The Outsiders by SE Hinton This story is about a 14 year old boy named Ponyboy. He is part of a group called the Greasers on the east side of town, a group of lower-class teenagers who wear long, greasy hair, wear jeans and torn T-shirts and are at odds with the rich kids. bullies known as the "Socs". This group of thugs was born into rich families on the west side of the city, belongs to a high "social" class, drives around in Mustangs and Corvairs and mostly wears checkered jackets with a madras on them. One day, while Ponyboy is returning home after a movie, he is attacked by a gang of Socs. At the last minute, his friends from his group (consisting of his brothers Darry and Sodapop, who have raised Ponyboy now that their parents are dead, the hardened hood Dally Winston, the quiet and innocent Johnny and the wise Two-Bit) they scare the socs and save him. The next night, Ponyboy and Johnny join Dally to go looking for a good fight and maybe see a movie. There they sit behind two attractive girls and Dally obnoxiously tries to get their attention and grab one of them. After Johnny tells him to stop, Johnny and Ponyboy sit with the girls, Cherry and Marcia, and Ponyboy and Cherry discover to their mutual surprise that they have a lot in common. Two-Bit appears, and the three greasers escort the Socs girls to Two-Bit's house so he can walk them home. Along the way they meet Bob and Randy, the girls' drunken boyfriends and the socs who beat up Johnny a couple of years ago, and the girls agree to leave with them to avoid a fight between the two gangs. On the way home, Ponyboy stops at the empty lot with Johnny and accidentally falls asleep. When he wakes up and returns home, his brother Darry angrily lectures him about what could have happened and slaps him. Then she runs out the door, finds Johnny, and goes to the park to get away from it all. There, however, the two young greasers meet Randy and Bob, with some of their Soc friends. One of them holds Ponyboy's head under a frozen fountain and Ponyboy passes out. When he comes to, he is lying on the ground next to Johnny.