Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders….. though I wish I did.

A/N: Bare with me on this fic, I just started reading the book and am currently on chapter 7. It's awesome so far though. This starts off before Pony and Johnny ran away from Tulsa. I'm on my sister's pc and I wanted to get this out before I forgot what I was gonna write for it.

Ja~ne!
Ookami-san

Alternate Ending
Runaway

Nikki was tired of her mother's verbal abuse and her father's physical abuse. She hated her parents. She hated that they didn't have a care in the world for her. And worse yet, she hated having to lie to her friends about her bruises and cuts and scars. Things were too complicated for a seventeen year old to handle. And Nikki was tired of it. She hated her parents. This would probably never change.

Nikki hid next to the stairs as her father walked into the kitchen. She was planning this for a while and no way would that bastard stop her from leaving. I have to leave! Nikki thought as she tip toed to the front door. Opening the door slowly, Nikki slithered out of the crack. Of course her duffle bag made that a little more difficult. Once out the door, Nikki smirked, cocking an eye brow. Those two were so slow. No to get out of here. Nikki walked away from her house slowly, knowing full well that her parents weren't deaf like they were stupid.

Twenty minutes later Nikki found herself running down the street from a group of guys.

"God damn you all!" Nikki shouted, jumping over a knocked over garbage can. She was wearing skinny jeans and a plain, black, form fitting T' shirt. "Can't you leave me alone?!" Nikki continued running. In all the commotion she didn't see the person directly in front of her. She ran right into him to. Falling over, Nikki heard a smack and a crack.

"Haha, what do we have here? Nikki, you know you shouldn't run away by yourself." It was David. Nikki coughed when he stepped on her chest.

"Thanks for stopping her man." One of the others said.

"No problem Robbie." David told him. Nikki growled at them, straining to get up. But David just pushed his foot harder on her chest. "Nikki, stop trying to get away, you know as well as do that you won't." David sneered. Cocking her eyebrow again, Nikki punched David's heel. She smiled as he fell over in pain. Standing up, Nikki got in a defensive stance. Robbie pulled out a switch blade.

"That was a mistake Nikki." He told her. Nikki smirked.

"Oh yea, well then it was a good one." She replied snidely. Nikki ducked when Robbie went for her with the blade. She swung her leg out to the side and circled, tripping him in the process. Kicking him in the crotch, Nikki stood again. "Any others wanna mess with me?" Nikki asked, wincing at the fierce pain throbbing through her head. One guy walked up to her.

"You look like you're getting pretty weak." He told her. Nikki kept her eyes from dropping. She couldn't fall unconscious just yet.

"Y-yea sure. I'm still strong enough t-to beat you up." Nikki stuttered, her wound getting the better of her.

"Oh sure. Hey boys, what do you say we give her a little bath in the lake?" he asked the rest of the guys. They all laughed and cheered. Nikki growled when the guy picked her up. Wincing again, Nikki realized that she was powerless now. The wound in her head had done its damage. There was no returning for her now. I was so close to getting away. And this is how it ends.

The next thing Nikki knew, she was being surrounded by a black, cold liquid. She figured it was the lake and when a fish hit her arm she knew she was right. But the last thing she saw wasn't black water. It was a deep red glow surrounding her. Nikki also realized that those bastards had taken her bag. Probably to fake that she had simply fallen into the lake after dropping her bag. Then she fell into what she believed to be hell.

{The Past}

Ponyboy was walking with Johnny when they heard a moan down an alley way.

"What was that?" Pony asked. Johnny looked just as confused as Pony did.

"Let's check it out." Johnny told him. The two of them walked down the alley looking for the source of the moan. What they found shocked them like nothing else. A girl with long black hair was lying in the alley, blood near pouring out of a wound in her head.

"We should get her to my house. Darry will know what to do." Pony said. Johnny nodded and picked up the girl in his arms. Together they made their way back to Pony's house.

Upon arriving, Pony opened the door and told Johnny to lay her down on the couch. Pony walked into the kitchen to find Darry and Soda talking.

"Darry!" Pony near shouted. That effectively got his attention.

"What is it Ponyboy?" Darry asked. Soda was listening too.

"A girl. She's hurt." Pony said. He motioned for them to follow him and then he walked back into the small living room. Pony pointed to the girl and then walked to stand next to Johnny.

