My apologies for not updating much so far. I'm on Spring Break and my parents are off to Florida while I have a ton of homework, work, and also happened to get into roleplaying. So less time for fanfics. But I've had some ideas to continue these oneshots. I'm not sure how much longer these are gonna go on cause it's only a matter of time (and chapters) before Dylan starts college. So if it's really wanted, I'll keep going even after that. That's all I wanted to say.
Disclaimer: No ownage.
Chapter Fifteen Summary: It's that time in a teenager's life when they have to figure out where they go after high school. So now Dylan must narrow down his colleges and see where he wants to go. So what happens when the final two colleges he has it down to are a local school and an away school? Elsewhere, Sharpay confides in Ryan and Kelsi for advice on children.
Chapter Fifteen: Just Around the Corner
"I can't believe it's May already." Chad stated as he pulled off another page from the desk calendar on the credenza. "One month left till we get the kids home for summer break."
"You mean all of them." Taylor corrected as she came over with baby Trina in her arms. "Can you get her breakfast started? She won't let me put her down."
Chad chuckled. "She hasn't let you put her down since day one." he corrected, walking into the kitchen.
"You know she lets you hold her, too." Taylor informed him.
"Oh c'mon," Chad playfully rolled his eyes, "you're her favorite parents and you know it."
"But she loves pulling on your hair." she replied.
Chad chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I can't argue with that. My hair is very pullable."
"That's not a word." she shook her head.
"Hey, I can make words up if I wanted." Chad said. He paused and snapped his fingers to try and get creative. "Something like...lison. A lion mixed with a bison."
Taylor shook her head once more. "Can I please just have Trina's bottle now?"
"Alright." he gave in. He took out the bottle of heated milk and made sure it was alright, then handed it to Taylor.
"I'm heading out to school." Dylan said as he came downstairs and headed for the door. "I'm gonna grab some food at school before homeroom."
"Look at that. He's leaving us already." Chad joked.
Dylan rolled his eyes. "Very funny Dad."
"Are you going to be late today?" Taylor inquired.
"No, I'm coming right home from school." he replied. "And Cherry's upstairs getting dressed so she'll be down soon."
"She's getting ready early..." Chad said as he looked at his watch. "Her bus doesn't come for over an hour."
Dylan just shrugged. "Maybe she's sick or something." he offered. "But I've got school in a half hour so I gotta get going."
"Don't forget about meeting with your guidance counselor during free period." Taylor reminded Dylan. "You have to let him know which colleges you have it narrowed down to."
Dylan stopped; he had forgotten about that. "Yeah..." he said slowly.
"You're not still worried about the college thing are you?" Chad wondered.
"No." Dylan replied. He turned back to face them. "Well...not completely."
"What's there to worry about? We got everything under control." Chad shrugged.
"We've gone through every possible college that has your interests. We've had six colleges at the beginning of this year, three of which were safe schools that we knew you'd get into." Taylor added. "How many colleges have you taken out of the picture?"
Dylan tried to refrain himself from biting his lip or tongue. He hadn't completely kept his folks in the open about his college plans. "A few." he replied sheepishly. "I'm...gonna head out now. See you after school." He rushed out the door and closed it behind him.
Chad raised an eyebrow. He slowly turned to the girls, his eyes mainly on Trina who was now happily and calmly sucking her bottle. "And how can you be so calm about this?" he asked her.
Trina only replied by continuing to suck her bottle.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." he muttered.
"We'll talk to Dylan about it after school." Taylor suggested.
"Today's my late day. I'm not gonna be home till dinner." Chad said, leaning on the kitchen counter.
"Well I'm staying home again today so I can talk to Dylan when he gets home." she offered.
"Again?" Chad repeated.
Taylor sighed. "I can't keep asking Zeke to watch Trina when he has off frm work just so I can go in, or you for that matter. And I can't neglect my job either. We're just lucky my superiors are more compromising than my last ones."
"Fine." Chad gave in. "But tomorrow's my day off so then you'll go into work and I'll watch her. At least we both have the same day on the weekend off, that's only six days to worry about instead."
