Ponyboy passes out and is delirious and sick for the rest of the weekend. Dally pulls out his gun on the cops, and they shoot him, killing him. The whole gang runs to the vacant lot, and sees Dally approaching from the other side, followed by cop cars. Ponyboy is feeling even sicker, but has to go home and tell the rest of the gang that Johnny is dead.Дally calls the Curtis house from a payphone to say that he's robbed a grocery store and the cops are chasing him. Dally is extremely emotional after Johnny's death, since he loved Johnny, and runs off. Before he dies, Johnny tells Ponyboy, 'Stay gold,' meaning he shouldn't lose the innocence of childhood, and should avoid becoming hardened like Dally. Dally escapes from the hospital to fight in the rumble, and the Greasers win.Дally takes Ponyboy back to the hospital to visit Johnny, who is dying. Ponyboy feels sick, but decides to go to the rumble anyway. The boys go home because there is a rumble against the Socs that they need to attend. Soda and Darry come to the hospital to pick up Ponyboy, and they learn that Dally's arm is burned and Johnny is in critical condition. Ponyboy and Johnny run in and save the children, but Johnny is caught across the back by a burning piece of timber. A school group had been having a picnic there, and some children are trapped inside. But when the characters get back to the church, they find it's on fire. While they are out, Johnny decides to turn himself in. Dally comes to meet them eventually, and takes them out to get burgers. Ponyboy and Johnny stay at the church for about a week, during which time they cut off their long Greaser hair as a disguise and subsist mainly on baloney. He gives them some money and a gun and tells them to get on a train to Windrixville and hide out in a deserted church. Panicked, Ponyboy and Johnny find Dally, who they know will help them. They are jumped by Bob, Randy, and other Socs, and during the fight Johnny stabs and kills Bob to stop him from drowning Ponyboy in a fountain. Ponyboy runs home, but when Darry scolds him and hits him for the first time, he goes back to find Johnny. Later that night, Ponyboy and Johnny accidentally fall asleep in their favorite vacant lot. On the walk home, Bob Sheldon and Randy Adderson, the girls' boyfriends, accost the group and take the girls home. Ponyboy makes a connection with Cherry because they can both appreciate sunsets it is a bond that crosses their social boundaries and links their worlds. One night at the drive-in theater, Ponyboy, Johnny, Two-Bit, and Dally meet Cherry Valance and Marcia, two Soc girls whose boyfriends have left them there.

The other members of the Greaser gang are Johnny Cade, Dally Winston, Two-Bit Mathews, and Steve Randle. Other than being financially and socially disadvantaged, the Greasers' main problem is getting jumped by the Socs, the rich kids from the West Side.

They are all members of a Greaser gang, meaning they are considered hoods or juvenile delinquents by society. Ponyboy Curtis, the fourteen-year-old narrator, lives with his older brothers Sodapop and Darry, since their parents passed away in a car accident.

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