That was one weird night.
Josh Roth loved to gasp.
The 6th grader sat next to B. Wells during youth group, and he was pretty crazy. Laughing all the time for no reason, jumping around when anything was said, ignoring Matthew's sister Rachel saying, "Shut up, Becky!"
Why did they call him Becky? No one knew for sure.
But what B. Wells did know is that Paul Ladeau was sleeping over at his house that night, and he was excited to have fun. Honestly, not as excited as he would be if DaVan was there, but still pretty excited.
They liked to play video games together, watch shows and mess around with recordings... At least Paul did. He messed around with everything and sometimes that annoyed Brandon. But he held that in.
Josh said things like "No cap" and "Say less" a lot, but he was just doing what all the other kids around him did. That's what the slang was those days.
But B. Wells could tell the kid looked up to him, and it was nice.
What wasn't nice was Mr. Reinhart. B. Wells was having PTSD from what happened the other day, and his panic attacks were not making it better.
He had asked DaVan if he was ok, and he was actually better because Tyler Wood had been caught with the corn and was suspended for a week.
But at this point, Kyle had mentioned something about singing like a chorus, and that word triggered Brandon... At least it did in the moment.
His breathing started to shake, his heart raced, and the flashbacks of the bald devil toad began.
Josh saw his friend having an attack and he touched his shoulder gently. "Are you ok? Brandon?"
B. Wells tried to take deep breaths. "Hold up. I'm... Alright."
"I don't think you are." He said, concerned.
"I need a break."
B. Wells rushed to the bathroom and pulled out his phone. He needed to call up DaVan.
"Come on... Pick up, pick up!" He muttered under his breath as he went to his Instagram.
DaVan's face showed up on the camera. He was sitting in front of his computer with his shirt off for no reason in particular. He was just tryna chill after that last fire call.
"Bro, Yung Penguin is about to get uploads to Distrokid! Future Legend is actually-"
"Evan, stop! Hold on! Bruv..."
B. Wells was breathing hard, trying not to have an overload.
"Um... B. Wells? What's going on?"
Brandon sank to the floor.
"Are you having another attack?"
"Yeah. I can't stop it."
"Yes, you can, bruv. Breathe."
"That's what I'm doing!"
"Alright, think about something happy. Like DeAngelo."
"Not helping!"
"Uhhh.... When Billy and Tommy saved us... Your cousins! Think about them. Picture Jay, or Zeke. Imagine if you were in Missouri with them. Sitting on the couch... Playing Mario Kart... Just chilling. Being with them is great because, you know, you're safe. No one will ever attack you. You're happy. No fear. No crying. And no.... None of that."
B. Wells began to calm down, settling his breathing. Kyle was still talking in the other room, but he didn't think about that. Just his cousins. Just DaVan. Just him.
"You ok now?"
"Yeah. I think I'm better. Thanks."
"You should see somebody about that."
"Tony Stark got over his, I can get over mine."
"Alright, if you say so. Oh, by the way, I got a new song for the album. It's called Run Up On Me. I was gonna put it on The Truth, but it's going on It is Well With the Van."
"I'll check it out later."
"Ight, bet. I'll let you get back to your youth group or whatever."
DaVan hung up, and B. Wells just sat there, slowly breathing.
The door opened, and Josh entered. He saw Brandon sitting near the wall and sat down next to him.
"Brandon? What's wrong? C'mon, you can tell me."
B. Wells sighed. "I have PTSD. I've been having panic attacks ever since.... I almost got brutally beaten and almost killed by my enemy." He could feel his heart speed a little, but he controlled it. "I'm... Not doing good right now."
Josh put his arm around the boy. "Can I help?"
Brandon smiled. "I think you're helping right now."
Paul looked around the room, wondering where his friend was. "Hey, where's Brandon?"
Matthew Brewer turned to Paul. "I think he went to the bathroom."
"Oh. Is he ok?"
Matthew shrugged. "I dunno. Why don't you check?"
Paul went towards the bathroom and pulled the door open.
At this point, B. Wells was having a good moment with Josh, calming down and just unloading a lot. But all that was interrupted when Paul walked in.
"Oh. Brandon, are you alright?"
Well, the moment was ruined. He wouldn't be able to get all this stuff off his chest now.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to Josh." (Hey, what about DaVan? Rude.)
"You sure?"
Brandon stood up to face, wow, Paul was still super tall.
"Yup. I'm great. You ready for to go?"
"But we're not even-"
"Come on. Let's go."
