Page 14 of Valley Girls
Rilla dodged the swing-back of a branch, her calves aching as she struggled to keep up. They weren’t even breathing hard. How much longer was this goddamn hike? She opened her mouth to ask, but Petra yelled, “Only a little farther.”
Soon, the narrow, unused path leveled off, and they emerged out of the manzanita bushes, onto an open shelf in the cliff side. Granite rimmed a shimmering blue pool, and a thin waterfall cascaded down the cliff that continued to rise above them. The wind puffed in a cold and unfettered updraft. Rilla dragged in deep breaths, sweaty, her head buzzing faster than normal.
“There you are.” A girl with a shiny brunette bob and an oversized sweatshirt shaded her eyes in their direction as she lounged on the rock. “I stopped by, but you weren’t there.” It seemed like she spoke to Walker, but her eyes flickered to Rilla, looking her over coolly before turning away.
“I found him tormenting this poor girl on her first time climbing,” Petra said, plopping onto the rock. “Rilla, this is Caroline, Walker’s sister. Caroline, this is Rilla.”
Oh.His sister.
Caroline didn’t look at her. “You’re on call, right?” she asked Walker.
“Rilla is Thea’s younger sister,” he said to Caroline, dropping beside her.
“Oh, the one with the poly parents?” Caroline asked.
The what?Rilla put her hands on her knees and suddenly felt like she was going throw up. They knew about her parents? What else did they know about her?
Petra was still introducing her. “Rilla, this is Hico. Hico, this is Rilla.”
Rilla waggled her fingers at a short, strong-looking Mexican boy with shaved dark hair. Shehadto get it together. She wasn’t pretty enough to not have a good personality.
“Rilla was going to be Walker’s next victim,” Petra said to Hico.
“Not like that,” Walker snapped over his shoulder. “She’s Thea’s sister.”
“Martinez’s sister?” Hico glanced at her, confused.
Rilla was used to it. “Half,” she said in a flat tone. “We have the same mom.”
“Oh, right. Nice to meet you, Thea’s sister.”
“It’s Rilla, man. Come on.” Petra snapped her fingers. “I just said it a minute ago.”
“Did Adeena and Gage and them make it back yet?” Caroline asked.
Petra answered, “I looked over the edge and they were maybe two pitches away. I told Eammon to send them up here when they get back.”
“How was Pink Panther?” Caroline asked.
“Done. I mean, it was fine. I kept expecting to have a hard time with it, but it went pretty smoothly. You said the crux was right below the anchors?”
Caroline looked annoyed.
Rilla wanted to put her head between her knees and raise a white flag. They were all going along on a rhythm Rilla just couldn’t find. Instead, she kicked off her sandals, edging her feet into the water. The ice-cold clarity sent a shock through her spine and she took a deep breath, feeling more alert. Back home, this would be a puddle in a ledge—but here the scale transformed it.
More people emerged out of the brush, coated in dust, ropes slung over their chests. Petra introduced them as Gage, a Korean engineering major from San Francisco whose given name was Jospeh, but “no one called him that”; and Adeena, a Pakistani mountain climber.
It took a beat too long for Rilla to realize Pahkistahn was Packistan, and to cover her stupidity, she blurted out the first thing that came into her head. “Ha! Like a mountaineer.” At home, a mountaineer—the West Virginia football team mascot—was a white-bearded man in buckskin with a rifle. Here, she’d met one in the flesh who turned out to be a girl only a little older than her.
Adeena’s eyes narrowed. “Nice to meet you,” she said with a slight trace of an accent.
Rilla got the sense she’d said something wrong.
Two more people were introduced, but Rilla didn’t even bother to try and remember. She didn’t care. She didn’t care they were all older. Fit and tanned. Educated. Nice.Fuck them.
Everyone peeled off their shoes and socks, and waded out into the pool.
“So, you moved here with Thea?” Hico asked when Petra seemed satisfied with intros and Rilla had joined them in the pool. “And you’re a climber?”
