"𝘐'𝘮𝘢 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯', 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭"
Nicki Minai - Pills N Potions
~
The Norwood sisters and the Freeman Brothers sat there quietly as the elder woman huffed, in her tightly gripped hand she held a long and smooth wooden stick. Deja looked at the stick and felt her blood pressure rise a little, so she nervously raised her hands "y-yo Granny, I-"
"Now why the hell are y'all yellin!?" she then looked over at the boys "and who are are they?"
Knowing Deja's response would probably lead Granny into a cussing and beating fit, Tahiry thought it was time to get involved "Granny, this is Huey Freeman and his brother Riley, they just moved to the neighborhood"
Granny raised a brow "Huey Freeman? Ain't he that lil' boy you gotta crush on?"
Tahiry quickly slammed her book shut "I don't! Just because I talk about him SOMETIMES doesn't mean I like him!"
"Mhm, anyway" she looked over at the two boys, adopting a softer and more maternal facial expression "how are you babies doin'? Do y'all need anythin'?"
Riley and Huey were unsure of how to react, this family situation was so... familiar. To see this nice, paternal woman offer them company and then some reminded them of living with Granddad, despite his strict ways Robert did love both of the boys as much as he loved his own kids, so this woman, Granny, made them feel... at home.
Huey shook his head "we're fine ma'am, thank you for the offer though"
"Aw, are ya sure? I could whip up a lil' somethin' for y'all, I was 'bout to go to the kitchen anyway-"
Deja stuck out her tongue "quit cappin' Granny, you was finna beat me with the- YEOW!" before she could even finish, Deja was hit with both a book and the end of a stick "MAN! Y'ALL SOME HATER BITCHES!"
"WHAT THE FUCK YOU JUST SAY CHILD? YOU BET NOT BE CURSIN'!" Granny said, tightening her grip on the stick.
"I ain't say nun' Granny, I ain't- OOOOW!"
Huey and Riley looked at each other, was this woman secretly related to Granddad or something?
The three kids watched as Deja attempted to escape an inevitable beating from Granny, they were all in silence for a few seconds before Tahiry spoke up.
"So... y'all want some juice?"
~
"Thank you for having us over Mrs. Norwood, we appreciate your hospitality"
"It's okay babies! You're welcome anytime!"
The Freemans stepped out of the Norwood household and waved at the elder woman, Tahiry then approached the boys "hey, um... are you guys enrolled in any schools yet?"
Huey nodded "Yeah, we're both going to Tigerlily Middle School"
If Huey wasn't mistaken, he swore he could see an excited twinkle in the girl's eyes "cool! Deja and I go there, I-I could show you around and stuff, if you wouldn't mind of course..."
"We would appreciate it, thank you"
Tahiry then smiled and held the hem of her shirt with excitement, she couldn't believe it! It wouldn't be long until she was showing around THE Huey Freeman! Meeting him face to face was already hard enough, trying to keep her composure around her embarrassing family and what not, but knowing she was going to school with him AND had a chance to get closer with the person who inspired her to be more open about her thoughts, feelings and opinions? She couldn't help but be a bit jittery.
She then realized that her excitement was starting to become more obvious, so she tried to calm herself down "so... when are you guys starting school?"
Huey placed a finger on his cheek "tomorrow if I remember correctly, we already sorted out schooling before we actually moved here"
YES "tomorrow? Awesome! I'll see you both there-"
"TI! STOP WETTING YO PANTIES OVER 'EM AND COME GET YO DUSTY ASS SCIENCE PROJECT!" she heard her sister yell from inside.
Tahiry's face instantly fell, she began slowly closing the door "well, I'll see you tomorrow then" once the door was closed, all that could be heard was loud slamming and a lot of 'OWS' from Deja.
The brothers stood still for a bit before starting their trek back home "aaaaaye" Riley began, Huey almost instantly shutting it down.
"Don't" was all he said, but he should have known that simply saying that wasn't enough to shut Riley up.
"All I'm sayin' is she's prolly the first shawty to respect yo ass apart from the Mariah chick, you got yo ass a groupie, a fan girl!"
"Riley, she isn't a groupie, she just understand my plight and respects it"
"Is that why her ass was shakin' wit' happiness and shit when you said we was goin' to her school? Nah fam, groupie"
Huey didn't bother responding and continued walking instead. He still wasn't used to being in Chicago again, he had gotten sort of accustomed to seeing white people in every corner that suddenly being thrown back here felt weird. Especially considering the circumstances of them moving, speaking of which, Huey was unsure whether or not he would want to go back to the Norwood household. Yeah, Tahiry and Granny were nice, and he felt indifferent towards Deja (Riley seemed to find her cool though), but seeing their dynamic, watching how they interacted and just seeing their family structure made him feel... left out? Jealous? It reminded him so much of how he and Riley used to be when Granddad was around, that coupled with the fact that Granny acted a lot like a sweeter Robert and the sisters reminded him of himself and Riley, it felt like the universe was saying "hey, this COULD be y'all but yo grandad dead LOL".
