Registration on Monday morning isn't the greatest time for most high school aged kids. Normally we're tired, lethargic, irritable and depressed because we have a full week of school ahead of us. But for once, I am happy.
Kate, who has her head resting on the table, glares up at me. "Why the heck are you so cheery?" She barks, her eyes still closed.
"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" I ask her sarcastically.
The answer I am given is a crabby snarl.
"And to answer your earlier question: I'm cheery because today is the day when my grandparents finally piss off back to Connecticut."
Kate's eyes open and she sits up. "They leave today?"
I smile and nod.
"Hells yeah, girl!" Kate says enthusiastically. "How jazzed are you really?"
I move my hand to way above my head as if it's creating a ceiling. "This much."
"This much what?" Michael asks as he enters the registration room.
"How excited Aly is that her grandparents are leaving today," Kate answers for me.
Michael looks at me and then raises his hand. "High five!"
I smack his palm.
Another classmate enters the registration room. "What we high fiving?"
"You people seriously need to be in the room at the same time so we don't need to explain twenty million times!" I say with mock-sarcasm.
"They're high fiving because Alyssa's grandparents are leaving today," Kate, once again, answers for me.
"You're high fiving because they're leaving?" Our classmate asks. "Isn't that a little nasty and insensitive?"
"Nope," I say. "Trust me, if you'd have met them you'd understand," I say when I notice the girl's dubious expression. "You guys have met them," I say to Kate and Michael. "You understand, right?"
Both of them nod, just as the teacher walks into the classroom. "Quiet down class." The teacher begins to the read down the register, and people in the class respond with 'here' when the teacher says their name.
Being in the class for a while, you know when your name will be called, so most of the time you drift off and think of other things, like how I'm completely happy my grandparents will be away from here by six o'clock tonight.
"Alyssa Reid," the teacher says. It's too early for my name in the register. "Stop squeaking," the teacher elaborates.
"I squeaked?"
"Yeah," Kate says.
Michael speaks too. "You squeaked."
"Oops," I say sheepishly.
"Why are you so happy?" Michael asks sarcastically. "Anybody would think your grandparents were leaving or something."
I laugh quietly.
I can't wait to get out of work tonight. The reason for my desperation to leave work? Well, tonight I get to take Elliot's parents to the airport and then I never have to see them again. Well, maybe not never. A while, at least. You get the sentiment.
"So Bambi," Carla says from behind the nurses' station. "You excited to be getting rid of the in-laws?"
Carla has been calling Elliot's parents my in-laws all week, and I have to admit, it has been bugging the crap out of me. "Carla, I thought we had this conversation Stop calling them my in-laws."
"Why?"
"Because Elliot and I aren't married yet so they're not technically my in-laws. And why is your eyebrow raised?"
"JD," Carla says sternly. "I want you to think about what you just said."
What did I just say? Thinking…thinking. I said something along the lines of 'Elliot and I aren't married yet'- "Oh!"
"There ya go."
"Still. The point is they're not my in-laws."
"Might as well be," Carla mutters under her breath,
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
"Yeah right then." I walk away from Carla.
And now Turk is walking towards me. "Okay, dude. A word about your girlfriend. She has gone insane! And I'm not talking regular Elliot crazy. She's gone, like, a whole other kind of crazy. Like, dancing and singing loudly in the doctors' lounge crazy."
Laugh.
"And no offence, V Bear, but she's kinda killing everybody's ears."
"Singing and dancing? Yeah, she was doing that in the car this morning."
"And you can still hear?" Turk says incredulously.
"Dude, that's a bit harsh."
Turk shakes his head. "It's not. It's really not. By the way Dr Kelso wants a word with all the attendings at the second floor nurses' station, and he had an evil smirk on his face so prepare yourself."
"Oh, great," I say sarcastically.
It doesn't take Turk and me long to reach the nurses' station, and more to Turk's surprise than mine, Elliot is already standing there.
As I stand next to Elliot and wrap an arm around her waist, Turk says this: "Uh, Elliot, I thought you were doing crazy singing thing in the doctors' lounge?"
"Yeah, I was, but Dr Cox threatened to kill me if I didn't shut up," Elliot shrugs. "And then he dragged me here for this damn meeting with Kelso. Speaking of whom." Elliot gestures to Kelso who just approached the nurses' station.
Dr Kelso begins his speech. "A few of you may remember that in the past you've had to complete mandatory service to Sacred Heart's free clinic. Well, I will be reinstating mandatory clinic service, starting in three weeks. I'll be leaving it up to Dr Cox to decide in which order you undertake your service."
Turk raises a hand. "Uh sir, why is a fellow attending deciding when other attendings complete their service?"
Kelso shrugs. "Well, Turkleberry. Maybe it's because I think he knows you all better and will be better informed to make the decision. Or maybe I just couldn't be bothered deciding for myself and decided to pawn off all the work on him. Either way, you better hope you haven't done anything recently to piss him off."
