flipped. charlie conway

24

the wind rustled the leaves of the evergreen trees as leah and adam stepped off the school bus.

"morning, chickens," a smartly-dressed boy chortled, "cluck cluck!" he mocked as he held his elbows out, pretending to flap his arms as he passed the banks twins.

another girl gagged as she walked by with her friend. "can you smell that?" she paused animatedly, "it smells like... dirty chickens." she laughed to herself, bringing a frown onto adam's face.

did they smell like chickens? even worse, dirty chickens? adam flicked his eyes across the crowd of students before pulling leah after him. adam mentally kicked himself - he knew the chickens were a bad idea! now he had been dragged into leah's feathery mess.

"adam?" leah halted, noticing her brother's sour mood, "what's got you all moody?"

adam grunted and rolled his eyes, "don't start, lee." he continued to walk, pulling his sister along beside him.

"we can paddle out onto the lake after school? now that the ice has thaw—"

"no." adam bluntly interrupted. he really didn't want to be associated with leah's chickens - and if they actually smelt like said chickens, he had to stay away from leah and those feathered birds as much as possible. leah quickly tugged her brother's arm, staring at him disapprovingly.

"hey, talk to me." leah frowned, urging adam to speak up.

adam only huffed angrily again, trailing into their history classroom. "not now." he strictly told. leah's eyebrows rose in surprise as she slid into her own seat, temporarily shaking the thought from her mind.

adam was in a grump the entire day. everywhere he went, silly chicken comments rattled down his ear. in the courtyard, the hallway, his classes - everywhere. what made it worse was that adam hadn't even done anything to do with leah's science fair project. adam objected to the idea as soon as it was suggested! and now he smelled like dirty chickens by association.

leah was quite the opposite. she loved her chickens. sure, they were messy, but leah cleaned up after them every day. leah took it as a compliment - she valued all the time she spent with her young chickens.

that afternoon on the way home, adam barely held himself together.

"oi, banksies! you're still at school? i thought you dropped out to become chicken farmers!" mcgill bellowed from the back of the bus, arising a chorus of laughter from the collective group of children. adam grumbled from beside leah, leaning on the window as he continued to endure frustrating comments.

"yeah, i heard you're planning on moving into their coop." brown smirked, tauntingly clucking as he leaned across the isle.

"like they don't live in there already - district-fivers." mcgill taunted again, ignoring the offended cries of lester averman.

leah frowned, flipping around to face her and adam's tormentors. "what's your point?" she glared, only seeing their comments as pathetic insults with no magnitude.

larson gaped like a fish, debating on whether to speak up or not. the blond boy figured it would be best to stay quiet.

mcgill snarled, scrunching his nose with distaste. he paused, "that you're cowards, like chickens."

leah scoffed, "those are brave words coming from yo—"

"sorry," brown interrupted, "we don't speak chicken." he smirked, proudly nodding as the bus roared with laughter again. leah rolled her eyes. adam stared out the window angrily, trying to hold himself together. why couldn't leah just keep her mouth shut?

mcgill held his elbows out to mimic the wings of a chicken. "cluck, cluck!" he squawked, amd soon enough what seemed like the entire bus joined in. leah couldn't help but scoff - how pathetic.

her eyes flickered to charlie and lester, who shook with laughter as they coined in on the clucking chant. leah felt heat rise to her cheeks. she didn't think it was very funny that she and adam were the joke, nor that it was very clever, so she hadn't really cared. but seeing charlie laugh at the taunts, seeing him join in, was enough for leah to feel her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

her stomach shrivelled and her chest lowered, her throat closing up and eyes refusing to meet anyone's gaze. leah wasn't easily embarrassed, yet she now felt absolutely humiliated.

the clucking continued until they arrived outside the pond, where leah pushed past the other kids trying to exit the bus. adam determinedly followed behind, feeling himself internally rage.

"don't turn into a chicken overnight, we'll miss you at school!" mcgill pouted, snickering as he walked away with larson.

adam huffed, angrily trailing in the opposite direction. leah sped up to walk beside him, stepping back in surprise when adam flipped around.

"would you please keep away?" adam threw his arms in the air.

"what?" leah asked, frowning in confusion.

"i don't want to be a chicken freak like you! some clucking, brainless, outside bird!" adam exclaimed, expressing his anger. he was blinded with frustration and humiliation, too blinded to care about his words.

leah's jaw dropped, "brainless? our chickens are very communicative, if you cared to take any notice." she dug at adam herself.

"yes, brainless! just like you! they aren't our chickens," adam told, "they're yours!"

"they were my science fair project." leah shook her head as she defended their chickens.

"even though i said it was a bad idea! you literally get to do whatever you want and then i look bad when it goes sour." adam hissed. leah sighed, rendered speechless as her brother continued. "you're just as much a pet to dad as those chickens are to you." when leah failed to respond, adam finally released his anger. "god, do you know how humiliating it is - and how much i hate - to be your brother?"

adam walked away, determinedly continuing home. leah kept her feet planted on the grassy spot, letting tears well in her eyes and her chin to jitter with her pursed lips. she defeatedly turned away, returning to the pond and wading out on the raft.

"hey, ads," adam's mother greeted when he barged through the door, "where's leah?" she asked, flinching as the door slammed shut.

"don't care." adam grumbled, finally feeling a small ounce of guilt settle in his stomach. he didn't mean what he said. sure, leah was embarrassing sometimes, but she was the best sister he could ever ask for. she cared about him, and adam cared about her too - no matter how long she spent with dumb chickens. he felt bad for storming away, and he should have checked to see leah was making her way home. adam reassured himself that she would be home soon enough. with reluctance, adam found himself outside with leah's chickens - or as leah called, their chickens.