You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

26

AN: dedicated to thaparuku! thanks so much for all your supportive and encouraging comments, i'm so happy you're enjoying this story :)

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A satisfying sense of triumph rushed through me when I realized that I had already reached the midway point of the long rope I was climbing.

"I can't believe my eyes," Melissa's voice said from below.

I forced myself not to look down. If I was going to keep going, I had to keep my eyes on the goal—the little bell at the top I fully planned to ring for the third time.

"What's so unbelievable?" I called back, lifting my feet and pinching the rope between them to push myself up again.

"The fact that you're voluntarily climbing the gym rope while waiting for your turn at rock-climbing instead of complaining about how much you don't want to climb anything!"

"I couldn't believe it either," came Ashley's voice, "but no amount of eye-rubbing has changed what I'm seeing right now."

I rolled my eyes at their melodrama.

I would have thought that my attempt at actually putting in effort into physical activities during gym class would impress them, considering how often I whined about wanting to do the opposite. Instead of cheering me on, my best friends were acting like I was replaced by an alien.

After an arduous amount of effort, I finally got to the top with aching arms—I really needed to exercise more, wow—and rang the tiny bell.

"I did it!" I cried, before beginning to lower myself down the rope.

Melissa was waiting for me at the bottom when I got there.

"Where's Ash?" I asked.

"She went back," she said, tightening her ponytail. "It's her turn now."

I glanced up at our gym's large rock-climbing wall. Ashley's blonde ponytail was swinging as she pushed herself up the wall and stepped on another rock.

"I'm actually looking forward to it for once," I admitted as we walked back to the wall.

"What?" Melissa mock-gasped and placed her hand on her chest. "Who are you, and what have you done to Chelsea?"

I rolled my eyes. "Can't I want to exercise once in a while?"

"Normally the answer would be yes, but since we're talking about you ... no."

She was right, though. The main reason I was interested in any of this was because I wanted to be able to hold on my own on my little forest outings with Nolan. There was no way I was going to let him carry me the whole way up to my room again. They hung that rope in the gym, but it was optional and wasn't ever used by our gym coach for any class activities. It was just for people who wanted to practice or who even enjoyed climbing it.

"Get used to it," I said, grinning at her. "You're going to be seeing me do this a lot more now."

"What changed? I'm still in shock," she said.

"A few things," I said, not wanting to lie to one of my best friends.

Melissa eyed me skeptically. "Like what?"

"It's a secret," I whispered conspiratorially.

She threw her hands into the air. "Why is my best friend so lame?"

"Admit it, you like it!"

"Never!"

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