Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own The Outsiders, just Ivy and her jerk of a stepdad, Randy.

(Also pretty please read the AN at the bottom because it contains some kinda important info thanks :)

Young Volcanoes Chapter One

Ivy Rowan was not a happy camper. She wasn't even a camper at all, or at least by choice that is. She was cold and alone in a new city and to top it all off it was getting dark.

If you had told Ivy a week ago that her stepfather would be waking her up in the dead of night yelling at her to pack a bag so they could skip town, she probably would have been reluctant to believe you. Sure, Randy took part in less than favorable activities and he often kicked her out of the house for days on end but something like this had never happened before. He of course wouldn't tell her why they were leaving but Ivy could easily assume that he'd finally pissed off one of his dealers enough for serious threats to be made. Ivy had learned a long time ago not to question Randy so, in the short amount of time given, she managed to stuff her possessions into a single backpack, snatch up her guitar and make it to Randy's old truck without getting yelled at.

They had drove for almost three days, stopping twice at extremely seedy motels, before they made it to Tulsa Oklahoma. Why Tulsa? Ivy sure didn't have a clue, but it was where they were so she was going to have to deal with it.

The first thing she had noticed about Tulsa was that there was a clear economic divide. The West side, which they had drove through when they first entered the city, was obviously high class. Big houses, fancy cars and well dressed people resided in the West side. The farther East they drove though the more run down things began to look. The changes were subtle at first. There more potholes in the road and everything looked slightly dulled, less colourful. Then the houses got smaller and smaller and fell into various states of disrepair. The lawns were unkempt and the cars were mostly old beaters. Another significant change was the people. The people on this side of the city were far less fancy than those in the West and their styles were drastically different, especially in the other teenagers she had seen. Short skirts, tight jeans, leather jackets and greased hair seemed to be common on the East side, while in the West it was dresses, letterman jackets, and no grease in sight.

Of course in Chicago, where they came from, there was definitely an economic divide as well but it was nothing like this. The amount of clear separation was painfully obvious. Another obvious but painless fact was that they would most definitely be living in the East side.

Randy was the farthest thing from being rich as you could get without being homeless. In Chicago they had lived in a one bedroom apartment where the living room doubled as Ivy's bedroom. This meant that more often than not she fell asleep listening to a drunk, high or sometimes both, Randy yelling at their TV which had been rescued from someone's curb. The power was constantly on and off at the apartment as well because Randy would rather pay to feed his various addictions than worry about the state of their apartment. There was also always a distinct lack of food and a constant clutter of beer bottles and drug paraphernalia in the apartment.

Randy had instilled a 'fend for yourself' law in Ivy when she was young because she often got on his nerves and hell she wasn't even his real daughter yet here he was stuck with her. Randy also believed that the only way to survive in this world was with tough love or no love at all. This mind set led Randy to kick Ivy out of the house for the first time when she was nine.

Ivy was always an energetic and happy child. She was always asking questions and trying to get Randy to play with her. Getting on Randy's nerves was also one of her unintentional strong suits. Randy had had enough one day. He was hungover and the disappointment of striking out at the bar the night before was getting to him so he was in no mood to deal with the kid. The only thing he could think of to do was what his old man always did when he was younger, so he put an extra pair of clothes in her tiny school bag along with her favorite turtle stuffed animal, handed her a dollar and told her to come back in a day. Ivy, being used to going to the park alone, was thrilled at first. She would get to go spend the day at the park playing with the neighborhood children and maybe with the money Randy had given her she could get some ice cream! By the end of the day she was exhausted from having fun and she was absolutely radiating happiness. This day had been so much fun but now she wanted to have dinner, no matter how yummy it is eating ice cream all day isn't exactly that filling, and then climb onto the couch and go to sleep. She was in for a shock though when the apartment door was locked. Randy never locked the door not even at bedtime. She had banged on the door with her tiny fists for what seemed like hours but Randy didn't answer. That night was spent going hungry and crying loudly until she fell asleep curled up with Spike the turtle against the apartment door. Randy had eventually let her back inside the next day but it wasn't the last time something like this occurred. Staying on the streets for a couple nights in a row became a common thing when Randy got to the end of his rope and could no longer handle being around her. Kicking her out so often did seem cruel even to a mean old bastard like him but he knew it was better than letting her stay and having him lose his temper. God only knew how much worse it would be for her then.

