"These Walls"
Chapter 1
Meredith sank back into the leather seat, looking over her shoulder at the horse trailer bumping along behind the car. She put her feet up on the dashboard and saw the look of disgust from the woman sitting next to her, driving. Liz Fallon, that was her name, Nurse Fallon. The countryside flashed past the window. It was weird that her mother was kicking her out into boarding school, but then again was it? Everything was done to keep her busy, out of the way, so that Ellis Grey could become a better surgeon, not as though she could rise any more. That was what the horse had been bought for, and the dog, and the millions of books, the TV, and now boarding school. It is true, love cannot be bought. No matter how much money Ellis Grey had spent on her daughter, it bought no love.
This Boarding School was in the middle of the country, a 10 hour drive from Boston, from Meredith's home, not as though her home was much of one. She lived at home alone because her mother's schedule was too busy for her daughter. Meredith thought she should be relieved to be getting away from her mother, but starting a new school mid term wasn't exactly the best start.
The car suddenly turned into a long drive. It seemed the school suddenly had another attraction, not only was it far away, it was also in the middle of farms, which meant no sneaking out to parties no nothing. How boring. It was almost as though her mother had planned to make life hell.
The car pulled up outside a large building. Meredith could see people moving between classes, all happily chatting, all the same. Yet another downfall. The whole thing was uniform. Earlier that week, Meredith had been sent out her uniform, a school backpack, and two large suitcases. Everything, absolutely everything, had been embroidered with the school logo, which consisted of several stars in the background and some random bush. She presumed it had some significance, but all was lost on her.
Both Meredith and Nurse Fallon got out of the car and walked to a building which was marked "administration". The whole school was so neatly laid out. The buildings in the middle, two ovals either side, seats and tables under trees outside. It seemed a nice enough place. The school also had state of the art sporting facilities, with everything from rowing classes to equestrian. She could also see the boarding facilities off in the distance.
Here was to a New Start!
Chapter 2
They made their way into the Administration building. It had several offices attached to it, which were also labelled; Office; Principal; Deputy Principal, and so on. They made their way over to the main office, as Meredith straightened her jeans and her black sloppy joe. A woman came over to the window as she saw them walking over.
"Yes?" she said in an inquiring tone.
"Meredith here is a new student, we got told to come here for information on where to go" Nurse Fallon said, she seemed keen to get rid of Meredith, even though she was getting paid well by Ellis for doing this, even better than had of she been doing her usual scrub nurse duties.
"Ah Yes, Meredith Grey. New Student to Year 10, yes? Border, Yes?"
The woman and Yes was starting to get annoying, there was only so many times somebody can say Yes.
"Yep, that's about it I think" Meredith said, sick of the way the conversation was heading. Already she was bored.
"Yes, We have a student here to show you around, and to your dorm room. He will be the person you go to for any inquiries that you might have. Yes? The Principal in busy right now, he will see you when you come back. Yes? Enjoy your Time at Gregory College. Hope to se you around" the office woman said as a boy with black hair came out into the foyer.
"Hi, Derek Shepherd, Winslette House Captain" the boy said as he extended his hand.
Meredith looked up at the boy. He would have to be only a grade ahead of her which meant he would be young to be a house captain. He had deep blue eyes, and a scruffy mop of dark brown hair. He was wearing the uniform, Black pants, a white shirt, with the dark maroon blazer and the yellow and maroon striped tie, the school emblem on the blazer.
"Meredith Grey" she said and accepted his handshake.
Chapter 3
Derek took Meredith and Nurse Fallon on a tour around the school. There were 5 different buildings, all at least three stories high. The school had multiple science labs, computer labs. One whole building was a library, with study areas, and computers. Everything looked new, and it was all state of the arts stuff.
"I hear you're a horse rider" he said as they walked back towards the car to drive up to the boarding houses.
"Sort of" Meredith replied, "My mother made me, to keep me out of her way. I'm more of a hindrance to her than a help" The comment received a cough from Nurse Fallon and a death stare.
"Oh" was all Derek said and they all walked out to the car.
"So I presume you'll want to get your horse into his new home." He said, "I'll walk, you can follow in your car.
They followed, and found the stables were only a little way behind the school. The stables were surrounded by an equestrian centre, and an outdoor ring.
Meredith hopped out, and with Derek's help opened the trailer door. She led her horse, Chez, out of the van. His brown coat shined in the bright light. Derek led the way into the stable block. Everything was well light, and clean, it was the cleanest stable she had ever seen. Derek unbolted the stall fo her and she led the horse in, looking at everything. A school blanket had been slung over the door. It was maroon with a yellow emblem on it and Cheshire, Chez's show name, on the corner. The water had been filled, along with the food bucket and hay net, so all Meredith had to do was bring his tack in from the van, and it was off to the boarding houses.
