CHAPTER 8

Ponyboy and Two-Bit arrive at the hospital, but the nurses tell them that Johnny can't have visitors. One of the doctors tells the nurses to let them in since Johnny has been asking for them. When they enter the room, Johnny tries to smile. Two-Bit tells him about the fight that will happen that night and they tell him that he is on the paper for being a hero. Johnny asks for another copy of Gone with the Wind, and Two-bit runs to the store to buy one. When Johnny and Ponyboy are alone, Johnny says he knows he will never be able to walk again and confesses that he is afraid. He doesn't want to die at sixteen. Then a nurse appears and says that Johnny's mother is there to see him,but he didn't want to see her and faints. Then Ponyboy and Two-Bit go to Dally's room. He tells them that Tim Shepard has come to see him, and Ponyboy reflects on how they can be such close friends and hit on each other all the time. Dally asks how Johnny is doing and when Two-Bit tells her he's not doing well at all. Dally asks for Two-Bit's black-handled knife, Two-Bit gives it to her without a moment's hesitation. Dally had decided to go to the fight. Ponyboy and Two-Bit take the bus home, but Ponyboy almost falls asleep at the bus stop waiting for it. He feels bad but asks Two-Bit not to tell Darry because he wants to fight that night. When they arrive at the vacant lot, they see Cherry. She informs them that the socs are going to fight fair. When Two-Bit leaves, Cherry asks Ponyboy to stay for a minute. She tells him that Randy isn't going to the fight, but he tells her that he already knows that. She asks about Johnny, but she says he can't make up his mind to visit him in the hospital because he's the one who killed her boyfriend, Bob. Ponyboy tells her that he doesn't want her to go see him because she is a traitor. He notices that she is about to cry, and feels  ashamed. She tells him that she liked him from the beginning. They make the passes and then he walks home.