Beyond the Bell

Chapter 5

"Good morning,"

Blair smiled and waved at her mother, who was cooking breakfast on the stove. She grabbed her satchel from where it was unceremoniously dropped at the front door the night before, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"Coffee?" Her mother offered. Blair shook her head in response, sliding her laptop on the wooden surface.

"You came home late last night. How did your project go?"

Blair smiled. "It went well. We got most of the work done,"

"That's good to hear,"

They continued sharing the communal space, only the atmospheric sizzling of bacon and typing of keys breaking the comfortable silence they had established. Blair was busy at work, soon falling into a good rhythm where she could jot down notes and figure out dialogue at the same time.

She quietly muttered the conversations to herself, seeing if they flowed correctly. It was easier to write with Shauna's criticism and April's input. Every time a joke came along, Blair found herself having trouble getting the correct timing down to a point.

Eventually, she felt someone standing behind her. Turning around quickly she came face to face with her older sister, Eve.

"Whatcha doing," Eve slid the computer closer to get a better look. "Is this some kind of script? Self insert, huh,"

Blair could practically hear the judgment in her sister's tone. She scowled. "It's for a school project. We haven't figured out character names yet,"

Eve chuckled. "Lemme read it," She picked up the laptop, sitting opposite to Blair.

"Wait-what? No, don't" Blair attempted to reclaim her computer, only to be stopped by her mother.

"I'm sure Eve can help with your dialogue,"

Blair groaned, sitting back in her seat with an annoyed scowl. She knew her sister would tease her about it relentlessly, she would never live this down.

The next ten minutes felt like hours. Blair had been tapping her foot impatiently on the linoleum floor until Eve kicked it and told her to stop. She currently was laying her head on the table, biting her lip anxiously.

"Who's April?" Eve interrogated in a flat tone. "Her name is written as a character but she doesn't show up,"

"She isn't on screen," Blair sighed, sliding her computer back to her side of the table. A quick scroll through would tell her that Eve had fixed a few grammatical errors, but other than that she had left it alone.

"Why?"

"It was a request,"

Eve rolled her eyes, taking a sip from the cup of coffee that had been placed in front of her. "Then what are they doing if they aren't acting and you're writing the script?"

"She's editing and filming the videos,"

Eve raised her eyebrows. "Anything else?"

"Well, she's also letting us film in her place,"

"Hmm, generous worker, a cowardly one at that," Eve crossed her arms.

Blair rolled her eyes, trying to get back into the rhythm of writing. "At least she's nice,"

"Yeah, I read the character traits. Got a crush or something?" Eve teased, raising her eyebrows. Blair rolled her eyes again.

"I didn't write that, Shauna did,"

Eve smirked. "Well, then you got some competition, don't you,"

Blair didn't try to humor her, only sighing and continuing with the ending of the episode.

A plate of food was placed next to her, along with a glass of orange juice. Blair ate one-handed, typing with the other. This choice caused multiple judging looks from her sister. It wasn't until she dropped a piece of egg on her keyboard that Eve said something.

"Oh my god, just take a minute to eat!" Eve banged the curved end of her fork on the table, huffing with frustration.

"Shut up, I need to finish this,"

Eve groaned loudly, grabbing the computer and sliding it back to her side. Due to one of Blair's hands being preoccupied with a fork, she wasn't able to grab the laptop in time.

Blair huffed. "Give it back,"

"Just finish eating, then you'll get it back," Eve frowned, closing the computer and setting it on her lap under the table.

Blair rolled her eyes starting to shovel the food into her mouth regardless. There were a few close calls where she almost choked on eggs, but a quick swig of juice later and she was back to the food.

The plate was empty within a minute.

Blair finished off her orange juice with one final swig. She slammed the plastic cup down on the table. "Give me my computer now,"

"Say please," Eve teased, keeping a firm grip on the computer.

"Fuck you,"

"I love you too," Eve slid the laptop back over to Blair with a smirk. "I can see a romance between Alex and Blair, by the way. He's got a really good dynamic with her,"

Blair blushed slightly. She didn't respond to any of her sister's teasing for the rest of breakfast, then Eve had to leave for work.