Court Hearing

Randy was the first one to be questioned. Darry told me to keep my mouth shut because I'd get my turn. He asked me a bunch of mundane questoins and then the hearing was over. After that things weren't the same though. My grades went down and everything. At lunch we were hanging out and the guys left me by the car to go get drinks. Then a couple of Socs approached me. I scared them off somehow because despite the fact they were Socs I wasn't scared. I was talking to my English teacher and he siad I was flunking but if I could come up with a good symester theme he would pass me as a C. Then I thought of it. Dally. I could tell his side of the story and people like him. People like that who just have nothing left to live for. On the inside they're really good people. And most people don't recognize that. So that's what I did. Then hopefully people would understand. Dally really is a hero for all he did for other people. Not for himself. That's what I really want people to see Dally as. Not a bad person, but a good one. Who was just a little confused. Then people would understand the things greasers go through and why he did that.

This is What he Wanted

The phone rang. It was Dally and he had just robbed a store and the police were after him. He told us to meet him in the vacant lot. When we got there the police were hot on his tail. I saw him pull a dark black figure out of his pants. Then I remembered what he said about him carrying around that heater for a good bluff. When the police caught up to him they stepped out and pointed their guns at him. As I saw the bullets just rip through him and he fell to the ground in a limp heap I realized why he had done this. For Johnny. Johnny was the only thing he had ever loved and now that Johnny was gone Dally just wanted to die. Because Johnny would never be there again. Not for Dally. Not for anybody.

The big Rumble

The rumble began with Darry stepping up and saying he'd take on anybody. One of his old football buddies named Paul stepped up to him. Then we heard a voice say "Wait, wait!" It was Dally! As Darry looked over at Dally coming to fight Paul pounded him and the war was on! Everybody took somebody so I took the shortest guy but he was harder to beat than I expected. As I was getting the living daylights punched out of me Darry came over to help me. After that I decided to help Dally because he could only use one arm. Dally's Soc was harder than the guy I had but we double teamed him and that made it a bit easier. As everybody was pounding someone I heard a voice like Two - Bit's say "Look! They're running!" As I looked back I noticed all the Socs piling into their cars and driving off. We had finally beaten the Socs! After that we went to see Johnny at the hospital. When we got there he didn't look good at all. He mumbled a few things to Dally, and then this is what he said to me - "Ponyboy, stay gold, stay gold." Those were the last words I heard from Johnny Cade because he died that night, at the hospital.

Hospitalization

After we got to the hospital of course Darry and Soda came rushing in to see us. When they saw that I was okay, the were releived because the doc said I could be released the next day. But the same wasn't true for Johnny. They said he had to stay there for a while for his broken back and "if" he made it it would still be a long road to recovery for him. If - I hated that word from the moment they said if he made it through. To me it was no question that he was gonna' make it through but to the doctors it was a completely different story. They really weren't sure if Johnny was gonna make it through or not and I really started worrying about Johnny. Even when I was trying to get to sleep at the hospital on Soda's lap I didn't get to sleep because I was so worried about Johnny. I really hope he turns out fine.

Bad Habits lead to Bad Consequences

We were at the diner the next day after Dallas had come to visit us and get us up to date on all the things we had been missing. Apparently we had a spy now. Cherry, the girl from the cheerleading team. Worst of all, she was a Soc. Even though she was nice, she was still a Soc and not a Greaser. When we were getting back to the barn, we noticed a bunch of people standing around the barn. I thought of telling Dally not to go but we went anyway just to see what all the commotion was about and when we got to the barn we noticed something different about it. It was on fire! I knew it was a bad idea but me an' Johnny pushed our way through the crowd and leaped over the fence because somebody had said that there was still kids inside the barn or something. Dally, realizing what we had done, started swearing at us, then he hopped the fence to come find us. After we found the kids and dropped them out a nearby window, Dally found us and got us out especially Johnny because a beam had fallen on his back and it was broken. Then ambulances and police arrived on the scene to take us to the hospital. They thought the blaze was started by a cigarette butt - possibly from me or Johnny.

The World as a Fugitive

After that time at the park, me and Johnny went to the party that Dally was at. When we got there Buck Merril answered the door and we asked for Dallas. When he finally came and Johnny told him about our situation, he handed us some clothes, his old leather jacket, a gun that was loaded and some cash. He told us to get out of town and catch the midnight train out to Windrixville and he told us about this old abandoned barn on top of Jay Mountain. On the train I guess I got pretty sleepy and fell asleep on Johnny and he didn't want to wake me up so he let me sleep and he didn't get any sleep at all! The next morning we were walking along the road trying to find the barn and I had to ask a farmer where it was. Now an even bigger challenge lay ahead of us - being able to stay there without getting caught and using to the full the limited things we have. So we disguised ourselves. We both cut our hair which I hated and Johnny bleached mine so nobody would recognize us.

A Dust up at The Park

After I went for a walk with Johnny and we decided to go to that vacant lot and lay down and just look up at the stars. Apparently I fell asleep. When I got home, Darry wasn't happy. And then, he got mad and started yelling at me. Soda tried to defend me and then Darry turned on Soda. Then I tried to defend Soda for defending me and Darry got so immaculately angry he hit me. Right across the face. And I ran away. I didn't know what to do and Johnny came with me down to the park for a walk. We saw the red Corvair pull up and a couple of Socs tough guys jumped out. The rest followed. The handsome one went after johnny. One of the other guys came for me. He started stuffing my face into the fountain. I couldn't see what was happening and slowly the soc was drowning me. Then he suddenly just stopped. I pulled my face out of the fountain and saw Johnny sitting on the ground. Blood all over his hands , clothes, switchblade and the ground. He was just sitting there in shock And then I realized the horror of our situation. Johnny stabbed that Soc that was laying on the ground. We didn't know what to do and we started freaking out and decided to pull the body into the forest. That's when we ran away for good! Just me an' Johnny!