With this, Kelso walks away, and Dr Cox starts talking.
"Well, I don't say this very often, and with good reason, but this time Big Bobbo is right. You really had better hope that you haven't done anything recently to annoy me. But oh so many of you have and will continue to annoy and I am in a rare position of being able to inflict pain on you with no real possibility of it coming back to haunt me."
"Oh, god," Elliot quietly mutters.
"But now I have a real dilemma on my hands. Who do I choose for first clinic service? Who. Do. I. Choose? Do I choose the nervous guy who stutters every time he begins a sentence? Do I choose the annoying girl who will not stop day dreaming?"
That would be me.
"Or," Dr Cox says loudly, "do I choose the girl who burst my eardrums and gave me thee world's worst headache with her annoyingly loud and horribly out-of-key warbling."
I hear Elliot groan.
Dr Cox snarls manically. "I think I do," Dr Cox continues. "Congratulations, Barbie. You have first shift. Enjoy. And let this be a lesson: don't ever sing again." Dr Cox walks away.
"I knew singing was going to come back and bite me on the ass," Elliot says exasperatedly a few moments later before walking off.
"Damn free clinic!" Turk says. "I hate that place."
I sigh. "Yup, me too."
The airport is busy. Well, considering it's 6pm on a Monday night I'm not so surprised. Unlike a week ago, I feel good being here. Elliot isn't dreading her parents arrival,and even though she's kinda calmed down from her singing and dancing episode. and she's smiling, which of course makes me a happy chappy.
Alyssa even tagged along to the airport. To be honest, I think she's just here to make sure her grandparents really go. I would have done the same.
Elliot's parents are checking in their luggage right now.
"I don't think I'm going to fully believe they're going until they're actually away," Elliot says to me.
It's Alyssa who answers. "You can bet your ass they're going. I've been happy-dancing about it all day," she laughs. "And singing loudly in the common room," she adds, speaking more sheepishly.
"And I'm guessing that did not make you very popular?" Elliot asks.
Aly looks down at the ground awkwardly. "It did not. As punishment they spun me around on the swivel chair until I couldn't see straight. And it was just before the change of class, so I was criss-crossing all along the corridor. I think some people thought I was drunk."
Just out of curiosity, because I can remember common room days (unlike some people I went to high school with), I ask, " Were you drunk?"
"No," Alyssa answers. "At least, I wasn't."
"So other people were?"
"Let's just say there's a secret stash somewhere that the teachers have yet to discover," Alyssa answers. "Oh come on," she says after noticing the condemning expressions on Elliot's face and mine. "It's our last year; it's our chance to rebel."
"As long as you don't rebel too much. If I get a phone call from the school one day to tell me you're drunk and to pick you up, I will kick your ass," Elliot says sternly. It's not often you see her in full 'protective aunt' mode, but when she's in it, she means it.
"Aunt Elliot, I wouldn't get drunk at school. Exclusion for drunken behaviour wouldn't look good on a prospective medical student's application."
Elliot smiles at her niece. "That's smart thinking. Have you started applying for pre-med courses yet?"
"Not yet," Alyssa answers. "Will be soon though."
"Well, if you ever need any advice you can always speak us," I say, and Elliot smiles at me.
Alyssa nods. "Thanks. Oh, heads up."
Elliot parents are walking towards the three of us, minus two suitcases. And, as per usual, they're bickering amongst each other. I can only gather that Lily is blaming Simon for the long queue. I've learned that Elliot's mother usually isn't happy unless she's complaining about something… or hitting on someone. Each to their own.
"So Grandma, Grandpa," Alyssa says happily. "How was checking in?"
Lily Reid attempts to smile innocently, but everybody knows that isn't the case. "Oh, checking in was easy," she says. " The young man who checked us was very pleasant, very polite, very nice."
"And by that she means he was willing to flirt with her," Simon Reid explains.
Three of us – Alyssa, Elliot and I – look down the hall to where a young check-in guy is looking in our direction and waving flirtatiously at Lily.
"That's not disturbing," Alyssa sarcastically snarls under her breath. "That guy needs serious mental help. What the hell?" She rhetorically asks, still looking down the hall at the really idiotic guy.
Lily Reid once again waves at the check-in guy. "We'll need to be sure to fly with this airline next time we visit."
And if there is a god the next time you visit will be years from now and that guy will have another job.
"Well, be sure to let us know the next time you'll be in town," Elliot says dryly and begrudgingly, and I have to slyly laugh at Alyssa's not-so-subtle look of fear.
Hmm. It just occurred to me that Elliot's dad has been oddly quiet. Of course, that could be because his wife hasn't shut up. I'm not particularly bothered by this; I really don't like the guy. But, we are being civil. We're even on first name terms.
"John, could I have a private word with you?" Elliot's dad asks.
Okay, so when I say we're on 'first name terms', I mean we're on formal first name terms. Nobody calls me John. Not even my mother calls me John.
