It was late afternoon and our journeys on the bus were still going on. I was still trading insults with Ophelia. Lance and Joey had stopped the brawling so the bus could stop shaking momentarily and J.C. and Chris were trying to share a newspaper.

Ophelia had finally resorted to watching TV and being as bored as I was, I decided to keep her company. She was flipping through the channels listlessly when I noticed her eyebrows peaked and her mouth twisted into some sick, happy smile. It was a disney movie. She'd become all excited over a disney movie. I would never understand her obsession with Disney movies. She was 20 years old and in love with Disney characters and their wonderful, nonexistent lives. And why were they nonexistent? BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T REAL. But would Ophelia listen? No. Never. She'd just sit there and watch like a child. This time it was Bambi. She'd resorted to some sap movie that included deer and rabbits as the main characters. So as the ending came and Bambi's mother began to die, she started to cry.

Big, fat, slow tears came rolling down her cheeks.

This was my moment.

"JESABELLA RENEE ARNALDO! You're crying! BY GEORGE, I'VE GOT HER!" There was insanely evil laughter wringing in the air and all I could think about was drying my tears and beating him down until he saw three ways to Sunday.

"DAMNIT JUSTIN! What did I tell you about my full name?!" I slapped the back of his head with avengence.

"Well Miss Jesabella Renee Arnaldo, I happen to like your name, dumbass. It's charming. It's Italian. L'italiano!"

"Good lord. You're italian accent, sucks, justin. It sounds like you're having a hernia. And besides, I have you know I'm Italian AND Chinese. Cultured and wise. Il cultured e saggio! Which by the way, is more than I cay say for you, teen hearthrob, thrusty justy."

"OH OPHELIA! That pains me greatly."

"You want me to die young. That's it, isn't it? That's your plan. Befriend me and eventually kill me."

"Oh Bella Renee, you've found me out."

I smacked him on his arm. He only whimpered. "Would you stop calling me that?!"

"You know, Lia, you're quite the violent one." He said pointedly, I only threw him an uninterested smirk. So he continued. "This is a special occasion. Of all the 10 years of our friendship, you have never once, not once, cried in front of me. And now as the tears quietly cascade down your cheeks while watching a deer and his wounded mama, you have finally graced me with all of my wonderful glory! I think that god has just bestowed us with his awesome power."

"Shut up Reverend Timberlake. Please. You have seen me cry before."

"It doesn't count if you're 6 years old and have just lost your bike. In fact, I recall that IS the only other time I have seen you cry, oh wise one."

I growled and clutched my head. "Justin, will you ever stop bugging me?"

"Probably not. Lia, you're stuck with me for the long haul. You'll tie the knot with some guy and I'll settle down with a girl, and still, I'll be knockin' on your door."

"Oh joy. So many things to look forward to. Justin, you are so kind to annoy me to no end." The sarcasm in my voice was thick, but he seemed to have pushed that aside.

"Yeah well, comes with the best friend job. Someone's got to do it."

"Good lord. Go away, Justin."

"Oh the love, the love." He grinned this huge, sick grin. Oh, how I can count the ways I can strip him of that grin and his ego. But no. I won't. I'll save it for a much better, rainy day.

I gave him a content, greedy smile and proceeded to threaten him. "Well listen up, mention my full name to anyone and I will kill you, Timberpuddle."

"Ouch. That wounds me, Ophelia."

I rolled my eyes and stalked off. He scared me. A lot more than a normal human could. Justin thinks he could just pick up and do things he had left undone so many years. For example, me. We had lost touch some time ago and then just like that, he had come back. It was a rainy afternoon, three years ago. He had come to my door, knocking softly. I was expecting to see the pizza man, mailman, and heck, maybe even the police. But never had I imagined it would be the one and only Justin Timberlake standing before me, clutching a broken umbrella and some white ophelias.

I remembered everything about that day. It didn't matter how many times I tried to tell him it was no big deal, I had thought otherwise.

"Ophelias…" I breathed. "You remembered."

"Of course I remembered. Ophelias for my Ophelia." His smile was awkward and pained.

I had remembered the way his voice twisted and I had remembered exactly how many ophelias were in that bouquet. Exactly 9. My favorite number. He had remembered everything. He had it down to an artform. Just like his infamous thrusts and popstar grins. I didn't say anything for awhile until I realized, this was it. Years of friendship lost and here, here he was. Just standing in the rain, wearing green, clutching ophelias. My favorite. Still planted firmly at the enterance, he looked around for a bit.

