Change of Heart

Alternate Universe Fic-EJ Wells is a new professor at Salem University; Sami Brady is just praying she will pass English Lit so that she can leave the town of Salem behind for the real world awaiting her upon graduation from college. What happens when two people collide with very different goals about what they want in life can lead to unexpected results.

This is dedicated to Ave-you are a true friend and I love you! You make me smile and laugh each day.

Change of Heart
Prologue

"Isn't there any way I can forgo taking English Lit?" Sami Brady asked as she gave her advisor a pleading look hoping by flashing her intriguing sapphire blue eyes his way it could make him change his mind about her new fall schedule.

"You've put if off long enough Miss Brady," Mr. Brock paid no heed to her womanly tactics, Sami Brady was known far and wide among the academia at Salem University as being what they would call a con artist, that is if they could do so, but most knowingly did not for fear of reprisal from her step father. John Black was one of the most outstanding contributors to the university and it would not sit well with him if his beloved step daughter was revealed to be one of the most prolific liars ever in the history of Salem U. The girl could come up with more plausible excuses as to why her work wasn't completed then anyone ever to grace the halls before her and many doubted afterwards either.

Mr. Brock had been given the dubious honor of trying to make sure Miss Brady graduated from college without having to face the probationary board. It was a job he took seriously, he had never faced a challenge he couldn't overcome, but sometimes he thought he was getting a bit on in years as Miss Brady tried his patience time and time again. He had smoothed many a professor's ruffled feathers when they had come to complain to him about the lack of care she took in their classes, her sarcasm and wit did not endear her to many of the staff at all. But the dean had chosen him to make sure that John Black's step daughter would make it through with a degree in whatever her heart desired.

Mr. Brock was a devout man, fully believing in miracles and as he looked over Miss Brady's records, he knew it would be a miracle indeed if the girl received her diploma from Salem University. There was no dodging it any longer, she would have to take her required English classes whether she liked it or not…

Change of Heart

Chapter 1

"Jamie, I did everything I could to make Mr. Brock change my schedule, but he wouldn't even listen to me," Sami fumed as she and Jamie were in the process of decorating their dorm room for the new college year. They had survived their freshman year in one of the grungier dorms, and now they were moving into one of the more desirable dorms on campus. Even though Sami had begged John for her and Jamie to get an apartment, on this one subject, her step father would not budge, it seemed he and her mother wanted Sami to get the full college experience by living in the dorm.

Jamie was decorating her side of the room with various posters of rock and movie stars now that she had her comforter and pillows correctly placed upon her bed. After strategically placing her favorite poster of Johnny Depp on the wall where she could see him from her bed, she turned to face her grumpy roommate, "Sami, I tried to get you to take English Lit with me last year."

Sami flopped down on her bed, grabbing a pillow to hug, "I despise English and you know how badly I dislike old man Hodges, he can make you fall asleep in his class before he ever utters a word."

"There's more than Professor Hodges in the English department," Jamie said, going back to her stash of posters deciding which one would look best beside her man Johnny, shaking her head she discarded most of the ones she had brought and reached for another poster of Johnny. Yes, that was much better she thought as she starting placing it on the wall.

"A bunch of old pea hens like Ms. Proctor and Ms. Straub," Sami tossed her pillow in Jamie's direction trying to get her full attention, didn't her best friend realize she would have a terrible fall semester because she would be stuck in one of those old dinosaur's classes. "They are even worse than Hodges and that is saying a lot."

"You are too hard on the teachers," Jamie threw Sami's pillow back in her general direction.

"Well if you weren't such a teacher's pet, you'd see they are all just a lot of windbags," Sami rolled over on her bed and then suddenly her mood brightened. "Oh Jamie, I heard the Sigma Nu's were having a welcome back to school bash tonight over at their fraternity house. We definitely need to go!"

"Sami, I just want to get our room ready," Jamie hedged, not wanting to let her best friend know that she hated going to those parties even though she usually dragged her to them because she couldn't take her nagging about not going with her.

"Jamie, this is our sophomore year, we are no longer freshman, and we have to go!"

"You may feel you have to go, I do not," Jamie went over to her desk to look at her collection of books she had bought at the bookstore earlier in the afternoon.

Sami got up from her bed and went to stand in between Jamie and her desk, "No way, you are not going to stay in tonight to get ahead on reading while there is partying going on just a few blocks down the road on fraternity row."

"I don't want to go," Jamie sighed, wishing her friend wouldn't be so insistent in trying to get her to go places with her; Sami was the outgoing one, while she on the other hand had no problem staying in their room studying.

"It will be fun," Sami urged, trying to get Jamie excited about going with her.

"The boys are so obnoxious," Jamie tried another tactic with Sami although she doubted it would do any good, when her friend got her mind on something she was very hard to deter to another way of thinking.

"There will be some cute ones partying,," Sami began in a sing song voice. "I bet Lucas will be there and I know you like him."

"I do not!" Jamie shook her head, wishing she had never told Sami she thought Lucas Roberts was cute, from that point on Sami had never let her live it down. Most times Jamie couldn't even muster up enough courage to tell him hello, much less get into a conversation with him.

"Come on please Jamie, I need you there with me," Sami pleaded, giving her best puppy dog eyed look to her friend.

"You need me to carry you home," Jamie grumbled as she rolled her eyes and went to her closet to find an outfit to wear, if not Sami would pester her until she gave in.

"I do not need you to carry me home," Sami said smiling going to her closet to find something to wear too.

"Yeah right," Jamie said grabbing a t shirt and some jeans, she really didn't care what she looked like and hopefully she'd be able to skip out on the party as soon as Sami mingled around some. "I bet you'll have a hangover for the first day of classes tomorrow."

"I will not," Sami argued, making a face when she saw the outfit Jamie picked out for herself. "Jamie, you have to wear something else that will not do at all."

"I'm wearing this or I'm not going," Jamie was firm, while Sami could aggravate her enough to go to the party, she was not going to be the fashion police for her either.

"Suit yourself," Sami shook her head, sometimes she didn't understand her best friend at all, but at least they were going to the party together and that was what mattered for now. She's show Jamie she wouldn't have a hangover tomorrow, why she would be ready to go first thing. She was sure of it.

Change of Heart

Chapter 2

There was a terrible sound going on in their room, Sami warily noted as she tried to raise her head from her pillow with no success. She had to stop whatever that irritating noise was and raised an unsteady hand in the direction she thought the sound was coming from trying to find its existence.

"Wake up Sleeping Beauty," Jamie said in an even louder voice than the wretched booming that was apparently invading their dorm room.

"Ugh, make it stop," Sami said weakly, her own voice making her wince as the light of the room started trying to creep in on her too. How in the world did she get back here? The last thing she remembered was shot gunning a beer and a rather vague recollection of dancing on a table, but surely that was just a figment of her imagination, wasn't it?

Evidentially not if the look from her roommate was any indication.

"So you won't have a hangover for the first morning of classes?" Jamie asked giving Sami a quizzical look as she was already dressed and ready for class.

"Jamie, it's too early in the morning for this…" Sami began only to be cut off by her best friend.

"Either you get up and dressed right now or I'll pick out your clothes for you," Jamie started to head in the direction of Sami's closet.

"Okay, I'm getting up," Sami said louder than she had meant to do with her head beating a thunderous rhythm echoing all around her as her feet finally touched the floor. No way was Jamie going to pick her outfit. She could only imagine what kind of disastrous combination Jamie would chose for her to wear, just to get her back for making her go to the party last night.

Well it had been fun, or at least she thought it had been from the bits and pieces that she could remember.

"They really should have an extra day for moving into the dorms," Sami complained as she searched her overflowing closet to find something to wear.

"Like a pre-party celebration type deal?" Jamie asked sarcastically waiting for Sami to get ready.

"Exactly," Sami agreed only to be greeted by the rolling eyes of her roommate.

"Sami you need to get your priorities in order," Jamie shook her head wondering if Sami would ever get it that she needed to study more instead of partying all the time.

"You sound just like my mother," Sami gave her as tough of a look as she could manage since most movements felt like some sort of torture to her at the moment.

"You should listen to your mother more," Jamie was ready to go, but was afraid if she left her alone in the room that Sami would go back to sleep and miss the entire first day of classes. "Get a move on, your first class begins in less than 30 minutes."

"I need to shower," Sami groaned throwing the outfit on her bed while Jamie handed her toothbrush, toothpaste and a hair brush all in a pile in her hands.

"No time party girl," Jamie ushered her in the direction of the bathroom despite Sami's protests that she would look like a bedraggled hag if she didn't get a shower in before classes.

"Whose fault is that? I tried to get you up for over an hour but you kept saying one more minute," Jamie mimicked Sami's voice perfectly, it was a common reply she had given her over the years of their friendship.

Sami cast Jamie a menacing glare as she began to brush her teeth, she'd just have to wash off and pray to god that she could get some time in between classes to come back and freshen up. What a way to start off her sophomore year in college.

Change of Heart
Chapter 3

How she managed to tame her unruly curls and apply makeup before Jamie made her leave their dorm room, she didn't know other than she had gotten pretty good at getting ready in a hurry due to her tendency to want to sleep late. She had to give it to Jamie, if it weren't for her insistency to be on time Sami would have burned through her allotted days to be absent from classes each semester by the second week of classes. Somehow when no one else could get her to do anything, her best friend could make her at least want to try not to be such a screw up.

She knew she needed to get her priorities straight, but there was so much fun to be had, parties to go to, boys to flirt with even though most of them didn't interest her beyond the attention they gave to her. Somehow she just hadn't found the right person or this emotion called love was not for her because not even once had she felt the fluttering of her heart go on a rampant assent and decent for anyone.

Maybe she just didn't have it in her to love or maybe she wasn't loveable material. Whichever the case may be she didn't have time to ponder it fully because if she didn't get a move on she really was going to be late for her first class, not that she was excited about going to it. English Lit was going to suck, she just knew it.

EJ wouldn't say he was nervous, but he didn't like going into situations where he did not know what to expect. He looked around what would be his classroom for this school year with a mild form of trepidation building up within him. He shook the unwelcome feeling off; he was a confident man one that was sure of himself no matter what, although this was an entirely new scenario for him.

