“Ms. Scott, how do you find the derivative of a fraction?” her professor asked.

“Low d high minus high d low over low squared,” she said in a drone tone of voice.

“Good.”

The class dragged on for another 35 grueling minutes.

“Hey Callie! Wait up!”

Callie stopped and waited for Heather to catch up with her after class. “So what are you doing for spring break?” she asked.

“I’m going down to Orlando to visit my cousin Rachael. She claims that she has this awesome surprise for me.”

“That sounds cool.”

Callie turned to look at Heather. “You obviously have never met my cousin…”

Callie frustratedly turned off the radio. "Argh," she grimaced. "Nothing on the radio."

Heather looked up from her magazine. "You know, there are worse things."

"No, there isn't," Callie said, concentrating on her driving.

"You argue just for the sake of arguing," Heather rolled her eyes. "That's not cool."

"Yes it is," Callie argued.

"Whatever," Heather said, looking out the window. She saw the green road sign that said Orlando 10 miles. "We're almost there," she said.

"Good. I'm getting sick of driving," Callie said.

"Is it me or are you a little upset over visiting your cousin?" Heather questioned.

Callie had the steering wheel in a death grip. "It's nothing. But the last surprise she had for me involved a male superstar and an unintended pack of rabid squirrels.

Heather stared at Callie. "I won't ask."

"Good idea."

"So what about your cousin? I mean, what does she look like, stuff like that," Heather asked.

Callie sighed as she switched on her turn signal momentarily to pass a red SUV. "She's twenty three, graduates from college this spring, and she's so in love that I could just wring her little neck sometimes."

Heather didn't think that was a lot to go on, but she let it go.

“Do you think she knows?” he asked.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” she answered.

“Oh man if she rejects him then he’ll be crushed. Do you remember when they got in their fight?”

“Can anyone forget? He literally lost it.”

“You mean lost it all over the bridge. Thank god one of us got to him before he jumped.”

“Oh I know. Besides I know that she misses him too. They were both being stubborn. They can get like that sometimes.”

“That’s why they belong together.”

Callie's car stopped in the driveway, and frowned when the car sputtered to stop and she wondered if it would ever start again. But she quickly dismissed the topic when her cousin burst from the house with her boyfriend in tow, but he leaned against a post on the porch.

"Hiiiii!!!!" Rachel said, running to Callie while Heather looked on. "How are you?"

"I'm doing alright," she said, returning Rachael's hug. "What's up around here?"

"Nothing nothing nothing. We're just kind of hanging out," Rachael said impishly.

Callie suspiciously eyed JC lazily leaning against the porch column. "Right. I'm sure JC has been a perfect gentleman."

JC had heard that. "All that and sprinkles on top Callie. We seen those squirrels yet?" he said casually.

Callie held up her hands. "Hey. That was totally your fault man."

"Was not."

"Whatever," Callie said, holding up her hand to his face, walking up the porch steps. "Guys, this is Heather. Heather, this is my cousin Rachael and Super Pimp. Timbs, baggy jeans, and thug appeal all rolled into one," she said opening the screen front door and going through and letting it slam shut with a bang. "Don't tell me that was the surprise Rachael, because I've been more surprised in my lifetime."

"Nope. It's asleep on the couch in the den," Rachel answered, everyone following her into the house.

"Ah, is it really?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow. Callie started to walk towards the den at the back of the house, and when she opened the wooden sliding door, she saw the "surprise". Justin lay on the couch, blue eyes shut and blonde curls awry. She carefully slid the door shut again, and turned to face Rachael and JC. "What kind of a surprise was that?" she asked.

"It's been almost a year…" Rachael said. "You two should just get past it and move on."

"We are past it! We've been past it for a year! It's over! Don't you think I meant it when I said that I didn't care if I ever saw him again?!" she yelled.

"Well, you haven't had to live with him for the past year," JC said sharply. "I've seen him almost everyday and he may as well be dead," he said.

Callie put her hands over her ears. "I am not hearing this, I am SO not hearing this."

Rachael looked at her cousin. She drew in a breath and slowly counted to ten. "We'll talk about it later, but for now you and Heather are staying in the lavender room," she said, changing the subject.

