A/N: I hate to keep your girls waiting, so here you go. Another chapter :) Katrina is super cute. (Like she could be anything else lol)

Until 36...!

Chapter 35

On Thursday afternoon, something very special arrived in the mail.

Well, special for Katrina at least. It had her name on it!

"What is it? What it is?" Katrina jumped up and down excitedly, not even giving her mother a chance to see what else was in the mailbox.

"It's a letter from school."

"Read it, read it!" she begged.

"It says,

Dear Katrina & Parents:

Port Charles Elementary will be having its Kindergarten Orientation on Tuesday evening, August 19 from 6:00-7:30. Please make arrangements for you and your child to attend. You will get to meet your child's teacher and learn more about our school! See you then!

Mr. Gerald King

Principal

Alison smiled, handing the postcard to Katrina.

"Ooo! Can we go, Mommy?"

"Of course."

"I can't wait to go to the big school!"

Just then, they heard a familiar sound as Rafe drove into the driveway.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

"Hey, Princess." Rafe had barely stopped the car before Katrina opened the door for him. "How's my little angel?"

"Daddy, look! I got a letter from the big school!"

"Oh yeah?"

Katrina handed it over. "It's for Kindergarten! You can read it."

"Kindergarten Orientation. Well we definitely can't miss that."

"Nope! Can't miss that!"

"Welcome home," Alison said, walking over to give Rafe a kiss.

"Hey, Angel."

"Hey, Mommy?" Katrina said, tugging on her mother's shirt and interrupting her parents' kiss.

"What, baby?"

"What am I going to wear?"

"Oh. I don't know. I guess we'll have to take you shopping for new clothes!"

"YAY! Get your plastic, Mommy and let's go charge it!"

Alison laughed. "Come on, baby. Let's go inside."

"It's happening already," Rafe muttered under his breath as Katrina followed her mother back into the house. It was apparent that even at Katrina's early age, she was just like her mother when it came to shopping.

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"Thanks so much for helping us, Lucy," Alison said as she and Lucy, followed by Katrina, carried several bags into the house after their shopping spree at the mall.

"Oh, no need to thank me. I had a blast."

"Me too!" Katrina cheered.

"I know you did, peanut! You're going to be one of the best dressed kids in the entire school."

Katrina laughed. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey, I thought I heard voices," Rafe said as he walked down the stairs.

"Daddy! Daddy! Come look at all my clothes!"

Rafe laughed. "Okay."

Katrina immediately began to dig into the bags, pulling out her new clothes.

"Did you find some good deals?"

Alison nodded. "Yeah, we did."

"Everything in the children's department at Wyndham's was 30 percent off," Lucy added.

"Look, Daddy!"

"Whatcha got, princess?"

"I got some new jeans, some more pants. I got some new shirts. All different colors!" Katrina dug into another bag. "And I got some socks. They got bows on them. See? And I got…underwear?" Katrina looked up at her mother, wondering how in the world that got there. "Mommy, why'd you get me panties?"

Alison laughed. "Because you need them, silly goose, that's why!"

Katrina shrugged her shoulders, then tossed the bag of panties aside. "And I got shoes too! Look at my shoes, Daddy!" Katrina opened a box, revealing brand new sneakers, white with pink laces and trim.

"Those look just like your old ones."

"Yeah, but they're whiter, and a different size. Mommy says my feet got bigger!"

"Wow! Well that's fantastic, princess. Is that all?"

"No. There's one more thing…" Katrina dug into the last bag and pulled out a pink, purple, and black plaid dress. She held it up against herself. "See it, Daddy! It's got a little bow on it and the little flowers on the bottom. And you're supposed to wear a white shirt underneath it. I'm going to be so pretty!"

"You sure will. And it's a beautiful dress, Princess."

"Mommy said I could wear it on the first day of school, but I have to be very careful not to get it dirty. And then I can't wear it again until picture day. But after that, I can wear it all the time and get it as messy as I want!"

"I didn't say you could get it messy, Katrina," Alison said with a laugh. "I just said if you did get it messy it wouldn't be a big deal."

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Katrina held both her parents' hands as they walked down the hallway. This was so exciting, Katrina thought. Now she was finally old enough to go to the big school, just like Danny and Christina.

Alison looked at the postcard the secretary had handed her in the office. "Let's see, there's Room 7, and your class is in Room 10, so it should be a few doors down.

"Ooo! Water fountain!" Katrina yelled in excitement, running to it to get a quick drink.

"I still think we should have considered an all-girl school," Rafe said softly.

"Oh, Rafe. Relax. I'm sure everything is going to be fine. Besides, she's happy. Isn't that what's important?"

Rafe watched as Katrina left the fountain and skipped down the hall. She stopped and turned to her parents, waving for them. "Come on!"

Rafe turned to Alison and gave her a smile. "Yeah. You're right."

"I'm always right," Alison said with a laugh.

Katrina's classroom was the last room at the end of the hallway. Before they had even reached the door, they could hear music playing. Katrina walked into the room, singing along to Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes as her parents followed behind.

The teacher was talking to other parents, so they had to wait.

"She looks nice," Alison said.

Rafe nodded. He had been uneasy about this whole school thing, but this didn't look so bad. He looked around the room, seeing all of the decorations and colors, and lots of posters with letters and numbers on them. It actually looked rather nice. He looked down, noticing nametags stuck to the tables. "Why don't you go find your name, Princess?"