While he was completely comfortable when he had been in university, relishing his studies and up to any kind of debate with his professors and classmates, he was now on the other side of the proverbial fence. He only hoped he could do a decent job of teaching.

He had never anticipated teaching, his intent upon graduating college and his further studies of acquiring his doctorate degree from Oxford had been with the intent of pursuing his writing career. The only roadblock so far was that the book was nowhere near being ready and he desperately needed money to survive and his funds were running low.

He was not going to take money from his mother and step-father; they had been too good for him to accept any money from them that along with his pride not allowing him to be beholden to them. They had given him a wonderful childhood and had tried their best to give him whatever he needed to succeed in life. He had taken out student loans to pay for college and now he had to begin paying back those loans.

One day he'd be a bestselling author, he had no doubt in his abilities, while the process was slower than he had anticipated. Coming to America to take this job was a godsend, when he had found out a position was open for an English teacher he had readily accepted, thinking this would be a good start for him. He hated the job would cut into his writing time, but it was a necessary evil. Plus he had heard bits and pieces from his mother's conversations with Edmund of a place called Salem although she generally hushed up and changed the subject when she realized he was listening to them speak.

When he had told his mother of his plans to come to America and teach at Salem University, he hadn't expected her reaction to what he thought would be good news for her. While he realized that he wouldn't be close to home, he hadn't lived with them for quite some time going to university himself for years; he had hoped she would be happy for him. She had seemed to be quite happy at first until he mentioned where in America he would be teaching and when the name Salem had come up in conversation, his mother's persona had changed dramatically. She had tried to talk him out of coming, but he wouldn't be deterred, he had taken the position after learning from one of his professors at Oxford and he couldn't back out now. He was committed to work at Salem for a year, maybe by then his book would be finished and he wouldn't have to teach anymore after that, plus the fact that he wanted to learn more about this town his mother was so secretive about was just another thing to entice him here.

EJ hoped Salem would prove to be interesting, he was here for a year and he was going to make this year count. He looked at his watch, the students would be coming into his classroom soon, he only hoped he had it in him to be a good teacher, he had a lot riding on making this job a successful one. His future career as an author depended upon it.

Change of Heart

Chapter 4

Sami was dragging her feet after she and Jamie parted ways, her best friend's first class was in the science building while Sami had to go to Donavan Hall, another reminder of her family's success as her relatives Shane and Kim had donated money to the college to refurbish the building that housed the language arts department of the college. Her family was all sorts of successful that many times she felt like a complete misfit at family gatherings. Even her twin brother Eric had some sense of direction in his life that is if he would stay away from trampy Nicole Walker, but so far her twin had turned a deaf ear upon her whenever she made derogatory remarks about his current girlfriend.

No one took her seriously, she wanted to blow out of this one horse town and head to New York, where the hub of the fashion industry in America was and she intended to be right in the midst of it. Ever since she had been a little girl she had aspired to design clothes, she had an eye for it, she could spot what would make or break in the fashion industry. She constantly was drawing sketches of designs in her sketch book and scanned to memory countless fashion magazines.

Her step father John thought it was a passing fancy for her, one she would soon outgrow after she took more classes in college. So instead of him allowing her to work for Basic Black, she was going to have to strike out on her own and prove herself. She knew she could do it, but until she graduated she had no funds to get to the next major city outside of Salem, much less New York. Three years was such a long time to wait to get to do what she truly wanted to do and that was to be free from Salem and all the things that tied her down here.

She trudged into class automatically heading to the back of the classroom and more than slightly mystified that most of her cronies that had taken classes with her last year who were strictly back of the room students were sitting up front. Sami wondered if she was in the twilight zone as she made her way past them, a few saying hello, a few not, but she could have cared less because her head was pounding with each step she took into the classroom.

Taking the seat that would be the longest away from the front of the class; she slung her backpack off her shoulder and slid into the seat already hating to be here so early in the morning not to mention English being her least favorite subject. Damn she bet she'd have old man Hodges, she debated putting on her glasses, she really needed them if she sat this far away from the board even though she was a tiny bit too vain to admit it and she hadn't put in her contacts this morning since her head was aching along with Jamie trying to rush her out of the door.

She still felt kind of tipsy now that she had sat down and she had to close her eyes to make the room quit swaying. How much had she drunk last night? She'd lost count with the fraternity boys agging her on to drink just one more with them. Thank goodness Jamie had dragged her out of there before she had done something really stupid like hooking up with one of those guys, but she was sure she had raised all kinds of other hell because she sure felt like a Mack truck had hit her.

Damn Hodges voice sure had changed, Sami thought to herself as she struggled to open her eyes. What she wouldn't do for a few more hours sleep and a nice hot shower. Now that would be heavenly, instead she was forced to take this idiotic class at eight o'clock in the freaking morning. Life just wasn't fair at all.

She would just lay her head down for a few minutes. All Hodges would be doing was going over the rules of the class, boring crap for sure. She could skip this part easily, she was in the back, some big football player was sitting in front of her, surely she could hide and catch a few more zzz's before class was over and she had to go onto her next one.

Somewhere she heard her name being called and the other football player that was sitting on beside her nudged her, "You better wake up Goldilocks, and I think the teacher is calling your name."

"Huh," Sami squinted her eyes at him, trying to remember his name even though him calling her Goldilocks immediately pissed her off.

"Ms. Samantha Brady? Tell me you aren't already sleeping in my class," the voice definitely didn't sound like old man Hodges and as Sami focused her eyes upon the man who had the different sounding voice she knew for sure she wasn't in Hodges class at all. Where in the hell was she? There were no young English professors in the English Department at Salem U. Oh god she bet she had went into the wrong classroom.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" The voice had a hint of snobbery in it for sure as Sami came face to face with what had to be one of the hottest guys she had ever seen in her life. Where had this guy been last year? He must be a transfer student from another country, no one talked like him in Salem.

"Excuse me?" Sami finally found her voice as the hot guy looked at her with irritation.

"You're going to be permanently excused from my class if I catch you sleeping again," the hot guy said tossing a paper down upon her desk and making his way through the rest of the classroom like she didn't even exist.

Sami stared at the paper, it was a syllabus for a Dr. Wells class, who in the hell was he?

"Damn Goldilocks, you've already managed to piss off the professor and we haven't even been in class ten minutes," the football jock laughed as he turned back around, not wanting to attract the attention of the professor because he already seemed mad enough for catching Goldilocks sleeping in his class.

Sami poked the jock on his back forcing him to turn around again, "Is that guy the teacher's assistant or something?"

"No, he told us he is one of the new professors here at Salem U, weren't you paying attention?"

Sami squinted her eyes again, trying to focus on the hot guy now that he was back up in front of the class and dug into her backpack trying to find her glasses. She put them on and instantly she could see to the front of the class. No way could this guy be her professor, no freaking way.

Change of Heart

Chapter 5

She didn't fall asleep for the rest of the class, but she couldn't keep focused on what hot guy aka Dr. Wells was saying either. It boggled her mind someone that fine looking could actually be a professor, much less have their doctorate.

No wonder all the girls were vying to sit in the front; they wanted to be up close and personal with the new teacher. Not that Sami cared about being a teacher's pet, which was something she would never be in this lifetime or the next even though she kind of wished she hadn't of gotten behind Mr. Linebacker; he definitely was blocking her view.

She mentally scolded herself; she didn't care if she was in the front of the class and if Mr. Linebacker had been a little bit bulkier he could have hid her while she slept in class. She should not have had those last couple of beers, but in a few hours she would be back in her dorm room, freshly showered and tucked in her bed fast asleep.

She could feel her eyes drooping, she wouldn't fall asleep, she had to stay awake because she wasn't sure if Hotness was kidding about permanently excusing her from his class or not, until she could gauge his personality better she shouldn't test him too much on the first day. Then she smiled thinking he wouldn't get another free pass from her later on in the semester.

She looked at her watch, would he ever quit talking? And another thing how sickening was it to have Brittney and Candice almost tripping over themselves trying to answer his questions, she was sure neither one of them had ever willingly picked up a book to read ever and now they were commenting on almost everything Hotness had to say. Well she wasn't going to make a fool of herself over him just because he was kind of good looking, so far the only positive thing she could see about being a student in this class was that he would be more interesting to look at than old man Hodges, although she doubted Hodges would have threatened to kick her out of class for sleeping.

Mercifully the class finally ended and Sami watched her classmates file out of class one by one, she being behind the football jocks that apparently were in no hurry to get to their next class either. She did roll her eyes at Brittney, was she trying to linger behind to get in another word with what's his name? She looked down at her syllabus again, yeah Dr. Wells. God was Brittney that desperate? Thank god she didn't care what he thought of her as she took off her glasses and slid them back into the side pouch of her backpack.

She was going to have to get some caffeine quick or she would be sure to fall asleep in her next class too. She was rumbling around in her backpack trying to find some spare change for a cup of coffee, god knew she didn't have enough cash with her to buy a Rockstar even though she really needed a super huge dose of caffeine to wake her up.

She was almost out the door when she heard him call her name, "Ms. Brady, may I have a word with you?"

Damn, he'd already embarrassed her in class by telling her that he'd kick her out if he caught her sleeping again. What else could he possibly want to say to her?

Brittney left the class pushing past her giving her a dirty look as Sami turned around to walk back into the classroom. He looked at her for a few minutes not saying a word to her.

"What?" Sami asked a bit too gruffly. She really wasn't in the mood for an inquisition this early in the morning as she cast her eyes downward to the floor, it wouldn't do for her to get a really close look at him, from what she had gathered from her back seat in the classroom he looked good enough from far away, she wasn't sure she could look at him this closely and not gawk at him in that sickening way like Brittney and Candice were doing during the entire class.

"Would it hinder you too much to look me in the eye when I am addressing you?" He wasn't too friendly from what Sami could gather, although she thought his voice had sounded a lot nicer when he was talking to the entire classroom earlier.

She huffed, her breath pushing away the strands of hair that had fallen into her face when she had looked downward at the floor. Still not looking up at him until he said, "I'm waiting."

