Page 113 of Valley Girls
“Like melike me?” she teased.
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Pretty much.”
She was still smiling when he kissed her.
Thirty Four
Rilla kept climbing, borrowing Petra’s static rope and setting it up, early in the morning by herself, on top-rope with two mini traxions—a kind of pulley system—to self-belay. She soon got used to the fear of being alone, and the only drawback was she had to stop every once in a while and pull the slack as she went. She kept to easy climbs where she could work on movement—trying to mimic the grace and power Caroline had without anyone watching. Remembering Tam and the hikers, she often found herself checking and rechecking the locking mechanisms, her rope, the anchors, and any fixed gear she passed.
Most of the gear she depended on was still Petra’s, and every time she looked at her few pieces mingling in, she thought of Johnny Cash’s “One Piece at a Time” and cringed a little. She was saving for a rope, but then she’d still need most of the gear she used. One mini traxion was over a hundred dollars, and the setup required two. She spent a week self-belaying before Petra needed her rope back, and Rilla had to stop.
In order to climb The Nose, Rilla needed to climb every day. She needed the experience of touching a lot of rock, figuring out a lot of problems, and doing it enough that when she got on The Nose, nothing but the view and the sequence would be new. Unwilling to wait around when she could have been climbing, Rilla forced herself to go to the bulletin board outside the ranger shack. Scanning the scraps of paper looking for a climbing partner, she crossed her arms and dug her fingers into her skin. The papers all had names and campsites. Some of them had ratings of what they typically climbed. Rilla looked for someone who could climb around a 5.10. It was where she felt most comfortable.
While she looked, a thin boy with an undercut and long braid came to the board and pinned up a paper.
She glanced him over. “You need a partner?” she asked quickly, before he left. At least this way she wouldn’t have to do the awkward walk into someone else’s campsite.
“Yeah. Do you know someone?” he asked.
She supposed it wasn’t obvious. “Me. Are you looking to climb now? I’m ready. I don’t have a rope though.” Wait. She needed to ask other things. “How long have you been climbing?”
He shrugged, looking her over.
Rilla felt the sudden urge to pull down her shorts. They were cut-offs, not technical fabric or spandex everyone else climbed in.
“A few years,” he said. “You’re a climber?”
She nodded. “I live here.”
“That’s awesome,” he said. “How long have you been climbing?”
“This summer, but I’ve gotten a lot of time in.”
He smiled. “You know, I think I’m looking for someone with a little more experience. Thanks though.” And with that, he walked off.
Rilla’s cheeks flushed and the heat prickled over her scalp. She wasn’t as experienced as Adeena or Caroline, but she was a good partner. She knew what she was doing. Was it that she didn’t look like a climber, even now?Would he have said that if she’d been a boy?Stomach churning, she trudged out toward the parking lot. She couldn’t muster up the courage to ask anyone else and be rejected. Looked like she wasn’t climbing today.
At the far edge of the parking lot, Rilla heard someone call her name. Turning back, she looked around.
“Hey! Wait up!” Caroline shouted, waving her hand. She had a huge pack on her back and carried another one.
Rilla ran back. “Need help?”
“Sure!” Caroline handed off the bag in her arms. “But don’t drop it. There’s like a million dollars worth of lenses in there.”
“Shit.” Rilla looked down. “I don’t know if you should trust me.”
Caroline chuckled.
“How’s it going?” Rilla asked.
“Hot and gross and annoying.” Caroline groaned. “I kept thinking because we’d be higher up, it’d be cooler. I didn’t count on having to go up and down a million times. I think I’ve lost like ten pounds just from the sweating.”
“How has it been? Climbing with Celine?”
“I’m not really climbing.” She shrugged. “Ascending and hauling. But it’s really cool to watch the photographers and Celine and how they work together while she’s climbing. She’s been working on the route on a rope this week. I think she’ll finish up and go for it at the end of the week. If she feels good.” Caroline readjusted the straps. “I don’t know. It’s cool. Petra still pissed?”
“Madder than a rooster who lost all his hens.”
