Again, nothing belongs to me. All to Shonda Rhimes and CO. hope you enjoy the next chapter !
/~*~\
Chapter 2: First day
Alone.
Alone was what he was. Alone protected him and he hated it. He was alone. Part of him thinks it's better this way. Being abandoned and wandering the streets of Seattle by himself, trying to get food. He couldn't contact Derek or Mark for the whole summer in fear of them seeing what he has become.
Owen saw the various messages that Derek and Mark texted him, even some from Addison and Arizona. He had no sudden haste to get back to them. What was the point? He was going to get kicked out of the school anyway, he couldn't pay for tuition next year.
His parents left him, here in Seattle. Alone with nothing except a note saying they're leaving town. He would go back to his house to sleep, cook, bathe but soon it wouldn't be his anymore. He knew his family sold it, indicated from the sold sign in the backyard. He was going in the direction of school but couldn't bring himself to go. He couldn't get past the place where he found her body, sprawled on the floor. Her pale face speaking amplitudes as he tried to push the nauseating feeling that was rising every single time he saw that part of the pavement.
"It's your fault she disappeared!" His father spat at him. "Your fault!"
"How is it Owen's fault?" His mother said, trying to calm her husband down.
"He left before she came out. Now she's gone, I hope they can bring her back! You are my son, brave. But you're a coward". His father's voice was laced with venom as he spat at his son. Owen had never seen his father this furious, but he had a right to do so. "You're coward Owen, you selfish bastard! Is this how you treat this family? I didn't teach you like this. I served this fucking country, I killed with my bare hands. Don't tell me it was anything less than your fault!"
"Stop!" His mother screeched with tears streaming down her face. "Stop."
This was the first time that he's ever heard his father use coarse language at him. Owen felt numb of any emotion, he had looked up and down the city. Running from her friends home to places where his little sister would hangout. But she never came home and Owen didn't wait for her to come out from the school to go home together.
There was a slight knock on the door, and his parents rushed to open it. A policeman stood there, with his hat off. Requesting to come into the house.
Owen was quickly ushered into his room, but he crouched near the stairwell to hear the conversation.
"We found a significant blood loss. It's the same type as your daughter, it had drugs and alcohol in it's system" The policeman stated.
"Do you think she's alive?"
"Without a body there's no definitive proof she's dead, Evelyn"
"I don't mean to be blunt sir, but with the amount of blood lost. It's unlikely she survived." The policeman's voice was mellow, he gave his condolences and left the house. The shock hit Owen to hard, he felt the tears stream down his face and onto the floor. He quickly wiped away and backed into his room. He could hear his mother's distance wails echoing from his room. Owen burrowed his face into his pillow, releasing his cries.
Soon his cries subsided into hiccups then to feeling nothing. His tears were all dried up, and everytime he wanted to cry some more, his tear ducts were too dry for him to do so.
Owen pushed down the memory. It only happened a month and a half ago when he was coming home from the conclusion of Year 10. There was only one to blame, nobody else. Only him, he should have been there to pick his sister up instead of going home by himself. HIs mistake that he would have to live with for the rest of his life.
His life, his stupid worthless life.
He pulled out his phone and decided to finally reply to Derek's texts, his barrage of random assortments of texts. Wondering if he was free or if he wanted to do this. The latest one was asking where he was. Home. He texted and stuffed it into his pocket.
His phone instantly pinged. Home? Why?
Stuff, come. Bring food. Owen texted back, he wanted to be discreet. He needed to be discreet.
Okay. Was Derek's only reply.
And now he waited for Derek's arrival. He knew it was the start of the school day meaning that Derek would come later, hopefully alone. He didn't fancy talking to Mark or Addison.
Now he waits.
/~*~\
Meredith and Cristina awoke to the sun spilling in through the massive windows, calling them to awaken. The day had barely started, they weren't due into class until 8:00 and both of them awoke without alarms plus the fact that it was only 7:00.
"Gross, can you switch off the sun?" Meredith groaned.
"No, can you?"
