“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.”

  CHAPTER 5

  HIDING SOMETHING

  After weeks of training, it was time for Derek and Tanisha’s final session at the gym.

  “So, what’s the plan for today?” Derek asked Janet.

  “Maybe some push-ups and sit-ups, followed by some crawling drills?” asked Tanisha.

  Janet handed them each a package. “Not today. The two of you have trained enough. You’re ready. Here’s a gift for both of you for all of your hard work.”

  “Cool, thanks, cuz!” Derek said as they opened their gifts. Inside each was a red T-shirt and matching shorts that said EveryFit Champions.

  “Now you’ll be the best-looking team out there,” Janet said, smiling. “Your event is in two days, so I want both of you to eat proper meals—no junk food. Drink plenty of water, stay away from distractions and video games, and get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Will do,” Tanisha promised.

  “I told both of your parents that tonight would be short, so they’re waiting for you outside. Good luck. No matter what happens, I’m proud of you both.”

  Derek gave Janet a big hug. “I really appreciate that, cuz,” he said. Turning to Tanisha, he added, “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, T!”

  “See ya!” said Tanisha. After Derek left, she sighed, lowering her head.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Janet asked.

  Tanisha tried to brush it off. “Nothing. Why would you say that?”

  “I can see it on your face,” Janet replied. “What’s bothering you?”

  Tanisha let out a big sigh. “It’s … the climbing wall. I-I-I’m afraid of heights,” she managed to get out. “I didn’t realize it before we started training, but the wall is so tall, and it freaks me out. I’ll be the reason we lose Rugged Reaper.”

  “Why didn’t you say something about this sooner?” Janet asked, looking concerned.

  Embarrassed, Tanisha looked down at her feet. “I don’t know. It’s just … I didn’t want to admit I was afraid,” she said. “I didn’t want to let Derek down. I’m supposed to be the athlete.”

  “You’re supposed to be a team,” Janet replied.

  “I know,” Tanisha said. “And now when we reach the wall I’m going to freak out and not be able to do it.”

  Janet put her arm around Tanisha’s shoulders. “You know, it’s OK to be scared, Tanisha,” she said. “We all get scared about certain things. When I was your age, I was terrified of the water.”

  “Water?” Tanisha repeated. She was confused. “Why?”

  “I thought I would drown,” Janet replied. “I wouldn’t go near a swimming pool or beach for a long time. It wasn’t until I decided to face my fear that I was able to overcome it. I didn’t do it alone. But I did it. And you can too.”

  Tanisha nodded skeptically. She wanted to believe Janet, but …

  “Is it OK if I tell my mom to wait a bit? Do you have time to help me on the climbing wall?” she asked.

  “Sure thing,” said Janet. “We’ll get through it together.”

  Tanisha went to tell her mom she needed more time. When she returned, Janet was at the climbing wall putting on her equipment. Tanisha got into her harness too.

  “When we start climbing I want you to focus on your hands, feet, and the wall in front of you,” Janet said. “Focus on those three things and don’t look up.”

  “But what if I get—” Tanisha started to say.

  Janet read her mind. “If you get scared, close your eyes, take a deep breath, exhale, and calm yourself. Then continue to move up the wall and focus on those three things,” she said.

  Tanisha nodded and took a deep breath. She began to climb slowly, with Janet climbing right next to her. At first it was slow going, but about halfway up the wall, Tanisha began to move a little faster.

  “You’re doing it!” Janet yelled.

  Tanisha smiled as she looked at Janet. But then she looked upward. Her fear of heights came rushing back.

  “I’m right here with you, Tanisha,” Janet said. “Don’t panic. Remember what I told you to do if you get scared.”

  Tanisha stopped looking up, looked at Janet, and then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and looked directly at the wall. She began climbing again.

  Tanisha and Janet finished climbing the wall, then made their way back down. At the bottom, Tanisha gave Janet a big hug.

  “It was scary, but I did it,” Tanisha said. “Will you climb the wall with me again?”

  “I’d be glad to,” Janet replied.

  CHAPTER 6

  THE RUGGED REAPER

  The big day had finally arrived. Derek and Tanisha met up at the Newville Fields Park and Reserve early that morning. Before long, the stands were filled with Rugged Reaper fans, along with the families and friends of the contestants.

  Derek and Tanisha took their places at the starting line. The rest of the contestants lined up as well.

  “Can you believe the turnout? There must be hundreds of kids waiting to take this course on!” said an excited Derek.

  “I had no idea it would be this big,” Tanisha said. “Look at all the TV cameras. This is wild!”

  Just then a couple contestants walked up to Tanisha and Derek. “Hi, I’m Blake,” one of the boys said. “This is my friend, Austin.”

