Just for audience reference, I will be talking about certain mental illness in certain chapters. I don't claim to be an expert and I've tried my best to stay true to the characters that were in the show. I've also changed some backstory with the characters as I think that it would add to the dynamic of this universe I've conjured up in my mind.

Aside from that little sidenote, I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry in advance for it being really bad. Not my best chapter but it gets better I think. hehe enjoy :) and it's my first long fanfic so yeah, I apologise in advance teehee also everything belongs to Shonda Rhimes and CO, I don't own anything.

[Mentions of substance abuse]

[]

Chapter 1: Leaving it all behind

Meredith looked out to the peaceful rain that splattered on the street as she walked towards her new school. The bus she rode to get here drove off, leaving her to get a whiff of the fumes. Her duffle was in her arms and her backpack was slinged behind as she walked towards the brooding campus, she would be essentially be eating, sleeping and studying there. She highly doubted her Mother would come visit, she would rather be in Boston weeping over whatever happened here in Seattle many years ago. She didn't even look at the application when she was sending Meredith to boarding school, only signing it and giving her giving her to the school that she was studying in for 3 years.

She came home to her Mother shuffling through boarding school applications before choosing the one calling "Seattle Grace". Named after the infamous Grace Sisters who founded this boarding school and the hospital both named the same names.

In the end she chose to come back home: Seattle before she was dragged to Boston. It was nice being back, the weather hadn't changed nor did the atmosphere. It was...nice to be back to something so familiar to her.

She turned the corner and saw the glass paneled building, it was spectacular. She would always see it when she walked home from primary school, all the older student with there books pressed up agansit there chest walking inside to attend classes.

There were a line of grey and black cars littered around the carpark, with the occasional coloured car among the crowd. Students were crowding in with parents, parents. She only had a parent and even she didn't bother to come. She expected tears to well up in her eyes, fight to spill but none came. It was normal for her at this point, it felt fine.

Taking a deep sigh she walked into the building, clutching her duffle bag closer to her as she made her way into the building.

Into her new life as a senior.

New life.

It was relatively easy to find the dorm section to the building with the various engraved signs, she checked her phone to see that she would be in room 420. She made her ways up the stairs considering that the elevators were jam packed with parents and help personals ushering every student along. And besides the elevators were only meant for teachers and visitors, never for students.

She made her way to her room, other classmates, assumably classmates, made there way into the dormitory as well. The walls were painted white, it was clean and it didn't smell of musty air like her home used too. There were wooden accents around the two single beds that were in the middle of the room. There was a corkboard near it and a black side table. There were two desks pressed against the wall that she had to walk past to get to the farther bed, the sheets were white, to be expected, and a window ledge that extended slightly outwards leaving enough space for a beanbag and a chair. It was surprisingly big, to Meredith's surprise, she was waitlisted to enter and only got news of her acceptance a month before term started.

Walking towards the bed nearest to the window, she plopped herself down on the bed. Letting herself relax on the soft mattress. She brought her own bedsheets and pillow cases, but it was in the luggage that she sent the other day. Filled with her uniform and stuff. The desk in front of her bed was bland, lack of anything on top of it except a black lamp and a pencil holder plus the black chair that sat there. The other desk, on the other hand, was piled high with IGCSE, iB diploma books and AP textbooks.

She was astounded by the amount of textbooks stacked up on top, the legs of the table looked like they were about to collapse. Just then a young, asian female burst into the room. Her black curls cascading down her face from her messy bun. She was slender faced, small eyed and thin eyebrows. Her physique was thin, and she looked slightly fit while also having a double piercing on her right ear while she had one on her right. She had a thin gold chain necklace with a rose-gold coloured rose flower pendant attached to it. The rose itself was facing downward and was gently tucked away underneath her shirt. It was gorgeous, she was gorgeous. Looking flustered, she didn't seem to notice that Meredith was in the room since she quickly dumped her bag on the floor and ran out.

"Hello to you too…" Meredith muttered.

A few minutes later she came back, carrying a navy blue duffle into the room. "Oh, hello there." She said. "Roomate?"

"Yeah, I believe so"

"Cristina Yang, I came from California."

"Meredith Grey, Boston."

"Which bed do you want?"

"I don't mind but I already placed mine closer to window but if you prefer it i'll give it to you."

