The Jet's Girl

Chapter 1

One year before

There's something about the west side of New York that gives it charm. Is it the crumbling buildings? No, not that. Is it the stench of smoke and alcohol on every street corner? Nope, not that either. To be honest, there isn't much about the west side that is charming, however, there are certain people that make it bearable to live there like Rachel Lorton.

Rachel Lorton is a total smartass and can kick ass when she wants to, but she is the one person that can turn the toughest gang member into the biggest softie. She likes to think that's her superpower, to melt a grown man from the inside out. She smirks to herself and continues to walk past the buildings that she has grown up around. She sports black torn up jeans, a white crewneck t-shirt-stolen from a local store-, a jean jacket and her signature black converse. She was different from the other girls; she hung out with boys, didn't wear makeup or dresses and skirts and most importantly she grew up with a group of boys known as "The Jets". They never took a second glance at her attire being as they were boys, but the girls constantly gave her side glances and snide comments. Every girl except Velma that is; she was Mouthpiece's girlfriend and, as far as Rachel could tell, was the nicest out of all the girls. Maybe it was because she wanted everyone to like her, so she was overly nice to people sometimes. Besides Velma's kindness, she didn't care what the other girls had to say. She was always surrounded by love and support, and the constant teasing from her group of brothers that she grew up with. Her actual biological twin brother, Riff, always made sure that she was taken care of even though he teased her relentlessly. She had grown used to the constant teasing, it's what made her become so snarky, she had to give them something back.

As she made her way to Doc's, her feet occasionally kicking at rocks on the sidewalk, she noticed one of the boys making his way to Doc's. They were all heading there for a meeting to discuss what to do about the Egyptian Kings, the other gang trying to take over the west side. She ran up and saw that it was Mouthpiece, he got his nickname because he can't possibly keep a secret, a secret.

"Hey Mouth!" she exclaimed as she ran up to his side.

He turned to see who was calling out to him, "Oh, hey RJ!"

Everyone called her RJ. Her middle name was Joyce, so it didn't exactly take a genius to figure out that was the obvious choice for her nickname. Everyone called her that except for Diesel, for some reason he always called her Rachel even though she hated it. She never really liked her full name because it was too proper, but Diesel never missed a chance to annoy her. The only exception to the nickname rule was Riff and that was because he was her twin. But Deez, never followed her rule. She always wondered why, but she kind of liked it when he said her name. She was pulled out of her daze when Mouthpiece was waving his hand in front of her face.

"Yoo-hoo, Earth to RJ! Come in RJ!" he yelled to her.

She swatted his hand away, "Yeah yeah, I'm listening."

"You definitely was not. Were you dreaming 'bout your boyfriend again?" he snickered.

"Diesel is not my boyfriend; we just annoy each other. Kind of like you're doing now." She stated matter of factly.

He smirked and pointed out, "I ain't never said anything about Diesel."

She blushed and looked away and he started to laugh at the redness of her cheeks.

She muttered, "Shut up Mouth."

They made their way into Doc's as the bell rang, signaling that a customer was there, with Mouth still laughing and RJ's cheeks still red. They were instantly surrounded by all the Jets and some of their girlfriends. They all turned to look at the duo as they made their way to sit down at one of the booths.

"What's got Mouthpiece all giggly for?" A-Rab asked as Velma made her way to sit on Mouthpiece's lap.

"Nothin'," muttered RJ.

She looked up to see most of the jets staring at her, one stare caught her eye. She looked up and made eye contact with Diesel, who instantly caught sight of her red cheeks when she walked through the door with a laughing Mouthpiece. His fists were clenched, and his jaw was locked as he looked at her as if she was the only girl in the room. She instantly put her head back down to hide from the eyes burning holes in her head. Of course, she thought, the one person that can make me blush is sitting in this god damn room. She looked around, avoiding Deez's stare as she found Riff's eyes, signaling for him to start talking. He thankfully got the hint quickly and cleared his throat.

"Alright," he started, "Jet business time."

He stated, giving a pointed look at Tony to send Grazie and her friends away. Tony caught it and looked to Grazie,

"It's been great hangin' with you Graz, but you guys gotta go."

He directed his statement at Grazie and the rest of the Jet's girlfriends. She immediately scrunched her face up and tried to flirt her way into staying by hanging off Tony's neck pushing her chest into his. That's not gonna work, RJ thought in her head as she smirked and watched the scene play out in front of her eyes. Tony's eyes turned serious as he looked at her and Grazie immediately cowered away and looked to the rest of the girls, her eyes eventually falling onto RJ.

"How come Rachel gets to stay then, huh?" she asks angrily. RJ's eye narrow to slits as she stands up.

"Don't call me Rachel." She says, anger lacing every word, crossing her arms and clenching her jaw so she doesn't do anything that Grazie will regret.

She looked dangerous for only being 5'7", but she was still taller than Grazie who stood at 5'5". She never liked the girl; she was very attention seeking and was always trying to insert herself into situations she wasn't invited to. Nonetheless, she had to tolerate her because Tony liked her, and he was like blood. Luckily, before anything went south Grazie took the hint to back off and shoulder checked RJ on the way out of the door, not before smirking at each of the boys on her way out. The bell rang signaling that all the girls had left, and RJ let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Man, I really hate her." She exhaled,

She relaxed her jaw as she clenched and unclenched her hands to regain the circulation that stopped flowing the moment she crossed her arms. All the boys, except Tony, snickered at her comment.

"You know, she's really not bad once you get to know her." Tony tried to reason with her.

She whipped her head in his direction, "I don't think you have much room to get to know her when you constantly have your tongues down each other's throats." She said with an eyebrow raised, waiting for him to challenge her.

All the boys busted out laughing and even Tony gave a little chuckle. She smiled to herself as she sat back down and looked around the room. Her eyes caught Diesel's piercing gaze again and this time he didn't look angry or serious, he was laughing and looking at her with affection. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she maintained eye contact, looking at him through her eyelashes as a blush fell on her cheeks once again. That's twice in like 5 minutes, she thought to herself. She looks down and continues to fidget with her thumbs as Riff and Tony talk about their next move against the Egyptian Kings, trying to avoid the gaze of the one Jet that can make her this nervous.