They've known each other for exactly one week, two days, and three hours, and they have already declared themselves to be best friends.

He is seven, she is five. It is an unlikely friendship, in that he hates pretty much everyone and she loves almost everybody she meets. But oddly, it works.

…

His name is Alec McKinley, but he told her that might change because his mum loves someone else, that's why her and his dad fight all the time, and he thinks after they get divorced she'll marry the other man. He told her that he would probably like that, because his dad hits him sometimes and yells a lot. He called his dad a good-for-nothing wanker. She doesn't know what that means and she's fairly sure he has no idea either, but they're both certain it's really bad.

Her name is Ellie Williams. She surprised him with her friendship, because she didn't need it. She had plenty of other friends. He isn't rich, he isn't particularly friendly, and he keeps to himself. He doesn't know what she wants from him. But he tentatively opens up to her, and, within the week of their friendship, he blossoms. His grades skyrocket upwards, he does more than halfheartedly pick at his lunch, and he doesn't get into trouble nearly as much. He's pretty sure she's more like a sister than a best friend, but he doesn't know because he's got three older brothers and they're hardly ever home. But best friend is close enough.

…..

They met when Alec tripped over his own too-large feet and crashed to the ground, spilling school supplies in every direction.

A few people gave him sympathetic glances. A few laughed. Most just ignored him, skirting around the sea of pencils and paper surrounding his miserable huddled form.

She crouched down beside him, picked up one of his drawings, announced "This is really good!" and then promptly began jamming a ruler back into his backpack.

…..

The teachers aren't entirely sure why the boy who is consistently mocked for his thick Scottish accent and his unfriendly, somewhat nervous demeanor and the bubbly, sweet girl bonded so fast, but it wasn't difficult in the least for them. They both have a love for crime. Not committing it, luckily. Solving it. They both have a strong desire to grow up and become police officers. They have agreed that they will be in the same department and they'll work all the same cases. Due to the fact that neither of them is even in 3rd grade yet, this seems like a flawless plan.

…..

The problem is, she's moving.

Alec has tried to convince her parents to stay, but despite his offers to weed their garden and help Ellie with chores as bribery, they try to break the news to him as gently as possible that there's nothing he can do to keep them there.

He leaves their house quickly because he doesn't want Ellie to hear his quiet sniffling or see the tears threatening to spill over. He's good at containing them, he's learned to keep silent during the near constant fights at home, but he can't do it this time.

The next day is quieter. Because they both know the next week she will be leaving. They're still glued to each other's sides, but they know they will have to let go.

…..

Ellie reassures him that he'll get her phone number before she leaves. This calms him somewhat, but they both know it won't be the same.

"You promise you won't be a fair-weather friend?"

"What's that?" she asks with a curious tilt of her head.

"My mum told me about them. It's when you have a friend but they're only your friend when things are really good. When things get difficult, or someone moves away, or it gets harder to be best friends, they just ignore you. I think my old friends were fair-weather friends."

She is appalled. "I'm not one of those."

"Okay." he says simply. He believes her.

"I promise."

"Okay."

"You're supposed to promise you aren't one either."

"Oh. I promise I'm not."

With that, they are both reassured and go back to playing tag.

…

He waves goodbye as he watches them pull out of the driveway. Ellie waves back, and he can see the tears shining on her face. Her parents look miserable. He hopes this means they're regretting leaving and they'll come back, but the logical part of him is pretty sure this is because Ellie is sobbing and when Ellie is sobbing it isn't pretty.

As soon as they are gone from sight, he curls in a ball, rocking back and forth on his knees. He misses her already.

…

She gave him the wrong phone number.

Well, it's technically the right one.

…..For the house they just moved out of.

He is dismayed. He tries for a solid three weeks, which is an extraordinary amount of time for his young brain with its fairly small attention span, to find a way of contacting her, but he can't.

And she fades away. Slowly but surely.

He remembers her for a while after. He avoids the bench where they used to sit together. Sometimes he goes out to the forest where they used to play Cops and Robbers with a few other kids (Ellie would usually let him be a cop to be nice to him), and just sits down and thinks. Thinks about how much fun they used to have and what she's doing right now and if she ever thinks about him.

But by the next school year, Ellie Williams is a faded memory and nobody offers him a hand when he trips and accidentally dumps out his backpack yet again.