"Right here." Erna pulled an old tube of tooth paste out of her blazer pocket. Jackie turned up the hem of her skirt and removed a needle which she handed solemnly to Erna. "Hold out your arm, Gloria," Erna said. "You'd better take off your blazer first." Gloria's freckled face had turned a little pale, but she rolled up her sleeve gamely and held out her arm. Erna smeared on a little of the toothpaste. "Now." Erna waved the match. "I'll sterilize the needle." She struck the match on the sole of her shoe ("I know a boy who can strike a match on his teeth," Gloria said) and held the needle in the flame until the point became red. Then she let it cool, brandishing it in the air until the red point disappeared and there was only the black left from the carbon. Gloria turned her head away. "It's not so bad, Glo," Jackie reassured her. "Erna's going to be a doctor so she knows what she's doing." Erna gave a quick, professional jab, squeezed, and a round drop of blood appeared on Gloria's arm. Gloria gave a little scream and tears came to her eyes. "There!" Erna cried. "Now you're all immune. And it's beautiful blood. Look, peoples. Look, Gloria." But Gloria hated the sight of blood. She glanced quickly at her arm and the small red bead, then turned away. "I have a dress that color," she said in a shaky voice. "Next," Erna said briskly. "Come on, you, Bianca Colantuono." One by one the new girls were innoculated until it came to Flip's turn. Then Gloria, completely recovered, cried, "Oh, let me do Pill." Erna hesitated a moment, then said, "Well, all right, if you want to. But be careful," and handed her the needle and the match. Flip bared her arm. Gloria struck the match but it flickered and went out. "Oh, Glory, you sap!" Sally cried. "I told you to be careful," Erna said, rubbing toothpaste on Flip's outstretched arm. Jackie's face puckered into a frown. "There isn't another match. Now what should we do?" Esmée Bodet shrugged and ran her fingers through the reddish hair she wore in a glamorous long bob. "Do it without sterilizing the needle, that's all." Jackie hesitated. "Maybe it isn't safe. Maybe we'd better do Pill another time." "I sterilized it good and thorough for the others," Erna said. "It ought to be all right." "Oh, sure it's all right," Sally cried. "Go on, Gloria." Flip turned her head away as Gloria took her arm and jabbed at it gingerly with the needle, exclaiming with chagrined surprise, "It didn't go in." "Try it again," Esmée urged. Gloria jabbed again. "Oh, blow." Erna took the needle from her. "Here, stupid. Let me do it." "Wait a minute Erna. She's had enough," Solvei said. "No, she has to be properly innoculated," Erna insisted. She took the needle and punched. This time she didn't have to squeeze to draw blood. "I did it kind of hard but it's very _good_ blood, Pill," she said. "The worst is over," Jackie promised. "You only have one more ordeal to go through."