DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything. This disclaimer applies to all chapters.

Thanks to all who reviewed! Let me know what you think of the transition from using just "he" and "she" to using "Sandy" and "Kirsten". I didn't want to use their names (except for the introduction) until they knew each other a lot better. It seems more fitting now since they find out more about each other in this chapter. Okay I'll stop explaining things before I give away what happens. Enjoy.

"Hi Sandy-It's me, Kirsten. Umm…I was wondering if…umm…you wanted to do a last minute study session tomorrow night for my exam on Wednesday and umm…it wouldn't hurt to have you help me out if you want to and I can help you if you need some. So…if you can get together, give me a call and we'll set up a time. Thanks, bye."

She called. He was thrilled. Although she said she'd keep in touch, never did he imagine that he'd hear from her just a day later. He quickly dialed her number.

"Kirsten…hi…its Sandy"

"Sandy, hi…you got my message?"

"Yes, and I'm available to be your study mentor tomorrow night."

"Really? Are you sure because I don't want to burden you. I know you have an exam on Wednesday too. If you want I can help you if you want to bring your stuff over."

He paused. Did she just say "bring your stuff over?" As in over her apartment?

She noticed he was silent…(silently daydreaming that is)…so she said…

"Sandy…you there?"

He jumped. He was daydreaming over the fact that she invited him over. He reminded himself not to get too excited, as this was just, yet another, study session with her.

"Yeah, sorry my roommate just walked in…anyway you were saying…?"

It was the quickest excuse he could think of.

"Umm do you want to come over to my place tomorrow tonight? I know we usually study on campus, but I'm getting kind of sick of school-this being our last week, you know?"

"Yeah, I hear ya. That's fine. What time?"

"How about 7?"

"Sure. Remind me again how to get to your apartment?"

She was caught by surprise when he asked for directions to her apartment. They had been together so much in the last few weeks that she felt like he had already been in her apartment. She got a bit flustered when she heard him ask. She never really thought about inviting him over, but it just felt right. Something told her that it was okay to invite him over, so she rattled off directions, and the two hung up agreeing to see each other the next night.

She heard a knock on the door. He was good...right on time, in fact, a few minutes early. She was wearing a tan, short, turtleneck sweater and jeans. She quickly put on some more lip-gloss and brushed her hands through her hair. She stopped for a second, thinking, this was the first time since Jimmy that she had changed clothes and redone her makeup for someone. She cared about how she looked for him. She ran to the front door.

He was greeted by her sweet smile. He was wearing a black sweater and jeans, one of the new outfits he had picked up the night before after she asked him to come over. He wanted to impress her, considering this was going to be the last time the two would see each other until next semester. Ironically, he thought, after noticing her outfit, that they seemed to match, and had they been a couple, how cute they would have looked wearing their sweaters and jeans together. She let him in, where he found a neatly arranged little apartment.

"What a place you got here…"

"Like it?"

"Yeah, it's so…perfect and neatly arranged."

"Thanks…if that's a compliment."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Some people think its too neat…they like more crazy colors and designs…lots of creativity…that's not me. Its funny, you'd think since I'm majoring in art history I might like my apartment to be more creative looking and not so boring, but I like it like this. Symmetry and organization makes the most sense to me."

"Fine with me."

Oddly enough, they started chatting about anything but what their exams were on. The conversation went from Kirsten explaining how she organized her apartment to how they thought they did on exams they already took to them talking about what their plans were for winter break. She was going back to Newport for Christmas and New Year's, but returning in the beginning of January to go back to work. He was going home for Hanukkah and staying home for break until a few days before the spring semester started.

He debated about whether or not he should bring up the party that was on Thursday, but was too nervous and decided not to.

Silence fell upon them.

"Do you want to go grab a coffee before we start?"

Surprised she had asked, he agreed. She seemed different tonight, in a good way. It was like she put studying on the side and was more focused on him. She told him about a good cafe that was close by down the street that was one of her favorite places. They headed out the door.

"It's so weird, I bet it's probably snowing in New York right now."

"Really? Wow, I've never seen snow before."

"You've never seen snow?"

