𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 ¥ 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐀

"𝐎𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐚, 𝐦𝐦𝐦, 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞?"

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

(Song for the chapter up top ^^)

𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄. Her dad sighed as he made himself comfortable pulling her close into his side. "On this very day, October twenty third in the year of nineteen ninety three, at this exact time, two thirty ante meridiem, I laid eyes on my Little Angel ," He began like he did every year.

Ophelia smiled tiredly, tucking her head into his shoulder.

"I remember it like it was yesterday, I had a concert up in Kentucky, I was running late, Marty was ridin' up my butt about catching our flight, until I got a page from the hospital. I called your mom and sped on down, must've caught a ticket or two , and there you were in your little cot, wrapped in pink," he sighed, "And you were so beautiful, a bit too small because you were too eager to face the world, but so perfect. And when I held you first time, it brought a tear to my eye. When your mama held you for the first time you grew a little fussy and as she held you close she began to sing a song—how did that song go again?"

Ophelia giggled slightly and began to sing, "Boards by the window, mail by the door why would anybody leave so quickly for? Ophelia, mmm, where have you gone?"

"That's right, it hit me then, Ophelia Shae Stewart, my little Angel," he kissed her head, "You were perfect then and you're perfect now, your mama would be so proud of where you are, just like I am."

Ophelia locked her hands around his arm and cuddled into his side. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

~~~~

"Happy birthday!" Miley and Jackson yelled the moment Ophelia came downstairs dressed for the day. She beamed at them.

"How does it feel?" Jackson drew her into a side hug. "Being a teenager?"

"I feel an ever looming sense of dread, for my inevitable decent into madness," she sighed and Jackson squeezed her shoulder.

"Well you've already got the angst down," he released her and Miley tackled her into a tight hug.

"Ugh! I am so excited! Happy Birthday, baby," She pressed her cheek against her sister's, "Today is gonna be so great!" She jumped up and down with Ophelia, "It's Friday, so a half day which gives us all day to have fun," she clapped her hands.

"Birthday flap jacks first!" Their dad called from the stove, "chocolate chip pan cakes, with my special caramel drizzle, because my baby don't like maple syrup, with your regular pop tart indulgence," he placed a plate of birthday cake shaped pan cakes on her side of the table with her brown sugar pop tarts on the side.

"Thank you!"

"Mine don't have chocolate chips," Jackson said pointing at his regular pancakes.

"Are you the birthday girl?" Their dad raised his brows. "No birthday, no special birthday pancakes."

"I didn't get special pancakes on my birthday!"

"Didn't you?"

"No!"

"Huh," their dad began to whistle absentmindedly, turning his attention back to the pan ,bringing the complaint to a halt.

Ophelia giggled at her brother's expression as she dug into her pancakes. She felt like today was going to be good.

~~~

"Happy birthday!" Lily squealed the moment Miley and Ophelia were in view, she pulled the younger girl into a tight. "I'm so excited, I can't wait to start talking to you about boys!"

"Ew!"

Lily shook her head, "You'll get there eventually."

"I hope not."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Happy birthday," Oliver stepped forward and pulled her into a side hug, "Can't wait for the party later today."

"Party?" Ophelia frowned.

"Oliver!" Lily and Miley hit him.

"She wasn't supposed to know that!"

Oliver spluttered and raised his hand, "You will forget about this party."

Ophelia raised her brows, "Sure, Obi-Wan, and I'm not the droid you're really looking for," she waved her hand in front of his face.

He beamed, "You watch Star Wars?"

"Do I look uncultured to you?" Ophelia raised her brows before side stepping him. She looked at Miley, "I promise to act surprised later."

"Thank you."

"There she is!" Johnny called the moment he spotted her. "Miss Birthday girl," he raised his hand waving a purple party hat.

"No."

"Yes," he placed it on her head, making sure to snap the band unnecessarily hard and she winced before punching him in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Pay back for my birthday." He adjusted it on her head, "Perfect, so after school because today is a half day—."

"No!"

Lily gripped Ofie by the arm and yanked her back towards her. "You had her all of Friday last week and the entire weekend! No fair. She's ours."

