Chalk

9

“Peel off!” Edward’s voice rose up from around my ankles.

“Will you just speak in normal, human words. Please,” I hissed, trying to readjust my grip. “I can’t understand a fucking thing you say when you talk in tongues.” Stress made me bitchy. And getting stuck spread-eagle six feet above the ground with no up in sight was stressing me the fuck out.

“Just let go, Bella.”

“I’m not gonna just let go,” I argued with him, stubborn even though I knew he was probably right. He was always right. He’d been right about my hands and my muscles, both of them evolving to suit my needs as time progressed. Within three weeks I’d grown myself some calluses that I have to admit I was a little proud of, and my muscles were starting to stand out in my arms when I climbed. My first problem on that nemesis rock really did seem like child’s play now, and I think even Edward was surprised at how fast I picked it up.

He said I had a knack for spotting my lines and when I told him it was only because I had a good teacher, he shrugged silently as though it wasn’t really that at all.

This was my fourth problem, one I’d picked out, but Edward seemed skeptical of from the beginning. He’d tried to steer me toward something a little smaller, this particular problem was at least four holds longer than anything I’d attempted yet, but I held my ground and he finally relented. I wouldn’t let him climb this one first for my benefit, even though he was wearing cut off shorts today which would have made it quite enjoyable.

I wanted this one for myself.

“That right there,” he pointed out a hold far above his head, “is the crux. The spot where it either happens, or it doesn’t. You’re gonna have to hit the hold sideways, do you see it? Instead of hanging off the ledge, you’re going to brace against it.”

Which was where I was right now. Stuck in the crux and unwilling to let go.

I’d done what he said, had my fingers wedged firmly against a vertical lip in the rock and was trying to figure out where to put my other hand. There wasn’t anything in sight. I stretched my arm blindly, feeling with my fingertips for something to hold onto.

“It’s too far!” Edward called up at me. I was sure he could see the next hold and I was also sure that it was only barely out of reach of my fingers. Just as I was contemplating giving in and ‘peeling off,’ my index finger slipped into a tiny hole in the rock just big enough for me to hook inside up to my second knuckle. I tried not to think about what could be at the bottom of the hole and readjusted the newly sprouted callus on the underside of my finger against it. Took a deep breath, poured all my strength into my hand and used it to haul myself just high enough to put my foot on the next ledge. Let the adrenaline and pain pumping through my finger carry me onward without bothering to stop, blindly ascending the rock in a blurry daze of tunnel-vision.

I got more of that shaky-leg thing at the top that Edward called Disco Knees, and had to double over with my hands on my thighs to catch my breath. I looked down to find Edward staring up at me in disbelief. I was getting this look from him and Alice so often that I was starting to get used to it.

Neither of them seemed to believe what I was doing, but on entirely different ends of the spectrum.

---

We found Jasper was on his own rock a little ways off, stripped down to a pair of shorts and panting against the stone. I watched with Edward, silent, as he finished his climb and did a little victory dance on top. He noticed us only after he finished and looked embarrassed as he made his way off the backside of the rock.

“You need a spotter. That’s too high ball to do on your own.” It sounded like Edward was admonishing him and from Jasper’s reaction, I guessed that he kind of was.

“Emmett’s climbing with Rose on Coffin Nails, and you’ve been off with Sparkles here doing god knows what.” Jasper shrugged in defiance.

“She topped the Lock and Key,” Edward said as if it justified something. All these problems had the strangest names. And they still talked so funny I was having trouble keeping up.

“The Lock and Key?” Jasper gasped and I tried not to be offended that he sounded so surprised.

“On site,” Edward flashed a cocky smirk at Jasper and I scrunched my forehead up, trying to figure out what that one might mean. Jasper turned on me with an appreciative face, as though it was the first time he was really seeing me.

“Dang, honey. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Means you did it on the first try, Sparkles,” Edward laughed, taking pity on me. “Without any beta.” At least he explained so that I could stop with the face-scrunch thing. I’m sure it wasn’t all that attractive. I was already covered in dirt and chalk and scratches and bruises, adding an ugly face would just be the cherry on the sundae.

“Which is a good thing?” I asked, just to clarify. He ran his tongue across his bottom lip before pulling it into his mouth for a split second too short, his eyes sort of glazing over, and nodded his head.

“Very.

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