Defiantly she raised her eyes to meet his, he had incredible eyes and then she stopped herself, she wasn't going to go all gaga for him, she had better sense that that as she narrowed her eyes at him, sending him an icy stare instead of one of appreciation.

"Thank you," he said when she finally looked at him.

"For what?" she asked, thinking what in the world he would be thanking her for, after all she wasn't a model student by any stretch of the imagination.

"Raising your head up enough to look in my direction," he said taking a more closer look into her eyes now that she was near to him. "Just wanted to give you a little bit of information since you were apparently in la la land for the entire class and didn't pay any attention to a word that I said."

She was about to argue that she had paid attention to him, but she wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't call her on it either and for some reason she didn't want him to one up her again in such a short period of time. She wasn't used to professors treating her this way, most of them were pretty nice to her even if she was a snot to them considering she was John Black's step daughter, one of the richest men in Salem, and apparently Hotness hadn't got the memo about her family yet.

"I don't appreciate you sleeping in my class, it was rude and disrespectful, so please let's not have a repeat performance of this morning's class."

She couldn't help it, the look she shot him was one of pure dislike, how dare he tell her what she could and couldn't do. Who in the hell did he think he was? She was about to tell him off when she thought better of it, her parents would have a fit if she got kicked out of class the first day of school.

She didn't answer him; she was too busy thinking of nasty things to call him when his voice invaded her thoughts again, "Are we clear Ms. Brady?"

"Crystal," she answered stifling the urge to give him the finger and tell him to go to hell. God the English really were an arrogant lot she thought as she turned on her heel to leave his classroom.

He watched her go, trying his best not to laugh aloud as she stalked out of his classroom. At least he didn't have one female admirer in his class, he had noticed all the rest of the girls wouldn't quit staring at him, but apparently Ms. Brady couldn't stand the sight of him and that made him want to laugh all the more.

Change of Heart

Chapter 6

Finally she was back in her dorm room, her hair and skin still damp from her long hot shower as she fell into her bed not even bothering to put on any clothes, her robe was sufficient enough. Of course all thoughts of studying for her classes were completely forgotten as soon as she hit the softness of her fluffy comforter. All that mattered was getting some rest, the first day of classes had sucked big time right off the bat.

That was how Jamie found Sami later on during the day when she had returned from her classes and a rather lengthy stay in the library. Sami sprawled out on her bed, looking like she didn't have a care in the world beyond staying in her own dream world.

She shook her head, her best friend was snoozing away the afternoon and no doubt she'd be up later ready to go party some more, but this time Jamie was going to be strong against her friends persuasive techniques. She wasn't going to let Sami drag her to every little thing that she could come up with to get out of studying. No, this year she was going to show her roommate, she was going her own way, even if it made her best friend mad at her.

Sami was determined to party and Jamie was determined to get her degree. How they could be so different and get along with one another was a mystery to her as she looked at her sleeping roommate. Maybe this year Sami would want to study more, at least Jamie hoped she would.

EJ thought it had been a good first day overall after he tried to get more settled into his flat. He looked around the rooms, while it wasn't the most luxurious place he had ever stayed in, it wasn't the worst either. He just had to make do until he had his student loan debts repaid, he wasn't going to stick his mother and step father with the enormous amount he owed.

Sometimes he wondered about his real father, but he had learned over the years that it only would upset his mother if he asked her anything about him. Apparently the man had died right after he was born, and when EJ tried to gain information from her she would try to divert his attention to anything else besides the important questions of his parentage on his father's side.

He really didn't have a right to complain, Edmund was an exemplary father to him in every way, yet sometimes he still wondered about the man who was his real father. He had just bits and pieces of sketchy information from his mother and Edmund would only tell him he hadn't known his mother before she had come to England.

Still maybe coming to the states and living in one of the cities his mother had spoken briefly of being here for some amount of time, he may be able to find out something, anything would be better than the not knowing anything at all. That was it, the total lack of knowledge about his father was the worst, and it was like he was missing a huge piece of himself.

Well it looked like he would have time to research his mother's past, this wasn't something he was going to tell her, for his own personal well being he needed to know about his father and if she wasn't able or wouldn't divulge anything else to him about the man, he guessed he would find out about him on his own. It was good to have a goal in mind because as he stared at his laptop that was on his desk, he felt like he had hit another huge roadblock with his book.

He sat down at the desk, the blank page of the computer screen daunting him to write something, anything, but it was like he couldn't even form a coherent sentence. Why wouldn't the words come? He rubbed his temple as he fought against the discouragement that seemed to grow with each passing day. He needed to have something ready to send into the publisher by the end of December and he wasn't anywhere near where he needed to be to have his first draft ready to send off.

Then a strange thought occurred to him, maybe he needed to unlock his past to find out where he belonged in his future. He would start on his search tomorrow after his classes were over.

Change of Heart

Chapter 7

Sami was upset with Jamie; she couldn't believe she didn't want to go out with her. There would be some rocking parties to hit tonight as everyone who was anyone would be going out after the first day of classes was over.

"Well I guess I'm not anyone then," Jamie shrugged her shoulders as she reopened her book that Sami had closed while she was attempting to study for her Psychology class.

"Jamie, you are someone, I just don't want you to look back on your days at college and wish you had been more outgoing," Sami said in her most sincere voice that she could muster up in trying to convince Jamie that they needed to go out tonight.

"See that is where you are wrong Sami, I don't want to be outgoing, I want to get my degree so I can obtain a great job. I'm thinking about my future and my future does not want to be clouded by losing brain cells," Jamie picked up her highlighter pen and began to highlight some information she thought would be important to remember. Psychology was her intended major, she hoped one day she would be able to help people and this seemed to be the route to go for her.

"You can do both," Sami began again only to have Jamie shake her head at her.

"If I wanted to go out, I would Sami," Jamie said determinedly as she pushed up her glasses and returned to her book as if Sami hadn't uttered a word about going out tonight.

"You're going to miss out on all the fun," Sami said realizing she wasn't going to be able to convince Jamie to go tonight, now she would have to hang out with those stuck up girls instead and while she did fit in with them, she preferred Jamie's company much better. Jamie always had a way of making her see those girls attempts to capture the boy's attention was so overboard Sami would end up laughing along with her best friend instead of trying to flirt with the boys like she was known to do most of the time.

"Have a good time and please try to be quiet when you come in tonight. I'd like to get a decent night's sleep without having to be awakened with you singing your new favorite song or attempting to tell me about the latest hookups you found out about," Jamie said as she took a sip of her water before returning to studying.

"You are absolutely no fun at all," Sami claimed with a crestfallen look she was sure that would convince Jamie to come with her, but the look didn't even faze her.

"Another reason why you love me," was all Jamie would say as Sami stomped her foot in exasperation and headed out for the night, wishing her best friend would come with her and wondering why she wanted to stay in when there was so much fun to be had, they were only going to be young once.

The night was falling, he already had his lesson plans ready for the entire week and still nothing was coming to him for his next chapter. EJ looked over his outline for the book and gave a disgusted snort. It almost made him want to scrap the entire project and begin anew, but he had already invested too much time and effort into this piece to begin a different story. He was not one to give up; he had to see this through even if he wanted to scream out his frustration.

He went over and poured a drink, maybe he just needed to loosen up a bit, he had been stressed over the first day of classes and they had all went well with the exception of the gorgeous blonde in his first class who looked like she would have rather been anywhere but in his class.

What was her name again? Ms. Brady, Samantha was her first name, the one whom he had managed to anger when he asked her to stay for a few minutes after class today. She was going to be his challenge for this semester he could tell, with her lackadaisical attitude. Was it wrong of him to have enjoyed making her angry? He had loved how her eyes had flashed at him when he had called her out on her sleeping in his class. Well he guessed he would have to keep things a bit more interesting for her to stay awake.

He had heard one of the boys that sat in front on her call her Goldilocks right before he had gotten to her, not much went past him in class even though he had acted like he hadn't heard the boy trying to aggravate her. He bet the guy had a crush on her; she was a beautiful girl in her own right with that wavy blonde hair and those striking blue eyes.

He shook his head, why was the one student out of all of his classes who seemed to care the least about his class the one he was most interested in getting to know? Downing his drink, thinking he was getting a bit too philosophical just starting his teaching job. He doubted he would even worry about her as the week went on and he got to know the rest of his students better.

He guessed he had liked her brass, most students didn't come to class to sleep, they came to learn, but apparently she was the exception to the rule.

Change of Heart

Chapter 8

Sami wasn't going to admit it to Jamie, but she had missed her last night. The parties weren't nearly as much fun without her commentary on the festivities. At least this morning she was up, showered and ready to go unlike the previous morning when she had felt like three degrees of hell with her hangover.

Jamie remarked on how it was nice not to have to nag her to get out of bed and Sami pondered why she had even wanted to get up, she was sure it didn't have anything to do with wanting to be on time to Hotness' class. She just wasn't going to let him get the best of her like he did yesterday, she was determined to show him that she would be alert in his class even if the subject matter he taught clearly bored her to death.

So she made her way to class and even sat in front of the jocks this morning, opting not to be in the absolute back of the class while still staying far enough away from the front. She wanted to laugh out loud when she came into the room because even if she had wanted to be up front, there was not a seat left to be had. Apparently Dr. Wells' class was going to be one most of the girls fought over to see who would be able to obtain his attention because every last seat in the front was taken up by the girls who normally would have been content to sit in the back.

Sami even managed to look vaguely interested, until her mind began to wander off during class. Hotness apparently had no idea of his effect upon his female students as he walked amongst the room, extolling something or another about the virtues of literature. She couldn't believe how full of himself he was spouting off one thing after another and the looks upon her friends faces was enough to make her barf. Did they really think they were fooling anyone by their sudden interest in English Lit?

She just hoped she would get out of class soon before she felt the draw of wanting to go asleep again hit her. She was going to do her best to stay awake, but this class was so boring. She didn't understand all the hoopla she had heard the night before from the girls who were saying they were so lucky to have gotten into Dr. Wells class.

"Isn't he the sexiest thing you have ever laid eyes on?"

