The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,68

at the edge of the pool.

"No. But we should take off our boots and socks and roll up our pants," Lucy said.

Jane looked pained.

"Do you need to rest? Ready to stop?" Lucy said.

"No." Jane made her way to a large rock and sat down. "Just get my boots off."

Lucy took off Jane's boots and socks and rolled up Jane's pants before dealing with her own. "This time you lean on me," she said.

"No problem." Jane put her good hand on Lucy's shoulder and used it as a crutch to help her through the pool.

Mae walked behind them and they all made it across without mishap.

They sat down to put their boots back on.

Lucy helped Jane with hers and tried to judge how she was feeling.

Jane was trying to look brave but casting apprehensive glances in the direction of the rope disappearing into the corkscrew climb.

"You can stop here," Lucy said.

Jane shook her head. "No. I know I can do this. Just clip me in."

"Not so fast," Lucy said. "We need to figure out the best way to do this."

"I think you should go first," Mae said. "You can help her up with the rope when she needs it. I'll climb without the rope and help from behind when I can."

"The first part sounds good," Lucy said. "But I don't like the idea of you climbing without being clipped in. What if you fall?

"I'll be very careful. We're going to have to take some risks if we're going to make this work," Mae said.

"Fine," Lucy said. She clipped onto the rope. "Come on. If Jane can be tough, we can be tough."

"Jane's still here," Jane said. "And yes, I am still feeling tough."

The climb that had seemed so easy on the way down, didn't look that way as Lucy went back up. She tried to do as much of it one-armed as she could, just to get an idea if Jane should even attempt it.

There were two spots where she thought Jane would have to trust to the rope completely. Two places where Lucy was going to have to prove she was tough and pull Jane up a few feet with very little help.

At the top, Lucy found a spot where she could sit facing the hole with her feet braced on a large rock and rigged the rope for belaying.

The idea was for Lucy to use her Petzl ascender to take up the rope as Jane climbed, locking her in place on the way. As long as Lucy didn't go ass over tea kettle into the hole herself, Jane couldn't fall.

"Ready!" Lucy yelled at the top of her lungs when she finished setting up. Sound did strange things down here and she wanted to make sure they heard her.

She gave the rope a little shake for good measure.

Within a few seconds, the rope went tight. Lucy braced harder, leaning back and doing her best to let the equipment do the work pulling the rope through the ascender at a steady pace to keep up with the slack.

Lucy shuddered to think what kind of pain Jane was in. No matter how careful she tried to be she had to be bumping her arm against the rock from time to time on the way up.

The first time Jane gave her weight to the rope Lucy came within a hair's breadth of smacking her head against the rock in front of her. She had the rope positioned too high across her back and the sudden weight bent her forward hard.

Lucy grunted like a weightlifter, pushed her feet harder into the rock and leaned backward for all she was worth. All she had to do was keep from getting pulled over for a few seconds until Jane found the next hold with a little boost from Mae.

Five seconds seemed more like five minutes as Lucy grimaced and strained, clenching her jaw, waiting for the slack.

When it came, she thanked God she'd had her back braced against the wall or she would have smacked the back of her head instead of the front. She readjusted the rope lower on her back and waited for the next one.

Lucy's estimate that she'd have to hold Jane's weight twice was wrong. Apparently just pretending to have a bad arm and actually having one are two different things. The final total was five.

Five times Lucy held Jane's weight for a few brief seconds and hoped she wouldn't fail. She didn't.

Jane flopped out of the hole onto her back with