"And we have bigger things to worry about too." Taylor replied.
"Yeah. Like what Dill's hiding from us about college." Chad nodded.
"Ok, I'm ready for school." Cheryl grinned as she stepped into the living room.
Her parents blinked at her attire. A pair of bunny eats, a tank top and a pair of swim floats, baggy jeans held up tight with some kind of sixty's belt buckle, and snow boots. The two slowly glanced at each other. "We got more to worry about than we thought." Chad muttered.
--page break--page break--page break--
"I got here as soon as I could." Kelsi said as she ran into Sharpay's house with Travis in her arms. She stopped in her tracks when she saw that Sharpay had been waiting (somewhat impatiently) for her. "Sharpay...why aren't you at school? You have drama class, senior chorus, drama club..."
"I know I have a lot of things to control at the school." Sharpay interrupted in an annoyed manner. "Now where's Ryan? He needs to be here, too."
"He doesn't have any afternoon classes so he should be here after his lunch period." Kelsi replied. "And you know he's been backing out of drama club once in a while to help me with Travis."
The one-year-old giggled and held his arms out to greet Sharpay.
Sharpay couldn't help but smile at the infant. "Aw, come say hi to Aunty Sharpay." she cooed as she took him from Kelsi. What? She had a soft spot for her nephew. She turned back to Kelsi. "so he'll be back around one?"
"He should be." she nodded.
"I can't wait that long!" Sharpay moaned as she collapsed onto the couch.
"Sharpay, is everything ok?" Kelsi asked concerned as she sat next to her.
"Everything will be better when Ryan gets here. I need to talk to the both of you." she replied.
"So what's the matter? Is something wrong with you and Zeke?" Kelsi asked. She normally wasn't a persuasive one...as a matter of fact, Kelsi was as withdrawn as they came sometimes because she was so quiet and shy. But still, Sharpay was family and she couldn't turn her back on that.
"No, but something's going to be wrong if we keep fighting over something meaningless." Was Sharpay's reply. "And there's going to be something wrong with me and Ryan if he doesn't get his choreography and hat-loving butt over here fast!" She sighed heavily and started pacing around the room, muttering a few different things about both men that angered her quite easily.
Kelsi sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Something tells me it's going to be a long wait. Whatever it is Sharpay needs to share, it's a good thing I'm sitting down."
--page break--page break--page break--
Dylan silently waited in the guidance counselor's office for his turn to discuss colleges. It was the week that all seniors would be meeting with their respective ones for final discussions on college. And with four guidance counselors, each one had a certain amount of students to attend to, of course each one assigned to an alphabetical order as well. He tapped his finger against his lap nervously. Ok, so maybe he was a little nervous. But unlike a good portion of the students in his senior class, Dylan wasn't ready to leave high school. Heck, he wasn't even ready to move out of the house yet when others were already talking about getting their own apartments away from home or dorming in other states and such.
As soon as Dylan heard his name, he got up from his seat and walked into his respective counselor's office. He took a seat in front of the desk, placing his backpack in the empty chair beside him. His guidance counselor, one of around a middle age and rounded body, turned to face him.
"So how are you doing, Dylan?" he asked.
"Fine, Mr. Fredding." Dylan nodded.
"And how are classes going?" the guidance counselor continued as he pulled out Dylan's folder.
"Good. We're already finishing with the last chapters and getting ready for finals." Dylan replied.
"Ah, so you must be excited for college then." Mr. Fredding nodded with a smile. "I can assure you this much, you have nothing to worry about. You have more credits than necessary to graduate, and I'm sure at least one of your colleges will accept credits you earned after recieving a three on your AP exam."
Dylan blinked. "We weren't supposed to find that out till next month."
"well there goes my big fat mouth again." Mr. Fredding chuckled. "Well in that case, now you know you did fine on that. Just a few points away from a two. You must've put in a lot of effort."
"Yeah, I studied all week for that." he nodded.