B. Wells had a car now (for plot reasons) so he was able to drive home. He plugged in the aux and played the new DaVan parts for the new track.
Run up on me, you're gonna die in the sunlight
Run up on me, you're gonna die in the moonlight
Check the scope, I got the opps in my sight
Run up on me, I guess I'm looking for a fight, yuh
DaVan didn't like the second verse, even though he was going on a storytelling tangent and stuff. He just didn't think it was the best.
But B. Wells liked it a lot.
Paul... Just didn't understand.
"I mean, he's good on the rhymes sometimes, but he's... Just not... Y'know."
"Shut up, you can't do any better than him."
Oof. Burned.
Although, he was right. DaVan had better mixing than B. Wells at the moment, but that was only because Brandon recorded in his basement and not his bedroom.
Nevertheless, they drove home to start off the fun night.
___________________________________________
Yeah, imma send em that way
One way on the highway
Calling my phone on Friday
Rolling up racks like 10k
Yeah, imma send em that way
One way on the highway
Calling my phone on Friday
Rolling up racks like 10k
DaVan had just finished listening to Yung Penguin's debut album Future Legend, and one of the best tracks on the project was That Way (feat. Young Ferb). Darian killed his verse, even though the autotune was off-key.
"Bro, I'm so hyped to release this." Penguin said through the phone.
"Well, technically I'm releasing it off of my distrokid, just under your name."
"Yeah, it's still exciting though."
DeAngelo walked into the room. "Why'd you have to break my glasses, bro?"
"We were having fun." DaVan chuckled.
"Hey DBro. You wanna get on my 2nd album?" Yung Penguin asked.
"You have another album?" Evan asked, surprised.
"I have a lot you don't know about."
Woah. That was something you didn't hear everyday.
"Anyway, DBro, you wanna get on-"
"He already left."
Penguin sighed. "Well, that's DBro for you. How's B. Wells doing?"
"He's not doing great, honestly. Ever since Mr. Reinhart came close to beating him bloody, he's been having panic attacks. Sometimes he calls me when he has one, and I've been helping him through it a lot."
"Wow. You must be a good friend to him."
"Yeah. I mean, we've been rapping for a year and a half now. We're pretty much best friends at this point."
"Pretty much?"
"Well-"
"Here's some advice, DaVan. If you wanna help him get over this, you shouldn't just wait for him to call you. You should call him. Find out how he's doing."
"But what if he's fine?"
"I bet he'd appreciate it, if you are his friend like you say."
Yung Penguin giving advice? This was some trippy stuff.
"Alright. Maybe I will. Thanks, Yung Penguin."
"That's what I'm here for, bro. Have fun with DBro."
DaVan laughed. "I'll try."
He walked out of the bedroom and saw something he thought he'd never see.
DBro dancing in the hallway to a TikTok. He didn't see Evan there, so he kept dancing.
Secretly, DaVan was videotaping DeAngelo's dance. He tried to stifle his laugh, but he just couldn't keep it in, to be honest.
DBro turned around to see the rapper gasping for air, as DeAngelo dancing was always hilarious to watch.
"Hey, why you just watching me da..." He saw the phone in his hands. "YO WHAT THE-"
"D, I can explain-"
"YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN NOTHING! COME HERE, BRO!"
DeAngelo ran at DaVan, swearing and being racist as he ever was. Out of self defense, DaVan accidentally.... Knocked DBro back with a sonic blast and broke his second pair of glasses... And the door near him.
He fell to the floor with a thud, paused for a second and looked up.
"Um...."
"Those were my backup glasses!"
DaVan's eyes went wide. "You.... Don't see what I just did?"
"Bro, I saw it, but I don't care! You broke my backup glasses!"
"You don't-"
"Shut up and get me my 3rd pair!"
"What?! How many pairs do you have?"
"GO GET THEM!"
Well, bad news, DBro was mad again. But hey, he was always mad. Good news, DaVan just had a new hilarious video to show B. Wells.
He hoped he liked it.
___________________________________________
Paul just messed up the mic again. He had it turned all the way up, so whenever he did or said anything it was super loud. He had played gunshots in the headphones and it was super annoying because he was trying to get Run Up On Me started and he couldn't because Paul kept asking to do something else that usually ended up being really stupid.
"Can I record something?" He asked.
"I mean what would you do? You probably can't even think of anything to write."
"No, I wanna sing something. It's a Christian song."
So he wanted to do this for no reason. Whatever, fine.
