INT. SCHOOL MEDIA LAB - MORNING
Amara stands beside the editing computer with her backpack still on. Jules sits at the console, the group chat open on one screen and Amara's portfolio submission open on the other.
Amara
Tell me you did not mean to send it there. Start with that this morning, and maybe I stay in the room.
Jules
I did not mean to send that image there. I meant to send a different image to you.
Amara
At two thirteen in the morning, you accidentally showed thirty-eight people the worst thing I have ever said about them.
Jules
Thirty-six. You left, and Mara muted the chat so completely she may be legally dead.
Amara
Do not count people like that makes it smaller. Everyone saw, 'They will forget who held the boom when my name is on the film.'
Jules
I know what it said. You sent it to me.
Amara
Because I was scared and horrible in private. You made it public five minutes after I asked if we were okay.
Jules turns the second monitor toward Amara. A portfolio preview shows their film poster above one creator name.
Jules
I was trying to send you this.
Amara
You logged into my application?
Jules
You gave me the preview link so I could check the captions. I checked the credits too. Wild instinct.
Amara
The form only has one lead applicant.
Jules
Lead applicant is not sole creator. You wrote, 'A film by Amara Velez.' My name is under equipment support.
Amara
You ran sound. That is equipment.
Jules
I co-wrote it, shot half of it, cut the ending, and spent six Sundays fixing the sound you called equipment.
Amara
You told me you were not applying. You said your mother needed you here next year.
Jules
I said I could not afford to apply without the fee waiver. I got the waiver yesterday.
Amara
And you did not tell me.
Jules
It was twelve hours ago. You removed my name three weeks ago. Which secret gets the trophy?
Amara
There are four places. If we submit the same film twice, we look like we cannot make anything apart.
Jules
We cannot make this film apart. That is not the same sentence.
Amara
I directed every day. When it rained, when Devon quit, when you had to leave early, I kept it moving.
Jules
Yes. You directed. With me. You do not get to convert being reliable into being alone.
Amara
And you do not get to post my private message because you hate the credit line.
Jules
I selected two screenshots. One was your application. One was your message. I hit the club chat instead of you.
Amara
That sounds designed by a lawyer who has not slept.
Jules
Look at the timestamp. I deleted it in eleven seconds and sent the application screenshot to you at two fourteen.
Amara
Eleven seconds was enough. Niko replied with my exact words before you deleted them.
Jules
I know. I am sorry. It was careless, and now you have to face people you insulted because my thumb moved faster than my brain.
Amara
That is almost an apology.
Jules
It is the whole apology. It just does not erase what I was trying to confront you about.
Amara
I would have told you after decisions came out.
Jules
Told me what? That you borrowed our film for a month, or that it had always secretly been yours?
Amara
That I needed one thing where I was not half of Amara-and-Jules. You walk into a room and people trust you first.
Jules
So you made me smaller on paper. That is your solution to feeling smaller in a room?
Amara
They asked me to confirm it.
Amara
Sole authorship. An admissions assistant emailed because your name was in the festival program. I said the program was wrong.
Jules
You had a second chance to type my name, and you typed a lie instead.
Amara
I had already submitted. Correcting it felt like confessing I tried to cheat.
Jules
You did try. The question is whether you stop before the portal locks at eight.
Amara
If I correct it, they may reject me.
Jules
If you do not, I send the festival program and our drafts. Not to punish you. Because my work still belongs to me.
Jules
I tell them it was my mistake. You apologize for what you wrote if you mean it. We do not trade cover stories.
Amara sits at the keyboard and opens the amendment form. Her hands hover without typing.
Amara
The correction box asks for your credit.
Amara
Co-writer. Co-director. Sound designer.
Jules
Put your name first. Just do not make mine disappear.