He wasn't sure if he could handle that feeling anymore.
Once he had snapped out of his dazed pondering, he found himself standing in front of their new home, Carrie's home. The two walked in, greeting the woman in their own respective ways "y'all were gone for a while" she shrugged "what were you up to?"
"We was out, ya know, chillin" Riley said "we met these two broads though-"
Carrie frowned "Riley, we don't refer to women as broads, not in this household"
Huey sat on the couch beside her "we met two girls, apparently they go to our school"
Carrie placed an arm around him "neat! Do you know their names?"
"Tahiry and Deja Norwood"
Carrie smiled wider than she already was "oh the Norwood sisters! I see them around a lot, Tahiry is such a sweetheart, very intelligent too"
Riley snorted "Huey could be like her if he wasn't such a little bitch"
Huey rolled his eyes, despite her strict nature with her sister, Tahiry seemed to be a lot more passive than he was, and she seemed a lot less blunt too. Although they shared the same opinions, she seemed like the type to want to have a 'civil discussion' rather than proving others wrong, or the type who would rather peacefully protest than riot. As nice as she seemed, Huey wasn't sure if he wanted to be like her.
"Anyway, gon head and scoot ya butts to bed, y'all got school tomorrow"
"School? Fuck, I forgot that..." Riley groaned "but we just moved here!"
"Do I look like I care?" Carrie replied with "go to sleep, and don't wake up late neither!"
Riley continued to complain, slugging up the stairs along with an indifferent Huey, when they had both reached the top, Carrie sat back and released a sigh "so pops" she said, looking up to the ceiling "you think I'm doin' a good job so far? They're a bit of a hassle, but I think I'm doin aight" She then got and stretched, before staring at a picture on the wall. The picture had her, a boy her age and two middle aged people, all smiling.
Carrie smiled "I'll try my best pops, I'll raise them as good as you would have"
~
Today was the day both Freeman's had been dreading, it was their first day of school. Tigerlily Middle School often got a bad rep because of the bad ass kids and weird ass teachers, so nobody was exactly expecting stellar education from there. Aside from the plus side of being able to rely on the Norwoods, Huey and Riley just didn't want to go, they were tired and not in the mood. Not only that, But Cairo probably went to that school too, and neither of them wanted to see Cairo again.
"So, y'all got yo bags?"
"Yeah"
"Books?"
"Yeah"
"Pencils?"
"Yeah"
"Pencil lead?"
Riley squinted his eyes "fuck is you talkin' about?"
Carrie laughed "I'm just playin' yo! Anyway get yo asses in the car Imma drive y'all there"
Huey sighed "but it's only a ten minute walk from here"
"Okay? Imma show y'all the way! Now get in there!" The three soon made their way to Carrie's car, the boys getting in the backseat and their current carer starting up the car "now, I know the both of y'all got stank ass attitudes! Y'all best be on yo BESTEST behavior, aight? I bet not get no phone call or nothin', especially not on yo first day"
"Exactly Riley" Huey quickly said, receiving a glare.
"Man shut yo gay ass up"
Carrie raised a finger "Riley, mind yo language in school"
Since it was only ten minutes by walking, they soon found themselves in front of Tigerlily Middle School in no time. The boys soon hopped out of the car, brushing themselves off and walking to the school entrance "have a good day boys! Remember, I best not get NO phone calls!" Carrie smiled, almost immediately driving off. Looking at the building, Riley couldn't stop the smirk that was growing on his face, the building looked raggedy, it radiated a lot more 'ghetto' energy than that prissy ass white school in Woodcrest, and he found humor in knowing unlike on Woodcrest, white people would probably be the minority in this school.
Huey looked around and soon saw a familiar girl by the school gates. Tahiry stood there with a bored expression on her face, her large hair had been brushed out and tied into two bunches that were held by cute red ribbons. She wore a black and white checkered dress with a white silk cardigan, instead of bare legs she wore long black stockings and the same black boots she had on the day before, along with a golden necklace with a pendant shaped like the continent of Africa. Tahiry was holding her school bag behind her back and looked as if she was waiting for someone, Huey then poked Riley's shoulder to get his attention "I think she's waiting for us"
"More like waiting for yo' gay ass, anyway leggo" he said before walking towards her "AYO TI!"
