Dedication thingy-gummy: This one is for miss coconuts, who put the fear of God into me by threatening me with a band of flying monkeys. Dude, I am an innocent kid! I don't deserve to die!
Something To Think About: There is going to be romance in this story! Surely not, I hear you cry! And once you read this story, you will think you know with who! But it won't be, of course! Now, to win the competition (prize being another chapter), you have to say who you think the romance is going to be with! So read carefully!
Becca's PoV:
I have woken up today and forgotten where I was.
I'm serious. I was not faced, like I usually am, by a blue wall with a poster of a jet-plane on it, but faced by a white-grey-puce wall, with a crack in the middle of it.
I have been stolen by North Korean soldiers and put in a cell.
Seriously. That sort of stuff happened all the tine in the Korean War. You have no idea how many soldiers woke up in a cell.
Oh My God I Have Been Abducted.
Then I turned round and looked out the window. There was not, as there had been before, a large high-way with delivery trucks tootling happily down the road at five am in the morning. No. There was now a strange back-ally, with a couple of kids playing basket ball at the end.
Oh. I was in Manhattan.
I knew that.
I was in Manhattan with a neurotic, Bible-fixated mother, an alcoholic uncle, a severely bruised aunty, a short cousin that gets mad at me for no apparent reason, and I cannot feel my legs.
The last bit was figured out when I discovered my legs were bent underneath me.
Pain.
I should have at least changed into my PJ's before going to sleep.
I straightened out my legs and put my head on the pillow again. If I'm gonna stay in this place, I reasoned, I might as well stay in it asleep.
"Oi! Little girl! Wake up!"
I stuck my head under the pillow. From now on, I thought, Action is forbidden to yell at me. He scares me.
I think he may be a Commie for no apparent reason.
Waa.
"That's it! Rebecca Tulip Ashley Carlye Hemlock, get up!"
Feck. How'd he know my name?
Then I figured he'd probably heard my full name in some boring ceremony.
Action's head stuck round the door, "Up, up, up!"
He was beginning to annoy me, "Listen, buster!" I snapped, "One of the first things you learn about me is that in the morning, I get tired!"
"Tough! Up now or I sit on you!"
"I'd like to see you try!"
Ow!
I really wish I hadn't said that.
For a little guy, he sure is heavy.
"Get off, get off, get off! I'm up!"
Action got up, grinning evilly. I hate my cousin, I really do.
"You seem more cheerful than last night."
Action shrugged, "Dad went off early to get some money, Ma's off to work, your mum said something about a job centre, and I haven't seen my old man yet at all! 'Course I'm happy!"
"And I'm sleepy," I grumbled, "And hungry."
Action jabbed a finger out into the hall, already walking out, "Bathrooms first on the left, towel's are already in there, your ma put some clothes out for you, you're not allowed breakfast if you don't hurry….."
What, what, what, WHAT?
I may be odd, but I love my food!
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!"
I legged it to the bathroom, had the quickest shower you've ever thought of, scrambled into my clothes, shoved one boot on, tried to do the other one up while running to the kitchen, and tripped in an ungainly pile in front of the cooker.
Action raised an eyebrow, "Hungry, were you?"
"Alright, little girl, I'd better show you around," Action volunteered as he tipped the dishes into the sink, "First stop, Doc's!"
"We're going to the doctors?"
"No, dip-stick, Doc's Candy Store. We can get a drink or something."
"Ooh. I like that idea."
"Thought you might."
We made our way down the stairs – Action steering me away from the disapproving stares from neighbours – and out into the street.
"Action. Hey, Action, wait for me!" I turned round to see a girl of around twelve running up to us, "Wait for me Action!"
Action turned round and let out a groan, "Anybody's, leave off."
"What? I….I only…." The girl bent down and gasped for breath, "I only…wanted…to see ya…."
Action folded his arms and glared severely at the girl – Anybody's? Weird name – "That's funny. I could swear I can tell what the question you've been dying to ask me ever since you saw me come outside is."
"Who's she?" The girl demanded.
"That's my cousin Anybodys."
"My name's Rebecca."
"Hi," The girl smiled. She had red hair cropped chin-length, freckles all over her face, and looked quite pretty, if you squinted at her the right way.
"You are forbidden to ask her, however, to try and change Tony's mind about whether you can join the gang or not."
"Aw, come on Action!" Anybody's wailed, grabbing hold of his shoulder, "You're the only one who'll listen to me!"
"And that's only because I can't run away quick enough," Action growled, shoving the upset girl away, "Listen, Anybodys, I couldn't care less whether you jumped out of a plane at the moment. Just get lost, stop pestering me, and start acting like a girl for Christ's sake! You're acting like a moron!"