There were only two boarding houses. They were both about three levels.
"The one over there" Derek said, motioning over to his right "Is for the younger grades, 5-9, and this one," he motioned to the left" is for years 10 to 12. The shower blocks are just behind, you will want to use them, because the ones in the rooms suck, water saving devices on them, making the water trickle."
Meredith nodded and listened intently until it was time for her to be led into her room.
"The top floor is for the year 12's, the second for the 11's and this one for the 10's, although I stay on the floor with the ten's, because I am in charge of them. It sucks for me but hey"
Derek was really friendly Meredith thought as he brought her into the bottom floor. The corridor had 10 rooms off it. That allowed for 20 borders.
"We have a full house at the moment, but normally it isn't packed, some people only board for one night a week, depends on family situations"
He then led her into her room, Nurse Fallon had offered to stay in the car.
The room had a divider that cut the room in half. It had a little corridor in between. The first half had a lot of crap everywhere. Meredith looked over into the second half, furthest away from the door and saw that a bed was there, it was made, with a maroon doona on the top. There was also a desk, and a wardrobe.
"So that's the campus, have any questions see me in the room at the end" he guestured over to the door. "Get settled in, the principle will see you in about an hour. Just walk down the path, its about 800 meters to the school. Have fun" he gave her a friendly smile and walked off.
Meredith returned to the car and grabbed all of her bags. She slung the strap to the two school suitcases, and grabbed another bag that she had packed with stuff, and farewelled Nurse Fallon. She saw the look of relief spread over Nurse Fallon's face as she went back into the building.
Chapter 4
Meredith got into her room and unpacked her bags. She carefully unwrapped her pictures. One was of her dog, who she had to leave behind. Knowing her mother though, she would never see her dog again. The next was of her and her father when she was little, and the final of her at the last horse show, after they had won the open Jumping.
Once she had unpacked her bags, she saw she still had half an hour before she had to see the head master. She headed down to the stables and saw heaps of girls around Chez. She walked forwards, and through all the girls who were admiring Chez. She grabbed his grooming gear and walked him outside. Only a perky blonde followed her out.
"Hi I'm Isobel Stevens, but everyone… my friends call me Izzie. I love your horse"
Meredith smiled and looked at the blonde.
"Hi I'm Meredith Grey, and everyone calls me Meredith" they both laughed. "You have your own horse?"
"No, I am using my own money to pay for school"
"Oh, you can ride him some time if you want" Meredith shrugged, it was a way to make a friend, and she would need help exercising him.
Izzie smiled ecstatically. "Oh my god, thank you soooooo much" and she started stroking him.
Meredith looked at her watch and realised that it was time for her to meet the principal, so she told Izzie to finish grooming her horse, and she ran off down the road. 5 minutes later she was panting at the door of the principal's office.
"Sorry I am late" she said as she saw the man in front of her.
"That's Ok Meredith, Dr. Webber" he said, holding out his hand. "I know your mother, used to work with her actually. Great woman" he smiled.
"Oh" she said, finally realising who the man was.
"Well anyway welcome to Gregory High. We have several papers for you to fill out and several papers for you to keep. We will go through them one by one"
He pulled out a wad of papers. "Ok first, you have to choose two sports to play whilst at Gregory. I hear you are an aspiring horserider, so I will presume that that is number one. There are multiple sports for choice two."
He started reading down the whole list of sports. Meredith listened, but her mind wandered off, remembering the time that she had met the man before.
"Richard wait!" Ellis yelled from the top of the stairs still only in a bathrobe as the man ran down the stairs. "I promise I will leave Thatch, it's just I haven't had time"
"Ellis I have thrown my life, my family away for you, and the least you could do would be to leave him, to respect what I have done, what I am still doing for you. You PROMISED!" he bellowed, pulling on a jacket walking out the door.
Meredith peered from her bedroom and watched as her mother raced from the top of the stairs down to Richard and pulled him into a kiss.
"Please Richard I promise"
"Ellis its enough. Im sick and tired of chasing you" and he slammed the door, Ellis collapsing in a heap, sobs wracking through her body.
"Meredith? Meredith?"
Meredith suddenly came out of her inner self and blurted out the first sport "I'll… I'll join the… uh... the Swimming Team"
And that's how Meredith found herself down at the pool 20 minutes later, with the 100 page booklet of rules to read that night.
