New story time! I got inspired to write this awhile ago, but never had time to sit down and actually write it. For some weird reason a lot of the teachers at my high school are couples and married. Some met at the school, some met before hand but there are a lot of married couples at my school. That idea kinda inspired me to write this story. As you guys know if you've read my previous fan fiction I am a loyal Mer/Der fan and that will never change. Also, I think all of us who love them together are getting cheated out of some major cuteness this season with our favorite couple. Here's the first chapter though, let me know what you think!
SUMMARY: AU. Meredith is an Anatomy teacher at Seattle Grace High School. She's been damaged in the past by her father and mother and has trust issues which has prevented her from being open and willing to commit to a relationship. When Derek Shepherd gets hired at the high school as a Biology teacher will they have chemistry and will Meredith be able to let her walls down and enter her first serious relationship? Or will she continue to keep her guard up?
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Meredith Grey woke up by the music blaring from her alarm clock. It was five thirty in the morning and it was time for her to get back into her daily routine and get ready for work. There were perks to being a teacher. A big one that she loved the most was that she got the summer off. Her summer vacation had been great as she spent time with her friends and spent some time out by the pool getting a nice honey tan.
It was September now though and that meant the end to summer. Fall was shortly approaching and today was the first day of school. Her students would be chattering away about the parties over the summer and excited to see their friends, but she knew they wouldn't enjoy being back in Seattle Grace High School. She taught Anatomy, which was a class filled with just juniors and seniors.
The juniors would be doe eyed and nervous to be in a room with the seniors, and the seniors would begin their countdown for their last and final year to be over. She was going to love teaching them, but she sure would miss the days of sleeping in.
When she was younger she never dreamed of being a teacher, let alone a high school teacher. High school didn't provide any warm memories for her. She was the punk-like kid that dyed her hair pink and wore mostly black. She didn't spend time socializing much, but to many people's surprise she dedicated time to her school work and finished within the top of her class. She partied and got drunk on weekends and constantly let her mother down it seemed.
She never grew up in the happy household. The one where a child had a mom and dad who loved her unconditionally, cheered her on at school events she was participating in, or even cared to watch her graduate. She never had that. Her father left when she had just started kindergarten, and her mother shut her out of her life. She practically raised herself along with countless babysitters while her mom had an affair and tried to commit suicide. Meredith tried her best though. She worked hard in school and brought home straight A's on her report card, hoping to receive an ounce of pride and love from her mother, but she never got it. Her mother constantly told her she could do better, and always made Meredith feel like a disappointment.
Meredith finally gave up caring what her mother thought when she graduated high school and noticed her mother wasn't even there. She called her mom to see where she was that day and her mother gave her a brisk conversation saying she was busy in surgery and that she wouldn't make it home that night. That was the way Ellis Grey worked. She put her surgical career up higher than her own daughter, and when Meredith informed her that she wouldn't be attending college with dreams of becoming a surgeon, her mother threw a fit. Her mother practically disowned her and they went years without speaking. Meredith went off to college and studied hard, allowed herself to party, but like in high school she kept good grades and got her degree in teaching. She hadn't talked to her mother until two years ago when her mother contacted her to inform her that her mother had Alzheimer's.
Ellis Grey was placed into a nursing home and Meredith tried to visit her as much as possible, trying her best to release her issues with her mother to be a good daughter and visit. Meredith tried to push her thoughts about her mother away as much as possible. It was hard living without a family, but Meredith got past that.
It also helped that she found her sister, or half sister, Lexie Grey since teaching at Seattle Grace. Meredith worked towards her Masters Degree in teaching and got a job at the high school, and then shortly Lexie also received a job at the same school teaching Chemistry. At first Meredith was standoffish towards welcoming a relationship with Lexie, but after awhile she realized she could have a sisterly relationship with Lexie and not have anything to do with Thatcher.
She hadn't spoken to her father since he tried contacting her in college, but Meredith refused to allow him close to her, or her heart. She had grown up fine without a father, and she would continue to do just fine without him.
Meredith made her way out of the shower and wrapped herself in her robe before making her way to the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee. It helped her get her energy up so she could get through the hours of chatty children. Although the kids were always talkative and some were bratty she loved her job and loved seeing students understand something after her teaching. She also looked forward to seeing all her fellow teacher friends.
