AN- Chapter 2 has now been edited.
"Meredith, I don't understand why you insist on constantly pissing her off."
Said girl in question rolled her eyes in annoyance at her younger sister. Lexie was two years younger than her sister, and a complete pain in the ass for Meredith. She was the golden child, and rarely ever got in any sort trouble. She knew not to toe the line as she never wanted to be in the line of fire for her mother's wrath. She had seen her sister get into enough situations over the years that she learned only on what to do and what not to do.
"Honestly, at this point I don't care." She leaned back on her bed and shifted her pillows a little to get comfortable. The more she considered this whole boarding school thing, the better it sounded in her head. It meant getting away from her mother who attempted to control every miniscule detail of her life. Anything that could accomplish that goal was great in her books. This was the opportunity she had been searching for; she didn't need some long lost father to come and save her.
A huff redirected her attention back to her sister who was scowling at her. "You're leaving me all alone with her. How could you do this?"
The older sister groaned and closed her eyes. She could feel the presence of an oncoming headache. Her and Lexie had been at this a while. Her sister was more than displeased with the news that her sister would be shipped off to a boarding school across the country in less than a week. They had looked after one another their entire lives, and Meredith couldn't remember a time in her life when she didn't have her sister.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. It was her fault that her most was taking such drastic measures in the first place. "This isn't easy for me either. You think I really want to go off to some fancy boarding school with a bunch of waspy types?"
Lexie raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Uh Mer, we kind of are wasps ourselves." Her face shifted when she noticed her sister scowling at her. "I-uh mean of course, who wants to go to school with a bunch of stuck up kids?"
Meredith nodded. "Exactly," she exclaimed, slapping her hands down onto her mattress. "This is bullshit. But whatever Ellis says goes." The younger sister took a seat on the bed and smiled in sympathy. "She's making me dye my hair back. I knew she was lying when she said she didn't mind it." Both girls erupted into a fit of giggles.
It had been more than obvious their mother's displeasure with her older daughter's decision to permanently alter her hair color. Her lips were pinched tightly, and her eyes crinkled at the corner. She would backhandedly compliment Meredith whenever they were in the vicinity of one another. Meredith could have chosen a temporary dye, but it wouldn't have gotten the same reaction from her mother when she realized the color wouldn't rinse out after a few washes.
"What is your natural hair color again?" Lexie joked. It had been a long running joke between the two sisters about the actual color of Meredith's hair. Two years before at thirteen, she had dyed it black without her mother's permission. She was going through the whole grunge look. She wore Doc Martins, ripped jeans or shorts with tights underneath, lots of flannel and layers. There were faded jean jackets or jean vests, and she had rocked the leather jacket look. Her long hair was rarely washed, and eventually purple streaks were added to give it some color. Their mother however remained tight lipped not that she really noticed. She would've had to be home to notice. But when she was around, her eyes voiced what her mouth did not. However, she didn't want to mess with the status quo and deal with Meredith's sudden teenage rebellion.
Then a year ago Meredith decided to dye all of it pink, which meant first bleaching her hair. School dress code didn't have any regulations about the color of students' hair. It clashed horribly with her uniform, but she was going more for the shock effect anyways. She had started a trend among the other rebels at their school who decided to dye their own hair all sorts of wild colors.
"It's blonde." She replied with an eye roll. There were enough pictures of them before that clearly demonstrate that Meredith was a natural blonde. "Ellis doesn't want me to embarrass her at a new school. Apparently her colleagues' wife is the dean at the school, which is why my application was approved so quickly. Normally it is like a one year waiting list, but mom put my application in six months ago." She elaborated as it was becoming more and more clear to her that her mother had been planning this for a while.
"So are you going to give up this whole angry teenager persona you've got going on?" Lexie asked curiously. She bit her lip which was nervous tell of hers.
Meredith sighed. "I don't know Lex. It's been my comfort blanket for so long that I don't know who I am outside of it. I mean who is Meredith Grey?" Her insecurity was showing, and it was a rare moment of vulnerability for the teenager. She hated showing others how she was actually feeling because she had watched her mother and modeled her behavior after hers.
"You're my sister." Lexie stated as if it was a foregone conclusion. "You used to make me sandwiches and tuck me into bed at night. We played with Anatomy Jane together, and you taught me all your made up names for the different organs. You helped me with my homework. You're not this person you've created to everyone who doesn't know the real you. You do care despite pretending you don't. I don't think a person who doesn't care would get straight A's." Lexie's face was resolute. Normally she avoided commenting on her sister's appearance and personality, but she couldn't help it anymore. Her sister had provided her an opportunity and she took the time to explain how she felt.
"I suppose you've made your case. I guess I'm just angry about everything. Dad never came back for us, and mom is never around. It's just the two of us. Mom always tells me how much of a disappointment I am, and how she raised me to be extraordinary. And how I'm failing miserably." She brushed away the tears at the corners of her eyes because they were a sign of weakness.
