S.E.

HINTON

THE OUTSIDERS

Edited by: Britt-Katrin Keson

Illustrated by: Per Ilium

ER
U/ I 1 § i/'
 BIOGRAPHY

S. E. H inton was born in 1950 in Tulsa, O klahom a, where

she still lives today. W hen she was sixteen, she wrote her
first novel The Outsiders, w hich has since been made into a
popular m ovie. S. E. H in ton is also the author o f That Was
Then, This Is N ow (1971), Rumble Fish (1975) and Tex
(1979), which also deal with various problem s faced by
teenagers. Sh e has won several awards for young adult fie-
tion.
The phonetic transcription in the footnotes follows
British English pronunciation

4
 Chapter 1
W hen I walked out of the movie house, I had only two
things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I
was wishing I looked like Paul Newman - he looks
tough and I don’t - but I guess my own looks aren’t so
bad. I have light-brown, almost red hair and greenish- 5
gray eyes. My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear
theirs. But I am a greaser, and most of my neighbors
rarely get a haircut. Besides, I look better with long
hair.
I had a long walk home and no company. I like to 10
watch movies alone. W hen I see a movie with some­
one, it’s like having someone read your book over your
shoulder. I’m different that way. My second-oldest
brother, Soda, who is sixteen, never reads books. My
oldest brother, Darrel, whom we call Darry, works too 15
long and hard to be interested in reading books. So I’m
not like them. A nd nobody in our gang likes movies
and books the way I do. For a while, I thought I was the
only person in the world who did.
Soda tries to understand, which is more than Darry 20
does. Soda is different from anybody. He understands
everything, almost. He doesn’t shout at me all the time
the way Darry does, or treat me as if I was six instead
of fourteen. I love Soda more than I’ve ever loved any­
one, even Mom and* Dad. H e’s always happy and grin- 25
ning, while Darry is hard and rarely grins at all. Darry
has gone through a lot in his twenty years. He has

Paul Newman , American actor and director (bom 1925)

tough, [tAf] hard, mean, without sympathy
greaser, ['griisa] (slang) member of a gang (= group of young people)
in the story

5
 grown up too fast. Sodapop will never grow up at all. I
don’t know which way is the best. I’ll find out one of
these days.
Anyway, I was walking home, thinking about the
5 movie. Then suddenly I wished I had some company.
Greasers can’t walk alone or they’ll get jumped. We get
jumped by the Socs. I’m not sure how you spell it, but
it’s short for “Socials,” the West-side rich kids. It’s like
the word “greaser,” which is used about all us boys on
10 the East Side.
We’re poorer than the Socs, and I think we’re wilder,
too. Greasers are almost like hoods. We steal things and
drive old cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang
fight once in a while. I don’t mean I do things like that.
15 Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police.
Since Mom and Dad were killed in a car wreck, the
three of us can stay together only as long as we behave.
So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can.
We’re careful not to get caught when we can’t. I only
20 mean that most greasers do things like that. Just like we
wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and T-shirts
or leather jackets. I’m not saying that either Socs or
greasers are better. That’s just the way things are.
I could have waited to go to the movies until Darry
25 or Sodapop came back from work. They would have

get jumped, (slang) be attacked suddenly and beaten up

hood, [hud] (slang) criminal person who enjoys fighting (like a gang'
ster)
steal, take (something that belongs to someone else) without asking
hold up, (slang) rob, steal from (someone) using violence
gas station, place where gas (= gasoline/petrol) and oil are sold, and
cars are repaired
car wreck, ['ka:r ,rek] serious car accident
leather, ['leda] animal skin used for making clothes, shoes, etc.

6
gone with me, or driven me there, or walked along* Or
I could have gotten one of the gang to come along*
One of the four boys Darry and Soda and I have grown
up with. We’re almost as close as brothers* W hen you
grow up in a neighborhood like ours, you get to know 5
each other really well*
If I had thought about it, I could have called Two-
Bit Mathews, one of our gang* He would have come to
get me in his car if I had asked him. But sometimes I
just don’t use my head* It drives my brother Darry era- 10
zy when I do something like that, because I’m supposed
to be smart I get good grades and have a high IQ, but I
don’t use my head* Besides, I like walking*
I decided I didn’t like walking so much, though,
when I saw that red Corvair following me* I was almost is
home, so I started walking a little faster* I had never
been jumped, but I had seen Johnny after four Socs got
hold of him* Johnny was scared of his own shadow after
that* Johnny was sixteen then*

smart, clever, intelligent

grade, (here) mark given for school work
IQ, (= intelligence quotient) a person’s level of intelligence
Corvair, American car model
scared, [skead] afraid, frightened, full of fear
shadow, [’Jaedau] (see picture)

7
 The Corvair pulled up beside me, and five Socs got
out* I got pretty scared* I’m kind of small for fourteen,
and those guys were bigger than me* I remembered
Johnny* His face was all cut up* I remembered how he
5 had cried when we found him* Johnny had it rough at
home* It took a lot to make him cry*
I looked around for a bottle or a stick or something,
but there was nothing* The Socs walked around me
slowly, silently, smiling*
10 “Hey, greaser,” one said in an ovenfriendly voice*
“W e’re going to do you a favor* W e’re going to cut all
that long greasy hair off*”
One of them laughed* I couldn’t think of anything
to say* There just isn’t much you can say while you are
15 waiting to get jumped* I kept my mouth shut*
“Need a haircut, greaser?” One of the Socs pulled a
switchblade out of his back pocket and opened it* They
had me down on the ground in a second* One of them
was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows.
20 If you don’t think that hurts, you’re crazy. The knife
was held against my throat
“How would you like that haircut to begin just below
your c/izn?” the Soc asked*
I realized then that they could kill me* I went wild* I
25 started screaming for Soda, Darry, anyone* Someone put

rough, [rAf] hard, not easy or comfortable

greasy, ['griisi] covered with grease (= thick, oily substance)
switchblade, (see picture, page 9)
hurt, cause a feeling of pain
throat, front part of the neck (= part of the body where the head joins
the shoulders)
chin, part of the face below the mouth
realize, ['riolaizj understand something one didn’t know before
scream, cry out loudly

8
 switchblade

his hand over my mouth. One of them kept saying,

“Shut him up, for Pete's sake, shut him up!”
Suddenly the Socs jumped up and left me lying
there, I lay there and wondered what in the world was
happening. Then someone lifted me to my feet and 5
started shaking me. It was Darry,
“Are you all right, Ponyboy?” he asked,
“ Pm okay,” I said. “ Stop shaking me, Darry, Pm
okay.”
He stopped. “ Pm sorry.” 10
He wasn’t really. Darry is never sorry for anything he
does. Darry is six-feet-two and very strong. He looks
older than twenty - tough, cool, and smart. He would
be really handsome if his eyes weren’t so cold.
“They didn’t hurt you too badly, did they?” he asked 15
me.
They did. My chest hurt, and I was so nervous my
hands were shaking. I wanted to start crying, but you
just don’t say that to Darry.
“ Pm okay,” I said. 20
Sodapop came over. Now I understood that the
gang had come to save me. He sat down beside me,
looking at my forehead.
“You got cut up a little, huh, Ponyboy?” he said. “Did

for Pete's sake, expression used to show strong feelings (e.g. when one
is very angry or annoyed)
shake, move from side to side (or back and forth) quickly
handsome, [’haenssm] (of a boy or man) gooddooking
forehead, ['forid] part of the face above the eyes and nose

9
they pull a knife on you?”
I remembered the voice: “Need a haircut, greaser?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Soda is handsomer than anyone else I know. Not

10
like Darry- Soda is movie-star kind of handsome. The
kind that people stop to watch go by. He’s got long
dark-gold hair and has dark-brown eyes. Soda is one of
a kind. In our neighborhood, it’s rare to find a kid who
doesn’t drink once in a while. But Soda never touches 5
a drop - he doesn’t need to. He gets high on just being
alive.
He looked at me more closely. I looked away. If you
want to know the truth, I was starting to cry. Soda just
put his hand on my shoulder. “Easy, Ponyboy. They 10
aren’t going to hurt you again.”
“I know,” I said and stopped crying. You just don’t
cry in front of Darry. N ot unless you’re hurt like John­
ny had been that day we found him. Compared to
Johnny, I wasn’t hurt at all. 15
Our gang had followed the Socs to their car. They
came running toward us now. I had grown up with
them. They accepted me, even though I was younger,
because I was Darry and Soda’s kid brother.
Steve Randle was seventeen and had thick greasy 20
hair. He was smart, and Soda’s best friend. Steve knew
everything about cars, and he could drive anything on
wheels. He and Soda worked at the same gas station. I
liked Steve only because he was Soda’s best friend. He
didn’t like me because Soda always took me with them 25
when they went places. It wasn’t my fault. Soda always
asked me, I didn’t ask him.
Two-Bit Mathews was the oldest of the gang and was
about six feet tall. He had gray eyes and a wide grin.
You couldn’t shut that guy up. Life was one big joke to so

I faulty [forlt] responsibility for something bad happening

11
 Two-Bit* He was also famous for shoplifting and for his
switchblade* He liked fights and, for some strange
reason, school* He was still in the eleventh grade at
eighteen and a half, and he never learned anything* I
5 liked him a lot because he kept us laughing at ourselves
as well as at other things*
Dallas Winston - Dally - had small, sharp animal
teeth* His hair was almost white, and he didn’t like
haircuts* His eyes were like blue ice, cold from hating
10 the whole world. Dally had spent three years on the
wild side of New York* He had been arrested at the age
of ten* He was tougher than the rest of us - tougher,
colder, meaner* Dally could get into a good fight some­
times, but he had no specific thing to hate. Only the
15 Socs* A nd you can’t win against them no matter how
hard you try* Maybe that was why Dallas was so bitter*
I didn’t like him, but he was smart and you had to
respect him*
Johnny Cade was last and least* If you can imagine a
20 little puppy that has been kicked too many times, you’ll
have Johnny. He was the youngest, next to me, and
smaller than the rest* He had big black eyes and black,
greasy hair* He always had a nervous look in his eyes*
That beating he got from the Socs didn’t make it better*
25 His father was always beating him up, and his mother
ignored him. If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would
never know what love is*

shoplift, take something from a shop without paying

grade, (here) year at school
arrest, take by the power of the law
mean, trying to hurt other people
puppy» young dog
if it hadn’t been for the gang, if the gang hadn’t been there

12
 “ Did you catch them?” I asked them.
“N o,” Two-Bit answered. “They got away this time.
Are you okay?”
“ Pm okay.” I tried to think of something to say. “ I
didn’t know you were out of prison. Dally.” 5
“Good behavior. I got off early.” Dallas lit a cigarette
and handed it to Johnny.
“W hat were you doing, walking by yourself?” Steve
asked.
“ I was coming home from the movies. I didn’t 10
think ...” I said.
“You don’t ever think,” Darry broke in, “not at home
or anywhere else. You must think at school, with all
those good grades you bring home. You’ve always got
your nose in a book. Do you ever use your head? No, 15
sir! If you were going to walk alone, you should have
carried a knife.”
I just looked down at the ground. I could never do
the right thing for Darry. He would have shouted at me
for carrying a knife if I had carried a knife. If I played 20
football, I should be studying. A nd if I read a book, I
should be out playing football. He never shouted at
Sodapop - not even when Soda dropped out of school.
“Leave him alone, you hear?” Soda said to Darry.
“N ext time get one of us to go with you, Ponyboy,” 25
Two-Bit said.
“ Speaking of movies,” Dally said, “I’m going to the
movie house tomorrow night. Anybody want to come
along and look for some action?”

prison, place where people are kept as a punishment

drop out, stop attending (school)

13
 Darry sighed, just like I knew he would. Darry never
had time to do anything anymore. “I’m working tomor­
row night.”
“Johnny and I will come,” I said. “Okay, Darry?”
5 “Yeah, since it's not a school night,” Darry said. Dar­
ry let me go places on the weekends. On school nights
I could hardly leave the house.

“Listen, kid,” Soda said to me when we got back home,

“when Darry shouts at you ... he doesn’t mean it. He’s
10 just got more worries than somebody his age should.
Don’t take him seriously ... you understand, Pony? He’s
really proud of you because you’re so smart. Okay?”
I sighed. I didn’t understand what he meant about
Darry. Darry love me? I thought of those hard, cold
15 eyes. Soda was wrong for once, I thought. Darry
doesn’t love anyone or anything, except maybe Soda. I
don’t care, I lied to myself. I don’t care about Darry. But
I was still lying and I knew it. I lie to myself all the
time. But I never believe me.

Chapter 2
20 The next evening, Dally was waiting for Johnny and
me at the comer of Pickett Street and Sutton Street.
Since we got there early, we had time to go over to the
drugstore in the shopping center. We bought Cokes and

sigh, [sai] take a deep breath and let it out slowly (usually to show
that one is tired or sad)
proud, [praud] thinking highly (of someone)
lie, not tell the truth
drugstore, shop (= store) that sells medicine, make-up, newspapers, etc.

14
walked around looking at the things that were out in
the open. The drugstore manager suggested we leave,
but he was too late. Dally walked out with two packs
of cigarettes under his jacket.
We went to the movie house. There were two girls 5
sitting down in front. Dally looked at them coolly, then
walked down and sat right behind them. I had a terrible
feeling that Dally was up to his usual tricks, and I was
right. He started talking about them, loud enough for
the two girls to hear. I felt my ears get hot, and Johnny 10
left quickly to get a Coke.
I wouldn’t have felt so bad if they had been greaser
girls. But those two girls weren’t our kind. They were
dressed well and really good-looking. They looked
about sixteen or seventeen. One had short dark hair, 15
and the other had long red hair. The redhead was get­
ting angry, or scared. Dally put his feet up on the back
of the redhead’s seat. She turned around and looked at
him coolly.
“Take your feet off my seat and shut your mouth,” 20
she said.
Boy, she was good-looking. I’d seen her before at our
school.
uW ho’s going to make me?” Dally asked.
“You’d better leave us alone,” the redhead said, uor 25
I’ll call the police.”
“Oh, my, my,” Dally said, “you’ve got me scared to
death, baby.”
“Please leave us alone,” she said. “W hy don’t you be
nice and leave us alone?” 30
Dally grinned. “I’m never nice. Want a Coke?”
She was angry by then. “Get lost, hood!”
I get lost, (slang) go away

15
 Dally walked off.
The girl looked at me- I was halff scared of her- “Are
you going to start now?” she asked.
I shook my head- “N o.”
5 Suddenly she smiled- Gosh, she was pretty.
“You don’t look the type,” she said- “W hat’s your
name?”
I wished she hadn’t asked me that -1 hate to tell peo^
pie my name for the first time- “Ponyboy Curtis,” I said.
10 Then I waited for her to say “You’re joking!” or “That’s
your real name?” Ponyboy is my real name and I like it.
The redhead just smiled- “T hat’s an original and
lovely name.”
“My dad was an original person,” I said- “I’ve got a
15 brother named Sodapop.”
“This is Marcia,” she said- “M y name’s Sherri, but
I’m called Cherry because of my hair. Cherry Valance.”

“ I know,” I said. “We go to the same school.”

