The blue Mustang returns and this time it stops. Two Socs get out, and Ponyboy notices that one of them is wearing three heavy rings. Ponyboy puts the blue Mustang together with the rings and realizes that this is the group that had attacked Johnny. Johnny stands terrified. A fight is threatened, but Cherry puts a stop to it, and the girls leave with the Socs.
Two-Bit heads off to hunt up a poker game and maybe to get drunk, and Johnny and Ponyboy decide to lay down in an empty lot and watch the stars. Ponyboy's curfew is midnight, but he assumes that he has plenty of time to make it home. After a rambling fantasy of Ponyboy's — in which he visualizes the perfect life in the country, free of gangs and with his parents still alive — the boys drift off to sleep.
Johnny awakens and sends Ponyboy home, whereupon Ponyboy discovers that it is 2 a.m. Darry has been waiting up for him and is furious. In the heat of the moment, Darry slaps Ponyboy and instantly regrets it. Ponyboy now knows for sure that Darry doesn't want him and runs out the door followed by Darry's cries of regret.
Pony heads back to the vacant lot, wakes Johnny, and announces that it is time for them to run away. Johnny tries to calm Ponyboy. Johnny points out that Ponyboy is lucky to have family who cares about him, and that the gang members never really take the place of family in Johnny's life. They walk to the park, and Ponyboy decides to return home after cooling off a bit.
