Here I Am

A Modern Day House/Cuddy Schoolfic.

Characters include House, Cuddy, Wilson, Chase, Kevin, Ellis, Brittney and Katheryn.

Enjoy! And special thanks to Reena for helping me out on American Schooling details, because, being British is a bit of a hold back for me.

When you need some shelter from the rain
When you need a healer for your pain
I will be there time and time again
When you need someone to love you
Here I am

~Leona Lewis...Here I Am

Nervous sweat pouring out of every inch of her skin, her heart rate through the roof and her mind in overdrive. Her senses seemed heightened; every little thing made her jump, even the sound of raindrops on the car window seemed to break her hypnotic gaze.

I shouldn't feel this nervous! She told herself over and over again, but it didn't seem to sink in. It's only a different school.

But then her own mind began to turn against her. This is your senior year Lisa. The last year before college. The most important one. Everyone's gone and made friends, they're set in their groups and in their ways. Think they're gonna let you in...

Thumping her hand down onto the steering wheel, she attempted to control herself. After a few deep breaths, she got out of the car, straightened her brown trench coat, picked up her bag, and locked the car. She was Lisa Cuddy, and this was her first day of school at Princeton High School.

Taking small paces, she arrived at reception. It seemed eerily quiet, and no matter how hard she tried, the receptionist did not look up from her computer. She gave a small cough, not wanting to be late. The receptionist lifted her head, and gave a small smile.

'You're new here,' she said softly.

'Yes, how did you know that?' she asked in intrigue.

'1, I know pretty much every student in the school, and 2, you look like a rabbit caught in the headlights,' was the reply. 'So do you have a name?'

'Umm, yeah, Lisa Cuddy,' she said, extending her hand politely.

'I'm Mrs Hopewell,' she said, shaking Lisa's hand. 'You seem like a very polite and well mannered student Lisa, I think you'll fit in well here.'

'Thank you Mrs Hopewell,' she replied with a smile. 'I filled in a form about subject options for this year, so I just need my schedule, and some sort of map if you have it.'

'Ahh, yes,' she replied, looking into the filing cabinet. 'Lisa Cuddy, Lisa....Cuddy.'

After being given the schedule, Lisa smiled.

'I got all the subjects that I wanted,' she said, beaming a bright smile and folding the paper over and over to keep her hands busy.

'That's great,' said Mrs Hopewell. 'Here's a map, and you have homeroom in 20 minutes.'

'Thank you,' she said smiling once again. Looking at her timetable, she noticed that she had Mr Spence for homeroom and his classroom was quite a distance away from reception.

Slightly panicking, she took out her map and began to navigate her way down the halls of PHS. After taking several wrong turns and finding dead ends, she made it to the classroom.

As she crossed the threshold of the classroom, the bell rang. 3 seconds after Lisa had made her entrance, in came a girl with pale skin and black curly hair, holding the hand of a dark haired guy that stood a head above her.

'Miss Spicer, Mr Matthews, late again,' said Mr Spence disapprovingly.

'Oh My God!' exclaimed the girl. 'We come in three seconds after the bell and we're late?'

Mr Spence simply nodded his head and gave a smirk.

'Asshole,' the guy muttered under his breath, going to his seat.

This was Kevin and Ellis, one of the couples of the grade that were practically inseparable. No one could imagine them apart.

Noticing Lisa was sitting on her own, Mr Spence announced, 'This is Lisa Cuddy, the new girl in the grade. She's joining us from New York. Ellis, I'd like you to look out for her and show her around.

'Fine,' she replied exasperatedly, taking the seat next to Lisa.

'So, you're the new girl, Lisa Cuddy?' Ellis asked. 'I'm Ellis Spicer, and as Mr Ass over there said, I'll be showing you around.'

'Nice to meet you,' said Lisa with a smile. 'So why does Mr Spence seem to hate you so much?'

'Long story,' said Ellis, looking back at Kevin.

'I got time,' said Lisa cheerfully.

'Okay, promise me you won't tell anyone? Only my closest friends and Kevin know,' was the reply, her voice lowering to barely a whisper.

Lisa nodded.

