It was early afternoon before the food court started to pick up. Finally, a group of what looked like high school students walked up, talking animatedly. There were four of them, evenly split between girls and boys. One boy had an arm around one of the girls while the other boy was talking to the second girl while she tapped away at her phone. Quantrain inspected them as they approached. Out of the obvious couple, the boy was tall, with thick brown hair, and was wearing jeans and a fleece hoody with the state college mascot on it. His girlfriend was shorter than him, but above average for a woman. She had shoulder length brown hair and wore glasses. She was dressed modestly in capris and a plain purple t-shirt, but her generous curves still strained against the material at her hips and bust. She laughed at something her partner said into her ear and turned and kissed him on the cheek.
The other boy looked like he was of East or Southeast Asian background, and was shorter than either of the couple. He also wore glasses, and kept his black hair short. He was still being ignored by the last girl, who continued to keep all her attention on her phone. She was going for some sort of look, but Quantrain hadn’t kept up with fads or subcultures while cooped up in his lab and so had no idea what look it actually was. Goth? Punk? Emo? Zydeco? Wait, that last one was music. Or were they all music? In any case her hair was in a vivid purple and blue pixie cut. Her ears had enough metal on them to ban her from ever flying, as did her belly button, visible under her black crop top. The top was paired with a dark tartan skirt and high combat boots.
Quantrain grinned as they stopped in front of the counter. A perfect, varied sample size. “Good afternoon,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound too eager to begin the testing. “What can I get for you all today?”
The tall boy looked at his girlfriend and gave her a "go ahead" gesture. Ladies first, Quantrain thought. What a gentleman. “Mega Berry Blitz,” she said. Then the couple, along with the other boy, turned to look at the other girl. She had looked up from her phone to stare at the menu.
“Eliza?” the short boy prompted after a minute.
“You guys go ahead, I’m still deciding,” she said.
The tall boy turned back to Quantrain. “I’ll also have the Mega Berry Blitz,” he said.
“And I'll have the Banana Blast,” said the short boy.
All eyes turned to Eliza. “Hmmm, I’ll have the Superfood Sunset with extra wheatgrass and chia seeds,” she finally said. “And a cup of water.”
“Coming right up,” Quantrain said as he rang up their orders. “You’re number 51.”
As the teenagers wandered off to wait, Quantrain turned to the bins of chilled fruit and the array of blenders to assemble the smoothies. Fruit, juice, yogurt, and one very special secret ingredient went into each one.
Finally… “Fifty-one!” he called from the pick-up counter.
The group all came up to grab their cups. “If you don’t mind,” Quantrain said before they could leave, picking up a clipboard from the counter. “Could I ask you a few simple questions. For market research.” He launched into it before they could respond. “First names?”
“Uh, Daniel,” the tall boy said.
“Laura,” said his girlfriend.
“Gary,” said the short boy.
Eliza was back to typing on her phone, one handed, while the other held the smoothie. “Eliza,” she said, without looking up.
Quantrain pretended to scribble on the clipboard. A prop, just to make him look official. “Right, OK. Ages?”
“We’re all seventeen except Eliza,” Daniel said. “She’s eighteen.”
“OK,” Quantrain said. “Last one. Occupations?” He looked up from the clipboard. “Students, I assume?”
“Yeah,” Laura said. “We’re all seniors at Manning.”
“OK,” Quantrain said, “that’s all I had. Thank you for your time. Enjoy!”
The four nodded and wandered into the food court, sipping their smoothies as Quantrain watched eagerly. The changes should begin quickly.
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