Tight

Wednesday after school, Bryan and Big Will are “chilling” on a corner, discussing superheroes, when four boys approach them: Mike, Little Kevin, and two friends of Mike’s (Dennis and Christian), who have never paid much attention to Bryan before. While Mike and Little Kevin stand at a distance, Dennis and Christian abruptly ask Bryan to play handball; when he declines, they try to pick a fight with him. When Bryan threatens them back, Dennis backs off, and Bryan guesses that Mike has put them up to this. He steps forward, ready to fight Christian, but then Big Will wraps his arms around Bryan like a “python” and carries him away from the other boys. Big Will, he discovers, is even stronger than he looks. Mike seems surprised by Bryan’s combativeness, though he tries to hide it. As he and his friends leave, he tells them not to worry about Bryan, because he has never been in a fight. Bryan flies into a rage, but again Big Will holds him back, laughing that Bryan looks “psycho” and that he is scared for the other kids. Big Will compares Bryan’s “hard core” look to Luke Cage. Bryan wonders whether he could really have hurt someone else in a fight.

Bryan goes to his mother’s office to do his homework, and introduces her to Big Will. He does not tell her that Mike tried to get him into a fight, because he does not want to “snitch.” He also tells himself that it will probably not happen again. He tells his mother that Big Will is on the honor roll. She already knows Big Will’s parents from her social work and greets him warmly. While Big Will immerses himself in Bryan’s superhero comics, Bryan digs out a drawing that Mike gave him shortly after they met. Depicting Bryan as Batman, it is one of Mike’s best drawings, and it also features Mike himself as Luke Cage. Bryan reflects that Mike is more like a villain, like the Joker, than a superhero. He puts the drawing away and thinks how lucky he was to meet Big Will, who shares his interests but never gets envious or jealous, and who studies because he values knowledge, rather than flashy cars (as Mike does). Hanging out with Big Will in Ma’s office gives him a blissful feeling of peace and “chillness” that he once hoped he could have with Mike, before all the “drama” the older boy brought into his life.

The next day, Mike comes into Ma’s office and meekly apologizes to both her and Bryan. Alone with Brian, he says that he was “foul” for getting him to cut school and for pitting Dennis and Christopher against him, and that he really feels as if Bryan is his brother. Bryan is relieved but confused and asks what brought on this apology. Mike says briefly that his mother told him to come, since Bryan is a “real friend.” This surprises Bryan, who didn’t know that Mike’s mother thought about him at all. Mike says he confessed to Bryan’s mother about how he got him to play hooky and hang out on the roof, but not the rest of it—the turnstile-hopping, the train-surfing, or how he tried to get Bryan beaten up. He apologizes again for that and promises never to put Bryan “in drama” again. As a sort of peace offering, he shares some new comics with Bryan, who feels better about Mike but is still not quite convinced that their relationship has returned to normal.

For the time being, Bryan’s mother will not let the two boys hang out at either of their homes. Instead, she allows them to play together outside and at her office. One day, Mike insists that Bryan accept his newest Luke Cage comic as a gift; Bryan assumes that he will later ask for it back, but he doesn’t. Dennis and Christopher approach Bryan and apologize for trying to fight him, but Christopher’s apology seems insincere. Bryan continues to hang out with Big Will and feels that he strongly prefers his friendship to Mike’s, partly because he thinks that he might need the bigger boy’s protection someday. Eventually, his mother lets Mike visit him in the apartment; this goes well at first until Mike begins acting “too comfortable,” throwing his things on the floor and staring at Bryan as if challenging him to complain. Bryan tries to ignore this behavior, but Mike becomes increasingly insulting and aggressive over the next few days. Soon, he treats Bryan almost like an enemy, though Bryan continues to be friendly, hoping to placate him.

One day, in Bryan’s living room, Mike taunts him for his friendship with Big Will, which angers Bryan. Mike accuses him of befriending Big Will only for his protection. Seeking to follow Big Will’s example, Bryan tries to calm Mike by apologizing and suggests that Mike leave and come back another time. But Mike continues to provoke him, throwing Bryan’s things on the floor and saying he will “keep” Bryan’s new Nerf ball. When Bryan tries to get it back, the older boy smacks him several times, calling him a “punk” and daring him to fight. Finally, Bryan “explodes,” and “body slams” Mike to the floor. Mike responds with “weak” swings, most of which miss, while Bryan pummels him with rapid punches, feeling like the superhero the Flash. Feeling exhilarated and “unbreakable,” he taunts Mike, saying, “You Luke Cage? . . . Nah Mike, I’M LUKE CAGE! [. . .] YOU A BAD GUY!” (164-65) Finally, he knees Mike in the groin and pins him to the floor. At this point, Ava bursts into the room and pulls him off the crying boy. Mike runs from the apartment, shouting threats of a future “beatdown” for Bryan. Ava smacks Bryan’s face to calm him down and to keep him from running after Mike. She calls Bryan “dumb,” reminding him that Mike has a lot of hotheaded friends who might come after him for this, and that Pa might get involved and land in jail again. Then she runs after Mike, hoping to make peace.

Waiting for Ava to come home, Bryan has conflicted feelings. He is proud that he stood up for himself and won the fight, but he worries increasingly that Mike will rally his friends to make more trouble for him and his family. As he calms down, he feels ashamed of himself. When his family (Ma, Pa, and Ava) come in the door, he learns that his father is “proud” that Bryan has inherited his “temper.” His mother, however, is not proud of him, and when they are alone, she orders him to tell him exactly what happened. He tells her about Mike’s bullying, including the incident with Dennis and Christian, but again leaves out the more serious offenses, like the train-surfing. She asks him why he didn’t tell her about Mike’s behavior sooner, and she says that Mike is not the only one who acted like a “bad guy,” that Bryan made “bad choices” of his own by continuing to follow Mike for months despite his behavior, and then suddenly “exploding” on him instead of trying to talk him down. Bryan acknowledges that he kept going along with Mike because it was exciting and offered an escape from his stress, especially after Pa returned to jail. He exploded on Mike, he says, because he didn’t want to be seen as “soft.” His mother says that he is right to want respect, but that violence is not the way, as evidenced by his father’s legal troubles. She points out that Mike is not the only boy in the neighborhood and suggests that he spend more time with Big Will. Bryan agrees, saying he never wants to see Mike again; but his mother counters that he will have to see Mike, since he lives nearby and goes to the same school.

She tells him that she invited Mike over for dinner that first night because he was not getting much food at home, and his good grades made her think that he might be a good friend for Bryan. She tells Bryan that he does not have to be Mike’s friend, but he must talk to him soon and make things “right,” before Mike causes more trouble. She says that Ava did part of this for him by making Mike promise to talk it out; Ava reminded Mike that if he made more trouble, Bryan’s father, whom he respects, might get involved. Bryan looks at his superhero comics and remembers pondering which he would rather be: smart like Batman or Black Panther, or massively strong and unbreakable, like Luke Cage. He realizes that he can’t be Luke Cage, since he and his family might get hurt if he rushes into a conflict. He wishes he had thought it all out beforehand, like Batman or Black Panther, who “think ten steps ahead” (177). He knows now that he should have listened to Big Will, a true friend, when he advised him to talk things out with Mike; Ava, he realizes, told him the same thing. From now on, he tells himself, he will try to be less like Luke Cage—and more like Big Will, Ava, and the smart superheroes, who always use their brains before resorting to their fists.