"Hey!" she said, looking up at him through irritated eyes. "Just because I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I can't climb trees!" The clumsiness was an issue, but even boys were clumsy.
Frowning, she put her hands up on the branch like he had, she pulled herself up, her feet scrabbling against the tree trunk as she tried to push herself up onto the branch. Somehow she managed to get up, steadying herself by holding onto the thick trunk. Still, she was a couple of feet closer to Jake and that was what mattered. She was going to hit him when she caught up with him.
Putting her hands up again, she held onto a little hollow in the trunk, one foot on another branch.