Corinne sighed as she knelt down, scrubbing the crap out of the marble ballroom floor. That was Renee's punishment to her for everything she'd done to them. It could've been worse, but the blonde still felt annoyed.

Mia turned a corner and ran up to her. "Corinne!"

Corinne shot up and wrapped her arms around the girl. "Mia, where have you been?"

"I hid in a broom closet to escape Brutus," she said with a shrug.

"Smart girl, except-"

Mia cut her off. "the men and women of the French Legion never go down without a fight. Blah, blah, blah," she sat a hand on her hip. "Trust me, Corinne, I wanted to sock him, but I'm pretty sure I would've gotten into a bit of trouble for hitting the son of the vice president of France even if he was being a total ass."

Corinne laughed. "When you put it that way-"

"Excuse me!" A voice interrupted them. Madame de Bosse stomped over to the two and pointed a finger at Mia. "Who are you?"

Mia glanced at Corinne who cringed. "M-Mia, Madame."

"You are not supposed to be here. Unless… How would you like a job?"

Mia furrowed her eyebrows. "But… I'm only fourteen it's not technically lega-"

"Oh, who cares about legality? I just need more help."

Mia shrugged and let Madame de Bosse drag her to who-knows-where. Corinne chuckled silently to herself and kept scrubbing the Hell out of the floor.

It was way past midnight when the four girls finally finished. Corinne walked out alongside Viveca, Aramina, and Renee in awkward silence. They passed a guard and showed him their passes so he let them leave. As Corinne walked out, she noticed when of the men glare at her, surely from the chase through the city.

Corinne stared out at the dark streets of Paris and bit her lip. She saw Mia run and took a place at the older blonde's side.

"Where are we gonna stay?" Mia asked.

"Uh…" she began.

Aramina looked at the two girls in concern. "Don't you have a place to stay, Corinne?"

The blonde hugged her body. "Uh, not necessarily, but I'm sure Mia and I will think of something."

Aramina folded her arms and faced Viveca and Renee. "Guys, we can not let these girls sleep in a gutter in the midst of all these people! I say she should stay with us."

Viveca lifted an eyebrow. "I don't know…" She eyed Mia and pulled her over. "Well, we do have an extra bed now that Constance is gone."

Renee put a hand on her hip. "Do you have any money, Corinne?"

The blonde reached into her pocket and pulled out twenty five Euros. "Will this work?"

Renee smirked and snatched the money from her hand. "It'll work just fine,"

Aramina clasped her hands together. "Great!" she waved her hand, beckoning the girls toward her. "Come on!"

Corinne started to go, but stopped abruptly. "You guys go ahead. I have something to do." The four girls shrugged and walked off, leaving Corinne alone.

The blonde breathed a breath of air and walked towards the gate again, flashing her ID to get by. She went toward the fountain where she accidentally side-swept Renee and dipped her finger in the water; it was ice cold.

Corinne sucked in a breath as she stood on the edge of the fountain. "Please don't break," she said as she climbed the old thing. The blonde cringed when she felt a finger snap. "It's only, like, Michaelangelo. No big deal."

Louis sighed as he paced around his room. In less than a week he'll become the President of France and everything will be on his shoulders. He finally just gave up reasoning everything and collapsed in a chair, putting his face in his hands.

"What's wrong with me? I'm going to be the president. This is what I wanted, isn't it?" he lifted his head up and groaned. "Here I am, talking to myself again." The man finally stood up and walked toward his balcony doors. He opened them and smiled as the cold air filled the room.

After a minute, Louis walked out and sat on the edge of the balcony. As dangerous as this was, he didn't care because he had done it ever since he was a kid. Louis swung his feet over the edge and let them dangle there as he watched the lights of the city flicker. The wind blew his hair across his face and he looked away for a split second.

Louis watched as a girl with blonde hair climbed the garden fountain. "Who is that?" he asked himself.

Corinne grunted as her fingertips got closer to Renee's bow.

"Come on! Almost there!" She gasped as her foot slipped and sent her a few inches downward. "Why does everything have to be so difficult?"

A face appeared in front of hers. "I don't know, why does it?"

Corinne shrieked and slipped off the fountain, falling two meters into the water. Louis cringed as he grabbed the bow and carefully made his way down the fountain. Corinne stood up and groaned at her soaking wet dress.

Louis bit his lip as he made his way over to her. He handed her the bow, which she snatched out of his hand, not bothering to look at his face.

"You could at least say thank you," he said as he stepped out of the water.

