Chapter 1
Lisa was on her way back home from the convenience store near her house. Her mother had sent her stepfather to the grocery store, he had come back with six bags full of all kinds of stuff, except, the two things that she had actually sent him for, a loaf of bread and a carton of milk.
Lisa's mother had sent her to the nearby convenience store to get what they needed, she also told Lisa she could get herself one of her favorite chocolate bars as a reward for running the errands.
Lisa decided to take a few steps off of her trip back home and take the short cut down through the stand of trees by this huge old estate that had stood well-kept, but empty, ever since Lisa had lived in the neighborhood.
She was walking along when she looked toward the estate. It was huge, easily the biggest one in town, she had heard that Frank DiAngelo once tried to buy it, but the owners would not sell. Veronica pouted for a week.
Now Lisa suddenly stopped short. There were lights on inside the palatial mansion. For the first time that she could remember, someone was home!
Before she could get too curious, the bag of groceries was suddenly grabbed out of her hand.
Lisa looked up to see Alex, the local jerk, standing there flanked by his two friends Rico and Neal.
"Hey that's mine!" she snapped
"Not anymore," sneered Alex, "This is our trail, and the grub is your toll!"
"Yeah," giggled Rico taking the grocery bag from Alex.
"Give it back," snapped another voice,
"What?!" said Alex and his friends jumping and looking around.
"Whatever you just took from that girl, Give it back!" The voice snapped again. it was a girl's voice.
Lisa was looking around too. Finally, she and the three bullies realized the voice was coming from up above them. She looked up and saw a leg dangling over the side of a wide oak tree branch about ten feet above them.
There was a girl reclining on it.
"You've got a lot of nerve, girl," Alex sneered
the leg was pulled up on to the branch and the face of a pretty girl with red hair and blue eyes appeared looking down at them.
she looked at Alex without a trace of fear.
"Listen, meathead," she said, "if you give the girl back her stuff, that'll be the end of it, no harm, no foul, but, if I have to get up off this nice comfortable branch and climb down there, you're gonna be sorry!"
"In your ear!" snapped Alex defiantly. The girl shrugged and her face disappeared behind the branch. A second later she landed right between Lisa and the three boys.
The three bullies jeered with laughter. The girl was slightly shorter than Lisa, about 5'5" she had curly red hair that she wore just longer than shoulder length in a French braid.
"You've got some nerve threatening us short stack," sneered Alex laughing. The jeering bully's laughter was cut off abruptly when the girl nailed him with a right cross that laid him out flat on his back.
The girl struck a fighting stance with both fists up.
"Alright, who's next?!"
Neal strutted up smugly and swung at her. the girl ducked under the punch, immediately caught Neal right in the chin with a fast uppercut that caused him to stumble backwards. Before he had time to fully regain his balance, she started peppering his stomach with lightning-fast jabs driving him backwards until he fell over a log and landed on the ground dazed.
The girl whirled and raised her fists to Rico.
"You want a piece of me too?" she asked
Rico shook his head vigorously and dropped the grocery bag.
"Then get lost!" the girl snapped
Rico turned and ran. The other two boys pulled themselves up off the ground and staggered after him.
"This isn't over, shrimpo!" snapped Alex rubbing his jaw
"In your ear!" retorted the girl throwing his words back at him. he glared one more time and ran off after his friends.
She picked up the grocery bag and handed it to Lisa.
"Here you go," she said
"Thanks," said Lisa, "I'm Lisa, do you have a place to stay tonight?"
"No problem," said the girl, "I'm Annie Warbucks and yes I just live right over there." she motioned toward the estate.
"You live there?!" gasped Lisa, "I thought the owner wouldn't sell."
"She won't." smiled the girl, "I'm the owner."
"You're the own…wait did you say that your name is Annie Warbucks?!"
The girl smiled and nodded.
"So, how many times to you get asked to sing 'The sun will come out tomorrow'?" Asked Lisa
The girl laughed good naturedly.
"A lot, but then it's to be expected." She replied
"Because your named after the lead character in a Broadway musical?" said Lisa
"And because the lead character in that musical happens to have been my great-grandmother." Replied Annie.
Lisa's eyes widened.
"Do you mean…?"
"Yes," said Annie, "The story is true!"