Hi guys, uhm sorry for the delay of posting this chapter. I've been swarmed with school work, especially with my mock exams coming up. I'll do my best to update but it might be quite inconsistent. uhm probably not every week, maybe every two weeks? let's see. Burke has never been my favourite charecters on greys, i never liked him so hopefully my interpretations okay, hopefully he doesn't come off as an absolute douches. if it would be alright to have some feedback on Burke and this chapter on a whole. aside from that, hopefully everybody well and here's chapter 5 of Boarded In !
Also slight PSA (not really), I know in America they do AP's and SATS but I thought i'd stick to something closer to home, so I chose GCSE's and iB instead. but in my school we also do PSATs and SATs so yeah. aside from that, hopefully you don't hate this chapter !
Yet again, Grey's Anatomy belongs to Shonda. Co. not me, duh.
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Owen always thought that life, in school at least, would get bored for him. That has yet to happen. He was still waiting to be bored of the classes and of his friends, he was still waiting for it but that was yet to happen.
But he never thought he would lose all of his family in one day, everything that was built up to stay. All the expectations and empty promises, saying that family would be everything he needed. It was wrong, it was so so wrong.
Everyday was a drag, a fight to get out of bed and attend classes. Don't get him wrong, he was still getting pretty good marks but they could have been much better. It was easy for him to talk to Cristina about it, she understood. And even though all of them had a pretty fucked up past, she got him more than Derek or Mark could ever. Only Derek and Cristina knew, only them.
Derek treated him as if he was fragile. Cristina… well, she treated him like she would treat anyone else. Unless they were alone, they could talk in peace about their struggles and demonic thoughts that ate away at there sanity. It was mutual, she was good, loyal, something Owen didn't have often.
School was school, not hard but certainly not easy. The people he expected to excel, exceled and he was yet again at the sidelines watching everybody succeed except him. But he couldn't be anyone else but him and for the first time… it sucked. He did good in school, nobody could deny it. He joined a bunch of sports teams- baseball, rugby, athletics- it was in his nature to go out and play, whatever it may be.
He gave out a defeated sigh as he pulled away from his laptop, away from the essay he had to write for english. They were barely halfway through the term and already everyday was a battle of whether or not they could finish their work. GCSE was in the bag, no problem but the teachers were already starting to throw in concept that they would only learn in iB and being in the top classes, it wasn't helping the intense pressure of delivering every single piece of coursework or homework.
"You know, you could take it easy. Remember what Dr. Webber said about the scholarship, you could probably get it for next year. You get pretty good grades anyway" Derek said, walking into the room to see a defeated Owen at his desk.
"I don't want to probably get it, I want to definitively get it." he gave a low growl.
"Okay, that's fine. No need to get aggressive." Derek chucked, "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Yang's starting to revise with Burke in the library, Mark is relieved. He gets the room for himself to do, god knows what, activities." Derek shuddered at the thought of the last sentence. "No fifteen year old should be doing that"
"He's a year older than us, relatively. He was born in 2002, we're born in 2003." Owen pointed out. "But him being Mark" He gave a slight disgusted grin. "I don't want to think of it." Then it hit him: Yang and Burke? "Wait, Yang and Burke are studying together?"
"Yeah you heard me, in the library for at least 2 and a half hours every other day. Slightly shocking to see Preston Burke outside of his room aside from class and dinner. He's become bolder, the rumours are true. That man is an arrogant piece of shit. Did you see him in Bio?"
"How could I forget" Owen scoffed. "'Oh yeah DNA contains a genetic code and proteins are made by reading the code in the DNA. Protein synthesis' blah blah" he mocked, making a face. "He's saying it like nobody knows it"
"I didn't know it" Derek mumbled, "But I did see it on our syllabus."
"Sometimes he's an absolute star but sometimes he's just an-"
"-ass." Derek finished off. "Yeah I know. But goddammit, he's smart. It's not like we're not good at Bio either. He's just way, way better than us."
"We should try and be friends with him, to get his notes." smirked Owen. "That is the type of cheating that is condoned."
"Both of us are competing for top of the class, there is no way we're going to be exchanging notes" exclaimed Derek.
"How do you know you're top of the class?"
"I've been told that we're frontrunner for top of the class for this science test. Ms Ali told me." Derek shrugged. "Beats being third in the entire year though."
"I'll take third, I'm always fourth or… fifth." Owen stated before forcible shutting his laptop "I can't do my work, can we go down for dinner?"
"Yeah sure"
"Have you had a chance to talk to Meredith?" Owen asked as he threw on his hoodie. Autumn was slowly creeping into Seattle, with subtly as it always did.
