When Mia got up that morning, she was groggy. She woke up and felt the hot, dry room around her. She had makeup on her face from the night before, and her eyes were sticky because of the old mascara. She got up and walked across the hall of her house, into the bathroom. She cleaned her face and felt the grit come off little by little. Once she was done lathering the soap onto her face, she put her hands under the pouring lukewarm water and splashed her face, which didn’t work like it did in the X-Out commercials. She then continued to cup water into her hands and wash off whatever soap suds were left on her face. She checked her phone. S***. It was already 9 a.m. Mia needed to be ready by 9:15 so that she could pick up her best friend, Anne, so that they could go hiking. Mia raced into her room and put on a pair of black Nike shorts and a gray dri-fit long sleeve. She ran back into the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair. Her hair was a nest from the night before, so it took her three minutes to brush it. When she was done with that, she tied her hair up in a partially broken hair tie. Mia’s phone rang with loud pings in intervals of three.

“DON’T FORGET THE ROPE FOR WHEN WE GO SWINGING LIKE TARZAN INTO THE LAKE!” A voice yelled loud into the phone.
“Don’t worry, I won’t! Got to go!” Mia said before she hung up.
Mia ran into her room and stuffed the Tarzan rope in her bag.

She scurried downstairs to the pantry like a squirrel racing to a nut.  There was a box of granola bars titled “cliff bars: 5-hour steady energy”. She took one and put it into her bag. She ran out of the door and into the car, where her Sister, Rose, was waiting.

“Why are you so late?” Rose yelled.
“I couldn’t find breakfast!” Mia exclaimed.
“Whatever. What’s her address?” Rose asked blankly.
“226 Lilly Court,” Mia responded.

Rose entered this address into the GPS and drove to the location. When they got to the house, Anne walked to the car and got in. They drive to their local reserve and parked the car. Anne and Mia got out and stepped onto the dirt.

“What time should I pick you guys up?” Rose asked Mia.
“I don’t know, I’ll text you,” Mia responded.
“Okay bye,” Rose said quickly as she drove away.

The two girls walked up the path and started hiking up the mountain. They started to the top of the mountain. The girls wanted to climb to the top of the mountain in order to see the lake that their friend had been talking about with them the day before. They followed the yellow trail markings that were nailed to the trees until they reached a peak of rocks. Tired, they both sat down on the edge of the peak. They were both hoping that they wouldn’t fall off the rock ledge. Mia took the energy bar out of her bag and Anne took her sandwich out of hers. The peak was set up so that there were little peaks below it, on a small slope that went all the way to the bottom of the mountain. When Anne took her sandwich out of the Ziploc bag, her bag flew away with a gust of wind. When Anne lunged to get it, she slipped and fell off of the top ledge.

Mia yelled with horror, “OH MY GOSH! ARE YOU OKAY? ANNE? ARE YOU ALIVE? OH MY GOSH!”
Anne responded back, “OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! IM ON THE SECOND LEDGE!”
Mia tried to calm her friend down, “HOLD ON!”

As Mia checked her phone to call for help, she realized that the reserve had no reception. There was nobody around to help them. In the fearfullest moment of her life, Mia could not have been thinking any clearer. Tarzan rope. She remembered that earlier in the day, she had packed a rope in her bag so that they could swing into the lake at the top of the mountain. She got the rope out and tied it to the end of a tree that was about three feet away. She threw down the end of the rope to Anne, as she held on so that she could help pull her friend up. Mia felt Anne tugging at the rope, starting to climb up. She took the rope into her hands and helped her friend up to the side of the top ledge.

Mia saw Anne’s hands grab onto the side of the side of the ledge and ran over screaming, “Don’t move! Hang on, I’m coming!” When she got over to Anne, she grabbed Anne’s right hand, then her left, and pulled her up, trying to keep her balance. 

Anne hugged Mia and exclaimed, “Oh my God! You just saved my life! I’m glad you’ll always be there for me!”
“What else are friends for?” Mia said happily.