"Next meeting's at someone else's place," Riff said.

The next meeting, however, was not someone else's place. Or the meeting after that. The Jets had their meetings had Riff's house for another month. When Diesel got his own place they moved their meetings there, which was a lot off of Riff's shoulders. He couldn't wait for the gang to be out of his house and away from his sister. He couldn't stand the lingering glances the boys gave her. He wanted her out of their minds. She was just a kid!

He got what he wanted. By the time the school year rolled back around, the boys seemed to have forgotten about Amelia and everything seemed to have gone back to normal. Except for those damn PR's; they were getting worse with each passing day.

Riff didn't know what this next year was going to look like. Tony was barely in the gang, he had practically gone straight. Working at Doc's, doing his schoolwork, spending time with his mother—and Riff was left wondering what had happened to his best friend. Tony still talked to him, he hadn't up and disappeared, but Riff really only ever saw Tony because he worked with Amelia at Doc's.

Between the gang, his baby sister, and the PR's, it was gonna be one hell of a year for Riff.

"Diesel! Action! A-rab!" Riff shouted as he ran down the street. "BOYS!" He almost tripped as he sped around a corner. He could hear the footsteps and taunts of the Sharks that were gaining on him. "Snowboy! Baby John!" He ducked into an alleyway, hoping to lose the Sharks.

Riff found himself at a dead end—up against a wall, quite literally. He waited with baited breath, hoping the Sharks would pass him by.

No such luck. Bernardo and Chino came around the corner, followed by Pepe and Loco. "Where are your boys now?" Chino taunted.

Riff looked around desperately, knowing there was no hope of dashing by the oncoming Sharks. I don't know, he thought. The Sharks snickered as they advanced, switchblades drawn.

"Uh-huh. Alright. Okay, thanks for the call, Doc." Amelia heard her mom hang up the phone. "Amelia!"

She flinched when she heard her mother call her. Putting down her book and sliding out of bed, Amelia made her way into the kitchen. "Yes?"

"I need you to finish putting dinner together, okay?" Her mom pinched the bridge of her nose. "I have to go to the hospital and pick up your brother." She was already grabbing her jacket.

"The hospital?" Amelia tried to hide her rising panic. "What happened?"

"I don't know, Amelia," her mother said, shaking her head exasperatedly. "It was probably another football injury. I'll bring him home, just make sure the food doesn't burn, alright?"

Amelia watched her mother walk out of the apartment, trying to fathom how her mother was still convinced that Richard was a member of the school football team, not Riff, the leader of the Jets. She couldn't wrap her head around how her mom believed that the cuts and gashes Rich came home with were from football. Maybe it was just what her mom wanted to believe.

Breakfast the next morning was an ordeal. Riff had gotten a number of cuts and bruises along with a broken arm. Amelia and Riff's mom didn't say anything, and Amelia didn't know who to be more angry at. If her mother could get her head out of her ass and admit that her brother probably hadn't touched a football in years, maybe she could stop him from being a Jet. And if Riff wasn't so dead set on being a Jet, there wouldn't be any reason to be mad at anyone.

But their mom would never do anything proactive. She would continue to spend her few waking hours with her children deeply submerged in denial.

And Riff would never stop being a Jet. Why, Amelia was convinced she would never know. Despite her certainty that her brother's fate was decided, she couldn't help but hope that she wouldn't lose him to the petty squabbles of the neighborhood boys. She glared at him from across the breakfast table every time she caught his eye. She never wasted an opportunity to convey her disapproval.

After breakfast, their mom sent them off to school, slipping back into her usual routine.

"Amelia, try to stick around Richard for the next couple days as best you can. He's going to need help getting around and going about his day with his arm all tied up," her mother said as she checked that the fridge and the pantry were well-stocked.

Riff didn't even bother to argue. A broken arm was worse than the scrapes he usually came home with, and Amelia assumed that he was playing it safe by not pushing his luck with mom.

Amelia cornered her mom in their kitchen's tiny pantry. "How long are you going to be gone this time?"

Her mom pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips before sighing in surrender. "At least a few days," she answered. "I'm sorry, Amelia, but you know how it is."

Amelia put on a pitifully fake smile and nodded, letting her mother hug her awkwardly and move past her.

After saying a quick goodbye to Riff, their mom left. Riff turned to Amelia almost immediately.

"Look, if you wanna listen to mom and tail me at school that's fine, but that's it. Outside of school, stay away from me, got it? The gang just started to forget about you now that they're not meetin' here anymore," he grumbled.

"Have it your way," Amelia replied. "If you're dumb enough to go and get your arm broken, you can take care of yourself. I'll see you at home, as usual."

