flipped. charlie conway

46

"i don't ever want to train again; my legs feel like jelly!" connie complained as she trudged along beside a sleepy julie and leah.

"no thanks to captain blood." julie scoffed as she entered ms mckay's tutoring room, collapsing into the nearest seat.

the three were exhausted, and it seemed they weren't the only ones on the brink of falling asleep. in fact, almost everyone was struggling to to even keep an eye open.

where some may have hopefully caught at least a couple hours of rest, leah hadn't caught a blink. she threw herself around on the mattress, trying to find a position comfortable enough that didn't freeze her in blinding pain. her wrist hurt.

"morning, everyone!" ms mckay kindly greeted as she pranced until the room, joyfully opening the blinds. the team of pulped players released a unanimous groan at the sudden surge of light.

lester flinched away, as if he had been wounded by a gunshot. "my eyes!"

"don't tell me you all chose to stay up late pranking each other, again." ms mckay joked, crossing her arms playfully.

"i wish!" fulton scoffed, "no. we spent the evening with captain blood." the tall boy huffed, including his own howl to their coach's new nickname. leah wondered who thought of it. though it was mean, leah did not dislike it.

ms mckay furrowed her eyebrows. "captain blood? are they from some television show?"

leah laughed under her breath, knowing she would likely assume the same thing had she not faced the icy wrath of captain blood herself.

"he made us skate until our knees gave way!" jesse told, showing his distaste at the memory.

"i almost threw up after all those sprints." connie groaned.

"oh, relax," charlie yawned, "as team captain, i'll talk to coach." leah lightly smiled at the gesture. charlie was so admirable for his selflessness.

lester animatedly shrugged his shoulders. "didn't you try that already?"

"not to mention, we're gonna train with blood again in a few hours." luis crossed his arms, yawning like a hyena.

as team usa grimaced in unison, ms mckay tut sarcastically. "i can see your enthusiasm." with that, she began comparing the colosseum to the junior goodwill games.

but no matter how hard leah tried to listen, every word flew through one ear and our the other. her brain felt like a scrambled mess of cogs that were installed by an unqualified goldfish. leah's eyelids felt heavy, but she didn't mind it. the sweet embrace of sleep was so calming that leah could have crafted fifty rafts for a pond. plus, she couldn't feel her throbbing wrist when her eyes fell shut. time seemed to slip away so fast when leah was in her dozy state.

"guys!" ms mckay shouted, awakening the tired children. but before ms mckay could scold the team for dozing off, the woman watched as the children snuggled into themselves and tried to keep their eyes peeled open to the bitter light. "class over."

"please, no!" dean pleaded, "let us stay here, and just nap for a short while."

it was too bad that kenny, luis, jesse, julie, guy, and lester were still fast asleep.

after a moment of thoughtful consideration, ms mckay huffed at her conclusion. "head back to your dormitories; training is cancelled for today."

the team cheered enthusiastically, rushing out of the room as they endlessly thanked their warm-eyed tutor. leah was reluctant, but wouldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up on lost sleep. she would deal with vengeful coach bombay later. 

the next morning, leah awoke to hushed giggles of laughter. the banks girl pulled her covers up, dismissing the giggles as connie and julie joking about some obscure thing.

"she's gonna kill you!" a strangled voice laughed, before being hushed by various other voices.

"she looks like that one big-nosed gnome from snow white." another voice remarked. that honey voice could capture leah's attention any time of day.

when something sharp pinched against leah's right wrist, the girl shot awake. low and behold, a group of troublesome pranksters stood in front of her. a snickering adam, fulton, dwayne, and julie covered their mouths, darting backward from the awoken girl who would likely seek revenge. of course, how could leah not notice the shaggy-haired boy chuckling like a madman. it was clear he had just woken up himself, with his puffy eyes just as dazzling and bedhead of hair enhancing his usual scruffy appearance.

to leah's great surprise, her bedspread, pillow, pyjamas, and hair were drowning in countless clothes pegs. from red, to yellow, to green, to blue, every colour imaginable stung into her eyes. leah felt her jaw drop, pondering how the group even found such a number of clothes pegs. leah felt that sickly, head-spinning feeling once again.

charlie found great amusement in leah banks' shock, and commit himself to inconveniencing the girl more often. the way her twinkling eyes shot open as wide as saucers was a sight much funnier than charlie thought it should have been.

"you should have seen your face!" adam cackled, starting to pull the pegs out of his sister's tangled hair.