Thank you soooo much to everyone who reviewed......I 'opened' my reviews x-
mas morning, so they were like presents......I loved getting them.......and
they were all good, so they were good presents at that (I'm sry...my
favorite of my presents is still my bobble-head duck)....anyway, I'm really
glad your all enjoying...the wonderful response I have gotten for this
story is sooo overwhelming.....I thought no one would like it......also,
all you Tony fans, don't worry he's still alive......this is before the
movie, so sorry to all you shark fans, they aren't there yet, all though I
may have Bernardo make a cameo...and I got the name 'The Hawks' from when
in the movie, Riff mentions other gangs that have challenged them......so,
back to the story!
*Dally's P.O.V.*
I stared at Nicola in disbelief. Last time I saw her, her hair was cut short, like Anybodys' hair. Now her hair hung to just past her shoulders, and it was clean and styled. Back then, she usually wore the same pair of filthy jeans and one of Tony's old t-shirts. I couldn't imagine her wearing even a pair of shoes two days in a row now.
She ran across the street right before a car went by and walked right up to my face.
"Thanks for writing, Dal. And calling. And visiting. Thanks for just keeping in touch at all."
"Lay off him, Nicky, he just got here," Tony said.
"DON'T CALL ME NICKY!" she roared. One thing hadn't changed, her temper. It didn't take much to get her fired up.
"Okay, Nicola," Riff said. "What were you doing walking alone? Especially when the Hawks were on the prowl this morning?" His turned around and stared at the gang for a second. The whole gang turned to stare at the rank-and-file line, the lowest in the gang, which was comprised usually of the younger guys. It took me a second to realize they were staring at A-Rab. I remembered him. He was new to the gang when I left. I didn't like him...he just didn't seem like the kind of guy I wanted in my gang.
Tony motioned for him to come forward. "Were you supposed to meet her?" Tony said, pulling him in close, as if only him and A-Rab were supposed to only hear the conversation, though everyone could hear. A-Rab nodded, so I figured they had the guys switch off who was walking the girls everywhere incase the Hawks were around. Then I heard Tony say this: "You do know I'm doing you a favor by letting you date my sister?" This shocked me. I figured if Tony and Riff were going to let Nicola be with any of the Jets, they would at least be Acemen. Not a rank-and-file guy.
As Nicola walked up to where her brother looked like he was about to pummel her boyfriend I noticed the ring on the chain around her neck. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before, it was huge. It was more than twice as big as the one that I wore on my finger for whatever lucky girl would come along. My theory was that a guy that needed to give his girlfriend that big a ring was definitely compensating for something. (A/N: Oh snap!) She walked between the two boys.
"Tony, can you at least wait to kill my boyfriend until after the dance tonight?" She snaked her arms up around A-Rab's neck. I got a slightly nauseated feeling in my stomach. "If you boys don't mind, I'm gonna have to steal one of your men to escort me Graziella's...I bid you farewell," she said with a dramatic wave. She grabbed his hand and dragged him down the street.
Riff turned to me. "You guys are gonna show at the dance tonight, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "We should show the Hawks that you got reinforcements."
**************************************************************************** *************
I leaned against the wall in the gym. I didn't like these dances any better than I had four years ago. I didn't feel comfortable, especially tonight, with Officer Krupke's eye on me half the night. And then there was Nicky.
Or Nicola, as I reminded myself that she wanted to be called by her full name now. Things sure had changed since I left. They got two new guys in the gang, this guy Joyboy and this kid, Baby John. Baby John was around Pony's age, so it was good that he was there, otherwise Pony would pretty much be left alone. And the only girl that was following the gang around was Anybodys. Nicola was too old for that now.
I stared at her dancing with A-Rab. She was pretty, no doubt about that, not beautiful though. I guess attractive would be more of the word to describe her. Like if she walked into a room, the guys would look up for a second or two, but then they would get back to whatever they were doing. But she was definitely one of the better looking girls in the room at the moment. I watched her for a few minutes, the way she crossed her hands, one on top of the other, behind A-Rab's neck. The way she swayed with the music as if she knew this song by heart and was almost a part of it. I watched the sway of the cheap pink material of her dress, until I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of one of the guys whistling. I got sight of Riff who motioned towards where Nicola and A-Rab were dancing.
"Cut in?" I mouthed to him. He nodded, so I made my way over there. I stood there and just looked at them for a second. Nicola chose to ignore me, but A-Rab immediately stopped and took his hands off her waist.
