The Gathering

ELEVEN

I FOUND ANOTHER PAPAYA in the middle of the yard, pointing to the path leading into the forest. As I walked, I alternated between looking for papayas on the ground and for classmates overhead. Given how many times I’d jumped out of trees or off rocks and scared the crap out of my friends, I figured payback might be coming.

But there was no sign of anyone—just papayas, a half dozen of them leading me along the path. Then I stepped out into the clearing at the base of a rock face that rose fifty feet in the air. I’d seen this particular cliff many times, but today it was different. Today it had toeholds and cuts carved out and stone protrusions drilled on. A belay and pulley hung from the top.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“Happy birthday, Maya,” a voice said behind me.

I turned as Daniel stepped from the trees.

“You like?” he said.

I ran over and threw my arms around his neck.

“I think that’s a yes,” Corey said, off to my left.

“Hey, we helped, too.”

That was Brendan Hajek, the veterinarian’s son, who’d become captain of the track team after I’d bowed out last year. He was Daniel’s height and slender with light brown hair worn to his shoulders, usually tied back, like it was today. There’d been a time when he’d ask me to school dances, and whenever he did, I was really tempted to say yes despite my rule against dating town boys. Brendan was quiet and sweet, and between track and a love of animals we had a lot in common. But I had my “summer boy” rule for a reason—I wouldn’t risk my friendships by dating my friends. Eventually, he’d stopped asking. Now he was dating a girl a few towns over.

I gave both Corey and Brendan a hug, which I think shocked the hell out of them, but neither complained. The others streamed out of the forest. Even Hayley had come with her younger sister, Brooke, and Brooke’s boyfriend. Like I said, Hayley and I don’t get along. I like Brooke, though. It’s not her fault her sister is a bitch.

I said a quick hello to everyone, then hurried to the climbing wall and stared up, barely resisting the urge to start jumping up and down, screaming like a game show winner.

“You always said this rock face would be perfect for climbing,” Daniel said as he walked up behind me.

“If only it had more cracks and crevices,” I said.

“And now it does.”

I grinned up at him until Nicole grabbed my arm and said, “Come and try it out.”

As she pulled me away, I glanced back at Daniel. “How long did it take to build?”

“Too long,” Brendan said. “And we weren’t even around for most of it.”

“We’ve been at it since six this morning, finishing up,” Corey said. “So we’d really appreciate it if you girls could grab us some cold beers …”

“Are you going to show us how it’s done, Maya?” Brooke said. “I’ll never make it all the way up, but I’d love to try. I’m sure Hayley would, too.”

“Um, no,” Hayley said. She turned to me. “I can’t believe you still do stuff like this. Are you ever going to grow up?”

“I still do it,” Corey said.

“Because you’re a guy. Girls don’t climb walls. Not real girls, anyway. Just tomboys whose closets are filled with tank tops and jeans and sneakers. Who still consider braids and ponytails high fashion. Who wouldn’t know how to apply makeup on a dare.”

“Knock it off, Hayley,” Daniel said.

I was wearing makeup. Just not a lot. I had my hair down, too, and although I was wearing jeans, they were my fancy ones, paired with a new fitted tee and ankle boots. It might have been the T-shirt slogan that she objected to—BRUNETTE IS THE NEW BLONDE—but I didn’t buy it to set her off.

“Am I the only one around here who thinks Maya has a hidden Y chromosome?” Hayley said.

“If she does, she’s hiding it pretty good,” Corey said, giving me a lascivious once-over.

Hayley scowled at me and opened her mouth to say something else. Daniel started to cut her off, but Corey beat him to it.

“Lessons later,” he said. “First, we need to see if this girl is as good a climber as she thinks she is. Challenge time. A race to the top. Maya versus anyone who dares take her on.”

“That’ll be a short list,” I said.

Corey grinned. “Not when they hear the prize.” He turned to the others. “Anyone who beats our Sweet Sixteen gets to kiss her. The lineup forms behind me.”

Brendan got behind him. Daniel grinned at me and joined. The other guys filed in.

“Oh my God,” I said. “What are you guys? Twelve?”