"Oh, you'll make a fine college student indeed." Mr. Fredding continued. "So, let's talk schools then." He pulled out numerous papers from the folder. "You've gotten plenty of offers from the colleges you've chosen. And I can't say I blame them. Top ten percent of your class, plenty of extra curriculars, no detentions, no crimes, decent scores on your SAT's, fine on that one ACT, excellent letters of recommendation from your teachers, no failed exams..."
"Yeah...that's great." Dylan nodded, trying to sound excited. He knew he did plenty of good things in high school, but he wasn't going to leave them behind. He didn't even want to leave high school behind.
"So, how many colleges have you narrowed it down to since our last meeting?" Mr. Fredding inquired.
"I definitely wanna stay around here. Or in one of the states surrounding New Mexico." Dylan said. "So that eliminated the university in California."
"Yeah, California's overrated anyway." the guidance counselor chuckled as he moved the said sheet to the side. "So that brings us down to five, three of which are safe schools. But let's be honest, with your grades almost all of them were safe schools."
"I guess." Dylan replied.
"Now, you remember what we talked about?" he inquired. "About at this point you should have it down between a home school and an away school?"
"Yes Mr. F." Dylan nodded.
"And have you narrowed down your choices to those?"
"Yeah...I think so."
"Excellent then. Which ones?"
Dylan looked over the sheets until his eyes fell on the two he had in mind. "These two. One here in New Mexico, the other in Colorado."
"Bold choices, I must say." Mr. Fredding agreed. "An Ivy League college in Colorado, if memory serves. The one you'd have to work for. And it has everything you want in it. Art, music, science..."
Dylan pointed to another sheet. "But this one was a close third, so I wanna keep hearing from that one."
Mr. Fredding raised an eyebrow as he looked over the sheet. "You sure about this one? Are you planning on possibly transferring sometime in your college years?"
"I don't know." Dylan admitted. "But that's why I wanna keep my ears open."
"Very well then." he nodded, putting the paper down. "Now we have to send in the final paperwork today for your chosen university. So I ask you, Dylan, which one will it be?"
--page break--page break--page break--
"Ryan what took you so long?" Sharpay demanded as she saw her brother walk in the door right away.
Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. "Sorry Shar, I kinda got caught up at lunch. I was with the math teacher and we were exchanging tactics about how to handle the troublemaking students..."
"Oh shut up with that, Ryan." Sharpay argued. "Sit down. I need yours and Kelsi's help."
Ryan cocked his head towards Kelsi. "Something I should know about?"
"I've been here all day." Kelsi shrugged, bouncing Travis in her lap. "She wouldn't talk until you got here."
"Well, I'm here now." Ryan shrugged.
"Great. You. Sit. Now." Sharpay told him like a command as she pushed Ryan onto the couch next to Kelsi.
Ryan blinked, caught off guard for a minute. He glanced at his wife before turning back to his sister. "So what's going on Shar?"
Sharpay sighed heavily. "I...need...your advice...."
"Sharpay...are you feeling alright?" Kelsi asked worriedly. "You never ask for advice."
"Yeah, unless you want to know which pink dress looks best on you." Ryan added.
"But this is different. This is for Zeke." Sharpay said. "And you two are the only ones I can trust not to blab to anyone about this and who I can actually count on for help."
"Ok, I'm still going into shock after 'I need your advice'." Ryan admitted.
Kelsi relaxed an overly content Travis before speaking again. "Sharpay...whatever you need our help with, you can tell us."
"Alright." Sharpay sighed heavily. "As you know, Zeke has constantly been saying how much he'd love someone else around the house besides me, and how he wanted to add something more to that dream...but thanks to my pride I don't want to be a part of it as much as I want to or as much as I know I should. So that's why...I want advice...about...children."
Ryan's mouth dropped open. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" he gasped.
"Sharpay...are you sure you're feeling alright?" Kelsi asked slowly.
"Yes, I'm sure!" Sharpay insisted. "But Zeke really wants this...and I'm trying to push myself to go through with it."
"Sharpay, it's great that you want to make Zeke happy. It really is." Kelsi said supportingly. "Just...why the sudden change of heart?"