"Oh my god, I thought I would die after he walked into class. That man is so hot!"

"His eyes are so dreamy; I could just stare into them all day."

"I love his accent! He could tell me anything and I would do it for him right then and there."

"Did you see his ass in those jeans he was wearing?"

On and on they had went wherever Sami had gone, the talk somehow managed to get back around to Dr. Wells and his extraordinary class. She didn't think his class was extraordinary at all. In fact, she couldn't wait to get out of it as she thought about how shallow these girls were, they weren't interested in his class no more than she was, but to hear them go on and on answering his questions he gave to the class, you would think they all wanted to be English majors.

So lost in thought about the ever growing number of hypocrites that seemed to be in their class Sami failed to notice that she had been called upon by none other than Hotness himself.

"What are your thoughts on the subject Samantha?" he asked instantly bringing her out of her daydreams.

She shook her head, wishing that she had sat in the back instead of the middle now that he had called her name even though she never went by Samantha, it was Sami to everyone. She had no clue about what he was talking about so she had to think fast, she didn't want him to make her look like a fool for a second day in a row.

"I don't go by Samantha," she said with a defiant gleam as she looked him directly in the eyes.

"That's your name, isn't it? Or at least it is what was listed on my roster for this class," he asked, trying not to smile because he knew she wasn't paying a speck of attention to the subject matter they were currently on in class.

"Everyone calls me Sami," she said matter of fact like it was something he should know about her.

"Not everyone apparently, I prefer to call you Samantha," he said in an authoritative voice, "now that we have that matter taken care of..."

"Did you not hear me? No one calls me Samantha," her face started to flush to a quaint shade of pink when Dr. Wells did not appear to care what anyone called her or not.

"Samantha," he began as if she had not even spoken about not being called by her given name, "I'm interested in what you think about the story you were required to read last night, not on whether or not I am going to call you by a nickname when your full name suits you so well. So let's hear what you think, shall we?"

Sami flushed to an even deeper shade of pink, she hadn't cracked open a single book last night much less read any passages, she didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about since she had been thinking of other things. She had to distract him away from her and prayed that one of the other girls who were smitten with the new professor would get her out of this jam; she didn't want to look like a fool in front of the entire class.

She could have almost kissed Brittney when she heard her blurt out, "Dr. Wells I think the author was trying to get the reader to see his point of view by…"

She closed her eyes and gave a silent thank you to the good Lord above for Brittney and her ass kissing ways as she rambled on and on because it had gotten her out of replying and the bell rang signaling that class was over before she could be put on the spot again by Dr. Wells.

She quickly grabbed her backpack determined not to have him speak to her again, thinking she was going to have to look over her syllabus sometime today and start reading even if it killed her.

EJ watched her leave the class, and almost called her back again, but he didn't because he was afraid he would laugh after seeing her close her eyes and say thank you to whatever power she believed in when Brittney had interrupted and began to speak her views. That girl was something else.

Change of Heart

Chapter 9

Jamie opened the door to her dorm room and almost fell out in disbelief. She was seeing something she hadn't ever truly witnessed before: Her roommate was actually studying at her desk. No, this couldn't be true; she had to be in the wrong room and even stepped back to make sure she had entered the correct room. She blinked her eyes and yes indeed; Sami was in fact reading a book.

Apparently the book seemed to hold her attention too since she didn't even look up from it to tell her best friend hello at least she didn't until she heard applause from her smart ass roommate.

Sami shot her a look, just daring her to say anything, only to have Jamie give her one of her goofy endearing smiles.

"I am so proud of you," Jamie started to gush as she threw her book bag down upon her bed and scrambled beside it, grabbing a decorative pillow and hugging it gently to her body.

"Let's don't go overboard," Sami cautioned Jamie. "All I am doing is reading my reading assignment so as not to get the hell embarrassed out of me in class tomorrow."

"So Dr. Wells has your number huh?" Jamie asked leaning precariously on her bed after she pulled out her Psychology book along with her trusty pink highlighter.

"How do you know it is ?" Sami narrowed her eyes at her best friend, really her only true friend that would tell her how things were; most of her other so called friends were only friends with her because her step father was filthy rich.

"Dr. Wells is the talk of the campus," Jamie said with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Since when do you know the talk of the campus?" Sami asked, Jamie was not one to gossip or take time to listen when other people were doing so unless it was Sami herself telling her the latest news that went around Salem University and before that when they were at Salem High.

"How can you not hear about him? Apparently he is stealing the hearts of all the young women that are lucky enough to be in his class," Jamie gave a half hearted sigh and put her hand to her breast in mocking fashion.

"He hasn't stolen mine," Sami made a gagging sound.

"Come on Sami, he is a hottie," Jamie said with a conviction that made Sami want to laugh out loud.

Surely her studious roommate was not fooled by the good looking man, yes you had to be blind not to see that he was quite nice looking, but really his attitude was nothing if not acerbic. "Jamie, don't let his good looks fool you, he isn't nice."

"Clearly you are in the minority in your way of thinking, all I have heard is Dr. Wells this and Dr. Well that amidst repeated exhalations of longing and admiration for the man who has taken over this campus like a whirlwind," Jamie stated wholeheartedly.

"More like a windbag," Sami huffed thinking she wasn't going to let him make fun of her again in his class. When and if he called on her again she was going to be prepared for whatever it was he asked. She wasn't going to let this green professor make a mockery of her, why he even refused to call her Sami when she insisted that was what she wanted to be called. What did he know about her, no one called her Samantha, no one, that was until Dr. Wells decided that he was going to call her by her given name, well she would show him tomorrow in class.

She just wouldn't answer him, not if he couldn't call her by the correct name or maybe she'd just call him by his given name instead of Dr. Wells. Yes, she would give him a taste of his own medicine. What was good for the goose was apparently good enough for the gander too.

Jamie just laughed seeing as Sami was in a mood with just the mention of the good looking professor, why if she didn't know better she'd think Sami actually cared about what Dr. Wells thought of her, then she shrugged thinking she was just imagining things. Sami never cared what anyone thought of her, she made her own rules up as she went.

Her best friend was a force to be reckoned with most times, one Dr. Wells would soon see if he didn't throw Sami out of his class before the semester was over.

Change of Heart
Chapter 10

One week later…

Sami was more than ready to take on stuffy Dr. Wells even though she thought to herself that eight in the morning was way too early to have to endure any college class much less one as boring as English Lit. She made her way into class, thankful she sat in the middle section, and god forbid she get into the rush to be in the front.

Oh my goodness, could Tori make her already indecently short skirt ride up any farther? Sami bet she wasn't even wearing any underwear in hopes that Dr. Wells would take a look to see her snatch. That was beyond tacky; seriously didn't any of these girls have any pride? Just because their teacher looked like he could be on a pirate ship instead of teaching in a classroom, did they really all have to be so obvious?

Sami was proud she hadn't fallen prey to the wave of puerile madness that was striking the campus concerning her English professor. While she had been known to wear her skirts a tad too short, any she had previously worn couldn't even compare to the skimpiest scrap of material that Tori was wearing.

She shook her head, and headed directly in front of Alan; while he wasn't in her close circle of friends she did tolerate him for Lucas' sake. And really the only reason she tolerated Lucas much was because Jamie was so infatuated with him. Honestly she couldn't see what her friend saw in Lucas, most times he was drunk and he wasn't much taller than Sami herself and she was closer to being on the petite side on the height scale.

Now Dr. Wells was another matter entirely when it came to height, why he towered over all the jocks in the class and when he was wearing those dark grey trousers it was hard not to see what all the fuss over him was about, but still she kept her resistance up to his charms. No way was she going to be all agog over the man, especially a man who insisted on so much reading and homework outside of the classroom.

Didn't the man have a social life? Well these insidious assignments were driving her up the wall not to mention her free time in which she could be socializing on campus. Why she'd even had to write a paper this past weekend when she clearly had wanted to be at the football game and after party instead.

Blah, blah, blah his class droned on while Sami thought of the injustices of studying and writing papers. When was she going to have time to work on her designs if she had to read and write all the freaking time? Guess Mr. You Won't Have a Life Outside of my Class was handing back out the papers, well at least she knew she would get a good grade on this essay, she always got great grades from all her teachers. Last year she never got anything below an A- and she didn't even have to study one tiny bit.

She sat there waiting for him to give her the paper knowing full well none of the professors ever gave her a bad grade, really she didn't even know why she was worried about it. Everyone knew who her step father was and they made sure she wasn't given any bad grades because of it.

It was a simple fact, money talked and bullshit walked. She chuckled to herself thinking she just cracked herself up sometimes with her witty humor. That was until she saw the grade on her paper.

It was an F. Yep; there it was in bright boldness, the first failing grade she had ever received. Why surely she must have received the wrong paper. Sami Brady never got an F, not matter how poorly she performed on a test or in class. It just didn't happen.

She looked at her paper, surely all those red marks were not meant for her. This was completely unacceptable. Who in the hell did Dr. Wells think he was kidding? She wasn't going to stand for this kind of treatment at all.

She was going to let him have it as soon as class was over, no doubt about it.

EJ had to keep from laughing, he knew as soon as he had handed Ms. Brady her paper that the poor girl was in shock. Why you would think she had never gotten a failing grade before, but he wasn't in the mood to pass spoiled children who didn't seem to give two flips about their assignments.

Really he'd had a lot of failing grades, why most of these students didn't even seem to have a grasp on proper English. LOL did not constitute a phrase in literature, but many of his students apparently thought it did since they had incorporated it along with other slang into their papers.

Hopefully more would try to work on their papers next time instead of partying which sadly looked like it was the norm for this particular institute of learning.

It was all Sami could do to keep from outwardly fuming; her parents would have a fit if she failed any of her classes. Eric never had a problem with his grades or getting along with his teachers, Sami always felt like the outcast of her family. All the overachievers made things pretty intimidating. Why wouldn't her family just let her go to New York? All she wanted to do was design clothes, not writing stupid English essays.

Finally the bell rung, she was close to shaking, but instead of rushing to be the first one out the classroom door she stayed in her seat, still looking at the marks on her paper with the glaring red F emblazoned right on top. Everyone eventually filed out of the classroom most talking and laughing a few lagging behind, but then they were all gone on to their next classes except for her.

