Page 195 of Promising You
“We don’t want them to lose interest. At least not at first. We want them to talk about how much they don’t like you. Post it on their blogs. Tell their friends. We want people to instantly have a bad image of you when they hear your name.”
“So I just do some bad stuff and make sure it gets photographed? That doesn’t seem like it would work.”
“No. You take all that research you learned about yesterday, the stuff that people like about you, and you do the opposite. So if people think you’re faithful to Ava, we’ll make up stories about you cheating on her. If people think you’re responsible, we’ll post stories about you crashing your dad’s expensive cars. You could grow your hair longer and get tattoos. Have you ever seen a president with a tattoo?”
“No, but—”
“So go cover your body in tattoos. Whatever it takes.” My mind is working so fast it’s giving me a headache. “Or get fake tattoos. You don’t actually have to do this stuff. We’ll just make it look like you did. We could make fake videos of you acting out at clubs, destroying hotel rooms, smoking weed. We could make fake photos and post them online.”
“And people are going to believe this?”
“Are you kidding? A fake Garret has been on TV for two weeks now and people are convinced it’s you. I even overheard these girls in my chem class talking about you and Ava like you’re actually dating, even though they see you and me together all the time. They just believe whatever they read in a gossip magazine or on a website instead of what’s right in front of them. Think about it, Garret. For the past few months, you’ve done nothing but go to school and hang out with me, and yet during that time people have become obsessed with you. You have millions of fans even though you haven’t even done anything. Your popularity is all engineered. Fake stories, fake photos. We can do the same thing only make the stories and photos negative instead of positive.”
“That would take a lot of resources. We’d need other people to help.”
“Your dad has a lot of resources. And he already feeds fake stories to the media. That’s how he covered up what happened to Sinclair.”
“Yeah, but he had a lot of help. Other members in the organization used their power and money to make that happen. He’ll be working on his own to do this.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of people who owe him favors.”
“Not enough for what you’re describing.”
“We also have Arlin. He said he’d help me any way he could. He knows I want to be with you and he feels like he owes me because of Royce. So now we have two very powerful, very rich men who can help us with this. And we have Harper who has friends in film school who could help us make some realistic videos.”
I’m out of breath from talking so much. I stop for a moment and notice Garret staring at me. I assume he thinks I’m insane but then he smiles.
“God, I love you.”
I go over to him. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”
He shakes his head no, still smiling as he wraps his arms around my waist. “You’re not crazy. You’re a freaking genius.”
“Are you serious? So you think it might work? You’re willing to try it?”
“I’m willing to try anything if it means I can be with you. I want my life back. I want OUR life back.”
“I do, too, and I have no idea if this will change their decision, but we have to try something. We can’t just give up.”
He rests his forehead against mine. “I don’t know why you stay with me after everything I’ve put you through. I don’t deserve you.”
“I know,” I say, smiling. “And once this is over you’re going to owe me big time.”
“Just name it. Anything you want is yours.”
“I just want a promise. A promise that you won’t give up on us again. That’s it. And I don’t want it now. You’ve already screwed this up and saying it now would be meaningless.”
He kisses me. “I totally screwed up. I did everything wrong. But when I found out what they could do to you, I panicked. I’m still panicked. If they find out we’re together—I don’t know if I can do this, Jade. I can’t put you at risk.”
“We’re doing this. And you’re not backing out. When does this plan they have for you go into effect?”
“It hasn’t been finalized yet and it can’t move forward until all the members have officially approved the final plan.”
“When will they approve it?”
“In a couple months. Now that the plan has been presented, the members are given time to review it and make comments up until the final vote. Once they vote to approve the plan, I’ll have to start going to their meetings and by late summer they’ll have me attending public events to get my face out there more. And I have to change my major to prelaw and transfer to Yale and get more involved in politics and—”
“Wait. So this isn’t final? We have time to change their minds?”
