"𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶"
Willow Smith - Transparent Soul
~
"Yo, I think he's waking up!"
"Fuckin' finally, ol' sleepin' beauty headass..."
"Shut up Riley!"
Huey awoke to the sound of voices surrounding him, his head was pounding and he felt as though he was going to hurl at any given moment. He slowly opened his eyes, his sight was blurry, he could barely see what was going on, shit, what had happened? He remembered going to the water gun fight, chasing someone, and now he woke up to a throbbing head and the urge to vomit.
It took a few seconds for his sight to settle, but once it had, he could just barely see that he was in his bedroom, and was surrounded by the Norwood sisters, Riley, Hiro, Caesar and Aunt Carrie. They all looked somewhat worried, aside from Riley, who looked to be clowning him in his mind. It was all love though, even he was a little worried for his brother. The throbbing in Huey's head had slightly calmed down, but he could still feel and hear the pounding ever so slightly, it was as though Tahiry knew this, as she began comfortingly caressing his back as gently as she possibly could, her low expression not getting any brighter.
"You're awake! I was sooo worried for you! What happened!" Carrie shrieked, holding the boy close, her loudness did nothing but trigger his headache, but he hadn't the heart to tell her that, so he just took it.
To be honest, Huey didn't really remember what happened. He remembered following somebody, something to do with the water gun fight, and then...
"Oh," he began, it finally clicking "I got jumped, by some Downsent kids, I guess they caught me lackin' huh?"
Once he had said that, Riley's cocky expression instantly faded "wait, you got jumped? As in, multiple niggas beat yo ass?"
"Yeah, I think they had bats and shit too"
The group surrounding him all adopted shocked expressions, before Deja hopped up with a growl "when I catch that bitch Queen!"
"Now what does your beef with that girl gotta do with Huey gettin' jumped Deja?" Tahiry blandly stated.
"Duh! Ain't it real funny that when my beef wit her got worse, one of my new friends gets jumped? That bitch set it up, I know it, Imma fuck her up!"
Tahiry rolled her eyes, she could count on Deja to somehow make this whole thing about herself. She then turned to face Huey, who was gently rubbing the back of his head "we had a feeling you were assaulted, when we found you, you were bruised all over and bleeding a little, but we didn't think you had been jumped, by Downsent kids no less" Tahiry sighed "but at least you're okay, you were out for a while you know"
Huey looked out the window, damn, he hadn't realized how late it was, just how long had he been knocked out? There was no way he got fucked up that badly, right?
Nah bro, they caught yo ass off guard and got to beatin', you highkey got worked my guy, by some kids in uniforms, tragic.
Huey frowned, he really did let some private school kids whoop his ass, he was never going to live this down. He looked over at Riley, who he thought would be laughing at him for this, but instead, the boy looked beyond heated.
The only thing that could describe how Riley felt was complete and utter unfiltered rage. Sure, he mocked Huey for a lot of things, and if this was a one on one fight Huey got worked in, Riley would have bullied the fuck out of his brother, but this wasn't the case. A group of pussy ass uniform niggas teamed up to beat up his brother, that was beyond out of line, what sort of cowards jumped somebody? Especially someone like Huey? He don't even be doing shit! He barely even speaks! Yet they jumped him? He wanted to fuck each of those fancy pricks up one by one, do 'em like they did Huey, it was only fair.
Caesar sighed, sitting beside his best friend with a raised brow "Huey, despite Deja's eagerness to fight that girl, she might be right, this could have been a set up, do you know anyone who would have wanted you hurt?"
Kiren. Cairo. Their friends. There's a few Caesar.
"Nah, not really" other than them having animosity, Huey had no proof that the two set him up, in fact he could barely remember anything other than him getting hopped on-
Don't remember? Come on dude, think, he was there just before you got whooped.
Who? Huey was literally racking his brain but couldn't remember shit.
Imma give you a hint, it begins with a K and ends in iren Bennet.
Kiren Bennet? But-
"Depends, you ready to get whooped?"
Of course.
He wasn't surprised.
Kiren set him up.
Sure, he knew Kiren didn't like him, but he didn't think the lovestruck loser would go as far as to set him up to be jumped by opps, and be dumb enough to pretty much imply he did it, I mean, why else would he say that unless he knew Downsent kids were there to drag him? The memories began flooding back to him, Kiren squirting him with water, Huey chasing him into an allyway, the Downsent kids getting him, it was as if a wave of realization just struck him.
