A/N: Okay, I'm an uber long time lurker. And I mean long time. But this just so happens to be my first work of fiction! Be kind, I have review-phobia. Oh and is it okay to appeal for a Beta? Anybody with a bitta' spare time and a lot of patience (I'm a very slow writer).
Yeah it's an AU, and I'm not going to big it up or beg you to read it. It's not an amazing work of literature, just a way of me getting my Grey's fantasies down on paper.
No age differences in this, they're all Seniors. I may have them all a tad OOC and the humour's probably non-existent. Like I said, I'm no Dickens.
So sit back, and maybe enjoy!
Disclaimer: If I owned Grey's, there would be a lot less Gizzie and a lot more screen time for Markie-dear.
Chapter One: For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic
'And this is why if, by some anti-miracle, I don't make it as a doctor, my back-up plan is architect. Then I will show those morons what it is to build a real castle.'
Meredith Grey banged her head against the carriage window, watching the droplets of rain trickle down the glass and collect before being blown away by the wind.
'Cristina will you drop it? The place was old. Very old. So old I can't even begin to imagine what they used to do to people in that tower room. You know, the one with the bars?' Meredith sighed, she was rambling again, 'Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here is that the fact it was old meant that it was going to have to become inhospitable at some point. It was all a matter of time. It wasn't due to crappy architecture.'
'That's not the point! Why did they let it get that bad in the first place?'
Meredith rolled her eyes, 'That's not their fault, they're not responsible for the upkeep.' She tipped her head back against the cushioned seat and stared at the flickering light above her.
'Mere, why do you care so much anyway? Do you have a thing for architects or something?' Izzie Stevens leaned forward in her seat, cocking her head to one side and raising an eyebrow expectantly.
'Huh?' Meredith looked across at her friend, brows furrowed.
'You keep defending them.'
'I don't defend anybody but myself.'
'Defend defend defend.' Izzie said in a sing-song tone.
'Nuh-huh.'
'Why don't you seem more pissed about this whole situation?' Cristina cut across.
'Because I think it'll be kind of awesome?' Izzie replied.
'What, with all the expensive ball gowns for the snobby dances?' Cristina sniped.
Addison Montgomery finally pulled her nose out of her book and let out an aggravated sigh. 'Will you guys shut up already? Nobody cares! Mere's probably only not more mad about this 'cause it means she might finally get a decent lay. I agree, Cristina, it's fucked up, I'd rather focus on my education than have to deal with the.. distractions this entails. But I'm dealing. So you deal. You all just... deal!'
'...A decent lay? Gee, thanks Addie.'
'Meredith, you've kinda been asking for it these past few years I've known you.'
'Hm.'
And so Meredith went back to watching the water collect on the window. Except the rain was easing off a bit now, and she could just make out the landscape surrounding the train tracks. It was identical to what she was used to. Green. Very... green.
She drifted off into a dream world revolving around tequila, college parties in Manhattan and the feeling of male hands ghosting across her skin.
Maybe Addison was right, maybe she did want a decent lay. But what was wrong with that? She'd been deprived of all male attention these past two years, save a few of her teachers. And she was not about to even think about a sex life with any of them.
Meredith Grey had vowed a long time ago to hate her mother eternally. Ellis Grey did nothing but put her daughter down until eventually she'd got so fed up with having to bring deal with a teenager, she'd packed Meredith's bags and off to boarding school she went.
However, Meredith was beginning to hate her mother a little less these days. Her hate campaign had reached a pinnacle at first, and had stayed that way for three consecutive years, never dying. But now it was beginning to dim.
Hey, maybe the gods liked her after all. The stupid posh girls school with the uniform she so disdainfully wore had been declared unsafe. And now she was being sent God knows where.
To a boys school. With... guys. Guys her own age. Maybe even hot guys. Hot, sexy guys who knew a good time. Maybe she could finally live a little. She wondered if they kept tequila locked away somewhere.
She was pulled out of her reverie by the sombre, tired tone of Miss Woodshot's voice warning them to get their things ready, it was nearly time to disembark.
After trudging at least half a mile across muddy fields, suitcase in hand, Meredith's clothes were sodden and her feet were numb. She hoped her mother was happy now.