"No"
Meredith pulled herself up and dragged herself to slide the curtains closed. Cristina was already flipping open one of her textbooks open to read.
"How do you have enough cognitive function to read that in the morning?"
"It wakes me up, i'll get coffee when you wake up cause I don't know where the coffee cart is."
"Urgh okay, I don't think I can go back to bed." Meredith curses before slamming her head down into her pillow. "Dammit sun"
"Are you normally this cranky in the morning?"
"Only when the sun wakes me up."
"Can we go get coffee?"
"Yes."
"Then hurry up then!" Cristina said, throwing a pillow at Meredith.
"Fine, let's please get coffee." Meredith said scrambling up. She grabbed a her hoodie and threw Cristinas hers and headed downstairs to the cafe.
There were some students waiting in line, all dressed in uniform while some were in there pajamas sipping there hot drinks. The both of them lined up, Meredith ordered a mocha latte while Cristina ordered a latte with soya milk.
They sipped there hot beverages as they headed back to there room. The instant rush of caffeine now fueling their body, they were ready for there first day of school. Breakfast was a bore, all they did was grab a piece of bread and some more coffee whilst looking at there timetable."
"Crap, I have economics first" Meredith groaned.
"I have history first." Cristina stated. "It's not bad, the teacher I got. Best history teacher in our school. Who's your econ teacher?"
"Someone named Mr Muhab."
"Oh, tough luck. Not many fancy him here"
I can tell, he doesn't look any good. Wish me luck."
"Yeah you're going to need it. But look on the bright side we have tutor first. Whose yours? I have Bailey. You know her daughter goes here. "
"'The Nazi'? Me too."
"How do you know who the nickname 'The Nazi'?"
"People talk" Meredith shrugged.
"You have 'The Nazi' as a tutor as well?" George said as he slid opposite to the pair of them with Izzie followed closely behind. "So do I, at least we'll be tortured together right?"
Cristina gave a strained smile as she sipped her coffee. Meredith looked at him as she never met him before the memory came back that they met the previous night.
"I'm George O'malley. We met last night. You were wearing the uniform" He managed to stammer out, Cristina looked away as she took sudden interest in the table while Meredith gave him a small smile. "Now you think I'm gay." He muttered.
"Meredith, we should head to tutor, it's nearly time." Cristina says.
"Uh, I-I'm not gay it's just that you were very unforgettable you know" He stammered.
Meredith gave him another smile before following Cristina. She saw George and Izzie follow closely behind. They turned onto the second floor corridor and made there way into their tutors classroom, other students started to stream in as well. The four of them walked in to see about eight other students, sitting separately in there social groups.
They made there way to a back table, waiting for there tutor to come in. A minute later, a short teacher waddled in, slamming her books on the desk.
"That's 'The Nazi'?" Cristina whispered sharply.
"I thought 'The Nazi' would be a guy" George replied quietly
"I thought 'The Nazi' would be a nazi" Meredith quipped.
"Maybe it's professional jealousy. Maybe She is brilliant and they call her 'Nazi' because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice." Izzie stated.
"Let me guess, you must be the model" Cristina mused. Isobel shot her a glare as she sat up straighter at her desk, waiting for there tutor to start talking.
"I have 5 rules, memorise them." She exclaimed loudly. "Rule one: Don't bother sucking up, I already hate you." She said with a glare towards Izzie. "Every coursework goes through me. You'll answer every email from everyone. That's rule number two." She said, looking down her her papers, before looking at the four of them directly. "You're school year starts now and since all of you are transfers you guys are grunts, nobodies. Bottom of this schools food chain. You do all the homework and all the extra work until you drop from sleep deprivation. And DON'T COMPLAIN" She exclaimed loudly. "Tutor rooms, be here during tutor and if you have free period. Which brings me to rule number three If i'm in here teaching or working, don't disturb me."
"Then what's the point of our tutor room?" George whispered, Bailey suddenly looked up and George slouched down trying to avoid her gaze.
"Rule number four: Don't disturb me unless it's an emergency and you better not have plagiarized off some website. Are we clear?" Bailey said with her deadly glare.
