How was that turn?" Dylan asked after making a turn around a corner around town the next day.
"For the third time, the turn was just fine." Taylor replied with a smile, sitting in the passenger's seat.
"So you really think I can pass my road test at the end of the month and before school starts?" Dylan asked.
"Of course. You're going to be just fine." Taylor promised. "The important thing is to be prepared and stay calm. Your turns are fine and your stops have been a little hard so you know what that means?"
Dylan thought for a minute, trying to remember what he learned. "Ease up on the breaks at the last second or slow down sooner?"
"Slow down sooner. Only ease up on the breaks if the situation calls for it." she explained. "So how about we take this off the side streets and around town? We can grab a quick bite if you get hungry."
"Cool, I could use some food." Dylan grinned as he signaled to make another turn and then stopped at a red light. "But I thought only parallel parking was gonna be on the test?"
"It is. But parking in a lot will also help with your hand-eye coordination and help you gain experience now rather than after the road test where you might have a tougher time. And since it will be in a parking lot you'll have to look out for more pedestrians." Taylor explained.
"Right." Dylan nodded. As soon as the light turned green, he made the turn into the right lane as he was supposed to when making a right turn.
"Good." Taylor observed. "Now get into the middle lane."
That was one of the things Dylan had the most problems with. It was almost as hard as parallel parking. "What if I start drifting into the lane when I'm looking? Or I accidentally hit another car...?"
"That's why you check your mirrors and blind spots before changing." Taylor said calmly. "Come on, you know you can do it. Just change lanes when you're ready. Remember, mirrors, blind spots, steady."
"Got it." Dylan nodded, even though it didn't help his nerves much. He looked in the rearview mirror; there was a safe enough distance between him and the car behind him in the middle lane. He checked his left mirror; same amount of distance. Then he gulped and quickly turned his head to look behind him. Then his head switched back to the front, only to nearly slam on the breaks as a car in front of him stopped short. So much for changing lanes quickly. "I can't do it." he shook his head.
"Ok, who are you and what have you done with my son?" Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm pretty sure I didn't raise him to be a quitter."
"If that's one of the fake pep talks you're trying to give me to push me forward only to rub it in my face that it worked, it's not working." he shook his head. He started driving again once the car in front of him started moving, but now there were multiple cars traveling in the middle lane and he had no room to get over. The only spaces he saw with enough room to possibly get in where about four cars in front, but that would require going over the speed limit to get there, and then a couple of cars behind him, which would mean slowing down instead of keeping up with the flow of traffic.
Taylor could sense his nerves as he kept looking for a safe way to get over. "Somebody's chicken." she observed.
"What? Who, me?" Dylan asked. "No I'm not."
"Really, because I'm pretty sure I see a way for you to get over and here you are in the same lane. Maybe we should cancel that road test..." she tempted.
"No way!" Dylan insisted. He was going to prove her wrong. Seeing one of the cars in the middle lane get into the far left lane, Dylan took that as his opportunity to quickly signal and speed up just slightly and give him enough room and time to change lanes. He grinned proudly as he turned the signal off and continued driving. "How was that?" From the corner of his eye he glanced at his mother who was now smiling slyly. "Dang it!" he gasped, wanting to hit his head. "How does she do that?"
"I'm sitting right here, I can still hear you." Taylor informed him. "And trust me, I'm a mother. I can do a lot of things. So now you can get into the left lane."
"Oh man." Dylan moaned. Now he was going to have to go through it again!
Then it was a half hour later and they were driving back home. Every car they passed by that was parked decently, Taylor had told Dylan to parallel park behind it. They went through it a total of five times before arriving on their block. Three times, Dylan hit the curb. The other two times he executed everything perfectly but ended up parking too far.
"Come on, just one more car." Taylor pushed as they neared the house.
"But in the entire time I was in driver's ed I only made one perfect park." Dylan sighed. "I don't think I can do it again."
"You know the parallel park is the hardest thing to do. I thought it was hard, too." Taylor admitted. The procedure is easy enough to do in your head but the problem is executing it. As long as you know how to do it, all you need to know is the right way to do it."
"I don't follow." he shook his head.
Taylor pointed to a car up ahead. "Parallel park behind that car." she instructed.
Dylan nodded and signaled, then stopped at about the half way mark of the car like he leaned in class. He looked all around to make sure no cars were coming, and then put the car in reverse and turned the wheel a turn and a half like he was supposed to. He was about to take his foot off the brakes and start until Taylor stopped him.
"Think about angles." she told him. "You know all about angles, right?"
"Yeah, of course." he nodded.
"Then use the car to make a forty-five degree angle." Taylor explained. "As soon as you make that angle, then continue."