"It's fine, i'll just take this bed" She indicated to the empty bed. "So, um, this room's big. There's also a common room down the hall for the Year 11s. There's a greeting ceremony, it's mandatory to go but I might skip it."

"Yes it is big, why'd you skip it?" Meredith asked as she unzipped her bag.

"I'd prefer to read" Gesturing at the pile of books on the desk.

"Are you planning to do all 3?" She asked, genuinely curious at the petite asian.

"Nah, I just like to read them. I'm finishing the IGCSE course this year then doing iB."

"Same, I just finished half the course back at my old school in Boston." Meredith replied.

"That's nice" Cristina supposed, she already knew what she was going to do. If she could, she might do the AP biology course. But at the current moment she was swamped with work. She was required to finish her English coursework on poetry and submit it to the school tomorrow before term started. She was glad that she got to go away, from her family back in California. The need to leave the hell hole that she no longer called home.

It was isolating but it was enough for Cristina, everything changed after, first, her brother dying then her dad. She shoved every underlying feeling of emotion down, refusing to show any sort of emotional attachment or feeling. It killed to feel, it was a living hazard trying to maneuver through the mess of her own life.

In a strange way, she blamed her mother for not allowing her to be healthy about her rotting emotions. They were slowly infecting her, and she had no stream to funnel it out of her body. It didn't help that her mother barely showed any sign of emotion, just going through life and now married to another man.

"Cristina? Are you okay?"

"Yeah?" She said, snapping out of her thoughts. "What?"

"Uh nothing you were just staring at the floor." Meredith replied.

"Shit, oh okay."

"I'm going to head to the mandatory welcoming party." Meredith said. "I might meet some classmates and I don't think I can be cooped up in this room for very long. I'll join you for dinner?"

"Yeah, I guess. Have fun. I might drop by later so the teachers can see i'm there but leave right after."

"Okay, see you then" Before leaving and closing the wooden door behind her.

Cristina breathed a sigh of relief, she refused to show any emotions. Be strong, be strong, be stro- she faltered at the last word. How could she be strong? Not after everything.

"Brian!" She called from the kitchen as she closed the door coming home from school. "Brian?"

There was a note on the kitchen table with three words: Goodbye little sis.

Her heart sank into her stomach, a rising feeling made her want to regurgitate her lunch. She knew of her brothers problems with ADHD and she did her best to help him cope. He was always on top of his grades at school, before falling into an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. "Brian?" She whispered.

Cristina ran upstairs, finding that his room was untouched with only his backpack gone. She rummaged through his closet, trying to find the woven bracelet that she gave him for his birthday. He would only wear it going out, or when he ran away for a few days before returning home. The bracelet was gone, it was gone and so was he.

She tried to convince herself that he was going to come back within a few days, like he always did but he never ever wrote a note. Something was off, something wasn't right.

She waited. She waited for her parents to come home and then waited for her brother to walk through the doors again. Her parents brushed it off, saying he'd come back. But he didn't. She missed him terribly because even though he had ADHD, he still the time to comfort her and listen to her when she needed the company.

After 72 hours of waiting, the worry that consumed her was eating her alive.

After 96 hours of waiting, she left to go look for him. Trying to find him.

After 120 hours of waiting, she finally found him. In an alley not go far from his high school with alcohol and two bottle of pills. The pills that slipped from his grasp, with the pills that couldn't make it into his body laid. The dry white pills that seemed to speak magnitudes to her, defeating every single thought that used to plague her brothers mind. One bottle were his sleeping pills, the other was his ADHD medication.

She tried shaking him, his skin was stone cold, eyes closed. She shook him frantically, continuously. Refusing to believe what she was seeing. The logical part of her brain was telling her that he was gone, for good. "Brain, wake up. Please wake up." She whispered. "BRAIN, WAKE UP" she screamed, louder. Her entire being didn't want this to be true, her nine year old brain couldn't comprehend what was happening. She couldn't-she wouldn't be the witness to her brother demise.

Her cries were uncontrollable, they echoed off the walls. Her wails, her despair, her anger, her sadness all released. She was shaking with heartache, she didn't want him to be gone. Not now. "Brain, don't leave me. You said you wouldn't leave me" She whispered. His body was too heavy for her to cradle, so she wrapped her arms around his body as her tears streamed down her face.