B. Wells went into Audacity and had Paul go up to the mic. "Alright, go."
The boy started to sing "Oh How He Loves Us" because he felt like it. B. Wells didn't really know what he was gonna do, so this just kinda came out of nowhere.
"He is jealous for me... Loves like a hurrica-"
B. Wells' phone rang, and of course, it was DaVan. Saving the moment once again.
"Whoops. It's DaVan. I gotta take this."
He walked away from Paul and went onto the call.
"Ayyy! How's it going?"
"Um.... Paul's here. He keeps interrupting my recording sessions."
"You tryna do Run Up On Me?"
"Yeah, but Paul's insisting on him singing contemporary Christian music."
"There's nothing wrong with that."
"Yeah, but he knows I'm tryna record and he keeps interrupting me. Every time."
"If he's so annoying, why is he staying at your house?"
"Because he's my friend, y'know, I've been friends with him since 3rd grade and he's always been nice to me. But sometimes he just doesn't understand."
"Well, I'm at DBro's house and we don't always agree. I just broke his 2nd pair of glasses."
"2nd? How many does he have?"
"Who knows? The point is, even when you argue with him, you can still find a way to stay friends. So don't push him. Just find the right time to record. No rush."
"Ight, bruv. That actually makes a lot of sense, thanks."
"That's what I'm here for. I'll let you get back to it."
"Alright, bet. I'll talk to you later, man."
DaVan hung up, and heard a knock on the nearby window.
He opened it to see Billy and Tommy Maximoff.
"Hey, you said you needed some help?"
"Yeah, I accidentally broke some stuff in DBro's house. Can you guys help me fix it fast before his parents get home?"
"Yeah, of course. We'll be speedy." Tommy replied. "I've never actually met DBro, so that'll be interesting."
The twins entered the house, and DeAngelo's eyes flew open like a- no, let's not compare that.
"BRO! First you get a 10 year old in your group chat, now you got 10 year olds in my house?! What is up with you, Evan?"
"Technically, we're only still a few months old but we aged up on our own."
DBro was speechless.
"WHAT?!"
___________________________________________
B. Wells and Paul Ladeau sat in his room on the floor, and B. Wells was very confused. He still hadn't gotten a chance to record, and they had played some video games for a bit, but it was only 11:30. Usually, friends would stay up until 3 in the morning watching movies and stuff, talking about women and music, and Yung Penguin, and D- you know.
But Paul was on his phone, looking at fans on Amazon. To buy. Not fans like B. Wells' fans, like ceiling fans and air fans, and just regular fans. (Haters2fans)
"What are you doing?"
"I'm looking at fans."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
He thought Paul would be more interested in doing stuff, but at this point, he said, "I think we should start getting ready for bed."
Really? Billy and Tommy could go to bed then, probably way earlier, but Paul was the same age as him. They were supposed to be rebellious teens. What were they doing now?
Looking. At. Fans.
"But it's only 11:30." B. Wells protested.
"Yeah, well I took my medication and that makes me sleepy."
"Bro, last time you didn't tell me that. You don't wanna, like, watch Nightbooks or something? Videos of Robert being fat? I don't know, something?"
"Nah, I just wanna go to bed."
"The heck was the point of this then?"
"Why do you wanna do this so much?" Paul spoke up. "Why do you wanna stay awake?"
"Because I'm not tired!"
"But why do you wanna keep doing this? Do you like being around me or something?"
"Wh... What does that even mean? Aren't you here because we're friends? We're supposed to be up and doing stuff! I'm not gonna sleep at 11:35, that defeats the purpose of-"
"I'm not trying to make you feel bad, my medication is making-"
"Screw the medication, you're just trying to find ways to get out of this."
"No, I'm not. I just-"
"Why are we even arguing? Like why am I putting up with you. Y'know what? I might as well stay up all night while you sleep just to show you I can."
"You're not gonna get anything out of it. You're getting angry for no reason."
"Do you even wanna be here? You messed with my equipment, you disagree with everything I say, you tell me we can do whatever I want later, and once you ask me what I want to do, I tell you and you say no. I'm really not understanding you right now."
"Man, I just want to go to bed."
"Screw it."
B. Wells walked over to Paul, grabbed his arm, made contact and let the magic flow like the flows he had on Badman. Paul fell asleep instantly.
Now he finally had some time to do stuff.
The rapper went down to The Basement and finally readjusted his FL Studio mixing. It was time to record the track.
He put his headphones on, and started the adlibs. His parents were asleep, and Paul was in an even deeper sleep due to the magic.
