This is my first ever Grey's fic, I love the characters and I really hope you like it! It's very AU. Please let me know what you think!
Callie threw her shoe across her new room in their new house. Their stupid huge horrible beautiful new house in stupid huge horrible beautiful California.
"Calliope," her mother called. "How's the unpacking going?"
Callie ignored her and pulled out her cell phone. She couldn't text him, he had to text her first... They'd had a massive fight, they'd even considered superglueing themselves together, but Callie had said something, she didn't even remember what, but whatever she'd said, she'd made Mark think she didn't mind leaving him as much as she minded leaving New York. She checked Facebook, he'd been to the diner, their diner, with their friends. There were even pictures. She threw her other shoe; it hit the wall with a satisfying bang.
"What's going on in here?"
Her mother came into the room. It was a good thing Callie didn't have any shoes left to throw.
"Nothing," Callie mumbled, sitting on the bed and staring resolutely at her phone.
Lucia sat down beside her. "Look, Calliope, I know it's hard right now but we've moved to a beautiful town, Orange County really is a great place to live and the school you're going to-"
"My school in New York was great."
"We're in a much nicer neighbourhood, and anyway we have to be here for your father's job so you might as well make the best of it."
"I could have stayed in New York without you."
"Don't be ridiculous, Callie. You're sixteen years old, a child-"
"I'm not a child! And I would just have been living with Mark's family."
"I don't think it's a bad thing at all that you're getting away from that boy."
"Mark isn't that boy. He's great, he's my best friend."
"If he had just been your friend-"
"I'm sixteen, Mom. It's perfectly reasonable for me to have a boyfriend."
"Callie, we raised you to be a Catholic, and God-"
"Can get me later."
"Calliope!"
"Look, what I do is between me and God. I think I know how He would feel and I don't think He'd have anything against me living with Mark. It's not slutty, he's one boy and we care about each other and not that it's any of your business but we hadn't even, you know..."
"I don't want to know the details of the relationship, I just think some distance might not be such a bad idea."
Callie rolled her eyes. Lucia got up off the bed.
"Dinner's in an hour. You should do some unpacking." She left the room; Callie watched her go then flopped back on the bed. She could see her still-closed suitcase out of the corner of her eye. Her room here was bigger, much bigger... After a few more minutes of moping, she got up and opened a box, then took out a book. It was a biology textbook; she opened it at the page she'd marked and began to read. Callie didn't know where she got it from, neither of her parents had ever excelled academically - though they were smart in other ways. But Callie was effortlessly brilliant. She had a great memory and came up with great methods for teaching herself everything she needed to know. She aced every test. It was partly because she liked learning, she liked books and reading and finding out everything there was to know about something - and her favourite something was medicine. She was going to be a surgeon. She'd known that since she could remember; her parents didn't like it but there was nothing they could do - they couldn't exactly punish her for getting straight A's in school.
She went down to dinner when she was supposed to, deciding that another argument would just be a waste of time. The food was good, of course. Her mother was the perfect housewife... She'd fit right in here. Callie's father winked at her.
"Cheer up sweetheart, I have a surprise for you."
Callie looked at him with curiosity.
"A good surprise?"
"A very good one. But you'll only get it if I get a smile."
Callie gave in and flashed him her gorgeous grin. He chuckled.
"That's better. It's outside."
He jumped up from the table; Callie followed him. Lucia stayed inside, uninterested. Carlos, though, was full of energy and enthusiasm. He swung open the front door and motioned for Callie to go through it in front of him. She did so, and gasped at what she saw. Carlos laughed.
"You like it?"
Callie stared at the shiny white jeep in front of her, perky and pretty and new. Her father handed her the keys.
"I love it," she screamed, throwing her arms around him.
"You deserve it. You've worked so hard this past year and I know we've done a horrible thing by uprooting you..."
Callie smiled wickedly at her father. "It's a guilt present."
He made a face. "Your mother said I shouldn't give it to you because you'll become even more spoiled, but I don't think you're spoiled. You're a good girl, any kid would be angry if they had to move across the country."
Callie looked back at the car. "Can I drive it?"
"To school, tomorrow. We should go in now and help your mother clear up dinner. And you haven't unpacked."
"How do you know?"
"Because you weren't nearly grumpy enough at dinner."
Callie laughed and pocketed her keys, then walked inside arm in arm with her father. She managed not to check her phone until she went to bed - which was after she'd finished unpacking, even folding all her clothes. She had a long shower in her ensuite bathroom, another point for the new house, then finally allowed herself to see if there was a message from Mark. There wasn't, though. No messages, not even from her other friends... She sighed and tried not to be too miserable. Maybe a clean break was the best thing... But she missed him as her best friend! He had been her boyfriend but she'd kind of known that wouldn't last, they had loads of fun but they'd never been doe eyed for each other and they never would be. The making out and everything had just been natural progression, it was hot and fun and made Callie feel amazing, but it wasn't like she dreamed of marrying him. She just wanted her friend back, she wished he could just understand that.
She lay down and pulled the covers over her, only to throw them off again a minute later because it was too damn hot. She missed New York. And she had school tomorrow... She tried to sleep but she only got a few hours, she tossed and turned and worried about the new place. She would be there for two years, two whole years, and she just knew she'd make the wrong first impression and ruin it all. She had done in New York, really, but it hadn't mattered because she'd had Mark.