It was devoid of emotion, everything seemed surreal when the police found her. They brought her home, she almost refused to let him go. But she lacked feeling, so they prised her off his body and placed him in a body bag.

She stayed in bed for most days leading up to his funeral, she refused to eat or go to school. Only moving to go to the bathroom. It was the heart clenching reality that she didn't want to face.

She never wanted to face it.

Never. The numbness infected her entire being and here she discovered that loneliness was a killer too. Breaking you into pieces and throwing you away.

For days she cried, tears of pain and sadness. Allowing her emotions to flow freely. At first her mother let her, but transitioned to snapping at her everytime she refused to eat after the funeral. She pretended as if nothing was wrong, and it made her heart heave. Her dad withdrew as well, not speaking unless spoken too.

But even her dad, played with the emotions at heart. Sometimes staying up late to comfort his daughter into the bed.

Until he passed as well.

She wiped away the forming tears and pushed the underlying emotions down. Don't feel, don't let your emotions rule your head. Logic and science. For a long time, it had been whatever she thought of was right but now it was whether it was logically correct or whether it was scientifically correct. She didn't trust her emotions, they betrayed her too often. Showing herself to be vulnerable and she hated it. She promised not to allow herself to feel pain, not after her brother and especially not after her dad.

[]

Meredith walked out of the room, she could sworn that Cristina had tears building up in her eyes. She would have pushed and asked why but in this case, she barely knew the girl. And she had no intention of messing with her and her intelligent brain.

She walked past dorm room after dorm room, each with students piling up within them. The outside was corridor was clean, coloured in grey instead of white like inside the dormitory. There was a staircase at the end of the hallway along with the elevators. There were pictures hung of former students. The bathroom was easy to find, and as she walked past them. She could see a blonde girl and a dark-browned haired boy in the same dormitory room. The boy looked flustered and embarrassed as he tried to figure out what to do with the rooms. The administrator looked frustrated and blew him off when he told her that it wasn't a big problem. He soon took a deep breath in and walked into the dorm room.

The common room was down the hall, it was cleanly decorated with banners up with the school logo. Pictures hung on the wall as well, and the red sofas looking comfortable. There was a fireplace in the middle of the room, attached to the wall. There were also beanbags and bookshelves filled with literature. The TV was attached to the wall and there was a wooden coffee table in front of it. On the wall, a window similar to hers was against the wall, onlooking the rest of Seattle in the distance.

"Alex Karev" Greeted a boy, who stuck his hand out to greet Meredith.

"Meredith Grey, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too" Alex responded. "So what electives are you taking?"

"Economics, psychology, computer science and french."

Alex tried to suppress a grin, he didn't peg Meredith as someone who would do economics or computer science out off all the electives. To his dismay, Meredith seemed to notice his snicker.

"What?" She snapped, slightly annoyed.

"I didn't think you'd take computer science or economics. Psychology among girls is pretty normal and it's not like you'd do chinese or spanish so…"

Meredith did her best to keep her cool, she preferred not having to blow up at someone and it was barely a day in. "Well, I do those subjects so live with it. What subjects are you taking?"

"Business, geography and history plus spanish." He replied with a sly grin. "The useful subject"

Jackass it is, Meredith thought. And even if Cristina wasn't here, she wished she was. At least she would have someone to talk to instead of standing in an abyss of people she didn't know.

"Which dorm?"

"Dorm 420, you?"

"413" He replied before a group of boys and girls entered. Meredith looked over to see a tall man with what looked like his other guys friends and 3 girls. Alex glanced at what Meredith was looking at. "Oh the Shepherds. They've been here for a very very long time. Since their grandfathers I think."

"How do you know all this?" Meredith asked, her annoyance replaced with slight bewilderedness.

"Don't worry my reaction was the same. My grandfather told me. I come from Iowa so being able to come here is a huge deal."

"Oh, nice" She mumbled. "Are they all related? They look related."

"Uh, Derek, Nancy and Arizona are. Derek and Nancy are blood related but Arizona is adopted. If I remember correctly. The brown haired girl-" he pointed "That's Addison and next to her is Mark the resident whore."

"How do you know all this?" Meredith asked again.

"People talk, a lot" He said with an eye roll. "It was nice meeting you, I guess"

"Nice meeting you too, I think" Meredith said her goodbyes to the man named Alex Karev and was about to head out before Cristina came in.

