𝑊𝐴𝐿𝐾𝑀𝐴𝑁 | 𝐴𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑁 𝐼𝑁𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐼𝑂𝑁 ✔︎

Intervention

Sunnyvale Hospital
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Bell couldn't help but toss and turn in her rickety hospital bed. Her mind kept going back to her friend Jett, who had been acting weird all night.

"What's wrong with him?" She says aloud. The only thing lighting Bell's room was her alarm clock. She wasn't going to risk having any other lights on. What if aliens see?

The clock read 6:45 and Bell decided to stand up and exit her room. She plays out the next few minutes in her head, wondering how to confront her odd friend.

Three quiet knocks on his door, and it opens creakily. "Bell? It's a little early, yeah?" Jett says with exhausted eyes.

"Doesn't seem like you were sleeping anyway." She crosses her arms with concern. The curly haired boy blinks in surprise as Bell lets herself into his room. Jett just sighs before closing the door.

The worried girl leans against the wall while Jett takes a seat back on his bed. "Jett, I know something's wrong. You can tell me, y'know?"

The boy runs a hand through his hair. "I'm just... I'm really ashamed."

Bell raises a brow, wanting him to continue. "What's going on?"

Jett plays with his hands. "I just... I'm beyond terrified of everything that's happening." The girl smiles a bit. "Jett, that's nothing to be ashamed of. We're all scared of this stupid invasion."

The boy shakes his head. "But I shouldn't be. It's my fault that nobody was with their families when this broke out! I had to make a goddamn short film the same exact day. Of course I did! And now our parents are headed to Japan, probably planning our funerals right now!"

Bell holds up her hands, trying to calm him down. "No, Jett. It's not your fault. Everyone was on board with it. We wanted to do it."

"Yeah." A voice says from the doorway. Bell and Jett glance over to see Marcus standing there. He enters the room and shuts the door. "These walls are paper thin." He shrugs.

"And we've been over this. Stop acting like we were doing charity work helping you with your movie. It was ultimately up to us and everyone there seemed more than happy to be there."

Jett rolls his eyes. "Yeah, okay, Mr. only-if-you-change-my-grade-in-history."

Marcus's eyes widen while Bell's jaw drops. "You were only gonna do it if he changed your grade? What the hell?" She scoffs. The athlete groans before taking a seat next to Jett. "No... I mean yeah, at first. But that's the thing, I eventually liked the whole thing. I had never talked to any of you before. I was always stuck with my team. But getting a chance to hang out with you guys made me realize that sports didn't have to be my whole life."

"I still feel... shitty about this all. Even back at the campsite, I froze. And I was in charge of getting the girls back to the car. I just felt terrible because we were all here to begin with because of me and then I wasn't able to help." Jett continues. "And now I'm scared shitless of everything. I keep messing with my hands a ton and I freeze whenever I get scared. I don't know how to fix it."

Bell seems to put on a thinking face as an idea pops into Marcus's mind. "Oh. Here." He says while taking off his walkman and handing it over to Jett.

The curly haired boy gives a confused look. "What? I don't understand."

"Music has helped me through this damn thing better than anything else. And... the rest of my life before it. So... here."

"But I gave you this." Jett mumbles.

"Eh, we'll share it. Think of it as a musical shield." Marcus grins.

Bell just raises a brow. "How is Wham! going to keep him calm? That was the only cassette, right?" Marcus just shakes his head. "Nah, I actually found a few mixtapes in the back of Jerry's car. He wasn't using them or anything so I just took them. The tracks are pretty good."

Jett lets out a relieved sigh. "Thank you guys for... everything."

Bell smiles sadly before leaning down and engulfing her once worried friend into a hug. Once Bell releases, Marcus does the same. As the two exit Jett's room, Marcus turns back for a second.

"Hey, uh, track ten is pretty relaxing. It'll calm you down."

And with that, Jett is left by himself and to his music.

The curly headed teen placed his headphones over his ears before skipping to track ten. "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac began to flow through his ears and he couldn't help but smile, now more relaxed than ever.

Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom. Well, who am I to keep you down?

Jett was so happy he had such great friends in this invasion. The word friend hung in the air a bit. They were all merely strangers before, other than Bell and him.

In the stillness of remembering what you had.

Jett smiled to the tune and thought to himself some more. He never really knew Margot all that much. Yeah, he knew she was in the school's musical but he didn't exactly know her by name. Jett didn't think she was all that bad, other than her obvious obsession with the athlete of their group.

Oh thunder only happens when it's raining. Players only love you when you're playing.

Brooke was still the chill girl he knew her as from the hallway. He'd always see her fixing her makeup in her locker's mirror, which he always found bold. Many girls judged her and said she tried too hard but Jett always saw her style as art rather than a ploy for attention.

When the rain washes you clean, you'll know.

As for Marcus, he didn't really know where to begin. From afar, the boy had always seemed to self indulgent and sports obsessed. The Sunnyvale Basketball Team consisted of the most popular people in school. And when someone's popular, they don't exactly talk to people like Jett. The curly haired boy was a bit ashamed that he judged Marcus so quickly. The term Don't judge a book by it's cover hung in the air. The athlete actually was pretty similar to his friend Bell, kindness wise. Jett made a mental note to thank the two again for simply being here.

You'll know.

Jett clicks off the song and smiles to himself before drifting back to sleep.
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I hope everyone's liking this book! Any predictions on what happens next?