EJ wondered what Ms. Brady was thinking, he had noticed how flushed her face had become when he had dropped her paper on her desk. Surely she had not thought she had done a good job on her paper why it had been obvious she hadn't put much time or effort into her work.

Luckily he didn't have another class for three hours, but he needed to go over some things before his next class, a few papers he needed to finish up grading that he hadn't gotten to the night before.

The girl still hadn't moved from her seat.

"Ms. Brady, while I am surprised you weren't in the mad dash for the door like you usually are everyday to exit my classroom, I fail to see why you are lingering on today."

She arose from her desk, those dark blue eyes looking like a raging stormy sea as she approached his desk, flinging her paper back on his desk.

"You failed me," Sami stated matter of fact.

"Wow you are an observant girl and all this time I thought you weren't quite with it," EJ pushed the paper right back to the edge of his desk expecting her to pick it up and leave.

Sami wasn't going to give him to satisfaction of seeing her stomp off; no she was going to tell him exactly what she thought of his moronic class. "Do you have any clue as to who I am?"

"A girl who doesn't put much time into her class work or care much about learning anything beyond those insipid fashion magazines she sneaks into my class to read? While I am sure the latest fall trends are completely fascinating, don't you think you should try to challenge yourself just a bit more?"

"This remark coming from such a prissy man," Sami rolled her eyes in derision. Why he really was full of himself. She was smart, and here he was acting all superior to her.

"Prissy? Seriously?" EJ stood up and went to shut the door, no one needed to hear this little hissy fit Ms. Brady was getting ready to throw. He came back to his desk and sat on the edge of it, crossing his long legs trying to figure out where this outburst from coming from other than the girl being angry from failing her essay.

"You are so full of yourself, with your witty remarks and wisecracks. I bet you rehearse them all night by your lonesome thinking of ways to antagonize your students."

"If I am alone at night it is by choice, not from lack of women trying to capture my attention," EJ gave it right back to her even though that clearly wasn't any of her business to know.

"Oh so you have noticed all the lovesick looks from these idiot girls?"

"Looking at your grades in my class if I were you I might be slightly hesitant to call anyone an idiot," EJ remarked offhandedly ready to dismiss her, while he enjoyed seeing her stand up to him, he wasn't going to put up with her antics.

She was so ready to stamp her foot and call him an ass, but something in his eyes stopped her. She sensed this was one teacher who wasn't going to put up with any of her crap.

"I am smart," she insisted softly, tearing her eyes away from his, she didn't like him always getting the best of her, why she never had anyone to stand up to her beyond Jamie calling her on her behavior.

"Well start acting like you give a damn about school instead of floating in here and wishing you were anywhere else but my class. I don't pass students just because I like them; they have to earn their grades. Sorry to answer your question before, I don't know who your father is or care. What you make in my class is what you put into it. I think you are bright, you just don't seem to want to put any effort into trying."

"You don't like me anyway, so why should I try?" She raised her head back to meet his unwavering gaze.

"I do like you Samantha."

She snorted her disbelief in answer to his remark.

"I do, I admire your spunk, but the only way you are going to pass this class is if you work at it. Come to class prepared; be ready to put your two cents into the class discussions instead of hoping someone else rescues you when you don't have a flipping clue as to what I am asking you in the first place. Just try, don't go through life wishing it away; make a difference instead."

She sighed, thinking if he only knew her family he would see how difficult it was to compete with all the greatness they oozed without much effort on their parts at all.

"Will you let me redo my essay?"

"Are you going to try this time, maybe put more than a whole thirty minutes into it?"

"Forty-five," she quipped trying not to smile as she took the paper back from where she had flung it at his desk a few minutes earlier.

"See you tomorrow Samantha," EJ said as she reached the door, stopping in her tracks when she heard him call her the name she insisted that no one called her.

"It's Sami," she reminded him.

"You're much too complicated for such a simple name, I prefer Samantha."

"You think I'm complicated?" she asked thinking most people never contemplated much about her beyond trying to get rid of her presence.

"I know it," EJ smiled as she headed out the door, silently wishing to himself that he wasn't her teacher because she was the only woman who had captivated his full attention since he had arrived in Salem. Too bad they were in an unbridgeable chasm, no way could he risk losing his job just because this blonde imp of a girl had somehow managed to make him want more from her than what he could be and that was her English professor.

Change of Heart

Chapter 11

Once again Jamie almost was tempted to check and see if she was in the correct dorm room, surely her roommate wasn't sitting at her desk with not one, but multiple books cracked open. She shook her head thinking she must be in one of those old freaky episodes of the television series The Twilight Zone. Her best friend just didn't get so absorbed in her homework that shefailed to even acknowledge when someone entered the room.

Slinging her backpack down on the floor must have caused enough racket to break Sami out of her reverie. She looked up at Jamie with a harried look; one pencil even sticking behind her ear while another was poised at what looked like might soon become another scrap of crumpled paper that was quickly littering up the floor beside her desk.

"Don't say it," Sami warned sensing Jamie was about to burst out in laughter.

"Say what?" Jamie raised one eyebrow in Sami's direction.

"That you can't believe I am studying again," Sami replied wanting nothing more than to trash this entire paper, nothing was coming out the way she envisioned it in her mind. She still couldn't believe she had gotten a failing grade from Dr. Wells.

"Sami, I know this may come as a shock to you, but most people consider studying a very integral part of college, especially if they want to pass their classes and have a decent GPA." Sometimes it really was quite funny that her roommate didn't think those kind of things were important, then again she wasn't on a academic scholarship that could be taken away from her if she didn't keep her grades up like Jamie was on to go to Salem U.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Sami shook her head wishing she was just naturally smart like Jamie, it all seem to come so easily for her.

"Not trying to be funny, just pointing out that you have to put some time and effort into your work if you want to succeed," Jamie wondered why she was even telling Sami this bit of information because she was sure it was going to go into one ear and out of the other.

"My god, you sound about as stuffy as Dr. Wells," Sami began to mimic his English accent recalling their conversation that had this morning after she had received the failing grade on her paper. "Come prepared to class. You have to earn your grade. You get out of the class what you put into it."

Jamie just couldn't help it anymore along with Sami's bad attempt at a English accent she knew if her best friend would only heed Dr. Wells's advice she might learn a thing or two from his English Lit class. Her laughter finally erupted going from a slight giggle to a full outburst.

Sami took the pencil that was secured behind her ear and threw it in Jamie's direction, hitting her mark when Jamie stopped laughing.

"I'm sorry Sami, but if you could only see your face and your attempt to mock Dr. Wells is so off," Jamie retrieved the pencil after it bounced off her and landed into the floor, preparing to throw it back at her if she decided to lob off another round of pencils in her direction.

"You're right I'd have to be so much more uptight to properly manage it," Sami sighed wishing she could get this paper written, why her outline wasn't even close enough for her to begin typing it on her laptop.

"You think Dr. Wells is uptight?" Jamie asked not really seeing it from what she had noticed about the striking professor in her few observations of him from around campus. Plus every other single female she knew seem to think he was absolutely fantastic didn't jibe with Sami's pessimistic view of the most talked about professor.

Sami rolled her eyes, it was apparent she didn't understand, none of them did, this man wasn't perfection, he was just a man who was arrogant and haughty, why he even made fun of them in class although most of the students didn't seem to catch on to his thinly veiled sarcasm when he directed at them.

"Jamie you aren't falling for that accent, are you?"

Jamie walked over to Sami and proceeded to pluck off her glasses, holding them up to the light as she acted like she was examining them. She then proceeded to take the bottom of her t-shirt and wipe both lenses of the glasses. Holding them back up again to the light she shook her head, "I can't figure it out, your prescription seems to be in order, but maybe you need to get your eyes checked again. In case you haven't noticed Dr. Wells is the hottest thing to grace our campus, he makes all the boys seem like well boys."

Sami snorted her displeasure, even her best friend thought the man who was the bane of her existence to be hot. "He's old Jamie that is why he makes the boys appear younger."

"You know he isn't much older than us," Jamie began only to have Sami hold up her hand to stop her best friend from continuing on with this crazy observation of Dr. Wells.

"He is ancient," Sami claimed thinking Dr. Wells did make the boys seem very immature when he was in their presence although she wasn't going to admit it even to Jamie.

"Twenty-five is not ancient," Jamie argued thinking how cool it would be to have a mature twenty-five year old be interested in her, but who was she kidding she couldn't even get any of the boys to look her way beyond her being Sami's best friend.

"How do you know he is twenty-five?" Sami asked thinking every female in the radius of five miles must be hallucinating, they couldn't possibly know or even care to know how old Dr. Wells was, and he was a professor, not one of their classmates.

"You know Brittney works in the admissions office part time," Jamie stated as Sami shrugged her shoulders in indifference. "Well she was interested in learning more about Dr. Wells and so she snuck into the personnel records to find out his personal information."

"Brittney has and always will be a liar, I bet she was just telling that tale to get attention like she always does," Sami didn't even want to know anything about Dr. Wells personal or otherwise, he was a huge pain in the ass, case closed.

"Okay if you aren't interested I thought you might want to know his first name," Jamie started to turn away, knowing if she knew something that Sami did not know it would bug her friend to no end.

"He is so presumptuous he only listed Dr. Wells on the class syllabus like anyone cares what he name is I bet it is some incredibly English prissy name like Rupert or Nigel." Sami couldn't believe she and Jamie were even wasting time on this matter; she needed to get this stupid paper finished so that she might be able to go to the toga party Sigma Nu was throwing tonight.

"It's EJ," Jamie sighed before adding "don't you think that is mysterious? Brittney said it was only his initials, nothing more. I wonder what the EJ stands for, isn't it quite intriguing?"

"Believe me I won't be staying up all night trying to figure it out," Sami shook her head, even her best friend was interested in Dr. Wells and Jamie was a smart girl, Sami thought she would the last person to have her head turned by a handsome face.

