Chapters 7-12 Plot
Chapter 7- Darry, Soda, and Pony are waiting to find out news about Dally and Johnny's conditions. The doctors soon tell them that Dally will be find, and that he will have scars where he was burned for the rest of his life, and that he will be out of the hospital in a couple of days. They find out that Johnny has a broken back, and third-degree burns all over his body, and if he does survive he will be crippled. Darry drives Soda and Pony home and Pony is so tired from all the events that have happened that last few days, that he falls asleep in the back seat of the car, and Darry has to carry him inside when they get home. The next morning, Pony is the first to get up, so he try's to make breakfast, when Steve and Two-Bit come by. Pony finds out that the state will be charging Johnny for manslaughter, and that he and Johnny will have to go to a juvenile court. Pony freaks out because he thinks that the state will put him and Soda into a boy's home. Pony then tells Darry about his recurring dream about his parents funeral that he had the night before, and he hasn't had them in a while. He usually wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs, or waking up shaking and sweating. Pony finds out that his brother Soda's girlfriend, Sandy, had moved away to Florida. Later, Darry and Soda go to work, and Two-Bit and Pony head out to Tasty Freeze to get some Cokes. Then a light blue Mustang pulls up, and then Randy hops out and tells Pony to get in the car because he wanted to talk to him. He asks him why he saved those kids, and tells him that he does not plan on fighting in the rumble because he is sick of violence and Bob's death. He learns that some Socs aren't always mean and vicious, and he thinks that the Greasers and the Socs do have some things in common.
Chapter 8- Two-Bit and Pony go to visit Johnny and Dally in the hospital, and when the see Johnny, they notice that he is really pale and weak. Johnny asks Pony to finish reading Gone with the Wind to him, one of Johnny's favourite books. On the way out, Pony and Two-Bit spot an angry and mean looking woman who was looking for Johnny, then they realized that it was his mother. She starts yelling at them, and accuses them that Johnny is hurt because of them, and Two-Bit says some insults to her, and then they went to go find Dally. He is recovering nicely, and they have a nice conversation. Then Dally asks Two-Bit for his six-inch switch blae, and Two-Bit gladly gives it him without asking what he needs it for. On the way home, Pony an Two-Bit run into Cherry. Pony asks her about being a spy for the Greasers, and asks if she is going to go see Johnny in the hospital. She says she would, but she can't bear to look at the person that killed her boyfriend Bob. Pony understands, and asks her if they can see the sunset as well on the West side, as they can on the East side. She says they can, and they leave on good terms.
Chapter 9- Pony is feeing sick before the rumble, so he takes five aspirins, when is brothers aren't watching, and they think that he is only taking one. When they leave for the rumble, they are so excited, that Soda is doing a bunch of flips off the front porch as they are leaving. When they get to the rumble, they realize that there and 22 Socs and only 20 Greasers. Darry steps up and says, "I'll fight anybody" and one of his old football teammates from high school steps up to fight him. Right before the two guys start the rumble, Dally shows up, running like a wild animal, telling them to wait until he gets there to start. During the fight, Pony is doing pretty good, until some Soc kicks him in the head and gives him a concussion, and Soda sees what happens to Pony, and knocks down the Soc that kicked Pony. After a long fight, the Socs leave, and the Greasers win the rumble. Dally and Ponyboy soon go to the hospital to go visit Johnny, and on the way there a police officer notices them, and Dally tells Pony to fake being sick or injured, which wasn't that hard because Pony did get kicked in the head and was kind of dizzy. The cop sees Pony's condition and gives them an escort to the hospital. When they get there, Johnny is looking a whole lot worse than before. Pony tells him that they won the rumble, and then Johnny tells them that there is no point in fighting anymore. Johnny's last words are for Ponyboy, an he says "Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold". After he says that, Johnny dies, and Dally was so overtaken by grief that he runs frantically from the room without saying anything.
