flipped. charlie conway

15

almost two weeks later, leah and adam were nearly settled in to the team. to say the ducks loved them was an understatement.

at their first duck practise the following wednesday of their first game, the ducks found that adam and leah were great team players - exactly what they needed. though it was still intimidating for the two twins to join a new team, they found that the ducks weren't as vindictive as leah first thought. the only vindictive person on the team was charlie conway. surprisingly, leah had been so distracted having fun with her newfound friendships that she payed no attention to charlie's childish grumbling. it was a good thing, because she probably would have found herself upset by his actions again.

the most frustrating thing for charlie conway was that leah banks was stealing his friendships. when charlie talked to adam, he found that he got along with him rather well. adam kept to himself, and he was shy like charlie. leah, on the other hand, was too happy for her own good and wasted everyone's time with her stupid words. the worst part? everyone enjoyed listening to her stupid words. she wasn't a poet, so why did everyone like listening to her? he was the captain, everyone should have been listening to him!

the friday before the banks' second game with the ducks, charlie grew frustrated when at the bus stop with lester averman. larson and mcgill were pointing towards the duck group with stifled snickers, and adam and leah were too good at ignoring them.

"so, if you look down here where the ice meets the bank, you can see how green the moss gets in winter!" leah excitedly showed charlie's bets friend, lester averman, "adam and i will take you out on the raft sometime."

"hey, i can see fish eggs!" lester exclaimed, pointing at the cluster of spheres.

leah chuckled, "yeah, adam fell in one time when trying to catch a bi—"

"hey! don't embarrass me because i have stories that will embarrass you ten times worse." adam glared, shaking his head at his sister with a joking grin. charlie was frustrated - did she ever shut up about her stupid pond? it wasn't even that nice, it was muddy and leafy, like a garbage dump. like her personality.

"are you guys ready for the science fair this tuesday?" lester asked, pushing his square glasses up, "i've made a water filter!"

"cool! i still need to decorate my poster, but my aerodynamic study on different paper plane models went well." adam shrugged. leah praised him for being so clever, and adam was thankful to have a sister so supportive of him.

"me too, i need to decorate my poster and find some spare lightbulbs for my incubator." leah grinned, reminding herself to look in the pantry for spare lightbulbs when she got home.

"incubator?" lester asked in confusion, "what's your project?"

"well, none of them have hatched yet, but i've grown chickens."

"yeah, and mum only agreed to it because dad thought it was cool. now i'm going to have to walk around in chicken turds ever time i sit in the backyard." adam scoffed,

charlie thought leah would thrive in a backyard full of chicken turds - she would be in her element! how perfect.

"you got any names for them?" lester asked, intrigued by her chicken eggs.

"i have some ideas: mossy - like from the pond, muddy - like from the bankside—"

finally, charlie cracked and interrupted the girl who got on his nerves. "those sound stupid." charlie groaned, pulling a disgusted face when she frowned, "why can't you just shut up and name them normally like everyone else, instead of obsessing over this dumb pond."

leah took those words into consideration. it was hard to find gender neutral names, considering her chicks hadn't been born yet, so she decided to wait until they were hatched. charlie was such a great help, and leah was glad to have so many great friends now.

their hockey game the next day went fantastically, the ducks winning with flying colours. though jesse hall had taken a minute to warm up to the new set of twins on the team, he now loved their presence. they were powerful together. it was a great note to end the week on, and it only made leah more excited for her fertilised chicken eggs to hatch.