under pressure

the green room

Brinan sat with her siblings at the dining table. Brenda was picking at her food, Brandon was reading the newspaper, and Brinan was throwing blueberries in the air, trying to catch them in her mouth. Their mom was in the kitchen, clearly annoyed with whoever she was on the phone with.

"I'm sorry, but the deal was that you weren't gonna travel, and I wasn't gonna gripe. Just think, if you get to travel on business, then I get to gripe at home. Which brings me to the bottom-line question, when are you coming back?" That's when Brinan knew she was talking to their father. He was always away on business.

"How many calories are in a kiwi, anyway?" Brenda asks, examining the fruit. Brinan raises a brow at her older sister.

"12 a slice," Her mom says, before turning her attention back to the phone. "No, tonight isn't soon enough, but it'll definitely do. Yeah, we'll come up with something special to welcome 'ya."

"No wonder everyone out here has a great body. Everything healthy is delicious." Brenda says, making Brinan and her mom chuckle.

"Well, at that price, it better be. This is Beverly Hills," Brinan says, rubbing her sister's shoulder. She puts her dish in the sink and puts water over it. "What time is Dad coming home?"

"By dinner, if his plane's on time. Yes, your children are right here. Yes, they're fine, they're fine. In fact, they're totally bad or...I don't know, maybe it's rad. I don't have the lingo down yet." Brinan and Brandon share a look, trying not to laugh. She hangs up the phone and goes to sit next to her youngest.

"Poor dad. He transfers out here to the midwest, but his first conference is in Chicago." Brandon says, making their mother let out a sigh.

"Yeah, it kinda makes you wonder what we're doing here, right?"

—

At school, the siblings walked to their lockers, making small talk about their day. They see Donna and Kelly walk up to them, big smiles on their faces. They greet the three.

"You remember my brother and Brinan." Brenda says, making the two in question smile.

"Hi Brenda's brother, hi Brinan." Kelly says, while Donna simply mutters it, staring at Brandon.

"So, what are you two up to?"

"This weekend? Working on my back. I spent all last Saturday lying on it, so my tan is totally uneven." Brandon and Brinan purse their lips, looking at each other.

"At least you have one, I'm starting from scratch." Brenda says, letting out a chuckle.

"Start this weekend. Secos State Beach is gonna be a major scene." Brinan spots David and Scott in the corridor and bids goodbye to her siblings before running over to them. She greets them with a big smile on her face. She sees David distracted by something and she turns to see him staring at Kelly.

"I love it. Kelly Taylor at Secos Beach in a bikini," Brinan rolls her eyes, muttering pervert under her breath. "Steve! Steve Sanders, how's it going?" He yells out, going after the blonde boy who had just stormed away from Kelly and her friends. Steve grabs David by the shoulders, an annoyed look on his face.

"It's gone." He then tries to walk away, but David keeps pursuing him.

"Did you see The Hartley House? It's my favourite rerun. The episode where the Hartleys enter Mary Jo in the 'Mother of the Year' contest and by accident their essays go to the president?" Steve's jaw is clenched before he exclaims.

"Listen, I don't watch the show, alright?"

"Why should you? I mean, you've got Mary Jo Hartley as your real life mom. God, it must be incredibly cool to have Samantha Sanders as your mother." Steve walks away from the three of them, making Brinan let out a snort of amusement. David waves goodbye, while Scott looks at him dumbfounded.