Johnny placed a hand on his chest, "Well she's my best friend."

Miley stepped forward, "Well she's my sister, sister trump's friend, hah!"

Johnny raised his hands in surrender, a mischievous smirk on his face, "Fine, you win for now Stewart," he flicked Ophelia in the nose causing it to scrunch adorably. "I'll see you later birthday girl," he called over his shoulder as he left.

"You're all ours today baby," Miley held Ofie's hand and dragged her through the halls.

"Happy birthday, Ophelia."

"Happy birthday Ofie."

"Happy birthday."

Random people left and right said brightly as she walked through the halls. "Who are these people?" She whispered to Miley, brows furrowed.

"No idea, but they know you."

"I don't like it."

"So," Miley said opening her locker as Ophelia leaned against the one adjacent to it. "I was thinking before the party that should not be named we could do some of the things you like, like go looking for sea glass—,"

"Can we go surfing? Ooh! Or rollerblading?" Ophelia asked eagerly.

Miley nodded, although she grimaced,"What ever you want."

"Great, I'll see you guys in class," Ophelia raised her arms suddenly, looking vaguely annoyed.

Oliver frowned, "What are you doing?"

"I'm about to be stolen."

"What—."

Johnny sprinted up behind her, picked her up from under the arms and ran away. The girl giggling desperately asseveral on lookers pointing and shaking their heads laughing at their antics.

"Waah! My sister! No fair!" Miley stomped her foot.

"Sucks to suck, Stewart!"

"Get back here, you Ofie Thief!" Lily screamed sprinting after them. "I'll save you Ophelia!"

~~~

Miley and Johnny compromised...to an extent. Miley didn't have a single athletic bone in her body, it seemed Ofie and Jackson (to an extent) had inherited those. So, Ofie would spend the first half of the afternoon with Johnny and the other with Miley, Oliver and Lily.

Johnny and her had pivot in what they wanted to do. Instead of heading down to the beach the two of them had decided to ride down to Malibu pier, Ophelia sitting on his handle bars as he peddled in determination.

"So, we have two hours before your sister hunts me down to pry you from my hands," Johnny begun as he locked up his bike, he straightened and placed his hands on his hips, "and I have the perfect plan."

"And what's that?"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around, Ophelia immediately set her sights on the huge black bear plushy. Her eyes lit up and she gasped. "I want it."

"Great, it's a hundred thousand tickets."

She looked at him with a pout, "How are we gonna get that in two hours if at all?"

Johnny grinned, "Dance Dance Revolution."

Ophelia shared his expression, "We're gonna max out the machine?"

"That right."

Let's get it done.

There was a bit of a line but within the next fifteen minutes. Sitting at one of tables watching we're a group of teenager heckling some of the players. No doubt they held the highest scores. Johnny and Ophelia deposited their coins into the machine, shedding their bags and laying them nearby Johnny selected heavy.

"Good luck!" One of the hecklers laughed.

Ophelia and Johnny shared an amused look. They had been playing DDR since they met in his parent's basement. Games lasted hours. Heavy gave the most tickets for every five minutes played. If you kept it up for an hour with a perfect score, you will hit jackpot, which is a lot of tickets. With two players that would be double amount.

"Thanks but we're not gonna need it!" Johnny called as the game started.

By the thirty minute mark, the heckling stopped and people had begun to watch. By forty minutes they had beat the high score and they had to laugh.

"Are you guys serious! Only forty minutes?" Johnny cackled as they kept dancing. Barely breaking the sweat. Their longest game was four hours on one random Tuesday night and they hadn't been able to beat it since.

By the hour mark they hit jackpot, by an hour thirty, they maxed out the game which was kinda disappointing, they were just getting into it. But the Arcade had a policy.

"They didn't even break the sweat, are you serious!"

The duo highfived in victory and there were cheers from the onlookers.

Johnny moved to collect their tickets as Ophelia quickly put in their team team name for the leader board, "The Donkey Duo" curtesy of of Johnny's little sister. Number one on the leader board.

"This gonna take a while," Johnny hummed as the tickets deposited into his hands. Ophelia came over to help him fold by tens. The tickets just kept on coming. On and on it went it took fifteen minutes but they had reached their goal with change.

"Yes!"

Black bear plushy here we come!

By the time they had all their tickets, both their hands were overflowing with them. The moves quickly through the peer dumping the tickets in front of the kiosk worker.

"What prize—."

"The big black bear pease!" Ophelia jumped up and down excited.

"You need a hundred thousand tickets," the guys drawled, without looking.

"We have them!"

"Yeah right—," he looked up from his phone only to blink in shock.

"We counted, one hundred and fifty thousand tickets," Johnny said pointedly, "We want that bear. You can count but we're on a tight schedule."

Ophelia pointed at a gold necklace hanging from one of hooks. "The necklace too, that's twenty five thousand right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Throw in the medium puppy plush too please."

The man blinked at them, "I'm just gonna take your word for it, I've never seen that many tickets in my life."

He gave her the bear which was quite frankly the size of her body. "It's so fluffy!" She squeezed it aggressively as Johnny took the puppy and the box with the necklace inside.

"One more thing," she grabbed Johnny by the hand and dragged him to the photo booth. "To commemorate the last hour and half we spent on DDR."

"In DDR we trust."

