Valley Girls by Sarah Nicole Lemon

Author:Sarah Nicole Lemon [Lemon, Sarah Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683352648
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2018-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty Three

The late morning light filled even the shade with clarity and brightness. Rilla stood not far from where Thea wandered somewhere, writing parking tickets and giving directions to an endless line of cars and visitors. But facing the wall, she was alone. In the emptiness. In the silence. A speck on the sea of granite towering above. It was she and her—“On belay,” Caroline yelled—partner, the one she desperately wanted to impress. She was only following Caroline on this first pitch, but after The Great Rope Incident of Last Week, Rilla didn’t feel confident about anything. She eased out a breath and wiped the sweat off her hands before dipping her fingers into her chalk bag off her waist. More chalk. More chalk solved everything. “Climbing,” she yelled.

“Climb on,” came the reply.

The ledges to reach the bolt before the pendulum were an easy scramble. At the bolt, she carefully unclipped the carabiner from the rope, then from the bolt, and replaced the gear on her sling.

“Got the draw?” Caroline yelled.

“Got it.” Rilla’s gut clenched as she looked out over the Valley. Where Caroline had to run back and forth to work her way across, Rilla would just have to swing over. She didn’t realize what that meant until this moment—looking sideways across the sloughed granite—but as the follower, she would be swinging over to the next piece. The one she couldn’t see. The one Caroline had placed.

She clenched her fists and took slow, deep breaths. Caroline was obviously a fantastic and conscientious climber. But depending solely on anyone other than herself felt uncomfortable. Depending solely on a person she was intimidated by and wanted to like her, somehow even worse. Maybe Walker was right—the more she cared, the safer it should be, the more she shied away from it. Oh god. What did that say about her on a personal level?

“You all right?” Caroline called.

“I’m good.” Rilla’s brain said give a thumbs-up, but her hands gripped the rock rebelliously. Just having an emotional meltdown.

“Take your time,” came the reply.

It took another minute to work up her nerve, but she couldn’t get down and she couldn’t go on without facing it. Just do it.

Jump.

2. 3.

Jump.

She still couldn’t do it. Slowly, she inched to the edge, blinked at the open space below, and walked off.

Her stomach leapt into her throat. The whole world soared as the wind hit her face. It felt for a moment or two like she was flying. Soaring through the Valley in clear light and transcendent space.

The granite block rushed toward her. Oh shit. She threw her hands and feet out, instinctively trying to lessen the impact. “Arfff,” she huffed out, whole body slapping the block. Her hands scrambled to hold. Rilla looked for her feet and let her hands go blind, shoving her toes into anything that seemed like it would hold her. Her body was still swinging. Still wanting to go back the other direction. For a second she started to tear away. Without thinking, she grabbed on to the gear Caroline placed.

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