Meredith raised up her hand and waited for Bailey to notice. She nodded in irritation, signalling for her to speak. "You said there were five rules. That was only four."
"When you have class, get to class" She said. "Now go! You're already late."
The 4 of them ushered out, pushing out of there tutor room and getting to class. None of them bothered to look back. They weren't even bothered to say goodbye before turning the corner and going to there respective lessons.
Meredith turned to the business and economics floor with George closely behind her, she walked into her classroom, bidding George a slight farewell and saw that the teacher arrived yet. She sat near the front, and in the corner saw Mark and Derek sitting in the corner. Oh boy, this was going to be a long lesson. She thought.
/~*~\
Derek saw her come in, he never figured her as someone who would take economics. He glanced at her, zoning out from the conversation about whatever girl that Mark was talking about. Mark seemed to notice and flipped his head to see what Derek was staring at.
"It's the Grey girl. From Boston"
"Meredith" Derek corrected. "Her name is Meredith."
"Do you like her?"
"No, I don't. I mean she seems cool but not in the way you're thinking" In truth, Derek was finding Meredith weirdly fascinating. She was pretty, there was no denying it. But there was something behind her calm stance and attitude. It was finally something interesting he could delve into.
"Did you get a text from Owen?" Mark asked.
"Yeah I did, he said to go to his home after school. So i'm going to go do that" Derek replied, still looking at Meredith.
"Dude, stop staring it's creepy. Why go to his home?"
Derek broke his gaze away just as the teacher walked in. "I don't know, i'm going after our final period. His house is nearby so it shouldn't be a huge problem."
"Okay, I would ask to go but I have this date with a girl in the year above and I need to score"
"Whatever, you do you" Derek said with an eye roll.
"Okay then."
"Oh god no" Derek said suddenly realising what he said out loud. "Go away, don't do it here. Dirty fucker."
"Literally" He grinned.
"For fuck sake. Shut up, he's talking."
There two hours of class whizzed by, and Derek still didn't learn jack shit from there teacher. He rambled on and on about some random economic example that wasn't relevant to their current unit. And he barely touched on the useful things that was required. He walked out of there first class of the day, more tired than he was to begin the 8 hour day.
"That class was utter bullshit" Mark said, with his bag slouched over his shoulder. "I'm surprised I got as high as I did on the internal."
"Who got higher?" Derek said with a sly grin.
"By a mark Derek, and remember that you got third in our whole year."
"And what did you get Mark Sloan?"
"Fifth but that's okay, I got something extra on the side as well"
"Okay, we don't need to start this." Derek muttered as he walked towards Arizona and Addison.
"How was your first lesson?" Arizona chirped.
"Boring, Muhab is essential a fossil."
"Psychology wasn't any better" Addison grumbled.
"What did you have first period?" Derek asked Arizona. But his older sister seemed distracted, he clicked his fingers in front of his face and saw that her gaze was focused elsewhere. "Ari?"
She quickly snapped back. "W-what?"
"What was your first class?"
"Free period" Arizona said. "Anyway, I have to go grab by Math book from the dorm. I forgot it in the morning." And she left the three friends together.
"What was Arizona looking at?" Mark remarked.
"None of your business." Addison said, flipping through her bag. "What lesson do we have next?"
"English" Mark and Derek said in unison.
"Fuck, I didn't finish reading Oliver Twist." Addison muttered.
"Addie, it's fine. You read more than 3 over the summer."
"Just as well, it was kinda boring."
"At least we're all in the same english class."
"That's just unfortunate." Addison said as she shook her head at the two boys. And he couldn't agree more with her statement. The bell rang overhead as they headed to there english classroom on the fifth floor. He saw the asian and Meredith huddled together, making there way to there english classroom.
Mark looked at his schedule and opened the door for his friends. "You're being awfully unMark today." Addison commented. "Who's the unlucky victim?"
He shrugged, "Someone in the year above."
"Ah, see. It's never without reason"
They walked into the classroom to see Meredith and the asian in there as well along with a brown haired boy and a blond haired girl.
