-1Author's Note: I thought after all the heavy stuff we needed some humor. I hope find this update not only humorous but enlightening on some things as well. I also want to thank all my friends who have supported me in writing this. I couldn't have done this without Jen, Robyn, Deirdre, and Amy holding my hand. I also want to thank the people reading and leaving reviews. Especially Jime and Emily. As always the reviews mean so much to me. Thanks for taking the time to read!
October 12th,
Quiet had a way of seeping in, unsettling a room. Quiet had made it's self quite at home in the corner lunch table. The occupants seated around the large round table all looked alike, sullen faced youths of sixteen or seventeen dressed in light blue polo shirts and either khaki pants or skirts, and seemed quite content to let the quiet consume them. With the exception of one. That lone occupant sat, arms crossed over her chest, green eyes gliding across each familiar face.
"I can't take this anymore," Meredith groaned, burying her face in her hands. She peeked at her friends through splayed fingers. None of them had so much as moved a muscle, except Addison, who had lifted a silver compact and was dabbing shiny red lip gloss on her plump lower lip. "Okay, seriously. I forgave her. Why won't you?"
The compact snaps shut. Sullen blue eyes turn to look at Meredith. "I'm not mad at Cristina. I'm mad because nobody will tell me what is going on." Addison crosses her arms, leaning back a bit in the dark blue plastic and steel chair. "I tell you guys everything." Six pairs of eyes turn her way. "Okay, maybe not everything, but close to it. The point is, I tell you guys stuff. Is it to much to ask that you return the favor and share?"
"I have a rash," Alex offered, a bemused smirk on his face. Across the table Addison's eyes narrow, she shakes her head, her glossy red hair falling prettily around her shoulders. "What? You said you wanted us to share. I'm sharing that I have a rash."
"Uncle Steve dropped you on your head when you little, didn't he?" Still shaking her head, Addison rolls her eyes, then leans forward, arms resting on the table.
Alex snorts. "To do that he would have to be home. We know how often that happens." The table falls back into the quiet, the only sound Cristina's nails drumming on the table top.
"So, that chem. test was brutal," Derek interjected, filling the quiet void. "Had some difficult equations on there." He squirms a bit, licking his lips, when he received several odd looks. "I'm trying here, okay?"
"I copied off that cute little blonde. Missy." Mark chuckled, taking a large bite from the cheeseburger that dominated most of the light blue plastic plate before him.
"You mean Mitsy? Dude, she's failing. She don't get her grades up she's out." Shaking his head, Alex shares a look with Derek. Meredith presses her lips together, fighting the smile. She had missed this, missed the good humored bantering, missed them all sitting together.
"Even on the verge of academic expulsion the girl has to be smarter than Sloan." Cristina snickered. Tension crackled, leaving Meredith holding her breath. Izzie broke through by asking Alex what time the Fall Into Autumn decorating party started, which led to a discussion on some of the ridiculous things the dormitories did in an attempt to have the students join together as one big, happy family.
"Theme bowling is my personal favorite," Addison chuckled, her lips twisted into an odd puckered grin. The tiny flecks of glitter in her gloss caught in the sunlight streaming through the large windows behind her. "Their latest one is Monster Bowl. You're suppose to come dressed as your favorite monster. Nothing overtly scary though. Now tell me, have you ever come across a monster that wasn't scary?"
"I'll tell you what is scary, the idea of theme bowling. That's scary. Remember last year? The whole fairytale creature thing?" A visible shudder wracks through Mark's body.
"The worse was Historical Figures of Significance," Alex snickered. There were murmurs of agreement from Mark and Addison. The conversation slowly shifted to the decorating party Forbes Hall would be hosting later that night. Fall Into Autumn. It was a bit laughable, considering that the first day of Autumn had been a little over a week ago.
"You going to come?" Derek looked over at Meredith, his crystalline blue eyes sparkling. "I had them save a place for you…just in case."
Lower lip tucked between her teeth, Meredith's brow wrinkles. He had asked. The night of the dance, he had asked. She had never gotten around to answering him, Cristina had showed up, then there was the party and it's aftermath. The Fall Into Autumn Decorating and Dinner had slipped her mind. Did she want to go? Izzie and Addison were going, at least she assumed Addison was going. Cristina had plans, whatever that meant. So, either sit alone in her room, or decorate Derek's dormitory. "Okay. Sure."
"Yeah?" Derek blinked, staring at her in wonder for a moment before a large grin split across his face. The grin grew even more when she nodded her head, a smile of her own forming. Something curled inside her, something warm and sweet. Something that told her maybe, just maybe, she could be something special.