: - watty's shortlist 2022 - :
{riff ff}
Elizabeth Russell seems to have everything but the one thing she's always wanted comes with a different kind of price.
Riff thinks that he has everything he's ever wanted when it comes to the Jets but an unf...
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// - chapter ten - \\ "god only knows what we're fighting for."
🌇 MONDAY MORNING ALLEY BETWEEN WEST 64th AND 65th STREET
Thanks to a convincing note from Valentina, Elizabeth's parents didn't question her late return home and didn't ask anything about her change of clothes. Mother was suspicious after noticing that her daughter didn't return in the same outfit but didn't want to start any drama with her husband, so she stayed quiet. Valentina had helped her out of her torn dress and had offered her something from her own closet, helping her bathe and taking her time because she could see that the poor girl was terrified of her own shadow. It had taken a while to get her looking back to her normal self but even the old lady could see something inside of her had changed, her fire had been put out and she was struggling to come to terms with the events of the evening.
With construction beginning on the abandoned apartment buildings, Richard Russell was called onto site to oversee some of the plans that he had drafted. Knowing that this would be a big moment for the press, he decided to bring his family along with him so that they could play up for the public. Nothing was better than pretending to be a perfect family in front of the people who struggled, he wanted them to envy him in every way and projecting his blessed lifestyle onto them was the best way to enjoy life. Leaving their fancy apartment building seemed easy but it was the cab ride to the site that seemed harder than anything else as their car joined a queue as soon as it turned the corner. An hour had passed and they hadn't moved, father was getting bored of waiting and got out of the car, looking for someone to give him some answers.
Mother soon stepped out of the car too and Elizabeth followed, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to work out what could have happened that would cause them to be stuck. She was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened the night before but a part of her wanted to ignore it because she didn't know how else to deal with the problem. She couldn't tell her parents, she couldn't tell her friends, she couldn't tell Riff. She was stuck dealing with her emotions on her own and she wasn't very good at that; instead, she put on a fancy dress, styled her hair and pretended that everything was normal. A part of her hoped to see the boy, to pretend that she was fine and he didn't affect her but the other part of her was terrified to see him ever again.
"What's going on?" Mother asked as father returned, puffing on his cigar to try and calm himself down. "The roads are closed." He answered, turning inwards to talk to his family without the prying ears of some nearby townspeople; lowering his voice so that the story stayed between them. "There was some rumble and a kid almost died."
Upon hearing this, Elizabeth's stomach dropped and she knew that Tony would have been involved, the Jets would have been there and she worried that something had happened to them. "Who?"
"How should I know?" Father snapped, taking another drag of his cigar before frowning at his daughter. "And why do you care? It's not like you know any kids in gangs."