"DO YOU MIND!" she yelled at me.
"Not my choice," I said, shooing A-Rab away with a flick of my hand. The one good thing about being back was that I had automatic power. She stared at her brother and Riff. They just raised their eyebrows at her simultaneously (it surprised how often acted like each other despite the fact that they were completely different people) and turned away. Realizing that the situation was hopeless, she put her arms around my neck. I slid my hands around her waist.
"I swear if your hands go any further south," I heard her mutter as I put my hands there.
"You really think I wanted to get off my wall to come over here and dance with you? I had a nice, comfy spot picked out," I said back.
"Then why didn't you stay there and leave me and my boyfriend in peace?"
"Can't ignore my commanding officer, now can I? Do you have any idea why I was sent over here?"
"This song has a part where the couples kind of....grind against each other a bit. Every time they play it at a dance Riff and Tony send someone over here. Especially since me and A-Rab started dating."
"And how long have you been dating?"
"Since last July."
"Why?" I asked.
"What do you mean 'why'? What is it any of your business?"
"Because I want to know."
"But what do you mean by 'why'?"
"Why would you choose a rank-and-file moron when you could have one of the Rocketmen? Being who you are, you could have probably snagged one of the Acemen if you really wanted to."
"Well maybe I didn't."
"But why that one?" I said, motioning towards A-Rab. "You never used to like him. You beat him up once a few years ago for calling you a girly- girl. You got the startings of an abusive relationship, with you being the abuser."
"Shut up! And since when do you have a sudden interest in my love life? Do you have a crush on my or something?" she said. I was slightly taken aback. I didn't even know why I had such an interest in who she was with. Did I feel something about her? I stood slightly dumbfounded, trying to think of a snide remark to say to her when there was another whistle, this one I recognized as Tony's.
I looked up and saw another gang filing in. They looked tough. Tougher than any gang I'd ever seen. They formed up, so we followed suit. The gangs were a mirror image of each other, guy staring down guy, with the girls in the background staring at the girls from the other gang with a snotty air. We pushed Pony and Johnny back and Darry forward. We wanted to look intimidating, and we sure did with Darry standing there, flexing his biceps slightly. But the Hawks didn't seem too intimidated.
Riff immediately pulled the leader aside. The two gangs melded together, as if we were all great friends. I knew this trick. We used it a thousand times before to throw off the cops. The two boys talked to each other for a good ten minutes before Riff whistled and the gangs dispersed. Slowly, people started to file out, being the dance would be over in ten minutes. Riff motioned for me, Tony, the Acemen and the rest of my gang to come over.
"We gotta a war council for 12:30, about 35 minutes from now. Doc's candy store. You guys outta stick with some of our gang so you can find it when the time comes," he said, motioning to my gang. "Any problems?"
"I don't know," Darry said. "It's a bit late." As he said the last remark he nodded slightly towards Pony, but Pony obviously already knew he was talking about him.
"Come on, Darry!" he said. "Everyone else is gonna get to go! Baby John's my age too and he's gonna get to stay up." The kid looked tired, but he also looked determined to stay up for the war council with everyone else.
"Yeah, come on Darry, let kiddo stay up," Soda said. Darry nodded in agreement.
"Now that that's taken care of, 12:30, don't forget," he said to us. "GRAZIELLA!" he called across the room. "LET'S GO!" He waved bye as he and his girl walked from the room.
"You coming with us?" Steve said as I walked by him and some of the other guys.
I shook my head. "Goin' to take a walk." They nodded. I shoved my hands in my pockets and skulked past where Nicola and A-Rab stood. I stood upright as I walked into the chill night air. I was still confused. Why did I care about Nicola's love life? It's not like she was my sister or anything. I had never even gotten along with her. Why did I care now? I sat down on a park bench. I had a lot to think about. **eurgh......not as I should have liked it, but it's good considering it's 1:04 A.M. and I had a fever today......incase anyone was wondering, Acemen, Rocketmen, and Rank-and-file are different rankings that the Jets used to classify themselves in the play....and if anyone wonders why her name is Nicola.....I wanted something easy to turn into a boys name......Nicky- Nicola......and I was re-reading the book 'Nicola and the Viscount' for the umpteenth time......and if you were wondering why I chose A-Rab of all Jets to be her boyfriend......believe it or not, I took the ones whose names I could remember and put the names in a hat.........and if anyone wants to read my lord of the rings story, I have it saved in one big e-mail.....so I could easily send it to them...though I don't know who would want to read it, it's quite bad....and my story 'Only Hope' will be up until my birthday, 2/11....I personally, upon further review of the story actually think it's quite good.....so if you'd like to read it, please do so before I'm 15......sry if I'm a bit off....like I said...fever....and incase anyone was wondering....just kidding...now get some sleep!