Lexie rolled her eyes. She never took her mothers words to heart like her sister. "Ignore her, she's jealous. You're young and fresh, and have so much to offer the world. You have your whole life ahead of you, and her hay day has almost passed. You'll be able to do what she couldn't, which is balance a career and a family instead of putting one above the other. So her whole life is surgery well then that's her problem. We aren't her. We don't have to have the same priorities or goals. Do what makes you happy." The younger sister scooted closer to her older sister and squeezed her hand to show they were in solidarity.
"Maybe you should be a shrink," Meredith snorted. Lexie slapped her stomach. "Ow." She yelped, rubbing the offended spot. "Geez lighten up." Her sister could never take a joke, and it was an affront that Lexie would be anything other than a surgeon.
Lexie yawned. Her emotions had been running high earlier and now she was feeling the effects of her emotional rampage. "I love you Meredith Elizabeth Grey." She whispered.
"I love you too Alexandra Caroline Grey." She kissed her sister's head as the two fell asleep, cuddled into one another for what would be the last time in God knew how long.
TNtB~~~~~TNtB~~~~~TNtB~~~~~TNtB~~~~~TNtB
The week had gone by faster than she originally anticipated, and it was more than likely the result of her dreading this trip across the country to California. It was the closest she would be towards her former home in ten years. She wasn't sure how she felt about being that close.
Her mother had not forced the issue of her attending school for the last two days; Meredith was required to pack any of her belongings she wanted with her at school. Her mother would mail whatever she wanted that could not fit inside her two suitcases.
She glanced at the clock and cursed her mother once again. For once she was actually on time for a meeting. True to her mother's word, Meredith was dyeing her hair back to blonde against her will. She knew not to make a bigger fuss about it with everything else that was going on.
As usual her mother was running late, forcing her to have wait in the waiting room of the hospital with all the worried family members and friends who had the frantic look in their eyes. Her eyes darted around the room, and she decided to make a game; she made up little stories about why each person was there. It was a source of entertainment for her and Lexie when they were younger, and were obligated to spend most of their time in the hospital because their mother had once again forgotten to arrange child care.
Her eyes fell on an approaching figure. He looked to be young, but not quite fresh out of medical school young. She would say by his confident swagger that he was at least a first or second year resident. His eyes said he had seen stuff on the job, and that he had some experience under his belt. He was still awkward looking, but the hair was definitely his best asset for sure; she was unable to tell if it was natural or if he woke up that way. His glasses definitely took away from his attractiveness, which was extremely unfortunate because he certainly had the potential to be a very handsome man. She couldn't really see what color his eyes were, but she suspected it was a nice color.
She noticed the formation of muscles on his arms, and smirked in appreciation at the tightening of his scrub shirt. She wasn't close enough to hear his voice as he obviously told one of the men waiting good news. No one ever hugged a surgeon if it was bad news. Meredith had spent enough time at the hospital to know that much. There were usually two waiting room reactions, one was good and the other was more tears than someone should be able to shed.
As he turned to leave his eyes darted across the room as if sensing her eyes on him. Derek normally wasn't forward, but having Mark Sloan as his best friend had taught him a thing or two about wooing women. "Nice hair, it's hot." He thought he would go with a smooth compliment.
"Do you normally talk to your patients like that? I'm not sure that's appropriate bedside manner." She smirked as her eyes danced with mirth. It had been a while since the opportunity to flirt had presented itself.
Derek stared at her gob smacked. "Well my patients don't normally look as good as you." He wanted to hit himself in the face for that comment.
"I could probably get you fired for sexual harassment." She redirected her gaze to her book. Hard to get was her favorite game after all, and this guy needed to step up his game if he was ever going to get a woman to give him a second glance.
He frowned in disappointment that she was able to easily ignore his presence. "Most women find I'm charming."
"You'll find, Dr…?"
He held out his hand for her. "Shepherd, Dr. Derek Shepherd."
"Must be in neuro, no one outside of it is that cocky." A small smirk flitted its' way onto her face. This was too easy. "I'd say you're probably a first year or second year resident. Third years are a bit more mature, fourth years have usually declared, and fifth years are trying not to kill patients so that they have more positive outcomes for their boards. First and second years walk around with an air of importance because they believe surviving the intern year is a huge accomplishment, in some ways passing the intern test is a huge accomplishment, but there's so much left to learn that isn't on that test. I know you're not an attending because they were dark green scrubs."
"I'm a second year." He mumbled with his cheeks turning a light shade of pink at the fact that he had been called out by a girl with pink hair.
"As I said, it was nice meeting you Derek. You should try dating someone in your league. Ditch the glasses for one, workout more, and you'll be a great catch. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be." She closed her book and walked away to meet her mother who should be out of surgery.
