Shattered Hearts

Prologue

Westbury High School, 1961 

"I swear to God, Darlene is gonna puke," Charlotte whispered in Louis's ear as he guided her around the dance floor at their high school prom. "Look how green she is."

Louis glanced at Darlene as she sat next to John, her arms folded and her head inclined away from him, a pout marring her face. "She looks okay to me. I guess she's jealous but that's all."

Charlotte giggled. "That's what I meant silly! She's green with envy. John's prom king and Rosalind is his queen."

Louis chuckled. "Well, she's only been seeing John for a couple of weeks. Most people probably thought he was still with Ros when they voted."

"Yeah, it was kinda awkward when the results were announced." She couldn't help thinking that if John and Rosalind had split up earlier in the year, she and Louis might have been in with a shot. They were a long-established couple at Westbury High, however, Charlotte suspected Louis would have refused to wear the crown. He'd probably have refused to attend the prom. She had another attack of giggles as she looked at John; he had a big grin on his face, the king's crown jauntily perched on his head. Luckily he seemed oblivious to his date Darlene's sour expression.

"Why did Ros even dump John in the first place?" Louis asked quietly as Rosalind passed them by with her dance partner Dale. She gave Charlotte the thumbs up, and she had to admit Ros made the perfect prom queen with her model figure and ready smile.

"I think Rosalind got bored of John," Charlotte said in a hushed tone. "She said he was too much like her dad." Louis spluttered. "I'm serious, he's going to work with her dad and she had an absolute fit when she found out." She felt a bit sorry for John, he was arrogant but he'd been trying to do the right thing, lining himself up with a job on the local housing project. "She said that there was no way she was going to settle for the life her mom had."

"I think she's a bitch," Louis said and for once Charlotte didn't jump to her friend's defence. "So that's why she's with Dale? Cos he's going places."

"It looks that way." She peeked at Dale over Louis's shoulder. With his clean-cut good looks and straight-A grades, she knew he'd make something of himself and Rosalind clearly felt the same. He'd never been part of their group - he was too clever by far - in a way she wondered what he saw in Ros beyond her good looks.

"Do you wanna go sit down?" Louis asked. "We're been dancing for ages."

"Okay." Charlotte knew she'd kept him on his feet long past his boredom threshold. "Let's go join John and Darlene." Louis gave her a 'do we have to?' look but she grabbed his hand leading the way.

"Hey," John said smiling as they sat down. "So what do you think of me being king of the prom?"

"I don't think there was ever any doubt that you'd win," Charlotte said and John basked in the compliment while Louis gently elbowed her.

"What I don't understand is how Rosalind is prom queen," Darlene said sourly. "I mean she's not even your girlfriend."

"People probably voted ages ago," Charlotte said quickly. "And I bet Dale's just as put out about it as you are."

"I doubt Dale wanted to be prom king." Darlene's mouth turned down making it obvious she had wanted to be prom queen.

"No, I meant Dale wouldn't have wanted Ros..." She stopped talking when it was clear Darlene was determined to sulk. "It doesn't matter. This is our prom and it might be the last time we're all together. We should be enjoying ourselves."

"Hear, hear," John said slurring as he held his drink up causing Charlotte to suspect he'd added a little something to it. "Who knows when we'll all get together again."