"No I haven't actually, none of Mark's advances are working and it's been three and a half weeks." Derek sighed in resignation.
"I could distract Cristina if you want." offered Owen.
"You're friends with Yang?" Derek asked, slightly taken aback. Cristina Yang was not someone you'd expect with friends. She was brutally honest, sometimes to an almost inhumane extent. That last thing Derek would think would be that Owen was acquainted with her.
"We talk" shrugged Owen. "She's not as bad as you think."
"She's pretty reserved, although I guess I don't know her well."
You don't, you don't know her at all. Owen thought, but didn't bother saying it aloud. Derek wouldn't have got it anyway. "Mhm, I can talk to her during dinner if they're alone."
"Sure, whatever. Thanks Owen."
"What's Owen doing?" Mark said, walking up to the pair of them.
"Talking to Cristina Yang so I can talk to Meredith." Derek informed Mark. "Something that you still haven't achieved."
"I can do it, watch me tonight. I can do it." Mark said, a look of determination washed over his face,"I can do it."
"You know, I can just talk to her. You can drop the charade." Owen replied with a curved lips.
"There is no charade, Owen. I can get her away from his precious Meredith."
"She is not- she's my 'precious Meredith'" Derek protested. "Fuck off Mark, at least i'm not sleeping around."
"Sure Derek, you look at her as if you're Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. You can't stop looking at her, and Addie isn't happy about it."
"Addie is… what?" Derek said, reeling back. "She said she didn't like me, what is she on about?"
"I don't know man but you better solve it soon. She's been ranting tooth and nail about it"
"Did you sleep with her?" Owen blurted. He was curious every since Derek told him that Addison didn't like Derek anymore. The tension between them was there, everybody could feel it within a 1 mile radius of the pair. "Actually, don't answer that. I don't think I want to know."
"Yes I did actually," Mark grinned proudly. "Apparently I'm her first."
"... okay gross. I don't need to know, forget I ever asked." Owen said, gagging as he walked down the stairs.
Derek suddenly withdrew from the both of them, standing at the foot of the staircase, his shocked expression painted all over. She what? He could feel his entire being sinking into his stomach, this was Addison he was talking about. She wouldn't- she wouldn't claim such a thing, let alone sleep with Mark, out of all the people she could sleep with. "She what? She claimed what?" Derek's voice was barely above a hoarse whisper. It was like the feeling when he knew he was going to get subpar on a test, he knew it. The intense feeling that slowly crept his way up his throat, choking the words out of him- essentially making him inaudible.
"Woah Derek, I'm just joking. Although she did say that… are you okay? You look slightly pale" Mark said.
"Derek? Talk to me buddy, you need to breathe." Owen had no clue what was going on with him, actually he did know. It was about Addison and Mark.
"Oh god Derek, are you okay?" A girl voice came shrilling in, it was Addison.
"Addison, do me a favour right now and just leave Derek alone. Or at least get him a glass of water then go away because I don't think you being here is the best for him at the moment." Owen said in a stern voice.
"W-what?" She asked, "Owen, he's as much of a friend to you as he is to me."
"Actually scratch that, just go" Addison protested trying to get to Derek but Owen stood in the way of the both of them "No Addison, now. I need you to leave now." his tone was blunt, commanding. "Mark get her out of here."
Mark looked as shocked as Addison but quickly regained his sense, "Come on Addison, let's go."
"No Mark, I'm not going to leave him. Look at him, he's pale and shaking-"
"And the last thing you want to worry about right now, he doesn't need you down there okay. Just come with me, it's fine." Mark said, tugging on her arm. He felt guilty of course, he could see Derek's expression morph when he said those words. He knew about Derek's fixation with Addison for about a year and a half, it wasn't old news. It was constant teasing material between him and Owen. "I'm sorry Derek."
"Mark, just get her out of here and I'll get Derek to an empty classroom." Owen said, "Derek, come on. Let's go."
Derek's legs felt like they were matches, thin and disposable as he walked with Owen to the nearest empty classroom. He should have expected an answer, he was trying to get on with his life and not get caught up about a girl he still saw and cared about. Addison was like a sister, she was family in his family of sisters. And now he was suffering because of his own incompetence of acting the feelings he felt towards her.
"Derek, listen, you need to be strong. Okay? You got this, Addison has nothing on you anymore. Not after Meredith."
"Yeah I know, just caught me by surprise" said Derek in a low voice, he never figured that Mark and Addison would sleep together so soon after… they did.
"Tell me about it, i'm sorry about Mark though. He was being an utter ass."