“You don’t look old enough to be going to high
20 school,” Marcia said.
“ I’m not,” I said- “ I skipped a grade in school.”
Cherry was looking at me. “W hat’s a nice, smart kid
like you running around with someone like that for?”
“ I’m a greaser,” I said, “ the same as Dally. He’s my
25 friend.”
“ I’m sorry, Ponyboy,” she said softly. “Your brother

| skip, pass over, leave out

16
 Sodapop, does he work at a gas station?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Man,” she said, “your brother is really good-looking.
I might have guessed you were brothers - you look
alike.”
I grinned. It’s not every day I hear Socs telling me
they think my brother is good-looking.
Johnny came back then and sat down beside me. He
looked around for Dally, then managed to say “H i” to
the girls and tried to watch the movie. He was nervous,
though. Johnny was always nervous around strangers.
Dally came back with an armful of Cokes. He handed
one to each of the girls and sat down beside Cherry.
“This might cool you off.”
She looked at him and then threw her Coke in his
face. “That might cool you off, greaser.”
Dally smiled, Coke running down his face. If I had
been Cherry I would have left right then. I knew that
smile.
“Well, that’s the way I like them,” Dally said and
started to put his arm around her.
Johnny reached over and stopped him. “Leave her
alone, Dally.”
“ Huh?” Dally said and looked at Johnny, surprised.
“You heard me,” Johnny said. “Leave her alone.”
If it had been me, or Two-Bit, or Soda or Steve, or
anyone but Johnny, Dally would have beat him up right
away. You just didn’t tell Dally Winston what to do.
One time, a guy told him to move over in a drugstore.
Dally had turned around and hit him so hard it

stranger, person who is not known

2 The Outsiders 17
 knocked a tooth loose, A complete stranger, too. But
Dally just couldn't hit Johnny. He walked off and didn't
come back.
Cherry sighed. “Thanks. He scared me to death.”
Johnny grinned. “You sure didn't show it. Nobody
talks to Dally like that.”
She smiled. “From what I saw, you do.”
Johnny's ears got red.
“W hy don't you two sit here with us,” Marcia said.
Johnny and I looked at each other. Now we would
have something to tell the boys.
“Okay,” I said, “we might as well.”
I sat between them, and Johnny sat next to Cherry.
“ Dally is okay,” Johnny said, and I nodded.

| nod, bend one’s head forward to show that one agrees

 “H e’d leave you alone if he knew you,” I said, and
that was true.
“W ell,” Marcia said, “ I’m glad he doesn’t know us-”
We were all four sitting there quietly when suddenly
a strong hand came down on Johnny’s shoulder and 5
another on mine- A deep voice said, “Okay, greasers,
you’ve had it-”
I almost jumped out of my skin. I looked over my
shoulder and there was Two-Bit, grinning- Then I
looked at Johnny- His eyes were shut and he was as 10
white as a sheet.
Johnny opened his eyes and said weakly, “Hey, Two-
Bit-”
“Sorry, kid,” Two-Bit said, “ I forgot-”
He sat down beside the dark-haired girl- “Hey, 15
where is old Dally?”
“He went looking for some action,” Johnny said.
“Girls or a fight- I hope he doesn’t go to prison again.
He just got out.”
Cherry and Marcia were looking at us- “You really 20
are rough, aren’t you?”
“A fair fight isn’t rough,” Two-Bit told them. “Knives
are rough- So are guns. Socs are rough. They jump us
greasers. Dally might get hurt, he might not- No
problem.” 25
“Yeah, boy,” Cherry said, “ it’s really simple.”
“Sure,” Marcia said- “If he gets killed or something,
you just bury him. N o problem.”
“T hat’s right, baby.” Two-Bit grinned.

skin, outer covering of the body

sheet, large piece of cloth that one puts on a bed to sleep on
bury, ['beri] put into the ground

2* 19
 “ Ponyboy, will you come with me to get some pop­
corn ?” Cherry asked.
I jumped up. “Sure.”
A s usual, there was a line a mile long, so we had to
5 wait. Quite a few kids turned to look at us. You didn't
see a greaser and a Soc together often. Cherry didn't
seem to notice.
“Your friend - Johnny ... he's been hurt, hasn't he?”
she asked.
10 “ It was the Socs,” I said nervously, because there
were plenty of Socs around. A nd I don’t like to talk
about it either - Johnny getting beat up, I mean. But I
told her about it.
It was almost four months ago. I had walked down
15 to the gas station to get a Coke and to meet Soda and
Steve. It was a warm spring day, but it was getting cold
and dark by the time we started for home. We were
walking because we had left Steve's car at the station.
A s we walked down the street, we passed a vacant lot
20 and Steve noticed something lying on the ground. He
picked it up. It was Johnny's blue jeans jacket. The
only jacket he had.
“Looks like Johnny forgot his jacket,” Steve said and
looked at it more carefully. There was blood on it. He
25 looked at the ground. There was more blood on the
ground. I think we all saw Johnny lying there at the
same time. Soda reached him first. Johnny was lying
face down. Soda turned him over gently, and I was

vacant ht, ['veikant flot] unused piece of land in a city (vacant = not
occupied)
blood, [bUd] red liquid in the body
gently, very carefully, not roughly or violently
be sick, (here) throw up what is in one’s stomach

20
nearly sick. Someone had beaten him badly.
We were used to seeing Johnny get hurt. His father
hit him a lot, but that had been nothing like this.
Johnny’s face was cut up, and his white T-shirt was cov­
ered in blood. I thought he might be dead. Surely 5
nobody could be beaten like that and live.
Somehow the gang knew what had happened. Two-
Bit and Darry were suddenly standing there beside us.
Dally was there, too, and he turned away with a sick
look on his face. I wondered about it. Dally had seen 10
people killed on the streets o f New York’s West Side.
W hy did he look sick now?
“Johnny?” Soda lifted him up and held him against
his shoulder. He shook him gently. “Hey, Johnny.”
Johnny didn’t open his eyes, but he said, “Soda?” 15
“ Yeah, it’s me,” Sodapop said. “ Don’t talk. You’re
going to be okay.”
“There were so many of them,” Johnny went on. “A
blue Mustang full ... I got so scared ...” He suddenly
started crying. I had seen Johnny being beaten by his 20
father before, and he never cried. That made it worse
to see him cry now.
Finally, Johnny managed to tell his story. A blue
Mustang had pulled up beside him with four Socs in it.
One of them had a lot of rings on his hand. T hat’s 25
what had cut Johnny’s face up so badly.
Johnny had always been very nervous. But after the
night of the beating, Johnny was more nervous than
ever. I didn’t think he’d ever get over it. Johnny now
carried a six-inch switchblade in his back pocket. He 30
Would use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had

I Mustang, American car model

21
 scared him that much. He would kill the next person
who jumped him. Nobody was ever going to beat him
like that again. Not over his dead body ...

I had nearly forgotten that Cherry was listening to me.

5 W hen I looked at her, she was as white as a sheet.
“A ll Socs aren’t like that,” she said. “You have to
believe me, Ponyboy. N ot all of us are like that. You
know something? Things are rough all over.”
“ Sure,” I said. I really couldn’t see what Socs would
10 have to worry about. Good grades, good cars, Mustangs
and Corvairs, good girls. Man, I thought, if I had wor­
ries like that, I’d consider myself lucky. I know better
now.

Chapter 3
After the movie was over, we suddenly realized that
15 Cherry and Marcia didn’t have a way to get home.
Two-Bit talked them into letting us drive them home
in his car. I think they were still half-scared of us. They
were getting over it, though, as we walked to Two-Bit’s
house to pick up the car. It seemed funny to me that
20 Socs could be just like us. They liked the Beatles and
didn’t like Elvis Presley. We didn’t like the Beatles but
thought Elvis was cool. That seemed to be the only dif­
ference to me. I thought maybe it was money that sep­
arated us.
25 “N o,” Cherry said slowly when I told her this. “It’s
not just money. Part of it is, but not all. You greasers
have different values. You’re more emotional. We’re cool
to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real

22
with us* You know, sometimes I’ll be talking to a girl­
friend, and I realize I don’t mean half of what Pm say­
ing*” She smiled at me* “ I never told anyone that* I
think you’re the first person who has ever really under­
stood that*” 5
“That’s why we’re different,” I said* “It’s not money,
it’s feeling - you don’t feel anything and we feel too
much*”
“You read a lot, don’t you, Ponyboy*7” Cherry said*
I was surprised* “Yeah. Why?” 10
“ I could just tell* I’m sure you watch sunsets, too.”
She was quiet for a minute after I nodded* “I used to
watch them, too, before I got so busy ...”
I imagined that, or tried to* It seemed funny to me
that the sunset she saw from her house and the one I 15
saw from our back steps was the same one* Maybe the
two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different*
We saw the same sunset*
“Cherry, look what’s coming,” Marcia said suddenly.
We all looked and saw a blue Mustang coming down 20
the street* Johnny made a small noise in his throat*
W hen I looked at him, he was white*
“W hat are we going to do?” Marcia asked nervously.
Cherry bit a fingernail* “Stand here,” she said* “There
isn’t much else we can do.” 25
“Who is it?” Two-Bit asked* “The FBI?”
“N o,” Cherry said seriously, “ it’s Randy and Bob*
Maybe they won’t see us. A c t normal.”

values, things that one considers important (e.g. friendship, love, money)
emotional, having strong feelings (= emotions)
sunset, when the sun disappears below the horizon and night begins
FBI, (= Federal Bureau of Investigation) police department under the
U S national government

23
 “W ho needs to act?” Two-Bit said. “ Pm always nor­
mal.”
The Mustang passed us slowly and went by.
Marcia sighed. “That was close.”
5 Cherry turned to me. “Tell me about your oldest
brother. You don't talk much about him.”
I tried to think of something to say about Darry.
“W hat is there to talk about? He's big and handsome
and likes to play football.”
10 “ I mean, what's he like?” Cherry said.
“He's ... he’s as hard as a rock. He likes Soda - every­
body likes Soda - but he hates me. I'm sure he wishes
he could put me in a boys' home somewhere. He would
do it, too, if Soda would let him.”
15 Two-Bit and Johnny were staring at me now.
“No ...” Two-Bit said. “No, Ponyboy, that isn’t
rig h t... you've got it wrong ...”
“ It isn’t fair!” I cried. “ It isn't fair!” I didn't know
exactly what I meant, but I was thinking about
20 Johnny's father being a drunk. A nd Two-Bit's mother
working in a bar to support her children after their
father ran out on them. And Sodapop dropping out of
school so he could get a job and keep me in school.
A nd Darry holding on to two jobs and never having
25 any fun. A nd the Socs had so much time and money
that they jumped us because they didn't know what
else to do. Things were rough all over, all right. A ll
over the East Side. It just didn’t seem right to me.
“ I know,” Two-Bit said with a grin, “but that's the

boys' home, place where boys who have problems with their families
are sent to live
stare, look at for a long time
drunk , person who often drinks too much alcohol

24
way things are* Like it or leave it*”
Cherry and Marcia didn’t say anything* I guess they
didn’t know what to say* We had forgotten they were
there* Then the blue Mustang came down the street
again, more slowly*
“W ell,’* Cherry said, “they’ve seen us.”
The Mustang stopped beside us, and the two boys in
the front seat got out* They were Socs all right*
“Cherry, Marcia, listen to us **.” the handsome,
black-haired Soc began*
I noticed Johnny was staring at the Soc’s hand. He
was wearing three heavy rings* I remembered that it
had been a blue Mustang that had pulled up beside
Johnny that night ***
“Just because we got a little drunk last time ...” the
Soc said*
Cherry looked angry* “A little? Bob, I told you, I’m
never going out with you while you’re drinking, and I
mean it* Too many things could happen while you’re
drunk.”
The other Soc turned to Marcia. “Even if you are angry
at us, that’s no reason for being with these greasers.”
Two-Bit put his elbow on Johnny’s shoulder* “Who
are you calling greasers?”
“ If you’re looking for a fig h t...” the Soc said*
Two-Bit picked up an empty bottle, broke off the
end and gave it to me* Then he reached into his back
pocket and brought out his switchblade. “Try it.”
“N o !” Cherry cried* “ Stop it!” She looked at Bob*
“We’ll ride home with you* Just wait a minute.”
“Why?” Two-Bit said* “We aren’t scared of them.”
“ I hate fights ... I hate them,” Cherry said*
I pulled her to one side* “I couldn’t use this,” I said,
 dropping the bottle* “ I could never cut anyone*”
“ I know,” she said quietly, Ubut we’d better go with
them. Ponyboy *** if I see you at school or some place,
and I don’t say hi, well, it’s not personal or anything,
5 but***”
“ I know,” I said* “ It’s okay,” I said, wishing I was dead
and buried somewhere*
She looked at me quickly* “ I could fall in love with
Dallas Winston,” she said* “ I hope I never see him
10 again, or I will.”
She left me standing there with my mouth open,
and the blue Mustang drove off*
Two-Bit left as well, and Johnny and I walked home
together, mostly in silence* I wanted to ask Johnny if
15 those were the Socs that had beaten him up, but I didn’t*
Johnny never talked about it, and we never said any­
thing* When we passed the vacant lot, we lay down on
the ground and looked up at the stars*
W I can’t take much more.” Johnny spoke my own
20 feelings* “ I’ll kill myself or something.”
“ Don’t,” I said* “You can’t kill yourself, Johnny.”
“Well, I won’t,” he said. “ But I’ve got to do some­
thing* It seems like there’s got to be some place without
greasers or Socs, with just people* Plain ordinary
25 people.”
“Out of the big cities,” I said* “ In the country ...”
In the country ... I loved the country. I wanted to be
out of the city and away from the excitement* I only
wanted to lie on my back under a tree and read a book*
30 I didn’t want to worry about being jumped or carrying
a knife. Dad would drive a tractor while Mom baked
chocolate cakes* Maybe Johnny could come and live
with us, and the gang could come out on weekends*

26
The country would be like that, I thought...
“ Ponyboy,” Johnny said, shaking me. “Hey, Pony,
wake up. We both went to sleep. You’d better get
home. I think I’ll stay all night out here.” Johnny’s par­
ents didn’t care if he came home or not. 5
“Okay,” I said. “ If you get cold or something, come
on over to our house.”
“Okay,” he said.
I ran home. The light was on. Maybe they were
asleep, I thought. I looked in the window. Darry was 10
sitting in the armchair under the lamp, reading the

