Ahem. I do not, in anyway, shape or form, own West Side Story. If I did, I would have written this into the story. As it is, I can just write it here and hope you people will read and review (hint, hint, hint).This also isn't aMary-Sue. Ifthere are any parts that seem Mary-Sue-ish, please let me know. At least the poor kid doesn't manage to where a really short, tight dress while managing to beat the crap out of other gangs. I would pay to see someone try and do that...
There's a huge book with photos in it. Doc gave them to me 'on the condition' that I gave them back some time. It's been months, past the Rumble, pas all the fright and….. other stuff, past when Snowboy shoved these straight into my stomach. I might as well look. So I look at it.
I remember the day that Doc all hustled us in, all happy because he could finally get some pictures of us looking normal. We whined and groaned for a bit, but we were actually really interested. Snowboy stopped whining for a bit, and started prancing around, claiming that he couldn't wait to get his picture taken. Then he saw the looks we were giving him and started slouching around moodily, claiming that the whole thing was 'not really real'. Which made me and Baby John crack up laughing, and Doc got a snap of us before we could pull ourselves together. That one's the one first, with Baby John stuffing his hand in his mouth and me clutching my stomach like it was about to fall off. And Tiger was standing by us, looking like he had never been so disdainful in his life.
I flick through the photos. There are tone of god-awful pictures of Graziella and the girls. There are loads of them trying so hard, shoving hands on skinny hips, lips pouting and hair fluffed up. It makes me feel sick to see Graziella like that, especially as she could have been doing that in front of some boy two hours later. There's a good picture of her and Velma, when they were discussing something. Just normal, handbags slung over shoulders, Velma shrugging on her coat and Graziella looking in the mirror. Then there's the one where Action shoved me next to Graziella and we had to stand together. It doesn't look so bad, except I had called her something interesting afterward, so the next picture was of me almost getting lynched.
Then there are the boys. There are quite a few of them, mostly scowling and looking moody. Action and A-Rab standing together, scowling madly, Baby John sitting down, reading a Captain Marvel comic. Snowboy and Mouth-Piece, making grotesque faces, Stinger, Diesel and Frost, the twins draping arms casually around their shoulders, Diesel folding his arms and slouching. A-Rab laughing while Tiger and Mouth-Piece tried to hold Baby John upside down (It didn't work, judging by the crumpled appearance of Baby John in the next shot) Then of Gee-Tar standing in the shadows, only an eye and a part of his nose showing properly. Joyboy and Big Deal, playing cards. Ice and Tiger, mock-fighting. It scares me a little, even though they were only mock fighting, Ice's face is so intense, and that was a bread-knife that Tiger was holding….
Then there comes the really horrible one. Tony, standing in the centre of the room, next to Riff, who is standing of a crate and slouching slightly to put his arm round Tony's shoulders. Both of them look really happy, it makes me cry.
Then there are some mixtures. Ice and Velma, looking happier than I've ever seen them. Graziella and Riff, Graziella resting her head on Riff's shoulder, while he himself looks bored and irritated. A-Rab and Minnie, eyeing each other warily. Well, they weren't going out, and Minnie had just called A-Rab a stupid moronic prick. Then there's a really nice one of me and Riff, of him slinging an arm round me and my eyes sparkling happily. Then there's one right after Riff had called me a 'little girl' for the umpteenth time and I was scowling but trying not to laugh. After all, it was better that he called me names than not take any notice at all. That meant he liked me, right? Right?
Then there's me and Anybodys. There's a couple of us not looking very nice, folding our arms and trying to look tough. Then the one where Anybodys had been running her hands through her hair, so it spiked up like she'd been electrocuted, had her hands on her hips so her skinny elbows were poking through her shirt and leant her head back so far that you could see the thin, icy-blue veins on her neck. And me, folding my arms and sticking my chin up like a bad-attitude pixie, a YANKEES baseball cap stuck back-to-front on my frizzy hair. Minnie had got hold of me and ratted my hair so much it stuck out five inches away from my head in two, amazing bunches. It felt all cool and bad-girl, especially when Graziella glared at me because I'd stolen her 'look'. Well, I looked better anyway.
At last, here's the last one. Anybodys off to the side, arm hooked around Baby John's shoulders in an attempt to seem taller. And for once she's smiling, a broken, baby-girl smile. It's taken just after she'd lopped all her hair off, and she looks so lost without her shoulder-length cherry-red hair.
Then there's Baby John, grinning awkwardly, stuffing his comic book behind his back. He's trying to cope Riff's stance as much as possible, poor baby, but still looks like a lost baby duck which has wandered into a pond of full-grown geese.
Next there's Action. Action looks…well, just like Action should, arms folded toughly, jacket slung roughly over his shoulder, eyes dark and angry looking, hunched over slightly. But the strange thing is, he's smiling. And it's not a fixed smile, but a proper, ecstatic smile, grinning up at Tony.
Tony has his back to the camera, but you can see his face, half-turned round, smiling at something Anybodys had quipped. His height shows that, compared to the cabinet, he was obviously fully-grown, but you can still see traces of youth on his face. Cheeks still slightly round, hair mussed up, eyes glinting mischievously as he winks at Riff.
Riff…well, I wasn't one to comment fairly about Riff, never have been, but he was looking happier and better than I'd seen him for a long time. I'm not gonna dwell on that, but all I can think off was that I was so happy that I was next to him.
A-Rab was next to him, arm wrapped around a girl's shoulders. A-Rab was….well, a nutter, but up until then I've never seen him look so calm. There were times afterwards, but until that moment at least. He's just got this cool look on his face, but it doesn't stop him from having the widest, happiest smile on his face ever. And his eyes were usually tough looking or manic looking, but this time they were sparkling and glinting.
Snowboy, at the end, was grinning goofily, arms folded and trying to look taller than normal, just so he could seem taller than A-Rab. Although he had a plastered, comic stance to keep up, if I look very closely I can almost see a tiny spark of humanity. Just for a second. Snowboy never was very serious, or human.
I have to stare closer at the girl in between Riff and A-Rab. She's the shortest in the gang, mouth pulled up into a bold, joking smile. Her hair is all sticking up; well, it was before A-Rab and Snowboy grabbed her and stuck her head under the tap. It's still sticking up, but now sopping wet and dripping onto A-Rab shoulder. She's wearing a pair of raggedy jeans, torn at the knees so you can see a sliver of flesh in between the seams, and a faded green shirt two sizes too big for her, probably swiped from some dumpster, beneath the trademark Jet jacket. She looks so happy. Lucky kid.
I flip from that photo to another, of a prim little girl in a smart black Sunday dress, hands in lap, a demure little smile on her face. Then back to the photo, where at the bottom, in Snowboy's rough, messy scrawl is written, "To Ash, from the gang. So's you don't forget us or anything else. P.S. I think Riff would have wanted you to have this."
Good old Snowboy. I actually became better friends with him after the Rumble. Maybe because he stopped being a stupid smart aleck, maybe because I started to depend on people a little more, maybe because seeing someone who was always so tough acting fall to pieces changed both of us. But I'm glad he gave this to me. Proves that not only A-Rab, Action and Anybodys were watching.
There's just one question that no-one has answered for me. How did the simple, demure little girl change into the tough, wild-child that could take on another gang member easily….?
So, waddya think? Please, please, please, please, PLEASE review! (And, as you can tell, I don't like Graziella. Does anyone?)