"Where did you find her Pony?" Soda asked.

"Well me and Johnny were walking home. We heard a moan come from the alley and decided to check it out. That's where we found her." Pony explained. Darry walked over to the girl on the couch and grimaced.

"She has a bad cut on the back of her head. We'll need to take her to a hospital." He told the guys. Soda nodded, leaving to get his keys and jacket.

"I wonder where she came from." Pony mused. Pony and Darry went to get ready to leave, leaving Johnny to watch over the girl. He stared at her, his eyes holding a softness he hadn't even known he had.

"Johnny." Said boy jumped and stood up. "We're leaving." Darry said. Darry and Pony walked out the front door as Soda walked over to the couch. He picked up the girl with Johnny following close behind.

At the hospital, Pony and Johnny waited nervously to hear if the girl would be okay.

"She'll be fine Pony." Soda said reassuringly. Pony nodded while Johnny just stared ahead of him. Then Darry walked into the room.

"The doctor says she'll be fine. We can see her now." He told them. Johnny jumped up and ran into the room. The first thing he noticed about her was her eyes. They were a dark purple color. She looked at him, a confused expression on her face.

"Where am I?" she asked him. Her voice was like silk running through water. In all honesty, Johnny figured she'd be pretty cute had she not had so many cuts and scars.

"You're in Tulsa. What's your name?" Johnny asked her. The girl smiled at him.

"I'm Nikki." The rest of the guys walked in.

"How are you feeling?" Pony asked her. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine. How did you guys find me? I was thrown into a lake. I really thought I died." Nikki told them. They all gasped.

"A lake?!" Soda exclaimed. Nikki nodded.

"I ran away from my parents, tired of them abusing me both verbally and physically. I ran into some stupid rich kids, David and his retarded group. They tried to beat me up, well, more succeeded than tried. Then they dumped me in a lake." Nikki explained.

"That's awful." Pony said. Johnny was the next one to speak.

"I'm Johnny, that's Ponyboy, over there is Soda and the tall one is Darry." The guys looked at Johnny. The boy hardly ever spoke and here he was practically giving a speech.

"Well I've already told you who I am Johnny. But I'll say it again. I am Nikki. How'd you guys find me?" She asked. Pony smiled.

"We heard you moan from inside an alley." He told her. She blushed. Looking down, Nikki smiled.

"Thanks."

"The doctor says that you have to stay here for a day because of the cut on your head." Darry suddenly said. Nikki looked up. She nodded.

"Okay, I understand that." Nikki said. Pony looked to Darry and Soda.

"Can I talk to you guys outside?" he asked them. Soda nodded and threw his arm around Pony's shoulders, a smirk plastered on his face. Darry nodded as well.

Once outside Pony began speaking.

"Could she stay with us? Please, I'm pretty sure she has nowhere else to stay." Pony pleaded. Soda looked to Darry.

"I'm okay with it if you are." Soda told Darry.

"I'll only allow it if we know for sure that she has nowhere to stay." Darry sighed. Pony smiled and ran back into the room.

"So you have nowhere to go now?" Johnny had asked Nikki. She shook her head and saw Pony standing in the doorway.

"No I don't. My parents treat me like I'm nothing. Plus this isn't even the town I live in." Nikki explained. She jumped from the sudden shout of happiness from Pony.

"You can stay with us!" He shouted. Nikki smiled.

"Thanks. But I'm gonna need some new clothes. Mine were stolen when those guys dumped me in the lake." Nikki said. Ponyboy frowned at this. "Oh don't worry about it, I can drive and I have money. Well…. I had money. They probably stole that too." Nikki said. She looked about ready to cry. Soda would have none of that though.

"Oh don't be sad. We'll get you some more clothes. Won't we Darry?" Soda said. Darry glared at Soda, but nodded anyway. That idiot knew they were tight on money as it was.

"Don't worry about Nikki. We got your back." Pony said hugging Darry. Darry just stood there, staring at Nikki. Poor girl was in the same boat as Johnny.

Well, Nikki has somehow gone into the past, but she hasn't realized it just yet. What will our new friend do when she finds out that she's now in the 1960's? And why does Johnny feel so attached to her? Find out in the next chapter!

Lost

My next chapter for DitL should be out soon. I just have to type it on my sister's pc. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Ja~ne!
Ookami-san