Sharpay sighed and sat down on the chair nearby. "I've seen Zeke eye other couples with kids. And I see the way he takes care of Travis. He loves him and he loves everyone else's kids. They're like family to him. But they'll never be his. I just want to make Zeke happy for once and give him something he's always wanted."
"Have you talked about this with Zeke?" Kelsi wondered. "I mean, as soon as Ryan and I started planning when I told him we were having Travis things went pretty smoothly."
"Yeah, still in shock here." Ryan said.
Sharpay rolled her eyes at her brother. "No...I wanted it to be a surprise." she admitted. "But I'm not sure what to do. How do I break it to him? Where do we start planning with a baby? How am I going to handle a baby? How am I even going to handle carrying it for nine months?"
"Have you thought about adoption?" Ryan asked.
The girls looked at him, not being the ones in shock. "Huh?"
"Well, in places like China there's plenty of baby girls up for adoption. And there should be a ton of adoption agencies somewhere in New Mexico. You can go there, too." Ryan offered. He saw the looks of confusion from the girls. "I learned the one about China from the Simpsons."
"Yeah, I knew it was too good to be true." Sharpay muttered.
"Listen Sharpay," Kelsi started, "it's really great that you want to do this for Zeke. And he's going to love you for it, more than he does now. But before you ask me and Ryan or anyone else for advice on raising kids you should really talk to Zeke about it first. You can go through it together and figure out what you want to do. Now if you're talking about having a baby, all you have to do is remember the end result of those nine months. But if you're thinking about adoption then it's just a matter of feeling like the child would be your own, biologically or not. Now whichever options you choose, it's up to you two."
"You know you give really good advice, Kels." Sharpay said much more calmly.
Kelsi blushed and looked down at her son while Ryan returned to his shocking state. Clearly this was all too good to be true.
A smile came across Sharpay's face. "Travis would really love a playmate, wouldn't he?"
"Maybe." Kelsi said. "And whichever option you and Zeke decide to go for, we'll be right there for you."
"Thanks Kelsi." Sharpay replied.
"So when are you going to tell him?" Kelsi wondered.
"I'm going to try tonight." Sharpay admitted. "Do you think he'll go for it?"
"He'll be thrilled." Kelsi said loyally.
"Ok the shock finally blew over." Ryan sighed with relief. He looked back and forth between the girls. "What'd I miss?"
--page break--page break--page break--
"Hey Mom." Dylan said as he walked upstairs and past the nursery to his bedroom.
Taylor looked up from the crib and turned to Dylan. "Hey. How'd it go with your guidance counselor?" she wondered.
"Alright." Dylan replied, putting his books down.
Taylor raised an eyebrow as she left Trina in the crib and walked into his bedroom. "Just alright?"
"Yeah." Dylan nodded.
"Ok can you try and be serious for five minutes?" Taylor inquired.
Dylan sighed. Was there ever a way to get around her? "How did you feel when you started preparing for college?" he wondered.
"Are you just asking that to avoid talking about college for yourself?" she quirked an eyebrow.
"Partially..." Dylan squeaked.
"Look, not everyone is ready to leave public school if that's what you're thinking." Taylor said. "And it's especially hard when you're going out of state to where none of your friends are going. But as soon as you start, you forget all about the nerves and focus on adjusting and maknig new friends."
"We were talking about at least narrowing everything down between a home school and an away school before making a final decision." Dylan continued. "What made you wanna go to the other side of the country?"
"That was where my dream college was." Taylor answered simply. "I didn't think once about how far away it was or how awkward it would be hardly seeing anyone I grew up with or how hard it would be to keep in touch with everyone, especially considering the time differences. But I knew it was where I wanted to go and it had what I was looking for. Was it hard to leave home at first? Of course. But I got used to it. And it became like a second home to me."
"And what about Dad?" Dylan wondered.
"He seemed to always know where he wanted to go. He had it all planned for who knows how long. He'd been watching college basketball since he was at least five and and the Redhawks were his favorite team. So it was his dream to play for them. He was fine with the traveling, but I think for him it was so much easier to be able to go home after an away game instead of home to a dorm house." Taylor answered. "We had discussed subjects like that in our senior year. We shared thoughts on colleges, where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do..."
