"Well ..." Zoe began “ that’s where it get’s complicated. Apparently someone made a wish and Abigails personality did a one eighty overnight.”
“What? Waitaminute….” Something about that didn’t seem right to Athena, and a moment later it clicked “ It is -“ Zoe finished the sentence in unison with her friend “ -only one person per house. ”
“Exactly.” Zoe continued “ So she obviously used to be someone else until yesterday. Someone from our school. ”
Athena nodded, seeing where Zoe was going with this “And someone wished she was an exchange student living with you guys. Which is …. Kinda weird. But it does explain a few things. Like a ridicilously hot cheerleader suddenly moving in with some oblivious looser who doesn’t notice she totally fell in love with him at first sight. That shit is straight out of japanese comics.”
“Hey!” Zoe protested “ Jon isn’t a looser! ” He really was in Athenas opinion, but Zoe had a bit of a blind spot when it came to her brother. Just like her brother apparently had a huge blindspot when it came to that creep Mark.
Jon was just a bit lame, but she could see why Zoe liked him. When Zoe had first invited Athena over a few years ago, she still had a large collection of dolls Jon had painted for her back when a two year age gap still made for a huge difference in skill.
Athena had always been into fantasy and any big brother who was willing to turn a barbie into a dryad with green skin and painted on vines for his little sister was definitely alright in her books. She reckoned one of the reasons Zoe had turned out as cool as she was, might be because Jon had never made a fuss about her walking into his room to plunder her brothers box of action figures to use some teenaged turtles or snarling mutants as goblins for her fairy court or pretend-‘Defense against the Dark Arts’-Class, even when he still used them regularly himself. ‘Playing house’ got a lot cooler when the fathers name was Remus and he turned into a Wolfmonster when the moon was full.
When Athena met the Gibbsons Jon had still hung out with them sometimes. Then puberty happened and things got …complicated.
Athenas attention snapped back to the present, as Zoe stopped retreading the same old arguments she felt obliged to bring up when her brothers lameness was mentioned.
“And besides Abigail was never a cheerleader.” Zoe said “At least not the one I know. The entire point of that ‘ra-ra-ra’-routine with flips and cartwheels, was that she did it on the fly. ” Zoe chuckled “ Right in the middle of the hallway. And then she goes ‘Nope. Nothing special about that. Would you mind showing an amateur how it’s done right?’. Hehe. You should have seen the look on Sarahs face when she realized she had to back down. Because there was no way she could do anything like that wearing those short skirts of hers! And there was nothing she could say that wouldn’t sound like an excuse. So she just stormed off in a huff!” Athena joined her friends laughter. Yeah, that did take balls. There was no way Sarah would just turn the other cheek, but it sure felt good knowing for once someone stood up to that bitch.
“But…” Zoe continued, suddenly all business again “..it seems Abigail has joined the enemy. When I talked to Jon this morning he was talking a bit funny. ” anger crept into her voice “I thought he had a hickey at first, and I thought: well, good for him! And then I was so distracted by him loosing his maybe-girlfriend that I didn’t realize that that were fucking choke-marks on his neck! When I went to confront her she didn’t even bother to deny it! I mean yeah, if I woke up in some unfamiliar house as somebodies maybe-girlfriend I’d be angry too. “ Zoe allowed, before dropping back into a dangerous growl ”But she wasn’t even sorry! Who the hell tries to strangle somebody and then goes ‘Ooops. Well, deal with it.’ when they find out they got the wrong person!? And she called me a freak! ”
“Shit!” Athena agreed “Sounds like a bitch.”
“Yeah! She is!” Zoe growled.
