“Good. Play up that angle for the show. Stay single, flirt with women, make everyone at home think they could have a shot with you. That will prove you’re not with Maddie and might get you more votes. Ladies love a bad boy.”

Hector smirked. “Shouldn’t be too hard for him.”

Jared nodded, but his hands were clenched at his side. Dan’s advice made me want to punch something, but I didn’t know why it would bother Jared since it was the same thing he was already doing now.

“The rest of us don’t have to do that, right?” Kyle asked. “Because I have a girlfriend.”

“Nah, you’re fine,” Dan said. “In fact, you should mention that. You have the edgiest look in the band and having a steady girlfriend will make you seem more relatable. And Hector has the diversity angle covered, which is good for attracting a wider audience.”

Hector scowled, and I didn’t blame him. There was more to Hector than just being Latino.

“Hector’s an artist,” Jared added. “He has a graphic novel that just came out.”

Dan wrote something down. “Okay, we’ll see what we can do with that.” He turned to study me again. “And to attract the male vote we’ll have to make sure Maddie looks hot every week.”

“Should I wear my contacts instead of my glasses?” I asked with a sigh.

“No, keep them. The glasses make you seem more relatable, more real, especially to other girls.”

I hated this. For the live shows, it wasn’t just about being musicians anymore; now we had to look and act certain ways to get votes. I just wanted to play my guitar, not worry about manipulating the viewers to like us, but I had no choice but to go with it for a few weeks. It was a game, and if that’s what it took to be on the show until the end, so be it. And unfortunately, my contributions seemed to be “looking hot” and “not getting involved with Jared.”