She was late getting up, late getting ready, late doing everything - she ran out to her car to drive the unfamiliar route almost half an hour after she should have left. She got to school just as everyone was going inside. She sighed. At least she wasn't properly late, but it would have been nice to scope out the place before she had to meet the principal. She went in what looked like the front door and approached the reception desk.
"Calliope Torres," she said confidently. Her father had offered, repeatedly, to come in with her, even just to drive her, but she'd insisted on going alone. She liked being independent and while she hated public speaking, one to one interactions didn't phase her in the least. "I'm here to see Principal Webber, I'm a new student starting today."
The receptionist smiled at her and pointed down the hall. "His office is along there, just wait outside. There are a few students starting today, I think he's going to buddy you up with students doing similar classes so they can show you around."
Callie nodded, thanked her, and went to wait where she'd been told. The school building was nice, really nice. Everything was big and modern and open, very different from her old school. Principal Webber's office had a glass door; she could see there was no one inside. She joined the other two people waiting beside it, two guys, one tall, skinny, and geeky, the other strongly built and stupid looking. Callie smiled to herself at the contrast.
It was obvious who Principal Webber was - he just had that air about him. Callie didn't make eye contact until she had do, and didn't smile. She wasn't a suck up, she didn't think she had it in her. And she didn't like him, she'd decided. She wanted to be open minded but it was all just so weird... She wanted to go home. Webber had three students with him who waited for him to introduce himself and say a few words before stepping forward.
The skinny girl dressed in black jeans and a baggy black iron maiden t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off narrowed her eyes at Callie. Then she held out her hand for her to shake.
"I'm Meredith Grey. So you want to do medicine too?"
She spoke in a very forced, sarcastic way, but the Principal smiled at her as if she was a star pupil.
"Callie Torres. It's nice to meet you," Callie said, smiling her best make-the-best-of-it smile.
"Right. Come on, I have to show you where everything is before the next bell or we'll miss our first class."
She set off, her black chucks tapping on the floor in a neat, quick rhythm. Callie followed her, looking around. Meredith pointed out rooms of importance and after a little deliberation, shared some general tips as well.
"Don't talk to the others if you want to be in the med crowd, I'll introduce you at lunch. I guess we have room for someone new... Don't date anyone except seniors, everyone else sucks. I'm dating Derek, Owen's with Cristina... Apart from that they're all fair game as far as we're concerned. Cristina, you should meet Cristina." She took out her phone and called her friend, who appeared a minute later wearing a bored expression, eating a banana.
"What?"
"New girl. Callie, Cristina, Cristina, Callie - she's a medic."
"You're too pretty to be a medic."
Callie winked. "Let's see, shall we?"
Cristina rolled her eyes. "Do I have to talk to her?" she said to Meredith. Meredith glared at her.
"Yes. You do."
"Can I put it in my college application as charity work or something?"
Callie quietly began reciting the names of all the bones in the body, staring with the ones in the hand. Cristina started paying attention.
"Oh, fine," she said when Callie had finished. Callie thought she even caught a hint of a smile. Meredith and Cristina took her to biology and then math, then there was a break. They took her back to a biology lab.
"Mr Duquette lets us hang out in here," Meredith explained.
"It's because he fancies Izzie," Cristina added wryly. Callie looked at the tall blonde who was sitting on one of the benches.
"That's Izzie?"
Meredith smiled. "Yeah, good guess."
"I'm good at reading people. Can I meet everyone else?"
Derek, who now had his arms wrapped around Meredith's waist, was probably the friendliest of the group. He pointed everyone out to Callie; Cristina had wandered off to sit on Owen's lap and be quizzed about the workings of the heart.
"There's Alex, he's kind of after Izzie in a pull everything else that moves first kind of way. He plays football, too. Idiot. He'll get brain damage and never even make it to college - but he needs the scholarship. You can see Owen, he's with Cristina, obviously. Izzie, she's great, don't listen to Cristina. George, the dorky looking one - nicest guy you'll ever meet, you should talk to him. And Arizona... Just... Don't get on the wrong side of her and you'll be fine."
Callie followed Derek's gaze to another blonde, a stunningly beautiful, captivatingly interesting blonde who was lying across a bench listening to her iPod. Meredith looked up at Derek; he kissed her on the cheek; she turned around in his arms-
Callie went over to talk to George, who grinned dopily at her but turned out to be smart and funny and sweet. He told her a lot more about Meredith and Cristina, basically filling her in on all the gossip, then told her more about the school.
"We usually go down to the pier after school and study, it's lame I guess but we can test each other and when they get used to I'm sure they'll see you more as an ally than as competition. And then after the studying we go to the beach, or some of us - quite often it's just me, Alex, and the blondes. And at the weekend we'll have to show you the mall and everything - the couples won't come to that either but we'll see them at Cristina's on Saturday-" he suddenly turned to Cristina.
"Hey, Yang, it's cool if Callie comes to yours on Saturday, right?"
"Well I can hardly say no now, can I?" she said grumpily, but there was a twinkle in her eye.
Callie looked back at Arizona, who quickly looked away and pretended not to be paying attention. The bell rang and they went off to class. Callie had a lot more fun now she had George, and she ended up sitting with Izzie in English and got on pretty well with her as well. She still wanted to go back to New York. But maybe it wouldn't be too bad.