"Mark you have a date." Addison slapped her friend in the arm. "Stop staring at the blond that's near the Meredith Grey girl."
There english teacher suddenly walked in and Derek knew that it was going to be another 4 hours of lessons until he could go see Owen. He hated that all his classes were double period, it was irritating. He wanted to skip the first day and just take the bus to go see Owen and get away from Mark's constant talk of hot girls that Derek had absolutely no interest in.
"Derek? Are you even paying attention?" Addison sharply whispered.
"Yes...no" He replied, dazed.
"What's wrong?"
"Owen, i'm worried about Owen." He muttered.
"Derek? Is there something you would like to add?" their english teacher asked.
"No, nothing. I'm sorry" He replied.
"Then I suggest you be quiet while we analyse these anthology texts." Derek only nodded and the teacher continued to speak contenly. Explaining different analysis techniques. Derek hoped that he could copy off Mark's annotations later, because he couldn't think of a single thing.
Owen. He was worried about Owen.
If only Owen was nothing to worry about, but he was. It wasn't nothing, it was something. A very big something.
/~*~\
"God, it's so annoying. He's in all my classes, i'm not even kidding." Meredith said, clearly frustrated. She had finished her last lesson of the day which was French and for the third time today, she saw Derek in her classes. "Why can't he just go away?"
"You know we can't control timetables or class allocations, you know that right?" George said, as he sat by the windowsill in Meredith and Cristina's room.
"Yes I know that" Meredith snapped. "It's just, it's like this school is trying to make me blow my lid you know?"
"He might not be in your math class you know-" George began before Meredith cut him off.
"Oh to hell if he's in my math class. I might actually disintegrate."
"-or science class for that matter." George said, looking at Meredith. "Who's your science teacher anyway?"
"Mr Williams for Physics, Ms Anders for Chemistry and Mr Nelson for Bio. I hope he's in none of my science classes."
"You'll find out tomorrow then, the weird science rotation things. I have the same teachers as you."
"Yeah so do I" Izzie said perking up. "How about you Cristina?"
"Same teachers" She grumbled. "What science do you have tomorrow?"
"Chemistry" The other three said in unison before looking at each other.
"Fuck I'm in all my sciences with you guys?" She said in a mock complaint tone.
"We're going to be science and english buddies." Izzie said.
"Oh lord, help me" Cristina mumbled. "Tell me when you're going to stop talking about McDreamy and we can start our english annotations." Cristina said, rolling onto her bed.
"McDreamy?" They all asked with raised eyebrows.
"What? You guys are going on about boys and boys, I figured putting on a stupid nickname would make you snap out of it. Obviously not."
"That's never going to happen, Cristina. She's been talking about Der-, I mean, McDreamy for about 30 minutes now and she doesn't look like shes stopping any time soon." Izzie mused with a small laugh. "Besides it's not due until Friday, we have time."
"Yeah but I want to read my other books, rather do this quick and dirty."
"Is that your preference?" Izzie asked.
"What?"
"Quick and dirty" Izzie repeated.
"No, still a virgin. What the fuck, where you come from people lose it at 15?"
"Welcome to Washington." She smiled. "Haven't lost mine yet, still waiting for the right guy."
"At this rate, the amount of times he was just staring at me. I don't think i'm virgin anymore, the eye sex is just-"
"-Stupid" Cristina interrupted. "Now can we do our english?"
"Yes we can" George said, pulling out his book and lying on the floor. "Meredith come on,"
"Fine" She grumbled, laying on the wooden floor.
"Why do it on the floor when you have the bed?" Cristina stated, starting to annotate her work.
George and Meredith shrugged whilst Izzie pulled out the chair for the desk. "If you complain about back pain tomorrow, don't bitch to me"
"Don't bitch to me too." Cristina said, not looking up from her work.
"Fine" George and Meredith said in unison as they sprawled on the floor with a rainbow of highlighters besides them.
/~*~\
As soon as the bell rang, Derek rushed out of the French classroom. Trying to ignore the countless looks he was getting from everybody else, he scrambled upstairs to change out of his uncomfortably tight uniform into something more comfy.