27
 newspaper. I opened the door softly. Darry looked up
from his paper.
“Where in the world have you been? Do you know
what time it is?” He was angrier than I’d seen him in a
5 long time. I shook my head.
“Well, it’s two in the morning, kid,” he said.
“Another hour and I would have called the police.
Where were you, Ponyboy?”
It sounded stupid, even to me, when I said, “ I ... I fell
10 asleep in the vacant lo t ...”
“You what?” he shouted.
“I didn’t mean to,” I said. “ I was talking to Johnny
and we both fell asleep ...”
“ I guess you didn’t think that your brothers might be
15 worrying their heads off. And you were asleep in the
lot? Ponyboy, what on earth is the matter with you?
C an ’t you use your head?”
I felt like crying. “ I said I didn’t mean to ...”
“ I didn’t mean to!” Darry shouted, and I almost
20 shook. “I didn’t think! I forgot! T hat’s all I hear from
you! C an ’t you think of anything?”
“ Darry ...” Sodapop began, but Darry turned on him.
“You keep your mouth shut!” he shouted at Sodapop.
“ I’m sick and tired o f you always taking his side.”
25 He should not have shouted at Soda. Nobody should
ever shout at my brother. “ Don’t you shout at him !” I
cried.
Darry turned around and hit me so hard that I fell
against the door. Suddenly it was deathly quiet.
30 Nobody in my family had ever hit me. Nobody. Darry
looked at his hand and then looked back at me. “ Pony­
boy ...” he said.
I turned and ran out the door and down the street as

28
 fast as I could. Darry screamed, “ Pony, I didn’t mean
to!” but I pretended I couldn’t hear. I was running away.
It was plain to me that Darry didn’t want me around.
And I wouldn’t stay if he did. He wasn’t ever going to
hit me again. 5
“Jo h n n y ?” I called when I got to the vacant lot. He
jumped up almost under my feet. “Come on, Johnny,
we’re running away.”
Johnny asked no questions. We ran until we were
out of breath, then we walked. I was crying by then. I 10
finally just sat down and cried, burying my face in my
arms. Johnny sat down beside me, one hand on my
shoulder. “Easy, Ponyboy,” he said softly, “we’ll be
okay.”
“Johnny, I’m scared,” I said. 15
“Well, don’t be. You’re scaring me. W hat happened?
I’ve never seen you cry like that.”
“I don’t cry very often,” I said. “ It was Darry. He hit
me. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t take
him shouting at me and hitting me, too. I don’t know 20
... sometimes we get along okay, then all of a sudden he
starts shouting at me. He didn’t use to be like that. I ...
we used to get along o k a y ... before Mom and Dad died.
Now he just hates me.”
“I think I like it better when my father is hitting me,” 25
Johnny sighed. “A t least then I know he knows who I
am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I
walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all
night, and nobody notices. A t least you’ve got Soda. I
haven’t got anybody.” 30

pretend, [pri'tend] make oneself appear to be something one is not

29
 “You’ve got the whole gang, Johnny,” I said* “You’ve
got the whole gang*”
“ It isn’t the same as having your own family care
about you,” Johnny said simply* “ It just isn’t the same*”
5 I was beginning to wonder if running away was such
a great idea* I was sleepy and cold, and I wanted to be
home in bed, safe and warm* I decided I would go
home and just not speak to Darry* It was my house as
much as Darry’s* If he wanted to pretend I wasn’t alive,
10 that was just fine with me* He couldn’t stop me from
living in my own house*
“Let’s walk to the park and back,” I said. “Then may­
be I’ll be cooled off enough to go home*”
“Okay,” Johnny said* “Okay.”
15 Things have to get better, I thought* They couldn’t
get worse* I was wrong ...

Chapter 4
The park had a fountain in the middle and a small
swimming pool for little kids* Tall trees made the park
shadowy and dark. Nobody was around at two-thirty in
20 the morning, and it was a good place to cool off*
Suddenly we saw the blue Mustang drive slowly by
the park.
“W hat do they want?” I said* “This is our territory*
W hat are Socs doing this far east?”
25 Johnny shook his head* “ I don’t know. But I’m sure
they’re looking for us* We picked up their girls.”
“Oh, great,” I said, “ this is all I need to finish off a

| fountain , (see picture, page 33)

30
 perfect night- Should we run for it?”
"It’s too late now,” Johnny said. "Here they come.”
Five Socs were coming straight at us. From the way
they were walking, I guessed they were drunk. That
scared me. Johnny’s hand went to his back pocket, and 5
I remembered his switchblade. I wished for that broken
bottle. I’d sure show them I could use it if I had to.
Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. He was as white
as a sheet, and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes
of an animal. We backed up against the fountain and 10
the Socs surrounded us.
It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and
they recognized us. I knew Johnny recognized them. He
was staring at Bob’s rings with big eyes.
"Hey, what do you know?” Bob said. "Here are the 15
little greasers who picked up our girls. Hey, greasers.”
"You’re out of your territory,” Johnny said in a low
voice. "You’d better watch it.”
Randy stepped in closer. Bob was staring at Johnny.
"No, you’re the ones who’d better watch it,” Randy 20
said.
"You know what a greaser is?” Bob asked. "White
trash with long hair.”
"You know what a Soc is?” I said, my voice shaking
with anger. "W hite trash with Mustangs.” 25
Bob shook his head, smiling slowly. "You could use a

run for it, run away from a dangerous situation

recognize, ['rekagnaiz] know something or someone that one has seen
before
what do you know, look what we’ve got here
white trash, (slang) poor, uneducated white person (trash = waste
material to be thrown away)

31
 bath, greaser. A nd we’ve got all night to do it. Let’s
give the kid a bath,”
I tried to run for it, but the Soc caught my arm and
pushed my face into the fountain, I fought, but the
5 hand at the back of my neck was strong, and I had to
hold my breath. I’m dying, I thought, and wondered
what was happening to Johnny, I couldn’t hold my
breath any longer. I’m drowning, I thought. T hey’ve
gone too far ...
10 The next thing I knew I was lying on the ground
beside the fountain, I pushed myself up and leaned
back against the fountain. Then I saw Johnny,
He was sitting next to me, one elbow on his knee,
and staring straight ahead. His face was a strange
15 greenish-white color. His eyes were bigger than I’d
ever seen them.
“ I killed him,” he said slowly. “ I killed that boy.”
Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there in the
moonlight in a pool of blood. I looked at Johnny’s
20 hand. He was still holding his switchblade, and it was
covered with something dark. M y blood turned to ice.
“Johnny,” I managed to say, “ I think I’m going to be
sick.”
“G o ahead,” he said. “ I won’t look at you.”
25 I turned my head and was quietly sick for a minute.
Then I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see Bob lying
there. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happen­
ing. This can’t be ...
“You really killed him, huh, Johnny?” I said finally.
30 “Yeah. I had to,” he said. “They were drowning you,

| drown, die from being under water too long

32
3 The Outsiders 33
 Pony, They might have killed you. A nd they had a
knife ... They were going to beat me up ...”
“Like ... like they did before?” I asked.
Johnny was quiet for a minute. “Yeah,” he said, “like
5 they did before.”
I was starting to panic. “Johnny!” I nearly screamed.
“W hat are we going to do? They put you in the electric
chair for killing people!” I was shaking. “ Pm scared,
Johnny. W hat are we going to do?”
10 Johnny jumped up and pulled me up by my sweat­
shirt. He shook me. “Calm down, Ponyboy, calm
down.”
I hadn’t realized I was screaming. “Okay,” I said, “ Pm
okay now.”
15 Johnny looked around nervously. “We’ve got to get
out of here. G o somewhere. Run away. The police will
be here soon.”
I was shaking, and it wasn’t all from cold. But John­
ny looked as cool as Darry ever had. “We’ll need mon-
20 ey,” he said. “A nd maybe a gun. A n d a plan.”
Money. Maybe a gun? A plan. Where in the world
would we get these things?
“ Dally,” Johnny said. “ Dally will get us out of here.”
I sighed. W hy hadn’t I thought of that? But I never
25 thought of anything. Dallas Winston could do any­
thing. “Where can we find him?” I asked.
“ I think he’s at Buck Merril’s place. There’s a party
over there tonight. Dally said something about it this
afternoon.”
30 Buck answered the door when we knocked. We
heard loud Hank Williams music and laughter behind
him. A can of beer in one hand, Buck stared down at
us. “W hat do you want?”

34
 “ Dally!” Johnny said, looking back over his shoulder,
“We’ve got to see Dally,”
Buck stared at us for a second, then he went to get
Dally,
“Okay, kids, what do you need me for?” Dally asked, 5
A s Johnny told him the story, I looked at Dally, I
tried to understand what there was about this tough-
looking hood that a girl like Cherry Valance could
love. Dally was anything but handsome. He could
never love Cherry Valance back. It would be a miracle 10
if Dally loved anything.
He didn’t say anything when Johnny told him what
had happened. He only grinned and said “Good for
you” when Johnny told him how he had killed the Soc.
Finally Johnny finished. “We thought you could get us 15
out if anyone could.”
Dally sighed. “Well, come in and I’ll see what I can do
about this mess.” He carefully shut the door behind us.
“ Here.” He handed us a gun and some money. “The
gun is loaded. For Pete’s sake, Johnny, don’t point the 20
thing at me. Here’s fifty bucks, Pony. Do Darry and
Sodapop know about this?”
I shook my head. Dally sighed. “Boy, I don’t want to
be the one to tell Darry.”
“Then don’t tell him,” I said. I hated to worry Soda- 25
pop, but I didn’t care if Darry worried. I decided it
wouldn’t be fair to make Dally tell him. Darry would

Hank Williams, American country and western singer and songwriter

(19234953 )
loaded, (about a gun) having bullets (= small, round pieces of metal)
inside
buck, (slang) dollar

3* 35
 beat him to death for giving us the money and the gun
and getting us out of the city.
“G et on the three-fifteen freight train to Windrix-
ville,” Dally told us. “There’s an old church on top of
5 Jay Mountain. Buy a week’s supply of food as soon as
you get there. Then don’t stick your noses out the door.
I’ll be up there as soon as I think it’s clear. Man, I
thought New York was the only place I could get mixed
up in something like this.”
10 Dally walked us back to the door. “Take care, kid,”
he said softly to Johnny.
“Sure, Dally, thanks,” Johnny said, and then we ran
into the darkness.
We waited for the freight train to Windrixville.
15 W hen the train slowed down, Johnny said, “Now,” and
we pulled ourselves onto it.
“The first stop will be W indrixville,” Johnny said,
laying the gun down. He shook his head. “ I don’t see
why he gave me this. I couldn’t shoot anybody.”
20 Then for the first time, really, I realized what had
happened. Johnny had killed someone. Quiet little
Johnny, who wouldn’t hurt a living thing, had taken a
human life. We were really running away, with the
police after us ...
25 I wasn’t really awake when Johnny and I jumped
off the train. Not until I landed on the ground did I
realize what I was doing. Johnny must have woken me
up and told me to jump, but I didn’t remember it. The
dawn was coming. The sky in the east was getting light-

freight train, ['freit .trein] train that transports goods instead of people
dawn, time when the first sunlight appears in the sky and day begins

36
er. The clouds were pink and the birds were singing.
This is the country, I thought, half asleep. M y dream
has come true and I’m in the country ...
“Now how do we find Jay Mountain?” I asked John­
ny. 5
“G o ask someone,” he said. “The story won’t be in
the newspapers yet. Pretend to be a farm boy taking a
walk or something.”
“I don’t look like a farm boy,” I said, thinking of my
long hair. I looked at Johnny. He didn’t look like a farm 10
boy to me either. He still reminded me of a lost puppy
who had been kicked too often. For the first time I saw
him as a stranger might see him. He looked hard and
tough, because of his black T-shirt and his blue jeans
and jacket, and because his hair was so long. We both 15
needed a haircut and some new clothes.
“You go down the road and ask the first person you
see where Jay Mountain is,” Johnny said.
I walked down the road. I wonder what Darry and
Sodapop are doing now, I thought. I’m sure Darry is 20
sorry he hit me. H e’ll really get worried when he finds
out Johnny and I killed that Soc. I wish I were home, I
thought. I wish I were home and still in bed. Maybe I
am. Maybe I’m just dreaming ...
Things are happening too quickly. Too fast. Johnny 25
and I would be running away for the rest of our lives.
Nobody but Dally would know where we were. He
couldn’t tell anyone because he’d go to prison for giv­
ing us that gun. We’d never see anyone but Dally. May­
be I’d never see Darry or Sodapop again. Or Two-Bit or 30
Steve. I was in the country, but I knew I wasn’t going

| remind, cause (someone) to remember or think of (something)

37
 to like it as much as I’d thought I would* There are
worse things than being a greaser*
I met a farmer driving a tractor down the road.
“Could you tell me where Jay Mountain is?” I asked
5 him.
He pointed on down the road* “Follow this road to
that big hill over there* Taking a walk?”
“Yes, sir,” I said* “We’re playing army and I’m sup­
posed to meet the other boys at the church.”
10 I can lie so easily that it scares me sometimes* Soda
says it comes from reading so much* But Two-Bit lies
all the time, too, and he never opens a book.
“ Boys will be boys,” the farmer said with a grin* He
went on, and I walked back to where Johnny was wait-
15 ing for me*

The church was a lot farther away than it looked. It

took us about forty-five minutes to get there* We
climbed in a back window* It was a small church, real­
ly old* Johnny and I lay down on the stone floor* I
20 started to say something to him, but I went to sleep
before I could get the words out of my mouth* But
Johnny didn’t notice* He was asleep, too*

Chapter 5
I woke up late in the afternoon* For a second I didn’t
know where I was* You know how it is when you wake
25 up in a strange place and wonder where you are* I won­
dered if I had dreamed everything that had happened
the night before* I’m really home in bed, I thought. It’s

| army, ['a:mi] soldiers who fight on land

38
 late and both Darry and Sodapop are up* Darry’s cook­
ing breakfast, and in a minute he and Soda will come
in and get me out of bed.
Finally I stopped pretending and got up* It hurt to
sleep on the stone floor, but I had never slept so deep­
ly. It was very quiet, with just the sound of the wind in
the trees outside* Suddenly I realized that Johnny
wasn’t there*
“Johnny?” I called loudly* Then I saw some letters in
the dust on the floor*
Went to get supplies. Be back soon. J.C .
I sighed and sat down on the back steps* The hill the
church was on was very big* You could see for miles
and miles from the back door* It was like sitting on the
top of the world*
I could remember everything from the night before,
but it seemed unreal, like a dream. It seemed much
longer than twenty-four hours since Johnny and I had
met Dally at the comer of Pickett Street and Sutton
Street. Maybe it was. Maybe Johnny had been gone a
whole week and I had just slept* Maybe he was already
waiting to go to the electric chair since he wouldn’t
tell where I was* Maybe Dally had been killed in a car
wreck, and no one would ever know where I was* I’d
just die up here, alone, and turn into a skeleton*
I heard someone coming up toward the back of the
church* It was Johnny*
I grinned* “Hey, Johnny. Imagine meeting you here!
W hat did you get?”

dusty fine powder often found on things that haven’t been used for a
long time
skeleton, ['skeliton] the bones inside the body
 “Come on inside,” Johnny said, “ Dally told us to
stay inside,”
We went in and Johnny started taking things out of a
bag, “A week’s supply of sausage, some bread, matches ...”
5 Johnny went on.
I got tired of watching him do it all, so I put my hand
in the bag myself. I sat down on a chair and stared.
“Wow! Qone with the Wind! How did you know I
always wanted to read that?”
io Johnny turned red. “I remembered you saying some'
thing about it once. I thought you could maybe read it
out loud and help kill time or something.”
“Gosh, thanks.” I put the book down. “Peroxide? A
deck of cards ...” Suddenly I realized something. “John-
15 ny, you aren’t thinking o f ...”

