Citations: The song that the chapter is named after is The Heart Won't Lie
by Reba McEntire and Vince Gill.
Chapter Two: The Heart Won't Lie
Looking back over the years
Of all the things I've always meant to say
But the words didn't come easily
So many times through empty fears
Of all the nights I tried to pick up the phone
So scared of who might be answering
You try to live your life from day to day
But seeing you across the room tonight
Just gives me away
Cause the heart won't lie
Sometimes life gets in the way
But there's one thing that won't change
I know I've tried
The heart won't lie
You can live your alibi
Who can see you're lost inside a foolish disguise
The heart won't lie
Long after tonight
Will you still hear my voice through the radio
Old desires make us act carelessly
Long after tonight, after the fire
After the scattered ashes fly
Through the four winds blown and gone
Will you come back to me
You try to love your life from day to day
But seeing you across the room tonight
Just gives me away
Liz ran out of the building with her head muddled with thoughts. She believed that she had no reason be this shocked, for in England she had seen her share of scandals as occasionally some member of the elite is lured to run away with a maid or intern. Well, that type of thing did not happen everyday, but it is known to happen nevertheless. Once again, her thoughts wandered to that handsome teacher that had so mesmerized her. Why did it have to be him? She thought. Liz could not pick out what about him that so attracted her. In her life, she has seen numerous good-looking males, but as most of them were too chauvinistic and presumptuous for her liking, she ended up rejecting them. As to the rest, she could not help comparing them to Max, her first love, and has always come up short because Max was just so perfect.
"Hello, are you Elizabeth Parker?" came a voice that snapped Liz out of her trance.
"Yes, I am and who might you be?" Liz questioned the pretty blonde that had just approached her.
The girl smiled and replied, "I'm Maria Deluca and I work at the student center. I'm here to show you the ins and outs of Columbia."
Liz liked the girl immediately and felt as if she was a long lost friend. She was more than happy to have some company since she was alone in a foreign country. Also, she did not have any classes for the rest of the day, so she was more than glad to oblige to a tour of the campus. "Sure, I would love to have a tour and please call me Liz."
"Sure, I see that you had a class already. How was it?"
"Organic Chemistry was always a hard subject for me, I never seemed to be interested in extremely 'fascinating' versatility of the element carbon."
"Oh god, Chemistry. The bane of my existence. I don't think I ever managed to pass a chemistry class. But oh my god, do you have Max? He is such a sweet person though somehow he always seems so sad, like he lost a part of himself sometime in the past. I always wondered if he had once lost someone who he loved deeply."
Liz was stunned for a moment and did not know what to say. Maria's description of Max fit her perfectly. Her thoughts turned to the girl that was shamelessly flirting with Max, that poor excuse for a living being - Pam Troy. "Really, do you think so? He and one of his students seemed really cozy after class."
"Who? I haven't seen him look at any girl with any interest in my life and besides Max is a person with great integrity. He would not ever date a student even if she was his soulmate."
"Well, you must think highly of him. I think her name was Pam Troy." Liz said hoping what Maria had said about Max was true.
The moment after she had said that, it was obvious that Max would never do anything unethical like that especially with Pam of all people. Maria was practically rolling on the floor laughing and looking at Liz as if she was the most naïve person in the whole world. When she finally stopped, she explained what was so hilarious to Liz. "Pam Troy is the biggest bitch in the school or perhaps in the state and she thinks too highly of herself and tosses her father's name around to scare people. In fact, her father most likely bribed a lot of people to get her in this school, because her grades are atrocious. What makes things worse is that she is shamelessly obsessed with getting in Max's pants. It's totally pathetic seeing the methods that she has employed to try to get his affection, but of course it's all to no avail. Max finds her infuriating and extremely annoying, but can't seem to get rid of her. She has failed his class five times now and refuses to have anyone other than Max tutor her. What you probably saw was yet another unsuccessful element by Pam to seduce Max. Believe me anything that's going on between those two is completely one sided."
