Page 206 of Promising You
“I’ll do the laundry if you do the cooking.”
“Hmm. Okay, but I think you got the better deal.”
I got awaybetter deal. Laundry is easy. The machine does all the work. I’ll just have to fold and put clothes away which is so much easier than cooking something.
Garret and I go down to his dad’s office but Pearce is on the phone. We wait for him to finish his call then go sit down.
“So here’s what’s going to happen.” Pearce goes into a detailed plan of what will transpire this week. I’ll tell people at Moorhurst that I broke up with Garret over spring break. Then the story will be that Garret was so upset over the break-up, he took his dad’s plane to Bermuda and rented a house on the beach. While in Bermuda, Garret got drunk, hooked up with some girls, and trashed the house he rented.
Pearce shows us some fake photos he already had made up. They look so real I almost punch Garret, like he really cheated on me.
When the rest of the world sees these photos, they won’t be thinking he cheated on me because they don’t know me. Instead they’ll think he was cheating on Ava which is what will get people talking and spread the story across the Internet.
Pearce gets out his laptop and plays footage of a fake interview from the fake homeowner in Bermuda who rented his house to Garret. The homeowner describes how Garret destroyed his house last week and left condoms, marijuana joints, and broken liquor bottles on the beach behind his property.
“I did a lot of bad shit in just a few days,” Garret says. “You sure people will believe that?”
“The public doesn’t know you so yes, they’ll believe it,” Pearce says. “You already have the image of a privileged trust fund kid, which the public usually finds unappealing. But for the reasons we learned about on Friday, people are able to look past that with you. They think you’re different. What we’re doing here is showing them you’re not. You’re just a selfish, spoiled, rich kid who does what he wants and doesn’t care who or what he destroys in the process.”
“Yeah, but people who know me will think it doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s where Jade comes in. The people closest to you know your past, so when Jade breaks up with you, it makes sense that you’d go back to this type of behavior. It’s not like people forgot what you used to be like.”
“I was never that bad,” Garret assures me.
His dad’s expression seems to disagree with that statement.
“What happens after this story gets out?” Garret asks his dad.
“It’s already out. People are already talking about it online. Now we just keep it going. You’ll need to hide out every weekend so people at Moorhurst buy into the stories about all the wild weekends you’ll be having. I got you a small house in the woods not far from here. It’s very secluded. You’ll go there every Friday night and stay there until Sunday night or Monday morning. You’ll need to stay there the whole time. You can’t be seen in public.”
“Can Jade meet me there?”
“No. Absolutely not. It’s too risky. And Jade, you need to hang out with your girlfriends. Do whatever girls do after a break-up. And I agree that Harper may not buy the break-up story, so I came up with something to tell her.”
He goes over the details and tells me to give the same story to Frank and Ryan, who would also be suspicious of the break-up.
“So that’s it for now,” Pearce says. “Oh, and Jade, you can take your car back to school. If anyone asks how you got it, just tell them I bought it for you as a congratulatory gift for doing so well in your classes. In the past I’ve given my scholarship recipients gifts for excelling in their first year. Nothing this big, but given you were dating my son, people shouldn’t question it too much.”
“Okay.” I say it calmly, but inside I’m jumping up and down. I finally get to drive the car! I finallyhavea car! It still doesn’t seem real. “But what if Garret’s fans see me when I drive out?”
“They’re not out there. As soon as we posted the story about Garret being in Bermuda, the fans and photographers went away.” Pearce stands up. “It’s time for you two to say goodbye.” His eyes dart from Garret to me and back to Garret. “A short goodbye, son, meaning stay downstairs. Jade needs to leave now. She needs to be seen on campus as people start arriving back from break. You’ll show up there later tonight.”
Good thing Pearce isn’t looking at me because I’m sure I’m blushing. Did he really think Garret and I would go upstairs and have sex again? Like we haven’t done it enough already? Okay, he’s probably right, but still.
We go out into the foyer, closing the door to Pearce’s office. Garret gets his phone out and sends a text. “Brad’s bringing your car around. It’ll just be a minute. You sure you’re okay to drive? It’s been a week since I checked for any concussion symptoms.”
“I’m good. I haven’t had any symptoms.”
He gets up close and gazes into my eyes. “Who am I?”
“Not the questions again.” I laugh, then get serious, playing along. “You’re the jerk who trashed some guy’s house in Bermuda and did it with two girls you just met.”
“Nope. Sorry. You’re too confused to drive.” He gets his phone out again. “I’ll text Brad and tell him to leave the car in the garage.”
“Wait! Let me try again.”
Garret slides his phone in his pocket and circles his arms around my waist. “When’s my birthday?”