"Hey, I thought I'd catch you here." Cristina said, out of breath.

"Did you run here?"

"It was just down the hall, come with me." She said, pulling Meredith out of the room.

"What do you want?" Meredith said, exasperated.

"Uh, nothing much. Just thought I'd join you, pop my head in to show the teachers I exsit"

"There's not even any teachers here, you'd think they'd be here but they're not."

"Oh well, it's not like it's much of a loss. Teachers simplify things, black and white. No grey area." shrugged Cristina. "Meet anyone?"

"Yeah Alex Karev… he's interesting to say the least."

"Alex? Oh please, kind of an asshole. You know he was yelling at the administrator for a replacement student pass. Turns out he just misplaced it."

"What a jackass," Meredith said with a small smile, "I knew something was off, never figured a student would yell at the administrator."

"If he yells at a teacher, rest assured, i'm sure our whole class will pull out our phones to start recording it for the Genius Book of Records."

"Yeah for the longest yelling match between teacher and student."

"Does that even exist?" Cristina asked

"Hey you asked," retorted Meredith her smile growing larger as her conversation with Cristina continued. Nothing could beat the back and forth feeling banter between the two of them, she'd never had this with her friends back in Boston.

"I should get going," Cristina said, with a sigh.

"But you just got here!"

"I need to call my mother." Cristina replied drily. "I don't want too but I gotta do what I gotta do. I don't need her chasing me with her broom to hit me."

Meredith gave her a look of sympathy, watching as Cristina disappeared down the hallway into their re-entered the common room after Cristina walked back, rather quickly, to their dormitory. Soon after she went back in, the same blond and dark-brown haired boy walked in. She stayed near the corner, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

The blond smiled and walked towards the couch, introducing herself to the gang of 'Shepherds'. Before cooching up near Alex. She observed them talking, and the blond looked slightly taken aback from the questions that he was asking. She looked over at the group sitting on the sofa. The one named Derek was looking at her, rather curiously.

Rather than staying, she turned to leave before being met by a light grasp by the wrist. She turned to see Derek. He quickly released his hand and stuck it out for a handshake. "Derek Shepherd" He introduced.

"Meredith Grey" She replied, awkwardly shaking his hand.

"So, what's your story?"

"My story-? I don't have a story"

"Just wanted to apologise for staring, I didn't see you during orientations last year when they were leading around the new year 11s."

"I just came from Boston, I only knew I got accepted a month ago"

"Oh, okay."

"Can you let go of my wrist please?" Meredith asked and Derek released his grip on the fair haired girl. "Why'd you grab my wrist?"

"I was going to introduce myself and you were walking away, i'm going for prefect and house captain. Kinda need to know the people here...come sit with my friends."

"No it's fine, i'm just a girl in this school with no story. You should go back, your friends are staring." Meredith said.

He shrugged, "Let them stare."

"I need to, um, go...now" She paused. "Goodbye…" She cursed to herself, in spite of everything she forgot his name.

"-Derek" He supplied.

"Uh, yes. Goodbye Derek." She turned and left the common room trying to burn the images of his perfect hair out of her head.

"Who was that?" Addison asked as Derek walked back to the sofa.

"A Meredith Grey. Never saw her during orientations. Said she's from Boston." he answered, refusing to meet Addison's everlasting gaze.

"You were being awfully nice to her." Mark said, "Care to let me befriend her?"

"She's going to hate you" Derek and Addison said in unison. He rolled his eyes and hope that nobody would see, he was not in the mood for Addison at the moment.

"That's why she's going to like me."

"Like she's going to like you" quipped Addison

"Where's Owen?" Arizona suddenly asked, twirling her hair.

"I don't know actually, last time I talked to him was before we broke out for summer." Derek said before pulling out his phone to text Owen. "I sent him a text, hopefully he'll reply soon."

"We should probably start heading for dinner" Nancy said, without looking up from her book.

"Nancy, it's 6:30." Mark exclaimed

"So? I'm not bothered to hang around year 11s, god. Fresh blood does smell good"

"You are particularly sassy today, care to elaborate?" asked Addison.

"No, I'm tired and pissed off that our mother deployed again. Amelia and Liz are in the younger years, and I doubt they're going to come up on our floor but I don't fancy going down and taking care of them."

