Ponyboy, Johnny, and Two-Bit offer the girls a ride home, but their boyfriends arrive and…

After their boyfriends arrive, the Socs are basically talking to the girls, barely noticing the Greasers. When Randy refers to the Greasers as "bums," Two-bit gets defensive. He breaks the end off a bottle and hands it to Ponyboy, then flips out his own switchblade. Cherry begs them not to fight, and Ponyboy makes a point of pulling her aside and assuring her that he "couldn't ever cut anyone" with the bottle Two-bit handed him. Cherry understands, but insists that she must go with the Soc boys, since "we couldn't let our parents see us with you all." We can infer that she is also trying to stop a fight.