With those words, Liz felt better and ever much relieved. The mysterious teacher seemed to have some morals and she was reminded of her Max's untainted reputation. Max didn't deserve to die. She thought to herself.
"Is something wrong?" Maria asked the brunette. She had seen a confusing change of expression from Liz. At first, after hearing all she had to say about Pam, Liz seemed happy or rather ecstatic which was rather odd. Maria had a fleeting thought that the pretty newcomer had some feelings for Max. Suddenly Liz's expression changed and she looked so sad and lost. It was almost heartbreaking to watch and Maria wondered what had caused this change in the girl.
Liz forced a smile. "No, I was just reminded of something." She said while changing the subject. "Shall we continue?"
"Of course, we have lots to see." Maria rambled on and on.
For the rest of the afternoon after classes, Liz and Maria went all around the beautiful and immense Columbia campus. Liz was having a great time for it seemed that Maria had an interesting anecdote for any place they visited. The two quickly become great friends. Maria was just a little older than Liz, but their appearances could not be more different. Maria had curly shiny blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. Both girls were very stunning and stood out of the rest of the student population. Liz had a simple elegance, while Maria had a bubbly personality; they seem to complement each other rather well. Neither girl seemed aware of how much attention they were attracting or how many hearts they were breaking in ignoring the pathetic attempts of a myriad of creatures containing the Y- chromosome.
Finally, the two decided to call it a day and go to the cafeteria for some dinner. Liz had just grabbed a garden salad when she suddenly felt it again. The same presence that had haunted her as she stepped into the chemistry room that morning and Liz honestly hoped that this was a hallucination. She was certainly not in any state to deal with her mysterious new professor yet again. She looked up and, indeed, Max was there, entering the cafeteria oblivious to the turned heads and craned necks of the double X-chromosome population. Max must have felt something too, because as he suddenly looked up from the notes he was reading, he saw at Liz staring intently at him.
Willing himself to calm down, he smiled politely at her - completely missing her blush and her new friend's look of amusement - as he made his way over to their table.
"Hello, Miss Parker right?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible hoping against hope that he wasn't been to obvious.
"Umm.yeah. It's nice to see you again Professor Guerin," she stammered immediately, kicking herself. Oh good job, Liz, now there's the way to seduce a man. It's nice to see you again. Honestly. Well, not that I want to seduce him. No, I just want to make a good impression.
Max's soft voice broke through her thoughts, interrupting her reverie. ".nice to see you as well Miss Parker. Tell me, what do you think of my class so far?" he asked with a smile.
"Oh umm.y-you know, it's umm g-great," Liz stumbled through her words again wondering how she suddenly went from becoming the cultured woman trained to speak eloquently at all times to a blubbering idiot just because her chemistry teacher wanted to ask how she liked the class.
He didn't seem too bothered though as he laughed. "Oh it's all right Miss Parker. Organic chemistry is really not the most popular subject," he winked, "in fact, most of my students walk away thanking whatever higher power they believe in and cursing my name forever," he laughed light- heartedly.
Liz somehow found that very dubious though she whole-heartedly believed that organic chemistry deserved whatever amount of curses its students had thought of.
"Oh n-no. Honestly, I do like your class. It's just that, well, Professor Guerin, you must know that that I do have a very natural affinity for chemistry. In fact, I am abysmally bad at it. I really don't think it has anything to with the teacher. It's just, you know, some people are naturally good in certain areas while others are just hopeless," she said sincerely hoping that Max believed her, not only because she liked the teacher already but also because her grade did sort of depend on this man!
He laughed again and waved a hand distractedly. "Don't worry Miss Parker. I understand completely and if you ever feel that you need extra help, don't hesitate to ask. I'm available for tutoring, of course, or I could assign you a personal, student tutor if you like."
"Thank you, Professor Guerin.," Liz began about to tell him how much she appreciated his offer and that she would probably need to accept at some point when a familiar screeching voice could be heard before a certain skanky blond, that was unmistakably Pam Troy, was suddenly attached to Max's arm.