"What are you doing?" Addison asked as she burst into the dorm. "Running off before the teacher handed out homework. Are you trying to get in trouble?"
"You know i'm not Addie, i'm going to go see Owen." Derek explained. "He asked me to meet him at his house but curfew is at 6:30 and you know how the teachers feel when we leave the school grounds."
"God Derek, you could have told us." Addison said, "Here's the French worksheet by the way" Placing the french worksheet on his desk. "I've been meaning to ask you…?"
"I'm not in the mood Addison, what is it though?"
"Are we okay?" she asked, slightly hesitant but Derek interrupted her, knowing that he'd have no time to check on his younger sisters. His jumbled up words made its way into a coherent sentence, somehow.
"Can you ask Ari to check on Amelia, Liz and April?" Derek asked as he shoved his wallet and some food into his bag. "I'll be back before curfew and hopefully with Owen-"
"You still haven't answered my question." she cut in. "I'm also coming with you"
"-you need to tell Arizona. But you can't tell her why, the minute she worries all things turn to shit… you're not coming with me" He said in a low voice. "You're not coming with me Addison."
"He's my friend too Derek."
"I know, precisely why you're not going. Just stay here, i'll be back. He asked me to come, and I suspect alone. I'll text you when i'm there okay?"
"You still haven't answered my question."
"What question?"
"Are we okay?"
"Yes, okay we're fine. I think. Just stay here okay?"
"Fine, but stay safe."
"I will Addie" Derek said, he hesitated slightly. "I will" He gave her a reassuring smile and left his dorm room, running down the stairs to get to the bus stop. He was about to dash out before the receptionist called him back inside, demanding to see his student card and registering that he was leaving campus.
"Note that you have to be back before 6:30" She said, handing him a piece of paper authorising him off campus.
"Yeah okay, thanks" He said, his words scrambled in the haste he was trying to get out the school. He caught the bus as it was rolling out from the station, he scrambled aboard and waited until he arrived back into the city of Seattle. The school and the city weren't far, a 30 minute drive maximum. He could see Owen's home creeping up, and he pushed the button- asking it to stop- and he got off. There was a red sign saying 'FOR SALE' in his front yard, which got Derek puzzled.
He knocked on the door, waiting for Owen to come or at least his parents to come answer the door. A minute later, Owen came to open it. He looked much dirtier in comparison to the last time he saw him. He looked scruffier, messier and somehow buffer. The eyebags under his eyes were unmistakable, but he still looked reasonably well.
"Owen, what is going on?"
"Nice to see you too Derek, come in."
"Sorry it's just you haven't been replying my texts or my calls. And you look like shit and there's the sign outside saying-"
"'For sale'. I know." He said gruffly. " A lot has happened, my parents lease expired on the house. They just put the sign up."
"Where are your parents by the way?"
"Gone, they left." Owen replied, his voice growing hard at the memory.
"Okay yeah, i'm not following, start from the beginning… If you can, if you can't then… I have some food"
"Food's good." He sighed taking the some of the food that Derek brought. "Megan...Megan's dead."
Derek tried to control his shock but his face betrayed him, morphing from shock into sadness. He knew about her problems, they were real; too real.
"She's gone" Owen choked back a sob "She disappeared first. Then they found her blood then her body with cuts on her arms. She was coming home, they found her body so near our home." Owen said in a hoarse whisper, his voice mellow now. He could feel the tears starting to form, he pushed them back and forged on. "Then one day, they asked me if I wanted to leave. They were all packed, they said they were leaving but I didn't think it was real. So I stayed and I came back from the grocery store, they were gone. Except a note on my bed." There was something tugging at his mind, he excluded things from his brief summer of how his life turned to shit in 2 months.
'No, he will not know.' The voice in his head said. And Owen agreed.
They sat in silence, Derek tried to take the whole story in. He couldn't believe that Owen's parents would just leave him. Drop everything and leave, it wasn't like that. He had his fair share of a parent running away, but not to this extent.