Katrina walked to each table, looking for her name. She found it pretty quickly. "I'm the only K name at the table!" she said excitedly.

"You sit at table number 1," Rafe said, noticing the big one taped in the center.

"That means I'm the best, right Daddy?"

Rafe laughed. "Of course."

"Hello," said a friendly voice. "You must be the Koviches, right?"

Alison smiled, holding out her hand. "Yes, we are. It's nice to meet you. I'm Alison. And this is my husband, Rafe."

"Hello," he said, shaking the teacher's hand as well.

"And this is our daughter, Katrina."

Katrina looked up at the pretty lady and smiled. Danny had warned her all summer, saying she was going to get Mrs. Kirby, the mean kindergarten teacher. Everyone hated Mrs. Kirby. She yelled all day and made you go to the principal's office if you were bad too many times. And sometimes if even just one kid was bad, she'd make the whole class stay inside for recess and do work while all the other classes got to play. Danny even swore he saw her eat a frog one time.

But Danny was wrong! This couldn't be Mrs. Kirby, because she didn't look mean at all! In fact, she looked very nice. Her teeth were really white and her light brown hair was pulled back with a barrette. Katrina smiled, because that was how she was wearing her hair today too!

"Well it's nice to meet you, Katrina. My name is Miss Darlington, and I'll be your teacher."

Katrina smiled big. "You have a pretty name."

"Why thank you! I think your name is pretty too!"

"Can I call you Miss Darlin'?"

Miss Darlington laughed out loud, then knelt down to her level. "I tell you what. If you like, you can call me Miss D."

"Okay! Hey, Miss D? You know what?"

"What?"

"My mommy's going to have a baby!"

Miss Darlington laughed. That was quite obvious, but she played along as if she didn't notice. "Well that's wonderful news! Congratulations!"

"It's a boy. I'm going to have a baby brother. His name is Gabe."

"I'm sure you must be excited."

"Yeah! We're going to have a big party when he's born, and Mommy bakes cakes and cookies so we'll have lots to eat!"

Miss Darlington studied Alison again, smiling as she finally recognized her. "So that's where I've seen you. I thought you looked familiar. You run that little bakery by the river, don't you?"

"Guilty."

"Your muffins are my favorite!"

Alison blushed. "I'm glad you enjoy them."

"Mommy can make cupcakes for the class! They're really yummy!"

"Well only if your mother has the time. I'm sure she'll be very busy with a baby around the house," Miss Darlington said with a wink.

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"Hey!" Serena yelled, blowing on her whistle. "I told you two already! Stay out of the deep end or you're getting out!"

"But I got water wings!" Katrina protested.

"I don't care. If you have to wear water wings, you have to stay on the other side. That goes for you too, Christina!"

"But I'm not wearing water wings! I can swim!"

"Get on the other side or I'll call Mom to come take you home!"

Christina rolled her eyes. "Jeez, what a grouch," she muttered under her breath as she made her way over to the rope.

It was the last weekend before school started, and Christina and Katrina were making good use of the pool at the youth center while the weather was still warm, but it wasn't helping that Serena was enjoying the role of lifeguard a little too much.

Katrina held on to the edge of the pool, kicking her legs as Christina sat on the rope. "Why's your sister so crabby?"

"She's just mad 'cause Neil went home. She's been like this all day!"

"Oh."

"I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Christina swam over to the ladder and climbed out of the pool.

Katrina, now by herself, walked along the edge of the pool until she reached the steps. She reached for her towel laying on the sidewalk and stepped out of the pool, wrapping it around her.

"Aren't you gonna swim with us?" she asked, sitting in the chair beside Serena.

"No. Not right now."

"Do you miss Neil?"

"Yes."

"Do you miss kissing Neil?"

Serena laughed. "Yeah, I guess."

"I kissed Danny one time, but he didn't like it so much."

Serena gave her a surprised look. "Aren't you a little too young to be kissing boys?"

"Well I just kissed him on his cheek. Not his mouth! That would be gross! And Danny has bad breath anyway!"

Serena laughed.

"My mommy and daddy kiss all the time on the lips," Katrina said, rolling her eyes.

"That's because they're in love. People who are in love like your parents kiss all the time."

"Well I'm never kissing a boy on the mouth, even if I am married. Kissing boys on the mouth is gross. Cause they might have morning breath."

Serena laughed again. "I think you might change your mind about that in a few years."

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Katrina was almost too excited to sleep, knowing that tomorrow would be her very first day of school. But finally, she drifted off, and by morning, she was raring to go.

Alison kissed Katrina goodbye at the door, then waved as she followed her father to the car. Rafe would take her the first day. Alison told him to let her take the bus, but Rafe insisted on bringing her. She figured she would give him this. He was having a harder time accepting the fact that their little girl was growing up before their eyes.

Rafe held her hand as they walked up the sidewalk to the school. It made him think of the days he would take her to daycare, and Katrina would hold his hand so tight because she didn't want to go sometimes. But now, she was slipping away, eager to go, wiggling out of his grasp.

She gave him a quick kiss goodbye, then ran to put her bookbag in her cubby. Miss Darlington was waiting at the door, giving Rafe a smile.

"Take good care of her," he said.

"Don't worry. She'll be just fine."

"Bye, Daddy!" Katrina waved, running straight to her seat to play with the table toys.

Rafe lingered by the door for a few moments, watching her. Of course, he was happy for her. His little girl was reaching an important milestone in her life. But he couldn't help but feel his heart break just a tiny bit.