"No, we will not talk about it later, but okay. Heather, this way," she said, pushing past the two conspiracers to lead Heather to the stairs.

Rachael fell into JC's arms and laid her head against his chest. "She's still being stubborn. If only she could see how perfect they were together, JC. If only."

JC tiredly put his forehead on top of her head. "That's why they belong together."

That night Callie was still a little angry with Rachael and JC, and even a little with Justin, even thought she hadn't spoken to him and wasn't planning on doing so, and it showed in everything she did. She brushed her teeth harder, glared at her reflection in the mirror, and yanked her brush through her hair. She was searching the small bathroom for a pair of tweezers to get a sliver out of her foot that she had gotten in the bedroom, and she was having no luck.

She finished searching the cupboard and opened the medicine cabinet. Pushing aside a vial of pills, she found some.

The pills fell off the shelf and into the sink. As she picked it out of the sink, the label caught her eye: Justin Timberlake, Take 2 5mg tablets everyday as prescribed. And then she read the medicine name: Zoloft.

A pang of guilt rose up inside of her, but she quickly pushed it down. You drove him to that, a voice mocked. She shook her head to get rid of it. She then took her tweezers and proceeded to pull out the sliver.

She yanked the necklace from her neck and let it fall to the floor. She then stomped on the crystal heart charm and it shattered. “I never want to see you again Timberlake!” she yelled as she started to leave.

He grabbed a hold of her arm as she tried to walk away “Callie, I swear that this isn’t true. Please you’ve got to believe me.” Justin said pleading with her.

“How can I? How the hell can I?!?! Sure there have been rumors, but none like this, but none like this! This was the last straw!” Callie yelled again as she yanked her arm out of grasp and walked away -- walked away from him.

Justin looked at the shattered heart crystal on the hardwood floor. Tears weld up in the corners of his eyes as he felt his heart shatter just like the crystal.

He grabbed his keys and left. He felt that his life was complete with Callie and now without her, he had nothing to live for.

"They broke up?”

“I guess so. And Callie’s pretty upset about it all. She just called.”

“I would be too if I heard a rumor like that.”

JC and Rachael continued to drive on towards home. As they drove over the bridge, JC saw something that caught his eye. He saw Justin, standing on the railing of the bridge. He quickly pulled a U-turn, thus slamming Rachael into the side of the car.

“What the hell?” she asked angrily, until she saw what JC was driving back towards.

JC threw the car into park and jumped out. “Justin! Don’t! Come on! It’s ok. It will all be ok,” he calmly said as he walked towards Justin.

“No it won’t. I’ve lost the only thing I’ve ever truly loved. So this is my only option left.” Justin said, choking on his tears.

“No Justin. I love you. And so does Lance, Chris, Joey and even Rachael. So please come down,” JC said as he held his hand out to Justin. Ever so slowly a shaky, clammy hand took ahold of JC’s out held hand as Justin stepped back onto solid ground.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” JC said as he helped Justin into his car, while Rachael drove Justin's car.

Callie slowly ran her hand along the back of her neck and felt the scars that were there. So she along with Justin had scars from their relationship. Hers were physical and his were emotional.

“Callie just shut up and listen to me,” Rachael said sitting down in front of her on the bed. “Don’t say a word, just listen. I know that you and Justin's relationship ended on a rather bad note, but that doesn’t mean you two can’t still be friends.”

“Rachael he lied to me.”

“No! No, he didn’t. That rumor was wrong -- they confused you and someone else. We found out after you went and crushed his heart.”

Callie looked down at the bed. She knew that Rachael had a point. “I have a question. Why does he take Zoloft? I know for a fact that he didn’t take it when we were dating.” Callie said still looking at the floor.

“He tried to kill himself the night you two broke up. So now he has to be under the watchful eye of any of the guys or myself. And Callie…”

Rachael’s voice trailed off and Callie looked up. “What is it?” she asked.

“He still loves you. He still loves you a lot. I’m dead serious. So think about what I told you.” Rachael said leaving the room.

Callie yawned as she climbed into bed the next night. Heather was already zonked out on the other side of the bed, and once asleep nothing could wake Heather.

Rachael's voice rang in her ears from last night. He still loves you. He still loves you a lot. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious.

