~Preparations~
The next morning, Saturday, was a day full of preparations and regrets. Huey could only shake his head as he still wondered how he managed to get himself in this mess. Had he only kept his big mouth shut and let Riley be on his merry way, he wouldn't be in their room right now, taking lessons on how to talk "like a nigga". Riley was standing over him, coaching all the right ways as he "supposedly" knows how to talk street.
"Ok, see here, nigga. This hows yous needs ta talk. Instead of 'Hey Buddy!' yous gots ta say 'Yo, where all my niggas at?' You feel me, nigga?"
"Yes, Riley, I feel you."
"Good, nigga. Since you feelin me, why don't you say it back in meh face then, nigga?"
Huey stared up suddenly as blush lines formed across his face. He didn't expect to actually say it back aloud! Huey stood up, looking flustered, and Riley crossed his arms over his chest, with a superior look across his face.
"I knews yous couldn't do it, nigga! I knews it!"
"I CAN, TOO!"
Riley only smirked as he gestured his hand towards Huey.
"Then, let's see it, nigga."
Huey straightened himself out. He was not about to let his younger brother think that he wasn't capable of speaking his language. Riley cut in before Huey said anything.
"Oh, and makes sures yous sound like me, nigga. I don't want any niggas thinkin I manified my voice in one week nigga, cuz that's just bein gay. No homo."
Huey nodded and began to speak.
"Yo niggas. Uh…um…..Where's all my buddies…..niggas…nigga buddies at? Cuz, you know, I'm ready to get down with my bad self! Show me yous guys moves…..and crap…..whatever."
Huey spoke in a high pitched voice trying to sound not like 14 year old Riley, but 8 year old Riley. When he finished, he looked up at Riley. He cleared his throat.
"So, ahem, How was that."
Riley looked at him. His mouth was wiggling a smile, and his eyes were big and teary.
"Nigga…..that…..was…..THE MOST GAYEST THING I HAD EVA HEARD IN MEH LIFE!"
Riley fell back on his own bed, rolling around. He held his sides tightly as he bellowed out gulpfills of laughter. Tears rolled down his face as the younger Freeman brother jolted around the bed, suffering from fits of laughter. Huey sat back down on the bed shaking his head in his hands. Riley finally sat up after a couple of minutes had passed by, wiping the tears off his face.
"Nigga, yous gots a lot ov work ta do."
Huey stood up and headed towards the door. He turned to look at Riley.
"Just how much work do I have?"
"Nigga, let's just say yo ass ain't survivin the 1st hour."
Riley fell back on the bed, laughing harder than when Huey had made an attempt to talk street. All Huey did was storm out the room, with Riley's voice echoing in his ear.
He was already embarrassed enough.
-X-X-
-X-X-
Huey sat downstairs on the couch, watching the news. As if right on cue, Riley came strolling along in the room, and plopped himself on the couch next to Huey. He stared at Huey until Huey finally looked back.
"What?"
"You ain't done yet, nigga."
"I am for now with the street."
"Naw! Not that nigga!"
"Then what?"
"You still needs ta teach meh how ta talk proper English."
Riley uttered the last 2 words with such force that it was clear that he hated normal talk.
"Ok. Show me what you got."
"Yous gots ta give a scenario first, nigga."
"Ok, pretend Jazmine is bothering you and you're trying to get more space."
Riley plopped off the couch, and cleared his throat. When he opened his mouth again, but this time in a deeper tone of voice.
"Dammit, Jazmine! What does it take to get a little privacy around? All I wanna do is just sit here and read this newspaper in silence! When I'm through, THEN we can do what you wanna do!"
When Riley finished, Huey could only stare in shock at Riley. The way he delivered that sentence was…..well…..PERFECT! Riley had the perfect tone of voice to match Huey's, and he articulated his words exactly like Huey. If Riley wanted to, he could've actually spoken to where normal people could understand him. The only problem? It was a bit too cruel to pull off a Huey Freeman.
"Uh Riley? You spoke good and everything, but you could lighten up the tone. I mean, this is Jazmine."
"Maybe that girl has some sort of meaning ta you, but ta meh, she'll always be that stupid mulatto girl across the street."
Riley walked away. He turned back to look at Huey.
"And seeing as that little naïve bitch will be hangin with me for a whole frickin' week, I'll speak to her howeva I damn well please. Even if it's too harsh talkin for Huey Freeman, or too much for that mulatto girl to handle, nigga."
Riley bounded up the steps, leaving Huey to shake his head in regret.
-X-X-
-X-X-
"So let me get this straight. For one whole week, my grandsons will be switching places? For 100 big ones? And I get to read the journal entries y'all write too? I'm ready to see how this plays out!"
Granddad was going on about this at dinner. The boys had broken the ice about their bet, and Granddad wanted in. He kept laughing to himself for all of dinner.
"I'm placing all the bets that say Riley won't survive."
Riley stood up in frustration. His hazel eyes glared at Granddad.
"Granddad! How could yous vote against meh? It's HUEY who can't even talk like meh!"
"True. But at least Huey can master life in the street, where as you couldn't last an hour trying to sit there with this so called boring life. And don't try to tell me that I don't know, boy, cuz I see you trying to sit there and read a book a long time ago."
It was true. When they first moved there, Riley tried to read one of Huey's books, since he wasn't allowed to explore the place. He dozed off trying to read the first chapter. Riley stood up and stormed off upstairs. Huey, after finishing his dinner, followed Riley upstairs. He saw a light shining from the bathroom, and went in there. But when he did, Huey could only shake his head and rub his eyes. Riley had unloosed half of his hair in front of the mirror, and already, the half that was free looked as poofy as Huey's afro.
"Damn, Riley! Your hair is exactly like mine! You really could pull this off!"
Riley finished unloosing his hair before answering.
"Yeah, I know this, nigga. I keep it down cuz I don't wanna be out there lookin like sum nigga wit sum nappy hair, nigga. Maybe you cans, nigga, but I can't."
Riley pushed past Huey, and went to his own bed. Huey looked in the mirror at himself.
'What did I do to get myself into this?' Huey thought, as he reached for the top of his head, and began braiding it down. After 5 minutes, Huey looked at his reflection again.
'Well Huey, I guess you're ready to face the streets.' He thought.
Then again, for all he knew, he wasn't Huey anymore.
His name was Riley.