Derek was left staring after the mysterious girl. She seemed to be rather informed on the behavior of interns and residents, and that only happened if it was someone who spent much of their time in hospitals. His shoulders slumped because he didn't even know her name, and she not only knew his but his specialty. "Ditch the glasses, huh?" Mark had suggested getting contacts for the last several years. He said something about ladies loving eyes, especially blue.
Meredith was still laughing when she found her mother at the nurses' station. Ellis was finishing up her notes on a patient's chart. "Oh good, you're here." She said by way of greeting.
"Hello to you as well mom." She greeted in a snarky tone, earning a sharp glare from her mother.
The teen rolled her eyes. It was her mother's way of saying hello. Her mother's time was money, and she considered time talking, time wasted. "Alright, make sure one of my interns checks on 231. His post-op was looking fine, and I think he might be ready for discharge." She turned to her daughter with her face devoid of any type of emotion. Meredith hadn't seen her mother display a proper emotion since she was five and her mother attempted suicide. There was a fear in those eyes that had never been there before, and it scared her five year old self.
"Let's go Meredith." Meredith followed five paces behind her mother. She felt enough like a child as it was. At least her mother wasn't dragging her around like one.
Three hours later, the fifteen year old was staring at her newly bleached hair. She couldn't stop touching the silky strands. It was strange to see her blonde hair once again because as soon as she saw the barest hint of roots she was at the hair salon dyeing her roots. She was understood why her mother forced her to do it. Pink hair wasn't really who she was. It was a childish phase, and made her look stupid and angry. It was generally hard to wear clothes without it clashing with her hair, which is why she wore mostly black because everything went with black.
In hindsight, she was trying to be someone she wasn't. She wanted to piss of her mom, and what better way to do it than to look like the opposite of a surgeon's daughter. Her mother refused to allow her to come to the hospital until all of her sense returned. It was lecture after lecture with mother and daughter constantly battling it out.
Her mother paid for everything and began pushing her daughter out of the shop. "Come now, we have to get you to the airport. Your flight leaves in two hours."
"Yay," she muttered under her breath.
Unfortunately it wasn't quiet enough for her mother who turned to sharply glare at her. "I don't want any of your sass. This wouldn't be happening if you had gotten your act together. I am tired of constantly have to speak on the phone with the dean of your school because you were caught smoking or making out with some boy during class time. I have better things to do with my time than to lecture you about your poor behavior and decision making. None of this is my fault. So hush up and get in the car."
Meredith glowered at her mother, but did as she was told. It wasn't worth it. Her mother would fine a way to win. It was in her nature to constantly be correct. There was no room for error in Ellis Grey's world. The teen watched as the city of Boston passed her by. It had been her home since she was five years old. The family of three had moved their after her mother had attempted suicide. They went away in the middle of the night, leaving their entire lives in Seattle behind. They built something in Boston and her mother was taking it all away from her with her snap decision.
She resisted the urge to vomit. The whole thing was making her sick to the stomach. Her thoughts drifted back to the resident in the hospital. While he was obviously far older than her, she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to know him. She was attracted to him, not that she would ever voice that passing thought out loud. There was something there, but it was better to put him out of her mind. It wasn't like she would ever see him again.
All too soon it seemed, mother and daughter were at Logan International Airport. Ellis grabbed one of her suitcases, and Meredith grabbed her backpack and the other one. It was going to suck. She wasn't going to know anyone, and she was only allowed to make two calls a week. This was going to be literal hell.
"Now, I can't walk you to your gate. But here's your ticket, and I want you to be good. Don't roll your eyes. I'm being serious. You want a chance to start over, well here it is. Good luck Meredith, I know you can be extraordinary." Her mother squeezed her shoulders before leaving. She wasn't much of a touchy feely sort of person, which she passed onto Meredith. Lexie must have been more like their father than their mother because she loved hugging and thrived on physical touch.
It was as close to an 'I love you' as she would get from Ellis Grey. The woman wasn't know for her sentimentality or ability to be a mother. She was known for her excellent skills as a general surgeon. The Grey method was all any doctor could gush about with her and Lexie. It was embarrassing when she knew more about surgery than most of the residents on staff at the hospital.
She glanced at her ticket and took a deep breath. She had to get through security as her plane would start boarding in another hour. She was off to a new life. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time, but she felt that it was a needed stop on her path. Maybe her mother had actually done something right for her after all.
Before her plane left Boston for good, her thoughts drifted once again to Dr. Derek Shepherd. Meredith thought he definitely had the potential to be a good surgeon if his confidence was anything to go by. She wished she would have the chance to see the end product because he would definitely be extremely handsome with a little more work.
"Goodbye Boston," she murmured quietly.
