"Yep, that's the slant eyed loser I saw last night." Jon heard as he spotted Athena and two girls his age. Athena was swaying on her feet, holding a water bottle she was clinging onto like it was her life. He felt terrible seeing her like this. She hadn't necessarily been his favorite person before the wish...but she'd gone from his sister's best friend, interested in mysticism and such, to a low class, low morals and frankly bigoted woman who clearly didn't care about anyone but herself. Meanwhile, the previous person in her life, he'd seen her become a much more upstanding citizen. Did someone have to fall in order for someone to rise? Was that the way the world worked? But he'd seen people make different choices in new lives...
Next to her was a punk short stack that must have been Barb. She wore a smug expression, obviously believing she had all the cards. He wondered if she was the brains in this operation, or if Athena had planned this whole thing out...although she seemed rather stupid in this life. He figured the taller girl must be Allison, Barb's girlfriend.
As he got closer, he could smell the alcohol on Athena's breath. So...maybe not stupid....maybe stupid drunk. "He's the loser?" Tiffany said. "Look at all of you, trying to get money out of us..."
"Shut it..." Barb said. "Mom just found your phone...and she came all the way down here. She deserves something for her troubles..."
"And for keeping our mouths shut," Athena said. "Nice pictures, by the way..." she said, looking Tiffany over in a way that made her feel dirty. Tiffany shuddered, squeezing Jon's hand.
"Can we keep this about business?" Jon said, trying to figure out how to stall. He wasn't the best at lying, but he'd coped the last few days.
"What's wrong...never mixed business and pleasure?" Barb asked. "I've got to hand it to you, Tiffany....you've got Mr. Honor Roll here wrapped around your little finger...I mean, has he even ever had sex?"
Jon looked at his watch. He still had a few minutes to go. "So...how are we going to do this?"
"You show us the reward, we give you the phone."
"How do I know you have it? And that you didn't take anything off of it?"
"Relax, loverboy," Allison said. "We don't need copies...it's all up in here," she tapped her head.
It didn't make Jon's opinion of Athena's new life, or that of her new daughter any better that all three of them seemed to be lusting after Tiffany. "But still, I want some assurances."
"Look," Barb said. "I don't fucking care what you want. But you want a reason to trust us....if we don't get the money, we have no motivation not to post those pictures everywhere...And if we get the money...we'll be too busy spending it to post the pictures."
