September 1st, 1963
"So you've got all your things?"
Sixteen year old Katherine looked back at her mother as they sat in a shiny blue Cadillac in the parking lot of Will Rogers High.
"Yes," Katherine said, refraining from rolling her eyes. "I just needed a ride mother. Please stop coddling me."
"I know, I'm sorry," said Charlotte with a small sad smile. "It's just – this is your first year at school without Paul. You can't possibly blame me for being a bit worried."
At Katherine's irritated glare, Charlotte stopped and sat up straighter in her Cadillac. "Oh sugar I know you're all grown up. I get it. You'll be fine. I'll stop it right now."
"I'll be better than fine," said Katherine, sitting up straighter. "Paul won't be around to annoy me and now all eyes will be on me."
Her mother seemed content with that response but her eyes scanned over the school building with a disapproving frown. "I swear, this school gets worse and worse by the year."
Taking that as her cue to leave Katherine reached for the door.
"Now I've called up Texaco to have Joe check up on your car," her Mother called out as she exited the car. "But Joe can't look at it till next Thursday. So he's asked that garage out east to look at it. They're going to tow it today and it'll be good as new by tomorrow."
Katherine looked back at her Mother with shock. "East?"
Her mother just sighed, as if being in the broke section of town wasn't where the murderers and hoodlums resided.
"Oh Katherine, trash they may be, but those folks on the east aren't completely useless. The only things they exceed in life are drinking, gambling their lives away, and work around anything mechanical and oily."
Satisfied that her mother hadn't completely lost her mind, she closed the door behind her and stepped away from the car. Butterflies flew around her stomach as she looked before at Will Rogers High before her mother called out to her.
"You're absolutely the best thing this lousy town and high school has seen."
Her mother lowered her sunglasses, exposing the frighteningly beautiful blue sapphires she had for eyes.
"But a pretty face isn't going to get you far without a commanding presence. And remember… there are only-"
"-two types of people in this world," Katherine joined in synchronisation with her mother's life mantra. "Winners and losers. I know, mother. I know."
"And are we winners or losers, Katie-Scarlett?"
When she was younger, Katherine would burst out the answer with a vigorous explosion only mindless children could pull off. She puffed out her chest and would exclaim the answer with enormous pride, because it would always make her mother beam with joy.
But as she grew older, and the more and more it seemed impossible to achieve that expectation, Katherine's response became less enthusiastic.
But she nonetheless always answered.
"We're winners."
Charlotte lips curled into a smile, careful not to crinkle her eyes too much. "That's my girl. Now go on and show them."
Without a goodbye or any indication that she would pick her up from school that afternoon, her mother drove off.
Guess it wasn't worth waiting to see her daughter safely enter the hallways then.
Katherine just pushed away the small sinking feeling of disappointment that settled in her stomach and stood taller, with a bright smile.
It didn't take long for her to spot her group of girlfriends, waiting for her on the steps of Will Rogers High just as they had promised.
Their clean, pristine, dresses which contrasted starkly against the drab grey of the concrete made it easy for her to spot them in the sea of students. The common folk avoided entering their sacred invisible circle, allowing Katherine to easily navigate her way back up to her group.
Katherine had heard the rumors and whispers about her and her small group of friends being compared to a pack of piranhas.
But to her? They were the loveliest friends she could've asked for.
They all squealed and exchanged hugs when she caught up with them.
Lisa Holbrook, Katherine's best friend since fifth grade before deciding that she and Katherine were in competition in their freshman year, immediately linked her arms through hers with a bright smile. "I'm sooo freaking glad to be back. Fort Lauderdale was such a drag."
"At least you got the beach," Ginny Collins said enviously. "I was stuck here all summer while you all went away."
"At least your brother didn't take your car for a drag race," Katherine announced with an irritated sigh. "He busted up my engine and now it's in repair. Do you know how embarrassing is it not to have a car? At least my mother's going to let me use her Cadillac while it's gone."
It was a complete lie, and the girls knew it.
Charlotte Holden would rather die than let her children take a joyride in her Cadillac. But Katherine's girlfriends just squealed excitedly, gushed about how cool that was and begged to catch rides with her to school.
Lisa began to explain to them why her summer vacation in Fort Lauderdale was horrible and Katherine slowly tuned her out as she searched the parking lot.