~~~~

Ophelia held hands with her sister as they scoured the beach for Sea Glass. Oliver and Lily were wrestling some feet further up the beach because Oliver had picked up the sea glass Lily had her eye on and when he had refused to give it back, Lily in great Lily fashion decided that the best way to get it back was to wrestle Oliver into submission.

"Are you bored?" Miley suddenly asked and Ophelia perked up, her brown eyes flicking up from the sand to peer at her curiously.

"No," she nudged her sister with her shoulder, "I like spending time with you, why do you ask?"

"You were smiling and laughing with Johnny."

"Yeah, well we were riding on an old bike with two plushies, one quite literally the size of me, it was hectic and loud," Ophelia hummed lightly. "It doesn't need to be hectic and loud, just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I'm not having fun."

"Wahhhh!" Oliver screamed as Lily tossed him in the air.

Ophelia and Miley giggled. "The loudness comes eventually."

Something glittering caught her eyes, close to the shore, bringing her to a sudden halt. She gasped in delight and dragged Miley with her. Digging with her free hand Ophelia squealed and produced a piece of sea glass the size as her palm, the best part was that it was orange. The most rare type of sea glass and the fact that it was that big was mind blowing.

"Oh my god!" Miley crouched to get a better look. "Look who's sowing luck today."

"Guys! Come see!"

~~~~

Ophelia hopped down the stairs hooking her sandal over her heel.

"Baby, come on!"

"Coming!" She called turning into the corner of the kitchen.

Only to release a shriek when she was met with a crowd yelling, "Happy Birthday, Ophelia!" Accompanied by the pop of confetti.

In her surprise Ofie fell backwards onto her rump absolutely stunned, "Oh! My god!" She giggled in embarrassment. Jackson helped tug her up onto her feet. "Thank you," she squeaked, she recognized most of them from school, most were in her grade, some from the grade above or below her. She only knew the names of a handful of them.

"Perfect!" Her dad cried looking at the digital camera he had in hand.

"Daddy!" Ophelia complained.

The man grinned, "For the photo album! Let's take this down to the beach ya'll!"

There was a happy cheer as her guests shuffled out of the house. "You should've seen your face!" Johnny cackled throwing an arm around her neck to drag her with them. "I better have a copy of that, Mr. Stewart."

"You got it, boy!"

"You both suck!" Ophelia huffed shoving Johnny away, but he gravitated back towards her pinching her nose in amusement.

"You love it."

"Your look of pure terror will forever be engrained in my memory," Jackson said, making an ugly imitation of her face as he walked passed poking her in the cheek.

"I said pretend to be surprised, Ofie heard change lives," Miley skipped up next to her sister, a bubbly grin on her face.

"That wasn't acting, you literally scared me half to death, I have one foot in the grave as we speak," she grunted dragging her left foot behind her in exaggeration.

"One more scare and I'll get to wear that black dres I've been saving."

Ofie gasped in outrage at her sister, "You are the absolute worst!"

"Let's make something very clear," Johnny began, pulling Ofie into his side. "Don't ever ask me to carry your coffin."

Ofie spluttered, "First of all how do are you assume—on my birthday might add—how dare you assume I will die before you? Hmm? Second how do you know I want a coffin and not a casket ?"

"First of all, you don't like the number four."

Ophelia blinked, "You're right I don't."

"Second, for like the first year I had known you your favourite song was "Forever Young" by Alphaville, so I'm assuming based on context."

"Fair enough."

"Back to my point, don't ever ask me to carry your casket when you die," Johnny repeated, "I won't keep it serious, one side of the coffin will be bouncing, beacuse I'll be laughing."

Ophelia shook her head with a giggle.

"It's hard enough that my best friend is on my back!" Johnny giggled, "my best friend dead on my back!"

Ophelia doubled over wheezing as Johnny continued with his warped fantasy.

"All I am saying is—."

"Don't ruin my day!" The friends chorused doubling over in morbid laughter.

"You are so foul, Johnny," Ophelia wheezed shoving him away he shoved in back in return.

