only acting in self-defense when he accidentally killed Bob.

After she explains her willingness to testify, Dally offers to take her to the Dingo (a rough diner where the greasers hang out) for a Coke, but she declines.

This is the second time Dally tries to give Cherry a Coke. The first time is in chapter 2 when he offers to get her a Coke at the drive-in movie theater. He had been making rude comments to Cherry and her friend Marcia, so Cherry declines. Dally returns with the drinks anyway. When he hands her one, he says, “This might cool you off.” She responds by throwing the Coke in Dally’s face.

In chapter 3, Cherry tells Ponyboy that she could fall in love with Dally and that she hopes she never sees him again or she thinks she will. When Ponyboy hears about her seeing Dally in the vacant lot, he knows that she refused to go to avoid falling in love with Dally.

Dally and Cherry come from different worlds. When he offers to take her to The Dingo, she refuses. It isn't a place that a girl like her—a rich Soc—would hang out. Instead, The Dingo caters to greasers like Ponyboy and Dally. It's the kind of place that Dally might take a girl on a date; Cherry seems to know that doing something like that with Dally would be a bad choice for her reputation.

Aside from the social issues that Cherry might face if she went to get a soda with Dally, visiting The Dingo isn't a very safe choice for her. At the beginning of the novel, it's mentioned that a girl was possibly shot there in the past. In addition, the fights between the greasers and their rivals are always a potential problem.

Ponyboy says that Cherry is a dreamer who loves sunsets. He believes that might be why she's helping him—because she's more than just another Soc. Still, he's surprised that she's willing to associate with them and is not surprised that she turned down Dally's offer. Dally is one of the harder members of the greasers and not someone that Cherry would likely feel safe with.

Cherry, whose real name is Sherri Valance, is a Soc girl that Ponyboy and Johnny meet one night when they go to the drive-in movie theater. Cherry is with her friend Marcia, and the two boys end up sitting near the two girls.

Dally comes into the theater and sees the four of them. When he approaches Ponyboy and Johnny, he makes lewd remarks to Cherry, who responds by telling him in no uncertain terms that he is rude and foul-mouthed. She ends up throwing her Coke at him to “cool” him off.

Dally is undeterred and would have continued pestering Cherry, whom he finds attractive. We know this because later, Dally asks Ponyboy and Johnny about Cherry and refers to her as

That good-lookin' broad I tried to pick up that night you killed the Soc. The redhead, Cherry what's-her-name.

It is clear at the outdoor movie theater that Dally wanted to pick Cherry up and take her somewhere, but he does not suggest a specific location. Moreover, Johnny surprisingly intercedes on Cherry and Marcia's behalf and tells Dally to leave the girls alone.

When Dally runs into Cherry another time, he and Cherry discuss the events that followed the evening at the movies. He also asks her out to The Dingo. Specifically, he tells Ponyboy and Johnny,

That little gal sure does hate me. I offered to take her over to The Dingo for a Coke and she said "No, thank you" and told me where I could go in very polite terms.

Even if Cherry were inclined to go out with Dally, the Dingo would not be a place that Cherry would enjoy. As Ponyboy describes it,

The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot.