Seven

'Why did I agree to this?'

Wendy stood at the edge of the forest, nervously fiddling with the ends of one of her braids. Damien was sitting at the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling off the side. He had his head in one hand, throwing rocks off the cliff with the other.

"I have to work now, so could you go find him? Thanks so much!" Wisteria had said sweetly, and Wendy had no choice but to fulfil this favour for her.

'How am I supposed to approach him?' Wendy sighed before slapping her cheeks, trying to summon all her courage. 'Okay, Wendy, you can do this!'

"Hey—" she started.

"What do you want?" he shot at her, not giving her a chance to finish.

"Um, Wisteria told me to come talk to you."

"That's not what I meant." Damien threw a pebble off the edge. "You've been pushed around by your mother, and now you're following along with whatever Wisteria says. So..." He peered at her over his shoulder. "What do you want?"

'What do I want? How does anyone answer this?' The awkward smile she was forcing dropped from her face. She clenched her fists.

"...I want to wake up from this nightmare."

"Don't we all," Damien said. "But we're stuck here, at least for the next few weeks. Might as well make the most of it. So what do you want to do?"

"I don't—what do you want to do?"

Damien threw another pebble off the cliff. "I asked you."

Wendy paused. "Um, I want to...You can't put me on the spot like that," she protested.

"I guess old habits are hard to break, huh. But you've got something to help you, don't you?" He pointed to the vial around her neck. "You've got a whole bottle of things you want to accomplish. What better time to do them than before the end of the world?"

'That's right.' Wendy reached for the bottle, pulling a slip of paper out.

"Well?"

She unfurled it. "I want to...I want to do a pull-up."

Damien raised an eyebrow. "A pull-up?" he repeated.

Wendy felt her face heating up as she scrambled to defend herself. "I thought it was cool when I saw Winston doing it."

"That's because Winston looks cool doing anything. You, on the other hand, I doubt you'd be able to do a pull-up with those noodle arms."

Wendy lowered her head. "Ah, okay. Nevermind then," she muttered, tossing the paper.

"Hey!" Damien shouted, lunging towards her and catching it in his hands. "What are you throwing this away for?"

"Y-You said I'd never be able to do a pull-up," Wendy stammered.

"I said I doubt you could. You could always prove me wrong, right?" Damien shoved the paper into his pocket. "Come on. Show me what you can do."

The first playground they found was at the elementary school Wendy used to go to, not too far from her house. Wendy wondered if she should say something about it, but Damien was already walking towards the high bar, so she kept quiet.

He pushed his sleeves up. "Let me show you how it's done." He jumped up, grabbing onto the bar. The confident expression on his face was replaced with a look of strained concentration as he struggled to pull himself up. His face began to turn red as his arms started shaking.

Wendy stifled her laughter, but a small smile escaped to lift the corners of her lips as she giggled.

"Hey! I'm doing this for you!" Damien yelled, his face starting to flush red .

"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help myself. It seems like you can't do a pull-up either."

He jumped down, the sand cushioning his feet. "I could do one no problem a few years ago. Guess I've gotten out of shape."

Wendy approached the bar. "I'll try now." It took her a few jumps, but she finally managed to jump high enough to grab onto it. Her arms started to shake immediately as she struggled to cling on.

Damien smirked, shrugging. "See? Not so easy, is it—" He stopped, puzzled by the determined expression on her face. "Not giving up?" He muttered, annoyed. He thought to himself for a moment before sighing.

It was taking all Wendy had to not let go. Out of nowhere, she felt something around her legs and her arms stopped shaking. Confused, she looked down. Damien was holding onto her legs, holding her up.

"What? You looked like you needed the help," he said. "Go on."

Wendy looked back at the bar. Slowly, she pulled herself up, Damien supporting most of her weight.

He smiled as Wendy's chin passed the bar. "There we go!"

He let her go and Wendy jumped back down to the ground, stumbling on the uneven sand before falling backwards. She was still embarrassed, but even more than that she was so pleased with herself that it did not matter. Damien held out a hand, and she took it, allowing herself to be pulled up by him.

'Why's he being so nice all of a sudden?' She watched as he used a stick he found to dig a hole in the sand. 'It's not like he wants to babysit me.'

He dropped the piece of paper into the hole and kicked sand over it.

'I'm thankful, of course, but…'

'What does he really want?'