"Don't forget about April" She gave a brief scowl at the name "They'll be fine, and me and Arizona will handle it. Alright?" Derek said. He knew that Nancy still had a chip on her shoulder from their fathers shooting a few years back. Even he did, but she held more grudges on April then their father.

"Don't forget about April" She scoffed, "Why not?" Before slamming her book shut and heading out of the common room.

"How has she not forgiven April is my question" Derek sighed, rolling his eyes at his older sister. "Look I get it, but she… she wasn't there okay? I was. Me and Amelia, and i've forgiven April. For fuck sake she needs too-"

"She needs time, Derek" Arizona cut him off. "I'll talk to her."

"She's had 3 years, Ari. Don't you think that's enough?"

"No it isn't, it needs time. I'm roommates with her anyway."

"You two are sisters, relatively speaking" Addison said "Same age, same year, same school. You guys are roommates 247"

"Yeah we are...along with Bailey and Teddy." Arizona replied cheerfully, before turning to her brother. "Let me talk to her okay?"

"Fine, whatever." Derek replied, now slightly aggravated. Why couldn't she just let it go?

"God, I'm roommates with Preston Burke" Mark groaned in exasperation. "He studies all day everyday. Not even much of a roommate"

"If we last long enough, next year is 5 per dorm. Co-Ed as well." Derek quipped up.

"Yeah it is" Arizona said, "But mines has only 4."

"Why, as we go up, we get to share our room with more people? That's kinda counter intuitive don't you think?"

"Yeah but they're afraid that you're going to do the S-E-X" Derek said

"Some people are already doing the S-E-X" Addison stated, gesturing at Mark.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Mark. "Mine's all consensual and safe"

"Sure it is. Consensual maybe, safe I doubt it" Mumbled Addison. "My roommates Callie, which i'm not complaining about"

"I'm rooming with Owen, but if he isn't here. I don't know what's going to happen." He checked his phone and still no reply from his friend.

"We should head to dinner" Arizona suddenly announced, "Uniform to wear, again. And things to unpack."

"You just don't want to hang out with us." Mark smiled.

"You read my mind" She sarcastically replied.

The Shepherd's plus Mark and Addison all left the common room. Going separately into their rooms, Derek passed by the rooms to get to his. 418, he walked past 420 and saw the familiar brown haired girl he met. Meredith Grey. She was just sitting on her bed, on her laptop with earbuds in. She contemplated whether to open the door but in the end decided against disturbing her. What kind of person would just walk into someones else dorm without even knowing them?

He walked into his room and shut the door behind, Owen's empty bed called magnitudes to him. He missed his friend, It was always him and Mark sharing a room but this year he was sharing it with Owen. He was sick and tired with the residents whore late night bringing of ladies from there year group. It was starting to get unbearable to sleep.

His phone pinged and he looked over, expecting to see a text from Owen but realised that it was a message from Mark: You ready in 10? Addie said she can be out in 10. See you outside common room. Reading the text he quickly formulated a reply before another message appeared: I pinged Ari as well but she didn't reply.

He held his phone, quickly replying to the message, Yeah I will be, see you then. Derek placed his phone on the desk, plugging it in before opening his suitcase to reveal his uniform. The white long sleeves shirt was clean, with the occasional wrinkle and the the school logo on the top left hand side of his shirt. He put on the matching black pants while draping the school jacket on top. It was required for formal events, it was blue with gold trims. He put on his shoes and combed his hair, before leaving his room. He'd unpack later.

Mark and Addison were already outside the common room, playing on there phones. Addison had the black skirt on that was a little above her knees, with the same blouse and school jacket on.

"I wish we could just wear out hoodies instead of these abominations" Mark said, making a face.

"I have never agreed with you more" Derek said. Walking towards the staircase, he turned to see Meredith and a petite asian leaving 420. He didn't look for more than a glance, they were talking about something.

She was something.

[]

"He took my wrist and everything, and gave me the starry eyes" Meredith whispered as she finished buttoning up her shirt and quickly draped the jacket over her shoulders.

"Uh huh" Cristina nodded. "I still don't get why he grabbed your wrist though"

"Me neither, it's weird isn't it?"

With the few hours they had left in the day, Meredith and Cristina talked more. Becoming friends, companies because everybody needs someone. Even if it was only 1 person. Meredith told her bits and pieces about her mother and Cristina did the same with her history. Leaving out the things that absolutely devastated her.

