Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

III. Rock Climbing Adventures

Three weeks into school and the team-building games in Phys. Ed. finally came to an end. The two combined classes of Coach Clapp and Coach Love were separated to their original thirty student class size.

Based on his June birthday, Melaina's gym teacher added Edward Cullen, one of the new students from Alaska, to the smaller June-July group for the next activity that they'd be starting: rock climbing. The new group consisted of only four students, which included Edward, Melaina, Marissa, and Jonah.

Coach led his class to the tall building behind the gymnasium with the floor-to-ceiling rock wall. He explained the basic process and rules of climbing. The class wouldn't be actually climbing until they passed the Belay Certification, learned proper knot tying, and memorized the sequence of commands. After completing those, the traversing and vertical climbing would begin.

Melaina hoped with all her heart that she wouldn't be stuck with Marissa. She feared her ex-best friend would drop the rope and let Mel plunge to the ground. Mel watched that happen to a girl named Rayne in middle school when they were on the rock climbing unit. It was an accident, but that didn't give the fallen girl any less of a concussion when she hit the hard mat. Mel shuddered at the memory.

~*~

The days didn't go by slow enough, because the day in Phys. Ed. that Melaina dreaded came too soon. Vertical climbing. No longer were they traversing low to the ground without ropes and a harness in a horizontal direction. It was time to begin climbing up the two-story rock wall, and Melaina was terrified.

She fretted being paired with Marissa throughout the day. Her leg bounced up and down in anticipation of the worst happening. Mel couldn't focus on her art project and doodled mindlessly in her assignment book.

The knot in her stomach suddenly loosened, and she took in a shaky breath. The calm within her felt out-of-place, but she welcomed the feeling anyways. Any time her mind wandered to her last period class, her emotions would flare and then dull. It was like she couldn't bring herself to feel afraid anymore. She began to feel the familiar sense of numbness that came with shutting off her fluctuating emotions.

Her fingers tingled. Mel tapped them against the desk as the seconds ticked by. Eight more minutes until the bell rang. Three more classes until gym.

~*~

Melaina chewed on her nails nervously. She had changed quickly into her gym uniform and was one of the first few students to arrive by the rock wall. Her fear was back at full force.

She felt light-headed and sat on a mat with her head in her hands.

"Hello." A smooth voice startled Mel and her eyes shot up to meet a pair of golden eyes.

"Hi," she said, surprised that Edward Cullen was talking to her. Most students tended to stay away from Melaina, just like most people steered clear of the Cullen family. Mel thought everyone at school was too judgmental, but she pushed the thought aside as Edward spoke again.

"Would you like to be partners?"

"Are you sure?" she blurted. Melaina was certain the boys would pair up and she would be stuck with her life in Marissa's hands.

He chuckled quietly. "Yes."

"Okay, thank you." She wasn't sure why she thanked him since he didn't know how badly she dreaded her other options, but she was thankful.

"You can go first, if you'd like," Mel offered. She wanted to avoid climbing as long as she could get away with.

"If you insist," Edward said in his melodious voice. Mel nodded in relief.

~*~

Jonah grumbled about his feet being too big for the small rock-holds and Marissa impatiently waited for him to finish securing his harness.

Melaina expertly tied the rope around her own harness and tugged to make sure the line was tight and secure.

"Ready?" she asked. Edward sent her a thumbs-up as a cue to begin. "Here we go," she mumbled.

"On belay," Mel called in a normal voice. She held the rope firmly between her hands.

"Ready to climb," Edward responded with his body facing the rock wall.

"Climb on," Mel recited from the sequence of commands.

"Climbing."

Edward went up the wall with the ease of a monkey. Mel imagined the bell at the top of the wall to be a banana, which made her snort, then forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Edward was trusting her to bring him down the wall safely. He could fall at any moment, and she had to be ready.

He rang the bell that announced his arrival at the top. Mel released the rope slowly to lower the copper-haired boy to the ground. His feet touched down on the mat, and Melaina tensed when she realized what would happen next. She would have to climb while Edward was the belayer.

Edward moved towards Melaina to switch positions. "I-I don't think I can make it to the top," she admitted.

"You only have to try for Coach to give you the points."

Mel bit her lip and nodded at his words. Her mouth was dry, so she couldn't speak. She fumbled with untying the rope around her harness. Cold hands gently pushed her unsteady hands away and unknotted the ties for her. "Thanks," she managed to say.

Edward nodded and stepped away. As he prepared himself as the belayer, Mel took her time walking across the mat. She gulped and stared up at the wall looming before her.

"On belay," Edward said.

Melaina's hands shook, and she didn't respond. Her blood was thudding loudly in her ears.

"On belay," her partner repeated, in case she hadn't heard.

Mel sucked in a big breath. "Ready to climb," she lied through her teeth.

"Are you sure?" That wasn't the next line. "You look unwell."

Melaina needed to get this over with before she puked or fainted. "Ready to climb."

"Climb on."

Mel placed her hands on the first low rocks. "Climbing."

Edward led her up the wall with helpful pointers. With her hands reaching out all around her, Mel felt stupidly like a starfish. She tried to bring her leg up to the odd shape hold that Edward suggested, but her foot slipped, and she was suddenly turned in a way that brought her gaze to the ground. Her vision blurred at the distance. "Please don't let me fall," she whimpered. Mel didn't expect Edward to hear her.

"Do you want to come down?" Edward called to her. Mel bobbed her head up and down. She was too shaky to continue. "You can let go. I have you secured."

"I can't. It's too far." Damn her fear of heights. Mel liked her feet firmly on the ground, and this was beyond what she thought she could handle. It was like when she was little and thought climbing trees would be fun. Until it was time to come back down. Then she was like a trapped kitten in a tree that needed a firefighter to rescue her.

"Just let go. I'll go slow."

Melaina squeezed her eyes shut and let her grasp loosen from the wall. She felt herself being lowered by Edward until her knees brushed the ground.

"You did it. You're safe." Mel peeked open her eyes and looked at Edward.

"Thanks for not killing me," she choked out, her voice thick.

Edward's eyes became oddly guarded. "I do my best."