It was a normal day at school for Amelia. Well, that is until she found one of the Jets leaning against her locker. He had a foot on the ground and a foot up against her locker. He was holding his jacket over his shoulder and he had a cigarette dangling between his teeth. Amelia's classmates were whispering and staring as they passed by, and Amelia pushed through the crowd of her peers to confront whichever of her brother's hoodlums was at locker.

"Can I help you?" she asked a bit sharply.

It wasn't until the boy was grinning back at her that she realized her wasn't a Jet.

"I hope so, senorita," the boy cooed, taking her arm and walking her down the hall and out of the school.

"Richard!" Amelia screamed. "HELP!"

The Shark took Amelia to a house in a neighborhood that Amelia had never been to. He spoke quickly in Spanish to some people in the house before sending Amelia upstairs and locking her in a bedroom.

Amelia looked around the room, trying to figure out why she was there and how she could out. The room wasn't that much different from her own. It had brightly colored walls and books scattered around on shelves and the floor.

She was looking at what books were on the shelves when someone entered the room. Amelia felt her blood run cold, expecting to see a Shark come in and do God knows what to her.

But it wasn't a Shark that came in; it was a girl. The girl looked to be a year or so older than Amelia and had a warm smile on her face.

"Hi, I'm Maria," the girl said, closing the door behind her. She had an accent like the Sharks did, but she seemed a lot kinder than them.

"I'm Amelia."

Maria sat down on the bed and motioned for Amelia to join her.

"I'm sorry that you got wrapped up in their silly games," Maria said, looking at the floor. "I don't understand why they have to fight at all."

"I don't either," Amelia said. "I hate seeing my brother come home every night with cute and bruises."

Maria nodded. "It's the same with my brother."

The girls looked at each other and smiled sadly. "If we can get along, why can't they?" Maria asked.

"I don't know," Amelia sighed. "I worry about him, you know? He could've been anything, but he's too busy being violent, and obsessed, and hateful to actually make anything of himself."

Maria nodded. "How do you think I feel? My people came to this country to have opportunities and a future. But my brother is too busy fighting. He says he's fighting for our future, but I think you're right; it's all about hate."

"Exactly. Your people, my people, what's the difference? We're all people," Amelia said. "We all have hopes and dreams and families, and I don't see why they can't see that."

"I don't either," Maria said.

The girls talked in Maria's room for the rest of the day. They became fast friends, bonding over their frustration with their brothers and the gangs as well as many other things. By the time evening rolled around, they had devised plans as to how they could meet up again.

"I'm glad I met you," Maria said. "Though I'm sorry you had to be kidnapped and trapped here for it to happen."

Amelia shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not like you kidnapped me."

"I know, but I would help you escape if I could," Maria explained.

"Maria," the girls looked each other in the eye. "I'm not worried about escaping. My brother, and probably some of the other Jets, will come and get me. I'm more worried about what'll happen when they get here."

Maria nodded solemnly.

"Promise me that you'll stay out of it and be safe," Amelia said.

"I promise."

"As soon as we think they're here or on their way, you should leave the room, that way they won't run into you when they come and find me," Amelia explained. "They'll probably come at night so that everyone will be asleep."

"Then I'll leave before we go to bed," Maria said.

Amelia nodded. "Hopefully that'll keep you safe."

When nighttime rolled around, Maria left Amelia and went to stay at one of her friend's apartments for the night. Amelia was sleeping soundly in Maria's bed when she heard people hollering from inside and outside of the house. She got out of bed and opened the bedroom window to get a better look at what was going on down in the street.

"You damn spics are going to give me my sister back, and lemme tell ya, it ain't gonna be the easy way!" Riff was standing at Maria's front door, shouting. A few other Jets were working their way into the building through the windows and some of the Sharks had ran out into the street to fight off the incoming Jets.

Amelia walked away from the window, sat down on the bed, and stared at the bedroom door. She pulled out the switchblade her brother had given her years ago and clutched it tightly, holding it right in front of her chest. Her fear grew with every muffled shout and crash she heard coming from downstairs. She had no way of knowing what would come through that door. It could be her brother, or a Shark, or one of the Jets, and she had no clue what any of them would do.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when the handle on the door rattled. Someone was trying to get into the room. Amelia tried to convince herself that it was probably a Jet because a Shark would've been able to just unlock the door. Still, her grip around her knife tightened.

