- Home
- Bear Grylls
The Mountain Challenge Page 4
The Mountain Challenge Read online
Page 4
Mia was kneeling in the hatch of the bubble, waiting for Lily to get out of the way.
Bear and everything else had vanished.
10
NEEDING TO BE SAID
“Wow! I’m really sorry!”
Joe tottered out of the boys’ bubble behind Omar. He looked really upset.
“That was totally my fault,” he said.
“What happened, Joe?” Mia asked, rubbing a big bruise on her arm and glaring at him.
It was all coming back to Lily. The crash. The bubble going out of control. Mia not being strapped in properly. It certainly wasn’t all Joe’s fault. And Mia should know that.
“Are you all okay?” a grown-up voice called. “What happened?”
The leader was running down the slope towards them. Lily noticed she did it like Bear, leaning backwards and putting her weight on her heels.
Where was Bear? Lily looked around again. Had she hit her head badly and just imagined everything?
“Totally my fault,” Joe said again. “Omar was telling me to go right but … uh … I got confused with left and right. I’m sorry.” He looked at Lily and Mia. “Sorry we knocked into you. Sorry you got hurt, Mia.”
“That’s okay,” Mia said, still rubbing her arm.
Lily narrowed her eyes, but she kept quiet. This time she wasn’t keeping quiet just to avoid making a fuss. There was something she needed to say, but she only needed to say it to Mia. It wouldn’t be kind to say it in front of everyone.
“Okay.” The leader thought for a moment. “Boys, let’s see your left hands.”
Omar and Joe did as they were asked. Lily noticed that Joe waited to see which hand Omar held up before he did the same.
“Perfect!” the leader said. “You’re both wearing watches on your left wrist. So, from now on, instead of left and right, you can say ‘watch’ and ‘not-watch’.”
Joe’s unhappy face immediately vanished behind a smile.
“Sure, I can do that!”
“Yeah, cool,” Omar said brightly.
“Right. All of you push your bubbles back up, and we’ll try again, shall we?”
Lily and Mia got together behind their bubble to push it back up the slope. Lily bit her lip and then took the plunge. She needed to speak up and she needed to do it now.
“Why do you think Joe owned up to the crash being his fault?” Lily asked.
Mia shrugged.
“Dunno. I suppose it was quite brave. But it was all his fault.”
Once, Lily would have left it there. But they’d got hurt not because of the crash, but because of Mia not paying attention to instructions. What if someone got really hurt later on because Lily didn’t speak up?
Lily remembered Bear’s advice about speaking up: if it’s true, and if it’s useful, it needs to be said. And right now, Mia was the one it needed to be said to.
“Mia, we wouldn’t have gone so out of control if you’d strapped yourself in properly!”
Mia looked at Lily in surprise, and her mouth opened and closed a few times. But then she smiled.
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I’m sorry.”
Lily was pleased, and when they got to re-run their race, Mia strapped herself into the bubble properly. The boys stayed on course too, with the watch/nonwatch directions. The bubbles knocked into each other a couple of times, and into a few trees, but that was how it was supposed to be. They crossed the finishing line in a draw.
At lunch, Lily loaded her tray up and headed for a table. Mia and Omar were behind her, both chatting about their afternoon activities.
“Hey, Lily, I think you dropped this.” Mia plonked something onto her table. Then she sat down next to her, and carried on chatting with Omar.
Lily’s heart thudded.
It was the fossil that she had got at the top of the mountain. The one that had been exposed when the cliff collapsed in front of her and Bear.
But that had just been a dream because she’d hit her head. Hadn’t it?
Lily thought about Bear’s advice, and her new confidence in speaking up. Perhaps she really had been on the mountain.
But how would she have got there?
Lily tried to remember exactly how things had gone that morning. It had been so whirling and confusing, bouncing around inside that bubble. Even the compass had got confused. Lily remembered its strange five directions, and the spinning needle.
She took the compass out of her pocket. It only showed four directions now, and the needle was pointing north.
Hmm, Lily thought. Was it all the same thing? The dizziness and the compass spinning? Did it have something to do with her adventure with Bear?
“Hey, Lily – earth to Lily!” Joe said. Lily realised he’d been talking to her. “Where did you get the crisps?” Joe asked.
Lily pointed at the snacks table.
“That table, on the end at the right,” she said.
“Cool, thanks.”
Joe set off for the left end. Halfway there, he changed direction.
And Lily, who had been wondering if Mia would like the compass, changed her mind in a split second. She was suddenly sure that Joe needed it more. Perhaps he could learn something from Bear too.
So, when Joe got back to the table, Lily pushed the compass across to him.
“Hey, Joe, would you like this?”
Joe scowled at her.
“Hey! Why do you think I need a compass? ’Cos I get lost so easily?”
Lily realised that he had taken her gesture the wrong way. She wasn’t trying to make a joke.