She pulled on the knee length Speedo aquablade that she got given by the school. It was black. She also had a school cap, which was the same maroon with the emblem and she had her goggles. She walked down to the pool deck where she saw a whole heap of other people standing, all waiting for the lesson.
"Welcome to the school swimming team" Meredith looked up at the voice she recognised and saw Derek walking down the pool deck in blue knee length aquablades, which showed his abdominal muscles rippling as he walked. "Everyone get into the pool and start warming up"
Chapter 5
Meredith got in and swam the first 500 meters, when it was time to do butterfly. She had no idea how to do it. Why had she chosen swimming? Oh that's right because she zoned out in the middle of principal Webber's speech. Dumb thing to do.
She stopped, and Derek hit the wall, finishing the first two laps.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he ran a hand through his wet hair. He obviously didn't have to wear a swimming cap like the rest of them.
"Well apart from the cap restricting blood flow to my head, I don't get how to do this"
"Oh, ok. Um... move over to the next lane, and I'll teach you" he ducked under the lane ropes into the empty lane.
"Alright first" he grabbed a kick board, "we will learn the kick. Lie down and grab hold."
He grabbed her ankles gently, and started moving her legs the way they were supposed to go. After a lap, he let her show him what she could do.
"Good" he smiled at her. Had of she been standing on solid ground, she could have sworn her knees would have melted, literally. "Now for the arms."
He stood on the ground and guided how her arms were supposed to move, and then let her try a lap.
"No" he laughed coming behind her. "You're letting your but drop. Try going again, I'll help."
She started swimming again, and he held her stomach up, to keep her legs up and not drag on the bottom.
At the end of the lap he commented yet again "That was better. Come here every afternoon after your last class, and I'll tutor you one on one" he said and gave her a wink, hopping out of the pool"
Meredith got out of the pool a few seconds after, letting her pulse rate slow down. It wasn't wrong of her to like her swimming instructor; he was only a year above her. It was her first day, and she had a crush on a guy, what a great start.
She headed back to the dorms, a towel wrapped around her waist, her gear shoved into her spare backpack.
Once in the door she was met with a young asian girl.
"Oh so you're my new room mate" she said bluntly. "Hi, I'm Christina Yang"
"Meredith Grey"
"You mean like the Grey method Grey" she said ecstatically
"Yeah that's my mother. You interested in Medicine?"
"Hell yes, I have every single book" she motioned over to a bookshelf that Meredith had missed earlier, because it was surrounded by clothes. "You?"
"I'm not sure yet"
"Well with a mother like Ellis Grey, you would be sure to get in"
Meredith just smiled at her and pulled ona pair of shorts and T-shirt over her wet swimming costume.
"You in swimming?" she inquired
"Yeh, I wasn't listening to the choices"
"Well at least you've got a hot year 11. My mother made me do Balet, and horse riding. Everything should be done to keep you like a young lady. Personally I would have rather been doing Boxing and Soccer"
Meredith smiled at Christina's remarks. It was certainly going to be fun in boarding school.
Meredith and Christina made their way to dinner ten minutes later, still talking. It seemed it was easier to make friends than Meredith had first thought.
She had found out that Christina's mother had bought her a horse in the vague hope that it would make her a more polite person, but instead it had done the opposite.
"I would kill to have your mother" she said walking into the dining hall.
"Why?" Meredith said, grabbing a plate and joining the queue for food. "She doen't even care, about anything"
"Yeah well it's better than having a mother who says the Birds and the Bees comment at least once a week, and might I mention that this started on the day of my tneth birthday. My room has been redecorated 20 times, because apparently the purple wasn't purple enough"
Meredith laughed yet again, as they reached the front of the line. There was a lot of food to choose from, although some not very nice. Christina went infront of her and advised to choose the same
"The rest tastes like shit, laterally, I could swear that they go to the manure pile and pick up the horse shit."
Chapter 6
They headed back to their dorm later, after dinner. They were almost the last two out of the dining hall because they had "helped" clean up the kitchen, laughing, chucking bubbles and soapy water at each other as they "washed" dishes.
"I am so much happier about being here now" Meredith admitted as she walked back with Christina.
"Great, I've made someone happy" Christina mumbled, and Meredith laughed.
"Oh and that's a terrible thing"
"Leave the sarcasm to me" Christina returned, setting Meredith into another fit of giggles.
To be honest, the dinner wasn't all that bad. There was some beef, mashed potato, carrots and beans. Christina had steered clear of some brown mush which did actually smell like horse manure, and also steered clear of the desert which was supposed to be custard, but was brown, and had globs.