Now he could spit.
He ran up on me, he was looking for a fight
Man didn't even know I followed him off a flight
Been tracking me for days, assassinator on sight
But you know I'm too clever not to know when to strike, yuh
He caught me in the light, turned around, it was the wrong guy
Guess I got a pretty good disguise
Weapons got their own design
Feeling like they got a mind of their own
Bouta hit him with the snipe
Six feet away from pulling off a heist
Not talking bout points, always share a likkle slice
I fooled the man with his own plot device
He should've seen the eyes creeping up from behind, run up on me, get swiped
Dang. That verse was fire. And he was loud. The autotune and reverb brought big character, but the biggest part of it all was that B. Wells himself was mad.
He used his anger from his pointless argument to fuel the verse on the album. He really liked DaVan's storytelling and vocal mixing too. And the beat? Those synths hit.
He was so glad this was going on the album. But he hadn't gotten all of his emotions out yet.
B. Wells quietly walked upstairs, opened the back door, closed it slowly and went outside.
Once he got enough, space he confidently said "Wind" and used the air to jump up onto the roof. And the landing was pretty smooth too.
He got to the top of the roof and sat down, looking over at the neighborhood. He couldn't believe how crazy his life had gotten. On top of his PTSD, school, the album, and his friends, there was a lot going on. It was pretty hard for him.
Suddenly, he heard a voice. And it wasn't really near him, it was like it was... In his head.
"I thought you'd be up here."
A few seconds later, Brandon saw something blue in the distance fly towards him.
It was Billy.
The boy flew over to B. Wells and sat down right next to him on the roof.
"Evan told me you were having Paul over tonight. I went over to help him fix some stuff he broke at DeAngelo's house."
B. Wells sighed.
"It's not going well, is it?"
"You didn't even have to ask me, you know. You're a telepath."
Billy put his arm around his friend. "It's ok. I understand. Sometimes it can be hard to deal with certain people. They might not do everything you want. They might be annoying and not care as much. You just gotta learn put up with it."
B. nodded. "Yeah, you're right."
Billy paused. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now, I guess."
But Billy knew what was going on in Brandon's head.
"You're not fine, I can tell. It's the attacks, right?"
B. Wells took a deep breath. "I'm gonna be honest, Billy. I'm scared. I get these attacks and I don't know what to do. How do I go to school without having one? It's so hard, and I'm... I just don't think I can do it."
Billy felt his thoughts, his feelings and was empathetic and compassionate. "Well, you have me now. That's what matters. Don't think about tomorrow. Think about right now."
Then Maximoff got an idea. "C'mon, let's take a flight." He held out his hand.
Brandon looked up. "Are you sure?"
Billy smiled. "I'm sure."
B. Wells took Billy's hand, and with his other one he started to levitate and fly around the neighborhood.
He saw sights he didn't think he'd ever see now. Park Place at night, flying above all the houses like he was Santa Claus. Except this time it was with Billy.
"Wow. This is beautiful."
"I thought you'd say that." Billy chuckled. "Hey... Have you ever looked up in the sky... And seen those bright, bright lights... And asked yourself, 'Are those human'?"
B. Wells shrugged. "I mean, not really."
"I have. Sometimes I feel like some of the heroes lost in battle, and the people remembered forever are up there with the stars. They're always with us, y'know?"
Brandon smiled. "Yeah. It's reassuring, I guess."
Billy nodded. "Let's go over here."
They went around West Ham and other roads until they got to Rio Grande.
The kids were floating around the different houses, and they looked in the upper windows to see parents reading their children bedtime stories, older kids playing video games, and... Nolan?
"Wait, that's Nolan. How does he live in my neighborhood?"
"You wanna go say hi?"
"Definitely."
Billy floated with B. Wells up to his window and telepathically opened it.
"Hey, Nolan." Brandon called.
The boy turned around and his eyes widened. "B. Wells? What are you doing here? And.... HOW ARE YOU FLOATING?"
"Shhhh!" Billy said. "You don't want your parents finding out we're up here, do you?"
Nolan looked around. "No. But I have so many questions."
"Can we come in?"
"Yeah, sure."
So Billy explained to Nolan how he was the son of an avenger and how he became friends with B. Wells and DaVan.
And honestly, Nolan was shocked. He didn't understand it all but he wasn't too weirded out, partially because he was Billy's age.
"So... Are we, like, friends now?" Nolan asked.
Billy nodded. "Sure. If you wanna be."
