Little Johnny, Teyla and Ronan all scuffed their feet along the ground as they made their way down the street.

They did this every morning; John would set out when his mother left for work and he’d walk to Teyla’s where she and Ronan would already be waiting. Then they’d all head to the farthest end of the street to pick up Elizabeth.

John and Ronan were both seven years old. John was mischievous and fearless, crashing his go-cart 6 times into Mrs Weir’s front hedge before thinking to put brakes on it.

Ronan may have been seven, but he could easily pass for nine or ten. He was taller than John and he was quite a rough looking boy who followed John around like a shadow.

“You jump, I jump.” was their motto… right off the main street bridge one Easter.

Teyla was six and a cute little tomboy. Her hair was always out everywhere and her blue baseball cap always sat securely backwards on her head.

Elizabeth was the youngest. At five years old she was Daddy’s little princess and her Mothers china doll. She always had red ribbons in her hair and cute little summer dresses.

Her mother didn’t trust the rough-neck kids in the neighbourhood and often tried to deny Elizabeth playing with them… but her father always intervened, which is the only reason why she let John walk Elizabeth to school, under the proviso that he showed up at their house promptly at 8 o’clock, his shirt was clean and his hair brushed.

The other condition was that he be alone.

So that’s where they were this Fall morning, walking down the hill towards Elizabeth’s house.

Once they got close enough, Ronan and Teyla would hide behind Mrs Johnston’s hedge while John went up to the door.

As he made his way along the garden path out the front of the large house he did up the top button of his school shirt and brushed down his unruly hair to be greeted by Mrs Weir.

“Um… good morning, Ma’am.” He greeted with a shy smile. “Is Elizabeth ready?”

She looked him over. “Good Morning Jonathan, no tie today?”

“Ah, no ma’am, it’s laundry day.”

“Hmm, alright then… LIZZIE BEAR!” She called and then John heard the thumping he heard every morning.

He looked up at the ceiling as he heard footsteps along the wooden floors upstairs, heavy footsteps followed by a crash of something then the image of a tiny girl in a red floral dress barrelling down the stairs.

“Morning Johnny!” She boomed and he smiled.

“Come on then… Good day, Mrs Weir.” He waved over his shoulder as he led Elizabeth down the path.

“Where is Teyla?” Elizabeth asked excitedly and John grinned.

“Over here.” She heard a whispered voice and smiled at John before following it.

“BOO!” Ronan jumped out and startled the little girl.

“Ronan, that was mean…” Elizabeth slapped his arm and he just laughed in response. “Come on, we’d better get to school.”

John took Elizabeth’s bag and swung it over his shoulder before undoing his top button and taking her hand. Elizabeth stopped him for a moment and studied him closely, her little eyebrow rising in the inquisitive way that could only be hers. Slowly, she lifted her hand and ruffled his hair up.

“Much betterer.” She beamed and he smiled before taking her hand again and leading her down the road with the others.

John, Teyla and Ronan kicked a can playing soccer down the street around Elizabeth as she skipped away to her own tune. They crossed the blue bridge over the gully and followed the trees around the back of the shopping centre.

John grabbed Elizabeth’s hand again, instructing her to stop and look both ways before they crossed the road.

They reached the school and Elizabeth said goodbye to Teyla and Ronan as they ran off to class.

John took Elizabeth to her classroom, only leaving once she was inside and sitting on the rug, smiling up at her kindergarten teacher, before heading for his own class, with the promise to pick her up that afternoon.

That was their routine.

It never changed except for, perhaps, the choice of game they played on the way to school.

***

After school they’d play in the streets until the lights came on.

Elizabeth’s mother would call her in at least an hour before that and they’d all make a mad dash to tidy her hair and dust off her dress.

They remembered the night Elizabeth had gone home with mud on her dress and one ribbon missing from her hair… they all remembered that.

Elizabeth hadn’t come out for a month and her Mother driven her to school.

Most of the teachers at school thought that the group were the most unlikely of friends. John and Elizabeth particularly; they wondered why a boy of seven would want a five year old following him around.

But John never saw her age, she was his best friend and he didn’t try and ignore it, especially when a fifth grader by the name of Mervin Kavanaugh decided he was going to tease her and steal her dolls at recess.

She had taken a toy to school for ‘show and tell’ that day.

A beautiful doll her father had brought her from China; it had silk clothing and a porcelain face and she happily sat in the playground on the edge of the field as her friends played soccer when Kavanaugh came over and knocked the doll out of her hands and it’s face shattered on the ground.

Elizabeth looked down at the doll for a moment, frozen as she stared at it and then looked up at the bully with his ponytail and glasses too big for his face.

And she started to cry.

Loudly, wailing and hitting the boy.

John and Ronan stopped playing instantly and turned to the sound of her scream to see her punching and kicking at the boy twice her size.

“Aww, poor little Lizard’s dolly broke…” Kavanaugh teased as he effortlessly held her away from him.

