(#1) Roommates by Day, Enemies by Night

Chapter 3

"Come on, S. Let's leave the two music buffs to their own world." Layla joked, looping her arm through mine and dragging me through the front door.

Layla and I are both adrenaline junkies. We love doing crazy things, while Alessia and Dylan are both passionate about music, with Dylan playing the guitar since we were little, and Alessia teaching little kids piano forever.

Sometimes, I think our siblings got messed up.

"So, you wanna head to the rock climbing center today?" Layla asked. "Or something more dangerous," she says, with a devilish grin on her face.

I smiled back, stepping into her car. "What did you have in mind?"

She only smiled, a hint of mystery behind it, and pulled out.

................................................................................................................................

"Here?" I asked.

"Oh yeah." Layla replied.

My jaw is scraping the floor, my eyes wide staring up at the large rock structure that greets me.

"You want me," I said, pointing to myself, "To climb this?" I sighed in defeat.

I strapped myself into the harness and start climbing the wall, over 200 feet high. If I can make it to the top in under 3 minutes, 42.5 seconds, I break the top score.

I quickly scaled the wall, putting my legs on certain footholds and finding the best spots to put my hands so they can support my weight. The further higher I went up, the harder it was to find grips.

I swung around, quickly avoiding the large chasm underneath me. Oh, I forgot to mention that. Yeah, this structure is over a large valley.

While scaling it, the sheer height of me off the ground gives me an incredible adrenaline rush. It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it, but it feels like your blood is rushing at a thousand miles per hour, your heart is pounding, and your breath speeds up.

It's the best feeling in the world. Nothing else can compare to it, or even come close.

"Come on Siena, move faster!" Layla yelled, cheering me on.

I gritted my teeth and used the last bit of my strength to pull myself up and over the edge, just beating the clock with a time of 3 minutes, 37 seconds. What, I didn't say I had super strength. Plus, I'm still human.

Layla climbed up next to me and gives me a high-five. "I go away for 6 months and you beat me?" She joked. "I need to step up my game."

"Hell yeah you do!" I smiled. We rappelled down and took off our harnesses, going to sit in the corner to grab some water and catch up.

"So how's school going?" Layla asked, taking a swig of her water.

"Pretty good." I replied. "I'm still working hard. I really want that law degree." I said.

"Well, I know you, Siena, and once you set your mind on a goal, you don;t stop until you reach that goal."

I smiled. "You know, your brother says the exact same thing." I took a gulp of water and feeling it rehydrating and reinvigorating me, rushing through my blood.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Layla said. "You guys have been friends for 13 years. Got any feeling under that hard surface?" She asked, nudging me playfully with her shoulder and winking.

I flushed a bright red, but whether it's from exhaustion or embarrassment, I can't tell.

"There's nothing going on between Dylan and I," I said. "Just friends."