"Owen, i'm so sorry."
"I hate that I get why they left, because of her. I still feel her ghost haunting me, staying with me. It was my fault that she did it, Derek" Owen said, his tears streaming down his face now. "It was all my fault, if I was there… if I was there she wouldn't-" He choked back a sob as Derek tried to think of a way to comfort his friend.
"Owen, it's not your fault. Okay? It isn't."
"That's why I haven't been answering your texts or calls. I didn't know how i'd say that I can't go to school anymore. How my parents jump ship and left me. I still have this year, and then i'm gone from Seattle Grace."
"You could always get a scholarship, you're smart enough for that." Derek knew it to be true. He, Owen and Mark got top 5 in there year. It certainly wouldn't be difficult for him to get it but whether or not he's willing to come back to school and get the scholarship was another thing.
"I want to go back, Derek. I really do." Owen said quietly.
"I know you do, we can go now."
"Maybe"
"Or we can just sit here and then go. But curfew is at 6:30."
"Huh, did you come all the way here to drag me back to school." Owen said, giving him a small smile. His tears still haven't quiet dried yet. For the whole summer he tried to come to terms with the fact that he was alone, with no family left. And it left his heart empty of anything, there's a void that needed to be filled in. When his parents decide to pack up their belongings and leave, they packed his heart away, robbing him of any chance to become happy.
"Maybe… they all miss you Owen. They might be assholes but they all miss you."
"They're not all assholes" Owen said looking over, to see Derek's shallow look. "Okay maybe some of them."
"There are 5 transfers this year."
"That many? I've never had a year 11 class with 5 transfer, it's never been heard of."
"Tell me about it, there's this one girl. She's very pretty."
"Prettier than Addie?" Owen smirked, it was nice to have a friend around.
"I think so." Derek agreed, "I think she is…i'm sorry about Megan. She didn't deserve it but you… you don't deserve this either."
Owen stayed quiet, he had nothing to say. His sister was dead and his family was gone. There was nothing to say or do. "I'm sorry about Megan too." His voice came out hoarse, ragged.
"Come home Owen…" Derek said softly. "Come home."
Home
Owen didn't have a home, this used to be his home where his family was. But it broke apart, like he was. This wasn't his home anymore, deep down he knew it was never his home. Between his family and himself, his home was where his friends were. Home was where he belonged, and he wasn't there.
"Home…" He repeated. The word didn't seem to fit, it seemed unusual and abnormal.
"Yes, home"
"Yes, i'll come home." Owen said, looking up. "I'll come home."
/~*~\
He found himself walking back to the bus stop with the sun starting to descend. The colours starting to seep in as they got onto the bus. They were distance apart in a comfortable silence. Derek was still trying to process the information that Owen had told him, how his sister had died and how Owen was, essentially, homeless. After a few stops they arrived at school, with Owen's limited number of bags around each other there shoulders.
Walking into the building should have made any student feel terrible, but to, Owen it was relief. He saw the sky grow dark as the sun started to fall asleep, ready to retire for the night.
"Ready?"
"Ready" Owen said, as his grip on his bags tightened as he walked past the threshold to get to school.
"Come on, let's go. You're dorming with me this year." Derek said with a smile.
Owen felt himself light up, no more random people to dorm with. "You couldn't have told me this sooner right?"
"And ruin the fun? No way."
"Cruel man. Whose Mark bunking with?"
"Preston Burke" Derek responded. "He's going to have a thrilling time with him. He barely talks and he studies 24/7."
"I want to see Mark attempting to sleep with someone while Burke's in the room." Owen smirked.
"At least I can get real sleep this year" Derek said, as they walked up to there dormitory. "You know I heard he's actually a pretty arrogant ass."
"He's might be arrogant but you can't deny that he's smart. Top of our year for 3 years now." Owen said with an exasperated sigh. "And it's always by miles."
"I mean, internals were just bad. He beat me by 3 marks in our physics." Derek said. "And I don't even want to get started with bio." Derek was complaining now and it felt good to rant about something with Owen.
