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!”

---

After lessons had ended for the day, Ashley and I walked down the hallways together towards our dorms. Suddenly, I heard the rapid footsteps of someone running behind us. I paused and turned around to see Cody slowing his steps as he reached us.

“Hey, guys,” Cody said with an easygoing smile. “I saw you and thought I’d say hi.”

“Hey, Cody,” Ashley said, grinning back at him.

“Well, hi,” I said, returning his smile. “I’ll be seeing you later at our club meeting, though.”

“I won’t be seeing Ashley, though,” he said, a slight tinge of pink touching his cheeks.

Ashley hastily lowered her head, but not before I caught the blush on her face.

My jaw fell, and I didn’t bother hiding it.

Was something going on between them during those study sessions that I had to miss for my project meetings? Was he flirting with her right before my eyes? Because I was totally all for it.

“What?” I said, smirking at him. “We’re all studying again together tomorrow, aren’t we?”

“Chels!” Ashley whispered, elbowing me in the side.

“Ouch! Sorry, sorry! I was just teasing,” I groaned, grabbing my side.

“Oh, right,” she said, sliding her bag off her shoulder. “I was going to return this to you earlier, but I forgot.”

She handed him a paperback novel she pulled out from her bag, and he took it with a smile. I didn’t think my eyes could get any wider than they were right then.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not in a hurry to get it back,” he said. “Did you like it?”

“I loved it,” she said, nodding excitedly. “When it turned out Paul was the double agent, I almost cried! There were so many unexpected twists. Thanks for recommending it to me.”

“No problem. I’m glad you liked it,” he said, checking his watch. “I have to go now, but maybe we could discuss it tomorrow?”

“Definitely!” she said.

Smiling, he waved at us. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow. And see you later, Chelsea!”

“Later!”

As we watched him leave, I nudged her arm with my elbow. “So, he’s recommending you books now?”

The red returned to her face with alarming speed. “They’re just books! Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Looking at you like what?” I said innocently.

We started walking again.

“Like … like something’s going on between us,” she said, huffing. “For the record, there isn’t!”

“You guys seem to be pretty close,” I said.

“We don’t really get to talk much apart from when we study together,” she admitted.

“Discounting the fact that you text enough to lend each other books,” I teased, and she rolled her eyes at me. “Don’t you share any classes?”

“We only have one class together,” Ashley said, shaking her head, “and he sits with his friend there. We pretty much don’t interact at all.”

“Why don’t you just sit at the other table next to him?” I said.

 “The guy who usually sits there is always early to class,” she said, before a scandalized expression took over her face. “I’m not running to class to just so I can sit next to Cody! Chelsea!”

I snickered. “Don’t lie, I bet you’re tempted to!”

“I’m not!”

It had been seven days since our little forest outing. I was really looking forward to the next one, but Nolan hadn’t mentioned anything to me yet. I wondered if he was planning to sneak out all on his own again.

“Hey,” I whispered to Nolan after English class, our last period for the day, ended.

He eyed me with a cranky expression on his face. “What?”

He hadn’t been able to sleep in class because of Mr. Jameson, who had woken him up unceremoniously as usual, and had been nodding off throughout the whole period.

“When are you going again?”

He blinked at me. “Why?”

Just then, Ashley walked up to the front of my desk. She stood there patiently.

Oh, right. We were supposed to go to the library with Cody after school.

“Sorry, Ash, could you go without me first?” I said, standing up. “I’ll meet you at the library in a bit.”

She shot me a puzzled look before glancing at Nolan. “… Okay. I’ll see you there.”

When she left, he got up from his chair. “Let’s go somewhere else first.”

“Good idea,” I said, waving to Mr. Jameson as we went out of the classroom.

We found an almost empty corridor somewhere near the music rooms, and I leaned against one of the nearby pillars.

“So … when are you going again?” I asked.

“I don’t know, maybe tomorrow?” he said, rubbing at an eye. “Why?”

“It’s been a while since we last went,” I said. “I actually had a lot of fun the previous time.”

“Even with the giant beetle attack?” he said, grinning.

I answered that question with a glare. “Despite the beetle! Anyway, I’ve even been practicing rope-climbing on my own the past few days.”

He paused his eye-rubbing to stare at me. “Really?”

“Yeah! I bet I could get down by myself now.”

“We could go on Friday instead of tomorrow,” he said. “That way you can sleep in on Saturday.”

I liked the idea of not falling asleep in class, but I always went out with Ashley and the others on Saturdays. If I acted like I did last Wednesday, they would probably sense that something was up. Still, I would take my friends getting suspicious over getting reprimanded in class any day.

“Sounds good. Friday it is,” I said. “1:00 a.m.?”

“Yeah. You still have the rope I left with you, right?”

“Yup, I kept it.” It was safely tucked away at the bottom of my wardrobe, hidden under my folded clothes.

He nodded. “Good. Then I’ll meet you directly on the ground. Unless you still need help getting down?”

“No way, I can totally make it down by myself now!” I said, puffing out my chest.

Nolan gave me a lazy grin, and I rolled my eyes. “Really, now? I look forward to that, then.”

“Alright, I should go now,” I said, checking my phone. I had a feeling that if I stayed any longer, Ashley would grill me until I was well-done. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you.” He lifted a hand in a brief wave and turned to leave.

When I got to the library, Cody and Ashley were already hard at work. They looked up as I pulled out a chair at their table and sat down.

“Hey guys,” I whispered.

Cody nodded at me with a smile before returning his attention to his writing pad. Ashley, on the other hand, left her seat beside Cody and sat next to me.

“Hey,” she whispered. “Is there … anything between you and Nolan?”

I almost fell off my seat. “What?!”

Cody must have been super focused on his work, because he didn’t even look up once.

She hastily shushed me and threw a glance over her shoulder. “Not so loud! The librarian’s glaring at us.”

“What—why would you ask that?!” I said, remembering to lower my voice after the first word.

“I’m just asking,” she whispered. “This isn’t the first time you had to talk to him in ‘private’, and you’re the only one he ever talks to. You’ve been talking to him a lot between classes lately, don’t think I haven’t noticed. Be honest, Chelsea: are you guys dating or something?”

I squinted at her. “Do you seriously think I wouldn’t tell you if I got a boyfriend?”

“No…” she said slowly. “Good point. But then what’s with the secret meetings?”

We continued to stare at each other.

Yeah, there was no way I was going to tell her about how I sneaked out of school with Nolan in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. I had already agreed that I wouldn’t tell on him in exchange for him bringing me along, and while Ashley wasn’t a teacher, the thought of telling her felt uncomfortably like breaking a promise. Besides, my watch was still with him.

“We just … have some things to talk about, you know?” I whispered, immediately cringing on the inside at how horribly I had phrased it. “But I promise, we’re not dating or anything like that. We’re just friends, honestly.”

She eyed me, still looking unconvinced. “Things? Really?”

“You don’t believe me?”

I went for the wounded puppy look, and Ashley snorted before quickly catching herself.

“I believe that you’re talking about things,” she whispered, shaking her head, “but you’re making it sound like it’s some huge secret you can’t tell me about.”

That’s because it is a giant secret.

“It kind of is, I guess,” I admitted. “It’s really something I’m not supposed to share with others, because it’s about him. I don’t want to break his trust.”

Surprise flashed across her face for a couple of seconds before Ashley smiled at me. “It’s okay, I get it. I just wanted to know if you were dating him secretly or something. It’s not a big deal, I’m not expecting you to tell me something private about him.”

“I knew you’d understand,” I said, as relief washed over me.

Maybe I should stick to texting Nolan about these things from now on.