"Nope, Christmas in Newport isn't exactly a white Christmas...it's rather warm and mild. I've always wanted to visit New York during the Christmas season. It looks so beautiful. I've never experienced a Christmas with snow, seeing the big tree, all the shoppers walking around, all that stuff that gets you into the holiday spirit."

"You should definitely go. It's a really nice place. I miss the city sometimes."

"Do you like it better here or there?"

"Well I miss the city, but I'm glad I came here."

"Me too. So…how did you end up here in Berkeley?" she asked softly. She didn't mean to be nosy, but she wanted to find out more about him and his past.

"It's a long story…"

"We will have huge coffees to finish."

They made their way inside of the café and ordered. Sandy paid for both of their drinks. They made their way to a table and sat down.

From there, she found out about his life before Berkeley. One of the things she found out was that one of Sandy's happiest days was the afternoon he came home to find a letter from Berkeley, his number one choice of schools, which was offering him a scholarship. He was thrilled. His mother, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. She wanted Sandy to go to college in New York so he could mentor his siblings so they too, would follow in his footsteps. His mother and he argued over the college situation, and eventually Sandy ended up leaving. His mother was not happy, leaving their relationship tense. In his first year at Berkeley, Sandy studied business and liberal arts. He grew fond of his legal classes, and after his freshman year decided that he was going to become a lawyer. He volunteered his time at school helping out at the freshman registration, giving tours of the campus, and doing some administrative work.

"So that's my story."

"I guess if it weren't for that scholarship, you'd still be in New York?"

"Yeah. I knew I wanted to move out right after high school, but without a scholarship I don't think I'd be able to. I probably wouldn't even be going to college with all the stuff to do around the house…babysitting…tutoring…cooking. So yeah, I'd still be in New York."

"I'm glad you're here," she said softly, smiling a little.

"Me too" he replied, smiling back.

She got serious again asking, "Is your mom still mad at you for leaving?"

"Yes and no. She calls me every now and then, usually around the holidays to remind me to come home for them, although we don't really talk when I come. It's more of just "Hi nice to see you" and then I catch up with my brother and sister and visit relatives and friends. So…now that you've heard my story, what's yours? What made you leave Newport to come here?"

From there, he found out about her life before Berkeley. One thing that he found out was that Kirsten's father was very demanding of her, pressuring her all through high school to get straight A's and to maintain the image and personality he wanted her to have around all of Newport. In fact, despite her popularity and many exciting awards that she received, she rejected all the attention that came along with them. When it was time to apply for colleges, Kirsten's father forced her to apply to schools she had no intention of going to. He didn't even know what his daughter wanted to major in. All he knew is that it was going to be business and that she would follow in her father's footsteps. Kirsten wanted to go to Berkeley, so she applied, and when she received her acceptance letter, she bluntly told her parents she was going to Berkeley. Her father told her he wouldn't pay her tuition unless she went where he wanted her to go. She refused to change her mind and left. She was happy at Berkeley. She was majoring in art history-what she wanted. The new atmosphere and new freedom away from home encouraged her to continue her rebel against her family even more. She got a tattoo of her name on her lower back just to defy her parents.

"Why your name? Of all the choices there are…that one is so…"

"Boring? Yeah, well like I said. I was looking to defy my parents. I didn't care. I wish it wasn't there. Its not me."

"Have they ever seen it?"

"Actually they haven't. But it's there for the day they do."

He curiously asked, "Can I see it?"

"No, sorry, its not something I'm exactly proud of. Nobody knows about it."

"Just want to show your parents, huh?"

"Yup."

"Can I ask you a question…why is it that since you grew up with so much money, you don't flaunt how much you have? I mean your apartment is nice, but you don't have a lot of furniture…you don't spend money like crazy and stuff…" He hoped he didn't offend her.

"That's because I didn't take any money with me up here. I only have my own money that I saved. Nothing my father put away for me. I knew that if I was going to defy him, I had to go all the way by not taking any of his money. That would have been the easy way out and shown him that I still depend on him. I'm paying for my own tuition, that's why you see me working all the time."

"Wow, I don't think I would have been independent enough to defy my father like that and come here with nothing…even though I could have everything."

"Everything but what I wanted."

"Well we both have something in common. Families that are pretty angry with us for not sticking to what they wanted us to do. We couldn't resist, we had to do our own thing." He smiled.

