Golden Hearts | Rafe Cameron

4

4.0

June 6

I sit on the beach while the sound of the waves from the sea splashes back and forth. The sound of people swimming and surfing is also audible, but I'm completely absorbed in my own world as I read my book.

The bikini I'm wearing is light blue. I got it from Sarah last year, and I just love it. The sun shines brightly on me, prompting me to put on my expensive sunglasses to avoid getting sunlight in my eyes while I read.

A few minutes pass, and I lie quietly on my stomach while reading and sunbathing my back. I can still hear the sound of the waves and the people swimming and hanging out on the beach, but I don't care much about them.

I'm too focused on what I'm reading. Almost so focused that I don't notice something flying towards me, and in the next second, a football lands straight on my head, sending sand flying everywhere. I also feel it starting to run in my nose, and when I put my hand on my nose, I feel blood coming out of it. Who threw it?

That's the first thing I think as I get up to see if I can do anything about my nose. Just as I'm about to open my bag, I hear some people running towards me, and I look towards them. I see that it's John B, who works for the Camerons, and his friend JJ. A little further away, I also see Pope and Kiara. Kiara, my old best friend. But that's another story about why we became enemies.

"I'm so sorry" John B says when he and JJ approach me. John B is the only Pogue I've actually had normal conversations with, but I really don't want to talk to them at all.

"It's okay," I say and wipe the blood from my nose with a piece of paper I found in my bag. My nose hurts a lot and I'll probably look crazy in a few hours. JJ looks hesitant at me.

"Imagine the island's richest kook girl lying on the beach reading. You'd never have believed it" he says with a smirk, which makes me roll my eyes.

"You've learned something new," I say with an ironic smile.

"Is there anything we can do to, you know, make you feel better after what we just did to you?" John B says with an unsure voice.

"He means he wants you to not tell Ward or your dad that he threw a ball at you because then he might get fired from his job," JJ explains. John B hits him on his arm and gives JJ an annoyed look.

"Okay, I won't say anything. I don't care anyway," I say and sigh as I start packing up my things, hoping they'll leave me alone now. There has been too much talk with Pogues for me, and it's enough. If anyone sees me with Pogues right now, it's only a matter of time before the rumor spreads, and then my dad finds out. People are too curious about my life.

"Goodbye," I finally say when they still stand silent while occasionally whispering to each other. I put the blanket in my bag and stand up, giving them a little smile before I leave them. If they're not going to leave me, I'll leave them.

What are Pogues doing on figure eight in the first place?

When I get home, I take a shower to freshen up before going down to the living room where my mom sits and watches some TV show about people looking for houses in other countries. To be completely honest, it doesn't look too boring.

My mom smiles at me when she sees me sit on the couch next to her, but her smile quickly disappears when I see her gaze at my nose, which I've tried to hide.

What have you done?" she asks in surprise and touches my nose, but I quickly remove her hand because it hurts when she touches my nose.

"A little kid accidentally threw a football at me while I was at the beach reading. Not too bad though, I'm fine," I say with a smile to calm down my worried mom, who always gets worried over the smallest things. She still looks worriedly at me.

"But you have to do something about that. You look crazy. It must hurt," my mom says with a concerned look.

"I promise I'm fine, Mom, and you know as you say. If I'm not feeling well, I'll tell you," I say and give her a hug to calm her worries, which helps immediately. She smiles in the hug and gives me a kiss on my head before turning her head back to the TV.

"It's quite an interesting program, isn't it? Imagine living in Italy or France," Mom says.

"You've already done that," I say, thinking about all the stories my mom has told me about her life when she lived in different countries in Europe.

"I know, I know, but I miss it so much. Those were good times. Your dad and I, we weren't old, and we lived our life, but it was also there in France where you were made," my mom says dreamily, looking at me.

"Ew, I don't need to know all the details," I say and stand up from the couch.

"We're playing golf with the Cameron family in an hour. Be ready," my mom calls after me, which makes me sigh loudly. Not golf again. I hate golf. It's so boring. All you do is use a club to get a ball into a hole. I've always been bad at it, and I always will be. But it's still a family activity our families do once every month.

On my way up to my room, I meet my dad, who gives me a worried look. He didn't even say hi to me. What's he planning now? Why that strange look?
I then hear him start some argument with Mom, so I hurry up to my room to avoid hearing their quarrel. I already know it's about work. It's always about work. Work, work, work. In my dad's world, there's nothing else but work. Work is more important than his own family. That sounds too bad to be true. That you can be so obsessed with your job that you don't care about your own family? It's just silly, and I know my mom doesn't like it either secretly that Dad works all the time, but she doesn't dare to say anything. Because he has the most power of all of us. The rest of us have nothing to say, unfortunately.

I open my closet and take out my golf clothes, which is a light pink short skirt with a white top, white gloves, a matching pink cap, and white shoes with pink stripes. My dad bought me this outfit last year to motivate me to want to join the golf days with our family. It only worked once, though. Now it's boring again. But I won't lie. This outfit is cute, and it matches well with Sarah's similar golf outfit. That's probably the only positive thing about the golf meetings.

Besides, I get to be with Sarah too, of course. But with her, I can be almost whenever I want otherwise.

After putting on my outfit and looking at myself in the mirror for maybe five minutes, I touch up my makeup a bit as it's starting to wear off now that the day has gone by. I put on some lip liner and lip gloss on my lips, and then I'm completely ready for today's golf meeting, even though I'd rather watch a movie with Sarah instead.