“So who did she use to be?” Athena asked
“I don’t fucking know!” Zoe gave a frustrated sigh ”When I talked to Jon he looked about read to barge into Abigails room. When I realised that wasn’t a hickey, I thought I’d let him deal with that himself first. I didn’t know the whole story after all. But then he just went back into his own room! And…” Zoe paused,
Athena could hear her take a deep breath as her friend collected her thoughts “Ok long story short: I went to Abigail first to ask ‘What the fuck?’ and she basically told me to fuck off and go back to cutting myself. So she could talk to Tiffany Sander. Whose number she apparently knows by heart now. ” another breath “Anyway. Jon is still in his room throwing a little pity party. I talked to him too, and he said she blackmailed him by threatening to tell Biff Jon was to blame for anything that asshole didn’t like about Sarah. Never mind if Jon actually made a wish already or not. Apparently Abigail can’t tell anyone directly who she used to be. But by now I am pretty sure she used to be one of Sarahs cronies. ”
“Going by what you told me it would make sense.” Athena agreed “But I’m still not sure how I and the hat figure into this. Unless you want me to give Jon mind-control….”
Zoe immediately rose to the bait “What!? Fuck no!”
“Thought so, Miss Feminazi.” Athena said with a smile. In Athenas books Zoe wasn’t a radical in any sense of the word, but her friend did take a perverse kind in pride at being called various slurs in comment sections (the other reason Zoe got into these flame-wars, athena suspected, was because in the anonymity of the internet Zoe could use all the foul language she wanted without word getting back to her other – and pick up even fouler language while doing it.). The nickname had evolved as a shorthand to let Zoe know that Athena was well aware of a ethical grey area and not in need of a reminder. You couldn’t be a fan of classic fantasy, fairy tales and myths if the concept of e.g. a love-potion bothered you, after all.
“Really not in the mood for this, you troglodyte.” Zoe growled, but there was no real rancor behind it. (That particular nickname had been coined by Zelda, who just couldn’t understand how someone who loved books as much as Athena kept refusing to browse the near-infinite sea of online-fiction because ‘reading stuff on a screen just isn’t the same’).
“Sorry.” Athena said “So what did you have in mind?”
“Well,” Zoe explained, sounding a bit calmer “ Jon thinks Abigail is just scared and lashing out. So he basically wants to do nothing. Which has probably nothing to do with not wanting to be mean to the pretty blonde. ” Athena could perfectly imagine the wry grin on her friends face “Girls aren’t the only ones who tend to overlook a bad boy being a bad boy if they are just pretty enough. Well bad girl in this case.
And then there’s the blackmail thing of course. But two can play at that game.
If Jon wants to just let the opportunity to mess with Sarah pass him by because it seems too risky, we might as well use one of his wishes. ”
“Oho?” That did indeed sound promising to Athena.
“So why don’t you wish Jon would make Sarah hate Abigails guts no matter how much asskissing that bitch does to get back into the harlot-queens good graces? That should fuck with her little scheme quite nicely. ”
“Ohhh you got a wicked mind.” Athena chuckled “Letting one of her girlfriends feel what it is like for the queen to declare you the bottom of the totem pole. Yeah that sounds like a plan.” An idea struck her
“Actually, let’s get more specific. What if Sarah just couldn’t shake the feeling that Abigail is serious competition. That she’ll usurp the throne if she gets a foot in the door and joins the queens court. Perhaps add a second wish for some minor crack in Sarahs perfect image today, nothing that is obviously a wish but something that makes her fear she might be loosing her mojo and double down on keeping her position. ”
“Actually” Athena added after a short pause “Let’s cut to the chase. Make Sarah think it was Abigail who drew her name, until she has definite proof otherwise.”
“Well. ” Zoe said after a moment “Duh. That was so obvious I’m feeling like a fucking bimbo for not thinking of it. The last part I mean.”
“Well.” Athena said with a smile “Reading all those period dramas about courtly intrigue must be good for something.” Picking up the paper with Jons name she asked “So why am I using a wish instead of you talking to Jon?”
“Because he would agonize about the decision for hours. And Abigail could already be part of the bitch-squad again by then. If Sarah goes from being BFF to fucking her over anyone with half a braincell will realize it was a wish.”
“Well. You know him best.” Zelda said with a shrug “I wish Jon would think wishing for the stuff we just outlined is a great idea, when Zoe floats the idea to him.” Looking to the clock beside her bed she added “Good luck, with that. I have to run if I don’t want want to skip breakfast completely. ”