“No,” Brendan said. “Just really, really immature.”

“In other words, typical guys,” said a voice.

Sam stepped out from behind Hayley and Brooke and cut in line behind Daniel.

“I’ll skip the kiss,” she said. “But as the designated bad girl, I can’t resist the urge to show up the good girl.”

“So what do I get when I beat everyone?” I said.

“When?” Corey shook his head. “Do you need a wide-load sign for transporting that ego? Fine. Beat all of us and I’ll kiss you.”

“Speaking of egos …”

“Beat us and we’ll install more holds over there.” Daniel pointed to a tougher and higher section of the rock face ten feet down, then looked at me. “How’s that?”

I smiled. “Game on.”

Nicole and Brooke took the path up to the top, so they could referee. Hayley stayed at the bottom.

Between the natural crevices and bumps, and the newly installed ones, there were more than enough for two people to climb side by side.

Corey went first. I beat him easily. Brendan was a little tougher, but I still made it to the top before he was much past the halfway mark. Neither had any real climbing experience—they just counted on their general athletic prowess to pull them through.

Next up was the only real threat. Daniel. He’d been climbing with me for years. I was the natural—I was faster and more agile—but he had double my upper body strength and that counts for a lot.

Daniel did a test run first. Brendan and Corey complained about that, but he was right—I’d gone up twice now, which gave me an advantage. If I was going to win, I wanted to do it fairly.

Daniel belayed back down as I got into position. His feet hit the ground with a thump, then he looked over at me.

“Ready?”

“Always.”

Nicole did the countdown from the top. I started fast, reaching the halfway mark head and shoulders above him. But that’s when things got tricky, the holds and grips a little farther apart, and he had the advantage. By the three-quarter mark, he’d caught up.

“Better kick it up a notch,” he said, as he drew alongside me. “I know you really want those extra holds.”

“And I’m sure you really don’t want to make them. But don’t forget the second part. You win, you gotta kiss me. Might be better to stick with the holds.”

He laughed and heaved up to the next grip, pulling away now. I grabbed another and found toeholds first, shooting a couple inches above him, the advantage lost a second later when his longer arms found the next grips as I was still getting leverage. I kept my face forward now, climbing in earnest for the first time since we’d started.

A hiss and boo from below told me I was in the lead. Then a grunt from beside me. A sharp intake of breath and I knew he was pulling up. The crowd cheered. I looked up to see Brooke leaning over the side, ropes in hand, urging me on. Only three feet to go. I could see Daniel out of the corner of my eye, his chin level with my nose, just a scant inch advantage, but I knew it was enough and as soon as he grabbed that top ledge and heaved himself up—

A grunt. Daniel wobbled and the grip slid out of his hand. He dropped only a few inches, but by the time he’d recovered, I was pulling myself over the top. Brooke and Nicole were cheering. The others below called up good-natured boos.

I took a breather as I hung off the ledge. I could hear Daniel panting beside me, but I didn’t look over.

There was no way he’d lost his hold on that grip. He’d let go. Given me the win at the last second as he realized what was coming if he’d won. A kiss he didn’t want.

The ego bruise lasted only a moment. Was I surprised? No. How awkward would that have been? Neither of us wanted that kiss. As always, Daniel had done the right thing and, if I’d been in his place, I’d have done the same.

After a moment, I grinned over at him. “Loser.”

“The rope slipped,” he said, tugging at it, like he was testing the belay system.

“You just keep telling yourself that. It’ll keep you busy while you’re building those new holds.”

“You still need to beat everyone else. You haven’t won yet.”

“Just keep telling yourself that, too.”

He laughed and gave me a shove. I returned the favor, sending him swinging, then belayed down before he could retaliate.

The next challenger was Sam. She was strong enough to climb and obviously had some experience, just not enough to give her a serious shot at victory. She took the defeat well, though, just teasing me in a surprisingly good mood.

The other guys were easy wins. Everyone was joking about a rematch with Daniel and ribbing the guys about losing a kiss and gaining a weekend of work, when a familiar voice drawled, “Is the game over? Or is there room for one more?”