Scrubs Forever! (3 page)

“None of that,” warned Mr. Kwan.

Rufus was having the hardest time with rock climbing. Dan glanced over at him. But Rufus pretended he hadn't heard.

“Gee whiz,” said Dan. “This is too easy.”

“I'll tell you what,” said Mr. Kwan. “When your turn comes, I'll time you. See how fast you can do it. They have competitions like that, you know. Speed climbing, they call it.”

“That's cool,” said Dan. “I'd like to do one of those.”

“There's one coming up. You could try it, if you want.”

“Sign me up!” said Dan.

“Aw, man,” said Rufus, “that was what I liked about climbing—no competition. Now you're turning it into a race.”

“You don't have to race, Rufus,” said Mr. Kwan. “It's kind of a special thing, anyway. It's a different skill. I'm more into getting you guys outdoors on the real stuff.”

Willy was the first to climb, and Dan watched him, imagining how he would do each move.

When Dan's turn came, he pretended it was a race. He sped up the first half, but then he was panting so hard he had to rest for a moment.

“Smooth is fast! Remember to flow!” called Mr. Kwan from below. “Keep your weight in your feet,” he added.

Dan started up again, trying to be smooth, trying to keep his weight in his feet. It seemed to help. Soon he was at the top.

After he had lowered Dan to the floor again, Mr. Kwan said, “Good job, Dan. That was fast.”

“Do you think I could win the competition?” asked Dan.

“Yeah, you might win your age group. Depends on who enters. Maybe that Elisabeth kid will enter. She'd give you a run for your money.”

“Who is this mystery girl, anyway?” asked Clara.

“You should know her,” said Mr. Kwan. “She goes to your school. I even think she's in your grade. Elisabeth—I can't remember her last name, but I think she goes by Lisa.”

“A short girl? Dark, curly hair?”

“Yeah, that's right.”

“You're kidding!” said Dan.

“No, that sounds like her.”

“Little Lisa is the TV star from Colorado?” said Dan. “I don't believe it.”

But it was true. Lisa had been on TV. There had been articles about her in the Colorado newspapers and in climbing magazines.

“Why didn't you tell us you were famous?” Clara asked Lisa in the hall before class the next day. The four friends clustered around her.

“I'm not famous,” said Lisa.

“You should come climbing with us!” said Rufus.

“Well, it's not like she's a beginner,” said Clara.

“Do you ever climb in the climbing gym?” asked Dan.

“Not very much,” said Lisa. “Mostly outside.”

“But there's going to be a contest in a few weeks,” said Clara. “One of those speed contests. You have to enter!”

“I've never done one of those,” said Lisa. “But it sounds like fun.”

The bell rang. “See you guys,” said Lisa.

Still Dan could hardly believe it.

That night Dan did more pull-ups than he ever had before.

chapter 9

SPEED
CLIMBING

Everybody in school had heard about the climbing competition. A lot of them came to watch. They wanted to see if this tiny little Lisa could really climb better than most grown-ups.

There were two identical routes next to each other on the climbing wall. The same holds had been screwed into the wall in the same places. Climbers were paired off and raced against each other. Then the winners raced off again until only two were left. And then the last two raced to decide the winner.

Dan won three times in a row to get into the finals. Dan was a lot faster than the kids he climbed against. Some of them were big, strong kids, but they didn't seem to know where to put their hands and feet.

Between heats, Dan got to watch Lisa climb. He had wondered what she would do, being so small, when a hold was out of her reach. She made it look easy. She just kind of jumped. Her feet came off her footholds. But she did it so lightly it didn't look like she was jumping at all. It looked like the most natural thing in the world, like she was walking.

Dan pointed this out to Mr. Kwan.

“You're right. She's good at those,” said Mr. Kwan. “Dynamic moves, or ‘dynos,' they call them.”

“They're incredibly cool,” said Dan.

“You do that, too, you know,” said Mr. Kwan.

“I do?”

“Yeah. You do it without realizing it.” Mr. Kwan looked over at him. “Don't worry, Dan. You're a good climber. You both are. Just keep it smooth. And don't forget to have fun.”

When the final round came, Dan and Lisa clipped into their ropes right across from each other. Dan looked over at her and nodded.

“Good luck,” said Lisa very softly.

“Yeah, you, too,” said Dan.

Dan looked up at the colored holds bolted onto the wall. They had changed the holds for the finals. He didn't try to think about where he would put his hands and feet. That was too hard. He just tried to feel it. There was one spot that was particularly tricky, where he would have to jam his hands and feet between two boards. He rubbed chalk on his hands to keep the sweat from ruining his grip.

When the whistle blew, Dan started up slowly. He could see that Lisa was ahead of him. But that was all right. The hard part was still to come.

When he reached the boards, Dan really tried to speed up. He jammed his fists in, he wedged his feet, and up he went. He was panting hard by the time he got above them, and his hands felt damp and greasy on the last couple of holds. But he didn't dare take the time to chalk them again.

