AN: Sorry for the long hiatus, I was busy with school and applying to college, but hopefully I'm back for good now!
Meredith continued through the rest of her classes before the bell rang signifying her lunch period. Meredith dreaded going to the crowded cafeteria as she knew no one in her lunch period. April, the only sort of friend she'd made, had lunch the period after her leaving Meredith all alone to brave the masses.
She stood in front of the cafeteria doors, steeling herself to go in, as students pushed their way around her. She heard a few kids mumble some things under their breaths but she didn't care. Finally, she entered the cafeteria and instantly regretted it.
The cafeteria here was at least twice the size of her old school's. Tables were scattered everywhere and students were walking with intended destinations in mind. This meant that everyone already had a table and people to sit with unlike at her old school where people moved around from day to day. Sighing, Meredith got on line to buy her lunch and hopefully find somewhere, anywhere to sit.
Holding her lunch tray, Meredith scanned the packed cafeteria looking for an open spot. She saw Derek, the cute guy from her anatomy class surrounded by the intimidating red head, the laid back blue eyed stranger and a bunch of others who Meredith did not recognize. The table next to that one held the clean cut guy from her anatomy class, Owen, and the blonde, Teddy. Next to Owen sat a petite brunette who was leaning forward to hang on every word that came out of army-boy's mouth. The blonde sat back but Meredith could see the longing in her eyes. Definitely a love triangle.
Meredith continued looking when her gaze fell on the kid from her calculus class. He had an open seat next to him and Meredith couldn't believe what she was about to do. Tentatively, Meredith slipped past the tables filled with people she vaguely knew and plopped herself and her stuff next to the kid, Alex Karev.
Alex looked at her and smiled, "Hello, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"
Meredith rolled her eyes, "I don't know, you somehow seemed like the best option. Crazy right?"
"Nuts" he answered returning to his sandwich.
Glad the kid did not want to talk to her, Meredith began to eat her lunch while working on her anatomy homework. She felt someone's gaze on her and she turned to lock eyes with the blue eyed cute guy from anatomy with the crazy girlfriend. He sent her a lopsided grin and she shyly grinned back. Quickly, she turned around to prevent anyone from seeing her flushed cheeks.
"Careful" Came Alex's voice.
"What?" Meredith asked defensively.
"I said, be careful. He's got a girlfriend who wouldn't hesitate to cut you. Addison Montgomery is not one you mess with. And that means hands off Derek Shepherd."
"I don't want to have my hands on Derek Shepherd" Meredith shot back, but in her head she knew she would love to have her hands on him.
"I'm just warning you. Montgomery will make your life hell if you piss her off."
"Noted" Meredith replied with a thankful smile.
The next day, Meredith walked into her anatomy class to find a new seating chart on the board. Meredith scanned the chart until she found her name and sharply inhaled when she saw who her partner was.
No, no, no, no, Meredith thought closing her eyes.
"So, I guess we're partners huh?" came a voice.
Reluctantly, Meredith opened her eyes to find Derek Shepherd standing in front of her, a smile on his face. Meredith felt another set of eyes on her and shifted her gaze to find Addison Montgomery literally shooting daggers at her with her eyes.
Son of a bitch, she thought sighing at her luck.
"I guess we are," she replied moving to find an open table, Derek trailing behind her.
"Dr. Bailey, what was wrong with the seats we picked ourselves?" Came the red-head's cold voice.
Dr. Bailey raised an eyebrow and turned to face the confident and outspoken teenager, "Nothing was wrong with them Montgomery. I just like shaking things up and putting different people together. Is there a problem?"
"Well, I just think that Derek would work best if he was partnered with me, not Grey. She's new after all" Addison shot back.
"I think Derek will do just fine learning along side the daughter of Ellis Grey. Don't you think?" Asked Bailey.
Letting out a grunt of frustration, Addison nodded and moved to sit next to her lab partner, Arizona Robbins. The blonde gave the red-head a big smile and started striking up a conversation. The red-head looked like she wanted to blow but was restraining herself.
Meredith plopped herself down onto one of the lab tables and Derek sat next to her. She could feel him watching her but refused to turn her head and look at him. She knew if she looked at him she would be drawn into those blue eyes and there was no telling what she would do. She shot a look over her shoulder to see April laughing with Jackson Avery, who just happened to be her lab partner. She looked happy with him and Meredith was glad for her.
"So, are you ever going to look at me, or we going to do all our work without looking at each other?" Derek's voice interrupted her thoughts.
Sighing, Meredith turned to face him, locking eyes and saying, "I guess not. Let's get to work."
Together they worked on their introduction activity to the human nervous system.
"This is so cool! Neuro is definitely my favorite specialty. What about you, will you go into general surgery like your mom?" Derek asked.
Meredith shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really know. I can see myself doing general but I really don't want to live in my mom's shadow the rest of my life. I'll see when I do my internship what I like the best."
Derek nodded in acknowledgement, "That sounds like a good idea. So why did your mom move you guys here? I thought she liked working at Mass Gen?"
Meredith let out an ironic laugh, "So did I. But apparently Seattle had an 'incredible' offer that she couldn't turn down" Meredith air quoted her mother, "What about you, have you always lived in Seattle?"
Derek shook his head, "No I actually used to live in New York but when I was 10 my family moved me and my four sisters here. Addison was the first person I met when I moved here, so you can understand why she gets kind of..."
"Possessive?" Meredith said with a smile.
Derek let out a laugh, "Yeah, I guess that's the word."
Meredith held their gaze and could feel herself tilting slightly forward. She shook her head to break their locked eyes and trained her eyes back onto the worksheet. This is going to be a long year, she thought to herself as she continued her work.
AN: Please R&R!