Johnny sat down and pulled out his knife. “We’re

going to cut our hair, and you’re going to bleach yours.
They’ll have our descriptions in the paper.”

Gone with the Wind, novel by Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) about

the American Civil War (1861-1865)
kill time, (slang) make time pass more quickly by doing something
peroxide, [pa'roksaid] chemical liquid often used to make dark hair
lighter
bleach, [bliitj] cause (something) to become lighter by using a chemical

40
 “Oh, no! No, Johnny, not my hair!” Our hair made
us greasers. It was the one thing we were proud of. M ay­
be we couldn’t have Corvairs, but we could have hair.
uOh, come on, Ponyboy,” Johnny said. “ It’ll grow
back.” 5
“Okay,” I said. “G et it over with.”
Johnny opened his switchblade, took hold of my
hair, and started cutting.
“Not too short,” I said. “Johnny, please ...”
Finally it was over with. Then Johnny helped me 10
bleach my hair, and I cut his hair.
“ It’s just hair,” Johnny said, trying to sound happy.
“We’ll get used to it. We’re in big trouble and it’s either
our hair or us.”
“Remember last night ... just last night we were 15
walking Cherry and Marcia over to Two-Bit’s house ...”
“Stop it!” Johnny said. “Shut up about last night! I
killed a kid last night. He couldn’t have been over
seventeen or eighteen, and I killed him. How would
you like to live with that?” He was crying. “I didn’t 20
mean to, but they were drowning you. I was so scared
...” He was quiet for a minute. “There sure is a lot of
blood in people.”
He got up suddenly and began walking back and
forth. 25
“This is my fault,” he said. “For bringing a little thir-
teen-year-old kid along. You ought to go home. You
can’t get into any trouble. You didn’t kill him.”
“N o !” I screamed at him and started crying. “I’m
fourteen! I’ve been fourteen for a month! And I’m in 30
as much trouble as you are.”
“ I didn’t mean it like that, Ponyboy. Don’t cry, Pony,
we’ll be okay. Don’t cry ...”

41
 I leaned against him and cried until I went to sleep*
I woke up later that night* Johnny was sitting against
the wall, and I was asleep on his shoulder*
“Jo h n n y ?” I said* “Are you awake?” I was warm and
5 sleepy*
“Yeah,” he said quietly* “W e’ve stopped crying now*
W e’re getting used to the idea* W e’re going to be okay
now.”
“T hat’s what I thought,” I said sleepily. Then for the
10 first time since Dally and I had sat down behind those
girls at the movie house, I relaxed. We could take
whatever was coming now*

The next four or five days were the longest days of my

life* We killed time by reading Gone with the Wind
15 and playing poker. Johnny really liked that book,
although he didn’t know anything about the C ivil War.
I had to explain a lot of it to him* I was surprised how
Johnny could get more meaning out of the book than I
could. I was supposed to be the smart one* Johnny
20 never got good grades* I guess his teachers thought he
was just plain stupid* But he wasn’t. He was especially
interested in Southern gentlemen*
“ I’m sure they were gallant,” he said* “They remind
me of Dally.”
25 “ Dally?” I said, surprised* “You saw how he treated
those girls the other night.”
“Yeah,” Johnny said slowly, “but one night I saw Dal­
ly getting picked up by the police. He kept really cool

poker, [’p suka] card game (usually played for money)

gallant, [’gaelant] willing to risk one’s life for a good cause; gentleman-
like towards women

42
and calm the whole time* The police were after him for
breaking the windows in the school building, but it was
Two-Bit who had done that* And Dally knew it* But he
didn’t say anything*”
That was the first time I realized that Dally Winston 5
was Johnny’s hero* Dally was the one I liked least* He
wasn’t like Soda, or Two-Bit, or even Darry* But I rea­
lized that I liked these three because they were like the
heroes in the books I read* Dally was real* I liked my
books and sunsets. Dally was so real he scared me* 10

One morning I woke up earlier than usual* Being care­

ful not to wake Johnny up, I went to sit on the steps
and smoke a cigarette* The dawn was coming then*
The sky was lighter in the east, and the clouds changed
from gray to pink* There was a silent moment when 15
everything held its breath, and then the sun rose* It was
beautiful*
“Gosh” - Johnny’s voice beside me made me jump -
“that sure was pretty*”
“Yeah,” I sighed* 20
“A ll gold and silver*”
“Uhmmmm,” I said*
“Too bad it couldn’t stay like that all the time,” he
said*
“Nothing gold can stay*” I was remembering a poem 25
I’d read once*
“What?” Johnny asked*

hero, [’hiarau] someone who is admired by others because he is very

good, noble, fearless, etc.

43
 “Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
5 Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”

Johnny was staring at me. “Where did you learn

10 that? That was what I meant.”
“Robert Frost wrote it. He meant more by it than I
understand, though. I always remembered it because I
never quite understood what he meant by it.”
“You know,” Johnny said slowly, “ I never noticed
15 colors and clouds and stuff until you started talking
about them. It seems like they were never there
before.”
“ I know,” I said. “You aren’t like any of the gang. I
mean, I couldn’t tell Two-Bit or Steve or even Darry
20 about the sunrise and clouds. I couldn’t even remember
that poem when they’re around. I mean, they just don’t
understand. Just you and Sodapop. And maybe Cherry
Valance.”
Johnny sighed. “Yeah, I guess we’re different.”
25 “Maybe they are different,” I said.
By the fifth day I was so tired of sausage, I nearly got
sick every time I looked at it. I was dying for a Pepsi. I

hue, [hju:] (in poetry) color

leafy flat green part of a plant
subside, go down
Eden , ['iictan] beautiful garden in which Adam and Eve lived
[griif] great unhappiness, deep sadness

44
was smoking a lot more there than I usually did. I guess
because it was something to do. Johnny told me that I
would get sick if I smoked so much. We were very care­
ful with our cigarettes. If that old church ever caught
fire there’d be no stopping it. 5
On the fifth day I had read most of Gone with the
Wind. I owed Johnny a hundred and fifty bucks from
poker games. I had smoked two packs of cigarettes, and
as Johnny had said, got sick. I hadn’t eaten anything all
day. Smoking on an empty stomach doesn’t make you 10
feel great. I was just about asleep when I heard a famil­
iar voice, “He looks different with his hair like that.”
I sat up. “Hey, Dally!” I shouted.
“Hey, Ponyboy!” He grinned down at me. “Or
should I say Sleeping Beauty ?” 15
I never thought I’d be so glad to see Dally Winston.
“How’s Sodapop.7” I asked. “Are the police after us .7
Is Darry all right? Do the boys know where we are?
W h a t...”
“Hold on, kid,” Dally broke in. “ I can’t answer 20
everything at once. Hey, I’ve got a letter for you.”
“A letter? Who from?” I asked.
“The President, of course, stupid,” Dally said. “ It’s
from Soda.”
“Sodapop?” I said. “ But how did he know ... ?” 25
“He came over a few days ago. I told him I didn’t
know where you were, but he didn’t believe me. He
gave me this letter and some money to give to you.
Kid, you ought to see Darry. H e’s taking it very hard ...”

owe , [au] have to pay (someone) for something

Sleeping Beauty, beautiful fairy tale princess who falls asleep and is
woken up by a prince a hundred years later

45
 I wasn’t listening* I leaned back against the side of
the church and read:

Ponyboy,
Well I guess you got into some trouble, huh? Darry
5 and I nearly went crazy when you ran out like that*
Darry is very sorry he hit you* You know he didn’t mean
it* And then you and Johnny went missing* A nd that
dead kid in the park* And Dally getting taken to the
police station* Well, it scared us* The police came by,
10 and we told them as much as we could* I can’t believe
little old Johnny could kill somebody* I know Dally
knows where you are, but you know him* Darry doesn’t
know where you are, and it is nearly killing him. You
sure are famous* You were even mentioned in the news-
15 paper* Take care and say hi to Johnny for us.
Sodapop Curtis

I read it through three or four times* “How come you

were taken to the police station?” I asked Dally.
He grinned* “Those boys at the station know me by
20 now. I get taken in for everything that happens in our
neighborhood* Do you want something to eat?”
Johnny and I jumped up* “You’d better believe it.”
We drove to a restaurant in Daily’s car, and the first
thing I got was a Pepsi. Johnny and I ate sandwiches
25 and ice creams*
“Gosh,” Dallas said, watching us eat. “Take it easy, I
don’t want you getting sick.”
This only made Johnny eat faster* I didn’t slow down
until I got a headache*
30 “ I forgot to tell you something,” Dally said, finishing
his third hamburger* “The Socs and the greasers are

46
fighting all over the city. There’s going to be a big fight
between the greasers and the Socs at the vacant lot
tomorrow night. That kid you killed had plenty of
friends. We can’t walk alone at all. I’ve been carrying
a gun ...” 5
“ Dally!” I said, scared. “You kill people with guns!”
“You kill them with switchblades, too, don’t you,
kid?” Dally said in a hard voice. Johnny looked down.
“Don’t worry,” Dally went on, “ it isn’t loaded. But it
sure does help.” Dally sighed, and I knew he was jo

remembering New York. “Yeah, it’s just like the good

old days. Hey, I didn’t tell you we have a spy.”
“A spy?” Johnny looked up from his ice cream.
“Who?”
“That good-looking girl I tried to pick up that night 15
you killed the Soc,” Dally said. “The redhead, Cherry
what’s-her-name.”

Chapter 6
Johnny and I almost dropped our ice creams. “Cherry?”
we both said at the same time. “The Soc?”
“Yeah,” Dally said. “She came over to the vacant lot 20
to meet us. She sure is a brave girl. She said she felt that
the whole mess was her fault, which it is. She said she
would go to court and tell everyone that the Socs were
drunk and looking for a fight.”
It was hard to believe a Soc would help us, even a 25

spy, person who finds out secret information

brave, willing to do dangerous things, fearless
court, place where law cases are decided on by a judge

47
 Soc who liked sunsets.
Johnny had been quietly finishing his fifth sandwich,
but now he said, “We’re going to the police.”
It was Daily’s turn to look surprised. “What?”
5 “ I said we’re going to the police,” Johnny repeated in
a quiet voice.
I was surprised but not shocked. I had thought about
going to the police lots of times.
“ I don’t want to stay in that church all my life,”
i o Johnny said. “We won’t tell that you helped us, Dally.
A nd we’ll give you back the gun and what’s left of the
money. Okay?”
Dally was thinking. “Are you sure you want to go
back?”
15 Johnny nodded. “ I’m sure. It isn’t fair for Ponyboy to
have to stay up in that church. Darry and Soda are
worried about him. I guess ... I guess my parents aren’t
worried about me or anything?”
“The boys are worried,” Dally said.
20 “My parents,” Johnny repeated, “did they ask about
me?”
“N o,” Dally said, “ they didn’t. Johnny, what do they
matter? My father doesn’t care whether I’m in prison
or dead in a car wreck. That doesn’t bother me.”
25 Johnny didn’t say anything. He stared at the floor
and looked so hurt that I could have cried. Dally meant
it when he said he didn’t care about his parents. But he
and the rest of the gang knew Johnny cared. But no
matter how hard they tried, the gang couldn’t take the
30 place of his parents.
“Johnny,” Dally said as we left the restaurant, “why
didn’t you think of going to the police five days ago? It
would have saved a lot of trouble.”

48
 “ I was scared,” Johnny said. “ I still am.”
I was glad we were going back. I was sick of that
church.
uJohnny,” Dally said, “Johnny, pm not angry at you.
I just don’t want you to get hurt. You don’t know what
a few months in prison can do to you. I don’t want that
to happen to you. Like it happened to me ...”
I was surprised. Dally never talked like that. Never.
Dally didn’t care about anyone but himself, and he was
cold and hard and mean. He never talked about being
in prison that way. Suddenly I thought of Dally ... in
prison at the age of ten ... Dally growing up in the
streets ...
By then we had driven to the top of Jay Mountain.
“Oh my G o d !” Dally said.
The church was on fire!
“Let’s go see what’s going on,” I said. I got out of the
car and began to run.
“W hat for?” Dally said. “G et back here!”
Johnny was already following me. We could hear
Dally shouting at us, but he wasn’t angry enough to
come after us. There were many people standing in
front of the church, mostly little kids. I wondered how
they’d gotten there so quickly.
“W hat’s going on?” I asked one of the adults.
“Well, we don’t know for sure,” the man said with a
grin. “We were having a school picnic up here and the
first thing we knew, the place is burning up.” Then, to
the kids, he shouted, “Stand back, children. The fire­
men will be coming soon.”
“ I think we started it,” I said to Johnny. “We must
have dropped a lighted cigarette or something.”
About that time a lady came running up. “Jerry,

4 The Outsiders 49
 some of the kids are missing,”
“They’re probably around here somewhere,” the
man answered. “You can’t tell with all this excitement
where they might be.”
5 “N o.” She shook her head. “T hey’ve been missing
for at least half an hour. I thought they were climbing
the h i l l ...”
Then we all listened. Faintly, just faintly, you could
hear someone shouting. A nd it sounded like it was
10 coming from inside the church.
The woman went white. “ I told them not to play in
the church ... I told them ...” She looked like she was
going to start screaming, so Jerry shook her.
“ I’ll get them,” I said, “don’t worry!” I started to run
15 toward the church, but the man caught my arm. “ I’ll
get them. You kids stay out!”
I pulled myself loose and ran on. A ll I could think
was: We started it. We started it. We started it!
I wasn’t about to go through that burning door, so I
20 broke a window and pulled myself in. It’s surprising that
I didn’t cut myself to death, now that I think about it.
“ Hey, Ponyboy!”
I looked around, surprised. I hadn’t realized Johnny
had been right behind me all the way. I took a deep
25 breath and started coughing. The smoke filled my eyes.
“ Is that guy coming?”
Johnny shook his head. “The window stopped him.”
“Too scared?” I asked.
“N o ...” Johnny gave me a grin. “Too fat.”
30 I couldn’t laugh because I was scared I’d drown in
the smoke.
“Where are the kids?” Johnny shouted.
| cough, [kof] push air out from one’s throat suddenly

50
 “In the back, I guess,” I shouted, and we started
looking for them, I should be scared, I thought, but I’m
not. Burning pieces of wood were falling down on us
from above. W hy aren’t I scared?
We pushed open the door to the back room. There 5
were four or five little kids, about eight years old or
younger, sitting in a comer. One was screaming his
head off, and Johnny shouted, “Shut up! We’re going
to get you out!” The kid looked surprised and stopped
screaming, I was surprised myself, Johnny wasn’t jo

behaving at all like his old self. He broke a window and

pushed out the nearest kid, I saw his face, and he was
grinning at me* He wasn’t scared either. That was the
only time I can think of when I saw him without that
scared look in his eyes. He looked like he was having 15

the time of his life.