"Hey!" A familiar voice screeched from the beach. "Hands to yourself pretty boy! Roxy got her eyes on you!"

Ophelia squealed happily the moment she saw Tve stout woman standing on a sand bed, eyes locked an narrowed on the two friends. "Roxy!" She ran over to give the woman a strong hug. "I thought you weren't coming back till next week."

Roxy squeezed her warmly "And miss my sugar pies thirteenth? Heck no!" She chuckled grinning mischievously, "And just between you and me, Baby, that mountain of gifts," she motioned the gift pile that was getting bigger by the minute, "got some cute stuff, and if you don't like that set of perfume Roxy's hands are open."

Ophelia grinned. "Got it."

"Enjoy, have fun, Baby."

And have fun, she did.

Her birthday party was mermaid themed, filled iridescent blues and greens. She was absolutely in love with it. The music was perfect mix of her favourite selections both past and present. At some point during the party they had begun to play the most ultimate game of hide and seek and it was absolute carnage.

There was something terrifying about a group of over fifty teenagers running around and hiding, behaving like five year olds that had people clearing the beach to avoid the eventual slaughter.

It was this guy from her math class, Justin's turn to count and Ophelia refused to get caught. With bright giggles she sprinted down the beach, for a moment she took a second to look back and see if anyone had followed or he had finished counting and in doing so missed a person stumbling into her path.

The two collided with a viscous whomph! Their bodies hitting the sand and rolling down a dune. As they came to abrupt halt their heads bonked to together drawing groans of pain from their mouths.

Ophelia scrambled off her fellow victim rubbing at her head with a grimace, "Ow," she whined, "I'm so sorry," she grumbled as she looked down at the person she had colluded into.

"No it's all good," he grunted sitting up with a wince, "My fault."

"No," Ophelia denied, "It was mine I wasn't looking where I was going, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, you're the one bleeding," his face contorted in concern and he leaned forward to inspect the crack against her skull. Ophelia squeaked at the sudden proximity, getting a good look at his frankly good looking face.

She felt her face grow hot as he stood up offering her a hand. She took it and he pulled her up with a strong hand. He was tall, taller than Johnny, she had to tilt her head up to look at him.

"My mom's a nurse," he pointed vaguely ahead of them, "She can take a look."

Ophelia shook her head, "No that's okay," she protested . "I need to get back before Roxy goes all puma—."

"I insist," he tugged her hand to get her to follow. "I'll feel really bad if I let you walk away bleeding," he finished and Ophelia felt her stomach fluttered at his accent, British.

Oh sweet niblets, her stomach shot straight down into her butt.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Ew! Ew! Ew!

Why did it have to be today of all days?!

Ew!

She didn't say that out loud as she let him hold her hand and lead her to where a lady was lounging against a beach chair a book in hand.

"Mum."

She looked up from her reading with a frown on her pretty face she looked at Ophelia and sat up. "Oh sweetie what happened?"

The boy explained the incident to his mother as the woman stood up, very prominently pregnant. She moved to one of the bags and produced a first aid kit.

She clicked her tongue, "This is why I tell you to watch where you're going."

"It was my fault," Ophelia reassured, "I was running and looked back, completely missed —," she winced as his mother cleaned the cut with with an alcohol wipe before placing a bandaid on.

"And what has you running like a bat out of hell?"

"Hide and seek."

That earned her raised brows from both mother and son, she flushed and looked down at her calloused fingers. "Um, it's my birthday, we're having a party and decided to play hide and seek."

"Oh, well happy birthday," he smiled charmingly, "Sorry again," he muttered and Ophelia nodded as she stood.

"Thanks, again I'm so—."

"Baby! Baby?! Where's my Sugar Pie?! Out of the way—Roxy's on the move!"

Ophelia groaned, "Sorry,"  she made sure to smile at the boy, "see you around," she waved at them and ran to find Roxy before she put someone in the hospital...again, "Roxy! Roxy no! Put him down! Not like that! Bad Roxy!"

