The Bee's Knees

Chapter 12

After going grocery shopping with her grandpa to get the supplies she needed for her audition, Anna called an emergency meeting at the creek.

"Is everything okay?" Taylor asked. Her flies buzzed around them in a thick black cloud, with Mason's termites quickly joining the anxious swarm.

Mason's fingers rubbed against his termites' mounds in a frantic frenzy. "Sweet Surprise isn't shutting down, is it?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Look at this." Anna showed everyone the email Sliced had sent her confirming her three mystery ingredients and her audition's date and time.

Jack let out a long, low whistle. "I don't think I could handle baking with cayenne pepper. I've never made anything but chocolate chip cookies and brownies."

His boar snorted its agreement, sniffing Anna's phone as if it could devour the ingredients listed inside.

"Man, it'd be so cool to be on TV," Eliza said. "I don't think my collages would be good enough for Flower Frenzy since people make whole parade floats for that, but I bet Tay would be awesome on a talent show or something. I mean, how many people can paint with flies?"

Taylor flushed. "Aw, shucks. I could barely give Dr. Cross her painting without passing out. I'd be a complete mess if people filmed me painting."

It never ceased to amaze Anna that Taylor didn't take every single opportunity to show her amazing artwork to everyone. Someone that talented deserved to be spotlighted for the whole world to see, yet Taylor was happy to simply show her paintings to her friends and family.

Of course, the thought of being on camera freaked Anna out too, but despite being as nervous as a cat in a room full of tail-pulling kindergarteners, she was also super excited.

"I can't believe I actually got to be so close to everything," she said. "There were so many bakers there, and I even got to try some of their desserts." After she signed up for Sliced, she and her grandpa got to try a bunch of leftovers from different shows. They'd eaten so much chocolate that her grandpa's truck had smelled like a Hershey's factory the whole way home.

"Did you get to meet the judges?" Mason asked. "I've always wanted to see if Ivan's vulture is as big and scary as it looks on TV."

"No, just some of the other folks who work on the show." Thank goodness for that! When Anna was little, seeing Ivan and his enormous vulture on TV was enough to make her hide behind Bertrand until he finished judging the desserts. She wasn't ready to meet him in person, especially since she'd already had enough unpleasantness to deal with lately. "There was this mean baker who really bothered Grandpa, though. He and his fox acted like they owned the whole Craving Channel."

"Hang on, that sounds familiar," Jack said as his boar gnashed its teeth. "Is he old? Real fake smile like he's about to bite somebody's head off?"

"Sounds just like him."

Jack groaned. "That's Mr. Voorhees, alright. He buys milk and butter from my dad all the time. Always whines about his customers behind their backs." He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "I've heard he's real nasty to anyone whose companions act like something's bothering 'em. Throws 'em out, even. Says they're bad for business."

"That just ain't right," Taylor said. "They can't help it if they're having a rough day."

Mason hummed his agreement. "I don't get why anyone would be so mean when they could try to cheer them up instead."