Dylan nodded and took his foot off the brake, starting to move the car back a bit. As soon as it seemed like the right angle, he stopped the car and turned the steering wheel a turn and a half in the opposite direction. He started going back, making sure to look all around.
"Make sure you go just a little slower." Taylor said, even though he was going slow enough. "This way even if you do touch the curb, even if you do go as slow as you do, you won't feel it."
"Ok..." Dylan said slowly. He did as he was told and then as soon as he thought he backed up enough, he turned the wheel in the same direction a turn and a half again. He kept moving slowly, straightening out the car. "How am I?" he asked, wanting to know before he could start pulling up.
Taylor shook her head. "You have to figure that out on your own."
Dylan held in a gulp as he slowly backed up just a little more to fix the car, and then put it in drive. He turned the wheel a turn and a half in the opposite direction once more and slowly proceeded to move forward. He moved the car just a little closer to the curb and then quickly straightened it out completely just before he could touch the car parked in front of him. He put the car in park and then took a deep breath. "How'd I do?"
"You executed that just fine." Taylor assured him with a smile. She opened her door to see how close he was to the curb. She smiled, "Just close enough. A couple more inches and it would have been too far from the curb."
"Wait a minute, so the park's legal?" Dylan gasped.
Taylor nodded as she closed the door. "It's legal. Now how about you get the car into the driveway?"
Dylan smiled and nodded eagerly. He slowly pulled away from the curb and drove down just a few houses and parked in the driveway. He parked the car and undid his seat belt, then removed the keys.
"You did just fine today, Dylan. We can do this again next weekend or when I have my day off from work." she assured him with a smile. She got out of the vehicle and headed into the house.
Wait a minute...every weekend? As in two whole days and driving for a good couple of hours? Dylan moaned as he hit his head on the wheel. But then he realized he just had to keep telling himself one thing.
"That's better than Dad's teaching. That's better than Dad's teaching."
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Chad sighed as he sat down on the bed, his arms folded like he was pouting. It was easy to tell that he was dressed nicely, as he and Taylor were getting ready to meet their friends for some big get-together at Sharpay's and Zeke's.
"Oh quit your pouting, Chad." Taylor told him as she stood in front of the mirror adjusting the earrings she was putting on. "You're still down because Dylan didn't want you to help him with his driving."
"And do you know what kinda vibe that gives a guy? It's like he doesn't trust me with a car." Chad replied.
"Don't worry, he does trust you." Taylor promised. "But you forget, it took you three tries to pass your road test and you were lucky to even get a seventy in your driver's ed class." She spun around to him, "And who was the one who aced not only the course, but the road test on try one?"
"You did." Chad muttered.
"Exactly." she grinned. "That makes me more qualified."
"Yeah well, you don't need to rub it in my face." Chad said.
"Ok, I'm sorry." Taylor apologized. "But you don't need to make a big deal out of it. And we still need to talk about cars for when he does pass his road test."
"Well if he practices on your car he can take your car." Chad shrugged.
"Not going to work. We both need our own cars to get to work." Taylor said. "Maybe once in a while he can use my car for school or an emergency, but maybe it would be better if he saved up for his own car when he gets a job next summer."
"Hey it was torture enough for me to go through with that." Chad said.
Taylor put her hands on her hips. "Well excuse me for dating you at the time when you were the one who wanted to car." she said icily. She turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
Chad hit his head. "Ok, I didn't mean it like that." he said quickly, following her downstairs.
Dylan looked up from the TV as he saw them come downstairs. Cheryl turned her head as well. "Leabin alweady?" she asked.
"Yeah, we were just heading out." Chad said quickly before turning back to Taylor. "Now can we talk...?"
"Forget it. I'll go on my own, you stay here and watch the kids." Taylor told him.
"We were just arguing over a car." Chad replied.
"Well you don't need to worry. There's no one you need to argue with now." Taylor said. "Look Chad, just go do what you want. I'm out of here. Don't wait up." She walked out the front door, quietly slamming it behind her.
Dylan whistled. "That was cold." he observed. He knew his parents had a tendency to argue at points, but lately it was more frequent. He hoped it didn't have something to do with him driving or learning. Besides, he was learning more about arguing at this point than he ever was about driving. Covering up his thoughts, he looked at Chad. "So who's turn was it to start the fight this time?" he asked, trying to joke around about it.
Chad just shook his head and walked back upstairs.
Cheryl blinked and looked at her brother. "Does this mean no poppycorn for dinner tonight?" she asked.
Dylan quietly shushed her, not wanting Chad to hear them talk about that. "Maybe next time."