"I might, if only some of the guys on campus were half as interesting," Jamie flopped onto her bed staring up at her Johnny Depp posters, thinking Dr. Wells came in a close second to her man Johnny which was quite a feat in itself since she has been enamored of Johnny since she was thirteen years old.

"Not you too Jamie, please you don't even have him for class," Sami pointed out only to have Jamie give her a sweet smile.

"I know but he came by the library today while I was working at the front desk and he was so incredibly nice to me. I almost forgot to speak to him when he addressed me until he asked me about the location of history books concerning Salem and of course I knew exactly where to show him to go." Jamie continued smiling and then proceeded to get up to go to her desk, she needed to start studying for her Psychology test she had tomorrow.

"You would know where everything was located in the library," Sami quipped sarcastically although Jamie failed to notice as she opened her book along with her notes.

"I hope he comes by more often when I am working, you know he even thanked me for sending him off in the right direction," Jamie sighed once more recalling Dr. Wells accent, he simply was dreamy.

There would be no arguing with Jamie on this matter Sami realized as Jamie quickly turned her attention to her books, completely ignoring Sami being in the room once she started studying.

"Great, just great," Sami muttered under her breath, now even her level headed best friend thought Dr. Wells was the next best thing to sliced bread. She scowled returning her attention back to her paper wishing ill on the man who was cutting into so much of her free time and garnering all the girls' hearts too in the process.

Well she wasn't a fool like the rest of them, they were all crazy. Dr. Wells wasn't anything special, she was sure of it.

Change of Heart

Chapter 12

Sami was grouchy, she had missed the Sigma Nu toga party the night before because she couldn't get her paper finished on time and Jamie had suggested maybe since she had failed the first paper this second attempt should have a bit more effort put into it.

Jamie just didn't get it; Sami couldn't write and didn't really care if she could one way or the other. She wasn't into all that flowery poetry which had no bearing on the real world. She couldn't imagine feeling something so romantic for someone that it made you want to break out into prose singing their praises to the heavens above.

Thus, she was hard pressed to find any relevance for today's society in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43 to write her paper. Why she had scoffed over how Miss Browning had such sappy lines, she wouldn't ever want to write a poem about anyone, much less one spouting off how much she would love someone even more after death.

Really it was quite morbid, why would you hope God would allow you to love someone when you were six feet under? This was all a bunch of silly nonsense, no one believed in such bull. Sami hadn't ever felt even an inkling of emotion of love for another person. Sure she loved her family most times, but never had her heart felt like it would do somersaults just by being in another person's presence.

So she gave her point of view that this was all a bunch of foolishness along with a thinly veiled description of how this class seemed to have no purpose beyond boring someone to the point of tears. She was honest because by god no one else of the female persuasion was going to tell Dr. Wells the truth, no they were just going to write bs over how poetry brought some kind of meaning to all mankind.

She shook her head wearily; these ass kissers in her class were becoming more obvious in their stupid obsession with Dr. Wells with each passing day. She noticed how Britney and Tori especially were made up each morning like they were going to freaking photo shoot at Basic Black. Her sister Carrie would have some stiff competition if they kept this act up.

Why even the most reserved girls seemed to be making an extra effort to get Dr. Wells to notice them, whether by their outrageous outfits, hair styles or makeup. These girls seemed not to have an ounce of pride or common sense, Dr. Wells was out of their league intellectually and professionally and personally she couldn't fathom why they would even strive to get his attention.

Her one saving grace was at least that wanna be Nicole Walker wasn't in this class with her. No, luckily Sami had been blessed by not seeing much of her beyond the harpy trying to hang all over her brother Eric whenever she got within twenty feet of him. Her twin could have his pick of any of the girls on campus yet he seemed to be enamored by that cheap gold digger.

Trying to dismiss thoughts over how she believed her twin was going to throw away his entire future if he kept dating that ho Nicole she took her seat in the middle of the class. Unlike the other girls she did not want to bring any sort of attention to herself, all she wanted to do was turn in her paper and get a decent grade since Dr. Wells wasn't going to do her any favors like her other professors seemed to do in regards to her grades.

All she wanted to do was be a fashion designer, to make her mark in the fashion world. She knew she could do it if she was only given a chance; she had a good eye and attention to detail. She did have to give Dr. Wells one thing, he knew how to wear his clothes well which could prove to be a challenge for someone of his height.

What he was wearing today was nice, the black pants he wore hung well on his frame, and she liked how he wasn't afraid to wear dress shirts of a lighter color with matching ties. So far she had liked most of his outfits that he had worn to teach class; then again he was from England and what she wouldn't give to see the rest of his closet. The interest was purely from a fashion standpoint she reasoned to herself while she thought she could probably design some really cool stuff for him to wear.

Taking out her new Apple iPhone 4G to snap a quick pic of his outfit something she could go back to later when she was in a drawing mood to make some sketches of men's clothes. While Dr. Wells bored her immensely with his talk about literature, she did think he could make a passable male model.

She was holding up her phone taking the pic of him while he had his back to her, she didn't want him to know what she was doing. She was so caught up in her mission for fashion that she didn't notice when Tori looked back at her with narrowed eyes. Then Tori dropped her English textbook to the floor causing a crash which in turn made Dr. Wells turn around at first looking toward the noise and then before Sami knew it he was at her desk and he certainly didn't look too happy to see her today.

"Miss Brady, what do you think you are doing?" EJ snatched her new phone from her hands before she could hide it in her backpack.

"Uh, I was just…" Sami's voiced trailed off not wanting to tell Dr. Wells anything, much less tell the members of her class about her dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She was sure they would all laugh their asses off over that one and not believe a word she said to Dr. Wells anyway.

"Just what?" EJ asked as he took her phone and proceeded to take it back to his desk, immediately opening his desk drawer and dropping it in with a resounding thud.

"Nothing," Sami muttered thinking Dr. Wells probably thought she was as silly as the rest of these girls in her class. Her face flushed with embarrassment as the class erupted in laughter. She sunk down in her seat wishing the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

The rest of class seemed to crawl by for Sami, now she would be the laughingstock of the entire campus and damn Dr. Wells took up her brand new phone. No way would her parents get her another one after she had begged to get this one promising that she would take good care of the phone if they would get it for her.

Finally class was over and the students began to leave class. She lagged behind not wanting to hear their comments, plus she had to turn in her paper and hopefully get her phone back from Dr. Wells. When Tori realized Sami wasn't going to let her be the last one to leave class she gave her a hateful stare and stomped off in a huff needing to get to her next class before it began.

Sami walked slowly to Dr. Wells's desk gently laying her paper on it and hoping he would be gracious enough to give her the phone without her asking for it. No such luck though when he eyed her paper curiously and started to pick it up.

Oh god no, please don't let him read while I am standing here, Sami thought to herself especially after she had put in her comments about his class. He quickly scanned over the paper, not saying a word to her.

She took a deep breath, maybe he would cut her some slack this time, "Dr. Wells may I have my phone back?"

EJ shook his head, "No, you may not."

"Come on, it's a brand new phone," Sami couldn't help it somehow this professor seemed to make her say and do things she normally didn't do.

"If you want your phone back, you may pick it up this afternoon in my office around 5 p.m. when I am finished with my classes for the day, not a moment before," EJ replied watching her face immediately form into a scowl. This girl had some nerve that was for sure, and he guessed that he was going to teach her a lesson since apparently no one else did.

Sami turned on her heel, he was such an ass, but if she wanted her phone back she realized she would have to go to his office. She muttered what she thought of him under her breath and stormed out thinking 5 p.m. couldn't come soon enough, she was going to get her phone and then she would tell him he could go straight to hell.

EJ watched her go, wondering what kind of excuse this girl would come up with for him today. Well he had to give it to her; at least she made his morning class interesting because he never knew what she was going to say or do next.

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care-John C. Maxwell

Change of Heart

Chapter 13

EJ had a very busy day, his classes were going well, better than well he admitted to himself, and the students seemed to be grasping the concept of how important literature was in the scheme of things. While he had been unsure of how his teaching methods would be received before he began classes at Salem University, it was apparent most students enjoyed his classes and were actually learning new things.

The operative word being most though as his thoughts turned back to Samantha Brady, the spitfire whom after reading her latest attempt of writing a paper was more than a bit direct in her views that she did not care for poetry and apparently him either. He could not figure out why she did not like him, why nearly all of the students were very engaging in class and yet this girl did not seem to share the majority's view of him at all.

It was almost 5 pm he noted as he had spoken with a few students this afternoon, many opted to seek his company in his office in the afternoon when he was finished with classes. More than a few bright eyed girls, wanting to garner his attention outside of class came with various excuses of supposedly needing his guidance of help. He was nice to them all, but tried to steer them from thinking they were anything more than what they were to him, his students. He was not interested in their thinly veiled offers of trying to entice him to notice them beyond the realms of the classroom.

He took off his jacket of his suit, placing it on the back of his chair and after sitting down he reached into the side pocket retrieving out the cell phone of Miss Brady. What had she been thinking taking pictures of his backside during class? This girl was a mystery to him, why would a student who apparently thought he was a bore want to take a picture of him anyway? It didn't make much sense to him, but he planned to find out.

She should be here in a few minutes, that is if she wanted her phone back. It was a very nice phone, the newest on the market and while he had no interest in this kind of technology he guessed if you were a college student this would be the phone to have if you could afford it. Since he had taken it up from her in class she'd had no chance to lock it so he was free to peruse its contents.

He had to admit some of the text messages she was receiving were pretty funny. He did not feel bad reading the texts, if she could invade his privacy then what was good for the goose was good for the gander. She had gotten a large amount of texts from what must be her best friend, a girl named Jamie, but she also was receiving some very explicit texts from some guys apparently wanting her to come to a party tonight.

While he was not much older than his students he thought their blatant overtures of sexuality were quite vivid. He shook his head, he didn't need to even go there. He shouldn't care what this girl did in her free time. What he needed was to work on his novel, which he would do tonight after he got this meeting over.

The closer Sami got to Dr. Wells office the slower her steps became, this day had been one she didn't care to relive. Her so called friends had given her hell for the most part, laughing over the fact that Dr. Wells had confiscated her cell phone and many asking her why she was taking pics in his class.