~~~~

Ophelia tore through the crowd looking for her sister and Lily.

"Baby, cake's about to come out!"

"Yeah, give me a moment!"

The minute she spotted the two people she was looking for she sprinted towards them a gripped their hands yanking them towards the bathroom. "Emergency!"

"What happened?"

"My food—!"

Ophelia shoved them into one of the bathroom stalls shutting and bolting the door behind her. She inhaled deeply before scowling and punching them both in the shoulders.  "I hate you!"

"Ow!"

"Why would you do that?!"

"This is all your fault!" Ophelia raged and began to pace in the confined space. " "It's gonna happen Ofie", "I can't wait to talk to you about boys, Ofie", It's disgusting! I feel like I want throw up and giggle at the same time," she glared at them, "This is all your fault! He was holding my hand and he smiled at me and I almost died! I will never forgive either of you!" She stomped her foot turned on her heel and went to leave the bathroom but Miley and Lily pulled her back.

"OMG!" Lily squealed.

"This is so great!" Miley gasped.

"No! No it's not I can feel my brain cells dying one at a time!"

"How did he look like?"

"He was like really cute and he had a very nice smile and these bright hazel eyes."

Lily and Miley squealed.

"Was he tall?"

"Yes."

Another squeal.

"And guess what?" Ofie whispered with a sigh.

"What?"

"He's British!"

An even louder squeal, Miley and Lily started jumping up and down and Ophelia refused to join. She would not loose anymore brain cells.

"What's his name?"

"Don't know."

They frowned.

"How long is he here?"

"Don't care."

Miley shook her head, "Ofie, Baby, you're not doing this right. You need to ask him questions."

Ophelia shook her head.

"Ofie can you at least act like a normal teenager?"

"Don't count on it."

"You see moments like this remind me that Jackson is your brother."

Ophelia rolled her eyes and left the bathroom.

"Maybe you can still find out his name!"

"I don't want to!"

"Ofie!"

"There she is!" Johnny found her and ushered her to the table where a large blue cake sat, it had two tiers and Ophelia was immediately curious about what kinda cake was it was.

Her dad and Roxy lit the candles, thirteen in total and Ophelia was immediately reminded that she was actually thirteen. She was actually a teenager.

Oh dear.

It filled her both with dread and anticipation.

She was getting older.

As they sang Happy Birthday, Ophelia looked around at all the smiling faces and was reminded of the fact some of the people she truly wanted there weren't and that the person she really wanted would never be there.

She had to take in a deep breath to keep the tears at bay.

She wasn't here.

Her mom wasn't there.

"Make a wish, Angel," her dad whispered pressing a kiss to her head.

Ophelia shut her eyes tightly feeling a tear trailing down her cheek, she leaned forward to blow the candles out.

The only thought she could come up with was:

Please...

Please...

She didn't know what she was pleading for but something. Something good. Everything good.

Please let this year be good.

