Jet’s house was a modest two-story. Its yellow and white paint was faded, but otherwise it looked in good shape. As Nigel stepped up on the porch, Jet opened the door.
“Right on time. Come inside,” Jet said with a smile.
Nigel followed Jet to a back room filled with several games, a rather old dart board, and a pool table. Jet sat down at a card table in the back of the room where her brother, George, was already seated; Nigel gave him a nod as he took a seat.
“Good to see you again,” George said. “Let's get started with this no-tech hacking lesson.”
“I’m ready,” Nigel said. “But before we get started, I need to know: How did you two learn these techniques?”
After a long moment, Jet answered Nigel's question.
“Our dad moves around a lot for work.” Jet paused for a moment before continuing. “We would be placed in a new school every year or two. It would often take a long time before we got to know new kids. We would try and learn what we had in common with the kids we wanted to hang out with, build rapport.”
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“Did that work?” Nigel asked.
“To a point, but I felt that we were trying to get people to like us rather than making friends organically,” Jet answered. “We did our homework on a target, a potential friend, found out as much as we could about that person, then struck up a conversation. Before we knew it, we had friends!”
“Well, we had people who liked us enough to do things for us,” George said. “The key is to get your target to like you.”
Nigel was listening with interest as George continued.
“This wasn't as hard as it sounds. If you like someone, they may like you in return. However, you can’t fake it. If you don't truly like someone, it will be obvious to the other person.”
Nigel had no idea that manipulating others in this fashion was even possible. He was thoroughly impressed with his friends' lessons. He planned to use these skills as soon as he could. The clock in the game room, which featured pool cues for arms and balls for numbers, read 3:35 p.m. He had been at Jet's house for nearly two hours and still needed to finish his pretext for unlocking his account. He thanked the siblings for their help and promised to relay his results.