4: 51
 I picked up a kid and pushed him through the win-
dow as gently as I could* There were even more people
outside by then. Dally was also standing there. W hen
he saw me he screamed, “For Pete's sake, get out of
5 there! Forget those kids!”
I didn't pay any attention. I picked up another kid
and pushed him through the window. I was coughing
so hard I could hardly stand up. It was so hot. We
pushed the last of the kids out as the front of the
10 church started to fall down. Johnny pushed me toward
the window. “G et out!”
I jumped out of the window and heard something
heavy fall down right behind me. I almost fell, cough­
ing and trying to get my breath. Then I heard Johnny
15 scream. A s I turned to go back for him, Dally hit me
across the back as hard as he could. Then everything
went dark.

When I woke up, my whole body hurt and I wondered

where I was. I tried to think, but I heard loud screaming.
20 I couldn’t tell whether it was inside or outside my head.
Then I realized it was a siren. The police, I thought.
The police have come for us. I wished Soda was there.
Someone was touching my face gently, and a voice
said, “ I think he’s waking up.”
25 I opened my eyes. It was dark. I'm moving, I thought.
Are they taking me to prison?
“Where ...?” I said, not able to get anything else out
of my mouth. I saw a stranger sitting beside me. But he
wasn't a stranger ... I had seen him before ...
30 “Take it easy, kid,” he said. “You’re in an ambu­
lance.”
“W here’s Johnny?” I cried, scared at being in this car

52
 with strangers. uA nd Dallas?”
“T hey’re in the other ambulance, right behind us,”
the man said. “Just calm down. You’re going to be okay.
You just passed o u t”
“I didn’t,” I said. “Dallas hit me. Why?” 5
“ Because your back was on fire, that’s why,” the man
said.
I was surprised. “It was? Gosh, I didn’t feel it. It
doesn’t hurt.”
“We put it out before you got burned. You passed out 10
from breathing in smoke. O f course, being hit on the
back didn’t help much.”
I remembered who he was then. Jerry somebody-on
other who was too fat to get in the window. He must
be a school teacher, I thought. “Are you taking us to 15
the police station?” I was still a little mixed up.
“The police station?” It was his turn to be surprised.
“W hy would we want to take you to the police station?
We’re taking all three of you to the hospital.”
I thought about it. “Are Johnny and Dally all right?” 20
“W hich one’s which?” he asked.
“Johnny has black hair,” I said. “ Dally is the mean-
looking one.”
He looked down at his hands. “We think that kid is
going to be all right. He burned his arm pretty badly, 25
though, trying to pull the other one out the window.
Johnny, well, I don’t know about him. A piece of wood
fell across his back. He might have broken his back,
and he was burned pretty badly. He passed out before
he got out the window.” 30
He must have seen the look on my face. “You three

I pass out, faint, lose consciousness suddenly

53
 are the bravest kids Fve seen in a long time,” he said
quickly. “First you and the black-haired kid climbed in
that window. Then the tough-looking kid went back
in to save him. Mrs. O ’Briant and I think you were
5 sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional
heroes or something?”
Sent from heaven? “No, we’re greasers,” I said.
“You’re what?” he said.
“Greasers,” I repeated. “You know, like hoods. John-
10 ny is wanted for killing someone, and Dallas has a police
record that is a mile long.”
“Are you joking?” Jerry stared at me as if he thought
I was still in shock or something.
“I’m not,” I said. “Take me to the city and you’ll find
15 out pretty fast.”
“We’re taking you to a hospital there anyway. We
found your address in your pocket. Is your name really
Ponyboy?”
“Yeah.” I felt weak. “Are the little kids okay?”
20 “Just fine. A little scared maybe.”

I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to hear how

Dally and Johnny were. Except for a few bums, I was all
right. I had watched them bring Dally and Johnny in.
Daily’s eyes were closed, but when I spoke, he had tried
25 to grin. He told me that if I ever did a stupid thing like
that again he’d beat me up. I had been afraid to look at
Johnny’s face, but his face wasn’t burned. He just
looked very white and sort of sick. I would have cried
at the sight of him if other people hadn’t been there.

heaven, [’hevan] place in the sky where good people go when they die
police record, police list of the times a person has broken the law

54
 Jerry Wood stayed with me the whole time. He kept
thanking me for getting the kids out. He didn’t seem to
mind that we were hoods. I told him the whole story,
starting when Dallas and Johnny and I had met at the
comer of Pickett Street and Sutton Street. He was 5
really nice about it. He said that being heroes would
help us in court.
I was sitting in the waiting room, smoking a ciga­
rette, when Jerry came back in from making a phone
call. He stared at me for a second. “You shouldn’t be 10
smoking.”
I was surprised. “Why?” I looked at my cigarette. It
looked okay to me. I looked around for a “No Smoking”
sign and couldn’t find one. “Why?”
“Why, uh,” Jerry said, “uh, you’re too young.” 15
“I am?” I had never thought about it. Everyone in our
neighborhood, even the girls, smoked. Except for Darry,
we had all started smoking at an early age. Johnny had
been smoking since he was nine. Steve started at eleven.
So no one thought it unusual when I started. 20
Jerry simply sighed, then grinned. “There are some
people here to see you. They say they are your brothers
or something.”
I jumped up and ran for the door, but it was already
open. Soda was standing there. I was so glad to see 25
him, I could have cried. He pushed my hair back. “Oh,
Ponyboy, your hair ... your hair ...”
Then I saw Darry. He was standing in the doorway,
his hands deep inside his pockets. I simply looked at
him. He said, “ Ponyboy ...” 30
I let go of Soda and stood there for a minute. Darry
didn’t like me ... he had made me run away that night
...h e had hit me ... Darry shouted at me all the time ...

55
 he didn’t care about me ... Suddenly I realized that
Darry was crying. I hadn’t seen him cry in years, not
even when Mom and Dad had been killed.
In that second, I understood what Soda and Dally
5 and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me. Darry did care
about me, as much as he cared about Soda. And
because he cared, he was trying too hard to make
something of me. W hen he shouted, “ Pony, where
have you been all this time?” he meant, “ Pony, you’ve
10 scared me to death. Please be careful, because I don’t
want anything to happen to you.”
Darry looked down and turned away silently.
“ Darry!” I screamed and ran to him. “ Darry,” I said,
“ I’m sorry ...”
15 “Oh, Pony,” he said, “ I thought we’d lost you ... like
we lost Mom and Dad ...”
That was what he was afraid of - losing another per­
son he loved. I remembered how close he and Dad had
been. I wondered how I could ever have thought him
20 hard and unfeeling. I knew everything was going to be
okay now. I had taken the long way around, but I was
finally home. To stay.

Chapter 7
Now there were three of us sitting in the waiting room
waiting to hear how Dally and Johnny were. Then the
25 reporters and the police came. They asked too many
questions too fast, and got me mixed up. If you want to
know the truth, I wasn’t feeling really good in the first
place. Kind of sick, really. A nd I’m scared of policemen
anyway.

56
 One of the reporters asked me, “W hat would you do
right now if you could do anything you wanted?”
I looked at him tiredly. “Take a bath.”
They thought that was pretty funny, but I meant it.
I felt terrible.
The nurses wouldn’t tell us anything about Johnny
and Dally, so Darry got hold of the doctor. The doctor
told us that he would talk only to the family. Darry told
him that we were about as much family as Dally and
Johnny had.
Dally would be okay after two or three days in the
hospital, the doctor said. One arm was badly burned,
but he would get better in a couple of weeks. Dally will
be okay, I thought. Dallas is always okay. It was Johnny
I was worried about.
Johnny’s back had been broken. He was in shock and
had serious bums all over his body. They were doing
everything they could for him. Since his back was bro­
ken he couldn’t feel the bums below his waist He kept
calling for Dallas and Ponyboy. If he lived ...
“ If?” Please, no, I thought. Please not “ i f ’. Darry put
an arm across my shoulder.
Even if he lived, he’d never be able to walk again.
“You wanted the truth, and you got the truth,” the doc­
tor said. “Now go home and get some rest.”
I was shaking. I wanted to cry, but greasers don’t cry
in front of strangers. Johnny would never be able to
walk again! I’m dreaming, I thought, I’m dreaming. I’ll
wake up at home or in the church, and everything will
be like it used to be. But I didn’t believe myself. Even

nurse, person who is trained to take care of sick or old people

waist, narrow part of the body below the chest
 if Johnny did live, he’d never play football again. H e’d
have to stay in that house he hated, where he wasn’t
wanted. Things could never be like they used to be,
Darry said, “We’d better go home. We can’t do any-
5 thing here.”

I was the first one up the next morning. After taking a

shower, I put on some clean clothes and looked at my
face in the mirror. That terrible haircut made my ears
stick out. I started making breakfast.
10 “Anybody home?” a familiar voice called through
the window, and Two-Bit and Steve came in.
“ In here!” I shouted.
Two-Bit came running into the kitchen. “Hey, Pony­
boy,” he cried happily, “long time no see.”
15 You would have thought it had been five years
instead of five days since I’d seen him last. I didn’t
mind. I like old Two-Bit. H e’s a good friend to have.
“How do you like being a hero?” he asked. He
showed me the morning paper.
20 I stared at the newspaper. On the front page o f the
second section was the headline: HO O DS T U R N
IN T O H ERO ES.
“What I like is the 'turn into’ part,” Two-Bit said.
“You were heroes from the beginning. You just didn’t
25 ‘turn into’ heroes suddenly.”
I hardly heard him. I was reading the paper. That
whole page was covered with stories about us: the
fight, the killing, the church burning, the Socs being
drunk, everything. My picture was there, with Darry
30 and Sodapop. The article told how Johnny and I had

| turn into, become

58
risked our lives saving those little kids- One of the
parents said that they would all have burned to death
if it hadn’t been for us. It told the whole story of
our fight with the Socs. They had interviewed Cherry
Valance, and she said Bob had been drunk. The boys 5
had been looking for a fight when they took her home.
Bob had told her he’d beat us up for picking up his girl.
His friend Randy Adderson, who had helped jump us,
also said it was their own fault. There was another story
about just Darry and Soda and me: how Darry worked 10
on two jobs at once and was good at both of them. It
mentioned Sodapop dropping out of school so we could
stay together. A nd that I got good grades at school all
the time. Then it said we shouldn’t be separated after we
had worked so hard to stay together. 15
“You mean ... that they’re thinking about putting me
and Soda in a boys’ home or something?” I asked.
“Something like that,” Steve said.
I sat down. We couldn’t be taken away now. N ot
after Darry and I finally understood each other. N ot 20
now, when we were going to fight the Socs once and
for all. N ot now, when Johnny needed us, and Dally
was still in the hospital.
“ Don’t worry about it,” Steve said. “They don’t do
things like that to heroes. Where are Soda and Super- 25
man?”
Just then Darry and Sodapop came into the kitchen.
“Darry,” I said, “did you know about them putting us
in a boys’ home?”
Without turning to look at me, he said, “Yeah, the 30
police told me last night. W e’d better get on to work,
Soda. See you this afternoon, Ponyboy.” They left.
Two-Bit and I decided to go visit Johnny and Dally

59
 at the hospital W hen we stopped at a drugstore on the
way to buy Cokes, the blue Mustang pulled up- I
almost wanted to run, but Two-Bit shook his head.
The Socs who had jumped Johnny and me at the park
5 came over. I recognized Randy Adderson. I hated
them. It was their fault Bob was dead. It was their fault
Johnny was dying. It was their fault Soda and I might
get put in a boys’ home.
“You know the rules,” Two-Bit said to the Socs. “N o
10 fighting before the big fight tonight.”
“We know,” Randy said. He looked at me. “Come
here. I want to talk to you.”
I looked over at Two-Bit. He nodded. I followed
Randy over to his car. We sat there in his car for a
15 while in silence.
“I read about you in the paper,” Randy said finally.
“Why did you do it?”
“ I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe I felt like playing
hero.”
20 “I wouldn’t have,” he said. “ I would have let those
kids bum to death.”
“You might not have. You might have done the
same thing ...”
“ I don’t know,” Randy said. “I don’t know anything
25 anymore. I would never have believed a greaser could
do something like that.”
“Greasers didn’t have anything to do with it,” I said.
“My friend over there wouldn’t have done it. Maybe
you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend
30 of yours wouldn’t have.”
“ I’m not going to go to the fight tonight,” Randy
said slowly.
I took a good look at him. He was seventeen or so,

60
 but he was already old* Like Dallas was old* Cherry had
said her friends were too cool to feel anything* Randy
was supposed to be too cool to feel anything, and yet
there was pain in his eyes*
“ Pm sick of all this,” he said. “Sick and tired* Bob 5
was a good guy* He was the best friend a guy ever had*
He was a good fighter, but he was a real person, too* Do
you understand?”
I nodded*
“H e’s dead now* His parents always gave him what 10
he wanted. He kept trying to make someone say ‘N o ,’
and they never did* They never did. That was what he
wanted* For somebody to tell him ‘No*’ T hat’s what we
all want, really.” Randy tried to grin, but I could tell he
was close to crying* 15
“One time he came home very drunk,” he said. “He
was sure they were going to get angry at him* You know
what they did? They thought it was something they’d
done* They thought it was their fault* If his father had
just hit him - just once - he might still be alive* I don’t 20
know why I’m telling you this* I couldn’t tell anyone
else. My friends - they’d think I was crazy* Maybe I am*
I just know that I’m sick of this whole mess* That kid,
your friend, the one that got burned, might he die?”
“Yeah,” I said, trying not to think about Johnny. 25
“A nd tonight ... people will get hurt, maybe killed*
I’m sick of it because it doesn’t do any good* You can’t
win, you know that, don’t you?” W hen I didn’t say any­
thing, he went on, “You can’t win, even if you beat us.
You’ll still be where you were before - at the bottom* 30
And we’ll still be the lucky ones. So it doesn’t do any
good, the fighting and the killing* It doesn’t change a
thing* Greasers will still be greasers, and Socs will still

61
 be Socs* Sometimes I think it’s the ones in the middle
who are really the lucky ones ...” He took a deep
breath* “ Pm going to leave town*”
“ I’d help you if I could,” I said* I remembered
5 Cherry’s voice: Things are rough all over* I knew now
what she meant*
He looked at me* “No, you wouldn’t* I’m a Soc* If
you have a little money, then the whole world hates
you*”
10 “N o,” I said, “you hate the whole world*”
He just looked at me*
I got out of the car* “You would have saved those kids
if you had been there,” I said* “You’d have saved them.”
“Thanks, greaser,” he said, trying to grin* Then he
15 stopped* “ I didn’t mean that* I meant, thanks, kid.”
“My name is Ponyboy,” I said* “Nice talking to you,
Randy.”
I walked over to Two-Bit*
“W hat did he want?” Two-Bit asked* “W hat did Mr*
20 SuperSoc have to say?”
“He isn’t a Soc,” I said, “he’s just a guy. He just
wanted to talk.”

