Summary: She was running, leaving it all behind for just the chance of something better. When her car breaks down on a dusty Sedona road, Ryan Atwood with his stormy blue eyes was the last thing seventeen year old Marissa Cooper expected to find...and he won't be the last or the only new thing in store for her when she gets thrown into his seemingly dream-like upscale life. The same goes for Ryan and his family and friends, who've never met anyone exactly like Marissa. The Yavapai County half of Sedona is about to get a lot more interesting...

A/N: OK...so this is my first OC fic. The story is VERY AU, but it will have the Fab Four of course, as well as most of the other characters we know and love. Now, about where it's set...Sedona...ya, kind of random, but i was inspired by the Aerosmith song mentioned in this chapter. Now I've never been to Sedona or really know what it's like, so it will probably end up being an AU version of the city as well...if that makes any sense. lol. Now if there are any key points I should know about to entwine into the story, please mention them when you leave reviews. (hint hint...wink wink...elbow...nudge...lol) Well...I hope you enjoy the story. Please review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed...nay encouraged. Next chapter should be up within a day or two and the rest of the characters should be introduced.

Happy Reading

Ragdoll

Chapter One: A Dusty Road

She was sitting on the edge of the cracked leather seat, legs stretched out the door and Converse clad feet resting on black asphalt. She had the radio blaring, Steven Tyler's addicting vocals belting out a ballad about a sunrise in Sedona; ironic, she thought for a moment, being broken down on the side of the road in the very city the lyrics were describing. That was just the way the CD played out though. Momentarily this song would end, the next one would play, and Marissa Cooper would still be stuck on a dusty road in Sedona, Arizona.

Getting up, she walked around the side of the faded black and currently dirt-streaked Camaro, popped the hood, and was greeted with a face full of smog. Turning herself away sputtering, Marissa stopped to take in more of her surroundings while the haze cleared.

There was desert all around her; desert shrubs, desert cacti, desert dirt and rocks. She could just see the outskirts of the city and knew if she turned around and looked about a half mile down the road, there would be a sign welcoming her to Yavapai County and Sedona. She turned back to her car intending to scowl, but ended up biting her bottom lip instead.

Some welcome.

Marissa spent the next forty-five minutes under the hood of the car and when she re-surfaced, was pissed off, with grease smeared on her cheek. The mechanic back in Houston had said that her fuel pump would be fine for at least another twenty-five hundred miles.

Lazy bastard, she thought to herself, slamming the hood back down. Noticing that the music had stopped, Marissa walked back to the car door, flipped the driver seat forward and began rummaging through one of several cardboard boxes sitting in the backseat. Finding one that sounded good, she carefully popped it out of its case and slid it into the CD player in the front. After replacing Aerosmith in its respective case and back in the box, Marissa proceeded to flip through the songs on the CD now playing.

She settled on the last song of Led Zeppelin: IV and with the slow steady rhythm of "When the Levee Breaks" playing, Marissa climbed out of the car and sat on the hood, leaning against the hot glass of the windshield. She sat like that for a moment, before giving in to her frustration and reaching into the back pocket of faded jeans, pulled out a pack and the lighter. Sighing, Marissa took one of the two remaining cigarettes out, placed it between her lips and lit it. She took a drag, pulled it away, exhaled, and cursed the slim wad of chemicals now smoking in her fingers.

Leaning forward and resting her "smoking hand" on a raised knee, Marissa observed the western sky slowly turning to a firey backdrop of reds and oranges. She was beginning to think about another uncomfortable night's sleep to look forward to in the seat of her car when the sound of an approaching engine snapped her back into focus. She turned her head behind her and saw an old Impala speeding in from the direction she had come. Marissa didn't even bother trying to wave it down because by the time she realized this was the first car she had seen in over two hours, it was already past her, spinning up dust into her already dirty blond-brown hair. Sighing again, Marissa took another drag and leaned back, losing herself in the continuing melody of "When the Levee Breaks."

A/N: Me again. lol. DISCLAIMER: I own not the characters, the cars, the songs, the bands, or (sadly) Steven Tyler. Reviews much loved!