It's completely understandable Ponyboy expects Darry and the others to eventually hate him and turn against him, and that he's always tense and looking for any excuse to push people away. He literally grew up around people whose families turned against them and hurt them, and it seems like the only people he knows who have fully functional families are himself and the Socs but he lost his parents and now his family isn't really functioning either so he thinks that this is the downwards slope that will eventually lead to him being abandoned by everyone, the same way other greasers have had their loved ones abandon them, so he's pushing everyone away before they can do it to him. It's literally him going 'everyone around me has messed up or difficult home lives and I thought my family was the exception but now it feels like the universe was just dragging out my impending doom so I'll hurt and push everyone away before they can do it to me.'




















