A terrible, animal wail rang out. Percy ran toward the sound … locked the main bathroom door, ran to the last stall door, and peered under it. There was a pair of knees on the floor. Someone was throwing up.

“I think it’s that chicken you chowed in the E, Ladonna,” Percy whispered through the door. “You’ll feel better soon. Why don’t you try singing? That always cures your aches and pains.”

The girl on the other side of the stall just groaned again. Then the knees rose from the ground and the girl slumped onto the toilet. Tookie could practically feel her pain—she’d had a similar reaction to her chocolate binge, which was why she couldn’t have even the tiniest taste of the stuff anymore. After a moment, there was a large splash in the porcelain. Suddenly, a small, piercing cry rang out. But it wasn’t the sickened cry of a young woman wrecked from tainted food. It was the cry of a tiny baby emerging into the world.