  “I’m Derek, and this is Tanisha,” Derek replied. “Nice to meet you both!”

  “Is this your first extreme obstacle course?” Blake asked.

  Tanisha nodded. “How about you guys?”

  “This is our third,” Austin replied. “When we found out that Rugged Reaper was coming here, we couldn’t miss it.”

  “Any advice you can give us?” Derek asked.

  “Accept that you’re going to get dirty immediately!” joked Blake.

  “And never leave your teammate behind,” Austin added.

  Just then the announcer made her way to the podium. “Greetings, and welcome to Rugged Reaper! Are you all ready?”

  The kids all screamed, “Yeah!” in unison.

  “Good! Now, because the top three teams will advance to the national quarterfinals, we’ve made this course extra challenging. There’s a special, never-before-seen final obstacle!” the announcer bellowed. “When the pistol fires, begin! Good luck!”

  The starter pistol blared, and the kids ran to the first obstacle, the massive mud run. Tanisha and Derek took off through the quarter-mile of mud, dodging the dirt the other kids were splashing up as they ran.

  A few kids fell face-first into the mud, causing a chain reaction. Even some of the cameramen got caught up in it. Staying upright, Derek passed them by, followed by Tanisha.

  “Janet was smart to make us use those ankle weights!” Tanisha yelled.

  “Definitely!” Derek hollered back. “We’re almost out of the mud!”

  The two finished the mud run and ran quickly to the second obstacle, the baited belly crawl. It was a forty-yard ground crawl under a net.

  Tanisha and Derek wiggled under the net and started crawling. Just in front of them, some kids got tangled in the net, slowing them down.

  Maneuvering past them, Tanisha crawled quickly on the ground like a mini-locomotive. Derek trailed behind her.

  “The net up ahead is hanging low, so don’t get tangled, Derek!” Tanisha warned.

  “Gotcha. Thanks, partner!” Derek said.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Derek and Tanisha exited from the belly crawl. They ran with the other kids to the third obstacle, the sit-up situation station. There were adults stationed there to make sure each teammate did fifty sit-ups.

  Tanisha and Derek got to their station and started their repetitions. Tanisha flew through her fifty sit-ups. When she finished, Derek still had twenty-five more to go.

  Tanisha got up and cheered her teammate on. “Come on, Derek! You can do it!”

  Tanisha was really impressed with how far Derek had come. He finished his sit-ups, and they began running again.

  “We’ve got a half-mile run until our next station,” Tanisha said. “Let’s go!”

  CHAPTER 7

  BALANCE, SWING, AND HOLD ON!

  Nearing the completion of the half-mile run, Tanisha and Derek were in second place. They were making great time on the course so far.

  Around the bend was a volunteer water station to make sure the contestants stayed hydrated. As they ran toward the station, Tanisha saw a familiar face standing there, holding cups of water.

  “Terrell?” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Trying to be supportive,” her brother said, handing her a cup. “Now, don’t get distracted by me. Go, go, go!”

  Derek and Tanisha both gulped some water and kept running. Soon they arrived at the next obstacle station, the stability beam and swing. It had sets of extended balance beams and a rope swing at the end. A pool of water had been set up underneath the whole obstacle.

  “The first-place team is only halfway across the beams. We’ll catch up with them for sure!” said Derek.

  Tanisha began to make her way slowly along the balance beam. Behind her, the other teams were starting to catch up and test their skills on the beam. Most of the kids went too fast and fell in the water, meaning they had to start all over at the beginning of the beam.

  Tanisha was almost to the end of the balance beam. She grabbed the rope to swing toward dry land when she heard … SPLASH!

  Derek had fallen into the water right before reaching the end of the balance beam. He now had to go back to the beginning of the beam and start all over.

  “Oh no!” Tanisha cried out after landing on the ground. The teams behind her raced to the next station, putting Tanisha and Derek out of second place.

  “I’m sorry, T!” Derek shouted. He crossed the beam again, making it to the end this time and grabbing the rope. He swung to dry land and landed next to Tanisha. “I’ve messed up everything!”

  “No, you haven’t. Stop beating yourself up, and let’s move!” Tanisha yelled as they raced to the next station, the push-ups of doom.

  Each team member had to do one hundred push-ups before being allowed to move forward. Most of the teams were struggling. Everyone was exhausted from the course.

  Tanisha grinned. This was the perfect opportunity to catch back up.

  An adult watched as they each did one hundred push-ups and were cleared to go to the next station. Their training was paying off!

  “We’re not too far from the fourth-place team. We still have a chance!” Tanisha said as she and Derek ran down the trail.

  “Get ready for the infinity monkey bars!” Derek warned.

