CHAPTER 4
FEAR
Later that week, Tanisha was sitting at the kitchen table, doing her homework, when Terrell walked in.
“Hey, T,” he said. He headed to the fridge to grab a drink. “Rugged Reaper is on. You want to watch?”
“That’s OK,” Tanisha said, looking through her textbook.
“But you never miss an episode,” Terrell replied. “I’m sure Mom and Dad won’t mind if you finish—”
“I said I don’t want to watch it!” Tanisha snapped.
Terrell looked shocked. “Geez. What’s your problem?” he said.
“It’s nothing,” Tanisha said, shaking her head.
Terrell pushed Tanisha’s textbook away and sat next to her at the table. “C’mon, what’s wrong?”
Tanisha sighed. “Derek and I were training earlier this week, and I froze on the climbing wall. Apparently I’m afraid of heights. Now I don’t know if I can do this. Maybe you were right. Maybe I can’t do the Rugged Reaper after all.”
Terrell shook his head. “I was just giving you a hard time. You and Derek have been working too hard on this for you to quit.”
“But what if I mess up? I’ll be letting Derek down too,” Tanisha replied.
“You’ll never know unless you try. And I believe in you. You should talk to your trainer or Derek about this. Maybe they can help,” Terrell said.
* * *
Tanisha got to her next training session early, in the hopes of shaking her fear. She put on her climbing harnesses and secured her bungee rope. Looking up at the wall, she began to climb.
But after only three small levels, Tanisha’s heart began to pound. She looked up at the top of the wall and began to sweat heavily. She was afraid to climb any higher.
Tanisha quickly got down off the wall, removing the bungee rope and harness.
What am I going to do? she worried.
A moment later, Derek walked up. “Hey, T!” he called. “I got here early to do some pull-ups before we started training. I can do twenty in a row before I get tired!” To prove his point, he picked Tanisha up off the ground.
“OK, OK, I get it!” Tanisha laughed as Derek put her back down.
Just then, Janet walked over. She put them to work right away with a set of push-ups.
“Great job!” Janet said as they finished. “You guys are blazing through those!”
“I’m still too slow with my sit-ups, though,” Derek complained.
“But you’re great with jumping jacks,” Tanisha reminded him. “And you’ve improved on the balance beam in the past week.”
“You’re both doing well,” Janet agreed. “I think it’s time to make it a little tougher.” She put ankle weights on both Derek and Tanisha.
“What are these for?” Derek asked. “Isn’t running already hard enough?”
“It’s going to be even harder in the mud,” Janet replied. “These will help prepare you.”
Derek started jogging around the gym. “They feel fun—” He suddenly lost his balance and fell to the floor.
Tanisha rushed toward Derek. “Are you all right—” she began. But then she wiped out too, landing on top of Derek. They both laughed.
Janet helped both kids climb to their feet. “They’ll also help you with your balance,” she told them with a laugh. “Now, I want both of you to walk around the track a few times. Don’t run. I don’t want you hurting yourselves.”
Derek and Tanisha began to walk the track. “Hey, T?” Derek said as they started their first lap.
“What’s up?” Tanisha asked.
“I just wanted to say thanks for asking me to be your teammate,” Derek said. “I know I wasn’t your first choice. And I’m not the most athletic. But you’ve been a great friend through all of this. I’m really excited for the competition.”
“You’re welcome,” said Tanisha. “This has been a lot of fun, for sure.”
But memories of being stuck on the wall— too scared to climb—began to creep in again.
“Hey, can I tell you something?” she asked.
“Sure,” Derek nodded. “What is it?”
Tanisha opened her mouth to tell Derek about her fear, but something stopped her. She shouldn’t be afraid. Not of something as silly as heights.
Plus, she was the athlete on the team. If Derek, who’d been in worse shape to start, was doing so well, she couldn’t let her friend and teammate down. The last thing she wanted was for him to have to worry about her too.
Derek has his own stuff to worry about, Tanisha thought. I’m going to have to conquer my fear on my own.
“Eh, it’s no big deal,” she said. “I’ll tell you some other time. Let’s see if Janet will let us do monkey-bar training and belly-crawl drills after we walk laps.”