Chapter 5
First Day
Callie walked into the hospital half an hour before her shift started. She wanted to grab a coffee and get changed before the day started, she was nervous and excited. She didn't know what to expect, she had been studying to become a doctor for as long as she remembers, but today, she is actually becoming a doctor, she is going to save lives, she is going to be amazing. Well she hopes she is going to be amazing.
Callie spotted the coffee stand and went straight over to get herself and Mark a coffee. Mark wasn't there yet but he would be in a couple of minutes, he had wanted to walk in with Callie but he wasn't ready on time, which he argued was too early but Callie didn't argue and just left without him. She placed her order and waited for the drinks to be served. Mark was by her side before the barista called out her name to collect her coffees.
Mark grabbed his and led the way to the intern staff room. They walked together in silence, scarred about what was about to happen. As they walked into the staff room they spotted Addison and Derek in a mixture of people they didn't know. Addison looked like she was just about to be sick with nerves and Derek was bouncing around, Callie didn't know if he was nervous or excited, she could never tell with Derek.
They all got changed into their scrubs and waited until the chief of surgery came to talk to them. At exactly 8 in the morning, the chief walked through the doors. He was tall and stood with pride. He looked at each individual intern and started to walk around the room. After a couple of minutes he started to talk and everyone, including Callie, were focused on every word he said
"Each of you come here today hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors, today you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you, say hello to your competition, eight of you will switch to an easier specialty, five of you will crack under the pressure, two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line, this is your arena. How well you play… that's up to you."
And that was Dr Webbers speech over, that's all he needed to say and everyone was ready to go, at this point no one thought it would be them to crack under the pressure or to move to something easier. Everyone had faith in themselves to be the best and everyone wanted to be there.
Dr Webber showed them around the hospital and then it was time to meet their resident. Callie and Mark had been assigned to Dr Bailey, she had heard a few people call Dr Bailey the Nazi and that freaked her out even more, but she kept calm and the group of six interns that were assigned to Bailey's service stood around the small women all in silence.
"I have five rules, memorise them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not going to change. Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers" She said pointing at the three things on the desk.
"Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run, that's rule number two. Your first shift starts now and last 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobody's, bottom of the surgical food chain, you run labs, write orders, work every second night till you drop and don't complain. On call rooms, attending's hog them, sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to rule number three, if I'm sleeping don't wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only would you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason, we clear?"
Everyone nodded their head in unison, until one boy raised his hand.
"You said there was five rules, you've only told us four"
Dr Bailey looked at him with a look of disgust before continuing her talk.
"Rule number five, when I move, you move"
And with that she started running to a case and they all followed in quick succession.
Callie didn't really know what was happening, everything was happening so fast but she watched and listened and tried to take everything in, she answered every question Bailey threw at her and answered others questions when they weren't sure. Her and Mark were both on fire, knowing all the answers and being at the front with their hands up, every chance possible.
The 48 hour shift passed in a blur and before she knew it the four of them sat in the staff room, Callie lying on the bench, feeling absolutely shattered, she couldn't wait to get home and sleep until she had to get to her next shift, which was in less than 24 hours. She wasn't paying any attention until she felt Mark shaking her shoulders.
"Time to go home sleeping beauty"
"Yes please, can you carry me?"
"No I'm not going to carry you so get up and lets go home, it's only a minute away and then you can sleep in your own bed"
With that she stood up and left the staff room, heading straight to the exit. She was too tired to pay attention and as she was walking out she slammed right into someone, and before she even looked up to see who it was she started apologising.
"Ohh shit sorry I didn't mean to walk into you, are you okay, did I hurt you?"
Callie then looked up, straight into those beautiful blue eyes. It was her blonde, what was she thinking she wasn't hers at all. But there in front of her stood the gorgeous blonde who had the most beautiful smile, beaming at Callie.
