Bruli

Bruli is the het ship between Bryce Loski and Juli Baker from the Flipped fandom.

Canon
Bryce and Juli meet each other when Bryce and his family move across the street from Juli's house just before the start of second grade. And, as Bryce himself narrates, he starts despising Juli. That day, Juli offers to help Bryce with the moving boxes and will not take no for an answer; she chases him down, holds his hand, and resists leaving his side. From Juli’s perspective, it is Bryce who takes her hand and clearly wants to kiss her. Their point-counterpoint narration continues as they relate the events of each year until present-day eighth grade. Juli demonstrates her enthusiasm for Bryce by befriending him and clinging to him in primary school; saving him from Shelly Stalls, in whom Bryce is plainly not interested, in fifth grade; and sharing answers with him in sixth-grade spelling. What Juli does not realize is that Bryce never intended to kiss Juli, hates her advances, and purposely acquires Shelly Stalls as his girlfriend just to give Juli a hint. He willingly takes the spelling answers but feels guilt in doing so, as he just can’t stand Juli.

Bryce hopes to better avoid Juli once seventh grade at Mayfield Junior High begins. They share a bus stop, however, and Juli manages to annoy him there every morning, climbing a big sycamore tree in the neighborhood. Climbing the tree is nothing new for Juli, since one day, she climbed to the highest points to rescue Bryce’s stuck kite. Bryce does not know that Juli became so enamored with the tree while rescuing his kite that she wants to start every day by climbing it. By eighth grade, she loves and appreciates the tree a lot. However, one day the tree cutters arrive to demolish the tree. Juli attempts to stop them by refusing to leave the high branches, but her father convinces her to climb down out of safety, and the workers destroy the tree.

Meanwhile, Bryce is harboring a years-long secret. He purposely throws away the gift of fresh eggs that Juli brings to his family weekly from her farm. This began in fifth grade when Juli’s successful egg incubation science fair project resulted in six healthy chicks raised in her backyard. When the hens begin laying the following year, Juli sells the eggs to two neighbors. She gives eggs to the Loskis, though, for free, since she thinks that the chance to see Bryce is enough. Juli does not know that Bryce once spied on her backyard to ascertain if a rooster lived with the hens, as his mother feared that Juli’s eggs might randomly contain chicks. No rooster could be seen, but Bryce is horrified by the backyard’s messiness and mountains of chicken poop. He and his mother decide they cannot risk salmonella, and his father tells him to shut down Juli’s generosity with the eggs. Bryce wimps out, however, and instead of just telling Juli that his family does not want her eggs, he intercepts them directly from her each week and throws them promptly in the trash. He has done this secretly for two years.

A few weeks after Juli’s sycamore tree is cut down in their eighth-grade year, she catches Bryce pitching the eggs. Instead of apologetically explaining, he tells her that his family fears food poisoning from her dirty yard. He also tells her that her house and front yard are the worst-looking ones in the neighborhood. Mortified and hurt by this, Juli flees, determined to be done with Bryce forever.

After Bryce's hurtful words, Juli feels determined to fix up their yard. So Bryce’s grandfather, Chet Duncan, who lives with the Loskis and recalls the newspaper write-up about Juli when she attempted to save the sycamore, begins helping her with her yard project. Much to Bryce’s annoyance, Granddad learns about his egg debacle and critical comments. His grandfather’s disappointment in him drives Bryce to work up the nerve to apologize to Juli.

When Bryce’s father makes derisive comments about the Bakers at dinner, Bryce is surprised and uncomfortable. Granddad and Mrs. Loski are angry. Mrs. Loski decides to invite the Bakers to a dinner party so they can all get to know each other. The week of the party, Juli overhears Bryce going along with his friend Garrett’s derogatory comments about her uncle. Angry again, she tells Bryce at the dinner party that she never wants to talk to him and cuts off his attempt to apologize. By the end of the night, though, she realizes the Loskis are much different than she assumed, and she apologizes to Bryce for her behavior. Juli doesn't know that Bryce has “flipped” for her and does not know how to deal with his newfound feelings. After the party, Mr. Loski makes arrogant and unfounded accusations regarding Juli’s older brothers, infuriating his family members. Bryce sees that his family is less grounded in love and communication than the Bakers, who he always previously judged as chaotic and peculiar.

At school, his classmates vote Bryce into the pool of “basket boys” in the fundraiser to benefit the school. Bryce must bring a packed picnic basket to school and stand on display while the girls place bids on the chance to have lunch with him. Shelly Stalls and Miranda Humes combine their money and win Bryce. Their inane banter and his jealousy at the sight of Juli having lunch with another basket boy, Jon Trulock, drives Bryce to action. So he takes Juli’s hand and tries to kiss her in front of all the lunch attendees, without her consent. Juli pulls away, deeply embarrassed, and returns to Jon. She then avoids Bryce and ignores his attempts to call and visit for days.

Finally, Bryce understands that he must offer Juli a message more meaningful than a verbal apology. After acquiring permission from Juli’s parents, he plants a young sycamore tree in Juli’s newly improved front yard. Then he cleans up, goes home, and waits. The final perspective in the movie is Juli’s as she decides she is ready to learn more about the genuine and changed Bryce.

Fandom
FAN FICTION