"Max, oh my god, I've been looking all over for you. I'm not ready for your test. I think I need some tutoring. Oh please Max, I'm failing miserably and I need to do well on that test tomorrow," she winked suggestively at him batting her ridiculously long eyelashes that had been clumped together, undoubtedly, a flaw that mascara eventually produced after ten coats were applied.
Liz didn't know why but she suddenly had the unmistakable urge to seize her shoulders, slap her senseless and pull out every last one of those fake lashes.
Max obviously didn't seem very pleased either as he recoiled in disgust and turned around slowly as if he was hoped that Pam was only a hallucination that would vanish. Well no such luck.
Calmly, Max plucked her fingers off his coat as he looked her squarely in the eyes. "Pam, tomorrow is Saturday. There are no classes on the weekends. Therefore, I suggest that you look carefully through the material that I gave you during the tutoring session I gave you last week. If you still have trouble afterwards, I will be happy to assist you in clarifying any material that you don't understand. Now, I think you should go enjoy you Friday night with your friends. After all, you wouldn't want to spend Friday night with your chemistry professor would you?" he smiled kindly though Liz was gratified to notice that the smile was strained and clearly did not come without a great amount of effort on his part.
"Oh you silly," Pam giggled airily, "I don't mind at all. I'm a dedicated student after all. (Liz noticed Max and Maria both coughed in an effort to disguise their laughter) Besides who wouldn't want to spend Friday night with you hmmm.," she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice as she not so subtly attempted to rub her leg against Max's.
Liz suddenly realized how off-balance she was and suddenly she just snapped not being able resist the temptation, as she slowly stuck out her foot gently pushing against the one five-inch heel of Pam's that was still on the floor. Pam suddenly lost her balance - and Max seemed to have chosen that moment to pull away- as she crashed down onto the floor sputtering profanity as she carelessly abused the English language.
The entire cafeteria was stunned and then suddenly everyone started laughing enveloping a fuming and gasping Pam Troy with a tumultuous wave of mirth. She stood up unsteadily and gathering what small amount of dignity still left stared venomously at Liz, who had suddenly looked as innocent as an angel, and announced how angry her father was going to be and stormed out the cafeteria.
Chapter Two: The Heart Won't Lie
Looking back over the years
Of all the things I've always meant to say
But the words didn't come easily
So many times through empty fears
Of all the nights I tried to pick up the phone
So scared of who might be answering
You try to live your life from day to day
But seeing you across the room tonight
Just gives me away
Cause the heart won't lie
Sometimes life gets in the way
But there's one thing that won't change
I know I've tried
The heart won't lie
You can live your alibi
Who can see you're lost inside a foolish disguise
The heart won't lie
Long after tonight
Will you still hear my voice through the radio
Old desires make us act carelessly
Long after tonight, after the fire
After the scattered ashes fly
Through the four winds blown and gone
Will you come back to me
You try to love your life from day to day
But seeing you across the room tonight
Just gives me away
Liz ran out of the building with her head muddled with thoughts. She believed that she had no reason be this shocked, for in England she had seen her share of scandals as occasionally some member of the elite is lured to run away with a maid or intern. Well, that type of thing did not happen everyday, but it is known to happen nevertheless. Once again, her thoughts wandered to that handsome teacher that had so mesmerized her. Why did it have to be him? She thought. Liz could not pick out what about him that so attracted her. In her life, she has seen numerous good-looking males, but as most of them were too chauvinistic and presumptuous for her liking, she ended up rejecting them. As to the rest, she could not help comparing them to Max, her first love, and has always come up short because Max was just so perfect.
"Hello, are you Elizabeth Parker?" came a voice that snapped Liz out of her trance.
"Yes, I am and who might you be?" Liz questioned the pretty blonde that had just approached her.
The girl smiled and replied, "I'm Maria Deluca and I work at the student center. I'm here to show you the ins and outs of Columbia."
Liz liked the girl immediately and felt as if she was a long lost friend. She was more than happy to have some company since she was alone in a foreign country. Also, she did not have any classes for the rest of the day, so she was more than glad to oblige to a tour of the campus. "Sure, I would love to have a tour and please call me Liz."
