Summary

As Mark recuperates in bed, he and Bryon reminisce about old times getting into trouble or breaking the law. Mark laments that their gang isn’t as tight as it used to be and that the feeling of brotherhood is slipping away. Bryon counters that it’s nice to not have to rely upon a gang to have a self-identity. When Mark asks him why he thinks things have been changing, Bryon simply answers, “That was then, and this is now.”

This conversation affects Bryon through to the next day and he wanders around school feeling an outsider more than a participant. He notices that the warring gangs, the Greasers and Socs, now resemble each other as their clothing styles have changed. He also begins to suspect that his Socs friends were only his friends so they could show off to each other how liberal and...