Chapter 10- After Johnny's death. Pony wanders the streets for a few hours until a man asks if he needs a ride. Pony gladly says yes and gets into the car. On the way to Pony's house, the man asks if he is okay because he has a big cut on his head from the rumble. Pony says he is fine and they ride on in silence. When Pony gets home, the rest of the Greasers are there from after the rumble. Pony tells them that Johnny died, and that Dally just ran away. The phone starts to ring and Darry picks it up. It's Dally calling to say that he just robbed store, and that the cops are after him, and that he needs a place to hide out. They agree to meet him at the vacant lot, and when Darry hangs up the phone all the Greasers rush out of the house to go and meet him before the cops get to him first. Everyone reaches the lot at the same time. The Greasers, Dally and the Police. Dally takes out his unloaded gun and makes it look like he is going to shoot one of the cops. Pony knows it isn't loaded, and so does Dally, but the police don't. They police shoot him multiple times, and he is dead before he even hits the ground. The Greasers just stand and watch as one of the best friend lays dead on the pavement. They know that Dally always gets what he wants, and this time he wanted to be dead. Pony isn't feeling to good and his vision is swimming in and out of focus. He collapses to the ground and the Greasers run to his aid. The next thing he knows, he is waking up on his bed at home. He doesn't remember going to the hospital or being unconscious for three days, but he does remember that Johnny and dally are dead. Darry tells him that he is suffering from exhaustion, shock and that he has a minor concussion. He says that the concussion came from the rumble when a Soc kicked him in the head. Pony sees Gone with the Wind on the table and asks Darry about it. He said that Johnny told the nurse to give the book to Pony. Pony says that he will never ever finish that book. Soda and Darry stay at his bedside the whole time he is sick.
Chapter 11- Pony is in bed recovering from his concussion and exhaustion. To pass the time he goes through some of Soda's old yearbooks. While looking through one of the yearbooks, he comes across a guy named Robert Sheldon. Pony soon realizes that this guy was Bob, the guy that Johnny killed. He wonders what Bob was like back then and how his parents are handling his death. The Soc, Randy Anderson comes to visit Pony. He said that he is visiting because Cherry said that his name was on the school's bulletin board, and he came to tell Pony that everyone involved with Bob's killing was supposed to see the judge the next day regarding his death. Randy says that his dad told him to just tell the truth to the judge, and that he regrets being in the fight because it disappointed his dad. Randy's father is rich, and can pay any fine that his son might have caused. Pony and his brothers have avoided talking about the hearing because it could be the one thing that puts Pony and Soda in a boys home. Pony tells Randy of this fear, and Randy says that Pony isn't guilty of any crime, and that Johnny was the one that had the knife. Pony tells him that he is wrong, and that he had the knife and killed Bob. Randy is confused and tries to correct him, but then Pony interrupts saying "Johnny is not dead". Darry pulls Randy out of the room and tells him that he has to leave. He explains that the doctor said that Pony is still suffering emotionally and mentally, and that only time can heal him.
Chapter 12- At the hearing, Pony thought he would be questioned about what had happened the night of Bob's killing. Instead, he was asked about his home life. The judge closes the case and Pony is free to go home. At home, things have not gone back to normal. Pony is struggling in school, and is forgetful and clumsy. He hasn't been finishing his homework, and this causes fights with Darry again. Getting through each day is a struggle for Pony because he no longer cares about anything. Pony, Two-Bit and Steve walk over to the gas station one afternoon at lunchtime, and three Socs pull up in a car. They accuse him of being the one who killed Bob, and then Pony finds a glass bottle, smashes one end, and threatens to hurt them if they don't get back in their car. They leave, and Two-Bit starts lecturing Pony about he is becoming tough like the other Greasers, and he doesn't want that to happen. Pony starts to pick up the broken glass because he really is getting all that tough, and he doesn't want anyone to step on the glass or run it over with their cars. At school, Pony's English teacher notices his failing grades, and pulls him aside after class one day. He gives him an assignment, and Pony has to pick a theme and write about it. His teacher, Mr. Syme, says that if he does this, he will bring his grade up to a C, even though he deserves a failing grade. The task of picking a topic is frustrating and very challenging for Pony. This only causes more fights between Darry and Pony. When Pony and Darry ask Soda who's side he is on, he runs out of the house, crying. Darry and Pony run out of the house after him, and soon catch him. Soda explains how he doesn't like being the one person in the middle who is always asked who's side he is on. Pony an Darry never thought about the impact their fighting could have on Soda. Soda says they should be pulling each other together, not apart. That night Pony cannot make himself work on his theme. He opens Johnny's copy of Gone with the Win and fins a note addressed to Pony inside. It was from Johnny and says that he finally figured out what Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" meant. He told Pony to tell Dally that it was worth it to save the kids from the burning church. Pony realizes that he can't do that because Dally is dead too. Pony realizes that there are a lot of other people in the world like Dally, and thinks to himself that someone should tell their side of the story, from their perspective, an thinks tat maybe others wouldn't be so quick to judge. Pony finally picks a theme for his assignment, and that theme is what had happened in his life starting with when he was walking home from the movies, to the time he started writing the assignment. For Pony's assignment, he wrote The Outsiders.