"Awesome!" Nolan said cheerfully. "What are you guys doing out here anyway?"
"I'm a telepath, and after DaVan told me about how Brandon was acting, I went over to his house to check up on him."
"I just... Haven't been doing great. And on top of that, my friend Paul came over and he's been really annoying for some reason tonight."
"More annoying than Ethan?"
Brandon shrugged. "Ethan isn't really that annoying, y'know."
"Yes he is! He's really loud."
"Well, he's actually been pretty quiet lately. It's nice."
"But is he more annoying than Aurora?"
"She's not that annoying either. Now what is annoying is you asking me to listen to "I Play Pokemon Go Everyday" and watch Pamtri videos all the time."
"How is that annoying?"
"You do it everyday!"
"So? You're annoying too! We all have annoying traits, deal with it!"
"Hey, can you be a little less loud?" Billy whispered.
The boys went silent.
"Look, sorry if I annoy you, and sorry for saying you're annoying. But sometimes we all have times where we're annoying to someone."
"He's right." Billy interjected. "We all have frustrating times. You can get through it. I just know it."
B. Wells smiled. "Y'know what? That made me feel a little better. Thanks, guys."
They all shared a group hug.
"Alright, we gotta get back before your parents realize you're gone."
Brandon nodded. "See you after school, Nolan."
And so B. Wells left with Billy and went back to his house. He came in the same way he left and went back to his room to see Paul still sleeping. Man, the magic really did work.
But B. Wells knew in his heart that it was well, and that he needed to make it up to Paul and be nice to him the next day. That would be better than nothing.
_____________________________________________
So it's time to flip, right
Had a chick, right
I met her on the phone, she always try to call me
I'm like, "Leave a message at the tone"
I got a message from her
It said, "Hey, take me out of town"
That was B. Wells' favorite story ever and that was what he was listening to while walking into chorus.
He sat down next to Jesse. "Hey, you alright?" He asked.
Jesse nodded. "I think I'm good now. Are you?"
"I'm gonna be honest, no. But I'm getting through it."
"How do you mean?"
"I have... Panic attacks now."
"Woah. You're serious?"
"Yeah. It's pretty bad."
"How do they trigger?"
"Not a good question."
"Yeah, you're right."
B. Wells looked around, and noticed something strange.
"Hey, uh... Where's... You know."
Jesse looked around too and realized it too.
Mr. Reinhart wasn't there.
"I don't know. The weird thing is, we're already a minute into class and there's no sub, and he's not in either."
"Coincidence?"
Tavarius wasn't there, but Josh turned to Brandon and Jesse and kinda glared at them, which was a little weird. He'd never really been known as a mean kid, he was always nice and gentle and kind. Until he apparently started being one of Erik's pets. It came out of nowhere, honestly.
So Jesse got up and was about to get in front of the class, when his friend Chiara stopped him.
Wait, was she in on it too? Oh no.
Actually, she wasn't. She just thought Jesse would embarrass himself. But whatever. She didn't like Brandon, so he didn't get into their conversations.
Fortunately, B. Wells actually had the balls to do it.
He walked up in front of the students. "So, it appears Mr. Reinhart isn't here today. Because of that, would anyone else like to lead the class today?"
"What about the substitute?" David Herzog asked.
"There isn't one." B. Wells replied.
"Student teacher?"
"Nope."
Everyone started talking indistinctly, so he shushed them with a stomp of his foot.
"I'm not leading this class, so who is?"
"Hey, gang!"
Brandon turned around to see the bowling pin head himself walk in to the classroom. "Sorry I'm late."
B. Wells' heart started to race, so he looked at Jesse, who mouthed for him to "breathe".
He took some deep breaths and turned back to the man.
"I had to take care of a few things, but I'm back. Mr. Wells, could I see you in my office for a second?"
Wait, what?
Oh no. B. Wells turned to Jesse, who's eyes were wide. He was getting scared too.
This wasn't good. What did Erik have up his sleeve this time? Was he going to beat him? Yell at him? Expose him? .... Kill him?
Whatever it was, he wasn't ready to face his fear. But he had to. Billy had told him the night before to learn to control his emotions, especially the fear.
He had to do something about this, otherwise he would never fully get over it. DaVan couldn't solve everything. He wished he could, but he had to go it alone this time.
He had to run up on Mr. Reinhart.
Not knowing what was next, B. Wells followed Erik into the office, bracing himself for inevitable doom.
Anything could happen. All he needed to do was survive.
4385 words.