“Um, Harper.” I get in her line of vision to wake her out of her trance.
“Oh. Sorry. So where’s Garret? I thought the three of us could go out to eat. Sean can’t come with us because he had to go to the restaurant to prep for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, about that. Garret’s still at his parents’ house.”
“Why? I figured you two would’ve been shacked up in his room since the second you got back.”
“I need to talk to you about something. And you can’t tell anyone about this. Even Sean.”
She hesitates because she doesn’t like keeping secrets from Sean. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Garret and I broke up.”
CHAPTERFORTY-EIGHT
“What?”Harper grabs my shoulders, almost knocking me over. “When did this happen?”
“It’s not real. It’s just an act so I can stay out of this media frenzy he’s got going on right now.”
She pulls me over to sit on her bed. “But that’s been going on for months. Why are you doing this now?”
“Because it’s gotten really bad. The photographers are getting really aggressive. I’ve already been hurt once by those guys and if they found out I was dating Garret they’d start following me around.”
It’s the fake story Garret’s dad gave me, and from her expression and nodding, Harper seems to be buying it.
“Garret’s dad should just sue the show. That would stop all of this.”
“It’s not just the show. Garret’s got tons of fans now and fans buy magazines, so even when the show ends the photographers will still be following him around wanting to get his picture.”
“How long does this fake break-up have to last?”
“Long enough for the fans to stop caring about Garret so the photographers will leave him alone. It could be months.”
“So you guys can’t spend the summer in California?”
“I’m still going, but Garret probably won’t be able to.”
“Jade, this totally sucks. How are you going to go all those months without being together? Can you meet somewhere private so you could at least hang out a little?”
“Probably not. We can’t risk people seeing us together. I’m not even supposed to call him. And just so you know, Garret’s going to be doing some strange things during our fake break-up.”
“Like what?”
I describe how Pearce hired people to purposely make Garret look bad so people won’t like him. And how in the next few months she may see photos of him or read stuff online that will make him seem like a jerk but that none of it is real.
“That’ll just make people even more interested in him,” she says.
“If he were a real celebrity it might. But once the reality show ends, he’ll go back to being a regular guy and start losing some of his fans. We’re hoping the fans he has left will get tired of him being a jerk and will eventually lose interest in him.”
Harper’s right. The plan could make Garret even more popular. But being popular because you trash hotel rooms or crash cars won’t make you a popular presidential candidate someday. And that’s all we care about. Of course I can’t tell Harper that.
“Doing that will ruin his reputation,” Harper says. “It could mess up the rest of his life. Or at least the next few years.”
“He’s willing to risk it. He doesn’t want to keep living this way. You should see how many texts and phone messages he gets. He changes his number and his fans still find him. And he can’t leave his house without photographers following him around.”
“Yeah, my sister has the same problem. The paparazzi are already taking photos of her and her movie hasn’t even come out yet. But they haven’t been aggressive like they’ve been with Garret. They keep their distance and shoot from across the street, so it hasn’t been that bad.”
“Remember that you can’t tell anyone about this, including Sean. Just tell him that I broke up with Garret and that Garret didn’t take it well and that’s why he started partying and drinking again.”
