Gathered around the kitchen table in the Harless house was Lynn, Justin's mother, JC, Chris, and Paul, Justin's step-father. It was 11:15 in the morning and they were eating breakfast, waiting for Justin to come downstairs. The Orlando Times was spread across the table, each person holding a different section in his or her hand. JC settled for the sports page, while Chris looked over his shoulder at the hockey scores. Lynn was reading the Living section and Paul the local section. The front page was laying on the floor under the table, untouched.

"The curly-haired monster arises.", Chris laughed as Justin strode into the kitchen, stretching his arms with a big yawn spread over his face. He was wearing flannel pants and a wifebeater.

"Good morning dear.", Lynn smiled warmly.

Justin grunted and grabbed a box of Apple Jacks out of the cabinent, pouring milk in the overfilled bowl. He plopped down at the table and searched through the paper. "Where's the front page?"

Paul shuffled through the mess of paper on the table and shrugged in confusion. "Hmm, that's weird. It's not here."

Justin stuffed another spoonful in his mouth and reached across the table to grab the Sports section from JC.

"Yo! What do you think you're doing?"

Justin glared at him. He finished his cereal and stood up to put it in the sink, but slipped on a pile of paper on the floor, causing him to lose balance and crash to the floor. Chris chuckled at Justin's clumsiness and JC immediately snatched the Sports section back. Rubbing his head, Justin looked down at the paper and inhaled sharply when he saw that it was the front page. The huge picture in the center of it haunted him and he pushed it away instantaneously scrambling to his feet and slowly backing up in fear.

"What's wrong, Justin?", Lynn asked, worried.

"T-the p-paper...."

Lynn raised an eyebrow and picked up the front page off the floor. She looked it over before widening her eyes in shock. "Oh my gosh...this is terrible. But, honey, why are you so spooked by it. It happens everyday."

The front page had a vivid picture of the two smashed cars involved in the accident with Sidney, surrounded by the ambulence and paramedics, wheeling away victims. In bold print above the picture was"GIRL KILLED IN VIOLENT ACCIDENT" with a school picture of a teenage girl. Below the picture was a little note that said: "Accident involving two, on I-47, last night at around 6:00. Story on 6A."

All eyes were on Justin as he walked up to the paper and flipped to page 6. He read aloud in a shaky voice.

"Seventeen year old Sidney Miller was killed last night at around 6:00 in the evening driving home from work. A sudden collision with a gray pick-up truck, carrying 34 year old Harry Jaycans, occured while Miller was talking to her friend on her cellphone. The rain pounding on the windshield only added to the distractions around her. Jaycans suffers a concussion and some bruises, but will be just fine. Miller on the other hand, died shortly after arriving at the hospital. She is survived by her parents, many cousins and relatives, and her grandparents. 'She was physically injured very severely...with a very deep cut on her forehead. She would have lost a lot of blood even if she had pulled through, and that could have caused some damages to her brain power.', says Dr. Pete Ryan. Miller's best friend Olivia Jacobs was seen at the site of the accident along with a tall male figure, rumored to be Justin Timberlake of the popular singing quintet *NSYNC. She was too upset to comment. Funeral plans are being set now.", he read, pausing afterwards, to look at the other pictures on the page. They had printed a blurry one of Olivia and Justin standing on the side of the highway, and one of Sidney on the stretcher. He looked up with tears in his eyes as his family stared at him in disbelief.

"Is...that why you were late?", JC asked cautiously, not wanting to anger him.

Justin nodded. "I drove that girl to the hospital and stayed with her until she wanted to leave.", he thought for a second before continuing. "JC, that was the same girl we saw at the coffeehouse."

"What?"

"The girl I saw at the coffeehouse that I was telling you about...and you kept saying 'What girl'...that was her."

"How do you know?"

"I just realized it. I knew I'd seen her before but I couldn't remember where and last night I comprehended it."

"Weird."

Justin nodded and scratched his bare arm. "This is ALL too weird...", he said thoughtfully and then changed the subject. "What are we doing today?"