"Uh, sure," I say semi-nervously.
As Elliot's dad walks away down the hall, Elliot looks at me with a weird form of suspicion. "What does he want to talk to you about?" She asks.
"I'm not sure," I say, "but I'll go find out."
"Good luck!"
I smile.
Elliot's dad is standing farther down the check-in hall. He's looking at the departures board, probably checking to see if his flight is delayed. Dear god, no…
When I am eventually standing next to him, Elliot's dad says, "Oh, John." He acts surprised, like he didn't see me. Yeah, right.
"You wished to speak with me?"
"Yes," he says. "I won't waste my time saying things I already have, and apologies that I know Elliot nor you will accept. But I just wanted to ask you take care of my daughter. Make her happy; I know you do already. Make her happy, JD." He doesn't wait for any response from me before walking away.
I don't move. I stand, slightly shell-shocked, looking ahead of me. "I plan to," I say. That was the weirdest thing ever.
I walk back to where Elliot, Alyssa and Elliot's parents are talking. When I'm standing next to Elliot, she turns slightly and quietly says, "What was that about?"
"Ah… nothing," I say casually.
I don't think she completely bought that because she's still looking at me with a smirk that says 'Yeah, right.'
"Well, we should probably head to the gate," Elliot's mother says.
Yes. Yes you should.
"Well, you wouldn't want to miss your flight, would you?" Elliot says, desperately trying to hide her happiness that they're about to go.
Lily shakes her head. "And I want to get a drink at the bar."
"Of course you do," Alyssa mutters. Her sarcasm can be so scathing sometimes. And yet her grandparents don't seem to notice it. "Well we wouldn't want to keep you." Alyssa turn on her heel and takes two steps towards the exit before she interrupted, by her grandfather.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye?"
It's hilarious the way Aly's shoulder and head slump. "Of course I am," she says grudgingly before spinning back round on her heel. "See ya," she says to her grandmother before hugging her. Once the hug is broken, Alyssa says the same thing to Simon and hugs him. What's weird though is once that hug is broken, Simon is looking at Alyssa like he's apologising for something. That's weird. So is me being the only one to notice that.
Elliot also goes to hug her parent. When she is hugging her mother, Lily attempts to do something to Elliot's hair. "There," Lily says. "Much better."
"Thanks mom," Elliot says with the same scathing sarcastic tone as Alyssa used earlier. Seems to run in the family. "To be honest, I'd have been disappointed if she didn't take one last shot."
Once all hugs and the like are exchanged between the Reid family, Simon steps over to me and holds his hand out for me to shake. Which, of course, I do. I still really don't like the guy, but that conversation earlier, it…. I don't know. It sort of made
him a bit less Evil Bastard and little bit more Human. I still hate his guts though.
"Well, we should get going," Simon says.
Lily, however, is still flirtatiously with the check-in guy.
"Lily, we need to go," Simon repeats.
He is ignored.
"Lily?"
Once again, ignored.
Simon sighs. "To hell with this." He grabs Lily's arm, and drags her towards the escalator. Lily's attempts at a fight are both pathetic and hilarious.
We – that being Alyssa, Elliot and me – watch with held breath as Lily and Simon walk along the balconied corridor towards security. Waiting.
Waiting.
"And they're outta here!" I say happily. Elliot does a slight, very restrained happy dance.
"Ladies and gentleman, normal service has been resumed!" Alyssa says sarcastically.
"I don't think I've been happier to see someone leave," Elliot says, and she rests her head on my shoulder and takes my hand.
"Me neither," I say.
We're both quiet for a few moments. I think we've both watching for Elliot's parents returning.
"Uh, guys?" Alyssa says hesitantly, but not looking in our direction. "I know you guys are having you cute, sappy romantic moment, but now that they're gone –" Alyssa points in the direction that Elliot's parents just went. "- And they're not coming back, can we please go and get something to eat? Because some of us haven't eaten since breakfast because we were squeeing too much." She then silently mouths 'Oops.'
"Sure thing kiddo," I say. "Where do you want to go?"
"I honestly do not care," Alyssa says quickly. "Just as long as the food is edible."
"Fair enough," Elliot adds.
We all begin to walk out of the airport. Elliot holds my hand as we walk, and Alyssa walks slightly ahead of us.
"Hey," Elliot says quietly. "What did my dad want to talk to you about?"
"Nothing important," I shrug.
She laughs just a little. "Okay, I know it was something. The deer in headlights look you were sporting kinda gave that away." Elliot pauses. "You'll tell me eventually, right?"
"Maybe," I say with mock-tease.
Elliot laughs a bit louder. "You know you will."
"Yeah, I do."
AN: I'm not particularly keen on this chapter. I'm sorry. Please let me honestly know what you think. I should be honest now and tell you I don't know when I'll be updating next; I'm back at school now, so it depends what time I have. Sorry.