"Well, Tony thought my hair looked okay when I cut it.." Anybodys said dejectedly, running a hand through her hair. I got the impression that she hadn't wanted completely to cut it, for whatever reason she did.
"I think it looks cool," I said. It did too, in a kind of lost orphan-ish kind of way.
Anybodys grinned weakly, "Thanks. Glad someone likes me."
Action had had enough, "Get lost Anybodys." Anybodys scowled and ran off. I turned to Action.
"That was mean."
"That is what I have to do to keep my sanity."
"Action, why did she say that?"
Action shrugged, "I dunno. Why's it so important?"
"Cos it is. Don't people like her a lot?"
Action smirked, "Leave out the 'a lot' and you'd get it about right. She's an annoying little pest." How mean!
I mean, she didn't seem that bad.
"That's mean. She seemed nice," I put my head on one side, "She said you listened to her though."
Action suddenly looked very shifty, "Well, that's only cos I was bored and I had nothing else to do…"
Ah-ha! Surely I could not spot romance! My first day here, and already my talent (or un-talent, whichever) for match-making had started!
I AM RULER OF THE ACME CUPID COMPANY! ALL SHALL PRAISE ME AND MY AMAZING MATCH-MAKING-NESS! WAHAHAHA!
Okay, ignore me.
Then I remembered the scowl Action had on his face when he looked at Anybodys and changed my mind.
Aww shucks, I thought, almost had it then.
"And this, little girl, is the wonderful Doc's Candy Store, in all its glory!" Action said, arms wide open and grinning maniacally. I just Looked at it.
It was a store.
It was small and dirty.
Was Action hyper on sugar or something?
"Come on, I'll get us a drink," Action offered, pushing me inside, "Hang on a minute, I just gotta go upstairs and see something first."
"Hang on a minute!" I yelled, "Aren't you meant not to go upstairs in a st….oh, never mind."
Hey, Action seemed to be on top of things. My cousin was cool.
This place looked nice. Nice blue walls. Nice seats. Nice, nice, nice.
There was no-one behind the counter, and no-one sitting down, so I was on my own.
Ladies and Gentlemen, cue the drum-roll please.
Dun-Dun-Duun!
I'm so weird.
And…I was all alone. This was the perfect place to be attacked!
I jumped of the stool Action had un-ceremoniously plonked me on, and looked out the door.
I had survived three seconds when something bashed into me and made me crash onto the floor.
I knew it!
"Ah, sorry Anybodys…wait a minute, you're not Anybodys…ah, Tony! I seemed to have knocked down an unsuspecting young lady person of the female variety and I have no idea who the hell she is…."
I had heard Action mention someone called Tony before.
"You, my friend, are a dumbo."
"I am not! I was just…running, and kind of…crashed into her…."
"Are you gonna talk to me or help her up?"
"Oh yeah. Here you go…." Before I'd finished thinking someone had grabbed hold of my arm and jerked me into a standing position.
And then I realised that the bash had actually hurt.
"Now, Riff, from the way the, and I quote, unsuspecting young lady person of the female variety, is looking in pain, you obviously hurt her. Now, you apologise, and ask if she's alright."
For the first time I decided to have a look at these two people.
The first person, who I decided was Tony, as he was not looking extremely sheepish, was tall, with wavy-ish brown hair and classic good looks. He was smirking at the second person (Riff), who was looking at the floor. He was shorter, with curly hair and what I would call better good looks than Tony.
Okay, moving swiftly on from my weird thoughts.
"Erm…sorry," The boy called Riff said, "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine."
"Oh, good."
Enter now a short, but effective silence, which is broken easily by Tony saying.
"Hey, have you seen one of our friends here?"
"Umm…."
"Oh, specific Tony, real specific," Riff said coolly, "He's only a little guy," He explained, "About two foot nothin', dark hair, light brown skin, scowl that could frighten a Commie soldier…."
Hey, this was beginning to sound like….
"That's my cousin!" I said loudly, just as Action came in and went, "Huh?", Tony and Riff both looked at each other and went, "What, and a little old man who'd come in with Action asked, "What's going on?"
I cause a lot of trouble.
"Um…that's my cousin," I pointed out sheepishly.
"And these are my friends Tony and Riff," Action told me.
"We've met."
"Riff knocked her down," Tony told Action.
"I told ya Tony, I didn't mean it!"
"Well, if you actually looked were you were going…."