"They're just internals" Owen said, as Derek opened the door. It was a clean room, finally, and Owen had the bed near the window like he'd always liked.
"Welcome home Owen" Derek said softly. He saw his friend exhale slowly, looking around at the room. This was probably the cleanest room that he's been in for months and it occurred to Owen that this would be the last time where he could see Owen in such amazement. He heard his bag plop down onto the floor and the squeaking of the mattress.
"It's… home" Owen whispered. He hadn't had this luxury after his parents left, he would clean and cook but never to the cleanest state.
"Get cleaned up, we have dinner in an hour."
"Home" Owen whispered. "I'm home"
"Owen?" Derek asked, lightly touching his friends shoulder.
"Y-yeah?"
"You okay?"
"Yes, I think so" Owen observed. "God it's nice being back."
"You've only been back for less than an hour, wait until we get into classes tomorrow."
"I'll be thrilled to be back" Owen confessed. "Hey Derek, can you come with me tomorrow? To see the principle. I need to see what requirements I need to get the scholarship."
"Always, Hunt"
"Much thanks, Shepherd"
/~*~\
"I swear, I might actually lose my shit if he's in my math class tomorrow" Meredith said.
"Yes we know!" The other three said in unison. They've been hearing Meredith rant about McDreamy longer than it took them to complete there annotations for english.
"Meredith, can you just stop and think about it. You've been going on and on about him or whatever but just think about it. Do you think he's going to be in your math class?"
"He was top 5 in his year group last year. And i'm doing higher level math-"
"Everybody is doing higher level math" Izzie frowned. "What class are you in? Early entry?"
"I'm in early entry." Meredith said.
"Well so are me and George. How about you Cristina?"
"I am as well, I swear if we're in the same class as you guys for math I might actually need to move states again" She sarcastically remarked. "So teacher? I have Mr Stroustrup."
"Same" Said George and Izzie. "How about you Meredith?"
"Same teacher."
"God, I can't escape you guys" groaned Cristina.
"Do you have a heart?" Izzie asked. "Are you so cold all the time?"
"I'm cold because the aircon is on full blast and it's at 16 degrees in here. I'm talking celcius here not fahrenheit"
"Oh forget I said anything" Izzie mumbled, her annoyance with the asian dissolves slightly. "On the flip side, Meredith. If he is in your class we'll be there so if he gives you the 'sex eyes' we'll stare him down."
"Uh huh" Meredith said. "Thanks guys."
"Yeah, yeah sure." Cristina mused, finally getting up from the bed. "Should we head to dinner or sit here and yap about a boy?"
"Dinner sounds good" Meredith said, getting up. "We're in the cafeteria right?"
"Mhm" George responded. "Hall is only for formal dinners"
As they headed down for dinner, Meredith prayed to herself that she wouldn't see Derek. She quickly grabbed a plate and headed towards the food with Cristina, Izzie and George. Meredith could see Alex in the distance, talking with a redhead. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. They quickly got there meals and found an area near the back of the cafeteria to eat.
"You know you're going to have to come to terms that in fact that you're going to see him around." George pointed out while stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth.
"I mean he does have a point" Cristina said, stabbing her greens.
"Do you have to be so violent with your food?" Izzie asked in slight dismay.
"Yes' Cristina threw back. Her nonchalant attitude was starting to get on the nerves of Izzie, it wasn't though she wasn't smart but she just seemed so robotic.
"Didn't your parents teach you manner?" She asked, glaring. "Cause I think they should, you'll need them or maybe you were just a troubled child and they couldn't"
Cristina stopped eating, everything around her seemed to stop. Don't cry, you absolute idiot. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears, the blond in front was talking but Cristina couldn't register it. She felt blood flow from her head and expected it to drip, she reached up to touch it but there was nothing.
Dammit Izzie Stevens, Cristina cursed.
"Cristina? What's going on?" Meredith asked, slightly shaking her. "Why are you touching your head?"
That seemed to be enough for Cristina to snap out of her dazed state. "Just…leave me alone." She said, getting up from the table. She needed to be alone and she knew she had eyes on her as she ran from the cafeteria. She just needed to think, away from everybody.