She could have just said, “Never mind,” and walked away. But Lily knew this was something else that needed to be said. She needed to speak up because she was sure Bear really could help Joe, and the compass had something to do with it.
“I’m not teasing, Joe,” she said. “Really. It’s just it’s a pretty cool compass, honestly. I think you’ll like it. Just consider it a gift.”
The End
Bear Grylls got the taste for adventure at a young age from his father, a former Royal Marine. After school, Bear joined the Reserve SAS, then went on to become one of the youngest ever people to climb Mount Everest, just two years after breaking his back in three places during a parachute jump.
Amongst other adventures he has led expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic, crossed oceans and set world records in skydiving and paragliding.
Bear is also a bestselling author and the host of television programmes such as Survival School and The Island.
He has shared his survival skills with people all over the world, and has taken many famous movie stars and sports stars on adventures – and even President Barack Obama!
Bear Grylls is Chief Scout to the UK Scouting Association, encouraging young people to have great adventures, follow their dreams and to look after their friends. Bear is also honorary Colonel to the Royal Marine Commandos.
When Bear’s not travelling the world, he lives with his wife and three sons on a barge in London, or on an island off the coast of Wales.
Find out more at www.beargrylls.com
BRILLIANT BEASTLY BEARS
DID YOU KNOW?
•Black bears live in Europe and North America, where winters can be cold. They make their dens in caves, burrows or places with good shelter and feed on grasses, fruits, nuts and seeds, as well as fish
•Bears take very, very long naps in winter, feeding on body fat they have built up in summer and autumn and staying in their dens.
•Black bears aren’t always black! Their coats have two layers of fur, and can be blue-grey or blue-black or even lighter brown. There’s even a black bear with white fur called the ‘Spirit Bear’! The first layer of their coat keeps them warm, and the next layer keeps them dry
•Teddy bears are said to be named after US President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt who refused to shoot a black bear on a hunting trip in 1902.
•Winnipeg was a famous female black bear who lived at London Zoo. The author AA Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, changed the name of his own teddy bear from ‘Edward Bear’to ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’, inspiring the famous stories.
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by
80-81 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 9RE
Text and illustrations copyright © Bear Grylls Ventures, 2018
Illustrations by Emma McCann
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
The right of Bear Grylls to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-786-96062-7
Bear Grylls is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre,
part of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk
Bear Grylls, The Mountain Challenge
Thank you for reading books on Archive.BookFrom.Net
Share this book with friends
Bear and everything else had vanished.
10
NEEDING TO BE SAID
“Wow! I’m really sorry!”
Joe tottered out of the boys’ bubble behind Omar. He looked really upset.
“That was totally my fault,” he said.
“What happened, Joe?” Mia asked, rubbing a big bruise on her arm and glaring at him.
It was all coming back to Lily. The crash. The bubble going out of control. Mia not being strapped in properly. It certainly wasn’t all Joe’s fault. And Mia should know that.
“Are you all okay?” a grown-up voice called. “What happened?”
The leader was running down the slope towards them. Lily noticed she did it like Bear, leaning backwards and putting her weight on her heels.
Where was Bear? Lily looked around again. Had she hit her head badly and just imagined everything?
“Totally my fault,” Joe said again. “Omar was telling me to go right but … uh … I got confused with left and right. I’m sorry.” He looked at Lily and Mia. “Sorry we knocked into you. Sorry you got hurt, Mia.”
“That’s okay,” Mia said, still rubbing her arm.
Lily narrowed her eyes, but she kept quiet. This time she wasn’t keeping quiet just to avoid making a fuss. There was something she needed to say, but she only needed to say it to Mia. It wouldn’t be kind to say it in front of everyone.
“Okay.” The leader thought for a moment. “Boys, let’s see your left hands.”
Omar and Joe did as they were asked. Lily noticed that Joe waited to see which hand Omar held up before he did the same.
“Perfect!” the leader said. “You’re both wearing watches on your left wrist. So, from now on, instead of left and right, you can say ‘watch’ and ‘not-watch’.”
Joe’s unhappy face immediately vanished behind a smile.
“Sure, I can do that!”
“Yeah, cool,” Omar said brightly.
“Right. All of you push your bubbles back up, and we’ll try again, shall we?”
Lily and Mia got together behind their bubble to push it back up the slope. Lily bit her lip and then took the plunge. She needed to speak up and she needed to do it now.
“Why do you think Joe owned up to the crash being his fault?” Lily asked.
Mia shrugged.
“Dunno. I suppose it was quite brave. But it was all his fault.”
Once, Lily would have left it there. But they’d got hurt not because of the crash, but because of Mia not paying attention to instructions. What if someone got really hurt later on because Lily didn’t speak up?
Lily remembered Bear’s advice about speaking up: if it’s true, and if it’s useful, it needs to be said. And right now, Mia was the one it needed to be said to.
“Mia, we wouldn’t have gone so out of control if you’d strapped yourself in properly!”
Mia looked at Lily in surprise, and her mouth opened and closed a few times. But then she smiled.
