The sun beamed rays of light across the foot of her warm bed through the cheap plastic blinds of the medium sized window. She groaned and stretched and rolled over on her back to stare at the ceiling.

-What time is it? - Her head turned to the clock causing straight strands of black hair to fall diagonally across her face. She tucked them behind her ear. -11:45, you slept in.-

Her perfect white teeth broke through her full lips and she smiled, but it was turned into a yawn.

"Ohh, I could stay in bed all day!"

SWUAK!!

"SHUT UP CHESTER!" She yelled.

"Shut up Chester." She heard him mock.

Alexandria groaned and rolled out of bed. She walked out of her room and walked to the birdcage. She uncovered the cage to let him have light and he was giving her this look. Chester had looks and this one was one that said, "ah ha I woke you up."

She glared at him and he started bouncing his head.

-That bird is nuts. - She thought as she walked to the kitchen to get his food.

After feeding the bird and pouring herself some orange juice and making poptarts, she plopped herself down on the baywindow seat and picked up a book she had checked out at the library early in the week. She bit into her poptart as she began reading.

-Prayers and ceremonies have been used by people throughout history in the hope of altering the weather. Among the best known ritual is the rain dance of the Hopi Indian of...-

There was a knock at the door.

She looked up strangely and sat down her book and shuffled to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw no one. She swung the door open and looked down both hallways and saw no one again. She thought she heard footsteps from the steps. She waited and saw Mr. Krecor turn the corner from the steps, sorting through his mail. He looked up.

"Hey, Alexandria how are you?" The middle aged black man said.

"Fine, you?"

"I'm all right."

"Did you by any chance see anyone unusual leave on your way out?" Alex inquired.

"Uhh, actually yeah. Some young looking kid you had a baseball hat on was sprinting down the steps two at a time. He looked like he was in a hurry. But I've never seen him before. Why?"

"I just got a knock at the door and no one is here."

"Well, looks like someone was." Mr. Krecor nodded to her feet. She looked down. There was a brown envelope at her feet with her name scribbled on it. Well her nicknames. Two nicknames

To: Lexy or Lexia

She just stared at it not even picking it up. Mr. Krecor walked to his apartment that was diagonally across from hers. He looked at her. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, fine." She said picking up the envelope and turning around. "Bye Mr. K."

"Bye, Alex." He said before she shut the door.

Alex went back to her baywindow and sat down undoing the clasp that held the envelope shut. She turned it upside down and out fell a piece of paper and an object. She fingered the object with a distance smile and turned the paper over to read it.

Meanwhile...

"GOD I AM AN IDIOT!" Justin yelled to himself banging his hands on the steering wheel.

-Why did I run like that? I'm such a loser. - He sighed deeply as he came to a stoplight. -I hope she got that envelope. I hope no one steals it. - He looked to his right as the light stayed red and noticed a car full of teenage girls staring at him with their mouths open. He grinned and pulled his baseball cap further down over his face.

-You should have left the top up, moron. - He scolded himself for the millionth time that day.

"OH MY GAWD!! IT'S JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!" He looked out of the corner of his eyes through the sunglasses and the girl was practically hanging out of the passenger side window.

He looked up and saw the light had just turned green and pressed down the gas petal as far as it could go. His engine roared and his wheels screeched as he sped off.

Back on the ranch....

Alex smiled as she read the note again.

"LEXY.

No, its Lexia.

IT'S LEXY!!

Fine you win.

Anyways, it's us. We wanted to thank you for the fun day yesterday. We made this for you. You don't have to wear it, but it's just a reminder of the two coolest guys you know. Have a wonderful day and we will see you at the play tomorrow night! Bye Bye Bye!

Love,

Jonathan and Justin

P.S. Justin says, 'I'm really really sorry about yesterday.' "

She picked up the necklace that was made out of rather thick white string and had five shells hooked through it. Knots kept the shells in place on the string. The middle one was the biggest shell and they got smaller in size as you went further from the middle.

She probably would never wear it. She wasn't a big jewelry person but it was still a sweet gesture. It eased her thoughts about Justin a bit. She was still mad at him, but now more at herself than him.

It was all just one big mass of confusion to her. And today was a day to forget all that and relax.

(Saturday night, 6:00 the next day)

Alex parked her truck in an empty parking space. The church lot was already pretty full. She couldn't wait to see this play. It was going to be so cute. She walked up to the front of the church and through the doors.