She blanked out for most of the tour, back into her dream world. She only began to pay attention when they were shown to their dorms. There were two dormitories for the Seniors, one much smaller than the other (it had been converted from a classroom). Seeing as not many had decided to stay, there wasn't any need for masses of space. Albeit, Meredith hadn't exactly 'decided' to stay. This was, again, her mother's fault.
Meredith was in the larger dorm, along with Cristina, Izzie and two other girls she'd never really spoken to.
Addison was in the smaller.
As soon as she stepped foot in the dorm, she knew; she was home. Meredith had never known homely, or cosy, or friendly. She was accustomed to cold and wooden, and once her mother had sent her to boarding school, cold and stone. This was... cushioned, and all reds and browns and tapestries and hot water bottles.
Izzie immediately set about plumping pillows and checking for dust. Cristina belly flopped onto her bed and Meredith perched on the windowsill, surveying the grounds. Their two new roomies began unpacking their things.
Meredith's first thoughts were that the place was large. Very large. The playing fields were vast and she prayed to God that she wouldn't have to do anything remotely athletic. She was a woman!
One of the two nameless girls, the taller, blonde one, let out a small, introductory cough. 'Hey,' she smirked, 'I'm Erica Hahn.' She nudged the smaller, dark girl in the ribs.
'Oh! Um... I'm Callie. Callie Torres.' She grimaced awkwardly.
Izzie stuck out her perfectly manicured hand, 'Hey, I'm Izzie Stevens. Well, I'm technically Isobel Stevens-'
'But you'll never call her that unless you want Barbie sized hand prints engraved on your cheek.' Cristina interrupted, not bothering to introduce herself.
'I'll bear that in mind then.' Erica ran one hand through her hair. She peered round at Meredith, still sat on the window ledge.
'Oh. That's Meredith, you can't tell me you haven't heard of her. She's the one who tried practically everything to bail herself out in Freshman year.' Izzie explained, matter-of-factly.
'Oh I've heard alright.' Erica confirmed, pursing her lips and rocking back and forth on her heels.
Meredith was used to this, people talking about her. Behind her back or when she was in the same room. She knew Izzie meant no harm, and she wasn't concerned about the fact that Erica had heard about her. People talked. Hell, she talked. When it wasn't about her of course.
She didn't bother unpacking. After half an hour spent staring out the window, Meredith made her weary way down the long staircase, to join her new 'peers', or whatever she was supposed to call them, at dinner.
The dining hall, just like the rest of the school, was very grand. Decked out in red rugs and long wooden tables, it managed to pull off the whole 'homely' thing just as well as the dorms, which was weird.
Meredith was one of the last to enter. She half expected a huddle of lecherous teenagers peering over each others' heads to get a better look at the new eye candy.
But no, of course not. As she rounded the corner into the hall she realised this was the boys equivalent to where she'd just come from - a renowned single sex boarding school for the intelligent (or, in Meredith's case, the rich). Instead sat rows of well dressed males quietly sipping drinks or nibbling at their appetisers. Seriously, appetisers?
Meredith cocked an eyebrow and sighed. Her shoulders deflated as she could set no one guy apart from the rest. All were plain. Plain and boring.
She collected a tray and received her avocado and prawns from the front of the hall, and sloped off down the aisle in the center to join Izzie and the others.
She was surprised to see they had company, beside Izzie sat a reasonably good looking guy with a buzz cut, talking animatedly to her, waving his hands around and smiling crookedly.
Across from Cristina sat a shorter, stumpier guy who did a double take as Meredith passed to sit down next to her friends. Meredith appreciated this, it was the first 'look' she's gotten so far. Sadly, the guy wasn't exactly Meredith's idea of a good lay.
She sat through most of the meal in silence, joining occasionally in conversation with the shorter guy whose name, she'd gathered, was George. Buzz cut guy was Alex, and he was shaping up to be an ass in Meredith's books, due to the sarcastic and, surprisingly lecherous, comments he kept throwing into the group.
This is good news, thought Meredith, not all of them are total stiffs.
Just as they were picking up their spoons for desert (although Meredith was not hungry in the slightest - she'd hardly touched her steak), there came the sound of a shrill bell pealing from the front table.
The resident principal began his 'Welcome To Our School' speech, and Miss Woodshot gave a gracious thank you. Meredith blanked all this and played with her food.
