"I can't wait to try rock climbing!" Mason said.
"It's going to be so much fun!"
Olivia bit her lip. "Um, yeah. I can't wait either."
Mason laughed. "You're not going to like rock climbing.
You're afraid of heights, Olivia!"
"I am not!" Olivia folded her arms across her chest.
She was terrified, but of course, she didn't want her brother to know that.
"We're here," Mom said as she pulled into the parking lot.
"You two have fun."
Olivia and Mason went inside.
An instructor asked the siblings for their shoe sizes.
She grabbed a pair of rock-climbing shoes for each of them.
After that she helped them put on harnesses and took them into the gym.
Olivia gasped. The walls were even taller than she'd expected.
They were dotted with colorful objects that looked like rocks.
"What are those?" she asked.
"You use them to climb up the walls," the instructor said.
"Different colors mark different routes.
Some routes are more difficult than others."
"What do we do first?" Mason blurted out.
"I'm ready to start!"
The instructor gave a short demonstration on how to climb.
"All of our walls have devices that control the rope as you climb," she said.
"Just hook the rope onto your harness and climb.
When you lean back, the device will lower you slowly."
"Awesome!" Mason ran to a wall, hooked a rope onto his harness, and started to climb.
He looked down at his sister.
"I'm going to beat you to the top!"
"Stop bragging!" Olivia said as she stepped up to the wall.
She clipped the rope onto her harness.
Carefully she placed her foot on a rock and got onto the wall.
When she felt ready, she climbed a bit higher.
She looked up at her brother, who was already halfway up the wall.
"I can do this," she told herself. "I'm not scared."
Each time Olivia got a little higher, she took a deep breath.
Then, when she felt comfortable, she climbed some more.
She felt all of her muscles straining, but she enjoyed the feeling.
In fact, she was starting to feel a lot less scared.
Soon she heard a bell ring from above.
"I'm at the top! I won!" Mason yelled.
He looked down at Olivia with a sly grin.
Suddenly his face went pale.
"Are you okay?" Olivia asked.
Mason was silent. His entire body was now flat against the wall.
"He went up too fast," Olivia thought.
"He didn't realize how high he'd climbed."
Olivia continued up and was soon next to him.
Mason looked terrified.
"H-how come you don't seem s-scared?" he asked his sister.
Olivia grinned. "I went up just a little bit at a time.
That way, I got used to the height slowly.
Now lean back.
You'll be back on the floor soon."
Olivia led her brother down the wall.
When Mason was ready, they climbed up again.
This time he was a bit nervous.
But Olivia wasn't scared at all!