"I mean you asked," he laughed lightly, he was attempting a joke to show Owen he was okay. He felt okay as the dreading feeling recedes back into his body. "Look, i'm fine. I didn't expect them to sleep together not after… "
"Oh. My. God. You guys did it, didn't you?" Owen asked gobsmacked. Never in a million years would he expect Derek to lose it this early. I mean he was popular, girls crowded for him and his infamous hair that didn't need any product, but Owen would have never suspected that Derek Shepherd lost his virginity at fifteen.
Derek slowly nodded, closing his eyes. "It was quick then she told me she didn't feel the same way about me… that she liked Mark."
"I'm so sorry Derek" Owen paused, wondering how far to push it. "I mean, it was your first time was it her… ?" He asked, putting a hand on Derek's shoulder.
"I think so, she doesn't strike me as someone with lovers or be coupled up. I don't fucking know at this point." Derek sighed
"I don't think any of us do, honestly. I mean how are you even functioning?"
"How are you even functioning?" Derek asked, Owen went through way more than the girl drama he was going through. So much more than he ever wanted to experience, even with his Dad's death and subsequent revelation of his infidelity that brought April to life, he never thought it was traumatic. He wasn't close to his dad, he was there for Derek but it was always his mom and five sisters.
"I don't know, put one foot in front of the other. Wake up, do everything and pray like hell it goes away." Owen knew better, he was throwing words out. He didn't know how he did it everyday, it still made his chest heave every single time he thought about her or if someone mentioned her. It was hard to go around and experience that on a day to day level. He hated how vulnerable he's become, how fragile. How, sometimes he couldn't even go to bed because of the memories that drove him from his sleep. He'd spend days awake, on his laptop while Derek would be sound asleep, hoping that every noise he made didn't wake his roomate up. It wasn't helping that Derek was a light sleeper but he normally made as little noise as possible, it was the least he could do to prevent him from waking up and tending to his everlasting needs. Owen knew that if Derek knew that he couldn't sleep it would be straight to a resolution to help solve the problem. Owen didn't need a solution, he needed peace after everything that has happened.
"You're lying" Derek accused, looking straight at Owen's blue eyes. "I've known you long enough to know when you lie."
"I'm not lying, it's what I do. If it doesn't work for you then so be it. You need to find a way" He lied through gritted teeth. "I'm not lying Derek, and whatever is going on with you and Addison, resolve it."
"I thought we were okay actually, she asked and I replied; saying we were okay… but I'm not okay. Not after this." He gave a cold laugh, devoid of any emotion he was feeling. "She has the nerve to want me back, what a conceited bitch."
"Maybe she's confused or maybe she does like you." Owen said pointedly, "But you know, I loved how she ran at you, insisting that she help you. That was kinda funny, I won't deny it."
"That was funny wasn't it" Derek said, giving a small grin. Whatever was going to happen, he was going to be okay. "I'll be okay, Owen. I don't cry over petty drama or mourn over the loss of my masculinity. I'm on the fucking baseball team, I'm can get over her easy."
"You're on the baseball team Derek, and a damn good player at that. Get over her, find someone you actually deserve… like Meredith."
"Meredith," he repeated. "That sound good."
"It does doesn't it" Owen smiled, "I, now, need to start thinking of ship names."
"Don't you dare" Derek threatened with a smile.
"Oh I will," Owen chuckled.
"Thank you Owen, it means a lot" Derek said, giving him a sincere look.
"Anytime, Derek. Anytime"
[]
Meredith saw as Derek froze at the foot of the staircase from whatever Mark and Owen said, she couldn't hear it nor could she hear her friends talking about anything else. They were talking about some sort of new movie that came out recently or something along those lines, Meredith zoned out the minute she saw Derek coming down from the stairs.
You see, she doesn't normally believe in love. Love was always scarce in her household, it destroyed her family (or her moms surgical ambitions) but in the end, Meredith never believed in it. It was too far fetched, yet now she was sitting and staring at a boy with magical esque hair.
"Meredith?" Cristina snapped her fingers in front of her friends face, "Are you even listening to us?" She followed her gaze and saw the Shepherds "Oh, for the love of-, Meredith!"
"What's she looking at?" Izzie asked, tilting her head to match Meredith's gaze before giving Cristina a audible "Oh" indicating that she's seeing what Meredith was seeing.
"What, what is it?" George said, "Which way? What is she looking at?"