Other students got out of their cars or were clumped into their groups, chattering away being glad to be back with their friends. However, Katherine was searching for one person in particular and beamed when she finally found the handsome dark haired Junior that leaned casually against his shiny blue Mustang.
Diana Fowlstone followed Katherine's longing gaze and smiled. "Looks like Bob Sheldon's got a sweet new ride."
"He really is a catch," Lisa sighed wistfully. "He's rich, he's sporty, he's smart, he's handsome, and-"
"And he's completely taken," Katherine snapped, suddenly irked by her girlfriends' mindless drooling. "Or have you all forgotten he's dating Caroline Munnsfield?"
"Oh, I've heard," Ginny nodded eagerly, eyes sparkling wild with excitement. "They've been seeing each other all this summer! They're absolutely, positively, wild for each other!"
"She won Miss Teen Blue Ribbon, this year," Lisa added in with a haughty sniff. "Honestly don't see how though. She wasn't even that good."
"And she's a senior," Katherine couldn't help but curl her lips in disgust. "Like puh-lease. Can't she find guys her own age to date?"
The girls giggled in agreement, bonding over their mutual hatred for the blonde senior, who in Katherine's opinion, was the biggest bitch that had ever walked the halls of Will Rogers High followed by her.
Caroline had curves in all the right places with ash blonde hair she kept in a high ponytail. She was popular, not just by her looks but by the way she terrorized the entire student body just by narrowing her hazel eyes on her next potential target. Even her close group of friends seemed intimidated by her, and so far the only person in the entire school who didn't feel threatened by her was Bob Sheldon, who seemed arrogantly content to be in her clutches.
Darryl Curtis was the golden boy of Will Rogers High, Katherine thought, but now that was Bob Sheldon's title; and he was worth so much more than Curtis. He was only a Junior, but he was the epitome of envy.
Girls wanted to be with him and guys wanted to be him.
He was the smartest guy in his grade, and he'd been on the varsity football team since his freshman year. His family's wealth allowed him to be properly dressed at all times, with a fashionable Rolex and a shiny blue Mustang to match his eyes.
Not only that, he was drop dead gorgeous, with perfectly groomed dark hair, sharp angular features, and blue eyes to die for.
Bob Sheldon was everything Katherine looked for in a man, and she knew that she was going to marry him someday when he was ready to give her his grandmother's Harry Winston.
The Holdens and Sheldons were so close, they were basically family.
But not the incestuous way.
They'd been business partners and family friends since they became two of the four families that prospered through the oil rigs in Tulsa county back in Katherine's great grandpappy's days. Their grandfathers grew up together as best pals and fought in the Great War, and then their children became amicable friends.
It just so happened that Linda Fairbank, Charlotte Holden's best friend from high school, married Richard Sheldon, becoming their second son's godmother. All the more reason to be connected to the Sheldon's, Paul and Katherine grew up treating Andrew, Robert, and Emmett Sheldon as cousins.
Unfortunately, being around Bob Sheldon basically everyday outside of the school context wasn't a blessing. Being one year her senior, Bob only saw Katherine as a little sister; something that she resented bitterly. She was the prettiest, if not, the most popular girl in her grade, yet he never glanced at her in any other way but brotherly love and friendship.
It was like he knew her deepest secret and was willingly teasing her for his own amusement.
Linda and Charlotte would always dream on the "what if's" of Bob and Katherine becoming a couple, and Katherine would silently dream with them in agreement.
All she had to do was prove to him that she was so much more than a friend and little sister figure. Once that was done, he would definitely see that he was foolish idiot for wasting his time on Caroline Munnsfield, and Katherine would be set for life.
The boy in question shifted his steely gaze in Katherine's direction, and a heart melting boyish smile was shot towards her. Katherine smiled back automatically, ignoring the venomous sneer that appeared on Caroline's face.
Katherine swallowed her flutters and bravely waved back at Bob and the blonde bitch.
The bell finally rang, signalling the start of their year and Katherine headed for her first class with Lisa and Ginny flanked by her sides.
As per usual, the corridor parted for them as they walked down not saying a single word to any of the familiar faces that stared at them. But this was her year. Katherine could feel it.
She was a winner, and Katherine was going to show them exactly who Charlotte Holden's daughter was.