Chapter 8
The nurses at the hospital wouldn’t let us see Johnny*
Two-Bit wouldn’t take no for an answer. That was his
25 friend in there and he wanted to see him. We were get­
ting nowhere until the doctor found out what was
going on*
“Let them go in,” he said to the nurse. “He’s been
asking for them. It can’t hurt now.”
30 It’s true, I thought as we went in* He is dying*

62
 Johnny was lying still, with his eyes closed* W hen
Two-Bit said, “ Hey, Johnny,” he opened them and
looked at us, trying to grin* “Hey, you,” he said*
Two-Bit looked around* “Are they treating you okay,
kid? W e’re having the big fight tonight.” 5
Johnny didn’t say anything, but his eyes got bigger*
“ It’s too bad you and Dally can’t be in it,” Two-Bit
said* “Did you know you got your name in the paper for
being a hero?”
Johnny almost grinned as he nodded* “C ool,” he j o
managed to say* From the look in his eyes, I guessed he
thought Southern gentlemen were nothing next to
Johnny Cade.
“You want anything, kid?” Two-Bit asked*
Johnny barely nodded* “The book” - he looked at 15
me - “can you get another one?”
Two-Bit looked at me, too*

63
 “ He wants a copy of Gone with the Wind, so I can
read it to him,” I explained. “ Do you want to run down
to the drugstore and get one?”
“Okay,” Two-Bit said happily. “ Don’t go away.”
5 I sat down and tried to think of something to say.
“ Dally is going to be okay,” I said finally. “And Darry
and I, we’re okay now.”
I knew Johnny understood what I meant. He tried to
smile again, and then he suddenly went white and
10 closed his eyes.
“Johnny!” I said. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, keeping his eyes closed. “Yeah, it just
hurts sometimes. I’m pretty badly off, aren’t I, Pony?”
“You’ll be okay,” I said. “You’ve got to be. We
15 couldn’t get along without you.”
It was true. We couldn’t get along without him. We
needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. A nd
for the same reason.
“I won’t be able to walk again,” Johnny said. “ I broke
20 my back.”
“You’ll be okay,” I repeated. Don’t start crying, I told
myself. Don’t start crying, you’ll scare Johnny.
“You want to know something, Ponyboy?” Johnny
said. “ I’m so scared. I used to talk about killing myself,
25 but I don’t want to die now. Sixteen years aren’t long
enough. There are so many things I haven’t done, and
so many things I haven’t seen. It’s not fair. You know
what? That time we were in W indrixville was the only
time I’ve been away from our neighborhood.”
30 “You aren’t going to die,” I said, trying to control my
voice. Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a
lot. A ll the wrong things, not the things you want to
learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you can see a lot.

64
A ll the wrong things, not the things you want to see.
The nurse came in and asked me to leave -1 ran into
Two-Bit, who was coming in- “You can’t see him now,”
the nurse told him.
Two-Bit handed her the book- “Make sure he can see
it when he wakes up-” She took it and closed the door
behind her. Two-Bit stood and looked at the door a
long time- “ I wish it was any one of us except Johnny,”
he said, and his voice was serious for once- “We could
get along without anyone but Johnny.” He turned.
“Let’s go see Dallas.”

Dally was arguing with one of the nurses when we

came in. He grinned at us. “Man, am I glad to see you!
These hospital people won’t let me smoke!”
We sat down, grinning at each other. Dally was him ­
self- He was okay.
“Man, you scared me the other day,” Dally said to
me. “ I thought I’d killed you.”
“Me?” I said, surprised- “Why?”
“W hen you jumped out of the church,” he said- “ I
meant to hit you just hard enough to put out the fire.
But you fell down and I thought I’d broken your back.”
He thought for a minute- “ I’m glad I didn’t, though.”
“Sure,” I said- I’d never liked Dally, but for the first
time I felt like he was my friend- A nd just because he
was glad he hadn’t killed me.
Dally looked out the window- “U h — how’s the kid?”
“We just left him,” Two-Bit said. I could tell that he
was wondering if he should tell Dally the truth. “I don’t
really know — but — well, he seemed pretty bad to me.”
“Two-Bit,” Dally said, “do you still have your switch­
blade?”

5 The Outsiders 65
 “Yeah,” Two-Bit said.
“G ive it to me,” Dally said. “W e’ve got to win that
fight tonight.” His voice was hard. “W e’ve got to get
even with the Socs. For Johnny.”
5 We left. We knew better than to talk to Dally when
he was in a mood like that.

On the way back, Two-Bit stopped at a gas station to

buy some cigarettes. I felt sick to my stomach and sat
down. Two-Bit put his hand on my forehead and
10 looked worried. “You feel okay? You’re awfully hot,” he
said.
“ I’m all right,” I said. He looked at me as if he didn’t
believe me. “ Don’t tell Darry, okay?” I said. “Come on,
Two-Bit, be a friend. I’ll be okay tonight.”
15 “A ll right,” Two-Bit said. “ But Darry will kill me if
you’re sick and go to the fight anyway.”
I was quiet most of the way home. I was thinking
about the fight. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and
it wasn’t from being ill. It was the same feeling I’d felt
20 that night Darry had shouted at me for falling asleep in
the lot. I had the same deathly fear that something was
going to happen that none of us could stop. Finally I
said it. “Tonight - I don’t like it one bit.”
Two-Bit pretended not to understand. “You’ve never
25 been scared of a fight before. Not even when you were
a little kid.”
“ I’m not scared, Two-Bit Mathews, and you know
it,” I said angrily. “ I mean, I’ve got an awful feeling that
something’s going to happen.”
30 “Something is going to happen,” Two-Bit said. “We’re
going to beat the Socs, that’s what.”
Two-Bit knew what I meant, but he pretended not

66
 to. He seemed to feel that if you said something was all
right, it was, no matter what. He’s been that way all his
life. Sodapop would have understood, but Two-Bit just
isn’t Soda.
Cherry Valance was sitting in her car by the vacant 5
lot when we came by. In daylight she was even better
looking.
“Hi, Ponyboy,” she said. “Hi, Two-Bit.”
Two-Bit stopped. “W hat’s up with the Socs?”
“They’ll fight your way,” she said. “N o knives, a fair 10
fight. Your rules.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Randy told me.”
Two-Bit and I turned and started home. “Thanks,
Cherry.” 15
“ Ponyboy, stay a minute,” Cherry said. I stopped and
went back to her car. “How’s Johnny?”
“N ot so good,” I said. “W ill you go up to see him?”
She shook her head. “No. I couldn’t.”
“W hy not?” I said. It was the least she could do. It 20
was her boyfriend who had caused it all.
“ I couldn’t,” she said in a quiet voice. “He killed
Bob. Maybe Bob asked for it. I know he did. But I
couldn’t ever look at the person who killed him. M ay­
be I’m too young to be in love, but Bob was something 25
special. You only knew his bad side. He could be sweet
sometimes, and friendly. But when he got drunk ...”
“ Do you think that spying for us makes things bet­
ter?” I asked her. “ Don’t you ever feel sorry for us.” I
started to turn and walk off. 30
“ I wasn’t feeling sorry for you, Ponyboy,” she said. “ I
only wanted to help. I liked you from the start... You’re
a nice kid, Ponyboy. Do you realize how few nice kids

5= 67
 there are nowadays? Wouldn’t you try to help me if you
could?”
I would. I’d help her and Randy both, if I could.
“Hey,” I said suddenly, “can you see the sunset from the
5 West Side?”
She was surprised, then she smiled. “Yes.”
“You can see it from the East Side, too,” I said quietly.
“Thanks, Ponyboy.” She smiled. “You’re all right.”
I went on, walking home slowly.

Chapter 9
10 It was almost six-thirty when I got home. The fight was
set for seven, so I was late for supper, as usual. I took a
shower and changed my clothes.
Soda was playing poker with Steve in the living room.
I sat beside them, waiting for the rest of the gang to show
15 up. But of course, tonight the only one coming would be
Two-Bit. Johnny and Dallas wouldn’t be coming.
“ I don’t know if you ought to be in this fight, Pony,”
Darry said slowly.
Oh, no, I thought, I’ve got to be in it. Don’t let him
20 make me stay home now. I’ve got to be in it.
“You don’t look so great, kid,” he said.
“Let him fight tonight,” Soda said. “N o knives, no
danger.”
“ I’ll be okay,” I said. “I’ll find a little one to fight,
25 okay?”
“Well, I guess it’s okay,” Darry said. “ But be careful.
If you get into trouble, shout and I’ll get you out.”

68
“Listen, Soda and Ponyboy,” Darry said as we walked
down the street, “ if the police come, you two get out of
there. The rest of us can only go to prison. You two can
get sent to a boys’ home.”
“Nobody in this neighborhood is going to call the 5
police,” Steve said. “They know what would happen if
they did.”
“Just the same, you two leave at the first sign of
trouble. You hear me?” Darry said.
When we arrived at the lot, the other greaser gang, 10
the Brumly boys, were already waiting for us. I looked at
Darry. He wasn’t going to be a hood like them when he
got older. He was better than the rest of us, I thought.
He’s going somewhere. A nd I was going to be like him.
I wasn’t going to live in this neighborhood all my life. 15
“Were you and the black-headed kid the ones who
killed that Soc?” one of the Brumly boys asked me.
“Yeah,” I said, pretending to be proud of it. Then I
thought of Cherry and Randy and got a sick feeling in
my stomach. 20
“Hey, you, the big one,” the leader of the Brumly
boys shouted. “Come on over here.”
I watched Darry go over to meet him. He shouldn’t
be here, I thought suddenly. I shouldn’t be here, and
Steve shouldn’t be here, and Soda shouldn’t be here, 25
and Two-Bit shouldn’t be here. We’re greasers, we’re
not hoods, and we don’t belong together with these
guys.
I went back to stand next to Soda, Steve and Two-
Bit to watch the Socs arrive. Right on time. I counted 30
twenty-two of them. There were twenty of us, so I
guessed the odds were as even as we could get them.
Darry always liked to take on two at a time anyway.

69
 They stood silently facing us, and we lined up facing
them, I looked for Randy but didn’t see him. I hoped
he wasn’t there. A guy stepped up. “Let’s get the rules
straight - no knives, and the first ones to run lose.
5 Right?”
“That’s right,” the leader of the Brumly boys said.
There was a long silence: W ho was going to start it?
Darry solved the problem. He stepped forward under a
street lamp and said, “ I’ll fight anyone.”
w For a second it looked like there wasn’t anyone brave
enough to fight him. Then a Soc stepped forward. “I’ll
fight you,” he said and Darry smiled.
They moved around each other under the light,
staring at each other. The rest of us waited. I could
15 hear the breathing of the boys around me.
Then the Soc hit Darry so hard that anyone but
Darry would have fallen. The fight was on. I couldn’t
find a Soc my size, so I took the next-best size and
jumped on him. Dallas was right beside me, already on
20 top of someone.
“ I thought you were in the hospital,” I shouted to
him as the Soc knocked me to the ground.
“ I was.” Dally was having a hard time because of his
left arm. “I’m not now. Don’t you know a fight isn’t a
25 fight unless I’m in it?”
I couldn’t answer because the Soc was sitting on me
and hitting my head. I thought that he was going to
knock some of my teeth loose or break my nose. But
Darry was keeping an eye out for me. He caught that
30 guy by the shoulder and lifted him up. I decided it
would be fair for me to help Dally since he could use
only one arm.
I jumped onto the back of the Soc who was fighting

70
71
 Dally, pulling his hair and hitting him. He reached
back and caught me by the neck. He threw me over his
head to the ground. I was up again soon and jumped
right back on the Soc. Dally knocked him backward,
5 so that all three of us fell to the ground.
A Soc kicked me hard in the ribs. You’d better
believe it hurt. Then he kicked me in the head. I lay
still on the ground, trying to clear my mind and keep
from passing out.
10 wThey’re running!” I heard a voice shout happily.
“Look at them run!”
It seemed to me that the voice belonged to Two-Bit,
but I couldn’t be sure. I tried to sit up, and saw that the
Socs were getting into their cars and leaving. Steve lay
15 on the ground about ten feet from me. We found out
later he had three broken ribs. Sodapop was beside
him, talking in a low voice. I saw Two-Bit had blood
all over one side of his face. He was grinning happily
because the Socs were running.
20 “We won,” Darry said in a tired voice. He was going
to have a black eye and there was a cut across his fore­
head. “We beat the Socs.”
Dally stood beside me quietly for a minute. He was
trying to understand the fact that we had really beaten
25 the Socs. Then he pulled me to my feet. “Gome on!”
He pulled me down the street. “We’re going to see
Johnny,” he told me. “Hurry! He was getting worse
when I left. He wants to see you.”
We ran to the hospital. Several people shouted at
30 us, I think, but Dally had nothing on his mind except
Johnny. When we finally got to Johnny’s room, the

| rib, one of the bones in the chest

72
doctor stopped us. “ I’m sorry, boys, but he’s dying.”
“We’ve got to see him,” Dally said, and brought out
Two-Bit’s switchblade. His voice was shaking. “W e’re
going to see him.”
“You can see him,” the doctor said, “but it’s because 5
you’re his friends, not because of that knife.”
Dally looked at him for a second, then put the knife
back in his pocket. We both went into Johnny’s room.
We stood there for a second, getting our breath back. It
was awfully quiet. I looked at Johnny. He was very still, 10
and for a moment I thought: He’s dead already. We’re
too late.
“Johnny?” Dally said. “Johnny?”
Johnny opened his eyes. “Hey,” he managed to say
softly. 15
“We won,” Dally said. “We beat the Socs.”
Johnny didn’t even try to grin at him. “Useless ...
fighting is no good ...” He was awfully white.
“They’re still writing about you in the paper,” Dally
said nervously. “You’re a hero and all. Yeah, they’re 20
making all of the greasers into heroes. We’re all proud
of you.”
Johnny looked happy. Dally was proud of him. That
was all Johnny had ever wanted.
“Ponyboy,” Johnny said. 25
I almost didn’t hear him. I came closer and leaned
over to hear what he was going to say.
“Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold ...” Then Johnny
died.
You read about people looking peacefully asleep 30
when they’re dead, but they don’t. Johnny just looked
dead. I tried to say something, but I couldn’t make a
sound.

73
 Dally pushed Johnny’s hair back* “He could never
keep that hair back ... that’s what you get for trying to
help people* That’s what you get ***” He hit his hand
against the wall* “Johnny,” he cried* “Oh, Johnny, don’t
5 die, please don’t die ***” Suddenly he ran out the door
and down the hall*

Chapter 10

I started the long walk home* Johnny was dead* But he

wasn’t* That body back in the hospital wasn’t Johnny*
Johnny was somewhere else - maybe asleep in the
10 vacant lot, or sitting on the back steps of the church in
Windrixville* I’d go home and walk by the lot, and
Johnny would be sitting there* He isn’t dead, I said to
myself* He isn’t dead* And this time my dreaming
worked* I believed that he wasn’t dead*
15 I must have walked around for hours* I might have
been out all night if a man hadn’t asked me if I wanted
a ride*
“Huh? Oh* Yeah *** I guess so,” I said* I got in the car*
The man, who was in his mid-twenties, looked at me.
20 “A re you all right, kid?” he asked. “You look like
you’ve been in a fight.”
“ I have been* I’m okay.” Johnny is not dead, I told
myself, and I believed it*
“I hate to tell you this, kid,” the guy said, “but you’re
25 bleeding all over my car seats.”
“ I am?” I asked*
“Your head,” he said*

| bleed., lose blood

74
 I reached up to the side of my head* W hen I looked
at my hand it was covered in blood.
“Gosh, mister, I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “This car has been
through worse. What’s your address? I’m not about to 5
throw a hurt kid out on the streets at this time of night.”
I told him. He drove me to my house, and I got out.
“Thanks a lot.”
W hat was left of our gang was in the living room.
Steve was lying on the sofa. His eyes were closed, but jo

when the door shut behind me he opened them. Soda

had a wide cut on his lip and one across his cheek. Dar­
ry had a cut on his forehead and a black eye. One side
of Two-Bit’s face was bloody.
They all looked up when I walked in. is
Darry jumped up. “Where have you been?” he
shouted.
Oh, let’s not start that again, I thought.
He stopped suddenly. “ Ponyboy, what’s the matter?”
he asked. 20
I looked at all of them, a little scared. “Johnny ...
he’s dead.” My voice sounded strange, even to me. But
he’s not dead, a voice in my head said. “We told him
about beating the Socs and ... I don’t know, he just
died.” He told me to stay gold, I remembered. W hat is
was he talking about?
There was a silence. I don’t think any of us had rea­
lized how bad off Johnny really had been. Soda looked
like he was going to start crying. Two-Bit’s eyes were
closed, and I suddenly remembered Dally ... Dally hit- 30
ting the w a ll...
“ Dallas is gone,” I said. “He ran out. He couldn’t
take it.”

