REBECCA'S POV

Gym class was a complete bust. Landon grouped up with me and Kate and totally ruined our plan... You see, us girls were just going to use the rope to pull each other up the rockwall so our arms wouldn't have to work so hard. However, Landon was stronger and didn't allow us to cheat so here I was literally dangling from a rope and harness twenty-some feet in the air.

"I'm done! Let me down!" I practically yelled through clenched teeth. I had given up and completely let go of the wall because my arms felt like jelly and stupid Landon just sat there mocking me.

"Quit being a baby Becca, I know you can do it you're over halfway there!" I furiously shook my head but kept my hands clenched on the surprisingly thin rope that was supposed to support my body weight for long periods of times – seemed suspicious to me. "I'm not letting you down so you're going to be up there all night unless you man up." Kate flashed me a sympathetic look but she obviously couldn't do anything about it. Why had I volunteered to go first? That was so stupid.

"Landon, please!" He shook his head and I pouted for a few more seconds before I felt the rope loosen and let me fall about a foot. I let out a loud squeal. "Landon!"

"Becca! You're getting too heavy just sitting around up there let's go!" His deep voice following my girlish scream caused most of the gym class to gawk at me. I knew he was lying because I've seen him bench double my body weight but I knew he would let me drop more and more until I'd have to re-climb the whole damned wall and that would only embarrass me more. I reached out and grasped the stupid fake rocks that were jutting out and painstakingly made my way up the entire length of the forty-foot wall before letting my arms go limp while Landon carefully lowered me to the ground.

"I knew you could do it!" His smile was beaming and he brought me in for a constricting hug. "Don't you feel great knowing you did that when you thought you never would?" I honestly did but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.

"Whatever. You're turn brat." Landon scoffed at the nickname, pinched my cheek, and got himself harnessed up. Unsurprisingly he was halfway up the wall before Kate or I even got to the belay.

"I can't believe he did that to you... you were up there for almost twenty minutes!" Kate seemed mortified and apologetic at the same time but it wasn't her fault.

"I should have known he'd pull something like that. I have to go to the gym with him tonight too," I added in with an exaggerated eye roll. Kate giggled from behind me and we were snapped back into reality when there was a light tug on the rope. Cocky Landon scaled the entire wall within like three minutes and was smirking at us once he had our attention.

"Going to help me down ladies?" I dug my heels into the smooth gym floor and braced myself to help his body weight come down the wall with Kate's help. For a second I thought for sure we would drop him but thankfully it didn't come to that. After Kate's turn gym class was over and I didn't have to climb again – thank God!

Landon walked with me to math and chuckled when I plopped down in my seat near Mason.

"What's up Becca?" Mason asked cautiously, almost afraid of how uncharacteristic I was acting right now.

"She's giving me the silent treatment I think," Landon mentioned while holding back more laughter. I rolled my eyes. He deserves the silent treatment for the rest of the century! After he embarrassed me in gym class, I was basically the laughing stock of the entire girls locker-room no thanks to Izzy, but I'm sure Landon wasn't aware of that. "Are you going to ignore me all day? I know you were proud of yourself for getting up that wall Becca. I wouldn't have pushed you so hard if I didn't know you could do it." Class started and I continued to avoid his eye contact for most of the hour until he nudged me hard enough that I couldn't ignore him anymore. 

LANDON'S POV

I don't know why she was so upset about gym class. I knew she would be able to climb that wall but would chicken out before she finished it. She's so much stronger than she gives herself credit for but maybe I pushed too hard.

About twenty minutes into history, Mason sneakily passed his phone to me with a text from Kate on the screen. I scoff at how her name is entered into his phone but read the texts anyways.

___

|Mason Jenkins > Kitty Kate – 2:12pm|

Received: Can you make sure Becca's okay? I know you have this class with her.

Sent: Yea, why?

Received: Landon was kind of a brat in gym and she got pretty embarrassed... then some stuff happened in the locker-room. She doesn't take her phone to class so I can't text her.

Sent: Do you want me to give her my phone for a bit?

Received: No she might not like that I told you. Please just cheer her up a little okay? :)

___

I turned back to Mason with a glare. Fucking Izzy – it had to be her. I would apologize to Becca again but this needed to be sorted out before the school day was over and that only gave me about ten minutes. I nudged her shoulder and two seconds later, her sad blue eyes met mine. Thankfully the teacher always gave us work time at the end of class so the rest of the students were busy chatting and gave no notice to us.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in gym class Becca, but I don't know why you're so upset about it... did something else happen?" Mason smiled at how unthreatening my voice sounded but quickly made it disappear when I shot him a look. Becca just shook her head no and focused on the homework problems we'd been assigned.

---

I silently met up with Becca after school and we walked to my bike without saying a word. I almost never brought my backpack home but was too unfocused during math to finish the homework so I had to ask Becca to wear it so it wouldn't be in the way of her holding on. She grabbed it and slung it over her shoulders before climbing on behind me and weakly wrapping her arms around my waist. I took off slow but stopped in a Walmart parking lot before we reached the gym and quickly pulled her leg across me so her position was changed and she was sitting in front of me, facing me.

"Are you really that mad at me? I said I'm sorry Becca." She didn't say anything but finally looked right in my eyes.

"It's not that," she whispered so quietly that I almost missed it.

"Then what is it?" Her hair was a mess since my long-ago stolen helmet wasn't perched on her head so I tucked a few strands behind her ears until she was ready to talk.

"It's stupid." She leaned forward against my chest to hide her face.

"I'm sure it isn't stupid if it has you all worked up Becca."

"Izzy just likes to make my life miserable." I immediately tensed – I knew it was her.

"What did she do?" My hard voice made Becca flinch but she didn't move away from me.

"Nothing. She just makes dumb comments about me all the time."

"Becca, tell me."

She took a deep breath. "Remember awhile ago when she said I was dating both you and Ryan?" I nod even though she isn't looking at me. "Well today she said that I must not have told you yet because you wouldn't have let me dangle up there in the harness if you knew... well she said it was either that or that you found out it was Ryan's and didn't care if it got hurt..." That made me feel sick to my stomach; I know I give off the badass type of vibe but I wouldn't do something like that! What am I thinking? It's just another stupid lie Izzy made up and here I am taking it literally.

"That's ridiculous." I finally say and Becca shrugs her shoulders.

"I know, but it still sucks that the whole school thinks I'm a slut." I moved her a little so I could lean my chin on her head and hug her.

"You're not a slut Becca. Nobody thinks that even if Izzy and Mel spout that crap." Trying to cheer her up a little, I continue: "Wait, is this why you're pushing me and Bentley together so much?" I joke and she giggles.

"No! I mean it would help my situation but I didn't even think about that until now. You two would be really good together... can you please just think about asking her to homecoming?"

"I'm not sure if I have a fight that night or not, but I will think about it okay?" Her smile grew and she did a mini cheer after pulling away from me. "That doesn't mean anything alright? I'm just thinking about it." She nods and climbs back around behind me so we can finish our drive to the gym.