Once back at the dorm, the girls got their shower gear and walked over to the shower block, which was a short walk away from the dorms. They were only supposed to be used when the showers in the dorms, but after looking at the lines, it was obvious that these showers were the preferred option. Meredith got in line behind a tall red haired girl, who was in year 11. Behind her was Christina, who had joined her shortly after.
"Oh no!" Christina muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"Addison" she said quietly motioning to the girl infront of Meredith in the queue. "She's the equestrian captain She cuts people from the squad because she doesn't like them. She cut the best person last year, and made us come dead last, because she went out with the guy that she liked. She is a grade a Bitch"
Meredith just nodded.
Finally, they reached the front of the queue. She had listened to Addison talk about herself. "That new girl, I want her horse"
"Well then buy it off her" her friend mentioned
"Yeh maybe I will, my daddy has enough money. It looks good"
From then on Meredith put her in her watch out list. She certainly didn't sound like a very nice person.
They were the last two people in the queue. Luckily there was still hot water, which appare3ntly rarely happened. They saw that there were only 2 minutes before they had to sign back into the dorms, so they rushed in and had their showers.
Once out, they saw that there were the house captains out patrolling making sure everyone was in their beds.
"Quick, be quiet, and we might get back in without being spotted."
They snuck around to the back entrance, hiding in a bush to check if the coast was clear. Meredith suddenly had the thought that if someone caught them how weird it would look, and burst out laughing.
"Shut up" Christina exclaimed as she covered her mouth. "Come on lets go" she said and pointed to the door. She got up and sprinted, with Meredith going behind.
Just as they neared the door, it opened, and Derek stepped out.
"What are you two doing" he said. He was wearing his pyjamas, obviously expecting everyone to be in bed, and no one seeing him, so he reddened in the face.
Meredith also blushed, looking down at her Hello Kitty pyjamas, but Christina just stood there, wearing her Blue pyjama bottoms and "I didn't do it, she Did" T-shirt.
"Sorry Derek" Christina said. "The shower block was choccas and you know how bad the showers in here are"
"Still Yang you should know better. You should be organised. Meredith here has an excuse. She is new."
Christina just rolled her eyes and walked into the dorms.
"Meredith" Derek said and grabbed her arm as she walked past, "See you tomorrow" he said weakly.
He had no idea why he stopped her. Was he going to say something else? He kicked himself mentally and continued his back door patrol.
Christina looked up as Meredith walked back into the dorm.
"What happened to you? Why are you so far behind?"
"Oh… Derek had to tell me about my swimming l…"
"What?" Christina said, hanging her towel in the bathroom and brushing her teeth.
"Nothing"
Christina just shrugged and Meredith got into her bed.
"Night Christina" she said, and watched Christina jump into her own bed.
10 minutes later, as Meredith was still reading her book Derek walked into their dorm.
"Everyone in?" he asked around the door.
"Yep" Christina said, obviously bored with this, that happened every night.
"Ok" he said, walking all the way in, checking the two beds. "Good night girls, don't stay up too late" and he walked out.
Meredith got up the next morning, and noticed Christina was gone. She got dressed into her new uniform and walked over to the breakfast hall, with her bag, filled with books and her pencil case. She got onto an empty table and got a bowl of cereal and started eating.
She was joined by Derek a little later as the tables started to fill up.
"Good morning" he said and sat down, straightening his tie out. He really didn't look very comfortable in a tie.
"Morning" she said, looking down at her timetable again, making sure she wouldn't forget anything.
"Ah. I see you are taking senior Chemistry and Maths. There is no one other than Christina in year 10 that is doing those subjects. You must be pretty smart"
Meredith just shrugged and went back to her food.
"So what brings you here" he said.
"My mother wanted me out of her way, you?"
"Mo parents thought I would be better away from my sisters. So they sent me here"
"Oh, well I'd better go, Chez needs checking"
"Ok bye"
Meredith rushed out, and into the stables, leaning against Chez's stall, breathing heavily. She watched as the stable staff rushed around, and saw Christina come walking in with a large black horse.
"Morning" she said.
"Morning, where have you been?"
"Out for a ride, what else does it look like" she said sarcastically.
"Oh. You could have woken me"
"I tried" she said, and took her horse back to his stall.
Meredith headed down to the school after giving Chez a grooming. She got there just in time for her first class, which was senior Chemistry. She lined up, and watched Christina come running in.
"Your taking this class?"
"Yeh"
"Why didn't you tell me you were smart?"
"Because I'm not" she shrugged and walked into the classroom, she didn't need a conversation like this with her room mate.
Meredith walked in and saw only one spare seat… next to Derek.
"You didn't tell me you were in this class" she said as she sat down.
