Climbing the wall (Darnie!)

Evalee stared up at the huge wall. The rocky surface did not sooth her at all, in fact she felt like she should probably walk away slowly and pretend she'd never seen it. But then, she'd called Darnell and left that invitation. It would be cowardly and impolite of her to back out now. Still, she didn't want to get near that huge death trap. It was a wonder to her that such a thing didn't violate and safety laws. It was so large and...and dangerous! At least, that's what she had convinced herself it was. A worker, young and male, noticed her huge eyes and made his way over to her.

"D'you want to climb the wall?" He asked, smiling brightly at her.

Her eyes, already huge, seemed to widen yet another fraction of an inch. There was a stretch of silence in which Evalee had to remind herself that there were all sorts of ropes and the like to keep scaredy-cats such as herself from falling to their deaths. A shiver ran the length of her body, but she managed a tremulous smile, aimed up at the young man.

"Not yet, I think. I'm currently waiting for a friend of mine." Besides, she was rather afraid she'd break her neck somehow if she attempted to scale that wall in her current state of fear.

The worker nodded and walked away, telling her to call him over when she was ready. Evalee turned her gaze back to the rock wall. She watched as someone was put into the uncomfortable-looking harness and then sent up the wall. As frightening as it appeared, she steeled herself to finding a way up there, she wanted to reach the top. For then, when she met up with Oz later, she could tell him she'd defeated the 'Great Rock Wall'. That thought made her smile. So, she caught her blond curls and pulled them up into a ponytail, preparing herself for the climb, although she didn't move. She wanted to make good on her promise and wait to see if Darnell was able to come or not.

Darnell was walking over to the gym complex with a special spring in his step. He had a good feeling about this little get together with Evalee. He'd left her a message, a voicemail message actually, something he wasn't accustomed to doing. But after hearing her fragile little voice resound unconfidently through his cell phone, he'd decided to react in the similar way- maybe she was more comfortable with voices- and maybe she should be. It was much easier to tell how a person really felt when you heard their voice; text messages were so impersonal. Maybe he could learn something from this...

When Darnell got to the rock wall, he saw the young attendant walk over to Evalee and ask her something, assumedly whether or not she wanted to climb the wall- she was just standing there staring up at it, with a sort of nervous longing in her eyes, after all. But then he saw, and he watched with a small smile, as her fear, clearly displayed as it was, consumed her face, and she smiled anyway and said something. He set down his messenger bag- he'd actually come with intentions other than just to climb a rock wall. On his day of shopping, he'd mostly gotten the same thing for all of his friends, except a few. El, Abi and Evalee. Evalee's gift sat inside his bag- but he'd leave it for the moment.

He walked over to stand next to Evalee, and hands in his pockets, he looked up at the rock wall, mimicking her stance. After a silent moment, he leaned to the side, toward her-

"That's a big wall," he stated with that small smile still in place. He wondered if she'd noticed him before he spoke at all- she seemed so concentrated.

The young girl had all but sensed Darnell's arrival, but she hadn't turned. She wasn't entirely sure that she was correct in her guess it was him. Even when the warmth of a larger body stopped next to her. Even when that warmth leaned towards her. It wasn't until he actually spoke that she tore her huge blue eyes away from the sight in front of her. It took her a moment to refocus, because she'd been staring for so very long. Yet, when her eyes manged to do it properly, she found that the familiar voice belonged to a familiar face. Without even thinking about it, she flung her arms around Darnell's waist and hugged him.

"Thank you for coming," her muffled voice managed to somehow seep out of his shirt and into the air, making it's pitiful existence known for barely a moment.

Once she'd properly collected herself, Evalee released the older boy with an apologetic smile. "I was rather panicky for a moment there..." She trailed off, not really sure she wanted to reveal just how much of a coward she was and tell him that she didn't like being alone...Or that the big wall was rather scary. "And yes, it's a very big wall...I feel like an ant."

The child pulled out her cell phone, realizing she didn't want it to go off when she started climbing, nor did she want to drop it. That is when she finally realized that someone had called her. She opened her voice mailbox and listened to the single message there. Laughter bubbled out of her small being when she heard Darnell's voice on her phone. Oh, how silly of her not to notice when he'd called! In any case, he was here now.

"Darnell, have you ever done anything like this before?" Turning off her cell phone, she turned her gaze up to him again, her curiosity prominent in her expression.

Darnell felt pretty good when Evalee brought her arms around him in a hug. He accepted the embrace and patted her somewhat awkwardly on the back. This was kind of cool; he felt like... maybe... maybe he could actually do this.... this big brother thing. Maybe he could redeem himself after all. When he'd realized that Alicia was gone to him- off in her own drug induced Wonderland, pretty much given up on him, pretty much despondent, pretty much not giving a sh--, he'd really taken that hard. All he'd wanted to do was make up for that lost time.

Maybe it wasn't too late.

"No- but my mom's in the circus, so I figure it must be in my blood." Darnell surprised himself with his honesty. Usually, he wasn't so quick to talk about his family; but he felt completely at ease around this girl- he knew somehow that she wasn't going to think differently of him- or gossip about him for that matter. "Well... I can't say that this is going to be a basket of roses..." he looked down at Evalee, "but it just might be a piece of cake." With a proud chuckle, he marched off to get the safety supplies and get set up to climb. A couple of workers came over with all the harnesses and whatnot, showed the two how to click everything in place, tighten to perfection, and get attached to the long ropes flowing down from the ceiling.

All set up, Darnell looked over again. "You ready to do this?"

His mother had been in the circus. A new wave of awe hit her and she stared up at Darnell with huge eyes. So, it was in his blood. That meant she'd have to try harder to match him. And match him she would, Evalee decided. Determined now, she took the offered harness from the worker and set about, with some help, clicking it into place. A piece of cake. She certainly hoped Darnell was right. That wall still looked incredibly intimidating to her 11-year-old mind. Once they were both attached to long ropes that fell from the ceiling, she knew she couldn't let herself turn back. If she did turn back, she'd feel like a coward.

So, when Darnell's question reached her ears, Evalee smiled and nodded. "As ready as I believe I might ever be."

"Okay then, here we go." Darnie smiled, getting a grip on a rock over his head and hoisting himself up until he could feel some rocks beneath his toes. He could feel the rope locking as he moved upward, and it was comforting to know that if he messed up, he'd definitely be caught- but it wasn't like he'd never fallen from high up places before either. Ninth grade, his wild child year- or wild teen year, really- he'd fallen off a couple of roofs, being idiotic- and most of the time, drunk. Oh well.

A few feet up, Darnell looked down and over to Evalee, making sure he wasn't getting to high up ahead of her. He was here to support her, after all, not show her up. "The air's great up here," he joked- he wasn't even a third of the way up yet. What a kidder.