"Derek, freaking, Shepherd." Cristina replied, her gaze lingered as she saw Owen haul him up and away from view. She had him as a friend, it was easy to talk to him without judgement. Nobody really took notice of there friendship, it wasn't all too particular. Talking late into the night or early morning, she didn't find it difficult to talk to Owen Hunt.
"Meredith?" George said, snapping his fingers in front and she snapped away from her gaze.
"What?" She snapped, breaking her gaze. "I wasn't looking at anything." she flushed pink as her friends rolled her eyes at her. "Okay, maybe I was looking at something."
"More like someone" Izzie mumbled. "I wonder what happened though.
"Apparently, Addison lost 'it'" Alex said, stumbling in the chair next to them. They all rolled there eyes towards the new member, he had, unfortunately, joined in there tutor group of transfer. And now they all had the delight of being acquaintances with Alex Karev.
"To who?" Izzie asked, suddenly turning her attention to Alex
"How do you know this?" Meredith said at the same time, turning back to the group.
"Who cares how he knows, why the fuck is he here?" George quipped. Out of everything, he wasn't a fan of Alex Karev. Ignorant asshole who seemed to think he knew everything, he had started to mellow out but he was still the incompetent ass that nobody really liked.
"Glad to see you too O'Malley," Alex retorted, "Sloan was bragging big time about it in the common room which you would know if you go there. I mean where else do you guys hang out?"
"That's none of your business, evil spawn." Cristina said, poking her vegetables with the metal cutlery.
"Scared I might intrude?" he replied, with a laugh.
"No we just don't want your presence," Cristina said bluntly. "I think we're done with dinner, I'm going to go study a bit in the library with Burke."
"You've been studying with Burke a lot, care to give us an insight to what he's like?" Izzie voiced. "Anything going on between the two of you?
"He's smart and I study with him. That's all that happens." Cristina replied. Geez, if this is what's it's like if I study with someone, what would they think of me and Owen talking together? She thought before getting up with her tray. "I'll see you guys later."
"See you guys where?" Alex said with a slight snark in his voice.
"Shut up Alex" Meredith and George voiced in unison.
Cristina gave a small smile to herself as she heard her friends bicker about Alex, they were coming up on half-term soon but before that, the science test results would be revealed. She was excited, of course she was, it was time to prove her worth. She turned the corner to see if Owen was around, but he had probably went up already and with Derek, of course.
"Hey" a voice came behind and she jumped, turning around with her fists in a ball, ready to hit the person behind. "Woah, it's me."
"Don't do that" she scolded before giving him a smile. "I saw the fiasco with Derek, Meredith looked very concerned and lovey dovey… I might be a tad bit concerned for her mental health."
"I'm very concerned with Derek's at the moment," Owen shook his head, "He's insiting he's fine but-"
"-when people say they're fine they're rarely every fine, yeah I get it." She cut in, finishing his sentence.
"We are two very good but grim examples of that" he smiled at her. "I heard you're shacking up with Burke."
"I am not shacking up with Burke, I am studying" She replied, rolling her eyes to the back of her head."Who told you?"
"Mark, he's happy you know. Burke's out of his room for a while and he can do whatever he wants" Owen gave her a suggestive eyebrow raise and she immediately got the implications of what he was saying.
"Okay, gross I don't need to know the resident whore's sex schedule" she said reeling back slightly before hitting him in the shoulder playfully.
He gave a heartful laugh as she kept his eyes on her, her curly black hair trailing down her face and how her smile lit everything up. "So you and Burke?"
"Yeah we study together, big deal. I study with them as well but you know if you want to get the highest marks you learn from the best" she smiled slightly at him, "I'm actually going now, so I'll catch you later?"
"I have to deal with Derek, maybe" he shrugged, he didn't deny that Burke and Cristina studying together bothered him, only because he was told the man in question was an absolute egotistical jackass.
"See you stranger," and walked into the direction of the library. The librarian didn't look shocked at all as Cristina strode in with her books and laptop, heading in the direction of the back of the library. Burke was already there, delving into an iB biology book. She admired him for his perseverance at studying, not allowing any distractions to bother him, he fought forward taking everything he knew into his test. And it showed as well, top of the class in his year for three years, it was a Seattle Grace milestone. People who got top in the class only got it once, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and getting it three years in a row was mind boggling to Cristina.