"Sure, I see that you had a class already. How was it?"
"Organic Chemistry was always a hard subject for me, I never seemed to be interested in extremely 'fascinating' versatility of the element carbon."
"Oh god, Chemistry. The bane of my existence. I don't think I ever managed to pass a chemistry class. But oh my god, do you have Max? He is such a sweet person though somehow he always seems so sad, like he lost a part of himself sometime in the past. I always wondered if he had once lost someone who he loved deeply."
Liz was stunned for a moment and did not know what to say. Maria's description of Max fit her perfectly. Her thoughts turned to the girl that was shamelessly flirting with Max, that poor excuse for a living being - Pam Troy. "Really, do you think so? He and one of his students seemed really cozy after class."
"Who? I haven't seen him look at any girl with any interest in my life and besides Max is a person with great integrity. He would not ever date a student even if she was his soulmate."
"Well, you must think highly of him. I think her name was Pam Troy." Liz said hoping what Maria had said about Max was true.
The moment after she had said that, it was obvious that Max would never do anything unethical like that especially with Pam of all people. Maria was practically rolling on the floor laughing and looking at Liz as if she was the most naïve person in the whole world. When she finally stopped, she explained what was so hilarious to Liz. "Pam Troy is the biggest bitch in the school or perhaps in the state and she thinks too highly of herself and tosses her father's name around to scare people. In fact, her father most likely bribed a lot of people to get her in this school, because her grades are atrocious. What makes things worse is that she is shamelessly obsessed with getting in Max's pants. It's totally pathetic seeing the methods that she has employed to try to get his affection, but of course it's all to no avail. Max finds her infuriating and extremely annoying, but can't seem to get rid of her. She has failed his class five times now and refuses to have anyone other than Max tutor her. What you probably saw was yet another unsuccessful element by Pam to seduce Max. Believe me anything that's going on between those two is completely one sided."
With those words, Liz felt better and ever much relieved. The mysterious teacher seemed to have some morals and she was reminded of her Max's untainted reputation. Max didn't deserve to die. She thought to herself.
"Is something wrong?" Maria asked the brunette. She had seen a confusing change of expression from Liz. At first, after hearing all she had to say about Pam, Liz seemed happy or rather ecstatic which was rather odd. Maria had a fleeting thought that the pretty newcomer had some feelings for Max. Suddenly Liz's expression changed and she looked so sad and lost. It was almost heartbreaking to watch and Maria wondered what had caused this change in the girl.
Liz forced a smile. "No, I was just reminded of something." She said while changing the subject. "Shall we continue?"
"Of course, we have lots to see." Maria rambled on and on.
For the rest of the afternoon after classes, Liz and Maria went all around the beautiful and immense Columbia campus. Liz was having a great time for it seemed that Maria had an interesting anecdote for any place they visited. The two quickly become great friends. Maria was just a little older than Liz, but their appearances could not be more different. Maria had curly shiny blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. Both girls were very stunning and stood out of the rest of the student population. Liz had a simple elegance, while Maria had a bubbly personality; they seem to complement each other rather well. Neither girl seemed aware of how much attention they were attracting or how many hearts they were breaking in ignoring the pathetic attempts of a myriad of creatures containing the Y- chromosome.
Finally, the two decided to call it a day and go to the cafeteria for some dinner. Liz had just grabbed a garden salad when she suddenly felt it again. The same presence that had haunted her as she stepped into the chemistry room that morning and Liz honestly hoped that this was a hallucination. She was certainly not in any state to deal with her mysterious new professor yet again. She looked up and, indeed, Max was there, entering the cafeteria oblivious to the turned heads and craned necks of the double X-chromosome population. Max must have felt something too, because as he suddenly looked up from the notes he was reading, he saw at Liz staring intently at him.
Willing himself to calm down, he smiled politely at her - completely missing her blush and her new friend's look of amusement - as he made his way over to their table.
"Hello, Miss Parker right?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible hoping against hope that he wasn't been to obvious.
