Fresh Meat

Chapter One: The Annual Back-to-School Sleepover

"If you have two friends in your lifetime, you're lucky. If you have one good friend, you're more than lucky."
- S.E. Hinton

DAISY

My hand scans over the several bowls full of different kinds of candy. I have to choose a good one or else she'll figure it out quickly.

M&Ms? The smooth, hard outer shell and chocolate inside would give it away. Skittles? That's a good choice, but if she eats it long enough she can taste the flavor, and she'll figure it out soon. Starburst? With its square shape, it's a dead giveaway. Ugh, which one do I choose?!

"Did you choose a candy yet, Daisy?" Peni says from across my kitchen island. "You're really quiet over there."

"Yeah, come on!" Amy pipes up, who is also standing across the island. "I can't tell which one you're gonna pick! I can smell all of them at once!"

"How can you smell all of them at once?" Peni asks.

"With my eyes covered, it's like all my senses are heightened," Amy explains in a whisper. "It's like I can see with my nose." She presses both fingers against her nose as if to prove her point. Peni giggles, shaking her head.

I go over to the chocolate section of the candies and finally choose a Snickers bar (Props to Peni for categorizing them all). I break the bar in half and lean over the island.

"Okay, open 'em up!" Peni and Amy do what I say and I drop the chocolate into their open mouths. They close them and start chewing. I can see them moving their lips around, trying to decipher what kind of candy it is. After a minute, Amy suddenly slams her hands on the counter.

And also gives Peni a heart attack.

"I know this one!" She yells. "Is it a..a Snickers?"

"Yes!"

"YEAH!" Amy raises her arms in triumph, jumping up and down. Peni groans and takes off her blindfold. "I WIN!"

"You win," Peni sighs. "I shouldn't be surprised. I don't really eat Snickers, so I couldn't recognize the taste."

"You were still good at this game though!" Amy says. "You won at least five rounds, and we were tied neck-to-neck until now!"

"Yeah, true." Peni says. "You can take your blindfold off, by the way."

"Oh, yeah."

Amy's enhanced sense of taste buds and smell is something that I will never get tired of being amazed by. It's incredible to me that you get one whiff of something and immediately figure out what it is. I guess when you've been a baker your entire life, you might pick up a skill or two.

"Okay! So as per the rules of the game, the winner gets to choose what candy bowl they want. No sharing with anyone, it's all just for you. So Amy, pick which one you want." Amy immediately dives for the bowl with strawberry Twizzlers. I could see a glint of yellow flash in her green eyes. I don't really like Twizzlers, or any licorice in general, but everyone has their own taste. Regardless of how weird it is.

"And as for you, Peni..." Peni's eyes immediately snap to me. Her face showed so many emotions all at once, mostly regret.

"I don't like where this is going," she says.