"At least my head's not swollen to the size of a jeep wheel….ARGH! Uncle, UNCLE, okay Tony?"
The old man shook his head as Tony let Riff off the floor, "I'm Doc," He explained, "The boys usually meet here for," He paused, "War Councils, I should say."
"Eh?"
"Idiotic really, but if they have to…."
"Ah, don't start, ya hear me Doc?" Action snapped angrily, "I've heard it all before."
"It goes in one hoodlum ear and out the other doesn't it Action?" Doc asked.
Action whipped round, almost certainly about to make some angry comment, but Riff got to him first, grabbing him by the jacket, "Sedative, Tony." He asked, holding out his hand. Tony pretended to hand out something.
Action rolled his eyes, "I'm not that bad," He snapped.
Not from what I'd seen!
"No, you're worse," Tony sighed, "So, where did your cousin spring up from?"
"She and Aunt Leah,"
"The Bible-fanatic?"
"Yeah. They're staying with us, ma needs some help with my old man."
Tony and Riff exchanged looks. Action had obviously told them, "So, you showing her around?"
"Yeah, been to some places, so her ma will be wondering where she is," Action signalled to me, "Come on squirt, we'll get a drink and then get back."
"Aww, I'm having fun!"
"Well tough," Action snapped, "Hey Doc, hand us two cokes thanks," Doc gave him two cokes and Action handed over the money, "Here ya go."
I took it awkwardly, "It ain't poisoned," He told me.
"What's the matter?" Riff asked.
Okay. My big confession time. Another drum-roll please.
"My mum never really let me drink fizzy drinks so I don't really know what this tastes like…" I trailed off nervously.
The three burst into laughter, "Is that all? Try it and see if you like it."
I snapped open the can and held it to my lips. Riff began to hum the funeral march Do, do der doo, do der do der do der doo…..
"Shut up Riff," Tony smiled.
I poured a little into my mouth and began to splutter. It tasted like someone had poured a firework into my mouth!
Riff was laughing harder than the other three, "She's being killed by a coke!" He managed to splutter. I scowled at him.
Ha-ha, feel my wrath.
Although it's hard to be mad with someone who is quite good looking.
Action was still chuckling, "Come on Becca, let's get back."
"Meanie."
We went out the door, round the block and into the block of flats.
"What are you doing here?" Someone (Or something!) hissed from one of the dark corners in the hall, "Why aren't you terrorizing the community with your friends like you usually do?"
Action turned round to face the lady, who was hunched over her mop, hair in curlers, shabby dress and a face that looked like it was sucking on a lemon, "Afternoon Mrs Gray."
"Don't you 'afternoon' me," The woman snapped, "You and your goings on. You and your scummy families should all be thrown in the can forever. You're a menace to society, that's what you are!"
Now, I'm not the bravest person I know, and although my mum says I have a silver tongue I don't always please people with what I say, but that didn't sound very nice to my cousin and his nice friends, (Tony and Riff had been very nice to be – specially Riff).
"Hey," I told the hag, "They aren't that bad."
"No, they're worse," The thing spat, "They're ruining this world for us all."
"Well, they're very nice to me."
Action opened his mouth to say something, but the Wicked Witch of the West got there first, "You must be one of the favoured few then," She sneered, "They should be locked up, to stop them from even walking the streets."
What a hag!
"Maybe they're not nice to you because you're a horrible old witch," I retorted.
Action has had a big effect on me, that's my excuse.
The old woman opened her mouth, but before she could do anything Action grabbed my arm, "Let's go Becca."
Action managed to drag me up to the apartment door before bursting into laughter, "Where'd you get the gall to do that? She could have eaten you alive!"
I shrugged, "Guess I just don't like her."
Action shook his head, still laughing, "You were brilliant," He told me, "I'd never have expected that of you."
"Huh?"
He grinned, "When Ma told me you were coming, I thought you'd be a replica of you're mum. You know, Bible fanatic and all that," He shrugged, "Sure is good to know that you aren't."
I smiled warmly. For the first time since I'd met him, my cousin looked like he was glad to see me.
And that made me glad.
Ash: YO! Hi everybody! First of all, I'd like to thank my reviewers, miss coconuts, Tsuki no Yasha (do you know how hard it is to type that?), daddy's little star and oliverwoodluvr. Go read their fics!If you are jealous of the publicity and big flashing lights for these people, then REVIEW!
Second thing: Poll.Because I like the Jets so much, (and to be honest, who doesn't ?), say who your favourite Jet is and why in your next review! And don't forget the competition at the top! Heehee! Go forth into the world and spread the Good News of jelly donuts!