Great, now tell 'em what happened!
...
No, Huey wasn't going to do that.
What!? Why!?
It wasn't that serious.
Not that- nigga you got jumped!
So? As much as his conscience wanted him to rat Kiren out, Huey didn't care enough to do so, telling them that would lead to an unnecessary rift in their friendship, especially his with Tahiry, considering her and Kiren had been besties for eons, she was more likely to side with him, and would probably accuse Huey of lying on her friend.
If she doesn't side with you after her friend got you beat up to the point of temporary memory loss, maybe her friendship ain't worth it!
...
No, it was, however Huey knew that regardless of how intelligent she was, Tahiry was the type of girl to put her heart before her mind, so she'd probably side with him out of pure emotion.
Actually, I think she'd be upset that you think her emotions are so heavily tied to a nigga that she'd lose all of her common sense.
"Do you ever shut the fuck up?"
Huey paused when he noticed everyone was looking at him, he let out a rather stressed sounding exhale, before quietly saying "did I say that out loud?"
"Yeah nigga, you good?" Riley frowned.
Huey nodded "yeah, sorry, loads of thought right now" that was understatement, he didn't think getting jumped would lead him into feeling so confused, but now he was having an argument with his own conscience, one that he responded to out loud. He probably looked like a madman to everyone else, but honestly? His head was aching too much to care, he just wanted some sleep.
Almost as if she could read his mind, Tahiry checked her phone before standing up "well, it's late now, and Granny's prolly wonderin' where we at, so we gotta go, I'll check on you later, aight Huey?"
"Sure Ti, Deja, see y'all soon" he yawned, stretching a tad bit. Once they saw that, the lingering people saw he was tired, so slowly but surely made their way out, when they had gone, Carrie made her way over to him, and made sure to hold him close yet again.
He didn't think of this earlier, but Carrie must have been beyond worried when she found him knocked out. Him and Riley were her only living family left, if she lost them, she lost everything. It made him feel bad for her, sure, he was the one that got beat up, but had something irreversible happened to him it would have been just her and Riley, if those boys were just a tad bit harder with their hits...
Huey chose not to think of it that way, and gently hugged Carrie back. Soon, the two broke apart, and Carrie stood up. It was only then did Huey see her tears, aw, the poor woman was crying, "well, Imma go and get dinner ready, you just rest Huey, and Riley... don't be noisy, and look after him" was all she sniffled, before turning around and walking out of the room.
The two brothers sat in silence, Riley wanted to question Huey about everything, but could tell that the other was tired and didn't want to talk about in anymore, in fact, it seemed as if he didn't want to talk at all, so he chose not to disturb their silence. It wasn't that bad anyway, it was pretty nice actually.
~
Tahiry was overwhelmed with emotions.
It was the Saturday after Huey got jumped, and she had barely gotten any sleep. She couldn't believe it, why had they done that to him? What could he have done to deserve that? Huey was the nicest, kindest, sweetest, most tenderhearted-
Okay, maybe she was exaggerating quite a bit, Huey wasn't really any of those things, but that didn't mean he deserved to be beat up! By multiple people at once no less!
The more she thought about it, the more fishy the whole situation felt. Huey getting jumped randomly felt way too... convenient, Chicago wasn't exactly the sweetest place in the world, people got killed just for existing there, but getting jumped out of the blue by a group that just so happened to be from a different rival school? Shit like that didn't happen, it just didn't feel realistic.
She needed to talk to someone, so she brought out her phone:
Bakugos-Wife: Yo Zonnie, u free to call???
It wasn't long until she got a response from her.
Zonnie-S: Yh, just got done washing my hair, lemme call u now
Bakguos-Wife: Cool!!! Ttyl!
Zonnie-S: Biiitch, dont nobody say that anymore lmaooooo, ol grandma headass 💀💀💀
Bakugos-Wife: Man shut up Z, always bullyin me and shit 😭
Tahiry soon put her phone down, and just a few minutes later, it began ringing. Picking it up, she greeted the other girl "hey Zonnie"
"Damn sis, you sound hella down, 'sup Ti?" Zonnique laid back on her bed, feeling too lazy to tie her hair up, she had just blowdried it, surely it could handle just a few minutes on it's own.
"There you go, bein' all observant" Tahiry chuckled, before feeling her mood lower again "you know how Huey got jumped right?"
"Yeah girl, Caesar told me"
"Aw, so your man told you before me?"