"We have a photo shoot at 3 and studio work at 5.", Chris answered.

Justin nodded and walked into the den to watch TV for a little before getting ready for his day.

Olivia flicked on the TV, (the same time as Justin did), and started crying as soon as she saw the coverage on the morning news. They were reporting on the events from the night before and Olivia was shocked when she saw herself in the background with some guy. She thought out loud, "Who is that?....Oh...yea, that guy...what was his name again? Oh well."

Mrs. Jacobs walked into Liv's room holding the Orlando Times. Tears were streaming down her face. "Olivia...oh honey, I just heard what happened...", she pointed to the newspaper. Olivia snatched it out of her mom's hands and quickly read over the article.

"You're in one of the pictures Olivia. Why didn't you tell me that you were at the accident? And who is that Justin boy you were with?"

She looked down at the blurry black and white photo of her and Justin. "I don't know who he is...I think he's an angel...", she swallowed. Liv read the article searching for anything on Justin and gasped in triumph when she saw one of the last sentences. "His name is Justin Timberlake from...", her eyes grew wide..."Oh my God..."

"What? Olivia, what's wrong?"

Before she answered, she turned her TV channel to MTV and listened carefully to the News Brief that was being reported on by John Norris. "Justin Timberlake from the boyband *NSYNC was spotted at the scene of a gruesome accident last night at around 6:00 on I-47 in Orlando. He was apparantly with a teenage girl who was crying on the side of the road over the accident. No other facts have been revealed yet. We'll keep you updated.", was what he was saying as a picture of Justin popped up on the screen. Liv swallowed hard as she recollected the physical features on the man that was with her the night before. The curly blonde hair, the soft ocean blue eyes, and the diamond earrings in both lobes stuck out the most in her mind. Just to make sure she was thinking correctly, she reached over to her dresser drawer for the CD case belonging to Sidney. Running her fingers over the blonde guys face, she opened up the sleeve and read his name: "Justin Timberlake..."

"Olivia? Is everything okay?"

"I gotta call Sidney. She's never gonna believe this!"

Mrs. Jacobs bit her lip and sat down next to her daughter on her bed, rubbing the small of her back. "Dear, I don't think that would be the best idea. Sidney....well, she, ....honey, you were there. You know what happened."

Coming back to reality, she started crying again. "I forgot....mom, she said she'd always be there. She said that I couldn't get rid of her!! And it's all my fault! I shouldn't have called her to tell her about my problems. If I didn't call her, maybe she'd still be alive right now!", she sobbed, "I have no one mom! Everyone's against me and now I'm left by myself!"

"Honey, you can always come to me and your father."

"But mom, I need FRIENDS! I'm 17 years old...almost 18...and I have no friends! Sidney's gone, Greg is in jail, Jeff's a tease and he keeps putting me down and all my girl friends think I'm a bad person just because I made one mistake!"

Her mother hugged her warmly. "Well, what about that Justin boy you were with last night?"

Olivia closed her eyes and imagined his strong, caring arms around her like he had done the night before. "He's...a pop singer and he'd never have time to be my friend. He just happened to be there at the scene and help me out."

"A pop singer?"

"Yea, you know, as in famous...superstar...he's out of reach, mom."

Mrs. Jacobs sighed and continued to rub her daughters back as the tears flowed freely out of both of their eyes.

(three days later, Sidney's funeral)

Decked out in a plain black dress, Olivia solemnly walked into the Church where Sidney's funeral was to take place. The music was being played quietly yet it echoed throughout the rafters. Liv swallowed when she saw the opened casket in the front of the cathedral. She paced up to it and gazed down at her best friend. This was her last goodbye and then she'd really be gone. Olivia was still stunned that she had been killed; it all seemed so unreal.

"Hey, Sid...you really didn't deserve to die like that...but, it's too late now, so I'm just going to say goodbye and I hope you'll always be looking over me. Oh, and real quick, you'll never believe who drove me to the hospital after your accident. That cute blonde guy from *NSYNC! I'm not lying! Well, I'll really miss you. Rest in peace, Miller."