She had kept quiet, not answering their questions, really how could she explain what she had done? All she had wanted was to make some sketches for her designs, ones no one had ever seen beyond Jamie. Her family thinking her drawings were just a passing fancy, they didn't take the time to delve into what or why she was drawing.

So she was not in the mood to face the reason for her embarrassment this afternoon. She had dreaded this meeting all the day, hoping by some small chance that maybe when she did have to go face him that he would just give her back her phone. She really didn't want to explain to him why she was once again not paying attention in class, not to mention what she imagined he would say about her paper.

She should have just written some kind of bullshit, she could do that if she had to, but she felt that if everyone else thought Dr. Wells was so great than her opinion of poetry and in turn his class would not matter much. She had reached the door, poised to knock even though it was opened enough for her to peak into his office and when she did she immediately saw red.

The man was looking at her phone, her cell phone and shaking his head. What in the hell did he think he was doing? So before being polite and knocking she barged into his office ready to give him a piece of her mind. He may have taken up her phone, but Dr. Wells was crossing a line and she was going to let him know it.

Change of Heart

Chapter 14

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care-John C. Maxwell

"What in the hell do you think you are doing?" Sami asked sharply, she was irate to the point of shaking when she realized he was accessing her phone.

"Excuse me?" EJ raised his head up to take in account that a very upset Miss Brady had stormed into his office instead of coming into their scheduled meeting like a civilized human being.

Sami marched straight to his desk, standing as tall as she could since she knew this would be the only way she was taller than him was to catch him while he was sitting down, "I can't believe you are invading my privacy this way! How dare you sit there and go through my phone!"

"Would you rather I stand?" EJ scooted his chair back far enough to gain his balance to stand up against this brash imp of a girl. "As for the privacy issue, I wouldn't even have your cell phone right now if you hadn't of invading my privacy this morning during class!"

"Give me my phone," Sami demanded holding her hand out for EJ to give her back her cell phone.

"No," EJ shook his head and held the phone away from her grasp.

"You are unbelievable! You have no right to keep my phone!" Sami stood on her tiptoes trying to get close enough to yank it from Dr. Wells, but there was no way her petite frame could reach past his outstretched arm.

"I have every right, especially when you were taking pictures of my backside during class! You want to speak of privacy; well you my young girl have most definitely crossed a line by your actions. If I so choose you will be expelled from my class and may even go before the disciplinary board for review as to whether or not you should even be allowed to attend this college!" While EJ hadn't been mad when she had barged into his office now he was as equally angered by her lack of respect and issuing of demands towards him.

"I am not your young girl!" Sami stomped her foot wishing she could just kick this jackass in the shins or even better in the nuts so that she could laugh over his subjected affliction, of course after retrieving her cell phone while she envisioned him howling on the floor writhing in pain.

"Believe me if you were you would know something of manners and respect. Maybe if your parents had taught you any type of etiquette and civility I wouldn't have had to take up your precious phone," EJ held it out looking back at the screen once more after he went back to the photo section where the pictures Sami had taken of him this morning presided.

"Don't you criticize my parents," Sami warned, her anger rising with him even more. She did have manners and while she didn't feel much respect for Dr. Wells she knew how to behave it was just that sometimes she didn't feel like behaving and following the rules of society. "If you mess with me, they'll have you out on your arrogant British ass."

"Before you begin issuing threats of me being subjected to getting fired you may be interested in my countering with considering filing a sexual harassment suit versus you, then we will let the chips fall where they may." EJ wasn't intimidated in the least by this girl. No way was she going to get the upper hand against him and she was a few bricks shy of a load if she thought she would get him fired from his teaching position.

"Sexual harassment, believe me I have no interest in you sexually or otherwise," Sami's hands itched to slap that smug look of his face. If only those foolish girls could see what he was really like they wouldn't be falling over each other every morning to garner his attention.

"Then why pray tell did you feel so inclined to take pictures of my ass then? Really Samantha if you give me a good explanation I'll think about giving you back your phone," EJ said thinking he needed to strike up some kind of bargain with the girl even though at the moment she had a slightly crazed look in her eyes. These American girls were a different breed that was to be sure.

"Why were you going through my phone? Were you reading my text messages?" Sami countered back; no way did she want to admit to him that she just wanted to sketch him for her designs.

EJ chuckled, "Very interesting reading material indeed. Oh the things you can learn about a person by the kinds of messages she receives."

"You don't know anything about me," Sami crossed her arms in front of her.

"Want to try me?" EJ settled back against his desk although he kept her cell phone firmly in his hand.

Sami didn't say anything, just kept giving him a death stare.

"Cat got your tongue Samantha?"

"I've told you not to call me by that name," Sami began to go off on him only to have EJ hold up his free hand against her.

"You tell me lots of things, you just don't realize it," EJ shook his head; this girl was no match for him even though she believed she could best him.

"I do not," Sami argued he didn't know anything about her.

"Your writing tells me differently," EJ stated matter of fact.

"What are you babbling about?" All she wanted was her phone and here he was making her want to cause him bodily harm to his person. She never imagined English Lit was going to be such a huge pain in the ass. She was going to drop this class first thing in the morning that is if her advisor Mr. Brock would even consider her plea to be free from the egomaniac professor.

"For starters how about there is nothing significant or of any value to taking English Literature?" EJ asked the question which he had taken straight from her paper she had turned into him this morning after everything had turned to hell in a hand basket for her.

The frown on her face deepened a tiny bit more if that was possible, yet she still didn't say anything which only prodded EJ onward because by god the girl was going to tell him something or he would keep her here all night.

"And who could forget your complete and utter trashing of one of Miss Browning's most famous poems? Let me see you ripped her beautiful love poem to shreds with the stroke of your acid pen." EJ began to quote the first few lines of the poem to her just to make sure she got the point he was trying to make.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight"

She couldn't keep quiet she had to stop him from reciting the entire poem verbatim, "It's a stupid poem, love like that doesn't exist except maybe in some kind of fairy tale world which is all a bunch of crap."

Her words stopped him, how could she be so young and yet so very cynical? He cast his eyes upon her trying his best to figure out a way to reach her, the one girl who steadfastly refused to see the good in how fascinating the different facets of literature could be, it really blew his mind she was this jaded. He thought the other day after class they had made a breakthrough albeit it had been a small one, a breakthrough none the less. He really had believed he had gotten through to her that was until he had read her scathing paper.

Why wasn't he saying anything? He had an opinion on any and everything and for once she had stopped him cold. She felt his gaze upon her, but she didn't want to meet his eyes, he was trying to make her see things differently and she was fine with what she knew to be true. Love wasn't something grand, it was just an emotion people tried to use against you when you didn't follow exactly what they had in mind for you. Kisses were not magical and she doubted when the time came sex wouldn't be that awesome either.

"Nothing else to say your lordship?" Somehow she just couldn't help herself, this man brought out the worst in her nature and it bothered her because she didn't understand why.

He sighed, what was it with him and dramatic women? Then he corrected himself, she was a girl, his most aggravating student and he needed to show her a modicum of control, but he was determined to find out her reasoning for taking pictures of him without his knowledge.

"All I am asking for is a reason as to why you were taking my picture? We could have prevented all this if you would just tell me the truth."

She didn't want to reveal her dreams to anyone, much less this pretentious man standing before her.

"I'm waiting," his voice broke into her fears of revealing too much of herself to anyone, she didn't want his ridicule and she knew he was highly capable of that attribute.

She didn't want to be in here any longer and knew if she didn't answer him there was no way she was going to get back her cell phone. So with a deep breath, she quietly said, "I was taking pictures for my sketch book."

Her admission puzzled EJ, why would she want to sketch him, much less his backside? Still his curiosity was piqued and he wanted to know more. "Sketch book?"

"I sketch things for my fashion designs and I didn't want the entire class to laugh at me for having such an impossible dream. I mean my step father owns a design company called Basic Black and he won't even look at my designs. He thinks it is just some kind of passing fancy. So I take pics of different people and see what I can come up with in my mind designing clothes. Not that it is ever going to amount to anything. I can't even get my own foot in the door within my family's company." There she said it, now she hoped to god he would leave her the hell alone that is of course after he got finishing laughing at her.

To her surprise, no laughter came forth, and when she finally raised her eyes to meet him, there was a kindness in them, an understanding which seemed to speak directly to her. She wasn't used to having someone listen to her and not think she was just trying to get attention, he was taking her seriously.

"If you wanted to take my picture all you had to do was ask," EJ softly said handing her back her phone which now didn't seem like such a big deal to her.

"I'm sorry, it's just that no one knows I sketch things, I gave up trying to convince John to even consider looking over them. He thinks I'm just an unruly child for the most part. I couldn't admit to you in class what I was doing because then everyone would laugh at me. Who would ever believe Sami Brady had a serious side to her? All I am here in Salem is a rich girl who likes to party. That is why I want to leave this town and go to New York. Maybe one day someone will think I have what it takes to make it in the fashion world." Once she got started it all seemed to come to the surface, her insecurities, and she'd even revealed her dream to the last person on earth she would have believed would want to know or care.

"I believe in you," came the reply from EJ which caused Sami to give him a look of disbelief. No one took her seriously, not even Jamie who knew the truth really truly believed she was going to be a fashion designer.

"Really?" She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, trying to gauge if he was being genuine or not.

"How about we call a truce? You give me a chance to prove to you that literature can have some meaning in your life and I'll try not to be so quick to judge your actions. From this moment on I will make an effort to give you the benefit of the doubt before I jump to conclusions. Maybe one day you can show me your sketches, I really would like to see them."

He put out his hand offering to shake on it. Sami considered the possibility, could she willingly let someone view her work with what she knew would be a critical eye? One thing she knew from Dr. Wells so far was that he was quick to point out the truth of things even when she didn't want to hear it.

"Truce," she agreed, guessing she wouldn't be trying to drop his class tomorrow after all. Maybe for once she had truly found someone who saw something beyond the façade she used on the world.

Tentatively she held out her hand to reach his, maybe he did believe in her. When their hands touched, their eyes met again, something fluttered in her heart, a strange sensation she couldn't ever recall feeling before and she quickly withdrew her hand before she made a complete fool of herself.