He offered her his hand, which she shoved aside. "I didn't want or need your help, thank you very much." She tripped and landed in the water again.

Louis laughed as he picked her up out of the water. "That's not what it looked like to me," Corinne folded her arms and stared at her shoes. After a long moment of awkward silence, Louis spoke, "Can I ask you why you were climbing up the fountain?"

"No reason," Corinne replied coldly.

Louis crossed his arms. "Really? There is absolutely no reason you were climbing up a fountain in the middle of the night?"

Corinne sighed. "Fine. I was climbing up it to get this stick for this girl who seems like she hates me, even though I only ever shoved her into this very fountain."

Louis watched her in utter amusement. "First of all, that's a violin bow. Second, I can see why she hates you."

"You know, I can still file assault charges on you for harassment."

He assumed she was joking, but the look on her face told him otherwise. "Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" he nodded his head and watched her walk away. When the blonde was five yards gone he shouted, "My name's Louis, by the way. Louis Leferre!" And at that he jogged away.

Corinne stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, but he was long gone. She put a hand on her head. "Oh, what did I just do?" The blonde sighed and trudged back to the apartment.

She quietly opened the door, but stopped when she heard Renee speaking. "I don't trust that girl. She just another person who won't last a week in this city."

Corinne cleared her throat as she made her way to Renee, still soaking wet. "I thought you might need this," she said, handing her the bow.

Renee eyed her suspiciously, but took it. Viveca shrieked as she saw Corinne's dress. "What happened to you?"

"I… nothing."

Viveca rolled her eyes as Corinne made her way to the bathroom to change. "Has anyone seen Mia?"

Aramina looked up from a script she was reading. "She said she was going to get some Twinkies."

Corinne shook her head. "That girl and her obsession with those damn things."

"Corinne," a voice whispered. "Corinne?" the person sighed. "Corinne!"

The blonde shot up and slid off the bed, landing on the floor with a hard thud. "What?!"

Viveca crossed her arms and smirked. "It's time to get up unless you want your head on a stick."

"You mean that figuratively, right?" Corinne asked as she untangled herself from the blankets.

The other girls glanced at each other. "Sure,"

Mia sat up from a cot she was sleeping on and stretched her arms. "Corinne, does Paris have a different time zone or does it just have the worst schedules on planet Earth?"

Corinne smiled and got up, grabbing her uniform. "I'm afraid it's the latter," she faced Viveca. "Do I have to wear a dress?"

The brunette gasped. "Yes! You think Madame de Bosse would let us wear jeans and crop-tops?!"

"No, I just don't like dresses,"

Viveca shook her head. "Get used to it, Corinne. You're not going anywhere anytime soon."

The blonde shrugged and went to the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later in uniform and a ponytail. Viveca gasped. "What are you wearing?!"

Corinne looked at her tight, pink dress in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Your hair! It can't be in a ponytail!"

"Why?"

Viveca sighed and grabbed Corinne by the ear. She sat her on a stool. "Don't ask,"

Corinne rolled her eyes and let Viveca pull her hair into a tight bun. The five girls eventually got out the door and into the castle five minutes before they were supposed to.

Madame de Bosse walked in the kitchen and sighed. "You are late,"

"No we aren't. We're ear-" Corinne was cut off when Aramina smashed a hand over the blonde's mouth. Madame de Bosse sniffed and stomped out of the room.

Renee glanced at her. "Don't talk back to de Bosse. She's no good."

Mia scoffed as she grabbed a broom. "Actually, that woman, as bad as she is, is nothing compared to that little rat, Brutus Beaumont."

"You met Brutus Beaumont?" Aramina asked. "He's evil, that boy. He tracks mud in after I clean the floor."

Corinne shrugged. "He stole my letter to Monsieur-never mind." She cut herself off. The blonde didn't want anyone to know about anything that had happened with Monsieur Treville.

Renee grabbed a list taped on a cabinet. "Okay, we have to clean the west stairwell first. Come on, guys." The girls followed Renee out of the kitchen and through several hallways until they settled on the bottom of a stairwell. "Get cleaning,"

"Slow down, Brutus!" Louis called as he ran through the halls, chasing the boy who was flying Louis's prototype helicopter.

"Why? It's not like I'm inside of it!"

Louis sighed. "Stop in the name of the president!"

Brutus laughed. "You're not president yet, hotshot."

"Yes, but when I am I'll raise your taxes!"

"I don't pay taxes, doofus!" Brutus took the remote of the helicopter and made the thing fly higher.