"Cristina" he greeted, his mellow voice snapping out of his thoughts. Before he met Cristina, he had essentially no social life, the Shepherds were out of his league and way too atrocious for his liking. They were loud, intense and smart but not as smart as him. It was easy to beat them in test, even the smartest among them- Derek Shepherd and Addison Montgomery- were easy enough to knock down. Derek, never a challenge but Addison was more of a challenge but in the end he'd one up. But… Cristina was something, she was smart, there was no denying it. She had a fire that couldn't be quelled and she always, always found a way to solve almost everything. Burke would watch her study the syllabus as she would re-read the material then rephrase it and, if needed, ask the necessary questions. Her dedication and fire was unmatched, it reminded him of himself and another (kinda) friend of his, Erica Hahn but she left three years ago.
"Preston," she greeted back, setting her books down and flipping open her chemistry book.
"What are you studying?"
"Organic chemistry, studying ahead but it's pretty easy so I'm not too worried." she shrugged and went back to writing her notes.
"What is it, that we're doing here?" he suddenly asked, looking up from his book. He didn't know what this relationship was, study buddies? Friends? This had been going on for weeks, where he would just meet her, there would be no dialogue just writing in books and quizzing each other. It was infuriating, he wanted it to be more. Friends maybe.
"You need a definition?" She scoffed slightly, why is he asking this?
"I don't know what this is, Cristina. Tell me, what is it to you?" he asked,
"I don't know, what are we doing now? We're studying so study friends?"
"Are we though? Shouldn't this garner more than friends Cristina? We see each other more than three times a week just studying. Why me out of everybody?" He asked, leaning forward. She slouched back, he knew the answers to his questions but he needed her to answer them. He needed the answer to come out of her mouth to solidify what he thought was the answer.
"Cause you're smart, top of your class" she failed to put in the fact that she had always admired just perseverance with his work. She read his essays, his investigations. Everything, it was all there, she wanted to be him.
"I don't think I can only be smart for you, I need to be something else. Not just 'smart' or 'intelligent'."
"What do you want then?" She asked, tilting her head.
"You."
"W-what?" she stuttered out, this can't be happening. He can't be seriously implying this. "Why me?"
"You're smart and you complete me. You're everything and at the same time nothing, all you do is study."
"I am something, I am something" she said, cracking her book shut. Her phone flashed slighting, a text. She quickly checked to see who it was, it was Meredith.
Burke grabbed her phone from her and threw it to the side, out of the way. "You study, you're smart. Like me. You're exactly like me except I'm smarter than you, that's the only difference between us."
"Give me back my phone" she said in a low voice, she began packing up her things. "I'm not an item for you to keep."
"Then don't study with me, if you don't want to be friends then don't expect a study partner." He shoved his books into his bag. "It's simple, you want to be the best. But best is out of reach for you, because it's mine. But no reason for you not to be second best."
She ignored every warning sign that was flashing in her head, this was possessive, this was bad but he was right. She wanted to be the best, she was trying to be the best and she couldn't do it without Burke's help. "Fine, friends."
He handed her phone back, with a slight grin on his face. It was victory, one for him and zero to her. He needed someone and finally that someone was here for him, "Okay, friend."
Cristina didn't reply, only flushing red and heading out of the library in a flurry. This wasn't how she wanted her time her to go, she didn't want to be an item on someones list. She deserved to be treated with respect, in any other circumstance she would have put her foot down but why not now?
He was right, she needed the help to get on the pedestal of top five in this school. She needed the extra boost but not like this, it was so wrong yet somewhere, it felt the right step in that direction. Burke was this carrot dangling puppeteer and she was the pig, following wherever the carrot went- following where the trail could be for her to finally get her prize of the carrot, she needed that carrot out of everybody. She needed it.
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As autumn started to creep into, students started to get more anxious. Tests started rolling in left right and centre, putting unnecessary pressure on them. The teachers weren't any happier, they were required to assign them for the reports card to write back to the students parents meaning every student in the school was walking on eggshells trying not to aggravate their teachers. Derek and Addison weren't on speaking terms while Mark- to Derek at least- was nothing more than the manwhore. Between them all, Owen seemed to be on good terms with everybody although it often lead too sitting through rants and tears with both of them trying to understand the situation. Derek, however, was completely denounced when it came to speaking with Addison while Owen had to sit through, at least, a litre of tears before he was allowed to leave.
"You know, they're posting the results today. In front of the science office, I hope I beat Addison's ass"
"You know, you should just apologise. Both of you will be the death of me," Owen said rubbing his temples. "And yes I know that they're posting the results. Hopefully my bio mark will boost my chem mark."
"You've never had a problem with chem, why now?" Derek asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Remember the material she gave us for energetic for the summer?" He cocked his head at Derek an and he instantly understood. "Yeah I didn't do the work"
"Oh," came Derek's reply. "What time is it anyway?"