75
 How can I take it? I wondered. Dally is tougher than
I am. W hy can I take it when Dally can’t? And then I
knew. Johnny was the only thing Dally loved. A nd now
Johnny was gone.
5 uSo he finally broke.” Two-Bit spoke everyone’s feel­
ings. “So even Dally has a breaking point.”
I started shaking. Darry said something in a low
voice to Soda.
, “ Ponyboy,” Soda said softly, “you look sick. Sit
10 down.”
I shook my head. “ I’m okay.” I felt sick. I felt as if I
was going to fall flat on my face, but I shook my head.
“ I don’t want to sit down.”
The phone rang, and Darry picked it up. He said
15 “ Hello” and then listened. He hung up quickly.
“That was Dally. H e’s just held up a drugstore and
the police are after him. We’ve got to get to him. He’ll
be at the vacant lot in a minute.”
We all ran from the house, even Steve. We reached
20 the vacant lot just as Dally came in, running as fast as
he could, from the other direction. Then we heard a
siren. A police car pulled up across the street from the
lot and policemen jumped out. Dally stopped under the
street lamp. He turned and pulled something black out
25 of his jacket. I remembered what he had said: I'v e been
carrying a gun* It isn’t loaded, but it sure does help*
It was only yesterday that Dally had told Johnny and
me that. But yesterday was years ago. A lifetime ago.
Dally raised the gun, and I thought: You fool. They
30 don’t know it’s not loaded. But as the policemen
started shooting, I knew that was what Dally wanted.
He fell down with a grin on his face. He was dead
before he hit the ground. But I knew that was what he

76
wanted. I knew he was dead because Dally Winston
wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.
Nobody would write in the newspapers about Dally.

77
 Two friends of mine had died that night: one a hero,
the other a hood* But I remembered Dally pulling
Johnny through the window of the burning church*
Dally gave us his gun, although it could mean prison for
5 him* Dally risked his life for us, trying to keep Johnny
out of trouble. And now he was a dead hood* There
wouldn’t be any stories about him. Dally didn’t die as a
hero* He died young, just like we all knew he’d die
some day* Just like the Brumly boys and the other guys
10 we knew would die some day* But Johnny was right* He
died gallant*
Steve fell forward crying, and Soda caught him by
the shoulders*
“Easy, easy,” I heard him say softly, “there’s nothing
15 we can do now.”
Nothing we can do *** not for Dally or Johnny or any
of us* I felt myself falling down* Someone cried, “Look
at the kid!” And the ground came up to meet me very
suddenly*

20 When I woke up it was light* It was awfully quiet* Too

quiet* I mean, our house just isn’t normally quiet* The
radio’s usually going, the T V is turned up loud, and
people are shouting at each other. Something was
wrong, but I couldn’t quite understand what it was*
25 Something had happened *** I couldn’t remember what*
Soda was sitting on the bed watching me*
“ Soda ...” I said, “ is somebody sick?”
“Yeah,” he said* “G o back to sleep now.”
“A m I sick?” I asked*
30 He touched my hair* “Yeah, you’re sick* Now be
quiet.”
I had one more question* I was still kind of mixed up*

78
“Is Darry sorry I’m sick?”
Soda was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, he’s sorry you’re
sick. Now go back to sleep.”
I closed my eyes. I was awfully tired.

W hen I woke up again, it was daylight. Darry was 5

asleep in a chair in my bedroom. He should be at work,
I thought. W hy is he asleep in the chair?
“Hey, Darry,” I said softly, shaking his knee. “Hey,
Darry, wake up.”
He opened his eyes. “ Ponyboy, are you okay?” 10
“Yeah,” I said, “ I think so.”
Something had happened ... but I still couldn’t
remember it. But I was thinking more clearly than I
was the last time I’d woken up.
He sighed and pushed my hair back. “Gosh, kid, you 15
had us scared to death.”
“W hat was the matter with me?” I asked.
He shook his head. “ I told you you shouldn’t have
gone to the fight. Two-Bit told me you were sick before
the fight. He said it was all his fault you were sick. He 20
felt pretty bad that night,” Darry said. He was quiet for
a minute. “We all did.”
A nd then I remembered. Dallas and Johnny were
dead. Don’t think of them, I thought. Don’t remember
how Johnny was your friend. Don’t remember that he 25
didn’t want to die. Don’t think of Dally running out of
the hospital, falling down under the streetlight. Try to
think that Johnny is better off now. Try to remember
that Dally would have ended up like that sooner or lat­
er. Best of all, don’t think. Don’t remember. Don’t 30
remember.
“Today is Tuesday,” Darry said. “You’ve been asleep

79
 since Saturday night. Don’t you remember?”
“N o,” I said slowly. “I’ve got to go to court and talk
to the police about Bob getting killed. A nd n o w ... with
Dally ...” I took a deep breath. “Darry, do you think
5 they’ll put me in a boys’ home or something?”
He was silent. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Don’t you even remember being in the hospital?”
I shook my head. “ I don’t remember.”
“You kept asking for me and Soda. Sometimes for
10 Mom and Dad, too. But mostly for Soda.”
Something in his voice made me look at him. Most­
ly for Soda. Did I ask for Darry at all?
“Johnny left you his copy of Gone with the Wind,”
he said. “He told the nurse he wanted you to have it.”
15 I looked at the book lying on the table. I didn’t want
to finish it. I’d never get past the part where the gallant
Southern gentlemen die. Southern gentlemen with big
black eyes in blue jeans and T-shirts. Southern gentle­
men dying under streetlights. Don’t remember. Don’t
20 remember.
Soda came running in. “Hey, Ponyboy!” he shouted.
“Gosh, you’ve been sick. Do you feel okay now?”
“ I’m okay,” I said.
“ I’ll go and make us some lunch,” Darry said and left.
25 “Soda,” I said suddenly. “Soda, did I ask for Darry
while I was sick?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “You asked for him and me
both. Sometimes Mom and Dad. And for Johnny.”
“Oh,” I said. “I thought maybe I didn’t ask for Darry.”
30 Soda grinned. “Well, you did, so don’t worry.”

80
 Chapter 11
I had to stay in bed a whole week after that* I read most
of the time* One day I started looking through one of
Soda’s old yearbooks* I came across a picture that
seemed familiar* W hen I read the name Robert Shel­
don, I didn’t even realize who it was* A nd then I final­
ly saw that it was Bob* I took a really good, long look
at the picture.
The picture didn’t look a lot like the Bob I remem­
bered, but nobody looks like his picture in a yearbook
anyway* He had been in the tenth grade that year* That
would make him about eighteen when he died* He had
been a handsome black-haired boy with dark eyes, like
Soda’s* I had never given Bob much thought. I hadn’t
had time to think* But that day I wondered about him*
W hat was he like?
I knew he liked to start fights. Like any Soc, he
thought that living on the West Side made him Mr*
Super-Tough* He was proud of his rings* But what
about the Bob Sheldon that Cherry Valance knew?
Sweet and friendly, that’s what she had said* A real per­
son, the best friend a guy ever had, Randy had told me*
His parents let him run wild. Was this because they
loved him too much or too little? Did they hate us
now?
“ Ponyboy,” Darry said* “There’s a guy here to see
you* He says he knows you* His name’s Randy.”
“Yeah, I know him,” I said*
“You want to see him?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said* “Sure, why not?”

| yearbook, book printed once a year by a high school about its students

6 The Outsiders 81
 “Hi, Ponyboy.” Randy was standing in the doorway.
“ Hi, Randy,” I said. “Sit down.” There were books
everywhere. He pushed a couple off a chair and sat
down.
5 “How are you feeling?” he asked. “Cherry told me
you were sick.”
“ Pm okay,” I said.
He tried to grin. “Uh, Ponyboy, I came here to see if
you were okay. W eVe got to go to court tomorrow.”
10 “Yeah,” I said, “I know.”
“My dad says I should tell the truth and nobody can
get hurt. He’s kind of upset about all this. My dad’s a
good guy, better than most. I feel really bad about my
father. It’s the first time I’ve felt anything in a long
15 time.”
The only thing I’d felt in a long time was being
scared. I’d put off thinking about court for as long as I
could. Soda and Darry didn’t like to talk about it either.
“ I guess your parents feel kind of awful about it,
20 too ...” Randy said.
“My parents are dead,” I said. “ I live here with just
Darry and Soda, my brothers. That is what is worrying
me. I might be put in a boys’ home somewhere. Darry
always makes me study, and he knows where I am and
25 who I’m with. I mean, we don’t get along so well some­
times, but he keeps me out of trouble.”
“ I didn’t know that.” Randy looked worried, he real­
ly did. A Soc who was worried because some greaser
was on his way to a boys’ home. That was really funny.
30 I don’t mean funny. You know what I mean.
“Listen to me, Pony,” Randy said. “You didn’t do
anything. It was your friend Johnny who had the
knife ...”

82
 “I had it,” I stopped him. He looked at me strange­
ly, “I had the knife, I killed Bob,”
Randy shook his head, “I saw it. You were almost
drowned. It was the black-headed guy who had the
switchblade. Bob scared him into doing it, I saw it,” 5
“No, I killed him,” I said. “ I had a switchblade. I was
scared they were going to beat me up.”
“No, kid, it was your friend, the one who died in the
h o sp ital...” Randy said gently.
“Johnny is not dead!” My voice was shaking. “John- 10
ny is not dead!”
“Hey, Randy.” Darry stuck his head in the door. “I
think you’d better go now.”
“Sure,” Randy said. He was still looking at me
strangely. “See you around, Pony.” 15
“ Don’t ever say anything to him about Johnny,” I
heard Darry say in a low voice as they went out the
room. “H e’s still pretty upset. The doctor said he’d get
over it if we gave him time.”
Randy was just like all the rest of the Socs. Cold- 20
blooded and mean. Johnny didn’t have anything to do
with Bob getting killed.

Chapter 12
Going to court wasn’t anything like I thought it would
be. Besides Darry and Soda and me, there were only
Randy and his parents, Cherry Valance and her parents, 25
and a couple of the other guys who had jumped Johnny
and me that night. I don’t know what I expected the
whole thing to be like. I guess I’ve been watching too

6* 83
 many Perry Mason shows* Oh, yeah, the doctor was
there* I didn’t know what he had to do with it then, but
I do now*
First Randy was questioned* He looked a little ner-
5 vous* I was a little shaky myself* Darry had told me to
keep my mouth shut no matter what Randy and the
others said. I’d get my turn*
A ll the Socs told the same story and told the truth,
except they said Johnny had killed Bob* I knew I could
10 straighten that point out when I got my turn* Cherry
told them what had happened before and after Johnny
and I had been jumped* I think I saw her cry, but I’m
not sure. Darry and Soda were asked about Dally* Was
he a really good friend of ours? Darry said, “Yes, sir.” I
15 was really proud of both of them* Dally had been one
of our gang* I thought it would never be my turn* Man,
I was scared by the time it was* A nd you know what?
They didn’t ask me a thing about Bob getting killed*
A ll they asked me was if I liked living with Darry, if I
20 liked school, what kind of grades I got* I didn’t under­
stand it then, but later I found out what the doctor had
been saying about me*
I wish I could say that everything went back to nor­
mal, but it didn’t. Especially me* I started running into
25 things, like doors, and kept falling over chairs and los­
ing things* Man, I was lucky if I got home from school
with the right books and with both of my shoes on*
One day I walked all the way home without my shoes*
I didn’t even notice it until Steve said something. I
guess I’d left my shoes at school, but I never did find

Perry Mason , lawyer who is the main character in the books by Erie
Stanley Gardner (18894970) and the films based on these books

84
 them. And another thing, I stopped eating, I used to
eat like a horse, but all of a sudden I didn't feel like eat­
ing, Everything tasted like sausage,
I wasn’t doing well at school, either, I didn’t do too
badly in math, because Darry checked my homework, 5
but I was really getting bad grades in English, I used to
get A s in English, I used to write good papers, but now
I was lucky to get a D on a paper.
It bothered my English teacher, too. He’s a really
good guy, who makes us think. You can tell he’s inter- 10
ested in you as a person, too. One day he told me to
stay after the rest of the class left.
“ Ponyboy, I’d like to talk to you about your grades,”
he said.
Man, I wished I could leave right then. I knew I was 15
failing that class, but I couldn’t help it.
“There’s not much to talk about,” he said. “Pony, I’ll
give it to you straight. You’re failing this class right
now. But if you write a good paper, I’ll pass you with a
C grade.” 20
I knew what he meant. He was telling me he knew
I was failing because I’d been in a lot of trouble. The
first week of school afterwards had been awful for me.
People I knew wouldn’t talk to me. People I didn’t
know would come right up and ask about the whole 25
mess, sometimes even teachers. My history teacher was
scared of me, even though I’d never caused any trouble
in her class. That made me feel really terrible.

A, (here) the highest grade given to a student’s work (A = excellent)

D, (here) grade given to a student’s work (D = not good, below average)
fail, be unsuccessful in (something), not pass

85
 “Yes, sir,” I said, “ I’ll try- W hat’s the paper supposed
to be about?”
“Anything you think is important enough to write
about,” he said- “ I want your own ideas and your own
5 experiences-”
Oh, boy, oh, boy- “Yes, sir,” I said and got out of
there as fast as I could.
A t lunch hour I met Two-Bit and Steve- We drove
over to a drugstore to buy Cokes- Greasers never ate
j o lunch in school.