Izzie Stevens was the Child Development teacher at the high school who spent her time during the day educating young students on sex education and the stages of development in children from fetus to around five years old. She loved teaching the students on the subject and Meredith knew that because of her soft side and desire to have a big family when she got older that Izzie did a great job teaching her students in the subject of Child Development, it also helped that Izzie had that bubbly, sweet personality to go with it.
Alex Karev was uniquely a ceramic art teacher, and also the wrestling coach at the school. Many didn't put those two together since he acted like a tough guy, but he also used his strength towards modeling clay and teaching wheel-throwing in his class as well. Many girls swooned for him, especially now that he was single. But, Meredith knew that something was shortly going to form between Alex and Izzie considering all the flirting that took place between the two over the summer.
Lexie was the Chemistry teacher at the school and when she met Meredith she explained to Meredith that the reason she chose to teach Chemistry was because of her photographic memory and fascination for the subject since she was in high school. She memorized the periodic table when she was in Middle School with help of her photographic memory, and that helped fuel her interest in the subject.
Mark Sloan was one Meredith tried her best to spend very little time with. On her first day of teaching he tried to hit on her and pick her up, but she quickly turned him down. However, that didn't stop him from trying and he still hasn't stopped. He taught PE at the school for guys' and Meredith was just glad he didn't teacher girls PE as well, because then there would some definite sexual harassment cases on the school. He was also the football and baseball coach for the school. Meredith was immune to his charm; however, she knew Lexie wasn't. Lexie was like a little school girl swooning over the top football star when it came to Mark, and Meredith found it disgusting. She tried her hardest to advise her little sister to stay away from him, but she still tried to flirt with him.
Meredith sighed as she finished getting ready and desperately wished that Mark Sloan would not hit on her today and hopefully leave her sister alone as well. She checked her appearance in the mirror a last time, taking in her professional look of a knee length black skirt along with a lilac, elegant sleeve-less shirt. Her golden honey hair was curled loosely and fell past her shoulders and her light make-up made her facial features pop. She was ready for the first day of school.
She grabbed her lunch she made herself from the fridge and another mug of coffee before exiting her house and making her way to her car. She only lived about fifteen minutes away from the school and once she pulled into the parking spot that she always parked in, she made her way into the school and went straight to the office.
"Good morning, Miss Grey. Welcome back." Lisa Pickard welcomed. She was an office lady who helped run the school and her spiky reddish hair was styled like always. She was one of the friendlier ladies of the office.
"Good morning, Lisa." Meredith greeted before signing in and checking her mailbox for any papers placed there.
She left the office and made the long journey to her room. Her room was at the end of building in the newer part added on long before she was hired there. Most of the science classes were in her area with the Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Anatomy classrooms all in the same area. Now that she thought of it, there was supposed to be a new Biology teacher this year that she was yet to meet. The former Biology teacher, Jeff Harley, retired last year and now there was a new one. She didn't know anything about this new guy and since he hadn't been at the teacher meeting a week prior she hadn't met him yet either.
She passed Mr. Harley's old room and noticed on the door how his name tag was gone and in its place read Mr. Shepherd. She continued on to her room and saw her own name still on the door and unlocked it before opening it. She had been in her room a week ago setting everything up and getting ready for the students. Everything was organized and in place and she made her way to her desk in the front of the room in front of the white board. She set her mug down and went to the back of the room where another door was; she unlocked it and entered the little room. This was supposed to be the storage room where she kept the supplies along with Mr. Harley that they would be using throughout the year, but there were very little supplies they needed and what they did they kept in their own rooms. Instead, Meredith turned it into a little private area for her to take her breaks in. Mr. Harley never cared about using the room and allowed Meredith to have it all to herself. She hoped the new guy wouldn't find out about it, because this was the place she used to relax.
There was a small couch up against the far wall with an end table placed in front of it. She kept some books in there for her planning period when she just wanted to escape away from her life. The room was sound proof so she could hear very little and it created a nice spot for her to go to when she needed it.
She returned back to her main room and locked the storage room behind her. She left her classroom and made her way to the teacher lounge. This was the room where only her friends seemed to use. There were other lounges in the school and the other teachers all used those. Meredith didn't want to say that her group of friends were somewhat of a clique, but in a strange way they sort of were. No other teachers were in the group. And their group consisted of the younger teachers. Lexie, Alex, Izzie and herself were all relatively newer to the school. Meredith was in her third year of teaching, Alex was in his fourth, same as Izzie and Lexie was just starting out in her second. Mark was unfortunately another teacher who used that lounge, but Meredith tried to not count him in their group considering she didn't care for him.