"Everything..is still the same. Ophelia, everything is the same."

It was true. Everything was the same. When I had showed up on Jez's doorstep, I had seen her reaction opening the door. I had seen every look on her face. And it was all the same. It was as if we hadn't lost all those years. She was still the same. Olive skin, brown eyes filled with fiery ablazed, muttering Chinese under her breath since she didn't speak much Italian. Even her house was still the same. Carefully decorated by her meticulous Chinese mother and the atmosphere hugely alive and homey, just like her vivacious Italian father. And when she stood there, at the doorway, not even bothering to let me in, with her questioning stare, I suddenly couldn't remember all of my own words. And then, just as quickly as she opened the door, she had shut it. The wind flew into my face and I shivered at the biting cold.

Damn straight I closed the door. He had given up our whole friendship for petty fame. It wasn't as if it was a cold ending, but it still hurt. After he moved to Europe, all contact seemed to have failed and I hadn't heard from curly haired popstar since. And when he stood in front of my door offering silent apologies and white ophelias, I suddenly couldn't stand his presence. I was disgusted with his poor judgement.

He was pounding on the door."Lia. Open the door. At least let me talk. Damnit Ophelia."

He would always call me Ophelia. Or Lia. He had me wondering of that for a long time. Clearly, my name was Jesabella. Or Jez for short. Everyone called me that. Everyone except for Justin. It was always Ophelia, Lia, come here... But never Jez. And as if that didn't annoy me enough, he would never tell me what it meant. Sure, my favorite flowers were ophelias, but, somehow I imagined that my nickname had nothing to do with flowers. Aparrently, he was the only one that knew the true meaning behind it. I was however, surprised at that. Justin couldn't keep a secret if his life and his family depended on it. It was that sad. Hell, even Joey didn't know. Joey, his best friend and my very own god brother. So after years of wondering, I had given up. It was safe to say he'd never tell me why he labeled me Ophelia. So I hadn't thought much of it anymore. He had called me Ophelia for years now and I had become so accustomed to it.

It drifted back to him standing in the rain, with the door in his face. He was pleading for me to listen, to open the door, to do something to let him know I was still standing behind that door. "Ophelia….Ophelia. Please listen to me."

And I remember just standing there, faithfully behind the door.

The constant stream of his voice had made sudden tears spring from my eyes. And for me, that was a rare occurrence. I had stopped crying after my sister died 12 years ago. I didn't cry because it wasn't worth of it. My pools of salt had already been dried and sent to heaven, sitting at my sister's doorstep. So when I cried, once again, I had cursed myself for it. I knew Justin had somehow sensed that I was crying. But I had made him promise not to remember, just to forget. And he had kept that promise. He never spoke about my tears.

She's right. I had promised to forget. So I just did. I didn't talk about her crying. I didn't talk about her sister. She had made me lock it all away. And I promised it to her. So I would. I would keep it.

Just as I remember that one faithful day at the doorstep of Ophelia's home, I remembered the occurance of her nickname. And it was true, I had never told anyone the meaning behind it. Not even Ophelia herself. I was well aware of her name, but I just wanted her to remember me when I first met her. So I decided to be different. I decided I wouldn't be like all the others and call her Jesabella or Jez.

And all the while, I had strange images of the past in my head. I remembered her father calling for her afterschool everyday. As soon as the porch door was banging, her father called out to her. "Oh Jesabella, little bella, come here sweetheart." Her pigtails would bounce as she giddily ran to the open arms of her father. He'd pick her up and spin her around. Everyday after school. And I would watch by the door, watching father and daughter spin around in circles. And after a little bit, she'd call me over. "Come on Justin, don't just stand by the door and look stupid." And her father would always yell as if on command, "Ah bella! What have I told you about those kind of words? My little bella, what am I going to do with you? Only four years old and speaking like such a dirty child!" She'd giggle and squirm from his embrace. I remembered that. So long ago, yet, I still remember it all.

And so when I saw Ophelia crying, I remembered about her tears. She'd once told me a long time ago that she would only shed important tears. And those tears went to her sister's doorstep in heaven. So I had known her tears weren't over some stupid Disney movie. I had known it wasn't over some brooding deer. It ran deeper than that. I couldn't understand Ophelia's infatuation with hiding everything within herself. Lucky for me, I read her like a book.

*For clarity. The main role of the female in this series is named Jesabella. Jez for short. However, Justin refers to her as Ophelia and/or Lia.

PART 3