"3:50, they're posting the results at 4:00. Do you want to get Meredith and kiss her or something?" Owen said with a slight laugh
"I-I don't want to get Meredith and kiss her… yet" Derek said, flushing red. "I've talked to her, thanks by the way. Did you see how Mark did it?"
"Yeah the 'I've been hitting on you for the whole week?'" Owen said, remembering the memory from a few days ago. His mouth was agape as he saw Cristina shrug him off and laughing, almost, maniacally as she walked away. It was amazing to see Cristina outright reject Sloan to his face.
"That was amazing, he was on his last straw. And his feeble attempt to get her to his room, my god." Derek said with a large grin.
"Her laugh though, that was the funniest thing." Owen said smiling.
"What is going on with you and Yang? You have a crush now?" Derek said, punching his arm. There was something going on between them, it was obvious how he could always talked about her in the way that was a unusual for a classmate.
"Not a crush, a friendship. It's a thing you know." Owen commented, crossing his arms.
"I mean, I'm just saying, it doesn't seem much of a friendship. I mean obviously it is but it seems like it's more than that."
"Jeez, I don't know Derek, what's you and Meredith's relationship at the moment? Cause you guys seem to be very touchy feely."
"We are not touchy feely." Derek countered as they started going up the staircase to the science floor.
"What is it with you and touching her hair when you guys are waiting outside the classroom huh?" Owen smirked, "Or just genuinely trying to flirt with her?"
"That was one time!" exclaimed Derek, "It's not like you weren't touchy feely with Beth."
"We were dating, that was different." The guilt from the break-up seemed to wash over, untamed memories came back. It was different now, that's how it was. He could never change it.
As they got nearer to the science office, they could see the crowd of students waiting anxiously for the results to come out. There were familiar faces in the crowd to both Derek and Owen, Mark and Addison were standing at the side. Derek intentionally went in the opposite direction of her, trying to avoid her at all cost. He could see Meredith within the crowd, next to her group of friends- Cristina, Izzie, George and Alex- and Burke trailing nearby. His presence was looming above the rest, Burke's presence couldn't be avoided, he was tall, brooding, basically unavoidable.
"Hey," Derek said, greeting Meredith as he shuffled beside her. The other four of her companions looked up and smirked before going back to there own conversation.
"Hey… " Meredith replied, very aware that she could blush any minute. "I assume you're waiting for the results."
"Yeah, all of us are" he gestured at the crowd and met Addison's gaze before turning away. "This is going to be fun,"
"Sure, fun… " came Meredith's sarcastic reply. "I don't get it, are you ever going to leave me alone?" Not that she wanted him too, but it was starting to get awkward for her.
"No, I don't think I will." His gaze momentarily trailed back to Addison but he pushed her from his mind. He couldn't be thinking about her, she was one of his best friends. He couldn't leave her, he couldn't just ignore her like he did for the past few weeks.
"I like you" Meredith confessed, "I like you, a lot."
Owen took his cue and left the two of them to ponder over there conversation, but he smiled inwardly as he walked towards Mark and Addison.
Derek looked at her, with tired shallow eyes but they lit up when she said those words. He wanted to hear it for such a long time now. "I like you too,"
"I don't know what to make of this, but I like you. I really do." She was very aware of her four friends (or three, excluding Alex) were eavesdropping behind her but they, of course, were minding their own business as they tried too.
"Meredith… "
"Shut up, for a minute-"
"Okay, the results are out. Move please so I can pin the pieces of paper up." Mr Benson announced as he tried to move through the crowd of people to get to the corkboard. "Here you are:"
Meredith and Derek's attention didn't immediately turn to the pieces of paper being pinned up. Derek grabbed her arm and dragged her near the stairwell at the far end of the building, within view of the science office but not within earshot of his or her other friends.
"Continue… we're never going to live it down if you say something cheesy in front of all of then." Derek said, cracking a smile.
"Okay fine, I like you. I really do. I think you're amazing, smart and your hair is to die for. But Addison-"
"Addison isn't any of your concern-" he interrupted only to be interrupted himself by her.
"Isn't she? Because she likes you Derek. I can see it, not difficult and she seems really nice. She's not hard to hate," he laughed lightly at the last comment, "She's annoyingly smart and unbelievable kind as well."
"Meredith, she isn't any of your concern because I don't really talk to her anymore. It's complicated but I don't like her anymore. She can like me but I like you more than her. I like you more than i'll ever like her. I really mean it Meredith."
"So what does this mean for us?" she said, eyebrow raised with a small curve tugging at her lips.
"Will you go out with me? Meredith Grey?"