"Well now you know" he said, taking his books out of his bag as the teacher walked in.
"Hello students" he said "We have a new student with us today" he said and motioned over to Meredith. "Welcome to Senior Chemistry Meredith Grey. I'm Mr Gregins. Derek I assure that you will catch her up, as her lab partner" Derek nodded smiled over to the red head, Addison, who was glaring in their direction.
They had to do an experiment first, which was boiling different substances. It was pretty boring. Meredith dropped her piece of paper as she was turning around, and bent to pick it up at the same time Derek did. He grabbed it first and handed it to her, brushing her hand slightly as he did. It sent a kind of Tingling sensation down Meredith's arm, which mad her heart beat faster.
"Thanks" she said softly, and got back to her work.
The rest of the day was pretty boring. She didn't see Christina or Izzie for the rest of the day, because she had a lunch time class.
At the end of the day Meredith had a double free, so she went down to the pool early and saw Derek already swimming. She sat back and watched as he swum for over an hour, not looking up at her. Finally he stopped and saw her, and motioned she come in. Her swimming costume was already under her dress, so she pulled it off, and pulled on her cap and goggles and slid in.
The lesson was an hour, which made it half an hour before all the other swimmers came. He taught her butterfly and made stroke corrections. At the end she was doing much better. AThey both raced to the other end, and sat panting in the water next to one another. Meredith shivered a little, and Derek rubbed her arm.
"Cold" he joked.
"A little" she laughed, still breathless, and turned to face him.
"Thanks for the lesson" she said.
Chapter 7
Meredith smiled walking away from the pool. The school was getting better by the day, no by the minute. If only she know it was going to be this good from the start…
She looked down at her watch as she walked out of the pool and saw that there was only 10 minutes till her riding class. She ran back to her dorm and put on her clothes, sprinting down to the stables to tack up Chez. She made it just in time for class, and joined Christina trotting around the outdoor ring. Today Addison was in the class and one of the teachers was taking the class. Meredith looked over and saw Addison's Chestnut Andy, struggling to be the lead, with Addison yanking at the reins. She shook her head at the harshness of Addison's actions, but went on riding.
Once the horses had gone through drills, the teacher had set up a few jumps for them to finish on. She was making it into a competition, and drew the names at random. Meredith was picked last.
She watched the other riders go through, unaware of a person on the sidelines watching the class. She watched as Christina tied third, and Addison was so far in the lead, although had knocked down the last pole. Meredith started her course, giving Chez enough leg to make his jumps perfect. At the end of the round she pulled up, in first position.
"Well done Meredith" the teacher praised. "I'll expect we will see big things come from you this year. I expect I will see you at the trials Friday afternoon?' and she walked off.
All the other girls had cooled off their horses and walked back in, but Meredith only started when she was joined by another person.
"Hey, you were pretty good out there"
"Thanks" she said, and looked up, seeing Derek walking alongside her and Chez. "You know this is kind of stalkerish" she joked.
"Oh really how?" he questioned, jogging a little to keep up with Chez's long gait.
"Well you see, first you are taking me for private lessons in swimming, then you sneak out to see me when I was coming back from the showers, and now you come and watch me riding"
"Well maybe I am just taking care of the new student"
"Maybe" she said, dismounting, walking back to the stables, leaving Derek standing there, watching her walk away, for the second time that day.
Meredith headed back to her room later that night, And saw Christina.
"Hey wait up!" she yelled ahead.
Christina stopped and waited.
"So what's happening with you and McDreamy?"
"What?"
"Oh come on that eye sex and talking and touching. Its flirting."
"No were not, he's just making sure I'm settling in."
"Well I never got anything like this last year when I was as you say "settling in" so spill"
"There is nothing to spill"
"Fine" Christina walked away, off to the showers.
After dinner with Izzie, Meredith walked off to the showers. Once again she was at the end of the line and then was last going into the dorms, and also was caught again by Derek trying to sneak through the back door.
"So is this going to be a nightly occurrence?" he joked as she ran into him in her haste to get back to the dorms in time, "'cos if it is, I'm going to have to wear something more appropriate, you know brush my teeth earlier"
"Shut Up" she said smiling.
"Telling an elder to shut up. I believe that is against the rules. Oh no I'm going to have to tell Mr Webber on your rule breakingness"
"Well you know what?" she said moving in really close, pulling him into a quick kiss "You just then broke a rule too" she finished in a whisper and walked into the dorms.
Meredith got up early the next morning and went into the breakfast hall to eat before her ride. She had just sat down when Derek walked in, rubbing his eyes, still in his pyjamas, so she quickly ate her breakfast and dashed out to get Chez. But apparently she wasn't fast enough.