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I’m sorry.”
Lily was pleased, and when they got to re-run their race, Mia strapped herself into the bubble properly. The boys stayed on course too, with the watch/nonwatch directions. The bubbles knocked into each other a couple of times, and into a few trees, but that was how it was supposed to be. They crossed the finishing line in a draw.
At lunch, Lily loaded her tray up and headed for a table. Mia and Omar were behind her, both chatting about their afternoon activities.
“Hey, Lily, I think you dropped this.” Mia plonked something onto her table. Then she sat down next to her, and carried on chatting with Omar.
Lily’s heart thudded.
It was the fossil that she had got at the top of the mountain. The one that had been exposed when the cliff collapsed in front of her and Bear.
But that had just been a dream because she’d hit her head. Hadn’t it?
Lily thought about Bear’s advice, and her new confidence in speaking up. Perhaps she really had been on the mountain.
But how would she have got there?
Lily tried to remember exactly how things had gone that morning. It had been so whirling and confusing, bouncing around inside that bubble. Even the compass had got confused. Lily remembered its strange five directions, and the spinning needle.
She took the compass out of her pocket. It only showed four directions now, and the needle was pointing north.
Hmm, Lily thought. Was it all the same thing? The dizziness and the compass spinning? Did it have something to do with her adventure with Bear?
“Hey, Lily – earth to Lily!” Joe said. Lily realised he’d been talking to her. “Where did you get the crisps?” Joe asked.
Lily pointed at the snacks table.
“That table, on the end at the right,” she said.
“Cool, thanks.”
Joe set off for the left end. Halfway there, he changed direction.
And Lily, who had been wondering if Mia would like the compass, changed her mind in a split second. She was suddenly sure that Joe needed it more. Perhaps he could learn something from Bear too.
So, when Joe got back to the table, Lily pushed the compass across to him.
“Hey, Joe, would you like this?”
Joe scowled at her.
“Hey! Why do you think I need a compass? ’Cos I get lost so easily?”
Lily realised that he had taken her gesture the wrong way. She wasn’t trying to make a joke.
She could have just said, “Never mind,” and walked away. But Lily knew this was something else that needed to be said. She needed to speak up because she was sure Bear really could help Joe, and the compass had something to do with it.
“I’m not teasing, Joe,” she said. “Really. It’s just it’s a pretty cool compass, honestly. I think you’ll like it. Just consider it a gift.”
The End
Bear Grylls got the taste for adventure at a young age from his father, a former Royal Marine. After school, Bear joined the Reserve SAS, then went on to become one of the youngest ever people to climb Mount Everest, just two years after breaking his back in three places during a parachute jump.
Amongst other adventures he has led expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic, crossed oceans and set world records in skydiving and paragliding.
Bear is also a bestselling author and the host of television programmes such as Survival School and The Island.
He has shared his survival skills with people all over the world, and has taken many famous movie stars and sports stars on adventures – and even President Barack Obama!
Bear Grylls is Chief Scout to the UK Scouting Association, encouraging young people to have great adventures, follow their dreams and to look after their friends. Bear is also honorary Colonel to the Royal Marine Commandos.
When Bear’s not travelling the world, he lives with his wife and three sons on a barge in London, or on an island off the coast of Wales.
Find out more at www.beargrylls.com
BRILLIANT BEASTLY BEARS
DID YOU KNOW?
•Black bears live in Europe and North America, where winters can be cold. They make their dens in caves, burrows or places with good shelter and feed on grasses, fruits, nuts and seeds, as well as fish
•Bears take very, very long naps in winter, feeding on body fat they have built up in summer and autumn and staying in their dens.
•Black bears aren’t always black! Their coats have two layers of fur, and can be blue-grey or blue-black or even lighter brown. There’s even a black bear with white fur called the ‘Spirit Bear’! The first layer of their coat keeps them warm, and the next layer keeps them dry
•Teddy bears are said to be named after US President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt who refused to shoot a black bear on a hunting trip in 1902.
•Winnipeg was a famous female black bear who lived at London Zoo. The author AA Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, changed the name of his own teddy bear from ‘Edward Bear’to ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’, inspiring the famous stories.
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by
80-81 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 9RE
Text and illustrations copyright © Bear Grylls Ventures, 2018
Illustrations by Emma McCann
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
The right of Bear Grylls to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-786-96062-7
Bear Grylls is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre,
part of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk
Bear Grylls, The Mountain Challenge
Thank you for reading books on Archive.BookFrom.Net
Share this book with friends
A Bear Grylls Adventure 12
Mission Raptor
A Bear Grylls Adventure 4
A Bear Grylls Adventure 2
Ghost Flight
Sands of the Scorpion
Claws of the Crocodile
Mud, Sweat and Tears
Spirit of the Jungle
Strike of the Shark
Rage of the Rhino
Gold of the Gods
Return to the Jungle
Mission Survival 8
Burning Angels
Bear Grylls