“You a bully!” She cried and tried desperately to get at him, but he just placed a palm on her forehead and held her at arms length.

“HEY!” John yelled and Elizabeth stopped thrashing and turned to him.

“Johnny he broke my doll!”

John saw the tears streaming down her face and the broken doll on the grass. And it angered him.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, Mervin?!” John yelled.

“What? Like you?”

“No…” Ronan pushed John aside. “Like me.”

Kavanaugh bit his lip and stepped back. “You aren’t worth my time.” He glared and turned to leave.

Ronan wasn’t giving up. He had gone too far this time and he grabbed Kavanaugh by the shoulder, swinging him around and punching him in the face.

A fight broke out between Ronan and Mervin’s friends; John grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and dragged her out of the way of a swinging fist. He tried to help her salvage what was left of her doll but there was no use, its face was shattered and he knew this wasn’t going to go down well with her mother.

Ronan and Mervin ended up in detention. Mervin looked scared but Ronan didn’t care, he’d been in detention before and knew that, contrary to popular belief, they can’t hurt you in detention.

Their parents were called up to the school.

Ronan’s dad came, Mervin’s mother and John’s as well, seeing as he was being trialled as an instigator.

They called Elizabeth’s house and her nanny was sent to pick her up.


It was almost a week later that they saw Elizabeth again, John walked up to her front door the following Monday with his hair brushed and his tie securely around his neck, trying to look as presentable as possible so that Elizabeth would be allowed to walk with them again.

John took what Mrs Weir dished out to him, her anger and her hope that John would steer her daughter clear of such violence in the future.

He was thankful that he’d been given yet another chance to set it right.

They managed to last for a long time without getting Elizabeth into trouble. They stayed away from the mean kids and Ronan set his reputation in stone so that whenever she was with him, no kid dared to tease her.

It wasn’t until John, Ronan and Teyla left for high school that they worried for Elizabeth but they were hopeful that she’d last her final year and follow them on without a bruise to show for it.

John didn’t stop walking her to school though the others had to because the high school was on the other side of town and out of their way.

But John didn’t stop.

He’d leave her at the gate in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon. He’d take her past his mother’s diner where they got donuts and orange juice and were sent on their way.

Elizabeth liked John’s mom, she was young and made her laugh. She worked two jobs, one at the diner and one at the casino in town. John rarely talked about his dad but Elizabeth got the feeling that he hadn’t been a nice man from the small amount of information he had let slip through.

She always felt comfortable at John’s house, always welcome. The house was a lot smaller than hers and there was no one to bring her food to her, but that never bothered her. She just liked their company instead of rattling around alone at home when her father was overseas and her mother was out with her country club friends.

They all still played in the streets. Games that, at an older age and no longer amused by her dolls, Elizabeth played too. They played cricket in the middle of the road and grabbed the gear and ran whenever someone yelled ‘CAR!”

None of the four had imagined that when the time came for High school, Elizabeth would be sent to a different one than them.

It was an all girls school upstate, where they taught manners and etiquette, foreign languages and literature. Elizabeth’s argument was that she already knew these things. But because her father was on yet another business trip, her protests fell on deaf ears.

They were all there when her mother took her to the bus stop.

John’s mom had insisted that they see Elizabeth before she left and she’d driven the three remaining friends there to say goodbye.

Teyla hugged Elizabeth and Ronan shook her hand. John stood before her and held out a box wrapped in brown paper.

“It’s not as pretty as it used to be… but I tried.” He said softly, scratching his nose and not meeting her eye.

Elizabeth stared at the box and wondered what it was. She didn’t open it there; she tucked it into her hand luggage and kissed him on the cheek.

“You are my best friend John Sheppard.” She stated and he grinned.

“You’ve always been mine… Lizzie Bear.”

Elizabeth climbed onto the bus and waved goodbye to her friends before the bus pulled out.

About fifteen minutes into her trip she remembered that she hadn’t opened the box. She pulled it out and stared at it for a moment before she peeled back the wrapping and lifted the lid.

She smiled openly at what she saw.

It was her beautiful China doll, but with a few personal touches.

She noticed that the dolls clothes were a little worn and she had patches, her face had cracks held together by what seemed to be super-glue and her eyes were painted green.

She pulled the doll out of the box and noticed an envelope flutter onto the seat. She placed the doll down and opened the envelope to see a hand-made card.

It had pink flowers and red ribbon around the edges. Her name was written in purple glitter and on the inside there were three messages:

One from Teyla that said she would see her at her birthday and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Ronan’s said that he would always be her bodyguard, she just has to say the word and he’d join a girl’s school, dignity be danged.

John’s message made her smile.

He told her again that she was his best friend, that even when they were younger, she had always been so. He asked her not to forget him and that when she came back, he’d be there to play whenever she wanted.

Elizabeth then didn’t feel so bad about going to a school so far away, knowing that whenever she came back, they’d be waiting.

She hugged the doll close to her chest and fell asleep with her head against the window, the card held tightly in her hand.