"Girl, if you don't shut up"
The two shared a small laugh, before Tahiry sat back on the chair she was on "I just been thinkin' about it, for some reason I feel like he was targeted"
"For real, you think he was set up?"
"Yeah! I mean think about it, the Freemans have only been here for about a week, yet Downsent jump Huey? I get Riley, him and Deja hang out, but Huey's really lowkey, so how did Downsent kids even know he went to Tigerlily, let alone know him well enough to pick him out from the crowd and jump him? There ain't no way he wasn't targeted by someone" when she noticed a lack of a response from Zonnique, she continued "now, I know I sound like a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but-"
Zonnique cut her off "no girl, you makin' mad sense right now, them Downsent niggas shouldn't even know Huey exists with his ol' mute ass, it's weird that they just jumped him"
"Yeah! Plus, don't you find it odd that Huey was found in an ally by himself? Why would he even go there? Sure he can defend himself, but he wouldn't be dumb enough to go to a secluded allyway on his own in Chicago, especially if all of his friends were at the park during that time"
"You right... Huey ain't a dumbass, I mean, Riley would, but Huey wouldn't"
"I'm sayin'! But now comes the question, who set him up? The only person I can think of is Cairo, but he hasn't got the influence to make a bunch of Downsent kids jump somebody-"
"I'm thinkin' Kiren" Zonnique suddenly blurted "errybody know he don't fuck wit Huey, what if he-"
"Nah, Kiren wouldn't do that, he's not that type of guy"
See, this was what Zonnique hated about Tahiry, for somebody so smart, she was awfully unaware of what was going on around her. Everyone knew the type of guy Kiren was, he was a fuckboy, a bully, just an overall shitty dude, Zonnique had watched as him and his entourage ganged up on guys who even tried to befriend Tahiry, everyone was aware of this behavior except Tahiry herself. She saw Kiren as the funny, friendly and cool guy, and not that piece of perverted gutter trash everyone else saw. The worst part is she didn't seem willingly ignorant, she genuinely didn't see him for the guy he truly was, which worried her for many obvious reasons.
Knowing how close they were though, she chose not to dwell on it, simply letting it go "well, Ion know who else coulda done it, but if he was really set up, we gotta watch out, any of us could be next" Zonnique then stood up, yawning "anyway, lemme finish my hair girl, bye Ti!"
"See ya Zonnie, Ttyl"
"Ew, now yo ass is sayin' that outdated shit in real life? Hang it up Bella Thorne!"
"BYE I'm hanging up now" Tahiry snorted, before swiftly ending the call. She went over to her bed and slumped on it, jeez, why did the Freemans carry so much baggage? She couldn't think of a single person who would want this to happen to them. Zonnique said Kiren, was that true? No way, sure him and Huey did not get along, but Kiren wouldn't set him up to be jumped, it just wasn't in his nature.
She was sick of people implying nasty things about her best friend, he was a nice guy, you just had to get to know him.
It wasn't like he was a sneaky and vindictive liar this whole time right?
...
Right?
She was soon alerted by the voice of her younger sister, who had walked in with a grin on her face "yo Ti, we goin' to the place Huey got jumped!"
"Why?" She asked, sitting up with a cautious expression on her face "what business do you have even goin' there?"
"Duh! We trynna find anythin' that could help us figure out who did it! You know Downsent niggas is hella sloppy, one of 'em prolly dropped their ID or some shit"
Tahiry shrugged "well, y'all can do that, I'm gonna stay home... actually, that reminds me, I should call him, see how he's doin' and what not"
"So you don't wanna be a detective with us?"
"Deja do I look like Scooby Doo?"
In response, the younger girl pouted "aight, be borin' all on yo' own, Granny went out for groceries, tell her I'll be back soon"
"Okay, see ya" she said, watching as Deja left the room. She then looked up, she wondered if they would find anything. Hopefully they would, Huey deserved to know who did that to him.
Speaking of Huey, she said she would call, so she soon picked her phone back up and dialled his number.
~
Kiren was heated.
It was a Saturday evening and the boy sat in the living room watching TV with his siblings, see, Kiren had a lot of siblings, how his mother managed it he had no idea, and funnily enough most went to other schools. They had to watch some lame kids channel, since his younger siblings were there too, so Kiren and his older sister Savannah just messed around on their phones.
Now, Savannah Bennet and Kiren Bennet, although being rather close, were nothing alike. Savannah was a quiet girl, the type who only spoke when spoken too, but she wasn't necessarily shy, she just liked to be by herself more often than not. Savannah was also a rather nice girl, she wasn't exactly a saint, but she wasn't a school tyrant like Kiren was. In fact, she had no idea about Kiren's antics and middle school reputation, and was unaware about the things he had done.
