“No, thanks.”
“He’s always been a healthy eater,” Charles says quietly to me. “Always limits the sweets. That’s how he stays in good shape like that.”
I look at Garret. “That’s true. You really don’t eat sweets that much.”
“I do sometimes, but not every day like you do.”
“I really need to start paying more attention to you. I feel like I don’t even know you.”
He laughs as he gets up from the table. “Youknowme. Let’s go talk to my dad.”
Pearce is yelling at someone on the phone when we walk into his office. “I need those reports by this afternoon. No excuses.” He sets the phone down, not even saying goodbye to whoever he was talking to.
“You want us to come back later?” Garret asks.
“No, I’m just having some problems with the plant manager in Detroit. It’s under control now.”
Garret and I sit in the leather chairs across from Pearce’s desk.
“So is this about that reality show?” Pearce sits back in his chair. “Because I’ve talked to our attorneys and aside from getting those photographers banned from Moorhurst, there isn’t much we can do.”
“But how can it be legal for them to make up stories about me like that?” Garret asks. “Can’t we sue them for libel?”
“We could, but that would take a lot of time and effort and the lawyers think it’s best if we just wait this out. Once those three episodes air, all this press you’re getting will likely just go away. By April, nobody will care what your favorite food is or what cologne you wear.” He chuckles.
“Dad, it’s not funny.”
“I know. I just find it surprising how people have taken such an interest in you. You’re not even on the show and yet you’ve got millions of fans.”
“Millions? Really?” I look over at Garret who seems just as surprised.
“Anyway, we’ve been advised by the lawyers to keep quiet and lay low until all this blows over. They want you to stay on campus, Garret, as much as possible so the photographers can’t get to you. And they want you to avoid travel of any kind. I know you mentioned going with Jade to Des Moines over spring break but I don’t think you should. You’ll have photographers following you around and given what happened last time, you could end up getting hurt. Or getting Jade hurt.”
Garret glances at me, then turns back to his dad. “Jade and I will talk about it later. We actually came here to talk to you about something else.”
Pearce leans forward, resting his arms on the desk. “Okay, what is it?”
“Jade, you want to tell him?”
“Um, yeah.” I feel nervous all of a sudden. Garret’s dad can be very intimidating and sometimes I find him hard to talk to, especially when all the attention is on me. “Arlin Sinclair came to see me at school yesterday.”
Pearce sits up straighter, rubbing his chin with his hand. “I see. So what was the purpose of Arlin’s visit?’
“He wanted to meet me and tell me some things.”
“What kind of things?” Pearce is a busy man so he likes people to get to the point, but I’m having trouble doing that and I can tell it’s frustrating him.
“You want me to tell him?” Garret asks, sensing my nervousness.
“No. I’ll do it. Sorry, Mr. Kensington. I’m still trying to make sense of what he said so—”
“It’s okay, Jade. Just take your time.”
I retell the entire story including the supposed plans for Garret.
Pearce listens intently, but his face never changes. No look of surprise or worry or anger. Nothing.
When I’m done, the room gets quiet for a moment. Then Pearce does this thing he’s done before where he looks me right in the eye so intensely that I feel like I’m being hypnotized or brainwashed.