"You will one day! I have five years, ten if I get re-elected." Louis groaned as Brutus crashed his helicopter into the chandelier that hung on the ceiling, over the stairs.

Philippe walked over to him. "What are you doing, Louis?"

Louis picked up his broken helicopter. "Chasing after your son who stole my prototype from my room."

"Brutus!" Philippe barked at him who hid behind Renee. "What did I tell you about going through peoples' property?"

Renee sneered. "Get off me, you little rodent." she whispered.

"Make me,"

Renee smirked and stomped on his foot with her heel. Brutus yelped. "Go. Away. Now." Brutus crossed his arms and limped away.

"How hard did you stomp on his foot, Renee?" Viveca asked.

Renee shrugged. "As hard as I needed for him to leave."

The five girls laughed as they cleaned the top of the stairs. Corinne glanced down at Philippe and Louis.

"Louis, you are about to become the President of France. You can't keep living with your head in the clouds," Philippe said.

"But-"

"No "buts", Louis." Philippe put a hand on his shoulder.

Louis sighed. "Fine,"

Out of the corner of Corinne's eye, she saw the rope sustaining the chandelier snap. Philippe nodded his head and walked away, leaving Louis and a chandelier plummeting toward him. Corinne only had a second to react before she dropped her broom and ran toward Louis, cutting a backflip and knocking him out of the way with all her force.

The two tumbled down the stairs. Louis hit his forehead on a step, causing it to bleed. Somehow he ended up on top of Corinne as glass shattered everywhere, but neither of them noticed. They just stared into one another's eyes.

"You," he said with a smile, sustaining his body's weight on his hands

Corinne smiled awkwardly. "Me," she replied, biting her lip.

Two men from the French Guard came and helped Louis up. They also extended a hand out to Corinne, but being who she is, the blonde naturally denied.

"Sir, are you alright?" asked an officer.

"Yes, now if you'll excuse me," Louis made his way through the crowd of men.

"But, sir, your forehead."

Louis didn't stop walking. He waved his hand, dismissing his protest. "I'll take care of it,"

Treville showed up a minute later. "What happened? Is everyone alright?"

An officer came up to him. "The chandelier cord frayed and it fell. Monsieur Leferre was standing under it, but this young lady pushed him out of the way." He gestured to Corinne.

Treville rose an eyebrow. "Corinne, what are you doing here?"

She smiled. "I got a job. Good thing I did or our future president would be dead."

Treville rolled his eyes and left her alone. Corinne walked up to the four girls at the top of the stairs.

"What?" she asked, noticing they were staring at her.

Viveca furrowed her eyebrows. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Nowhere,"

Mia sighed. "Corinne, come on. Just tell them already."

Corinne bit her lip. "I've been training to be… in the First Regiment."

"What?!" Viveca, Aramina, and Renee said in unison.

"Really? So have I!" Viveca gasped.

Aramina smiled. "Me too!"

"Ditto!" Renee shouted.

Corinne smiled. She never thought she would meet another person like her. And here she was, standing in the palace, with three girls that were exactly like her. It was purely amazing.

"Hate to ruin your party," Mia began. "but there is glass all over the floor."

The five girls took brooms and started sweeping up the little shards of glass as two men picked up the broken chandelier. After a few minutes, Renee stopped abruptly.

"Wait, Monsieur Leferre said he wanted his lunch delivered to his room. Corinne, can you do that?"

Corinne rose an eyebrow. "Me?"

Renee shrugged. "He seems to have taken a liking to you." The other girls giggled.

"Fine,"

Renee smiled. "Great, the cook will have his food ready."

Corinne walked to the kitchen and was given a tray of some kind of fancy food. She jogged up to the third floor and asked a passing guard where Louis's room was. He pointed around the hall and she walked slowly, careful not to ruin the food.

Corinne took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Come in," a voice called.

Corinne opened the door and left the tray on a table. She noticed Louis sitting on his bed, trying to take care of the cut on his forehead.

Right before Corinne left, she turned around. "You're doing that wrong,"

He looked up. "What wrong?"

She walked over to him. "It's only a scratch. You don't have to apply a head wrap."

"It wouldn't stop bleeding and I'm afraid I'm not very good at first aid."

Corinne smiled as she went into the bathroom and took a washcloth from a shelf, soaking it in water. She brought it back and pressed it to his forehead.

