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Chapter Nine
Rose made her way down the street very quickly, hoping to deliver Maria's message and then go to bed so her horrible day could just be over. She entered Doc's shop and stopped dead in her tracks; she wasn't alone. It seemed every one of the Jets had piled into Doc's small store to keep an eye on their friend. Only now, their eyes were all on Rose.
"Where's Doc?" she asked.
"He ain't here," one of them said, stepping in front of her and blocking her path. Rose tried to skirt around him but he simply stepped in front of her again.
"I have a message to deliver-"
"So tell one of us!"
Rose scowled. "The message isn't for any of you." She spotted a door behind the counter that she decided must lead to the basement. "If you'll excuse me," she said, starting to push her way through the Jets toward the door.
It happened so suddenly Rose didn't have time to think until the boys had already surrounded her- grabbing her, pushing her back, pulling at her clothes. Jeering and calling her racist slurs.
Enough! Rose reached out and slapped the first Jet she could reach, clear across the face.
"Don't touch me!" she said fiercely. The boys all stopped, looking ashamed. Not because of Rose's outburst, but because Doc had finally appeared. However, Rose didn't need his help to reprimand the young men around her.
"For your goddamn information," she said in a low, dangerous voice, "I was born in Pennsylvania. I am an American citizen. My grandfather was Hispanic, that's it! So you can stop treating me like I'm not as good as you. As a matter of fact, you can stop treating them like that as well! I am trying to help you, you ungrateful bastards! I have a message for Tony from Maria-"
"Maria's one-a them PRs," a Jet mumbled.
"She loves him!" Rose screamed. "Really, is that the worst thing you can imagine in this world? One of them, loving one of you?"
The Jets could only stare at her, silent.
"She loves him," Rose repeated. "She means Tony no harm, and neither do I. Maria's like a sister to me, I... look, will you let me deliver the damn message or not?"
"He's in the cellar," Doc said after a long moment. He wove his way through the Jets to the cellar door, opening it for Rose. She could feel their eyes on her as she approached the cellar. "Thank you," she told Doc.
Tony hurried to the bottom of the stairs as soon as he heard Rose approaching; he backed off, looking confused when he realized it was not Maria coming down to meet him.
"Hello, Tony," Rose said.
"Where's Maria? Is she all right?"
"She's fine. She asked me to come here, to tell you she has been detained and can't meet you right away."
"But she is coming?"
Rose nodded. "She's coming."
Tony breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back against the cellar wall and visibly relaxing. Rose turned to leave-
"Wait."
Rose stopped on the cellar stairs but didn't look at Tony.
"You were Bernardo's girl, weren't you?"
"I was," Rose said stiffly.
"I'm sorry," Tony blurted out. "I didn't mean to kill him, I was tryin' to stop the fight from happening in the first place! But when he killed Riff... I just wasn't thinking, I was so mad! Haven't you ever done something you regretted? 'Cause you were mad?"
Rose glanced over her shoulder to see Tony looking at her expectantly, waiting for her reply.
"Yes," she said at last. "I have."
"I'm going home," Rose said to the still silent Jets when she returned from the cellar. "Good night."
She barely took another step before the boys jumped in front of her, blocking her path to the door.
"What if she tells Chino where Tony's hidin'?" one said.
Rose scowled. "For the last time, I'm not trying to get Tony hurt! What do you want me to do, let one of you walk me home so I won't go blabbing to Chino?"
The boys looked at each other before shoving a small, scrawny boy in front of Rose. He almost tripped and turned to look pleadingly at the other Jets.
"Baby John'll take ya. Won't you, Baby John?" a Jet said.
Baby John glanced nervously at Rose before nodding.
"Fine," Rose said. With that, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the shop. Baby John hurried to keep up with her.
They walked in complete silence the whole way, save for Baby John's occasional sniffles. He stopped her just before she escaped into her apartment building. Rose glared at him for grabbing onto her arm, but she softened her expression when she realized how close the poor boy seemed to bursting into tears.
He let go immediately. "I uh... I just wanted to say sorry about Bernardo," he stammered.
"It's not your fault," Rose sighed. "If it was anyone's fault, it was his, for getting involved in this mess in the first place."
Baby John nodded, mumbled, "Good night," and hurried off down the dark street. Rose went home.
Albert was wrapping up another long night of grading papers. He had the radio on; it helped pass the time. However, music was too distracting for grading, and the news had been awfully depressing lately.
"-gang violence in the upper West Side has gotten steadily worse over the past few months," the woman on the radio was saying. "Tonight, another two young men were found dead under the highway as a result of this increased violence. Their killer has yet to be apprehended-"
Albert shut off the radio. "I'll have to stop listening to this darn thing altogether if the news gets any worse," he muttered. Albert looked at the mess of papers in front of him and shook his head. He'd had enough for one night.
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