flipped. charlie conway

40

"leah, over here!" adam beckoned at breakfast the next morning, ushering his sister to the table he shared with luis, guy, and charlie.

charlie froze in his seat. "what, no!" the boy hissed through a whisper.

"what's wrong?" adam frowned, ignoring charlie's righteous behaviour. charlie mumbled words of dread as the chirpy girl made her way over. charlie refused to look up from his bowl.

the girl slid into her seat, gently placing her bowl of cereal and glass of juice in front of her. to no surprise, adam had served himself the exact same breakfast.

"hey, leah!" luis greeted through a mouthful of toast, resembling a chipmunk with stuffed cheeks. guy waved from his seat, too invested in his own cereal to speak.

leah chuckled to herself at the sight. "morning."

"rest well?" adam asked his sister casually between spoonfuls of food.

the girl shrugged. "yeah, pretty well. i'm sure you slept like a bottle-fed, big, bashed baby after yesterday evening."

adam laughed, trying to keep his cereal in his mouth. leah knew him too well.

"i sure didn't." charlie remarked, trying to finish his breakfast. the boy looked up, meeting leah's blank face.

her stare made charlie internally squirm.

"sorry about that, charlie. next time, you, guy, and luis should join in!" adam invited kindly. yet, charlie didn't even look his way. leah's blank gaze remained locked on charlie, and he began to grow more and more unsettled by it. the boy gulped, shuffling in his seat.

"join in with what?" guy asked.

leah snapped herself out of her daze, finally relieving charlie. "pranking, is what! we're going to get you back, ads."

charlie felt his heart beat a little faster than usual, cautiously glancing over to the banks girl every few seconds. was she about to punch him? throw his food in his face? would she prank him? charlie wouldn't put it past her - a bird, and by association her birdbrain, was messy, vengeful and reckless.

thankfully, her beady eyes and beak didn't look charlie's way for the rest of breakfast. not even when his shaggy hair looked more like a nest than usual, even though leah thought it looked nice when it was tousled and slightly tangled.

later that afternoon, team usa head to the park for a short lesson with ms mckay.

"okay, settle down now!" ms mckay smiled whilst the rowdy group of children fell quiet, "can anyone name the nine planets of our solar system?"

"in order?" luis called out from beside leah.

"in order!" she confirmed, amused by the outburst of shock emerging from the team. not to her surprise, one boy raised his hand bashfully. ms mckay gestured for adam to list the planets.

"um- mercury, venus, earth, mars, jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune, and pluto. but pluto is technically a dwarf planet like ceres and eris - and apparently it may not be classified part of the solar system soon!" adam excitedly shared. leah grinned at the excitement radiating off her brother. few things got him so fascinated, and outer space was one of them.

"very good!" ms mckay applauded.

"what's wrong with dwarf planets?" fulton asked curiously, furrowing his eyebrows.

ms mckay smiled. "there's nothing wrong with them, per say. dwarf planets are like any other planet, except they have yet to clear the debris in their orbit," the honey-eyed woman began, appreciating that the rowdy children listened to her so intently, "imagine earth had ginormous rocks floating through the atmosphere."

ms mckay's lesson exhausted the players of team usa, each and every one of them eager to get some decent rest before their game against italy the following day.

as leah began to settle down for bed with julie and connie, a light knock echoed through their room. connie opened the door to reveal greg, kenny, and luis snickering to themselves.

"we need your help with a prank!" kenny exclaimed.

julie shook her head. "oh, no thank you. i need rest for tomorrow."

"me too." connie exclaimed, collapsing onto her bed.

as leah began to agree, greg begged she come help. "leah, please! it won't be long, i swear."

the girl complied, smirking as she walked out of the room with them. "it better not be long, because you've sworn now, goldberg."

the boy whimpered fearfully, ushering the girl into their dorm room. asleep on his bed was a peacefully snoring dwayne robertson. luis pulled out a can on shaving cream and a feather, causing kenny to giggle slightly in excitement.

"that's mean!" leah quietly gasped, "let's do it."

the four crouched down beside a sleeping dwayne, hushing their snickers. greg gently squirt some shaving cream into dwayne's open palm, trying not to make too much noise. soon enough, kenny was gently tickling the country boy's face with the feather. and in seconds, dwayne had splattered himself in shaving cream. the four burst into silenced giggles, realising that dwayne hadn't awoken. they continued until his face was so covered in shaving cream, dwayne looked more like a snowman than a person.

the boy's eyes shot open after hearing luis' loud cackle. dwayne screamed bloody murder, shooting up and out of his bed as the four pranksters scrambled away. poor dwayne, leah was worried she'd be in for some ruthless pranks now.