Tahiry soon perked up and looked towards the two brothers, the same excited glint from yesterday appearing in her eyes. Still, she made sure to shoot Riley an exasperated look "Riley, didn't I say you guys can't call me Ti?"
"But Deja does!"
"She's my sister Riley, it's different..."
"Whatever, where is her ass anyway?"
Tahiry looked over at a bench and grimaced before pointing "she's over there with Cairo and Dousey..."
Riley looked back and saw Deja sitting with Cairo and a light skinned boy he didn't recognize, the boy had small dreads and was surprisingly tall, even sporting a little bit of facial hair, he had green eyes and freckles dotted all over his face. Not only was he an early bloomer, but he was a pretty boy too.
Yuck, this was who Deja hung with?
Speaking of Deja, it was clear by how she dressed today that she was the least girly of the two sisters. Deja wore a pair of oversized baggy ripped jeans with fishnet tights underneath, she wore a pair Fila sneakers and wore a Niké crop top hoodie, her hair was still the same and even her posture was a lot more boyish, with her legs slightly spread and her arms hanging between.
A real nigga, Riley thought.
Tahiry then let off a smile "so! Welcome to Tigerlily! It's certainly not the best school around but it's not the worst either!" she then looked down "If you don't mind, I could show you around, just asking again in case you changed your mind..."
Huey sighed, Tahiry's obvious shyness, as endearing as it could be (such as now) was rather worrying, considering he had said yes to being shown around twice and she still felt the need to ask again "I'm cool with being shown around Tahiry, there's no need to ask again"
Tahiry's posture straightened a bit "cool! Are you coming too Riley?"
"Nah" he shrugged with a wave of his hand "I know y'all finna third wheel me anyway, Imma just mingle and shit" Riley would have approached Deja, but he didn't really want to be around Cairo and the pretty boy Dousey, besides he could talk to her later.
Tahiry nodded "that's fine, I'll see you later" she then looked at Huey, she was tempted to pull him towards the school by the arm but thought that at this stage physical contact would be a bit much, so instead she pointed at it "let's go, I have a lot to say about the school!"
That's how the morning went, Tahiry showed Huey around as best as she could and Riley went on to talk to a few other students around the school in an attempt to avoid Deja and Cairo. Their first few lessons weren't anything to really talk about, they were average and Huey didn't really feel like he was learning anything, and Riley was too busy asserting himself as the designated class clown to care about what was being taught. It wasn't long until break came along and Huey had finally found his locker, the plan was to meet Tahiry in the library so they could get to know each other more and continue the tour of the school. Huey couldn't lie, Tahiry was a very good candidate of friendship, smart, woke and aware, if only he could shake that passiveness out of her so she reminded him less of her, then she'd be the perfect ally.
Huey turned around to walk off, only to find himself face to face with... a boy. This boy was most likely heavily racially ambiguous, as Huey couldn't pin point what he was. The boy looked about Huey's height and was dressed in the most obnoxious teenage boy clothing, from a bape hoodie to a supreme headband, Huey could already tell he was annoying just from looking at him "ayo so what's yo name?" The boy asked "you the new kid, yeah?"
"Huey Freeman" he said, attempting to walk away.
"Woah!" He said, stepping in front of him "hol' on nigga we need to talk"
Nigga? are you even black to be saying nigga?
Huey frowned "I don't know you, there's nothing to talk about"
"Yes there is nigga, lemme introduce myself" the boy leaned against the locker "I'm Kiren Bennet, you prolly heard of me, I'm kinda the boss nigga of Tigerlily"
"I've never heard of you"
"Whatever nigga, anyway I notice that you been gettin' real close with Tahiry, y'all dealin'?"
Huey tilted his head "what does that even mean?"
Kiren rolled his eyes "is she yo girl nigga!"
Huey felt his face go flat, seriously? Was that what this was about?
"No, now let me go-"
"Hell nah nigga, I'm just trynna let yo ass know that that I'm trynna make Tahiry my squeeze, and you look like you finna get in my way! All I'm sayin' is she my future wifey and Ion really appreciate you gettin' all close with her and shit" Kiren then removed his hand from his pocket and placed it on Huey's shoulder "from nigga to nigga, Ion really care if you think she cute, most of these niggas do, but like don't get in my way, aight?"
Huey brushed his hand of his shoulder and shot him an annoyed look "Imma be one hunnid, I don't care about your romantic escapades with her, I'm only a friend and I certainly don't have feelings for no girl I met yesterday, now move" he said, pushing passed him.
Kiren scoffed "damn, sorry nigga, but aye Imma keep that in mind yeah?"
Huey ignored him, too annoyed and too focused on finding the library to care.
~
Meet Kiren Bennet, a caricature of every culture appropriating, barely black ambiguous mf I've ever met-