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About a week later it was time for Dylan's road test. He hadn't stopped being nervous the entire time. But it wasn't just the test that was getting him nervous. His parents were still giving each other the cold shoulder. Maybe he should just leave now, or flunk on purpose.
"Dylan?" Taylor asked again. "Are you alright?"
Dylan snapped out of it, "Yeah. Just a little nervous, I guess."
"You can do it. You've been practicing for weeks now. You're ready." she promised. "And even if you do fail, which I'm sure you won't, you can drown your sorrows in ice cream or walnuts and take the test again in a month. It'll be ok."
"I know." Dylan nodded. He tapped his fingers on the wheel as he continued waiting for his turn.
"Then why does it seem like something else is bothering you?" Taylor wondered, ever the observant one.
Dylan sighed and looked at her. "Are you and Dad still not talking?"
Taylor blinked. "Dylan, is that what's bothering you?" she asked. "Why do you need to be so concerned?"
"You've been giving each other the cold shoulder for a week now. That's like a new record." he replied.
"Trust me, we could go longer if we wanted to." Taylor muttered. She shook her head and put a hand on Dylan's shoulder. "You don't need to worry about when we argue. Your father and I can't go forever without talking to each other."
"But didn't it have something to do with me driving?" Dylan asked.
"What gave you that idea?" Taylor asked. "Of course not. It may have had to deal with cars, but it had nothing to do with you driving. He just might have been pouting a little that he wasn't the one you wanted to teach him driving."
"He just doesn't seem like he'd have all the patience to teach me driving, and like he wouldn't scold me if I did something wrong or almost hit a car." Dylan said.
"Maybe he doesn't. But I should have given him at least one chance to teach you." she said. "Look, how about after you pass this test you take him out for a drive and show him what you can do?"
"So you really think I can pass?" Dylan inquired.
"Of course." she nodded.
"And does this mean you're gonna make up with Dad?" he asked hopefully.
"And maybe if we're lucky, a few other things." Taylor smiled slyly.
"Ok, didn't need to hear that." he muttered.
Taylor giggled. She saw the driving instructor come over and that gave her the cue she needed to leave. "And now I need to get out of here. Good luck on the test." she told him. She kissed him on the head before getting out of the car.
Dylan took a deep breath as he clutched the wheel tighter. He turned his head to see the instructor getting into the car and checking everything over before strapping himself in.
"When you're ready."
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"We're back." Dylan called as he walked into the house an hour later. Taylor followed in behind him as she closed the door.
"Hi!" Cheryl called eagerly as she ran downstairs. "How was the test?"
"Hey, don't spill without me." Chad gasped as he walked into the room. "Ok, now you can spill. How'd it go?"
A smile grew on Dylan's face. "I passed!"
"No way!" Chad gasped. He gave his son a congratulatory man hug. "Way to go, kiddo."
Dylan smiled and then scooped up his sister. "Just wait, I'm gonna drive you to the park next year and you can play all the games there you want!"
"Asketball in back?" she asked hopefully.
Dylan laughed and took her outside. "Sure Cherry, we can play some basketball. You're gonna beat me so easily."
Chad chuckled as he watched his kids go out. He rubbed the back of his head and turned to Taylor. "Guess all that teaching you gave him paid off. What did you say to him?"
Taylor shrugged. "A few things. That he was going to do fine, that we practiced every weekend so he'd be ready, that we both believed in him...and that we'd make up and he'd have nothing to worry about."
"Did we really throw him off with all of our not arguing?" Chad wondered.
"Dylan got this crazy idea that he had something to do with us fighting." Taylor replied.
"Yeah he is crazy." Chad said.
Taylor's eyes widened. "Chad!"
"Kidding." Chad chuckled. "Man I can't believe you fell for that. You should've seen the look on your face!"
Taylor shook her head. "You're impossible, you know that?"
"So I've been told." Chad stated. "Does that means it'd be impossible to catch a movie?"
Taylor put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "Chad Danforth are you trying to butter me up?"
"Maybe..." he said innocently.
Taylor rolled her eyes and shook her head. "How about later on you let Dylan drive you somewhere and see what he's learned and I'll watched Cheryl?" she suggested. She started heading into the backyard, but then turned around and winked at him. "And then we can catch that movie."
Chad smiled as he watched her walk out. He walked over to the back door and looked outside at his family, now playing with a basketball. "Hey, that is not the right way to handle a basketball!" he called as he ran out. "Man you guys got a lot to learn!"
Kind of a lame-ish ending I think, but once again I was stuck fighting off writer's block on how to end it. I thought I had an idea and then I completely forget it. Don't you hate it when that happens? -_-' Luckily I have a snow day today so that means all day to do an update on this or something else. ^^ So I'll just leave it at this for now and see what will be next.