The Celts (West Side Story: Riff X Reader)

Chapter 6

(Basically, I'll update whenever anybody asks after I set myself a deadline.)

The next morning marked my first day as a secret Jet and a liar towards my friends and sister. Today was my day to go to the races and steal from the betting boxes, but I decided to meet up with the Jets. I had received word that they typically met at or near Doc's Drugstore. In order to avoid being caught by Celts as I slunk into Jet terf, I became a shadow in back alleys. When I emerged in the gang's streets, I instantly saw a familiar face. 

"Liza, what are you doing over here?" Clanner demanded, jogging over to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in an equally urgent tone.

"I'm giving that guy a piece of my mind." He said. "He can't beat me and get away with it."

"Do you even know who it was?" I asked, although I knew exactly who it was. In fact, I wore his jacket the night prior to now.

"I don't need to know who he is, I just need to find him." Clanner said.

"Hey!" A voice called from across the street. The two of us turned to see a group of Jets heading our way. Luckily for me, it was Riff Mouthpiece, and a few other boys that I had met the night before. Riff took the head of the group when they came face-to-face with us. 

"You are well aware of the fact that you're on our terf, right?" Riff said, giving Clanner a long, hard stare before turning to me. Clanner had stepped in front of me, so my friend couldn't see me throw a wink toward Riff. He nodded ever so slightly, to where it could have just been a twitch having to do with an elevated pulse. 

Mouthpiece shouldered his way through the group until he was about an inch from Clanner. "You here for round two?"

"I'm here for redemption." Clanner said, voice a low rumble. I watched Riff slowly whisper something to the Jets and then wink at me. And then, within less than a minute, a fight broke out. Riff grabbed both of my arms and acted as though he was fighting me.

"Pretend to fight me." He breathed in my ear. I nodded and we engaged in what hopefully looked like a real fight. I ended up fake-fighting two Jets while the rest drove Clanner away. The very instant he was out of sight, we all hurriedly left. The other Jet left once we were in a more secluded place. "Why did you bring him?"

"I didn't." I said. "I came over here and ran into him. He was looking for Mouthpiece."

"You gotta be more careful next time." Riff said. "Now we're going to need to hide you and fight Ronan some of the other Jets, because that Clanner ain't gonna keep his mouth shut."

"I can't fight?"

"I'm sure you can fight, but you can't fight the Celts." He said with a shake of his head. "That's just gonna make this whole rivalry thing worse."

"That's true." I said begrudgingly.

"If this is going to go the way it went last time, Ronan is gonna be here in about an hour." Riff said, a thoughtful expression plastered across his face.

"There was a last time?"  I asked with wide eyes. In the year we'd been in America, I couldn't recall another time that the Celts and Jets had clashed. 

"Of course that weasel didn't tell you." Riff said, sitting down on an old, ugly bench in the alley and patted the spot beside him. I sat down as well. "About four months after the Celts got here, Clanner wandered over here and tried havin' his way with this girl, Grazziella. Me and a couple of my guys caught him and sent him back to Ronan with his tail between his legs."

"He told Nettie and I that he'd fallen into the Hudson." I said, now realizing that his excuse was ridiculous.

"Of course," Riff said, "anyway, Clanner came back with Ronan and about five other guys a half-hour later."

"We only have seven guys." I said with furrowed brows. They snuck an entire seven men out of our area in Manhattan unnoticed?

"I know." He looked at me. "Anyway, we got them off our backs pretty fast, but there ain't never gonna be peace between the Celts and Jets."

"Which means that I have to hide soon." I said, folding my hands in my lap.

"That's right." Riff nodded. We both then stood up and he guided me underneath a tarp. It would take them less time to get here since a suspected Celt was seemingly taken by the Jets. Before he covered me up, he winked and held a finger to his mouth to signal for me to be quiet. I nodded and he was gone.