I sat on Steve’s car drinking a Pepsi, while he and

Two-Bit were inside talking to some girls- A car drove
up and three Socs got out- I just sat there, looking at
them and drinking some more Pepsi-1 wasn’t scared. It
15 was the strangest feeling in the world -1 didn’t feel any­
thing - scared, angry, or anything- Just zero.
“You’re the guy who killed Bob Sheldon,” one of
them said- “A nd he was a friend of ours. We don’t like
anybody killing our friends, especially greasers.”
20 Big deal-1 broke the end off my bottle- “You get back
into your car,” I said.
They looked kind of surprised, and one of them
backed up.
“ I mean it,” I said and came towards them. “ I’ve had
25 about all I can take from you guys.” I guess they knew
I meant business, because they got into their car and
drove off.
“You really would have used that bottle, wouldn’t
you?” Two-Bit had been watching from the store door-
30 way. “Steve and I would have helped you, but I guess
we didn’t need to. You would really have cut them up,
huh?”
“ I guess so,” I said with a sigh -1 didn’t see what Two-

86
 Bit was worried about* Anyone else could have done
the same thing* Two-Bit wouldn’t have thought about
it twice*
“Ponyboy, listen,” Two-Bit said, “don’t get tough*
You’re not like the rest of us, and don’t try to be ***”
W hat was the matter with Two-Bit? I knew as well
as he did that if you got tough you didn’t get hurt* G et
smart and nothing can touch you *.* I bent down and
started to pick up the glass from the broken bottle*
“W hat in the world are you doing?” Two-Bit asked*
I looked up at him* “ Picking up the glass*”
He stared at me for a second, then grinned* “You’re
some kid,” he said* I didn’t know what he meant, so I
just went on picking up the glass* I didn’t want anyone
to get a flat tire*

I tried to write the paper when I got home from school*

I really did try, mostly because Darry told me to* I
thought about writing about Dad, but I couldn’t* It’s
going to be a long time before I can even think about
my parents. A long time*
After supper Darry and I got into a fight, the fourth
we’d had that week* This one started because I hadn’t
done anything on that paper, and I wanted to go out. I
used to just stand there and let Darry shout at me, but
lately I’d been shouting right back.
“W hy do I have to do my homework?” I shouted* “ I’ll
 have to get a job as soon as I get out of school anyway.
Look at Soda. He’s doing okay, and he dropped out.”
“You’re not going to drop out,” Darry shouted back.
“W ith your grades you could go to college. But school-
5 work is not the point. You have to start living again.
Johnny and Dallas were our friends, too, but you don’t
just stop living because you lose someone. I thought
you knew that by now. If you don’t like what I’m tell­
ing you, you can get out.”
10 We never talked about Dallas or Johnny. “You’d like
that, wouldn’t you?” I shouted. “You’d like me just to
get out. Well, it’s not that easy, is it, Soda?” But when
I looked at Soda, I stopped.
His face was white. “Don’t ...” he said. “Oh, you
15 guys, why can’t you ... I don’t know. It’s ju st... I hate to
hear you fight. It’s like I’m being split in half. You
understand?”
Darry looked surprised. Neither of us had realized
what it was doing to Soda to hear us fight. W hat he
20 said was true. Darry and I never thought how much it
was hurting Soda.
“ I mean, I can’t take sides,” Soda said. “ It’d be a lot
easier if I could, but I see both sides. Darry shouts too ;
much and tries too hard. A nd Ponyboy, you don’t i
25 think enough. You don’t realize what Darry is giving up
for you. He could have put you in a boys’ home and
worked his way through college. Ponyboy, I dropped
out of school because I’m not as smart as you are. I real­
ly did try, but you saw my grades. Look, I’m happy
30 working with cars in a gas station. You’d never be hap­
py doing something like that. A nd Darry, you should
try to understand Ponyboy more. Stop shouting at him
about every little mistake he makes.” Soda was crying

88
now. “Please don’t fight anymore.”
Darry looked really worried. I suddenly realized that
Darry was only twenty. I realized that I had expected
Darry to understand me without even trying to under­
stand him. A nd he really had given up a lot for Soda 5
and me.
“Sure,” Darry said softly. “W e’re not going to fight
anymore. Okay, Ponyboy?”
“Okay,” I said. A nd I meant it. Darry and I would
probably still have misunderstandings - we were too 10
different not to - but no more fights.

I still didn’t want to do my homework that night,

though. I looked around for a book to read, but I’d read
everything in the house about fifty million times.
Finally I picked up Gone with the Wind and looked at 15
it for a long time. I knew Johnny was dead. I had
known it all the time, even while I was sick and pre­
tending he wasn’t. It was Johnny, not me, who had
killed Bob. I knew that, too. I had just thought that
maybe if I pretended that Johnny wasn’t dead, it 20
wouldn’t hurt so much.
But it still hurt anyway. If you know a guy really well,
you don’t get used to the idea that he’s dead overnight.
Johnny was something more than a friend to all of us.
A nd I couldn’t forget him telling me that he hadn’t 25
done enough. He hadn’t been out of our neighborhood
all his life, and now it was too late.
I took a deep breath and opened the book. A piece
of paper fell out on the floor and I picked it up.

“ Ponyboy, I asked the nurse to give you this book so so

you could finish it.” It was Johnny’s handwriting. I

89
 went on reading, almost hearing Johnny’s quiet voice.
“The doctor came in a while ago but I knew anyway.
Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth
saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than
5 mine, they have more to live for. Some of their parents
came by to thank me, and I know it was worth it. Tell
Dally it’s worth it. I’m just going to miss you guys. I’ve
been thinking about that poem that that guy wrote.
He meant you’re gold when you’re a kid. W hen you’re
10 a kid everything’s new. Dawn. It’s just when you get
used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you like
sunsets, Pony. T hat’s gold. Stay that way, it’s a good
way to be. I want you to tell Dally to look at one. He’ll
probably think you’re crazy, but ask him for me. I don’t
15 think he’s ever really seen a sunset. And don’t be so
worried about being a greaser. You still have a lot of
time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still
lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he
knows. Your friend, Johnny.”

20 Tell Dally. It was too late to tell Dally. Would he have

listened? I doubted it. Suddenly it wasn’t only about
me. I imagined hundreds and hundreds of boys living
on the wrong sides of cities. Boys with black eyes who
were scared of their own shadows. Hundreds of boys
25 who watched sunsets and wanted something better. I
could see boys dying under streetlights because they
were mean and tough and hated the world. It was too
late to tell them that there was still good in it. They
wouldn’t believe you if you did. There should be some
30 help. Someone should tell them before it was too late.
Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe
people would understand then. It was important to me.

90
 I picked up the phone book and called my English
teacher.
“Mr. Syme, this is Ponyboy,” I said. “That paper -
how long can it be?”
“Why, uh, not less than five pages.” He sounded a 5
little surprised. Pd forgotten it was late at night.
“Can it be longer?” I asked.
“Certainly, Ponyboy,” he said, “as long as you want it.”
“Thanks,” I said and hung up.
I sat down and picked up my pen and thought for a 10

minute. Remembering. Remembering a handsome,

black-haired boy who liked to start fights. And a tough,
mean-looking boy with a cigarette in his mouth.
Remembering - and this time it didn’t hurt - a quiet,
scared-looking sixteen-year-old boy with black eyes, is

91
 One week had taken all three of them* And I decided I
could tell people, beginning with my English teacher. I
wondered for a long time how to start the paper. How
to start writing about something that was important to
5 me. A nd I finally began like this: W hen I walked out of
the movie house, I had only two things on my mind:
Paul Newman and a ride home ...

92
 Questions
Chapter 1
1 . W hy does Ponyboy wish he had company on the way
home from the movie house?
2 . Who are the greasers and the Socs?
3 - W hat are Ponyboy’s brothers like? How are they
different from each other?
4 - Who comes to save Ponyboy from the Socs?
Describe the other members of the gang.

Chapter 2
1 . W hat happens at the drugstore?
2 . Who tells Dally to stop bothering Cherry at the
movie house?
3 . W hat do Cherry and Marcia think about Dally and
Two-Bit? W hat do they think about Ponyboy and
Johnny?
4 * W hy is Johnny always so nervous? W hat happened
to him?

Chapter 3
1 . W hat does Cherry think the difference is between
Socs and greasers?
2 . W hat do both Cherry and Ponyboy like to do?
3 . W hy doesn’t Johnny go home to his parents?
4 * W hy do Ponyboy and Darry not get along? W hat
happens when Ponyboy gets home?

93
Chapter 4
1 * Who do Ponyboy and Johnny meet at the fountain
in the park?
2 . W hy does Johnny kill Bob?
3 . W ho helps Ponyboy and Johnny? W hat does he give
them?
4 . W hat does Ponyboy mean when he says there are
worse things than being a greaser?

Chapter 5
L W hy doesn’t Ponyboy want to get his hair cut?
2 . W hat do you think the poem “Nothing gold can
stay” is about?
3 . W hat does Johnny think of Dally? Why?
4 * W hat does Dally tell them is happening in the city?

Chapter 6
L W hy does Johnny want to know if his parents have
asked about him?
2 . W hat do Ponyboy and Johnny do when they see the
fire? Who helps them?
3 . W hy is Ponyboy surprised when Jerry says he
shouldn’t smoke?
4 . W hat do you think Ponyboy means when he says, “ I
had taken the long way around, but I was finally
home” ?

Chapter 7
1 . W hat does the doctor say about Dally and Johnny?
2 W hat does it say in the newspaper about Ponyboy
and his family?

94
3, “You were heroes from the beginning* You just didn’t
‘turn into’ heroes suddenly,” Two-Bit says* Do you
agree?
4 . W hy does Randy find it difficult to believe that
Ponyboy and his friends saved the children?

Chapter 8
1 . W hich book does Johnny want Ponyboy to read to
him?
2 * W hat does Johnny think is not fair?
3 * How does Ponyboy feel about the fight with the
Socs?
4 . W hy does Cherry not want to go visit Johnny at the
hospital?

Chapter 9
1 . W hat does Ponyboy think of the Brumly boys?
2 . Who wins the fight between the greasers and the
Socs?
3 * W hy does the doctor let Ponyboy and Dally go see
Johnny?
4 . What are Johnny’s last words? W hat do you think he
means?

Chapter 10
1 * How does Ponyboy get home after leaving the
hospital?
2 * W hy does Dally take out the gun if it isn’t loaded?
3 * W hy won’t people see Dally as a hero like Johnny?
Do you think Dally was a hero?
4 . How long has Ponyboy been asleep?

95
Chapter 1 1
1 . Whose picture does Ponyboy find in Sodapop’s
yearbook? W hat does he wonder about him?
2 . W ho comes to see Ponyboy? W hy does he feel bad?
3 . W hy does Randy look at Ponyboy strangely? W hat is
Ponyboy saying?
4 - W hy do you think Ponyboy is saying this?

Chapter 1 2
L Does everything go back to normal for Ponyboy?
2 , How is Ponyboy doing at school? W hat does his
English teacher want him to do?
3 . W hat happens when Ponyboy meets the Socs in
front of the drugstore? How does he feel? W hy does
he pick up the broken glass?
4 * W hy do Darry and Ponyboy agree to stop fighting?
5 , W hat gives Ponyboy an idea for his English paper?
W hat does he decide to write about?

96
 Activities
1. W hich of the following people in the story said the
sentences listed below?

Ponyboy Dally Johnny

Sodapop Steve Cherry
Darry Two-Bit Randy

a. uW hen Darry shouts at you ... he doesn’t mean it.

He’s just got more worries than somebody his age
should.”
b. “Nobody in this neighborhood is going to call the
police. They know what would happen if they did.”
c. “You were heroes from the beginning. You just didn’t
‘turn into’ heroes suddenly.”
d. “My father doesn’t care whether I’m in prison or
dead in a car wreck. That doesn’t bother me.”
e. “You know something? Things are rough all over.”
f. “So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the
killing. It doesn’t change a thing. Greasers will
still be greasers, and Socs will still be Socs.”
g. “You have to start living again. Johnny and Dallas
were our friends, too, but you don’t just stop living
because you lose someone.”
h. “T hat’s why we’re different. It’s not money, it’s
feeling - you don’t feel anything and we feel
too much.”
i. “It isn’t the same as having your own family care
about you. It just isn’t the same.”

97
2. Use the following words from the story to fill in the
sentences below. Then use the words in sentences of
your own.

chest forehead shoulder

stomach chin blood

a. In the church, Ponyboy smoked cigarettes on an

em pty________ and felt sick afterwards.
b. Two-Bit put his hand on Ponyboy’s ________ and
looked worried. “You feel okay? You’re awfully hot,”
he said.
c. The Soc sat on Ponyboy’s ________ and put his knees
on his elbows.
d. “How would you like that haircut to begin just below
your________?” he asked.
e. Suddenly a strong hand came down on Johnny’s
________and another on Ponyboy’s. A deep voice
said, “Okay, greasers, you’ve had it.”
f. “There sure is a lot o f ________in people,” Johnny
said.

tough proud emotional

scared brave handsome

a. Ponyboy felt terrible because his history teacher was

________of him now.
b. Ponyboy thought Dally was anything b u t________ .
How could Cherry fall in love with him?
c. In the hospital Johnny looked happy because Dally
w as________of him. That was all Johnny had ever
wanted.

98
d. Cherry thought the greasers were much more
________than the Socs, who didn’t feel anything.
e. It was v e ry ________ of Ponyboy and Johnny to save
the children from the fire.
f. Ponyboy decided that if you g o t________you didn’t
get hurt. If you got smart then nothing could touch
you ...

shout realize lie steal

sigh fail drown recognize
pretend drop out cough kill time

a. That night the Socs tried to ________ Ponyboy in the

fountain.
b. Johnny and Ponyboy played cards t o ________ in the
church.
c. Ponyboy and Johnny hoped the Socs in the blue
Mustang wouldn’t ________them.
d. Ponyboy’s English teacher didn’t want him to
________his class, so he gave him another chance.
e. Ponyboy wished Darry wouldn’t ______ at him all
the time.
f. Darry didn’t want Ponyboy to ________of school like
Sodapop had done.
g. Ponyboy thought he cou ld so easily that it
scared him sometimes.
h. The smoke in the burning church made Ponyboy
________so hard he could hardly stand up.
i. Johnny told Ponyboy t o to be a farm boy
and ask for directions to Jay Mountain.
j. Dally managed t o ________two packs of cigarettes
from the drugstore.

99
k. W hile they were reading Gone with the Wind,
Ponyboy began t o ________ that Dally was Johnny’s
hero.
1. Ponyboy knew Darry w ould________when Dally
mentioned going to the movie house. Darry never
had time to do anything anymore.

3. W hich of the following sentences are about the

parents of Ponyboy, Johnny and Bob?
a. “ But no matter how hard they tried, the gang
couldn’t take the place of his parents.”
b. “His parents always gave him what he wanted. He
kept trying to make someone say ‘N o ,’ and they
never did.”
c. “ It’s going to be a long time before I can even think
about my parents. A long time.”

Describe the families of Ponyboy, Johnny and Bob.

How are the boys and their families different from each
other? How are they different from your own family?
Do you think that your family influences the way you
see the world? How? W hat else has an influence on the
way you see things while you’re growing up?

100
to watch their step. Luckily they can count on their friends
Dally,Two-Bit, Steve and Johnny to help them fight the Socs.
But one night things get out of hand, and Ponyboy learns all
about the true meaning of friendship.

A based on a vocabulary of 650 words (A2)

B based on a vocabulary of 1200 words (A2)
C based on a vocabulary of 1800 words (B1)
D based on a vocabulary of 2500 words (B2)