Student Narrative: Up the Mountain

Up The Mountain by Miles S.

1126 Words

                Imagine being up in the air with nothing but a rope and a harness to hold you on to a mountain. Rock climbers make it look so easy to climb mountains.

                Hello, my name is David, I am in the sixth grade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona where there are lots of mountains. I am a pretty good athlete, but the rock climbing thing is something that I could never figure out. I didn’t think about it much, until a few weeks ago.

                I have always thought that it would be cool to have rock climbing skills. I bet rock climbers aren’t afraid of heights. I didn’t realize that the only thing holding me back was my fear of heights. If only I could conquer my rear of heights, I could be a great rock climber.

                I was in middle school.  It felt amazing to be out of my old school with the little kids. The seventh graders called all of the sixth graders, shorty or kid. This made me remember that I am now the small kid. I was horrified. What might they do? Will they be helpful or play tricks on us? I saw a smaller sixth grader getting bullied by three older kids, before first period. I could not figure out what grade the bullies were in. In first period, I found some nice people. But, from second to sixth period, there were mean kids who wanted to fight other ids and curse at everyone.

                My favorite period was seventh because that’s where I found the kids that enjoyed this school. I went up to a guy named Josh, since he had been nice to me all day, and I had seen him in almost all of my classes.

                Hey Josh, I said.

                “Hello David,” Josh answered.

                “Would you like to be my friend?” I asked him.

                “I was about to ask you the same question,” Josh responded.

                So, Josh and I went around the school together the next day and found out few things  about the school.

                The second week of school, I saw Josh getting bullied by the same older kids. I recognized one of them. I knew Jason from my track camp and he was one of the bullies. I even knew his parents. I got in the middle of it and told Jason, “If you don’t leave us alone, I will tell your mom.”

                Jason looked at me and said, ‘Hey you’re the little dude from track. Is this your friend? He left and the others went away too. So that was the end of that.

                “Thanks man, I owe you one,” Josh said.

                On Friday, when the last bell rang, Josh asked me a question, “Do you like mountain climbing?”

                “No, I would ever think of going mountain climbing in a million years,” I answered. Then I told him my story. “When I was in fourth grade I went to a rock climbing wall with some of my friends. The rock climbing wall had a beginner’s section that was thirty meters high, and advanced section that was fifty meters high and an extreme section that was seventy fie meters high. I did not think it would be a big deal, so I tried the beginner section. But as soon as I was in the harness, I did not feel comfortable. I got up ten meters ad lost my grip and froze. I couldn’t go any further. The instructor had to help me down. My friends laughed and called me a wimp. Ever since then, I have not been interested in climbing anything and I don’t hang with those guys anymore.”

                Josh looked at me and smiled. “Don’t worry buddy, I got your back,” he said. “Just like you had my back with that bully, I won’t let anything happen to you. And, I promise not to laugh.”

                I nodded and said, “Cool…see you next week.”

                Then, we crossed paths and I went to the bus rider loop and he went to get picked up as a car rider.

The net day in the lunch line, Josh told me that he had asked his parents if I could go mountain climbing with them and they had said yes. I nodded my head and changed the subject to, “What’s for lunch?” We didn’t talk about climbing after that.

                That night, I couldn’t sleep. I had a nightmare about falling off of a mountain. When I woke up I thought to myself, Josh is such a great friend, but what if I lost my grip again. I realized that I had to face my fear and trust him and his family.

                On Saturday, josh’s family picke3d me up to go mountain climbing. His parents, Michael and Ruby met my parents. They had been climbing for a long time. My stomach was sick and I didn’t want to eat any breakfast. I felt like I wanted to call it off. But, the parents were getting along really well. They told my mom and dad that it would be a great experience.

                When we got to the park, I knew that I couldn’t turn back. I saw the mountain from the parking lot. It was enormous. I heard birds chirping and I could feel a little breeze. I was still nervous. Josh’s dad gave me instructions on how to follow him up the mountain. His dad led the way and I was second and Josh was behind me, and then his mom.

                The first part of the climb was easy. It was like climbing stairs. Then when we got higher, it was even harder than the rock climbing wall. I followed exactly what Josh’s dad said to do and I did not look down. Josh tried to help me on the way. He said things lie, “you’re doing great” and “keep it up.”

                When we got to the top of the mountain, I looked around at the clouds in the sky. I could see an eagle flying. It was beautiful. I could see some of the other mountains around Phoenix. I felt like I had accomplished something. But, then I looked down the mountain. My heart was beating so hard that it sounded like it was in my head. I panicked a little bit because the ground looked so far away. I didn’t think that I could climb down again. But, I was hungry now. We had snacks, but all I could think of was pizza. It took us a while to get down the mountain. Then, we went to Papa John’s for pizza. It was a great day. I faced my fear of heights and I didn’t die. Can you believe it? I also know that Josh is my best friend forever.