"I will, Derek. No more meaningless, lost glances at one another or 'fake tripping' to touch me."
"That was one time" Derek commented, walking back towards the bulletin. He didn't have enough guts to hold her hand or do things that people normally did when dating one another. But now he had a date, finally a date. There was still a crowd of people around it but they started to dissipate after knowing there score.
"Meredith!" Cristina called out, reaching out to grab her friend from Derek. "Look!"
Scores for first threeway science assessment (TOP 5):
Derek Shepherd 95%
Preston Burke 93%
Cristina Yang and Addison Montgomery 92%
Meredith Grey and Alex Karev 86%
Owen Hunt and Isobel Stevens 80%
"I got third! Can you believe it?" Cristina was jumping up and down in abstract joy. It wasn't first but it was a start.
"Calm down, Cris." Owen voiced putting his hand on her shoulder to calm his friend down. Everybody looked over at Owen, mouths agape as they realised what he was doing. To everybody's surprise she just jittery stood there, and he gave her a small pat on the shoulder. "What?" he asked, slightly embarrassed as he realised that majority of them were looking at him.
"You're touching Cristina Yang." Izzie said, still in slightly shock.
"Nevermind that, he called her Cris" Mark said, walking up. Addison was closely behind and Burke was behind them all, his brooding presence unmatched to anyones.
"So? She's my friend." Owen commented.
"Exactly, why isn't he allowed to do that?" Cristina said, still suffering from a sugar high from her test results. She momentarily caught Burke's gaze and could tell he was unhappy. She quickly removed Owens hand from her shoulder and looked down onto the floor. "I'm going to go, see you later."
"Cristina?" Owen asked, puzzled. And then he saw it… the judgemental gaze of Burke watching Cristina as she walked down the stairs. What the fuck was going on?
"Cristina wait!" Meredith called out to her but her friend continued going down the stairs without looking back.
"What's up with her?" Izzie asked, "She was so happy and now she's silent."
"Maybe-" Alex started before Meredith turned around to meet his gaze.
"Don't you start" she snapped. "I'm going to check what's wrong. Congrats on your scores by the way."
George was slouching at the sidelines. As he thought about the score he got, it wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad. He just wasn't a genius apparently.
7. George O'Malley and Mark Sloan 72%
He gave a sigh and watched as Meredith walked down the stairs, the rest of them started to fan-out. He was mad, of course he was, he was going from 90% to 72%, it wasn't good enough for him.
"How'd you feel Georgy? Being on the same level as Mark Sloan?" George gladly ignored Alex as he walked with them towards the dormitories. "I mean, it's not amazing but it's decent. It's an A so I guess it's given. It's pretty good considering you're you-" They turned the corner to the floor of the dorms and he could see Meredith and Cristina out in the hallway talking. "-George, honestly don't take it to heart. You probably could get higher but this time I got higher, I mean 72% is pretty good for you-" George couldn't take his idiotic attitude anymore, he reeled back and tackled Alex onto the ground before throwing a punch at his left eye.
"Shut up! Alex, fucking shut up!" He growled.
"George!" Meredith and Cristina yelled rushing to pull him off Alex. Cristina grabbed George and forced him in the other way, away from Alex while Meredith held Alex back. "Back off George, come on back up."
Alex held his stance, ready to pounce but Izzie stood in front of him with her hand out, "Back off Alex,"
Meredith held Alex back, trying to see if George was okay. "What did you do?" She asked, Alex could taste the blood seeping in, he touched his hand to his mouth and felt the sting of an open wound.
"Just back off Alex," Izzie implored, standing in front of Alex now. "Meredith go check up on George. I'll take care of Alex over here."
"I don't need you take care of me" he spat, the aching feeling of the punch still lingered.
"Drop the 'I'm-so-proud' act please. It's getting annoying, let me take a look at that eye." Izzie said, forcing his head to turn in her direction. "I mean, no open wound except the one on your mouth. I'll get you some ice from the nurse."
"I can get the fucking ice." he grunted.
"Alex, for once, don't be so annoying. I'll get the ice okay?" And she sat him down on the floor as she turned around to get the ice for his eye.
Mockery was something that Alex was accustomed too, he was either the bully or the one beating people up. He never felt the other end of the line, the bullied. It was a change and, he'd be lying if it didn't hurt his ego just a bit.
"Here" she said, handing him an ice pack. "How does it feel?"
"You don't have to take care of me, I'm fine. Just a bruise."
"Let me see, again. There might be swelling."
"How many fucking-" she yanked his head to the side to examine the swelling, ignoring his bickering,
"Minimal swelling, George really knocked you out good." she remarked.
