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Sprawled halfway over the kitchen table, Cara sighed as she stared at nothing.
"Why so filled with sighs today, my dear little Cara?" Mom asked as she came to stand at table opposite of her daughter.
"Because I am beyond bored," Cara grumbled.
"Then go outside and do something," Mom said. "You always go help Mr. and Mrs. Tone with their gardens."
Cara rolled up eyes up to her mother. "Why? I'll just get harassed, again, by Ace's fan club."
Mom ran her fingers through her hair. "Well, they are a bit on the obsessed side of things when it comes to that boy. But you can't blame them. Ace is a very good looking young man." She pressed her hands to her cheeks. "Why, if I were younger I'd take that boy to a secluded part of the island and-"
"Mom!" Cara slammed her hands on the table and stood. "Please! Do not finish that sentence!"
Mom pressed her fingers to her lips with a chuckle. "My you have a dirty mind. All I was going to say was kiss him until we're dehydrated. Besides, do you deny that he's good looking?"
"That's not the point!" Cara growled with a sharp glare at her mom. "And I don't have a dirty mind!"
"Okay, okay." Mom walked around the table and gave her girl a shove towards the door. "Go on. It's not like you to hide like this. You'll set those girls straight."
"Airheads can't be set straight, Mom." With another sigh Cara left the house. Hands shoved in her pockets, she meandered down the streets of the town. She kept her eyes on the people in search of the group of girls that always hounded her every time they saw her.
They didn't appear to be around.
Cara allowed herself to relax as she made her way through the town. Coming out on the east side, she spotted the white house trimmed in maroon down the road. Entering into the yard she rounded the house. The elderly couple who lived there was in the plentiful gardens. "Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Tone."
"Ah, good afternoon, Cara." Mrs. Tone smiled upon looking up from her flowers.
"It's been a while since you've been here," Mr. Tone said as he stopped his pruning.
"Sorry about that. There's been some girls harassing me about Ace." Cara rubbed her shoulder. "I've been avoiding them."
Mrs. Tone chuckled. "He is a handsome young man. I can understand their motives."
"Lack of discipline, if you ask me," Mr. Tone said with a firm nod. "Those girls should be more like Cara. Hard working. Youth is wasted on the young."
"Oh, hush." The woman waved a hand at her husband.
"What would you like me to do today?" Cara asked.
"The carrots need a pickin' and washin'." Mr. Tone nodded towards the vegetable garden. "I'm taking them into town tomorrow for sale."
"Right." Cara stepped over to the shed. She pulled on some gloves before grabbing a bucket then headed to the vegetable garden. There she pulled up the carrots by their stems. Once her bucket was filled she moved to the faucet and washed them. As she was washing them a shrill voice rang out.
"Cara! There you are!"
Cara cringed as half a dozen girls surrounded her, all talking at once.
"Have you heard from Ace yet?"
"Did he call you?!"
"Send a letter?!"
"When do you think he'll be back? Do you think he'll like me?"
Cara rubbed her temple in an attempt to stave off the pounding that started as soon as the girl called her name.
"You are so lucky you got to spend so much time with a hotty like him."
"I wish I was you!"
"Did he kiss you? Tell me he did!"
"Leave me alone," Cara said. The girls didn't hear her, or ignored her, she couldn't tell which, as they continued to drone on and on about Ace.
"Please, girls. There's nothing to get so excited about."
Cara turned her eyes to the girl who spoke.
Lita was leaning against the shed with her arms crossed. Her long black hair laid over her shoulder and fell passed her short skirt. "You're making a big deal over nothing. Our dear little Cara can't tell you anything about Ace because she knows nothing about him."
Cara cocked an eyebrow.
"She was nothing but his assignment." Lita began to examine her nails. "Ace won't be coming back to see her. Ever."
"Oh?" Cara asked. "And why is that?"
Lita almost purred. "Because, like I already said, you were his assignment. Nothing more. There's no way a girl like you could tame a guy like Ace. He needs a girl who's more womanly." She ran her hand over the top of her breasts that were exposed. "Someone like me."
"You can have him." Cara watched Lita's lips pull into a frown before turning and walking away. How she hated girls like these, especially Lita. What gave a girl the idea she had the right to lay claim to a guy? If that girl and guy were married, sure they have a right to claim each other. But Lita didn't know Ace outside of the common knowledge everyone else did.
Cara's hope of the girls leaving her alone was dashed quickly. They continued to bother her as she worked in the gardens.