Her arms snaked around her body as she walked out, trying to ignore the piercing stares she was getting from everybody. She felt herself bump into somebody else, turning around she hurriedly apologized, she didn't even bother looking up. "Sorry." She mumbled out before turning the corner and up the flight of stairs. Don't cry, she urged herself. She felt the careful demeanor that she put up slowly breaking away. In truth she couldn't believe something as easy as the word 'Parents' could make her feel like she's back there again. Pushing down any ounce of emotion she had, she can't… she won't go through this again. The pity, the sympathy. No, not again.
Not again.
/~*~\
"How is he Mark? Any good small talk?" Owen asked as he descended the flight of stairs to go to the cafeteria.
"God, Hunt. Don't even get me started on him. He doesn't talk or respond to small talk and if i'm doing my work he comes over and correct me." Mark grumbled. "I have no idea how i'm going to tolerate him for an entire year."
"I would volunteer myself, but I have a good roommate this year."
"Lucky bastard Hunt"
"More like lucky me" Derek quipped, "I don't have to deal with your late night endeavours with woman."
"Whatever, i'll just talk to the wall to prevent myself from losing my sanity"
The 3 of them got closer to the door of the cafeteria, they were supposed to meet the rest of their friends here. Owen was more than excited as he walked towards the door, before colliding with another person. She was quick to rush out, he could hear her apology as she walked at a fast pace towards the direction of the dorms. Her ebony curls cascading down her shoulder, Owen didn't catch a face. "Who was that?"
"One of the transfers I think. Uhm, Cristina Yang, if I remember correctly from the register during english."
"Yeah it's Yang." Mark agreed.
"Huh" was Owen's only response.
They got into the cafeteria and went straight for the dinner line before spotting there friends in the corner of the room.
"Owen!" Addison and Arizona called out, shuffling over to provide space for the 3 boys.
"Hey Addie, Ari. How are you?" Owen asked politely. "Where's Teddy and Callie?"
"I'm fine thanks, Teddy and Callie have a meeting. Teddy for student council and Callie has one for the 'advocation of human rights'" Addie responded. "How about you?"
"I'm… fine, I guess" Owen knew he had to keep it vague, he didn't need his whole friend circle to know about his… sister.
"Where's Megan? Is she coming back too? We've been told that she's on temporary leave." Arizona asked. Owen felt the tears brimming but pushed the feeling down. He felt his fingernails dig into his palm to prevent himself from doing anything stupid.
"She's… she's on leave. I think she's moving schools" Owen struggled with his words. He could feel Derek's stares as he responded to Arizona's question.
"Oh, shame. Amelia was asking for her." Arizona chirply responded "Hope she's doing well."
"Yeah, I hope so too…" Owen shoved a few pieces of vegetables into his mouth. Trying to distract himself from the phantom pain that seemed to be creeping over his body.
"So… " Derek began, trying to break the awkwardness that seemed to encapsulate the table. "Anything interesting?"
"No, nothing interesting about iB" Arizona said. "Higher level bio is fun though."
"Higher level bio is fun" Nancy agreed. "But i'm not thrilled with taking higher level spanish."
"Why didn't you just take standard level?" Derek asked
"Cause, I don't want to take higher level physics" Nancy quipped.
"Stop complaining then" responded Derek.
"I saw a girl today, In your year Nancy" Interrupted Mark.
"Do tell Mark Sloan, the resident whore" Nancy said, leaning forward. Owen wasn't all that interested in gossip but if it was about Mark Sloan and his string of woman, Owen would always slightly interested. He started describing a girl with black hair, before Owen drifted out of the conversation. His thoughts jumped to the girl that bumped into him while she was making her way out of the cafeteria. He wondered what would make someone rush out in a quick haste, without looking back when speaking to someone. Before his mind could elaborate, he pushed the thought down and realised that his friends were making a small toast, with soda, that they were all back at Seattle Grace. In one piece, even if he was so close to breaking.
This was his home, with his friends. And nothing could replace that.