I stared at Nicola in disbelief. Last time I saw her, her hair was cut short, like Anybodys' hair. Now her hair hung to just past her shoulders, and it was clean and styled. Back then, she usually wore the same pair of filthy jeans and one of Tony's old t-shirts. I couldn't imagine her wearing even a pair of shoes two days in a row now.
She ran across the street right before a car went by and walked right up to my face.
"Thanks for writing, Dal. And calling. And visiting. Thanks for just keeping in touch at all."
"Lay off him, Nicky, he just got here," Tony said.
"DON'T CALL ME NICKY!" she roared. One thing hadn't changed, her temper. It didn't take much to get her fired up.
"Okay, Nicola," Riff said. "What were you doing walking alone? Especially when the Hawks were on the prowl this morning?" His turned around and stared at the gang for a second. The whole gang turned to stare at the rank-and-file line, the lowest in the gang, which was comprised usually of the younger guys. It took me a second to realize they were staring at A-Rab. I remembered him. He was new to the gang when I left. I didn't like him...he just didn't seem like the kind of guy I wanted in my gang.
Tony motioned for him to come forward. "Were you supposed to meet her?" Tony said, pulling him in close, as if only him and A-Rab were supposed to only hear the conversation, though everyone could hear. A-Rab nodded, so I figured they had the guys switch off who was walking the girls everywhere incase the Hawks were around. Then I heard Tony say this: "You do know I'm doing you a favor by letting you date my sister?" This shocked me. I figured if Tony and Riff were going to let Nicola be with any of the Jets, they would at least be Acemen. Not a rank-and-file guy.
As Nicola walked up to where her brother looked like he was about to pummel her boyfriend I noticed the ring on the chain around her neck. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before, it was huge. It was more than twice as big as the one that I wore on my finger for whatever lucky girl would come along. My theory was that a guy that needed to give his girlfriend that big a ring was definitely compensating for something. (A/N: Oh snap!) She walked between the two boys.
"Tony, can you at least wait to kill my boyfriend until after the dance tonight?" She snaked her arms up around A-Rab's neck. I got a slightly nauseated feeling in my stomach. "If you boys don't mind, I'm gonna have to steal one of your men to escort me Graziella's...I bid you farewell," she said with a dramatic wave. She grabbed his hand and dragged him down the street.
Riff turned to me. "You guys are gonna show at the dance tonight, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "We should show the Hawks that you got reinforcements."
**************************************************************************** *************
I leaned against the wall in the gym. I didn't like these dances any better than I had four years ago. I didn't feel comfortable, especially tonight, with Officer Krupke's eye on me half the night. And then there was Nicky.
Or Nicola, as I reminded myself that she wanted to be called by her full name now. Things sure had changed since I left. They got two new guys in the gang, this guy Joyboy and this kid, Baby John. Baby John was around Pony's age, so it was good that he was there, otherwise Pony would pretty much be left alone. And the only girl that was following the gang around was Anybodys. Nicola was too old for that now.
I stared at her dancing with A-Rab. She was pretty, no doubt about that, not beautiful though. I guess attractive would be more of the word to describe her. Like if she walked into a room, the guys would look up for a second or two, but then they would get back to whatever they were doing. But she was definitely one of the better looking girls in the room at the moment. I watched her for a few minutes, the way she crossed her hands, one on top of the other, behind A-Rab's neck. The way she swayed with the music as if she knew this song by heart and was almost a part of it. I watched the sway of the cheap pink material of her dress, until I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of one of the guys whistling. I got sight of Riff who motioned towards where Nicola and A-Rab were dancing.
"Cut in?" I mouthed to him. He nodded, so I made my way over there. I stood there and just looked at them for a second. Nicola chose to ignore me, but A-Rab immediately stopped and took his hands off her waist.
"DO YOU MIND!" she yelled at me.
"Not my choice," I said, shooing A-Rab away with a flick of my hand. The one good thing about being back was that I had automatic power. She stared at her brother and Riff. They just raised their eyebrows at her simultaneously (it surprised how often acted like each other despite the fact that they were completely different people) and turned away. Realizing that the situation was hopeless, she put her arms around my neck. I slid my hands around her waist.