  Derek started on the monkey bars. Tanisha was right behind him. Halfway through, she started to tire. She tried desperately to hold on.

  Like the balance beams, if a contestant fell before completing the bars, he or she had to start all over. Instead of a pool of water below, however, it was a pond of mud.

  “All those push-ups wore my arms out,” Tanisha said, panting. “I’m having trouble holding on—”

  Suddenly she lost her grip. Tanisha fell, waiting to hear the splash of the mud before her. Instead, she was hanging in midair.

  Derek was clinging to the monkey bars with one hand. He’d used his other hand to save Tanisha from falling!

  “You didn’t quit on me when I fell, and I’m not quitting on you!” Derek said.

  One of the cameramen moved closer to Derek and Tanisha, capturing the moment. Derek rocked Tanisha back and forth until she could reach the monkey bars. Together, they finished making their way across.

  On the sidelines, a judge said, “Teammates can prevent their partner from falling, so she’s clear!”

  Derek and Tanisha smiled. Then Derek said, “Take a quick breather, T, and let’s keep going!”

  CHAPTER 8

  THE WALL

  Derek and Tanisha ran up the trail to the next obstacle, the rock-with-you wall.

  Tanisha was shocked to see a very short version of the wall she and Derek had climbed at EveryFit during their training sessions.

  “That’s it?” she cried. “That’s the wall? That’s a breeze! We’ll be caught up to the third-place team in no time!”

  Together, Derek and Tanisha quickly scaled the wall. They jumped off onto a massive, cushioned landing pad.

  “I see the third-place team, they’re not too far ahead!” Derek yelled. “We can catch up to them on the trail!”

  They took off running down the trail, and soon they were within reach of the third-place team. But then they went around the bend to the final obstacle. All the teams paused and stood in awe of the mother wall, a forty-foot-tall, forward-leaning wall.

  Tanisha gulped. She stood there, frozen with fear, as the other teams grabbed ropes and started pulling themselves up the wall.

  Derek grabbed a rope too and was about to climb when he realized that Tanisha hadn’t moved. “T, are you OK?” he called.

  “I can’t do it, Derek!” Tanisha screamed to her partner. “I’m afraid of heights. That wall is just too tall!”

  “I’m scared of this wall too!” Derek shouted back.

  “What are you talking about? You had no problem climbing that big wall at the gym!” Tanisha said.

  “Yeah, because I was trying to hurry up and get it over with,” Derek explained. “I’ve been intimidated this whole competition. But we’ve worked hard to get here, and we still have a chance to get third place. The other teams are struggling! Win or lose, we do it together.”

  Tanisha shook her head and stared up at the wall. It loomed high above her. But then she remembered what Janet had taught her in the gym.

  “You’re right,” Tanisha finally replied. “I might be scared, but let’s do this!”

  Derek and Tanisha both grabbed a rope and began making their way up the wall. Tanisha’s nerves were getting the best of her, but she tried to focus on the wall, her hands, and her feet as she climbed upward. Derek cheered her on as they climbed.

  “I’m right here with you!” he called.

  Finally they both made it to the top of the wall and looked back down at the wall behind them. They’d come a long way. On the other side, the third-place team had just landed.

  Tanisha and Derek nodded at each other, then held each other’s hand as they climbed over the top and jumped down. They landed, screaming, on the pad below.

  “We did it!” Tanisha cheered. “I can’t believe it!”

  “It’s not over yet! We’ve got a half-mile run to go,” Derek said. “Let’s catch up to the other teams and win this thing!”

  CHAPTER 9

  THE FINAL STRETCH

  Tanisha and Derek continued down the trail, getting closer and closer to the third-place team. They were both still holding out hope that they would qualify for the finals on Rugged Reaper.

  “This half-mile seems like forever!” said Tanisha.

  The first- and second-place teams were so far ahead that Derek and Tanisha couldn’t see them. But as they approached the dip in the trail, the third-place team tripped!

  “We can pass them!” said Derek.

  The third-place team quickly got up off the ground. But Tanisha and Derek were right beside them!

  There were cameras everywhere. Tanisha could see a ton of them at the finish line up ahead.

  “Look! There’s the finish line!” Tanisha shouted as they ran side-by-side. “We can do this!”

  The final sprint felt like a lifetime. All four kids ran as fast as they could toward the finish! Tanisha’s heart was racing as she breathed heavily. Beside her, Derek was panting for air.

  “We’re almost there!” said Tanisha.

  With a sudden flash, they crossed the finish line! They’d done it! They’d completed the Rugged Reaper!

  “Did we do it? Did we get third place?” Tanisha asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Derek, gasping for breath. “It was so close. We were right beside them as we crossed the line.”

  The four kids stood over on the sidelines, waiting to hear who would take third place.

 

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