"Goodnight Dr. Wells," was all she said as she put her cell phone into her pocket and hurriedly went out the door not wanting to look like one of those lovesick girls from class.

"Goodnight Miss Brady," EJ said watching her retreating figure exit his office. He stood there wondering if she had felt an inkling of what he had felt when their hands had innocently touched one another sealing their truce. While his head was screaming for him to steer clear of this girl, his heart was telling him something entirely different and that thought clearly worried him.

Excerpt of Sonnet 43 - How do I love thee? Let me count the ways by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Change of Heart

Chapter 15

Great Expectations

The next day in class Sami was ready for anything Dr. Wells decided to throw at her, but surprisingly he did not pick on her. For some strange reason he seemed to be trying his best to avoid her or at least that was she thought when all during the class he never seemed to look her way or even once call on her for her opinion in class.

He seemed preoccupied or maybe it was just her imagination running wild again. After she had gotten back to her dorm room she hadn't even had a desire to go out last night even when her brother Eric had invited her to go with him and a few of his friends. Sami had declined knowing if Eric was going either Nicole would be with him or somehow, someway she would casually bump into them acting all surprised to see them.

Sami didn't like Nicole and she wondered what Eric saw in the girl. She was mean and cruel even if Eric failed to notice those attributes about her personality. Sami rolled her eyes, all Eric was noticing was the way Nicole wore that skimpy cheerleading suit to the football and basketball games. Most of the cheerleaders were either stuck on their self or big time ho's for the jocks, Nicole of course falling into both categories easily.

She was glad she hadn't gone out even if it had shocked Jamie, but Sami was going to try to better with school work, maybe even work hard enough to get good grades on her own instead of trying to scare the professors into passing her. God knew one professor was not going to be swayed by her tactics, Dr. Wells had shown her that last night during their confrontation and now he knew her secret.

What if he told anyone? She thought to herself, she would indeed wind up as the laughingstock of the sophomore class at Salem U. and she sure didn't want that to happen. No way did she want the likes of Tori, Brittney and god forbid Nicole to find out her passion for fashion design. They would laugh her out of Salem U and she just couldn't handle the cheerleaders mocking her especially since her sister Carrie was one of the co-captains on the squad.

It was bad enough Carrie was beautiful and she even got to model for Basic Black while Sami wasn't allowed to have any input in the company. Eric was using his photography skills learning the trade, but all John had offered for her to do in his company was work in the freaking mail room. So dutifully all during the summer she had patiently worked shuttling files, folders and papers to the employees of the company, but never once did John allow her into the design rooms. It just wasn't fair at all.

She shook her head she needed to quit daydreaming in class or Dr. Wells was sure to call on her, but even when she pulled her head out of her family unfairness musings he never once called on her, just keep reciting different poems for some strange reason today. He never looked her way, not even once and that was strange because somehow he always seemed to catch her when she was not paying attention.

She sighed quietly, thinking what was wrong with her. She didn't want or need his attention, then the thought occurred to her he probably thought she was crazy for dreaming of becoming a fashion designer and was only trying to be kind enough not to encourage her any more than he already had the previous night.

She eyed him curiously trying to will him to look her way, to no avail. He was engrossed in his poetry and practically all the girls in the class looked to be to the point of swooning and now that she thought about it some of the guys did too. It was too creepy; it was like Dr. Wells was possessed with that sexy voice and when he used it he could capture everyone's attention.

Well except hers, she reminded herself trying her best not to be drawn in by his voice while he recited the poems aloud and his voice was not sexy, it was just vastly different from what she was used to hearing that was all. She needed to quit thinking about him, he wasn't truly interested in her at all, he was interested in this poetry junk, something which failed to fascinate her or so she told herself looking around the class noting most if not all eyes were turned on him while he spoke.

Then the bell rung and even when she filed out of class walking behind Alan and Derek, he never even glanced her way or called her out. It puzzled her, yet she was not going to admit it to him or anyone else. She hadn't wanted his attention and now he wasn't giving any to her. She should be happy, it seemed like he was finally going to leave her alone for a change.

Damn, why wouldn't he look her way?

Well EJ thought to himself, he had made it through the class without once taking in her visage. Miss Brady had looked quite fetching this morning too, especially when she came into class smiling instead of the perpetual frown she usually wore as soon as she walked into his classroom. She was lovely and that thought had stopped him cold before he ever acknowledged her.

When she had left his office the night before he had stayed there for a while, after the brief touch of their hands he had tried to assess the feelings that had assailed him. He had felt such an instant connection to her in those few seconds it had literally scared him. He wasn't supposed to have any kind of feelings for his students beyond teaching them and helping them try to succeed in life.

No when their hands had touched he had wanted something entirely different from Miss Brady and it wasn't teaching her the finer points of the English language. Just a simple innocent touch from her and it had knocked him for a loop. He wasn't supposed to get involved personally with any of his students beyond an academic level, he knew it and yet somehow when she turned those stunning blue eyes his way it made him want to learn more and more about her.

He needed to steer clear of the girl and he would try his best to do so in the future. Even if all the while he had spoken words of love of longing with the poems he had chosen to recite this morning in class somehow he thought of how wonderful it would be if he could speak those words to her and her alone.

He shook his head, what he needed was some grown up companionship, maybe he would go with some of the professors when they went out again. He had been invited more than once, but he had declined each invitation thinking he would work on his book, but maybe he needed a change of pace, anything to get his mind off of Miss Brady because she was beginning to come into his thoughts more and more with each passing day.

And that wouldn't do, not at all.

Later on in the day Sami was sitting outside actually reading one of the books on the Literature assignment list thinking that she may was well bite the bullet and plunge into reading the book. She wasn't going to let Dr. Wells give her a hard time about not reading and she knew reading the Cliff Notes wouldn't work with him. He'd want something more than a mere synopsis. So she grudgingly opened the book thinking maybe being outside she wouldn't be as apt to drift off to sleep like she may be tempted if she read in her dorm room.

She was engrossed in her book to the point she failed to notice Austin slipping up behind her, enveloping her eyes with his hands before whispering, "Guess who?"

Sami knew instantly who, she could smell his cologne, it wasn't over powering but she could identify it as being one of the test men colognes Carrie had begged John to let her give Austin for his birthday. Plus she would know his voice from anywhere, because his was the voice of her dreams and had been for quite some time.

She toyed with him, "Noah?"

"Guess again."

"Alan?"

"O for two, guess again."

"Lucas?" she teased knowing instantly Austin would reveal himself to her, he never wanted to be confused for his half-brother.

"Three strikes you're out," Austin moved his hands away and settled next to her on the grass.

"Austin I never would have guessed it was you," Sami smiled her entire face lighting up since she hardly ever had the chance to speak with him alone. His was the face of all her schoolgirl fantasies of having a real life boyfriend, but he only had eyes for Carrie, the beautiful one, never her.

"You just don't ever think of me anymore," Austin sighed and grabbed her book away from her grasp.

"That's not true, you never come around anymore or if you do Carrie steers you clear away from me," Sami stated trying not to sound jealous, she knew Austin was never going to be interested in her, not the way she had been in him.

"She thinks you have a crush on me," Austin grinned with the grin that Sami used to dream about, but Carrie had made sure she knew he didn't think of her in any capacity beyond being her bratty younger sister.

"All the girls have crushes on you, you're the quarterback of the football team," Sami said placing a hand on over her heart trying to sound like one of the cheerleaders.

"Yeah right, I have them lined up around the block," Austin quipped thinking how pretty Sami had become over the past year, gone was the baby fat she had and somehow when he had least expected it she was growing up in more ways than one because it had been ages since she had tried her best to get him alone, something she had been notorious of before in years past even up until the end of her freshman year in college.

"What have I got something on my face?" Sami instantly reached thinking the worse that she had a coffee mustache or something even worse when Austin stopped her hand and pulled it back.

"No, it's just that you seem different," Austin looked at her curiously, trying to peg exactly was had changed about her. It was almost like she was over him; she didn't have that starry look in her eyes when he looked at her.

"I don't know what you mean," Sami replied, thinking it was a nice change to be sitting here and not have some kind of agenda in the back of her mind concerning Austin, for once she wasn't hoping he would kiss her or tell her that he and Carrie had broken up and he had decided she was the one for him all along.

Austin shook his head, maybe he was tired, and he had endured a grueling football practice earlier this afternoon. Just something was off with Sami and he couldn't place what it was yet. He was about to say something else to her about it when a shadow fell over them both.

They looked up together to see who was blocking the sun to be met with the menacing stare of Carrie, standing before them both with her hands on her hips.

"Sami what are you up to now?" Carrie asked her voice icy in regards to her sister.

Sami glanced at Austin and raised her brow immediately going on the defensive, "Nothing, I was just…"

Carrie cut her off before she could say anything else, "Trying to entice my boyfriend to break up with me again?"

"No!" Sami held up the book she had been reading to her sister. "I was reading this book for my Literature assignment when Austin came over."

Carried burst out with a sharp laugh, "Yeah right and I'm a virgin. No way in hell are you reading anything for class, you never study."

"We all know better than that one, don't we Carrie?" Sami tossed the book down and stood up ready to jack her sister's jaw. No matter what she did Carrie always thought the worse of her.

"Girls please, there is no need for this," Austin began only to be told by both sisters simultaneously to shut up.

"You'll do anything for attention won't you Sami?" Carrie dropped her book bag ready to strike her sister.

"You are the one who is such a drama queen, seriously all I was doing was reading when Austin came up and sat down to talk to me," Sami stressed and then rolled her head ready to defend herself because for once she wasn't trying to snag Austin or entrap him and it irritated her that Carrie always jumped to conclusions whenever it came to her.

Maybe she should pick up the book and knock it over Carrie's head, with any luck it would knock some sense into her or in the very least it would black her eye and mess up her next photo shoot she had scheduled for Basic Black. She bent down and grabbed the book ready to smack her down and before she could swing it in her direction, Dr. Wells walked up to the group his eyes curious and before he knew it Miss Samantha Brady smacked him right upside his head.