"Yeah, this just happened to be the right place. Coming here."

They finished their coffees and headed back outside, where it had started to rain.

"Oh no…" she said, laughing.

"Rain wasn't in the forecast for tonight…whats up with that?"

"Guess we'll just have to make a fast walk home."

"You got that right."

They got drenched. Kirsten rubbed her arms. Seeing that Kirsten was getting cold, Sandy took a daring move and put his arm around her shoulders as they walked.

"Cold?" He asked.

"Yeah, just a little. Imagine if this were snow?"

"It'd be pretty funny. I'd throw snowballs at you."

"Not before I threw one at you."

They laughed together. They were already soaking wet so there was no point in even trying to walk fast in the rain anymore. Gradually, Kirsten had leaned onto Sandy as they went along. Finally they made it back to Kirsten's apartment. She turned on a light and grabbed a towel from the bathroom. When she came back, she noticed that Sandy was still standing on the floor mat, making sure not to get anything wet. How sweet and caring he was. He didn't want to get her apartment wet. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He looked beautiful with his long, tossled, wet hair.

"Sandy? You could come in. You don't have to be so mannerly."

"I don't want to mess up your perfect apartment."

"It's not perfect."

"Yes it is!"

"No it is not!" she smiled, insisting she was correct.

Seeing he wasn't going to win this, he settled for "Fine, but it is very clean, and I don't want to get everything soaking wet."

"Sandy, its okay. See do I care that I'm all wet?" She started walking around.

He couldn't believe this was the same girl he had studied with. She was actually enjoying herself. He always thought she was a bit depressed and defensive, and just put on a fake smile all the times they studied together. This time felt real. It felt like she was enjoying his company while they did something besides studying.

She walked back over to him, grabbing his hand, and forced him into the actual living room. She put the towel over his wet hair, messing it up even more, laughing as she did it. Smiling, Sandy said, "Oh no, no you don't, you don't mess with the hair, that's my thing…" and started tickling her, and seeing that she was definitely ticklish, he continued to do it more until they fell awkwardly onto the couch, half leaning against the couch, half lying down. Sandy was lying on top of Kirsten. After they fell and realized how close to each other they were, they stopped laughing. Sandy took the towel that Kirsten had been trying to dry him off with and gently wiped her wet face. She took the towel from him and finished wiping his off too. They both looked each other in the eyes, both thinking how amazing the other person's eyes were up this close. He took his hand and brushed the hair out of her face, putting it behind her ears. She was not objecting to his little romance gestures, so he closed his eyes and leaned in, putting both his hands on her cheeks, and slowly kissed her lips. As he leaned in she reached her arms out and pulled him in closer, kissing him back. They stopped and looked at each other and smiled. They both closed their eyes and let their lips meet again, this time, a bit more aggressively.

They stopped, looking at each other again, and smiled.

"Wow" Sandy said softly, "that was really nice. Really nice."

"Yeah, it was…and it is…" Kirsten responded and smiled, pulling him in and kissing him again, slowly, but aggressively.

The phone interrupted them. They stopped kissing suddenly. Neither could believe what had just happened. Who knows how long the kissing would have went on had the phone not rang. Puzzled, Kirsten awkwardly got up to answer it. It was the restaurant asking her to come in on Thursday. It was all happening so fast. She still couldn't believe that she and Sandy had just been kissing. Quickly, as she glanced over at Sandy, it began to occur to her how good it felt just now to be lying on the couch with him. He was gentle, caring, sweet, tender, and not to mention beautiful. She thought about how nice it'd be to get together with him again. Normally, she would have welcomed the extra hours, but not this time. She knew that Sandy would be leaving on Friday to go home for winter break, and maybe, just maybe, they could get together again before then. She walked back over to him.

While she was on the phone, he replayed what just happened over again in his head. They fell onto the couch. They looked each other in the eyes. He kissed her. She kissed him back. Yes, she kissed him back. And then they kissed more. Hmm…maybe there was a chance for them to be together.

Realizing that their clothes were still soaking wet, Sandy said "I forget for a few minutes how wet we are."

"I know, me too. Hmm…I could give you one of my sweatshirts if you want."

"I don't think I'd fit into it. You're a little too thin." He smiled.

