Page 48 of Kill Your Darlings

The trips during the day had been pretty cool as well.

They’d been to the Smithsonian Institution (the fossils were the best), and to Arlington Cemetery (just okay, except for the trolley ride).

Thom had been impressed with how big the statue of Lincoln was and thought the Library of Congress was more interesting than it had sounded when he first heard it was on their schedule.

The first night they’d eaten dinner at some big German restaurant, which seemed like a weird choice to everyone because they were supposed to be celebrating America, but the second night they were taken to a food court at a very fancy mall, and that was where Thom had a chance to talk to Wendy Eastman, the new girl, again.

Ever since the bus ride he’d decided that he liked her, even though he was keeping it to himself.

But everywhere they went he kept an eye on her, looking for opportunities to maybe say something or even make eye contact, but it hadn’t been easy.

The Kennedy twins, who were probably the nicest girls in the class, had clearly decided to befriend Wendy so she wouldn’t have to do everything alone.

Thom was glad about that, but it made it hard for him to make his move.

But at the food court, which had about a hundred choices, Thom, having narrowed his options to a Philly cheesesteak or sweet-and-sour chicken, spotted Wendy in line to get a slice of pizza.

He went over to say hi and asked her if she was excited about Georgetown.

She looked blank for one moment and Thom panicked that she’d forgotten their entire conversation on the bus, but then she was smiling and telling him that they had to find the steps.

The next day, that morning spent on a visit to the Supreme Court, Thom could only think about the afternoon and evening trip

to Georgetown. It was his big chance to get time alone with Wendy, a prospect that was equal parts exciting and terrifying.

He kept playing it out in his mind. MissAckles had already told him that in the afternoon they were going to go on a tour

of Georgetown University and then they were all going to walk to an Italian restaurant that she said was really good. She

knew because she’d been on this trip twice before.

It wasn’t raining in Georgetown, but it was the first cool day of the trip, the skies dark and threatening. They’d all been

told to bring sweaters or jackets, and Thom wasn’t particularly happy with the only sweater he had with him. His mom had packed

it; it was yellow and way too tight, and he would have taken it off if it weren’t so cold. Wendy was wearing a fair isle sweater

and light-blue jeans, and Thom began to wonder if he was going to embarrass himself tonight. She was so incredibly beautiful,

with really pretty hair, feathered on both sides, and she’d probably laugh at him if he tried to hold her hand or kiss her.

Still, it was all he could think about, and when they arrived at the Italian restaurant—the woman at the door shouting, “ Benvenuti , studenti ! ”—Thom spotted an opening.

Mary and Ann Kennedy had sat down at the far end of one of the two long tables that had been reserved, and Wendy sat across from them.

Next to her was a free seat, and Thom made his move, sidling up and asking if the seat was taken in a voice that didn’t even sound like his.

“Help yourself,” Wendy said, and Mary smiled at him, even though she probably thought he was being weird. But then the meal

turned out to be pretty amazing, Wendy and he were talking just like they’d been talking on the bus, all about horror movies,

and Mary and Ann (most people just called the twins Mary Ann Kennedy, like they were one person) listened to their conversation

as if it were the most fascinating and terrible thing they’d ever heard. They all ordered spaghetti and meatballs (the house

specialty), and the girls got Shirley Temples and Thom had a root beer that was the best root beer he’d ever tasted. Paul

Barbieri kept making faces at him from the other table, especially after Thom spilled a meatball down his front, but it was

clear that Paul was just jealous. At the end of the meal, Mr.Stone stood up and told the students that after dinner they

were going to take a nighttime walk around Georgetown, plus visit some shops, and Wendy said, “It’s our big chance to see

the steps.”

“What steps?” Ann said.

“When we were on the bus, Thom and I decided that we had to see the Exorcist Steps. They’re right near here, and that’s where

Father Karras dies in the movie.”

Thom had a sudden panic that Mary and Ann would want to sneak away with them as well, but one look at their faces, eyes wide

with horror, and he thought that it would probably be okay.

“I don’t think you should do it,” one of them said, the other nodding.

“They’re close by, I think,” Thom said. “We’ll be okay.”

But once all the students were back on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, being given instructions about where they could go and where they couldn’t, Thom started to have his doubts.

For one, it was dusk, the only light in the sky a line of pink on the horizon, and even though he’d said the steps were close, he didn’t really know that for a fact.

For all he knew, Georgetown was a massive neighborhood.

Still, the important thing was that Wendy was by his side and they were on a mission.

It wasn’t scary here in Georgetown. It reminded him a little bit of Quincy Market in Boston, where his parents had taken him the previous summer.

Except that here in Georgetown the streets were filled with students strolling in and out of bars, smoking cigarettes, wearing scarves.

At home, Thom was allowed to watch only PBS so he’d recently seen a long, interesting series called Brideshead Revisited , a show that had, among other things, made him want to grow up and be a part of that world. One of cocktails and cigarettes

and love affairs. This was what Georgetown felt like to him. It felt classy and adult, and far away from his own life. And

Wendy was by his side.

“Which way should we go?” he said as the other students began to disperse.

“The steps have to be that way, right?”

She was looking in the direction she was pointing in, and Thom could see her neck, how beautiful it was, and had a moment

of almost dizzying clarity, that his life was going to be filled with the pain of romance. And then MissAckles, in a denim

skirt and a rainbow sweater, came up to the two of them and said, “Not thinking of sneaking off to find those steps, are you?”

“Who, us?” Thom said, holding out his hands, trying to make it sound like a joke and immediately feeling regretful of that

decision.

“Do you know where they are, MissAckles?” Wendy said.

“Come with me, you two, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Miss Ackles walked ahead, and Thom and Wendy followed.

They crossed the main avenue, then kept going down a dimly lit side street.

Thom and Wendy were walking close to each other, and Thom, his heart beginning to thud in his chest, extended his hand so that it brushed up against hers.

He expected her to move away, but, instead, she slid her hand into his, interlocking their fingers.

The sensation was so intense that for a moment Thom thought he might actually stop breathing, but his legs continued to move, and Miss Ackles, reaching an intersection, hesitated for a moment, then pointed. “There they are.”

Thom and Wendy stopped holding hands, and Wendy said, her voice totally normal, “Seriously? Oh my God.” It was the most animated

Thom had seen her since the bus. She skipped over to the top of the very long flight of steps that seemed carved out from

the city around them. Since Thom hadn’t seen The Exorcist , except for the MAD magazine version of it, plus the more vivid one in his own head, the steps seemed both scarier and less scary than he’d imagined.

In his mind they were incredibly steep, dangerously so, and while these steps seemed steep, it wasn’t exactly like standing

on the side of a cliff. But what made them scarier than he’d imagined was how close the building was on one side, the way

it made the open steps almost claustrophobic, like a tunnel.

“I’ll let you two have your moment,” MissAckles said. “Don’t blame me if you both get possessed by the devil.”

Wendy, wide grin on her face, pulled Thom in closer to her. “Are they how you imagined?”

“They’re scary,” Thom said. “Do you want to run down them and back up?”

“No, I’m happy just looking at them from here,” Wendy said.

“Okay. They are pretty scary just to look at.”

“Do you need me to hold your hand again?”

Thom opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Wendy whispered, “Sorry. I’m not making fun of you. I like you.”

“I like you too,” Thom said, and moved closer. Wind was swirling lightly up the steps and Wendy’s hair touched the side of his cheek. He really was dizzy, the stairs yawning in his vision, Wendy’s fingers sliding between his again. He turned his head toward Wendy, hoping she would do the same.