Entering the lounge she noticed everyone else was there already. Alex was sitting at a table enjoying some donuts Izzie had probably made, and Izzie was sitting close to him already starting to flirt to him. Lexie was at the coffee pot pouring herself a mug of coffee and Meredith came up to her to fill up her mug as well.
"Hey, the two are already flirting? It's only seven in the morning." Meredith asked her, giggling.
"Yeah, it's becoming uncomfortable." Lexie told her.
"Hey guys, remember you have to leave this room sometime today and begin to teach students." Meredith told them as she turned around and looked at them.
"Oh, hey Mer. I didn't see you come in." Izzie said. "Donut? I made them last night."
"Thanks Iz." Meredith said before taking a donut from the box.
"So, have you guys heard anything about this new biology teacher?" Alex asked.
"Not really." Meredith answered.
"I haven't." Izzie added.
"I heard from Mark that he's one of his friends, coming in from Mercy West High School." Lexie said, not making eye contact with anyone.
"Oh, so you've been talking to Mark again?" Meredith asked.
"Yeah, we talked last week at the meeting." Lexie added.
"Well, he's Mark's friend that can't be good. That just means we'll have another asshole working here." Meredith said. "And his room will be next to me this time. Great."
"Why'd he come here from Mercy? Did he finally realize he was working at the crappiest high school?" Alex asked.
"Alex, there's no reason you should hate that school." Izzie told him.
"We're rivals in wrestling, that's the best reason to hate them." He said with a chuckle. "Anyway, we should give this guy a shot; we need more testosterone in this group. I'm tired of listening to you girls gossip and talk about getting your nails done."
At that moment Mark Sloan walked in the room, causing Lexie to smile brightly, with a tall, dark haired man behind him. "Good morning guys. We're back in this hell hole where we have to listen to annoying kids all day." Mark greeted.
"You picked to work in a high school; you also picked one of the least challenging subjects to teach." Meredith retorted.
"Harsh Big Grey, I like that sassiness this early in the morning." Mark said with a smirk.
"I'm still immune to you, Mark. And don't call me Big Grey." Meredith said.
"Oh come on, you know you wanna…"
"Who's your friend, Mark?" Izzie asked, interrupting the fight she knew was about to break out.
"Oh, sorry. You guys' this is the new Biology teacher, Derek Shepherd." Mark said, allowing everyone to place the name with the person.
"Welcome to Seattle Grace, I'm Izzie." Izzie said with a smile. He was cute, just not as cute as Alex to her.
"Hey man, welcome. I'm Alex." Alex said.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lexie." Lexie said with a smile, before looking back to Mark.
Meredith was the only one to not say anything. He was attractive. That much was obvious. His dark hair was styled perfectly, and he wore a navy blue polo that brought out his eyes and paired it with khaki pants. His blue eyes sparkled as he looked at her, and he had a small smile on his lips.
"Hi, I'm the Anatomy teacher here. Our rooms are next to each other. You have some big shoes to fill. Also, when Harley was here we used a lot of the same materials at different times to teach some similar chapters. I don't know what your teaching plans are later in the year, but if you need to borrow some stuff just ask. See ya around." She said before turning back to her friends.
"I'll see you guys at lunch, have a good first day." Meredith said with a smile before leaving the lounge and making her way to her classroom again.
This was bad. She didn't want to like Derek Shepherd. He was Mark Sloan's best friend, which meant he was an enemy. But he seemed nice, and he didn't hit on her. He actually didn't say anything now that she thought about it.
But he was hot. She wouldn't deny that. He was incredibly attractive. His hair was perfect and his blue eyes were so captivating, and he looked toned. He couldn't be older than twenty-eight either which meant he was only two years older than her. Damn, she couldn't think about this. She couldn't and wouldn't start anything with a co-worker. And even though he didn't seem like an ass yet, didn't mean he wasn't. He could easily turn into one once he opened his mouth.
She turned to her board and wrote the date along with Welcome Back Students! on the board before turning back to her desk and watching as students filled her room.
He was just new, that was the only reason why she had somewhat of an interest in him. Nothing was going to happen with him. Ever.
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First chapter, what did you think? Hopefully you guys caught why I paired certain characters with the subject they teach. Comment please. Also, I have two more chapters already written, but I'm not sure how often I will update. I want to bank some chapters so I can update frequently, but I don't know how that will work. Thanks for reading!