"I swear if your hands go any further south," I heard her mutter as I put my hands there.
"You really think I wanted to get off my wall to come over here and dance with you? I had a nice, comfy spot picked out," I said back.
"Then why didn't you stay there and leave me and my boyfriend in peace?"
"Can't ignore my commanding officer, now can I? Do you have any idea why I was sent over here?"
"This song has a part where the couples kind of....grind against each other a bit. Every time they play it at a dance Riff and Tony send someone over here. Especially since me and A-Rab started dating."
"And how long have you been dating?"
"Since last July."
"Why?" I asked.
"What do you mean 'why'? What is it any of your business?"
"Because I want to know."
"But what do you mean by 'why'?"
"Why would you choose a rank-and-file moron when you could have one of the Rocketmen? Being who you are, you could have probably snagged one of the Acemen if you really wanted to."
"Well maybe I didn't."
"But why that one?" I said, motioning towards A-Rab. "You never used to like him. You beat him up once a few years ago for calling you a girly- girl. You got the startings of an abusive relationship, with you being the abuser."
"Shut up! And since when do you have a sudden interest in my love life? Do you have a crush on my or something?" she said. I was slightly taken aback. I didn't even know why I had such an interest in who she was with. Did I feel something about her? I stood slightly dumbfounded, trying to think of a snide remark to say to her when there was another whistle, this one I recognized as Tony's.
I looked up and saw another gang filing in. They looked tough. Tougher than any gang I'd ever seen. They formed up, so we followed suit. The gangs were a mirror image of each other, guy staring down guy, with the girls in the background staring at the girls from the other gang with a snotty air. We pushed Pony and Johnny back and Darry forward. We wanted to look intimidating, and we sure did with Darry standing there, flexing his biceps slightly. But the Hawks didn't seem too intimidated.
Riff immediately pulled the leader aside. The two gangs melded together, as if we were all great friends. I knew this trick. We used it a thousand times before to throw off the cops. The two boys talked to each other for a good ten minutes before Riff whistled and the gangs dispersed. Slowly, people started to file out, being the dance would be over in ten minutes. Riff motioned for me, Tony, the Acemen and the rest of my gang to come over.
"We gotta a war council for 12:30, about 35 minutes from now. Doc's candy store. You guys outta stick with some of our gang so you can find it when the time comes," he said, motioning to my gang. "Any problems?"
"I don't know," Darry said. "It's a bit late." As he said the last remark he nodded slightly towards Pony, but Pony obviously already knew he was talking about him.
"Come on, Darry!" he said. "Everyone else is gonna get to go! Baby John's my age too and he's gonna get to stay up." The kid looked tired, but he also looked determined to stay up for the war council with everyone else.
"Yeah, come on Darry, let kiddo stay up," Soda said. Darry nodded in agreement.
"Now that that's taken care of, 12:30, don't forget," he said to us. "GRAZIELLA!" he called across the room. "LET'S GO!" He waved bye as he and his girl walked from the room.
"You coming with us?" Steve said as I walked by him and some of the other guys.
I shook my head. "Goin' to take a walk." They nodded. I shoved my hands in my pockets and skulked past where Nicola and A-Rab stood. I stood upright as I walked into the chill night air. I was still confused. Why did I care about Nicola's love life? It's not like she was my sister or anything. I had never even gotten along with her. Why did I care now? I sat down on a park bench. I had a lot to think about. **eurgh......not as I should have liked it, but it's good considering it's 1:04 A.M. and I had a fever today......incase anyone was wondering, Acemen, Rocketmen, and Rank-and-file are different rankings that the Jets used to classify themselves in the play....and if anyone wonders why her name is Nicola.....I wanted something easy to turn into a boys name......Nicky- Nicola......and I was re-reading the book 'Nicola and the Viscount' for the umpteenth time......and if you were wondering why I chose A-Rab of all Jets to be her boyfriend......believe it or not, I took the ones whose names I could remember and put the names in a hat.........and if anyone wants to read my lord of the rings story, I have it saved in one big e-mail.....so I could easily send it to them...though I don't know who would want to read it, it's quite bad....and my story 'Only Hope' will be up until my birthday, 2/11....I personally, upon further review of the story actually think it's quite good.....so if you'd like to read it, please do so before I'm 15......sry if I'm a bit off....like I said...fever....and incase anyone was wondering....just kidding...now get some sleep!