When Erica Hahn is 14 years old she finally sees Callie Torres again.
She's been lonely for years at Mercy West Middle School with no one left to talk to.
Erica walks into Seattle Grace High School with a healthy amount of doubt. She's new to their school because there was mould at Seattle Presbyterian Preparatory School and she was one of the only ones in her grade to transfer to this new school zone temporarily. Just as she's about to introduce herself to the class, Preston Burke walks in late with Alex Karev and a smile on his face.
"Took you long enough Preston" smirks Erica. She smirks at Burke like she knows him because she does. "Why is junior here, your ego too big for one man to carry" she snarks. "Erica Hahn came in second in our class at John Hopkins Elementary, guess who came in first" Burke brags to his friend Alex Karev. "God" Erica rolls her eyes at Burke. It was going to be a long day.
And just her luck that on the first day of class was school scavenger hunt day. One team with Erica Hahn and a dozen popular girls would be against Addison Montgomery, Derek Shepherd Callie Torres, Finn, George O'Malley and Meredith Grey. The final team would be composed of Alex Karev, Izzie Stevens, Denny Duquette and Preston Burke. Christina wanted to be on Burke's team but Burke picked Karev. T
They would all be working against each other in the class cup. They were in a class science lesson about anatomy and the winner got to open a huge box of chocolate hearts and take out whichever one they wanted. They had three lifesaver hints they could give up to the teacher if they needed it.
Obviously they all wanted to win and the race was on.
Addison, Callie, Finn, George, Derek and Meredith all decide that they would rather work on other schoolwork than to really play in the contest. Instead they all talk about puppy dogs and babies. Meredith is sad that hers and Derek's dog has bone cancer and asks Callie if she knows what a good vet would do. She flips her off on account of them totally losing the scavenger hunt on all this pointless pets.
Burke and Alex's team was in the lead until their clue fooled them up. They ran all away around the playground but ended up in a dead end to their question. They use up all of their life saver candy hints but they run out of of extra chances.
They should be out of the game but they know Erica is new here and is on her own with teammates she barely knows except for her old sort of friend from Seattle Pres. Burke sends Denny Duquette to cross the final checkpoint ahead of him while Erica sends Maggie.
Past the checkpoint right near the finish line Erica is about to break open the box of chocolate hearts. But Burke reaches her first and orders her not to tear the packaging. Erica tells Burke he's not getting her chocolate heart just because he ran out of lifesavers. Burke asks if she has a higher scavenger hunt score already. He sends Alex to the teacher to find out. Burke says this is pathetic and orders her partners to keep watch on her.
Erica says that she's farther along in the questions while Burke has fallen behind. They're talking with the teacher's assistant who's trying to sort it all out. They're informed that Erica's score is 0.22% higher than Burke's and Burke says this is basically a tie. Burke says Denny reached the checkpoint 17 seconds faster than Erica's friend Maggie. Erica says it doesn't matter and begs the TA to help them meditate.
Addison asks Meredith if she was kissing Derek while she and Derek were together but Meredith says she wasn't even though they appeared to be having a lover's quarrel that morning. Addison says fine especially when Meredith says she's kissing Finn the vet. Meredith and Christina are fighting about the dog or
Izzie Stevens who's on another team but a friend of Alex and Burke's takes the scavenger hunt sheet and erases Denny's answer card and fills it in right so they got the right answer. She lies and blurts out to the TA that she added up wrong and they should check again. Alex sees and he lets her but he says he won't lie when questioned by a teacher. Burke asks her if the answer is A and she lies and says they knew that all along.
Burke thanks her and tells her the subsequent answers to the questions and she fills them in. She hangs out behind them hidden working it all out. Burke tells Erica that according to the TA Denny qualifies 1A to win the heart chocolate but that only the bubble sheet is filled out not the workings. He is told that the full workings need to be on the answer sheet in order to win. Erica complains it'll take an hour and they might not finish before school ends.
Burke tells Izzie to run off and finish the tests off with Denny. Izzie runs over to tell Denny the good news but he's drowning in the complex math and doesn't think he can hang on. She promises she'll make it happen. Thirty minutes later Izzie is not texting back and Alex says they're probably caught up in the math. Erica says to Burke he can check his answers all he wants but he's not getting her heart.
Addison explodes at school in front of the principal and Meredith saying that Derek loves Meredith but doesn't even know it while they are trying to work on health class worksheets. Principle Webber disciplines her but everyone hears. Callie is mad that George defended Meredith to Callie because she's family and Callie confesses she loves George but doesn't say it back.
Izzie finds the answer key on the teacher's desk and swipes it. Denny says he refuses to steal from Erica and her friend but Izzie insists on it. She reveals there were only 17 seconds between Erica's team and Denny's not even time for a decent kiss. She starts sobbing and hugging him but she'll copy down the answers. Izzie texts Burke and says she's got the answers but Burke wants to be sure so he runs off to find her.
On his way back Burke trips hard and rolls his ankle so he can't move anymore. Meanwhile Izzie copies down off the answer key onto her scavenger hunt sheet. Bailey the teacher goes to check on Burke and she and Webber help him to the nurse station. George sees Izzie copying and guards the door. He wants to rat her out but she says she'll share if she wins. Christina goes to soothe Burke with the hurt ankle.
Alex tells Erica they should be hearing back any minute school's nearly over. George tells on Izzie but only to his friend Meredith Grey who told her friend Christina Yang and not the teacher. Izzie is crying because she's a cheater and made Denny be a cheater too and is upset when she learns Burke's ankle got hurt. They all agree to lie if they get questioned about the cheating. Alex updates with Meredith saying "this Erica chick is hardcore".
Teacher Mrs. Bailey sees the impeccable answers and questions Izzie, Meredith, Christina and Alex and everyone said they copied the answers except Alex who won't lie. Mrs. Bailey brings it to Principal Webber who says there would be severe consequences for the cheater and for the school but only if proven. She nods and decides not to ruin the whole game forever.
Erica eventually leaves her own team and teams up with Alex Karev and Denny Duquette and tries to fill out all the bonus questions before the class time runs out. While Burke starts to be able to move his ankle again Erica is waiting for the teachers to announce the winner. Izzie watches and secretly wants Denny to win even if it's another team because she has a crush on him. She cheers with Erica as they get declared winners and awarded the chocolate hearts.
Izzie offers to admit to the Principal it was her but her friends all say not to because she did it for Denny and she apologizes. They are all questioned separately but on one confesses. The eat their winnings just as the spring prom is coming up. Callie says she loves George but he doesn't say it back.
Denny is going with Izzie of course but Izzie can't pick out a dress so she's late. Addison Montgomery is with Derek and Meredith is with Finn. Christina ducks out to spend time with her boyfriend Burke in the nurse's station. George asks Callie to prom and she says no.
He runs off but when he sees Callie in a pretty dress he kisses her and she kisses her back. Derek dances with Addison and Meredith dances with Finn but pretty soon Derek and Meredith are staring into each other's eyes on the dance floor and end up kissing in the back room and end up caught with lipstick stains by Callie.
Denny runs off crying because he has to transfer schools all the way across the country and never come back. They all say goodbye together sadly and Alex carries her away. Meredith chooses Derek over Finn. And knowing Denny's leaving for good, Izzie confesses to Principal Webber she cheated to beat out Erica for Denny. Izzie decides to beg her parents to transfer schools too and leaves Seattle Grace High.