The faint sound of running footsteps interrupted Meredith's thoughts. Nobody else had noticed as they all seemed to be completely enthralled by the teachers droning on and on about vandalism and showers and fraternizing and various other rules.
But Meredith noticed, and as the sound grew louder she also picked up the sound of laughter. Male laughter. Two guys. Meredith was an expert on guys and she deduced that by the sound of the footfall and the sheer animosity of their laughter that these guys certainly did not belong to the vast majority of the school - the 'appetisers' division, as Meredith was now referring to them.
And as the principal was interrupted by two out of breath boys holding a hat filled with little bits of paper entering the hall, Meredith realised she was correct, they most certainly did not belong to the vast majority.
These guys were something else.
'Sorry we're late Mr. Okes, took us forever to cut them up.' The speaker was tall, with dirty blond hair. Very muscular, very masculine, very sexy. Meredith might have considered sleeping with him if it weren't for the second speaker.
'Mr. Sloan, Mr. Shepherd. So glad you could make it.' The principal raised a quizzical eyebrow.
'Where should we put them Mr. Okefield?'
At the sound of that voice Meredith's heart stopped. She hated herself for that. Meredith Grey's heart didn't stop. Her heart wasn't the stopping kind. It pumped blood around her body, it did its job. It did not stop, or flutter, or doing any of the other forbidden things it was doing right now.
But she decided to punish it for that later. Because right now she was just basking in the pure heart stopping.. something.. that was filling her from head to toe.
'Oh just lay them on the side table over there, Mr. Shepherd. In fact... Mr. Shepherd could you get it over and done with?'
'Mr. Shepherd' glanced over towards the back of the room, where Meredith was sitting, and surveyed the girls with interest. He was obviously one of the few looking forward to sharing the school.
He. Was. Perfect. Absolutely.. perfect. His eyes, his striking, piercing blue eyes bore right through her brain and liquefied it. They actually turned her brain slushy and mushy, and she could swear if you drank it through a straw it would taste sweet. That was what this guy was doing to her.
She just couldn't stop staring. She didn't think she could talk if she tried. His hair and his smile and his voice and his laugh were all just too captivating. She couldn't help but wonder what he kept hidden underneath those expensive looking clothes.
And then he spoke again and she found herself hanging on to his every word. His voice was soft and entrancing and she wanted to breathe it in. Gulp it down and absorb the essence of it. She was sure it would feel warm and smooth, like honey.
She was going crazy. She was actually describing the taste of his voice in her head.
She really did need a good lay.
'Okay. I'm sure Mr Okefield had already welcomed you so I'll just get on and do this.' He gestured towards the girls.
There was a general murmur of discussion, curious as to what he meant, and as the room quietened down 'Mr. Sloan' turned to face the school, jiggling the hat around in his large hands and gave a fleeting look around the hall, as if searching absently for somebody.
'I'm Mark, he's not important, and we're your head boys.' The dirty blond guy addressed the Seniors. 'We've taken in all your head girl applications and placed them in this hat. Now I'm gonna' make this short and snappy.' He reached inside the black top hat and immediately pulled out a long, thin strip of paper.
'Congratulations,' Meredith's slushy mushy guy snatched the slip from Mark's grasp, 'Miss Meredith Grey.' He scrunched the paper in his hand and looked down the hall, waiting for somebody to walk to the front and deliver a speech or something.
Well, that's what Meredith had assumed. But nobody walked. The girls all turned to face her, and the boys followed suit once they'd figured out where they were meant to be looking.
The thing was, Meredith was in a state of shock. This could not be happening. For starters, she hadn't even handed in an application in the first place. Then there was the fact that she didn't even want to be head girl, or an authority figure of any sort. And finally, this meant she'd have to work with-
Wait? How was this a bad thing? She'd have to work with Mr. Gorgeous and that Mark guy. This was good. Good, right? Couldn't be bad.
'Meredith Grey? No Meredith Grey? Fine, we'll pick again-' Mark rolled his eyes and placed his hand back into the hat.
'No! Wait!' Meredith stood clumsily, nearly tripping over her feet as she made her way towards the front. 'That's me, Meredith Grey. I mean.. I'm Meredith Grey. Grey, Meredith. That's me, new head girl. Hi.'
Damn. Way to make a first impression.