"Meredith" she heard him calling, running behind her as she walked Chez out, ready to mount.
"What?" she said, turning to face him.
"What was that last night?" he said, quickly looking around to check no one was listening.
"Um… it was a lapse in judgement, it was rule breaking, it… it should never happen again." She stammered as she got onto Chez.
"Meredith we can't just forget it happened"
"Yes we can, and I will" and with that she rode off, at a quick canter, onto one of the quieter trails.
Chapter 8
Meredith reached the school just late, she ran through the chemistry doors, at the same time as Derek did.
"You go first" he said, pushing her through the door, leaving his hand to linger on her back a moment too long.
"Ms Grey, Mr Shepherd, late. Would you care to explain? You will be staying in for 10 minutes after the bell."
They both ran in and took their seats, Meredith saw Christina's questioning look, like as though she "knew" what was happening. She just rolled her eyes back, and sat down.
The whole lesson they worked in silence, despite Derek tapping her arm every 10 seconds trying to talk about what happened. Quite frankly Meredith was sick of trying to come up with excuses as to why it happened, so she ignored his touching her arm, even though it sent Goosebumps up her arms and gave her the shivers, which made him smirk.
At the end of the lesson, they continued sitting there, with Mr. Gregins watching them write down lines which were "I will not be late to class. I broke rule 112, Do not be late to class, and I also think I broke rule 1,980 Do not fraternize with the opposite sex" the last rule gave Meredith a fit of the giggles, which gave them another 10 minutes. By the time they finally got out, Meredith was running late for Senior Maths, which luckily for her, not, she was with Derek yet again, which left them writing out the lines over again for 10 minutes after the next bell.
Finally at the end of the day, Meredith ran to her room, and got ready for swimming. She got their early and was already warming up. By the time Derek got there, Meredith was already halfway through their lesson.
"Sorry I was late, meeting with the principal." He said, with a frown on his face.
"What wrong" she said, pulling up her goggles as he slid in.
"Oh he has this idea that we are "an item" and if he hears anything else of it I am getting a suspension for 5 days, and a letter home"
"Oh" Meredith said, looking at him. "I'm sorry, this is my fault" and then she looked down.
"No its not your fault" he said softly, pulling her chin up so that she was looking at him. Slowly, he moved his lips down to hers and she deepend the kiss slightly.
After a little while, they pulled away. Meredith freaked out, and ran away, to the dorms, and locked herself in, only letting Christina in.
"Whats wrong with you" she said, looking at Meredith, who was dripping chlorine water all over the floor.
"I kissed Derek"
"You kissed Derek"
"He was having a bad day… and so was I"
"So you kiss him and make it all feel better"
Meredith just turned and walked into the ensuit bathroom, she could put up with the crap showers. When she got out, she felt cramping in her stomach, so she crawled over to her bed and got in.
"What's wrong with you, need Derek to cheer you up. Come on dinner is ready"
"No I feel really sick, Go without me"
Christina went to the dining hall, and sat down next to Izzie.
"Where's Meredith" she asked.
"Uh… she's sick or something" she returned, and started shovelling the food down.
Derek walked up to their table and sat down across from Izzie.
"Hey Derek!" Izzie said cheerfully.
"Hey" he said, distracted, "Hey, where is Meredith?" he asked.
"Sick" Izzie was enjoying her conversation, she had a crush on Derek, but then which girl in the school didn't.
Derek then stood up and walked towards the door, "Nice talking to you… um"
"Izzie!" Izzie yelled after him, winking after.
"Right" Derek said and ran down to the dorms.
Meredith heard the knocks from her place, bent over the toilet.
"Come in" she said croakily.
Derek carefully made his way in, and picked his way over Christina's piles of mess, over to the bathroom door.
"Hey" she said, turning around a little, and then doubling over in pain, leaning over the toilet bowl.
Derek rushed forwards and grabbed her hair, pulling it out of the way, and then squatted down next to her.
"Hey, you ok?"
She shook her head and leant over the toilet again…
Chapter 9
Christina finally came back from the dining hall, and found Derek and Meredith still in the toilets, Meredith still vomiting every few minutes.
"Christina" Derek yelled for her as she walked through the door.
"Go get the nurse, down in the Junior dorms. Quick!"
10 minutes later, Christina arrived back with the nurse. By then, Derek had carried Meredith to her bed, and she was lying in a ball, because the pain in her stomach was excruciating.
The nurse waked over, and had a feel of her stomach, frowning.
"This doesn't look good" and she pulled out her mobile, walking out of the room.
