Disclaimer: Harper's Island is not mine. And I hate that fact.
It was Shea Wellington's first day of second grade. She was at a new school and didn't have any friends yet, so she spent recess on the swings by herself.
Halfway through recess, a girl sat on the swing next to Shea.
"Hi," she said brightly, "My name's Katie. What's yours?"
"Shea," she said bashfully.
"Do you wanna play tag?" Katie asked.
"Okay," Shea smiled, "You're it!" she cried before running off.
Recess was soon over, but they agreed to play together the next day. When recess was over that day, they decided to play again the day after that. Once a week of spending recess together had passed, they figured it should just be common knowledge that Katie and Shea were best friends and spent recess together everyday.
……
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Katie asked Shea in the middle of third grade.
"Bad," Shea answered, "then good."
"I'm moving," Katie said, "But it's not 'til the end of the year and your name is on the sign in our front yard! How cool is that?"
Shea went home that day and yelled at her dad for putting Katie's house up for sale.
……
Shea was meeting Katie again for the first time in twenty two years. Now, she goes by Katherine and is engaged to Shea's father.
As Shea tries to coax a five year old Madison down the aisle at the wedding rehearsal, she can't help but wonder if Katherine remembers her at all. She also wonders if her father knows he's marrying his daughter's childhood friend.
……
She could hear Katherine's voice bouncing off the walls of the empty hallway.
"Shea? Shea?" she called, searching for her missing step-daughter.
Shea had other things to worry about, like her dead husband, father, and currently missing daughter. Oh, and the fact that there's a murderer on the loose and anyone could be his next victim.
Katherine tried to talk Shea into rejoining the group, but Shea didn't want to listen to her. Not when she had cheated on her husband, Shea's father, with her son-in-law, Shea's husband.
"Don't touch me," Shea snarled.
……
When Shea heard about Katherine's death, she had little time to grieve for her old friend. She had just been reunited with her daughter, and had reason to believe that there was no Katie left in Katherine.
A/N: Yeah, so this isn't as good as I thought it was, but I noticed on the Harper's Globe Wiki that Katherine is only nine days older than Shea. So I figured why not write about it? TADA! This was born.