The handle finally stopped moving, and Amelia stopped breathing for a moment. Then the door came crashing down as three of the Jets came barging in. Riff wasn't with them, and Amelia didn't loosen her grip on her knife. It was hard to see in the dark bedroom, and Amelia could feel herself shaking with fear until she recognized one of the faces in the doorway. It was Baby John, and he was gesturing for her to lower her weapon as he slowly approached her.

Amelia's mind flashed back to the Jet meetings Riff had held at home earlier that year, in the summer. Baby John had always been the most approachable of the Jets. Unlike the other boys, he was her age, and Amelia got the feeling that he wasn't quite as hateful as the rest of them yet. He was still young and impressionable, and Amelia assumed that if he found a new crowd of people quickly enough, he could turn out alright.

Baby John was always humble about accepting Amelia's help when the Jets came back from a fight with injuries. This didn't help his standing in the gang at all, but it made him stand out to Amelia. They eventually started to talk as Amelia tended to his wounds. They would talk about the Jets and school and family and Amelia would even bluntly ask him why he wanted to be a Jet. She still had hope for him, hope that he'd leave the stupid gang, but she had always kept that to herself cause she knew he'd take it as an insult.

But as she saw him walking towards her in Maria's bedroom, Amelia was glad that Baby John was still a Jet. She lowered her knife slowly, still trying to identify the other two Jets that had come in with Baby John.

"Amelia, it's alright, we're here to rescue you," Baby John said softly. "It's just me, Snowboy, and Action," he added when Amelia didn't get up or say anything.

Action took a quick look down the hall before pushing past Baby John. He walked over to the bed, grabbed the knife from Amelia, and pulled her off of the bed. "Come on, we've gotta go," he said.

Amelia scowled at him as he dragged her out of the bedroom, Baby John and Snowboy tailing behind them. While Baby John was the closest thing Amelia had to a trustworthy friend in the Jets, Action was something else completely. Amelia had barely even talked to him at the summer meetings after that first meeting when she cleaned his wounds. The few times they had spoken, however, she hadn't forgotten.

Action was as curt and rude as Baby John was talkative and sweet. Action didn't indulge Amelia's inquiries as to why he was a Jet. Action barely indulged anything Amelia had to say. He usually sat in irritated, and irritating, silence as Amelia fixed up after fights.

There had been one time, however, when Action had gotten messed up pretty bad. He had gotten the wind knocked out of him in a fist fight and his head had hit the curb on his way down. Amelia still remembered how scared Riff and Tony had looked as they rushed him into the apartment and laid him down on the couch. After Amelia had done her best to clean up the scariest head wound she had ever seen, she had sat by the couch as Action drifted in and out of consciousness. He was in so much pain that she couldn't bring herself to leave him all alone. She even saw him cry a little after Riff and Tony had left. She woke up the next morning sitting on the floor next to the couch, holding his hand and leaning her head on him.

Action brought it up later in the summer, which was one of Amelia's other interactions with the angry Jet. She was in the kitchen getting ice and water for the guys after one of their many fights when Action followed her into the kitchen. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned around the find him in the kitchen with her.

"Look, I've got about a minute before your brother finds me and asks what the hell I'm doin' in here with his baby sister," Action said that day in the kitchen. "But I've gotta ask you somethin'."

"Okay," Amelia said, still slightly shocked that he was talking to her.

"I'm a jerk to you, to everyone really, and I know you don't like what we, the Jets I mean, do," Action was talking quickly, stumbling over his own words a little. "So why do you take care of us?"

Amelia held his gaze, finally looking into his eyes. He never looked at her when she was fixing him up after fights. "I know that you guys mean a lot to my brother and Tony, and I-"

"Why did you stay with me that night?" Action cut her off, coming closer to her. "Why-"

He stopped when he heard footsteps behind him. Tony had walked into the kitchen and was giving him a very disapproving look. "You should get out of here," he said to Action.

Action nodded, snapping back into his normal disposition. As he and Tony left the kitchen, Amelia heard Tony mutter to Action, "You're lucky it was me instead of Riff who found you in there."

Amelia snapped back to reality as Action pulled her down the stairs by her wrist. He shouted something to some of the other Jets in the building before dragging her out the door. Amelia looked back to see that Baby John was still following them, watching their backs. He gave her a look that must have been meant to be reassuring, but Amelia was so out of it that she couldn't really tell. The world was starting to spin around her and everything was getting dimmer as she tried to keep up with Action. She heard Baby John shouting something and the last thing she remembered was Action stopping to pick her up before running away from Maria's house.

AN: So I'm back with this story. I kinda didn't have time for it with my first year of college and everything, but I'm kinda on break now (not really though) and I wanted to give it another try. So yeah, review please, cause when I saw the reviews on this story they really motivated me to get back into it.