Pony returns home at 6:30, leaving him half an hour to prepare for the rumble. The gang likes to get “spruced up” to show “those Socs [they] weren't trash” (131), wearing extra hair oil to show off their “greasiness” (132). By dinnertime, Pony is feeling ill and can hardly eat; Darry notices this and thinks he should not fight, but the gang is short on men and this convinces Darry. The boys are all excited to fight; they fly out of the house doing somersaults and flips, chanting about their greaser pride. At the lot, they join forces with Tim Shepard's gang and a group from the suburbs. 

When the Socs arrive, the groups agree to not use any weapons. Darry, the strongest greaser, is asked to initiate the rumble. An old high school friend, Paul Holden, steps up to take on Darry. Everyone waits in tense silence for someone to swing first, during which time Pony dwells on how much unnecessary hatred exists between the two social classes (143). Dally arrives unexpectedly, and the distraction of his arrival gives Paul a chance to punch Darry and begin the rumble. Amid the fighting, Dally explains to Pony that he “talked the nurse” into letting him leave the hospital using the switchblade he took from Two-Bit, because “a rumble ain’t a rumble unless [he’s] in it” (143).