"And that was one of the reasons you broke up, wasn't it?" Dylan assumed.
Taylor nodded as she recalled the memory. "Yeah. It was." she admitted. "But, as you can tell, we got over it. It's hard to start all over again and feel like you're leaving your friends behind or they're leaving you behind. But if you stay in contact with them it's not as bad as you think. And if you can adjust easily and make new friends, it makes the experience all the more easier. The schoolwork however, well that's a different story."
"So I've heard." Dylan nodded as he sat on his bed.
"Care to share your college decision?" she wondered. "You know we looked over everything first and we approved all of them. Whichever one you choose your father and I are going to be supportive through it all."
"So you're not gonna be mad with my choice?" Dylan asked.
"Not a chance." Taylor shook her head. "It's where you want to go, Dill. It's not up to us. So, when are you going to share the news?"
"At dinner, like we usually do with something big." Dylan suggested.
"You know Cheryl's going to be out tonight with friends from school." Taylor said.
"We can tell her tomorrow." Dylan promised. "I'll explain it slowly."
Taylor giggled. "Alright." She looked back to the nursery when Trina started crying again.
"Attention or dirty diaper?" Dylan asked.
Taylor took a minute to study the cry. "Dirty diaper." she concluded.
"Good luck with that." Dylan chuckled.
"Yeah, you keep saying that until you have to learn to change diapers." Taylor said as she walked out.
Dylan paused for a minute. "Yeah...think I'll worry about getting through college first."
--page break--page break--page break--
Sharpay sighed as she tapped her fingers against the vanity in her bedroom a few hours later. Ryan and Kelsi had already gone home and Zeke had yet to arrive from work. She was starting to have second thoughts about this. Maybe he wouldn't go for the idea...who was she kidding? He'd jump at the idea. Of course, then he'd start worrying about who she was and if she replaced his wife.... Sharpay shook her head and snapped out of her thoughts. No, she was not going to be intimidated. She was Sharpay Baylor! Nothing got to her.
"I'm home Shar!" Zeke called from downstairs.
"Coming Zekey!" Sharpay stood up right away, giggling to herself. Yup, the nickname woke him up every time he was tired from working. At least today was his earlier day at he bakery. She headed downstairs and greeted him with a kiss. "How are you?"
"A little tired, but not after you pulled the 'Zekey' name again." he chuckled.
"Good to know." Sharpay smiled. "I should have you know, I had Kelsi and Ryan here earlier."
"No work for them today?" Zeke wondered, hanging up his apron.
"Ryan came over after lunch. Kelsi was here all day with Travis." Sharpay answered.
"And how is our nephew going?" Zeke asked.
"He's going to grow up to be a strong dancer like Ryan and musically gifted like Kelsi." Sharpay assumed. "And I did happen to invite them over for a reason."
"Ok..." he said slowly. "Should I be concerned with this reason?"
"Not completely..." Sharpay told him half-truthfully. Yeah, like she was going to tell him how to react. "But the thing is, we have something to discuss."
Zeke blinked. "Am I working too much again?"
"No, I actually understand those late night rushes." Sharpay shook her head. "Among a few other rushes..." She snapped out of her thoughts and faced Zeke completely. "Maybe you want to sit down for this."
"Right..." he nodded slowly as he sat down on the couch.
Sharpay cautiously sat beside him. No, she wasn't getting intimidated. She was just...trying to approach the situation carefully. Maybe even throw Zeke off guard. Just for fun. "Zeke, you know how for the past year we've been...or rather you've been...wondering when we could be graced with a bundle of joy like our friends?"
"Uh-huh..." he replied.
"And you know how you've always said you wanted a child to call your own, no matter how weak or sick he or she was?" she continued.
"Uh-huh..." he repeated.
Sharpay took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "I asked Ryan and Kelsi for advice on raising kids." she confessed. "Kelsi told me about what she went through when they were expecting Travis and everything they did to prepare for a baby. And we discussed a few other options, too. Mainly adoption."
