A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd #1)(48)

It was a party inside a cave. I drew next to Tray and asked, “I’m surprised there’s no deejay.”
He laughed. “Dylan tried to lower down speakers one summer and ended up ruining his entire stereo system.” He gestured around the cave. Almost everyone was in their bathing suit. After the guy who had jumped pulled himself out of the water, he went over and shook his hair out over a group of girls. They shrieked, but I could tell by the looks on their faces that they enjoyed it.
“Taryn!” Mandy waved from the opposite corner. Since Jennica and Amber weren’t with her, I told Tray, “I’m going to head over and say hi.”
“Okay. I’m going up top.” As he headed for the side of the cave where people were climbing up, his hand brushed mine. He flashed me a grin over his shoulder.
I sighed. He had slipped under my skin. He was inside and the more time I spent with him, the deeper he burrowed into me.
“Taryn!” Mandy called again.
I ignored her. I couldn’t take my eyes from Tray. He stripped his shirt off and dropped it on the ground. As he did, the muscles in his back rippled from the movement. He was gorgeous. Every inch of him was perfection. Then he started up the makeshift ladder. There were steps carved into the wall. He climbed up them, grabbed hold of the rope that was attached from the top, and hoisted himself up, his feet going to the rocks that stuck out from the wall. The last few feet looked like they were the hardest. He pulled his body up and stuck his hand in the air. He was grabbed from on top and hauled up the rest of the way.
“Taryn!” Mandy waved at me again. “Hey! You made it.”
“Yeah.” I grinned at her. She was drenched in a white bikini, but she was smiling. She looked happy. “I’m here.” I was going to keep my mouth shut about Devon. It was her life and her suffering that she was signing up for.
When she latched onto my arm, I smelled alcohol. “That’s so awesome. I wasn’t sure if you would come, but I’m happy you did. You have no idea. I love you, Taryn. I really do. You’re like my sister now.”
“Okay.” I untangled her hand from my arm and pushed her back a little. “You’ve been drinking.”
Her cheeks were red, and she started giggling. When she couldn’t stop, she clamped a hand over her mouth.
“You’ve been drinking a lot.”
Mandy doubled over, still laughing, and reached for her drink. As she took a sip and kept drinking, one of the other girls spoke up, “Want a drink? There’s some coolers they lowered down from the hole.” She pointed to a corner. “Dylan brought a pony-keg, but it’s on top. Half the guys are up there.”
I saw mostly girls were in the cave. The guys were jumping from the top and climbing back up. As I watched another one make his way up the side of the wall, I asked, “No girls can climb up?”
Mandy was still laughing, curled up in a ball now. Her friend saw my frown and laughed nervously. She said, “A lot of girls are scared, plus you have to pull yourself up using the rope. That’d be really embarrassing if they couldn’t get up, you know.” She shrugged. “We mostly just come through the base like you did and hang out.”
My frown deepened. “That’s bullshit. Someone could bring a ladder so the girls could have fun too.”
“This is fun.” She shrugged. “Enough for me.”
It wasn’t. I muttered, “Not to me.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “Are you going to try it?”
I nodded. Damn straight I was going to try. This was what I did. If there was a wall, safe, lock, or any barrier put in front of me. I would tear it down. Standing up, I noticed people had grown quiet as I approached the wall. Someone whispered behind me, “No girl’s made it all the way up there, have they?”
Another whispered back, “No and shut up. I want to watch this.”
Ignoring them, I gritted my teeth and started up. My feet covered the first steps easily. I held onto the rope as Tray had, pulling myself up as the spaces between the rocks grew wider and wider. I was almost there. I could feel the breeze from up top and could hear the boys laughing up there. They didn’t know I was coming up. They pulled Tray up, but they’d been watching for him. They were so loud, they wouldn’t be able to hear me if I called out. Then I glanced down. Every single person below me was watching. Mandy was pale. Her hands were pressed to her open mouth. Amber and Jennica moved out from a corner. Both were waiting for me to fall and they crossed their arms over their shoulders. Smug smirks appeared on their faces.
I grew harder in my resolve. I’d go it alone. With that thought, I gripped harder on the rope and wrapped it around my arms and shoulders so if I slipped, my fall would be slowed enough I could stop myself. The rope burn would hurt, but I was going to tackle this one way or another. Wrapping the rope around my leg, I looped it so my foot fit into a small pocket and then I began to climb. When I broke into buildings, it was rarely a full-out climb like this, but I had done it on a few occasions.
I kept going. All of my muscles were stretched tight and they began pulsating as I held my weight, then climbed up one handful at a time. As I neared the top, the guys still didn’t know I was there. My head had almost cleared the surface. I heard someone shout from below, “Help her!”
I glanced down, surprised. It was Mandy’s friend. She stood to her feet and walked to the edge of her bank. Giving me a thumbs-up sign, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled again, “HELP HER!”
“Yeah!” More girls clambered to their feet and stood with her. They all started hollering. “Help her! You helped the others.”