"Keep that there. I'll be right back." Corinne ran from the room and came back a few minutes later with a first aid kit. She took out two small bandages, unwrapped them, and put them on his forehead. "There,"

Louis cracked a smile. "Thank you,"

Corinne shrugged. "It's alright. It's just first aid."

Louis stood up. "No, I mean for saving me from that chandelier."

Corinne smiled and stared at her feet. "Oh, no problem. I'd rather not have our president dead before he's the actual president."

Louis laughed and waved Corinne goodbye. The blonde walked out of the room, but Louis stopped her. "Uh, I don't know your name."

She bit her lip. "That's not important,"

"But-"

Corinne cut him off. "Remember to clean that cut." And she left the room.

The blonde smiled as she approached her friends and Madame Helene, an older maid. They gave her curious looks, but Corinne dismissed them.

"We've been waiting for you," Madame Helene said.

"I'm so sorry. I got lost and-"

The woman smiled. "That's alright, dearie." She turned to the five girls. "Follow me,"

They followed Madame Helene through a couple of hallways, but stopped when one dead-ended. The old woman pressed her hand into one of the stones and the wall shook and opened.

"A secret passageway!" Aramina squealed.

"Sh!" They all hissed.

"Sorry,"

The six women slowly walked through the damp passageway. Aramina and Viveca held onto each other, whining every time they saw something move. Eventually, they all reached a set of stairs. Helene reached out and twisted a torch, causing the floor to turn flat. She rolled her eyes as the other girls flailed around while they slid.

The five girls hit the floor with a hard thud, while Helene was on her feet.

"Where are we?" Corinne asked.

Helene smiled. "This is the old military training room from back in the '70s. I was in the service until '86 and then I retired from the military for good." She walked over to a wall and pressed a button, revealing a shelf with guns, knives, and other types of weapons. The woman threw Corinne an épée, which the blonde backflipped and grabbed. "Fight me,"

Corinne furrowed her eyebrows. "Fight you? But you're just an old woman."

Helene smirked and threw a knife at the blonde, narrowly missing her head. "Things aren't always what they seem, dearie." She took an épée and advanced on the blonde.

Corinne stumbled backwards, but regained her composure and went towards the old woman. The blades clashed and the two women were at it.

"Go Corinne!" Mia whooped.

Not a second more passed before Corinne's épée was tossed away by Madame Helene. "What?!" Corinne gasped.

Renee smirked and grabbed a crossbow from the shelf, aiming it at the old woman. The arrow flew directly at the woman, but split in half when it hit the épée's blade.

Viveca scoffed and grabbed three throwing knives. "What you guys lack is… persistence." She threw the knife across the room towards a dummy and it hit squarely on the bullseye. The brunette threw another and it landed where the skull would be. Viveca threw her last one, but instead of it hitting, Helene swiveled the dummy around and the knife ended up hitting the back wall.

Aramina laughed. "My dears, what you must learn is how to use your inner actress." The redhead screamed at the top of her lungs, which distracted the girls for a few moments, so Aramina took that as a chance to run up on Helene and try to hit her.

The woman merely ducked, getting Aramina off balance and letting her fall. "These, my girls, are vital skills needed to be in the First Regiment. I also aspired to join this regiment, but it was too taboo for my time. Times have changed, so I will teach you all you must know, but you will do exactly as I say. Deal?" The four girls nodded and smiled.

"Where's Mia?" Corinne asked.

Viveca snickered. "Probably getting into those damn Twinkies again."

(A/N: Hello, my pretties! New chapter! Yay! She's met the girls and Louis! I've decided to start responding to reviews because that's what they do in a lot of other fandoms.

PrincessGeekelle: You got what you wanted. And there's more to come. *Evil laugh*

Turquisea: I wouldn't necessarily call him a man. Maybe more of a idiotic, cocky, juvenile. And yes, you can't flirt with either of those girls without getting a missing tooth.

keelykelly: She met Louis… *waggles eyebrows* Did it live up to your expectations? There will be a lot more Clouis than the movie!

Despicable Margo: Why exactly did you want my hair color? :D

The Guest Who Reviewed in Chapter One: THANK YOU! I shall finish it… eventually!

Okay, anyway, I am trying to update once a week, but this one was a little late. Just know that I have school, Krav Maga class, soccer is starting, I'm a beta-reader, I've got three blogs, and three siblings and a nephew living with me. Thank you for understanding!

Oh, before I forget… FRENCH VOCAB TIME!

An épée is a fencing sword! Just FYI. : )

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02

P.S.: Thank you to those who reviewed on How To Let Go!)