'I'm not gonna go into the graphic details, but basically, last year, Kevin and I broke up for a little while, and I was upset. Tony, Mr Spence, was my favourite teacher, and he found me crying after the break up. He was being friendly, I took it as a come on, and we did it. He wanted a relationship afterwards, but I was back with Kevin, and he's hated me ever since. Which is a shame, because he used to be really sweet.'

'Wow,' said Lisa. 'He doesn't strike me as a guy who has the potential to be nice.'

'Nope,' replied Ellis. 'He's bitter and cynical, always moaning about something. So, to change the subject, I should probably introduce you to the crew. This is...'

'Hem hem,' said Mr Spence. 'Sorry to interrupt your conversation Miss Spicer and Miss Cuddy, but I should take the register.'

'Sorry sir,' said Cuddy politely.

'Brittney Bohnert.'

'Here,' said Brittney glumly, Monday morning's always came too soon.

'Abbey Bristow.'

'Here,' she said with a giggle.

'Allison Cameron.'

'Here!' she said enthusiastically, making everyone laugh.

'Robert Chase.'

'Here,' said Chase in his Aussie accent, making Brittney smile.

'Lisa Cuddy.'

'Here,' said Cuddy politely.

'Eric Foreman.'

'Yo,' said Foreman lazily.

'Remy Hadley.'

'Here,' she said, wondering in the back of her mind what Lisa would be like in bed and damning her bisexual-ness.

'Lee Harper, is not here, answer my own question...Gregory House.'

'I may be here in a physical sense, but your boring British accent has driven me into a coma. Or vegetative state, take your pick,' replied House snarkily.

'Mr House, we've had this discussion. Stay back after class....Right, where was I? Wyatt Leary.'

'Here,' he replied in a zoned out way, gazing out of the window and wondering if it was the shrooms which were making him see a giant yellow frog hopping in the playground.

'Kevin Matthews.'

'Here,' he said as even toned as he could, even though he was thinking about ripping off the guy's head for laying a hand on his girlfriend.

'Ellis Spicer, we all know is here from her entrance.'

'Yes sir, I'm here,' she replied condescendingly, giving him a scowl.

'Chris Taub.'

'Is out cheating on Rachel,' said House, finishing his sentence, and making Rachel burst into tears.

'You ass!' she exclaimed. 'Chris is at home sick, and he cheated on me once.'

'Once a cheater, always a cheater,' said Chase with a wink.

'You can shut up Chase,' she replied back sharply. 'Stop trying to act like House.'

'Okay, lay off. That time of the month is it? Expecting to turn into a werewolf tonight?' said House, finishing off what Chase had started.

'Anyway, now the petty teenage domestics are over, may I carry on with the register?'

'Yes,' chorused the class dully.

'Katheryn Tretler-Wirth.'

'Here,' she replied, gazing at Wilson, making House gag.

'James Wilson.'

'Here,' he said half heartedly, gazing back at Katheryn.

'And Rachel Woodall is here, as we all know,' finished Mr Spence. 'Right, I'm gonna sit here and think about how much I hate teaching, you can do whatever until the bell goes.'

He sat down at his desk and stared at the ground.

Ellis, standing up, led Lisa to the very back of the classroom, where she found Katheryn, Brittney, Greg, Kevin, James and Chase.

'Guys, you've heard from the asshole's intro that this is Lisa Cuddy. Lisa, this is Kevin, my boyfriend, Greg, better known as House, 3rd rate jerk but great fun, Katheryn, little Miss Drama Queen and her boyfriend James, better known as Wilson, Mr Drama King. Over there is Brittney, she's a cheerleader, but she's not fake like the others, and Robert Chase, who prefers to be called Chase, who aspires to be like House.'

'What a nice introduction,' said House. 'But Ellis, didn't we talk about this before? You don't introduce me like that to hot girls!'

'Oops, guess I forgot.'

'Greg House,' said House to Cuddy, shaking her hand. 'Remember my name, in a short period of time you'll be screaming it in ecstasy.'

'Oh really?' said Cuddy coolly. 'You make it sound so un-corny and original, even though it's an amazingly cheesy, unoriginal pick up line.'

House gave up and sat down.

'Lise, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you're more than a match for Greggy Boy. That usually works on all of the girls except us. Welcome to the club,' said Katheryn with a grin.

'I think I'm gonna like it here,' said Lisa.