Being around Meredith was like a breath of fresh air as she started anew. She was no longer that girl whose brother died because of an overdose, or the one who was in a car accident. She was no longer that girl around Meredith. It gave her the opportunity to be normal for once in her life.

Normal was scarce, normal was good.

"Yeah it is, who is it again?"

"Derek Shepherd. He's in our year" Her voice faltered as she caught him going down the stairwell. She composed herself and, hopefully, inconspicuously pointed at where Derek was. "There, the one with the perfect hair."

"Oh that one, they rule every single year. Normally the Shepherd's get at least top 5 in all their classes. Arizona was top of her year last year, followed by Nancy. It was amazing. If they're a Shepherd they're almost guaranteed a place in the top 5. Derek got 3rd in his year."

"How do you and Alex know so much about this place?"

"It's on public record Meredith. You can find it on the gallery on the school website and besides Alex is into gossip. That wasn't gossip, Meredith, no that was public record. Can you believe that they put all the names of the transfers on the website as well. I heard one was a model"

"Okay then"

"And besides, i've been researching this place up and down when I got accepted. I-I was excited to move from California, too much sun." Cristina bit her lip, she wanted to allow herself to move past the death of both her brother and father but she couldn't quite speak it. In truth she just needed to get out of her old school and start anew. She needed to get away from everything that haunted her.

"I used to live in Seattle so I'd see it all the time."

"Nice, why'd you move?" Cristina asked, and she saw Meredith tense slightly. Was she supposed to apologies? "I-I'm sorry?" she managed to stammer out.

"It's fine, I actually don't know why. We just went there, my mother is a surgeon so I assume it was a big offer."

"Your mom's a surgeon?" Cristina asked, intrigued. She'd always wanted to be a surgeon, a cardiothoracic surgeon to be exact.

"Yeah" She said as they descended the staircase to the hall where it was there back to school meal. There were 4 long tables, they plopped themselves in the middle of the 3rd table, waiting for there principle to appear.

Finally he showed up, fixing his suit before welcoming everybody back to school. "I am Dr. Richard Webber. I'll be your temporary principle, no worries your old principle will be back in a few months. Welcome to the school everybody." Then Meredith and Cristina got bored by the random tangent he was going on about bunnies.

Soon he stopped speaking and allowed the students to eat, there was a sudden clash of metal cutlery and lids plopping down. Smells wafted in the air from the food that was made and left underneath the lids.

The blond and brown-haired kid were sitting next to each other, and across the table where Meredith and Cristina was.

Meredith could see Derek in the distance but avoided staring or making eye contact. Listening to Cristina talk about GCSEs were starting to become a bore as well, she hated how everybody looked so happy. How everybody was so carefree without any demons to haunt them.

Within the hall, everybody had 2 parents. They were ordinary, with ordinary parents with ordinary jobs and ordinary lives. While she was living with an overbearing mother who cared more about surgeries than her.

"Are you even listening to me?" Cristina asked, shaking Meredith slightly.

"Yeah…no"

"Figured, GCSEs are boring to talk about."

"I was just thinking that everybody in here is so…normal" Meredith muttured.

"How so?"

"Well to start off, everybody probably has 2 parents with ordinary jobs and ordinary lives and i'll never have that."

Cristina flinched every so slightly before raising an eyebrow but refused to say anything. She wasn't normal either, she emphasised with her phantom pain; she had it herself. But Meredith didn't need to know that. "Uh huh"

"Everybody is ordinary, I want to be ordinary." Meredith said.

Cristina nodded before getting a piece of potatoes. "Normal is overrated". She couldn't believe she just said that normal was overrated, she would do anything to feel normal.

"Sure it is" Meredith replied sarcastically, "Everybody is just so happy."

Cristina just looked at her, as if she stated a stupid thing that everybody would know. "Normal is stupid, normal is overrated. Being ordinary shouldn't be praised." She said before biting her bottom lip. "I'd want to be normal though" She quietly mumbled.

"You're so normal" Meredith mused sadly.

If Cristina could have it any other way, she would have blown a lid. But she forced her emotions down, like she always did. She took a deep breath before replying. "Nope but I wish I was though"

"You're just smart, what's so bad about that?"