The house in Tulsa was actually slightly better than the old apartment in Chicago. The one story house was in rough condition with a dilapidated porch and a smashed front window being the first things Ivy noticed about the house. The siding on the house looked to be a dirty grey but Ivy could imagine that it was a bright blue in its prime. Ivy was good at that. Imaging what things used to be like and what they could be like with enough time and effort. She could visualize her and Randy going out to get paint and wood then fixing up the outside of the house instead of leaving it to deteriorate further. They would also hire someone to come fix the window instead of taping a garbage bag over it and leaving it like that until the end of time. She knew none of this would ever happen but it was fun to imagine. The inside of the house was somewhat better off than the outside. The walls were covered in old grandma style wallpaper and the living room floor had a gross orange looking carpet littered with various questionable stains. There was no furniture in the living room besides a single brown reclining chair that looked like it would eat you if you sat in it. Ivy had peeked into the single bathroom only to crinkle her nose in disgust at the smell and what she presumed to be mold growing along the bottom of the wall and around the tub. The kitchen wasn't any better either. There was a clunky green refrigerator in the corner that was making weird sounds and the counters and sink looked like you wouldn't want to touch them with a ten foot pole. Ivy didn't even look inside the fridge or the oven because she was afraid of what she would find. Down the hall there was a room which Randy had already claimed for himself so Ivy had decided not to investigate. The last room at the end of the short hall was hers. Ivy was nervous. This was the first bedroom she had ever had. For as long as she could remember she had slept on the smelly couch in the living room in Chicago. She didn't know why she was nervous, it was only a bedroom right? She should have been excited and happy. She decided to suck it up and ignore her nerves as she took a deep breath and opened the door with a shaky hand.

The room was small and empty. There was a window on the wall directly across from the door and a closet without a door on the left. She had walked to the window and ran her finger across the window sill only for it to come back with a layer of dust on it. The whole house was covered in a fine layer of dust just like her room and she wondered how long it had been since someone had lived here.

That night Ivy had a hard time sleeping. It may have had to do with the fact that she was sleeping on the hard floor of her new bedroom with only a thin blanket she had brought with her. Or it could have been all the cluttered thoughts in her head. The past few days she hadn't really had time to question much, not that Randy would have answered her anyway. She knew that they were probably on the run from one of Randy's dealers. He was known for 'borrowing' from his dealers and promising to pay them back but never actually having the money. More than once he had come home beat up for pissing off his dealer. He must have gone too far this time and his dealer wasn't going to put up with it anymore. She also wondered how they had managed to get a house on such short notice. It probably had to do with the late night phone calls from the creepy motel phone booths. Randy had connections and he knew enough about illegal shit to get a house like this quick. She managed to fall asleep around two in the morning but was then woken up at eight by Randy busting in to her room telling her to get out of the house.

That's why she was now walking down the street looking for a place to stay the night. She had walked around for most of the day exploring and she was still tired from the lack of sleep the night before.

'Of course he kicks me out on our first full day here.' Ivy thought to herself as she kicked a rock down the sidewalk in front of her. She was used to staying on the streets at home but she knew next to nothing about this new city.

'He could have at least given me a couple days to get to know this place before telling me to hit the curb.' She had no clue where the safe places to stay were, where she could get cheap food or if there were any gas stations around here who would let her use their bathrooms to clean up if Randy didn't let her come home anytime soon. The longest he had ever made her stay out was a week tops but with what was going on Ivy figured there was a good chance that they would break the record this time.

Ivy stopped walking. Up ahead she could see an empty lot with a campfire shining through the dark of the night and she could see the silhouette of a lone person sitting in front of it. 'Well let's hope they need some company because I sure could.' She thought as she hefted her backpack farther up her back and her guitar case strap onto her shoulder then started walking toward the person who, unbeknownst to her, would help change her life.

Hey friends! Wow its been almost five years since I have posted anything on this site! Honestly I was twelve and my writing sucked at the time (its probably still not that amazing now but I feel it has improved enough for me to confidently post a story:)) I love the Outsiders and there definitely are not enough fics for it so I thought I would help by contributing. Sadly this chapter is mostly just an introduction to Ivy but we will for sure be meeting the one of the gang next chapter (take a guess who!) and maybe some of the others as well. Also I haven't quite decided who I want my girly paired up with although I have two in mind that I cant decide from so I might make a poll but if you want to leave a review with who you think you would like her paired up with that would be great :) I hope to make future chapters longer as well so don't worry. Okay so enough with the extremely long AN, I'll try not to ever have one this long again. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my rambling, see you guys in a day or two with the next chapter! Bye!