Please let it be happy.

Just Please...let something come out of it.

The crowd cheered and Ophelia quickly wiped away her tear, clapping her hands along with them.

"Who wants some cake!"

~~~~~

Johnny had gotten her a pair of roller skates as he promised. Jackson had gifted Ophelia's own guitar pick, she couldn't even be mad mad at it because it had fallen into one of their many guitars and she hadn't been able to get it out for months. Lily had gotten her a  pair of cute pink pumps. Oliver had really shown out and had some how gotten her a signed copy of the ABBA's Waterloo vinyl (how he even got his hands on it was a mystery), she had hugged so tight he went light headed.  Roxy had gotten her a pair of sai, "For defence!" She had said when their dad gave her a look of absolute fear.

Miley got her a charm bracelet, the charms were the first letters of all of their names. Ophelia put it on immediately.

Her aunt Dolly had sent her an embroidered jean jacket, with her name on the back and little horses running around it and an entire makeup set.

Her grandmothers Ruth and Ruby had sent her a scrapbook filled with images of her as a baby, the rest was for her to fill in.

Her Uncle Earl sent her a wood carving of Dawn Foot. Uncle Bobby sent her a belt buckle stamped with a golden O. Whereas his devil of daughter sent her a voodoo doll made of straw.

Ophelia burned it immediately.

She got other things from her classmates, shoes that were actually her size (that filled her with fear), some cute tops and little knickknacks, a lot of keychains and birthday cards.

She sighed releasing a yawn of exhaustion stretching her arms over her head, sitting on their couch surrounded by colourful tissue paper. "Thats not all, darling!" Her dad placed a large and long box on her lap and she perked up. Heavy. "Go on open it."

Her siblings leaned forward curiously as Ophelia stood and put it on the table.  Opening the blue present box she blinked at the black guitar case sitting inside. She looked  at her dad who motioned for her to open it.

She felt a thrill shoot through her and quietly removed the case from the box. She clicked it open and an released a strangled gasp of awe.

"Daddy—!" She looked at her dad, "Is that—is that what I think it is ?!"

"I don't know, you tell me."

Ophelia looked down at the black signed guitar sitting delicately inside the the case. "Is this—is the a Gibson Les Paul 1957Black Beauty?" She gasped breathlessly. 

"No."

"What?"

Ophelia knew her guitars.

"Look at it closely."

She did. It had all these alterations , personal alterations.

She gasped again. "This—this is '54,"she whispered.

"Yep."

Ophelia screamed in absolute disbelief. She looked down at it again. It had been signed.

Signed.

It had been signed by THE Les Pauls. He wrote her name. Les Paul knew her name!

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" She squealed jumping up and down before jumping into her dad's arms. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you! This the best gift ever!"

"Do be shy give it a play."

Ophelia squealed even louder.

Best birthday ever!

~~~

At some point the day had to come to and end, and Ophelia found went into her Opal room to find a stand for her new guitar. She was gonna put it in her actual room, because it was something she couldn't even dream of hiding. As she left the Opal room she noticed a box sitting on her bed.

With a low hum she sat and picked it  up curiously shaking it by her ear. Two things? When she opened it she found a cassette tape and a smaller jewelry box inside. She looked at the cassette and opened the case, from inside a little card fell out, she flipped the tape in her hand to look at its label.

'94/10/23
To Opal.

She picked up the fallen card only to realize it wasn't a card but a photograph. She smiled slightly. The photo was of her mom, cradling a baby Ophelia in her arms, she was grinning so brightly it almost hurt to look at, laughing at something unknown. Ophelia took a moment to just look at the woman, I grace her face behind her eyelids. In her revere, she noticed a necklace hanging around her mom's neck, her younger self had the charm clenched in a chubby fist as her brown eyes looked up at the woman in awe.

She turned the picture over.

Susan and Opal, '94, Crowley Corners, Tennessee.

Ophelia carefully placed the photo up against a framed family picture from two years ago, unconsciously comparing the same woman in different photos. Despite one looking sick, they both had the same bright grins.