"It's not just about being smart, you're smart." Cristina said. In her gut, she knew that Meredith was insanely intelligent. During the time at their dorm, when they were talking about science should would know the answer without hesitation. Her last name also rang several bells, but Cristina couldn't pinpoint from where. She saw her surname before.

"I am not"

"Yes you are"

"You probably are" The brown haired boy mused out loud.

Cristina looked across before his eyes darted downward and burrowed himself into the food in front of him. "Who are you?"

"George O'malley" He said, slouching.

The blond next to George decided to introduce herself as well, sticking out her hand. "Isobel Stevens but everybody calls me Izzie"

Cristina looked up but didn't give an indication that she heard the blond before feeling a sharp slap from Meredith.

"That was rude" Meredith exclaimed before introducing herself "Meredith Grey, nice to meet you"

"Year 11?" Isobel asked. "Me and George are."

"Same with me and Cristina." Cristina looked up and gave a tight lipped smile and a small hello before turning to see that the principle is standing up, ready to talk. Model Cristina thought.

The 4 of them looked up to see him standing on the podium with the teachers behind him. One by one they introduced themselves and Dr. Webber concluded his talk. Wishing them a good year of learning whilst announcing that timetables will be posted tomorrow and that activities sign ups will be available in a week times. "I would also like to announce a new addition I am adding, and hopefully will be staying within the school. There will be a new incentive to introduce the seniors to the professional world, especially the medical field since I am a doctor. However this will only apply to higher years, younger years… well I guess you'd have to wait a few more years. Your former principal will be back the following year or earlier depending on his circumstances. Rest assured, we hope this transition will be as smooth as possible. " There were murmurs from the entire hall before he cleared his throat and continued. "I would also like to remind students that leaving the campus after the hours of 6:30 is not allowed for senior students. Whilst leaving the campus at all either than going to the field is not permitted for younger years. Tutors will be assigned tomorrow, please check your school profile for details of your tutor and timetables. I expect the seniors to take care of the younger years. Year 10-13, I wish you good luck on your exam courses especially year 11s and 13s on your GCSE and iB courses respectively. Good night, you are dismissed."

As dinner came to a close, the students started to make there way up. The staircases being hoarded by confusion on which direction to go. As the crowd died down, the seniors all managed to get to there dormitories. Meredith and Cristina bid farewell to Izzie and George, heading inside. Meredith could see Derek down the hall, laughing and chatting away with his friends.

"You can't seriously be looking at him."

"I'm not" Meredith said, startled that Cristina saw. She quickly pushed into the room.

"You we're looking right at him"

"i'm not" She insisted. "i'm not, okay?"

"Okay" Cristina grinned.

They both got ready for bed, brushing their teeth and washing their face. Cristina wore her Stanford hoodie while Meredith wore a Harvard one.

"I'm going to go to Stanford one day" Cristina mumbled as she climbed into bed.

"You probably will. I'm never going to Harvard, I just have it becomes my moms colleagues got it for me. She works at Mass Gen."

"No way, she works at Mass Gen?" As in Massachusetts General?"

"Yeah that's the one"

"Holy shit Meredith, that is one of the leading hospitals in surgery."

"Yeah I know, but it's not like i'm going to become a surgeon you know?"

"I want to be one" Cristina confessed "A cardiothoracic surgeon."

"Why?" Meredith asked

Cristina debated whether she should tell Meredith about her dad. Meredith was her friend, but someone she barely knew. In the end, she decided against it. "Seems cool" She shrugged.

Meredith could sense the hesitation in Cristinas voice, something happened to her but she didn't want to press the subject. "Okay then."

Both of them laid in a comfortable silence, both were close to drifting off to sleep. "Thank you" Meredith managed to mumble out.

"What?" Cristina ask, groggy voiced.

"For being a friend today. It means a lot." Meredith said, "Good night Cristina"

"Good night Meredith" Cristina slurred, she was sleepy now but she knew later the nightmares would wake her up. She wanted to pray that they weren't going to be active tonight, hoping she could control. And certainly not in front of the new friend she just made. She laid in the bedroom, shrouded with darkness. The cool breeze of the air condition caressed Cristina face, she could hear the gentle snores of her fellow companion. Soon, sleep's outstretched hand reached her causing her to take it, leading her to finally fall asleep