“Bang!” he slapped his hand on the plate at the top. He looked over.

“Bang!” went Lisa's an instant later.

Dan could feel the rope tighten up. He leaned back and relaxed. Fending off the wall with his feet, he allowed the rope to lower him to the ground.

chapter 10

SHAKE, SCRUB

But Dan never reached the ground. Before he could get his feet down, some kids from school grabbed his legs and held him up on their shoulders.

“Way to be!” “Dan the man!” “Yee-haw!” they were saying.

At the back of the crowd, his father was clapping and smiling.

It felt good to finally be number one at something, though not quite as good as he'd thought it would feel. Something was still bothering him.

Rufus, Willy, and Clara were waving at him from one side. Lisa was standing beside them, looking upset. Just then Biff came up to her.

“So, Ms. TV Star from Colorado,” Biff said loudly. “You can't keep up with our guy. You're not a star any longer. You're just a loser now!”

“Let me down,” Dan said to the kids holding him. They lowered him, and Dan unclipped from the rope. He could hear Lisa saying to Clara, “This is the only thing I've ever been good at. I can't stand—”

“Boo hoo,” Biff interrupted.

“Hey, Biff,” said Dan, going over to them. “Leave her alone. Being mean doesn't make you cool, you know.”

Dan turned to Lisa. “Don't listen to Biff,” he said. “It was just a race. I barely won. Besides, you shouldn't worry about this stuff. This was just fooling around, right? You'll have to come climbing with us sometime. We'll have some fun, okay?”

“Stop being such a goody-goody, Dan,” said Biff. “Let the loser cry. You're one of the guys now! You're one of us! You don't have to be nice to losers. You're not a Scrub anymore.”

“Maybe I
want
to be a Scrub,” said Dan. “Once a Scrub, always a Scrub.”

“Yeah,” said Clara. “Scrubs are allowed to win. As long as they're nice about it.”

Dan turned to Lisa. “I'm sorry I was a jerk before. Shake, fellow Scrub?”

Lisa held out her hand. As they shook, she even managed to smile.

chapter 11

HOLDING
THE LINE

Today, Dan held the purple rope. The rope went from his right hand, through the belay device, up the cliff, through a carabiner, and back to Rufus.

And Rufus was twenty-five feet off the ground.

Only Dan held the rope. It was his job to lock it off if Rufus fell.

Dan watched Rufus's every move. As Rufus climbed, Dan pulled in the rope to take in the slack. It was important not to have too much slack.

Rufus was at a tricky spot now. The rock was mostly smooth with only a few little bumps to hold onto.

Rufus came to a stop. He started to let go of one hold to reach up for another, but then he put his hand back and clung there.

“Go, go, go!” shouted Willy.

Rufus reached up again—and started to slip. “I'm—” he said. And then he fell.

Dan had pulled his right hand back as soon as Rufus began to slip. The rope couldn't move. Dan could feel Rufus's weight come onto the rope. If Dan hadn't been roped to a tree behind him, he would have been pulled off his feet. But the weight went into the tree, so the rope just stretched a little, and then brought Rufus to a gentle stop. It wasn't hard. Still, it was Dan's hand that kept the rope angled so the belay device remained locked.

“Okay,” gasped Rufus, hanging from his harness. “Let me down to that ledge.”

“Gotcha,” said Dan. “I'm lowering.”

Dan glanced over at Mr. Kwan. Mr. Kwan hadn't moved when Rufus fell. Now he smiled at Dan and nodded. Mr. Kwan trusted him.

Dan let the rope slip a little, then a little more, until Rufus stood on a ledge below the smooth part.

“I guess you should come down,” said Mr. Kwan to Rufus. “We've still got a couple of people to go.”

Dan could see Rufus slump when Mr. Kwan said that.

“Give him one more try,” said Dan. “He'll do it this time.”

“Are you sure you want to take the time?” Mr. Kwan asked Dan. “You and Lisa haven't gone yet.”

“If it's okay with Lisa, it's okay with me,” said Dan.

“Sure thing,” said Lisa. Then she called up to Rufus, “When you get to that place where you fell, put your left foot where your right foot was. That'll help your balance when you reach.”

“Okay.”

Again Rufus climbed while Dan carefully took in the slack. When Rufus got to the place he'd fallen, he brought his left foot up, exactly as Lisa had told him. Then he reached up with his hand and grabbed the next hold.

“Go, Rufus, you've got it!” called Clara.

Rufus continued to climb until he stood on the top of the cliff. He raised his hands over his head. “Yahoo!” he shouted, and they all cheered.

After Rufus was down again, Mr. Kwan turned to Lisa and Dan. “I'm sorry, guys,” he said, “but there isn't time for both of you.”

“That's okay,” said Dan. “Lisa, you were going to show me how you did that overhang move, anyway. That won't take long. Let's do that.”

“Are you sure she has anything to teach the ‘king of speed'?” asked Clara.

“A lot,” said Dan. “I may be the ‘king of speed,' but Lisa's the ‘queen of the overhang.'”