A few minutes later, the nurse returned in the room with two ambulance officers and the principal. The ambulance officers went over and got Meredith onto a stretcher, and wheeled her out to the ambulance.
Derek rushed over to the principal. "What's happening sir?"
"We suspect she has appendicitis, we are taking her to the closest hospital. You go with her, you're the house captain in charge of the year 10's."
Derek ran over and got into the back of the ambulance, sitting next to Meredith who had fallen asleep from all the pain. He rubbed her hand, and held it and the ambulance took off.
3 hours later Meredith woke up. The pain had virtually gone, although she had an awful pain in her lower abdomen when she sat up. She looked over and saw Derek fast asleep in the chair next to her bed and she remembered what had happened. Him holding her hair, the ambulance, the operation. Appendicitis that was what was wrong. She rolled over carefully, and watched Derek stir, and wake up.
"Oh your back" he smiled, moving his chair closer. "How are you feeling?"
"Could be better" she laughed but stopped "Ouch" she winced
He slowly and uncertainly put his hand on her face, and ran his thumb down her cheek. "At least you're better than earlier" he smiled. "Now have a rest"
Meredith rolled over and went back to sleep.
Chapter 10
On Friday morning, Meredith was released from the hospital. Mr Fisher, her English teacher had to pick her up, and dropped her back to her dorms. She had to have two days on bed rest, and then two weeks with no swimming, and one week with no riding. That was just to make sure the skin was going back together. Luckily there were no stitches that had to be removed.
Christina got temporarily moved out of the dorm, as to not "disturb her" so Christina's side of the room was empty. It felt kind of weird being in the room alone, a little scary. She lay there till the end of school bell rang, when she realised she was supposed to0 be having horse trials that afternoon. She gently got of the bed and hobbled out of her room, when she ran into Derek.
"Where do you think you're going"
"Horse Trials"
"You can't ride"
"I wasn't going to ride you dumb ass, I was explaining why I'm not there."
"Oh. I'll take you" he said, and pulled a wheelchair out of his room"
Meredith gave him a funny look, but he just ignored it.
"Wheelchair racing," he explained.
He wheeled her into the indoor ring. Meredith saw Addison pull her horse through a clear round on the jumps as she watched other people practicing dressage.
She saw the teacher and went to stand up quickly and winced in pain, so Derek pushed her back into the chair and rolled her over to the teacher in charge. She explained the situation.
"Yes, I know, I have seen enough to know that you will be an asset to the team. Addison over there will be taking the team. She will be in charge, although this year, we are taking an interest after last year dismissal. So we have training every Friday afternoon after school, so that non-borders can train, and boarding classes will be on every Saturday."
With that, Derek wheeled Meredith out.
"What do you want to do?" he asked as they headed back towards the dorms.
"Uh… I have to see Izzie. I can walk myself" she said, pulling herself out of the chair, staggering a little. Derek grabbed her and righted her up.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I am freaking sure" she said, and grabbed onto a rail, walking down the corridor. "See"
"Alright" he said, rolling his eyes. "I'll be back at 6 to pick you up for dinner."
"Fine" Meredith said with a roll of her eyes and continued her shuffle down the hall.
She knocked on Izzie's door, and a guy answered it. "Um... is Izzie there"
"Yeah, I'll go get her" he said, and walked back to Izzie's bed, throwing himself on it, kissing her. "There's someone here for you"
"Uh hey Meredith" she said, embarrassed, pulling herself away from the guy. "This is Alex" she said, pointing to the guy.
"Um yeah I came here to tell you that I would like you to take care of Chez for the week."
"Really? Oh my god! Thank you soo much!"
"That's ok… and um… tell Christina that I feel sorry for her… living here with you two" the last bit she went under her breath, and then for a joke she went of saying "By the way Derek is going for a room check in ten minutes, I believe you are currently breaking both rules one thousand 9 hundred and eight, and rule two thousand and fifty" with that, she shuffled back to her room, flinging herself onto the bed, turning on the television.
At 6, Derek was knocking on her door. She was so engrossed in the programme she was watching that she didn't even notice him walking in. When the add break came, she turned around and motioned him to come and sit on the bed.
"I'm watching this really good show. It has this Doctor who slept with her boss, fell in love with him, and now she's found out he is married. It's really good. Oh… and they're doctors. Watch with me"
The add break was over, and Meredith turned her view back to the TV, shuffling over in her bed so that Derek could lay down with her. They watched the end of the show, and it stopped just as this guy with a bomb inside him got rolled in, and one of the doctors was going to cut into him.
"Oh my god! Why did they stop" she yelled at the TV.