Zeke's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sharpay shushed him.
"I am willing to give you a child, Zeke. But I'm not sure if I can handle going through nine months carrying one around inside of me and dealing with everything that comes with it." she continued. "I realized that I am willing to do it for you, if there's no other choice. But we did spend time looking into adoption agencies. There are plenty of children out there who have been abandoned or had to be let go because their families couldn't afford to take care of them. And, as we've seen, adoption can still be very rewarding. So, if we don't go through with...the typical plan...I would be willing to adopt if you are. I don't even care if we would get a boy or a girl. I realized that I would go either way for you." She took a deep breath as she finished talking, waiting for Zeke's reaction.
"Wow Shar...I never knew you'd be willing to go through with it." Zeke breathed after a moment. "I guess I just always thought..."
"And I'm sorry for ever putting that thought in your head." she interrupted. "But I just want you to know where I stand. I'm not the same Ice Princess I was back in high school."
Zeke couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, you aren't." he agreed. "You're the Snow Princess."
"Huh?" Sharpay raised an eyebrow.
"Ice is much harder than snow. It doesn't melt as easily. But I think I've seen you melt a little easier once in a while." Zeke explained. "You're not ice, Sharpay. You're snow." He smiled as he put a hand over hers. "And you know something? You are right. There's plenty of kids out there who need families. And you know what else? I don't care if we have one on our own or if we adopt. As long as we have someone besides us in this house and we can work together to raise them, I'll be happy. If I can treat my friends' kids like they're my own I can do that with any kid. And if you're sure you want to go through with anything like it at all, then I'm proud to call you Mrs. Baylor."
Sharpay squealed. "Zeke that is so sweet! I am so sorry for giving you a hard time with this before." She hugged him tight.
Zeke chuckled. Yup, there was that Snow Princess. "So we're gonna go through with it?" he asked as he hugged her back.
"Most definitely." Sharpay replied, actually sounding eager about it.
--page break--page break--page break--
Dylan came down as Taylor finished putting dinner on the dining room table. "Trina's fast asleep up there." he said.
"Looks like it's dinner for three then." Taylor replied. "Assuming the father figure gets here within the next five minutes."
"Heard my name. Hope it's good things." Chad chuckled as he walked into the dining room.
"Man's got great timing." Dylan joked.
Chad smiled as he rubbed Dylan on the head, then pecked Taylor on the cheek. "Dinner looks great, as usual. Where's the girls?"
"Cheryl's eating at a friend's house and will be home by eight. And Trina's sleeping upstairs." Taylor answered as she sat down. "Not too worn out today?"
"Nah, the kids decided to give the hair pulling thing a break today." Chad joked. "How was your free day?"
"You win some, you lose some." Taylor answered. "Trina wouldn't stop asking for attention today...especially when I had to change her five times."
"And if she does it again I'm doing it after dinner, aren't I?" Chad assumed as he poured some soda into his glass.
"Yup." Taylor nodded. She looked towards Dylan, who had took a single bite out of his food. "And Dylan had his meeting today. Apparently everything for college is all planned."
"Well, better sit down for this one then." Chad said as he pulled out his chair before sitting.
"It's nothing major." Dylan shook his head.
"College is a major thing, kiddo. You practically become a free man." Chad told him. "Well..sorta, I guess."
Dylan chuckled. "I told my guidance counselor the two colleges I had in mind, especially since I needed to give my final answer today, if not then by the end of the week."
"So you know where you're going?" Chad asked.
"I think so." he nodded slowly. He took a deep breath and sat up straight. "I narrowed it down between a local college and one in Colorado. And I know that the one in Colorado is the only one that wasn't as much of a safe school as the other ones were, but it had everything that I was looking for and the campus was really nice when we visited it over spring break. But the local school is much closer and I don't have to worry about dorming and I can stay here all four years."
"So does that mean you made a decision?" Chad asked.
