Chapter One

I threw one last punch and turned away. "Done with my training. Does that mean I can go and live on my own for a while? I am going to pack my bags and purchase my plane ticket to Malibu or maybe Los Angeles. California sounds great." I pulled my golden blond hair out of my violet eyes.

My mother came towards me. "No California. I get to choose where you go and you need to practice using conjunctions. Instead of 'I am' say 'I'm'. Got it?" I was so happy I agreed to her stupid terms and ran to pack my bags.

Here are a couple things you need to know about me. First, my name's Anna Maria Chevalier, I'm 16 1/2 and I want to be normal more than anything, second, I'm not normal, I'm a French princess. Third, I can kick ass but I look innocent that no one ever believes me except my mom who taught me everything I know. I thought I had everything perfectly planned and I was going to some sunny place or a big city but turns out my mom had a couple tricks up her sleeve. When she handed me my plane ticket I was furious. "What the hell is this? Where exactly is Tulsa?"

"Oklahoma and it's there or nowhere."

An hour later I was on a plane bound for Tulsa, Oklahoma. The good thing was that for the first time in my entire life, I was going somewhere without an entire army of bodyguards. It could have been worse.

It took almost an entire day to get there and once I did arrive I realized I had nowhere to go so I just wandered around with the bag I had with me and I ended up at a DX station. I was totally tired and thirsty. When I walked in I sat at the counter. "Can I get a coke please." I asked as I heard someone come in through the back door. "Sure," they handed me a coke and I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket. I put the money and finally looked up. There was a boy who looked about my age and looked so familiar. He had brown hair and green eyes. Like he could be a prince. "Hi there, I'm Sodapop what's your name?"

I laughed at his name. "Anne. So, Soda, you know anywhere I can spend the night for cheap. My plans just fell through." "You can stay at my place, my brothers and I are always letting people stay at our house." He smiled and I couldn't help feel like I had met him before.

"Fine, what time do you get off?" I found out he didn't get out for a couple of hour. "I am not staying here for so long."

Before he could answer me, five guys came running in. "Soda!" The youngest of the boys looked exactly like Soda. Then there was the black haired boy who looked like a kicked puppy, the boy who looked like he had just ate a sour lemon, the blond haired guy with ice cold blue eyes. Last was the red head with a mickey mouse shirt. "Who's the broad?" The blond asked in a chilly voice.

I completely ignored him until he brushed some of my hair out of my face. I clenched my fists and bit my tongue so I didn't use my ninja skills to beat the crap out of him. "None of your damn business. Now get the hell out of my face." I hopped up. "So Sodapop, who are these morons?" The handsome blond looked about ready to rip off my head. "This is Ponyboy, Johnny, Dallas, Steve, and Two-bit. This is Anne and she's going to be staying with us." Ponyboy and Steve smiled, Johnny nodded, Dallas glared, and Two-bit grabbed my right hand and kissed it. "Lovely to meet you Anne. You have such pretty eyes. Would you be willing to accompany me to a movie tonight?" I didn't want to go with him but I had to seem normal so I had to come up with a good excuse. "Well, I don't date redheads." I hopped up, "I'm going for a walk, be back before you get off."

I was walking down the street when a lime green mustang came up behind me. "Hey gorgeous." "Go away!" I continued to walk at a normal pace, knowing that if it came to it I could protect myself… it did come to that.

The boys stepped out of the car and the three of them held me and tried to carry me to the car. "Come on princess." Being called princess really set me off. I pushed both my elbows back and hit two of the boys.I got loose and started throwing punches and kicks. I held my ground against them but I still got a split lip and and a soon to be bruised jaw. They can see that they were losing and they ran to there car and drove away.

I walked back to the DX and kept my face trained to the floor. I mumbled hello to Soda and sat down. I lifted my head slightly to see if he was looking at me and he gasped. "What happened?" "Some guys in a green mustang." He grabbed some ice and put it up to my jaw. "Hold still sweetey and I'll be off in a couple of minutes." I could feel my face getting hot and my stomach did a flip.

When we walked into the house Soda put my bag in the corner. "My brother Darry should be home in a little while. I'm going to take a shower." He walked away and I went into the kitchen. I surveyed the extent of the kitchen and decided to make beer breaded fried chicken. I heard a door open and then close again. "Soda! You home?" Someone entered the kitchen and I assumed it was Darry.

"Hi, I'm Anne. I hope you don't mind but Soda said I could stay here."

"I'm Darry. And if you tell me what you're making we would be happy to let you stay for a little while." He smiled at me and I couldn't help feeling a little deja vu. I played with the metal ring around like I did whenever I as nervous. "It's beer battered chicken and I hope you like it because I made enough for more than a half dozen people."

"Well that sounds great and we usually have like a half dozen people over here for dinner anyway." I could have sworn he thought I was familiar because he was staring at me like he was trying to figure out where from. I stared at him too and I wasn't paying attention to the chicken as I took it out of the pan and I got some of the oil of my hand. I started swearing loudly in French.

I look at Darry and it's as if a light goes on in his head. "Anna Maria!"