"I don't want you to be cold. I'll be right back, I'm going to change, and I'll get you another towel since that one is all wet."

After she left, he wondered, again, if he should bring up the party now. After all, they did kiss. It's not like she tried to stop the kissing.

She came back and gave him a towel. Not sure how to continue the conversation, he began with "Do you realize its already 9:30 young lady? You did not accomplish any studying yet whatsoever."

"I do realize that, but I had more fun doing something else with my study partner" she smiled.

He hadn't seen her smile this much since he met her 2 months ago in the lounge.

"If you have to go so you can study, I understand."

"No, actually I don't need to study for my exam tomorrow. It's an easy one. What about you? How much studying do you have to do for tomorrow?"

"Actually I don't need to study.

Sandy looked surprised. She did too. She didn't mean for that to come out, but it was the truth. Finally, the truth was coming out. She had been denying how she felt for a long time. Not tonight though. She couldn't control what she said or how she felt. It was just happening.

She continued, "I mean I could, it wouldn't hurt to study more, but I think I'm ready for this exam. I studied it over the weekend, so that I would have tonight open…for you. I just felt like seeing you again before the semester ends so I figured by asking you to study we could talk and stuff" she said a little embarrassed. "I feel bad for all those times I wasn't too sociable."

"So you didn't plan on studying at all tonight?"

He was so surprised. He had no idea she actually wanted to do more than study with him.

"I did, for a little bit. But I planned on conversing more instead. The rest of tonight came as it went along. I had no idea that…well…we'd kiss…"

"I have to tell you I didn't expect that either. I didn't expect to do anything but study, considering these are the most important exams of the semester."

"I know. Honestly, I've enjoyed your company during these study sessions, even though it looks like I'm just into the books. I'm sorry about that. It's just that school is important to me. I wasn't trying to be unsocial. I've been going through a lot this semester and I wasn't ready to get into anything…except school. The only thing is you've made it very hard for me to stop myself from involving myself in anything but school."

"That's ironic, considering I'm your study partner for school, enhancing your studying capabilities."

"I know. And quite a good study partner you are."

This was it. He had to ask her now. It was getting late and both of them should start getting ready for school the next day. This was the perfect time to bring it up by telling saying "Speaking of school…". Come on Sandy, just spit it out. You'll regret this if you don't do it and be miserable at the party because you didn't ask her. He took a deep breath.

"Sandy? What's wrong?"

"Oh no, nothing, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking…"

She attentitively looked at him. In his head, he thought "Say it Sandy, come on."

"There's this holiday party on Thursday night, it's for all of us who volunteered this semester, it's sort of like a couples party, and umm, I was wondering, would you go with me?"

"You want me to go with you? As in that I'd be your date?"

"Yes."

"Sure, I'd love to go," she said, smiling. She smiled because she was happy that he asked her to go with him. She smiled because she was happy that she said yes. And finally, she smiled because she knew that this was the start to something good.

Wow, that was easy he thought.

"So I'll pick you up at 6:30 on Thursday?"

"Sure. How dressed up should I get?"

"You'll look beautiful in whatever you're wearing."

She smiled, a bit embarrassed.

"Well, I should let you get some rest for your exam tomorrow," he said.

"Yeah, you too. Thanks for coming over tonight. I know it sounds silly that we didn't study, but I had a lot more fun not studying."

"Me too. Are you ready for your exam tomorrow though?"

"Yes, very prepared."

"Okay good, because studying comes first. I believe that is a rule in the studying handbook. You know, the same book that says that in order to get the best results, one must take study breaks." He winked.

She laughed. How could she forget the day they met and argued over taking a study break.

"So, I'll see you on Thursday then at 6:30?"

"Yes. Good luck on your exams."

"You too. Good night."

They both were very pleased with how the night turned out and were extremely excited about Thursday, wondering how their official first date would go…

TBC

One note about this chapter is that I omitted the backgrounds of Sandy and Kirsten because it was mentioned in Chapter 1. I did not want to repeat the same information, so I just mentioned a few things. Imagine that the same information was repeated here when they were talking about their pasts.

The next chapter will focus on their first date and how the semester will end. What will happen when they return to school for the spring semester? This will be addressed in an upcoming chapter. Please review.