At 2:30 in the morning, Pony and Johnny are the only ones in the park. As they walk around calming down, the blue Mustang from earlier that evening appears and begins to circle them. The five Socs drunkenly stagger towards them, but it is too late for Johnny and Pony to run. They are both terrified but could “never let [the Socs] have the satisfaction of knowing it” (54). Bob and Randy insult them, then threaten them for picking up “their” girls. David, one of the other Socs, catches Pony when he tries to run and holds his head under the water of the park fountain. Just as Pony begins to fade out of consciousness, he suddenly jerks out of the water and onto the pavement, choking. When he gets his bearings, he notices Johnny looking sick and Bob's still body in a pool of blood. Johnny tells him: “I killed him, I killed that boy” (56). He explains that he stabbed Bob with his switchblade, causing the rest of the Socs to flee. Pony vomits, then starts to panic. Johnny calms him down, then decides that Dally would know how to help them.

The boys find Dally at his rodeo partner's house, and he is unfazed by their story.