Kiren chose to keep it that way.
The boy sat on his couch, thinking back to the day before, he was happy that the plan had worked. He was angry with himself for giving it away so easily that he planned it, because Huey could have easily ratted him out, but considering he had yet to receive an angry call from Tahiry and Deja and Riley hadn't pulled up to his house, it was safe to say that Huey hadn't said a thing. So if everything went according to plan, then why was he so mad?
Simple, because Huey still wasn't taking his warning.
He had tried to call Tahiry that day, but it kept declining, only for her to message him and say that she couldn't pick up because she was busy talking to Huey.
For real?
What more did Kiren have to do to get that dude to back the fuck off? He had already gotten jumped and knew fully well why it happened, and he was still talking to her? At this point, he was actively challenging him, and this was an act of disrespect, and Kiren was not one to let another nigga disrespect him or get in the way of him and Tahiry's relationship.
Relationship? Nigga you ain't even asked her out yet.
Oh yeah, he hadn't actually asked her to be his girlfriend yet.
Could you blame him? He was waiting for the right time, and as of now, the right time would be when Huey was out of the picture, then he'd finally start dating her, they were meant to be after all.
How do you know Huey likes her like that though?
Well, he couldn't be sure, Huey didn't seem to be crushing on her right now, but he couldn't risk it. He was just getting rid of potential competition, better to have none than one.
Kiren then frowned, why was his conscience suddenly acting up? He didn't feel guilty for what he did, no way! Huey deserved it, what happened to him was a consequence for not backing away from Tahiry, and more would happen if he continued to talk to her.
What he didn't realize, was that Savannah had long since looked up from her phone and saw his angry expression, she stared at him for a bit, before then sighing "is everything okay Kiren?"
He suddenly focused his attention to her, before smiling "it's all good, just... thoughts and feelings"
"Goin' through relationship problems?"
"How did you know?" He curiously asked, causing her to giggle a little bit.
"Me too, but let's listen to yours first, wassup?"
Kiren wasn't sure if he wanted to share his more romantic life with his siblings, but Savannah was probably the only one who wouldn't make fun of him, so he simply said "you know that girl that comes over sometimes, Tahiry?"
Savannah nodded "oh her? She's lovely, yeah"
"Well, I kinda... really like her, but there's this dude that's just..." Kiren let out a desperate exhale "he hasn't really done anything yet, but I'm just... really scared he's gonna snatch her away from me, they're getting really close and shit, it's annoying, it's worrying..." he finally finished, conveniently leaving out all of the incriminating information.
She blinked a little, before giving him a sympathetic smile, aw, his first crush, how cute "why don't you just tell her you like her? That'll save you more stress than sitting here all depressed and stuff"
"But I dunno if it's the right time..."
"Think about it this way" she sat up straight, placing her phone on the coffee table "it's a lot easier to just tell her than worry about whether or not she likes you, you can finally get it over with, and if she doesn't like you back, you can move on easier"
Kiren thought it over, as much as he hated it, she was right. How long had he been crushing on Tahiry, two years now? Yet he hadn't done anything about it, he hadn't told her or anything, all he'd done is scare off all potential competition.
Maybe it was time for her to finally know.
"Fine, I'll tell her on Monday" he said, once she sat back in content, Kiren tilted his head "so what were your relationship problems?"
"Oh, that guy I was with, Devonté? He's claiming he doesn't wanna put a label on us, as if I'm some sort of sex toy" she frowned "I hate guys like that, the type that just use girls for their bodies, not caring about their feelings or anything, it's so grimy"
Yeah Kiren, grimy.
Wow, so not only was his conscience feeling guilty, but it was feeling petty too? He awkwardly listened, feeling a little bad considering he sort of was one of those guys "man, that's fucked up"
"Yeah, I'm coolin' though, he wasn't that cute, had a lil' dick too, I'm not really missing out on much"
The two shared a small laugh, before going back on their phones, ending the conversation. Kiren had finally made up his mind.
On Monday, after school, he'd finally ask Tahiry to be his girl.
~
I'm sorry I made y'all wait so long for this lame ass boring chapter, my procrastination got the better of me lmaooo
Next chapter will be better, sorta, I think
Also yes, their inner thoughts/conscience is the best character in this whole fic dont @ me