"Yeah, I did. And I also figured out something." Dylan nodded. He watched as his parents looked at him intently. "The thing is...I love high school. I like seeing my friends everyday, I like going in at seven-thirty and coming home by three, and I like everything it has to offer. But I know I can't stay in high school forever. But I do know that I wanna stay here as long as I can. I'm not ready to go away to any kind of college. I'm not even ready to move out of the house yet. Cause the thing is, I wanna stay here. I don't care if everyone else dorms or gets their own apartment away from home. I just wanna stay here. And I know I'll have to move out eventually, but I'm not ready yet." He took a deep breath once more. "So that's why...I chose the University of Albuquerque."
Chad and Taylor exchanged glances before looking back at Dylan. "My old school?" Chad asked.
"I know that maybe it's not the best college around and I could do way better." Dylan explained. "But it's the closest college to home and it still has everything I need. And it may be a four-year-school but it's also a good place to get started if I don't completely know where I'm going. I can take a variety of classes, look into different departments...and then maybe in a few years or when I graduate I can transfer my credits and go to another college. The second closest one is in Santa Fe. And it's not as close as U of A, but it's the farthest I think I wanna go from home. It's just far enough for me to make sense to dorm there but it's still close enough that I could come home on the weekends. So that's why I'm keeping that option opened and so I can keep hearing from it. I don't wanna go out of state."
"Well you do get a discount for going to the same school as your old man." Chad couldn't help but smile. Hey it was a bonus. He chuckled, then noticed the glances from the two and cleared his throat. "Guess this is the part where I talk about how good or bad the college is, huh?"
"Start talking." Taylor nodded.
Dylan blinked. "You're ok with me going there?"
Taylor put down her fork and looked at Dylan. "I know you could go to a far better college than U of A. But it's not up to me to choose your college for you. I will give the school credit though, some of its departments are well-known. It's not all bad. But I do like the idea of you thinking of transferring at some point and keeping your options opened. The point of this is to go where you feel comfortable and what makes you happy. And it sounds like you have everything planned and took it all into consideration." She shrugged and smiled. "Go Redhawks."
Chad cheered. "Hello Redhawk family!"
Dylan chuckled.
"Ok Chad, start giving him the talk about how great the experience was for you." Taylor giggled.
"Hey, it wasn't that great without my friends there." Chad admitted. "But it is a good school. You're gonna like it there, Dill. Just make sure you set em straight when they ask for you on the basketball team."
"That's all you have to say?" Dylan raised an eyebrow.
"What else am I supposed to say?" Chad asked. "To go and live out your dream? To make the most of your time there? To make sure you plan all of your classes the way you want and have classes and schedules you can maintain? C'mon kiddo, you already know all that. Why do I need to tell you over and over again?"
"Good point." Dylan admitted.
Chad grinned. "So what do you have to say about this whole thing?"
Dylan thought about it for a minute, then smiled slightly. "Guess I'd better start getting ready for student orientation over the summer then. It's coming about as fast as graduation."
And there we go! A fairly long chapter, but it's also to make up for lost time. And now you know that the major events left is...oh, who are we kidding? The major event is going to be Dylan graduating. But as for Sharpay's and Zeke's situation, we'll see. 0=) Now just gonna take a quick minute here to respond to Lindsay's review. I don't wanna end up writing stuff people aren't going to like, so that's one reason I ask for opinions. Another reason is if I run short of ideas (which went on and off at some points) then then opinions are good. The chapter when Dylan got his first crush, for example, I was planning on doing something like that, but it was a question of when...and actually typing it. So someone wanting that was a reason to get it up sooner. And another baby going into the picture, I never would have thought about that. That opened up other ideas and possibly to have them eventually go through tings we haven't seen with Cheryl. And I asked for opinions on the gender because I didn't know what it should be. Part of me was saying boy, the other one was saying girl...it got hard to choose. Though if Troy and Gabriella were to have another baby and you wanted it to be a boy, then it could very well end up being a boy. Although, the story could use some more boys and I think I have a way to get that in (though no, it won't necessarily be with a baby). That's all I can really say to defend myself (or the story...whichever I'm supposed to be defending) and I have no other excuses. Ok...that was a long response. I should probably just shut up there before these a/n's take up more space than the chapters. xD