"Umm.yeah. It's nice to see you again Professor Guerin," she stammered immediately, kicking herself. Oh good job, Liz, now there's the way to seduce a man. It's nice to see you again. Honestly. Well, not that I want to seduce him. No, I just want to make a good impression.
Max's soft voice broke through her thoughts, interrupting her reverie. ".nice to see you as well Miss Parker. Tell me, what do you think of my class so far?" he asked with a smile.
"Oh umm.y-you know, it's umm g-great," Liz stumbled through her words again wondering how she suddenly went from becoming the cultured woman trained to speak eloquently at all times to a blubbering idiot just because her chemistry teacher wanted to ask how she liked the class.
He didn't seem too bothered though as he laughed. "Oh it's all right Miss Parker. Organic chemistry is really not the most popular subject," he winked, "in fact, most of my students walk away thanking whatever higher power they believe in and cursing my name forever," he laughed light- heartedly.
Liz somehow found that very dubious though she whole-heartedly believed that organic chemistry deserved whatever amount of curses its students had thought of.
"Oh n-no. Honestly, I do like your class. It's just that, well, Professor Guerin, you must know that that I do have a very natural affinity for chemistry. In fact, I am abysmally bad at it. I really don't think it has anything to with the teacher. It's just, you know, some people are naturally good in certain areas while others are just hopeless," she said sincerely hoping that Max believed her, not only because she liked the teacher already but also because her grade did sort of depend on this man!
He laughed again and waved a hand distractedly. "Don't worry Miss Parker. I understand completely and if you ever feel that you need extra help, don't hesitate to ask. I'm available for tutoring, of course, or I could assign you a personal, student tutor if you like."
"Thank you, Professor Guerin.," Liz began about to tell him how much she appreciated his offer and that she would probably need to accept at some point when a familiar screeching voice could be heard before a certain skanky blond, that was unmistakably Pam Troy, was suddenly attached to Max's arm.
"Max, oh my god, I've been looking all over for you. I'm not ready for your test. I think I need some tutoring. Oh please Max, I'm failing miserably and I need to do well on that test tomorrow," she winked suggestively at him batting her ridiculously long eyelashes that had been clumped together, undoubtedly, a flaw that mascara eventually produced after ten coats were applied.
Liz didn't know why but she suddenly had the unmistakable urge to seize her shoulders, slap her senseless and pull out every last one of those fake lashes.
Max obviously didn't seem very pleased either as he recoiled in disgust and turned around slowly as if he was hoped that Pam was only a hallucination that would vanish. Well no such luck.
Calmly, Max plucked her fingers off his coat as he looked her squarely in the eyes. "Pam, tomorrow is Saturday. There are no classes on the weekends. Therefore, I suggest that you look carefully through the material that I gave you during the tutoring session I gave you last week. If you still have trouble afterwards, I will be happy to assist you in clarifying any material that you don't understand. Now, I think you should go enjoy you Friday night with your friends. After all, you wouldn't want to spend Friday night with your chemistry professor would you?" he smiled kindly though Liz was gratified to notice that the smile was strained and clearly did not come without a great amount of effort on his part.
"Oh you silly," Pam giggled airily, "I don't mind at all. I'm a dedicated student after all. (Liz noticed Max and Maria both coughed in an effort to disguise their laughter) Besides who wouldn't want to spend Friday night with you hmmm.," she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice as she not so subtly attempted to rub her leg against Max's.
Liz suddenly realized how off-balance she was and suddenly she just snapped not being able resist the temptation, as she slowly stuck out her foot gently pushing against the one five-inch heel of Pam's that was still on the floor. Pam suddenly lost her balance - and Max seemed to have chosen that moment to pull away- as she crashed down onto the floor sputtering profanity as she carelessly abused the English language.
The entire cafeteria was stunned and then suddenly everyone started laughing enveloping a fuming and gasping Pam Troy with a tumultuous wave of mirth. She stood up unsteadily and gathering what small amount of dignity still left stared venomously at Liz, who had suddenly looked as innocent as an angel, and announced how angry her father was going to be and stormed out the cafeteria.