Reach

Maya is secretly terrified of heights, but somehow her name ends up on the sign-up sheet for the school's indoor rock-climbing competition. On a wall that scrapes the gym ceiling, she will have to face her fear, her doubts, and the quiet voice that says she can't. Can she find the courage to reac...

Maya stood at the bottom of the climbing wall and tilted her head back, and back, and back. The wall went up so high that the little colored grips near the top looked like sprinkles on a cupcake. Her stomach did a slow, sick flip.

'I don't like high places,' she whispered to herself, even though no one was close enough to hear. It wasn't just that she didn't like them. The truth, the secret she kept folded up tight inside her chest, was that heights made her freeze. On the tall slide at the park, on the second rung of any ladder, even looking out a high window, a cold hand seemed to squeeze her insides and whisper, You'll fall.

The gym smelled like rubber mats and chalk dust. A banner hung above the wall: SPRING CLIMBING COMPETITION. Maya didn't even know why she was here at try-outs. She told herself she was only watching. 'Just watching,' she said. 'That's all.' But her feet had carried her right up to the edge of the mat, like they knew something she didn't.