Derek laughed at her anger, and she punched him. He went to punch back, but decided against it, because of her stomach. "I think it stopped, just in time for us to get the leftovers at dinner, come on" he said, holding out his hand for her. She grabbed it, and they walked, with his arm around her waist all the way to the dining hall. There was no one in there when they got in there, so they got the leftovers and sat at the back table, eating in comfortable silence.
When they finished, Derek helped her back to her room, and then into the bathroom so she could get changed.
When she was coming out, Derek said he had to leave for bed checks.
"You'll come back won't you? It is kind of lonely in here."
"I suppose I could"
He headed back to his room, pulling on his pyjamas, and started the room checks. Once he had done all of the rooms, he headed back to Meredith's room. She was lying with her face away from the door. He walked over to the divider, and leant his head against it. As soon as he did it, Meredith had turned around. She patted her bed next to her, and pulled back the covers.
"I can't"
She patted the bed, and put on a frown, so he reluctantly got in.
"You know how many rules this is breaking" he said, sliding it.
She nodded slightly and replied "But my bed was cold"
They both laughed, and Meredith turned of the light.
"Night Derek"
"Night Meredith" he replied, moving closer to her, to stop himself falling out of the single bed. He leant over, and kissed her on the forehead, and put his arm around her waist.
Both almost fell asleep straight away.
Chapter 11
Meredith woke up to an empty bed Saturday morning. She got up slowly and got changed, and walked to the breakfast hall. She ate her breakfast alone. Christina and Izzie were both out riding and Derek was who knows where. She finished breakfast and started wandering down to one of the ovals. She saw there was a soccer match in progress, Gregory's against Scots college. She sat there, and watched the game, Scots won, 2-1. The game finished, but Meredith continued to sit there. She was supposed to be on bed rest, but it was so boring so she thought it would make no difference sitting out there on the bank.
She had been sitting there alone for well over an hour when she felt someone sit down next to her. She looked up and saw Derek sitting there.
"Hey" he said.
"Hey. What happened this morning?"
"I had to pick up all the dorms washing and then I had footy training"
"Oh. You could have woken me"
"I tried" he grinned, "You are a heavy sleeper."
They sat there until lunch was going to be ready, looking over the empty fields.
Derek stood up, and walked over to Meredith, helping her to her feet. They walked over to the sining hall, and Meredith got herself a sandwich and Derek got a hot dog. They walked out of the hall and down in a quiet corner of the senior sitting oval. There was barely anyone there. Almost all sporting teams had games this weekend except for Derek's football team.
They were in the shade, and after a while, Meredith started to shiver. She had been stupid enough to leave a jacket in her dorm room, and clearly her shirt wasn't enough protection. She stood up to stretch her legs, and in an attempt to keep warm, and Derek stood up too, taking of his blue sweater and putting it on Meredith.
"Thanks" she muttered her appreciation, and pulled him into a hug.
After dinner, Meredith decided she was well enough to take a shower. It seemed every time she went for a shower she ended up at the end of the queue. Tonight she was behind Izzie.
"Hey Izz"
"Hey" she said, turning around "How are you?"
"Better. How's my horse going?"
"Great. I wish I could have a horse as good as him" Izzie said. "My mum brought me a feral stallion, and I culdnt ride him, so I sold it"
"Oh. You know, I think I know a horse, when I'm able to ride again that you might like to try. You staying for the holidays?"
"Only the first week"
"Cool, I will show you him in the holidays"
By the time Meredith had her shower it was way past time that they were supposed to be in bed. She headed back to the dorms, and met a worried Derek standing at the door.
"Where have you been" he said, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"I was just in the shower"
"I thought you could have been anywhere. You could have fallen somewhere, anything. Don't do that to me again"
Meredith rolled here eyes "You know what. Would you be this worried if I was another student?"
Derek just laughed, and pulled her into the dorms. Meredith went to walk down the hall to her room, when Derek pulled her into his, pushing her gently against the wall, leaning in, and kissing her. When he pulled away, Meredith looked at him breathless.
"What was that for?"
"Just letting you know that you are the one student I care about most in this dorm block"
Meredith smiled, and walked out the door, pulling him with her. She checked no one was looking and pulled him into her dorm room. They both got into the bed, and Derek wrapped his arms around her tightly, kissing her neck. Slowly they fell asleep.
Meredith woke up the next morning it Derek's arms. She smiled up at his sleeping face, and he opened his eyes.
"Is it morning already" he groaned, rubbing his eyes.
"Uh huh"
He rolled over, and rolled off the bed.
"Guess what?" Meredith said, with a sad look on. "This is the last night you'll be able to sleep here. Christina is coming back today.