"Why, Hello Miss Smith!" The pastor said. She took a bulletin from one of the ushers.

"How are you Reverend Hoswer?"

"Oh I am wonderful. I'm excited to see the play."

"Me too. Talk to ya later." Alex smiled and left the lobby part of the church and entered the sanctuary. She spotted several familiar faces of people she knew. This was the church she went to.

She scanned for a curly strawberry blonde and found it, middle section 10 rows from the front. She smiled and walked down to the row. Sliding herself through the pews right beside the blonde.

Noticing a presence the blonde turned. "Alex! Hey girl!" Lynn hugged her tightly.

"Hey Paul." Alex leaned forward to say hello to Paul who was on the other side of Lynn.

"Good evening, Alex." He nodded to her.

"Justin is running a little late." Lynn rolled her eyes.

"No I'm not." A voice came from beside Alex. The three people turned to see a smiling Justin in khakis and a button down, long sleeve dark blue shirt sitting beside them.

"Bout time you showed up, boy." Lynn said reaching over Alex to ruffled his hair.

Justin stuck out his tongue at his mother and shimmied off his jacket and placed it beside him. He turned back to Alex. "Hey, Lexia."

"Hello, Timberlake." She spoke staring at the stage where a curtain was blocking the view.

"Still mad at me?"

"Yup." She tried not to smile.

Justin sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say all that. Maybe if you would..." Alex turned and shushed him.

"Justin, lets quit while we are ahead. By the way, thank you for my little present."

"You got that?" He was a little surprised.

"Yeah, and why didn't you stay and personally give it to me?"

He bit his lip and stuttered. "I-I was afraid you might kill me or something. You were so mean and cold the other day."

His voice was so serious she immediately felt bad for being that way. "I'm sorry."

After a few moments of silence, Justin nudged her. "Hey, what are you doing after this?"

"Uhh, going home. Why?" She looked at him confused as the lights went down.

His voice changed to a whisper. "Why don't we go get some coffee or something?"

"What would Brit Brit say?" Alex giggled.

"Oh pulease. This isn't a date; this is two friends drinking coffee. What do ya say?"

"Well..."

The speaker interrupted her and both of their attention was placed on the stage. "Ladies and Gentlemen, family members and friends. Welcome to the First Baptist Church's annual Christmas Pageant."

The speaker walked off the stage and the curtain was drawn back. Slight laughter was filled within the room and proud smiles of parents as they saw their children on the stage.

---------

"Then the shepherds went back to their fields, praising God for the visit of the angels and the birth of baby Jesus." The oldest boy of the group said. He was the narrator. The curtains closed and the crowd stood up cheering.

Alex looked around; all she saw was smiling parents. The curtained opened again, and the applause got louder as each cast member was announced.

"Joseph played by Jonathan Harless." The children's director spoke into the microphone. Justin brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly. Alex nudged him, giggling and kept clapping.

Finally every child ran down the stage towards their families. Jon tripped on his long robe but didn't fall. He ran up to his family that had already filed out of the pew and towards the front of the church.

"Did you see me, Justin!?!" Jon yelled.

Justin picked him up and hugged him tightly. "Yes I did. Watch out Brad Pitt."

Lynn laughed and hugged her younger son and so did Paul.

"Where's Lexy?" Jon looked around. He spotted her, leaning against a railing to the pew. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his cheek into her stomach. "I love you, Lexy."

"I love you too, sweetheart. But why do you say that?"

"Because you were the one that told me to try out for the play. Now I know what I want to be when I grow up. An ACTOR!" Jon grandly bowed.

"I thought you said you were going to be a singer?" Justin mocked being offended.

Jon shrugged. "I'll do both."

"Sure ya will. Come on, we have to get you to the cast party." Lynn pushed him towards the front of the sanctuary.

"Mom, me and Lexia are going to go get some coffee. Then I think I'll go back to my house. OK?"

"All right sweetie. You two have fun." Lynn and Paul waved, following Jon.

"I never said I'd go get coffee with you." Alex smirked.

Justin rolled his eyes. "Come on, Lexia." She shivered when he said her name.

"You cold?"

"No." She said quickly. "Lets go. I'll follow you in tha truck."

Justin smiled and walked with her out of the church.