Sometimes Ophelia wished she had her mother's smile.

She turned her attention to the jewelry box. Undoing the ribbon she opened the box to find a white gold necklace nestled inside. The pendant was an iridescent white stone. An Opal. Her birthstone.

She looked closer at the chain before flicking her gaze back to the picture then back at the chain. It was the same necklace her mom was wearing in the picture. For a moment she felt her throat swelling with tears.  Swallowing thickly she pulled the necklace out of the box and quietly clasped it around her neck. The pendant sat perfectly between her collar bones. She looked back to Casey and leaned over to look in her bedside drawer for her Walkman.

She placed her head phones on and leaned back again her pillow pressing play.

There was a moment of silence before there was sound. White noise.

"Opal?"

Her breath hitched at the sound.

Mama.

"Opal? Where did you go? It's time for bed," her mom spoke in the recording.

There was the sound of muffled giggles nearby.

"Is she here? Hmm no. Have you seen her Robby?"

"Nope," her dad denied.

"I wonder where she's gone?"

There was a moment of silence, "Rah!"

A loud squeal followed.

"I found you!"

"Mama!"

"Time for bed, Baby."

"No."

"Yes."

Young Ophelia whined. "No."

"Yes," her mother giggled. "Time for bed, Miley's waiting for you."

"Song?"

"Well if you want me to sing your song, you need to go to bed, okay."

Young Ophelia sighed, "Okay."

"Okay."

Her mother began to hum a familiar tune, "Boards by the window, mail by the door, why would anybody leave so quickly for?"

"Ophelia, mmm, where have you gone?" Her dad joined in.

"The old neighbourhood just ain't the same, nobody knows just what became of Ophelia, mmm, tell me what went wrong?" They sang with little Ophelia trying to sing along.

Ophelia closed her eyes and listened keenly, humming along.

"Was it something that somebody said? Mama, I know we broke the rule. Was somebody up against the law? Honey you know I'd die for you. Ashes of laughter, the ghost is clear."

"Why do the best things always disappear, Like Ophelia, please darken my door."

Ophelia sang along with the tape, a bright smile blooming over her face, "Was it something that somebody said? Honey you know we broke the rule."

"Was somebody up against the law? Honey you know I'd die for you," her mom sang on the tape.

And if anyone else were in the room, looking at Ophelia's beaming smile, they could have sworn they saw Susan Stewart in her youngest daughter's face as her eyes hooded with exhaustion.

"They got your number scared and running, but I'm still waiting for the second coming of Ophelia, mmm hmm, come back home."

"Would you look at that, Baby's out like a light."

"Happy birthday Opal, mama loves you so, so much."

The tape came to a stop, but Ophelia was already long asleep, a small smile on her lips.

~~~

CHAPTER THREE LETS GO!

So it was Ofie's birthday. Yay, she's thirteen now, and is about to be a hormonal mess. So in the chapters to come, we'll move onto episode three, do episode 17 because it's the Halloween episode and Miley's birthday is in November, skip episode four and five, we'll do episode six to eight, skip episode nine because I don't see Opal going out of her to go to camping with people she can't stand, skip episode thirteen and carry on as normal. I'll let you know what has been skipped.

Don't worry, beach boy will make a reappearance. He is played by the handsome Alfred Enoch.

Also note the difference in gifts between Oliver and Lily, that gonna play big role later down the line around how they both see Ofie differently.

Johnny isn't gonna be around much longer, love him while you can, we got at most two more chapters with him before he scadadles to Australia for two years. Don't worry he's gonna be calling emailing and texting all the time, HE SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it took me forever because I was in a security course and my instructor is so unreliable. If you live in Calgary and want to do security courses please do yourself a favour and AVOID JP security. He will consume your life and not in a good way.

Anywhore, if you enjoyed this please vote and comment, next chapter is on her way.

I'll see you when I see you.

-CHOCOHOLIC ✌🏿

P.s. Ofie isn't straight...we'll get into that lol.

At this point just assume all of my OC are not straight unless told otherwise.

Pps: this is the necklace Ophelia now has:

And the guitar: