(7:45 PM)
It took them about 20 minutes to get back to the house. After having dinner, they were getting ready to go to the rumble.
They had baked chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. If everybody was at the Curtis house, they would eat the food like a pack of wolves.
They were all bottomless pits. Sometimes, Darry would have to make three or four just to satisfy everybody.
That's it is around the Curtis house. Ponyboy had taken some aspirins and washed his face. It only helped a little bit.
Bexley felt better by this time. She was ready to have it out with the socs.
They were all ready to go.
Ponyboy was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, rubbing his chin. He seemed to be checking for any facial hair.
Bexley sat at the dining table, playing poker with Soda and Steve.
"Soda, when'd you start shaving?" Ponyboy called.
"When I was fifteen," Soda answered.
"When did Darry?" Ponyboy asked. "When he was thirteen, Pony," Soda replied.
"Why do you ask, Pony? You thinkin' of growing a beard for the rumble?" Bexley asked as a joke.
"Yeah, it'll be a long time before you get one," Soda agreed, getting into an arm wrestling match with Steve.
Ponyboy walked out of the bathroom and went into the livingroom.
"Oh, you guys are funny. We oughta send you guys to Reader's Digest. I hear they pay a lot of good monet for funny things," Ponyboy said, seeing Steve and Soda arm wrestling.
Soda, Steve, and Pony had added more hair grease to their hair. Bexley didn't add as much to hers.
It was a Greasers trademark, having their hair greased back.
Bexley and Ponyboy did lose some weight from staying in Windrixville, so their clothes were a tad bit big on them.
Bexley saw that Soda wasn't winning this arm wrestling match between him and Steve.
"You really like fights, don't ya, Sodapop?" Bexley said, putting her cards down on the table and she got up from the table.
"You know it, Bex!" Soda replied, "It's like a contest or drag race,"
Bexley patted Soda on the back, walking away from the table.
"Yeah, it gives me power," Bexley said, flexing her arms.
"We're gonna beat the socs heads in, ain't we?" Steve said excitedly, "When I get in a fight, I want to stomp 'em! I like it too!"
Steve ended up winning the match. Darry grabbed a black t-shirt and started to put it on.
"How come you like fights, Darry?" Ponyboy asked.
"He likes to show off his muscles," Soda said with a laugh, leaning back in the chair.
"Hey, I'm gonna show them on you, little buddy, if you get any mouthier," Darry said, pointing a finger at Soda.
They all knew Darry liked to fight just like the rest of them. He does roofing, plays football, and weight lifted that would take that amount of strength.
"Hey, Pony, I don't think you oughta be in this rumble," Darry said to them.
"Why not, Dar? We've always come through before, hasn't he?" Bexley asked, jamming her thumbs in her jeans.
"Yeah, well, you was in better shape before. Bexley" Darry answered, putting his belt on.
Soda got up from the table and walked over to them. "C'mon, Darry, let him fight. It's skin against skin, he ain't gonna get hurt.," Soda said, giving him a good pat on the back.
"C'mon, I'll grab hold of a little one," Ponyboy assured.
"Yeah, I don't know..." Darry said tentatively.
"Look, if it was knives or chains or something, it'd be different. I'll be okay," Ponyboy assured the eldest Curtis.
"Alright. You be careful," Darry said, still not comfortable with this. He wasn't even comfortable with letting Bex fight despite her being one of their best fighters.
"How come you don't worry about Bex and Soda so much?" Ponyboy said looking at his older brother and older sister.
"Now this is one kid brother and kid sister I ain't gotta worry about," Darry said, walking over to the twins.
"These kids use their head for one thing and that's to grow hair on!" he continued, giving Soda and Bexley noogies before bolting out of the door, "Go!"
Everybody followed suit in excitedly, whooping and jumping in the air.
They run out of the house, down the front porch and through the gate.
Darry did a handstand on the fence, and landed on his feet on the other side. Steve did a back flip on his car.
They all cheered and laughed like there was no tomorrow as they started walking down the street.
"I'm a Greaser! JD and a hood! I blacken the name of our city! I rob stores! We're a menace to society!" Steve cheeered, playfully throwing himself at Soda.
"Greaser! Greaser! Greaser!" the all chanted at the same time.
"Juvinile delinquent, you're no good!" Darry shouted, fist bumping the air.
Bexley jumped on Soda's back, who used his hands to hang onto her.
"And what's a soc?" she said in a cheerful tone.
"Privilged and well-dressed fools! Have beer blasts, drive fancy cars, and break windows at fancy parties!" Two-Bit cheered, speaking in a snobbish tone that mocked the socs.
This made Bexley laugh out loud as Sodapop put her down.
"And what do they do for kicks?" Ponyboy shouted. "They jump greasers!" the entire gang shouted at the same time.
Two-Bit had an open beer in one hand. They had settled down as they make their way down to the lot.
Ponyboy remembered when he got ahold of a beer. He got grounded for two weeks because of that.
"Why do you like to fight, Two-Bit?" Ponyboy asked, looking to complete his survey.
"Is it because of the thrill of it?" Bexley finished, walking next to Two-Bit. Two-Bit used his free arm to get Bexley in a head lock for a moment. "You got that right, Little Sister!" he laughed.
Bexley loved fights for power, Soda liked them for fun, Steve like them for hatred, Darry loved it for pride, and Two-Bit loved it for comformity.
As for Ponyboy, he didn't have a particular reason for fighting; it might've been for self denfense. "Listen, Soda, Bexley, Ponyboy, the fuzz show up the three of you beat it out of there. The rest of us will get jailed! You three get sent to a youth's home, you know what I mean?" Darry said to his kid siblings.
"Ain't nobody gonna call the fuzz in this neighborhood! They know better!" Steve shouted obnoxiously.
Darry gave them another warning about the fuzz showing up, should it happen.
(The Lot)
When the gang make it to the lot, Tim Shepard was waiting for them with his own gang and the Brumly Boys. There was a bonfire behind them.
Tim Shepard was 18, lean and looked like a model that is in a movie or in magazines.
His hair was curly, black, and he had smoldering black eyes. He had a thick scar that went from his right cheek to his chin from a busted bottle.
Tim was tough, had a hard look about him. His nose had been busted twice.
There was an obvious difference between the two gangs. Tim's gangs' ages ranged from 15-19 years old, and they were hard characters who were used to strict discipline.
Each gang had a leader and were organized. Bexley didn't mind being the only girl in this rumble. She would be treated like one of the guys.
When the Curtis group arrived, Tim Shepard as well as the rest of the greasers walk over to them.
"How you doin', Tim?" Darry said, greeting Tim by shaking his hand. "Pretty good," Tim answered, looking over at Bexley and Ponyboy.
"You two and that quiet kid were the ones who took out that soc?" Tim asked them, studying them.
"Yeah," Ponyboy said, nodding. "That was us for sure," Bexley agreed, putting her hands in her jacket pockets.
"Good goin', you two. Curly did say that you two were good kids. Especially you, kid," Tim said, looking over to the youngest Curtis, "Curly's in the reformatory for the next six months,"
Curly was Tim's kid brother, around Pony's age. Tim also had a sister, Angela.
Turns out, Curly had broken into a liquor store and got himself caught before he got out of the store.
Then, they all heard the sound of multiple car engines got all of the greasers' attention.
They all turned around to see the socs coming in their mustangs.
They stood together, almost in a line. Darry stood in the front, Soda and Bexley on his left and Steve on Soda's right.
Ponyboy stood on Darry's right with Two-Bit and Tim.
They were all ready for them.
They watched as the socs parked their cars and watched as they stepped out of them.
Those socs looked shaven, had neat clothing that consisted of striped and checkered shirts with red or tan-colored jackets and madras.