Soon after Olivia returned to her pew in the Church, the Mass started. She was sitting in the second row with her parents, right behind the Miller's and a few other close relatives. Her heart ached tremendously as the minutes flew by quickly. Before she knew it, the priest was asking her to come up to the Alter to say the eulogy. When she stood up, she felt the pressure from all the eyes looking at her as she made her way quietly up the steps to the podium.

Before saying anything, she observed the mourning congregation carefully. There was a long pause until Olivia found the strength and right words to say what she had wanted to.

"Sidney Miller was my best friend. I've been through so much these past few months, and she's been the only person to stick with me the whole way through it. We met in the 4th grade and immediately clicked. After that day, we've been inseprable.We went everywhere together... I remember one time when we were in freshman year... I was playing in a softball game and was pitching to the other team's star player...", she laughed through the new set of tears that were rolling down her cheeks and continued trying to push the shakiness out of her voice. "Sidney was on the bench and suddenly jumped up on it and started to sing at the top of her lungs 'Jungle Boogie'... it eventually distracted the batter and helped me strike her out. She was always there when i needed her, whether she wanted to be or not. Sid was the ultimate definition of a true friend. I'm gonna miss her tremendously." Olivia wiped the tears off her eyes. "I wrote this poem for her and I would like to share it with you...It's called 'Terrified Tears'.

Immediately following the Mass, Sidney's burial took place. It was a bright, sunny day...pretty normal for May 18th. The only thing that made the difference was the way that Olivia had blocked out the sun, the blooming flowers, and the green grass. She was underneath a dark thundercloud and the rain was pouring down on her...and her only. She was miserable, absolutely miserable. She stood quietly watching the priest bless the casket and her mind began to drift away leading her to reminisce all the crazy times her and Sidney had shared...then she became lost in all the hard times... Her hand brushed away the tears from her eyes as she looked at the shiny brown casket one last time when the buriel came to an end. Slowly, she trudged back to the family car with her parents.

When she arrived home, she paced up to her bedroom and went over to her bureau to get changed. Liv opened the bottom drawer, but instead of finding clothes she found a pile of letters. She picked the top one up and read what was scrolled on the envelope in familiar writing. "To my best friend forever, Olivia. Luv ya, Sidney! BF4E" It was dated April 8th. "The day after I got bailed out of jail..."

Olivia carefully opened the envelope and realized that this was the heart-felt letter that helped her get through her mess. She began to read out loud...

"Dear Olivia,
Hey sweetie, I know you've had a rough week with all you've been telling me and everything. Especially with what happened with Greg. I never liked him anyway. :o) But you listen to me, Liv. The other day you told me that you didn't think you could go back to school, that you said you were gonna drop out. That's not the way to go, Olivia. You're the strongest person I know and you know that you can stick it out if you hold your head high and not listen to what anyone has to say about you. Even if this thing has an effect on your reputation, you can do it. Believe in yourself, Liv. I do...and I know that no matter what happens we'll always be here for each other, if all else fails. But please don't drop out; if you do, I'll be so lonely!! Move on with your life. This was one mistake that's too late to do anything about, so it's now time to move on. I'll be here for you if you need someone to talk to. And even if something happens to me, which won't for another few years hopefully, I want you to stay focused in your life and listen to your heart. You'll always be my best friend no matter what! So you better promise me that you won't do anything you'll regret or I'll personally come over and give your ass a beating. And remember, when you're sad...just picture Ryan Phillippe without a shirt on! hehe. Well, I better be going! If you ever need anything, give me a call! Best Friends Forever!! LYLAS!
Love always, Sidney."

Olivia bit her lip to keep from crying and she realized that she had to move on. That's what Sid would have wanted. She put the letter in a safer place and made a promise to herself to hold her head high. Wiping away her last tears, she quickly got changed into pajama's and went back downstairs to spend time with her mom and dad.