And Justin was almost dead, because of me, she thought sadly. No, he made that decision himself, she told herself again. She had been telling herself that all day long and it still hadn't sunken in yet. She picked up her fortune cookie from their Chinese dinner that night, and got ready to crack it open. She always waited until bedtime to open her fortune cookie. She snapped it open and it read:

If you love something, set it free. If it does not come back, it wasn't meant to be.

"Thank you Confucius," Callie mumbled angrily. She ate the cookie and ripped up the fortune into tiny little pieces and threw it in the garbage can. That fortune sucked. She spied Heather's fortune cookie on the dresser, and decided that she might like that one better. She grabbed the cookie, opened it and the slip of paper said:

Through eyes of love all things will take on a new meaning.

She glared at the strip of paper. How many hints could one girl take? She put the fortune cookie, fortune and all, into her mouth, slowly chewed and swallowed.

"Heather?" Callie asked the next morning while lying in bed with her.

"What Callie?"

"Have you ever had this consuming feeling of guilt?" she asked. Her stomach was hurting, but that might have been because of her unusual midnight snack the night before.

"Can't say that you have, unless you count running over my sister's cat when I was sixteen. Does that count?" she asked sleepily.

"Yeah, it does," Callie said. She turned over on her back and stared at the lavender painted ceiling. A feeling of extreme guilt had been eating her from the inside out since she had first come to the house four days ago. Between Justin not even trying to speak to her, Rachael's "pep talk", the Zoloft in the bathroom, and the damn fortune cookies the night before, the guilt was about ready to poke through her skin. And she hated it.

"Hey Callie, have you seen my fortune cookie?" Heather asked, searching the dresser, and on the floor.

Callie rubbed her stomach. "Nope. Haven't seen it. Do you think you ate it?"

"Hm. Maybe I did," Heather said.

"I think you did," Callie said, hoping that she sounded convincing.

"I think I did. I-" she started to talk, but was interrupted by a closing door and a screech of joy coming from across the hall. Callie and Heather's eyes widened in shock. Heather pointed to the closed door and said, "Are…are they?"

"I think so," Callie said, pretty much petrified to the point of not moving.

"Awwwww maaaaan," Heather said, covering her ears and turning on the radio as loud as it would go.

Justin quietly sat at the kitchen table, eating Apple Jacks. Callie sat across the table from him, not saying a word, as usual. Heather looked nervously between them, wondering if the tension would either let up or explode.

"It's a beautiful morning!" Rachael said, bursting into the kitchen.

"I should think so," Callie murmured under her breath. Justin looked up at her with a glint of sadness still in his eye. She quickly looked away from him.

He still loves you. He still loves you a lot. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. If you love something, set it free. If it does not come back, it wasn't meant to be. Through eyes of love all things will take on a new meaning.

Everything that had been bombarding her the past few days had finally taken control of her heart. She got up out of her seat, took ahold of Justin's hand and led him outside.

Rachael watched with a smile on her face and Heather still was lost on it all. But she knew that whatever was transpiring had to be good.

Callie and Justin sat down on some chairs on the back porch. He didn’t say anything, but simply look at her. This was the first time that he had been able to study her up close for a few days. He loved her so much, still. Her hair, her eyes, and every little thing about her.

She had her head titled away from him. He gently placed his hand under her chin and turned it towards him. He saw that she was crying.

“Callie what’s wrong?”

She sniffled. “That’s the only thing you’ve said to me the entire time that I’ve been here. Justin, I’m so sorry about what I’ve made you go through this past year.”

He just looked at her and gently wiped the tears away from her eyes. “No it isn’t. It’s mine. Everything I did was my own choice. But I figured that I still love you just as much as the day we broke up. Maybe even more.”

Callie continued to cry. “And I still love you.”

“Then what the hell happened to us?”

“I don’t know, Justin. I really don’t know.”

He ran his hand along the side of her face. And for the first time in a year he smiled. “Can we try again? Please. Neither of us knows what happened.”

“yeah. I think we need to. We need to heal the scars.”

They leaned in closer and shared a kiss. A very passionate kiss.

“Aww I can just see the rabid squirrels again.” JC said as he and Rachael were standing in the doorway.

Everyone laughed. And for once in a long time, both Callie and Justin were happy. And happy with each other.