They had a chance to forefiet the rumble and go see a movie. Other people wouldn't blame the socs because they were always ready to jump us.
Meanwhile, the greasers looked hoody and somewhat decent. Under the grease, some of the hoods were actually easy to get along with. Some others were just plain mean.
They go by their looks most of the time.
"The odds are as even as we can get. You stay close to me, kid," Darry whispered to Ponyboy, who nodded.
They walk towards the socs. Darry stood in front of a soc that had a letterman jacket on.
"Hello, Darryl. Long time no see," the blonde-haired soc said, hands in his pockets.
"Hello, Paul," Darry said with a careful nod.
"What's up?" Tim asked, looking over his shoulder to Two-Bit.
"They used to buddy around together. Play football," Two-Bit answered, not taking his eyes off of the socs.
Paul and Darry stared down at each other. Had Darry been jealous of his former friend because he had gone to college and Darry didn't.
Only Soda, Bexley, and Ponyboy knew that.
"I'll take you," Paul said to Darry, making a hand gesture towards him.
They had been friends since they were in school and now there was nothing but hatred between them.
Then, there was a familiar voice.
"Hey! You know a rumble ain't a rumble without me!" Dallas shouted, running down one of the hills with just his denim jacket on, jeans, and boots.
Then, Ponyboy felt a fist collide with his fist, knocking him to the ground.
The rumble was on. Everybody started to slug it out with one another.
Darry threw punches towards Paul, managing to get some hits in.
Two-Bit took on one, knocking him to the ground after recieving a few punches to his face. He had a look of rage on his face, gritting his teeth as he punched the hell out of any soc that tried taking him on.
Soda and Steve had each others' backs while they took on any soc that got in their way.
Ponyboy was getting slugged around by three socs. Bexley had one on her sights. It was a dark haired soc.
The she-grease punched the soc as hard as she could in his teeth, managing to break some of them.
She got slugged in the face, her nose started bleeding.
"Is that all you got?" Bexley taunted, ready to sock him again.
"I'm gonna kick your little ass, you grease bitch!" the soc bellowed, charging at her.
He tackled her to the ground and straddled her, punching her again and again.
Bexley managed to get him off of her and get back to her feet. She managed to break his nose with her knee.
After he was down, she took on another soc that was the same height as herself.
She got him down pretty quickly with a punch to his face, knocking him off of his feet. She definitely was a Curtis.
Dallas was taking care of a few guys. He was holding them off pretty well.
"Darry!" Ponyboy cried as those three socs beating him.
Bexley punched the soc and flipped him over her shoulder.
"Pony!" she shouted, running through the rumble to get to her little brother.
"Get off of him!" she shouted, using her entire body to get the soc off him.
But the soc turned on her, slugging her a few times.
Bexley was victorious. Her fists were surely gonna bruise by the time this was finished.
Some of Tim's gang members had brought weapons to this rumble despite the rules saying that they couldn't bring any.
Two socs grabbed Bexley and pulled her to the ground. She recieved many kicks hard enough to break a rib or two.
She yelled out in pain, feeling said ribs break under her skin.
Two-Bit had a bloody nose and mouth, and saw that the socs were now retreating.
Everyone cheered and hollered happily. "Look at 'em run!" Two-Bit shouted joyfully. Every greaser too was celebrating the fact that they had beaten the Socs.
Bexley wanted to cheer too, but she felt her side smarting like fire. Every breath she took hurt like hell.
Tim Shepard's nose was busted again; it was just as busted as the soc Bexley took on.
Steve suffered a few broken ribs like Bexley was. Ponyboy looked much worse than Bexley did.
Dally rushed over to them, hauling the two siblings to their feet.
"You two okay, huh? C'mon! We're going to see Johnny," Dally said, dragging to Bucks' car that was parked in the street.
Bexley was stumbling around, groaning from the pain coming from her ribs and head.
Ponyboy felt sick to his stomach, and he was covered in cuts and bruises from the beatings.
They get inside the car and make their way down to the hospital.