"He's a lightweight, I could have pinned have pinned him in a second" he replied, placing the ice pack on his eye.
"Then why didn't you?" she said, folding her arms together.
"Oh please, i'm on the baseball team and the wrestling team. I can't afford to damage my hands" he said. "And besides, i'm not going to waste my punches on O'Malley."
"You had it coming" she said, rolling her eyes. Before hauling him up, and forcing him to walk towards his room.
"He punches like my sister" he shot back to Izzie.
"So by your definition… you got beat up by a girl?" She didn't wait for a reply only opening Meredith's dorm room door to check on George. She felt a retort or a quip coming but instead he just walked away. "Way to go George," Izzie cheered, sitting on Meredith's chair.
"Yeah, I swear, I would have done it sooner or later. Thank god you did it" Meredith commented, popping a chip into her mouth. "Half term break starts tomorrow, thank fuck for that."
"Good job knocking out Evil Spawn." Cristina mused, reaching out her hand to get a chip.
George was inaudible, he didn't want to talk about the fight with Alex. He didn't mean too, about 28% of his brain was happy that he punched him while the other 72% was screaming how wrong it was to knock out another student. He wasn't proud of it, not at all. His parents raised him better than this.
"What's going on between you and Owen by the way?" Izzie asked, looking quizzically at Cristina.
"Nothing." Cristina replied with a shrug. Then she remembered Burke's gaze, and she tried to shake the feeling of dread away.
"I mean, you normally don't let anyone touch you."
"You've just never touched me before… but don't, don't touch me though. I'm not a touchy feely girl but Meredith is very touchy feely."
"I am not touchy feely" Meredith exclaimed.
"McDreamy and his fascination with your hair." Cristina pointed out. "He wants someone else to have the same level of perfect hair as himself so he'd be teased less"
"His hair is perfect though" Izzie remarked, reaching for the chip bag. "Dammit you guys, you left all the small pieces."
"Oh well, you snooze you lose." Cristina said, and she could see a flicker of orange outside. "Actually, I'll go get some more."
"You're being nice? What is up with you? And can it happen more often" Izzie chimed.
"Very funny, i'll get the chips to celebrate my third place, placing on the top five."
Meredith indicated towards George who was rocking back and forth clutching a pillow. Cristina gave him an apologetic look and left the room, she could see Owen lingering outside and she desperately needed to talk to him. "Owen." she heaved a sigh of relief.
"Cristina," he greeted. "Burke is being an ass, I saw the way he looked at you-"
"Owen, it's fine. I'm getting a bag of chips, care to come with?" she cut in, she knew that he would talk about this.
"Fine, but Cristina that isn't okay. You're not a possession for him to keep." he intoned.
"It's fine. He's my problem, I'm not going to be highest if I don't have his help."
"You're doing fine on your own, you got top five just fine." Owen was trying, desperately to make her see the error in her ways before she regrets it.
"Is this your saviour complex going into overdrive or something? He's fine, i'm fine." Internally she was screaming that she wasn't, and how this wasn't okay for her. He was using her, and she hated it but she did it anyway. Why? "Why do you care?"
"I care because you're my friend." Owen remarked, one of my closest friends actually. But he didn't say it outloud. "I care and I'm looking out for you."
"I'm fine Owen, I really am. He's just different, he needs a friend to talk to and stuff. I can fend for myself"
"I know you can, you fend way to much shit by yourself. It's not good for you." Why couldn't she understand?
"Look Owen, I appreciate you doing this. I can protect myself, okay?
"Okay" he said, slightly defeated. Why did he care so much? "Come on, go get those chips, otherwise your friends are going to be waiting."
"I know, did you see top five though. 92% Let's go!" she cheered slightly, getting back the enthusiasm she had in the afternoon.
"I know, i'm so proud of you" Owen said, patting her on the shoulder. "You deserve it, friend"
"I know I do" she remarked with a grin.
She couldn't be anyone else, this was who she was and Owen appreciated it. She was cold, calloused, sometimes even unfeeling to some people but she was everything Owen wanted to be. Not the cold and calloused part but the loyal, loving person that she could be. "You deserve it, and next time you'll be at the top" He pushed her hair out of her face and she gave him a small smile.
"I know I will"
Burke was watching by the sidelines, eyes closing in on the two friends. Cristina was… smiling. Why couldn't she be like this to him? He knew she got the message when he glared at her during the realisation that she got top three. He was still dealing with the fact that he got second and lost 2% to Derek Shepherd. Preston Burke will not get second to anyone, not even Cristina.