A/N - This is my first Fanfic so please please be kind. This is an AU of all the gang meeting from different backgrounds yet all are the same age. I am a Shamy fan. Amy and Bernadette meet as Biology majors at Harvard and brings the group together in a whole new way. This is the basic evolution of the 7 friends and how they came together.
It was mid- morning on a beautiful late August day with a light breeze blowing across the trees scattered around the Harvard campus with it's picturesque buildings and perfectly landscaped greenery. This has been Amy Farrah Fowler's home for the past two years as she obtained her Bachelor's in both Biology and Chemistry. She is beginning her senior year and hopes to obtain both her Masters and PhD within four years, once she finishes up her undergraduate degree this May. Amy spent her first two years living alone but decided for her last year she would try something new and had signed up to have a roommate.
Typically at Harvard, first-year students live in dorms with shared suites adjacent to Harvard Yard and eat the majority of meals in Annenberg Hall. A place where you get to know fellow new students. After that upperclassmen are assigned to one of the series of 12 houses available either on or slightly off campus in the Boston and Cambridge area. The Houses host their owwn cultural and social opportunities like ice cream socials, formals and activities off campus.As of her sophomore year she was chosen to live in Eliot House, which was located on Dunster St. in Cambridge. It was of the seven original houses from Harvard, built in 1931. The focus of studies generally are in the math and sciences, including biology, chemistry, physics, math, engineering and computer science so even though she didnt have a roommate before she did enjoy the atmosphere. .
She had received word from the residence office that her roommate was also a Biology / Chemistry major, although she was only just starting her sophomore year and was new to upperclassmen housing. She was also from from California, in the nearby town of Yorba Linda which was close to Amy's own hometown of Glendale. Amy assumed she also had a car unless she was fond of public transportation since Harvard's residential housing is located throughout the Boston-Cambridge area.
Amy was nervous. Although this is what she wanted it also came with a lot of memories from her past that she hoped would not come to light when her roommate arrives. She's always wanted someone to be girlfriends with. Someone to talk to about boys, go shopping and have girls' nights including make-overs and slumber parties. All of which she was denied growing up do to her highly conservative mother, who thought girls should act and dress as if they were still in the 1950s with no skin showing and very bulky clothing to hide any kind of figure that might be lurking underneath the surface to entice men.
Because of all those negative attitudes towards men and sex, Amy had a very confusing upbringing, especially her adolescence. Since her mother would not provide, nor allow, any education regarding reproductive matters, she took the time to learn things on her own which is why she spent so many hours in the library researching different kinds of science, but was most fascinated by biology and its many forms.
As a result of not having the barrage of friends she always wanted, she concentrated on her studies above all else, which allowed her to graduate high school at 16. She elected to study Neurobiology for her Masters and PhD, after obtaining her B.S. this year. Her goal is to see if she could map structures in the brain with variables of introverted and extroverted personality types using visual stimulation. Due to her high intelligence and strict upbringing, Amy was basically forcibly introverted. Literally down to the clothes she wore, hobbies she had and movies or music she wasn't allowed to be exposed to and wanted to have an opportunity to learn what it was like from actual test subjects who lived their lives with the freedom to be as they are with no fear or regrets.
She had read a couple of books from a neuroscientist named Beverly Hofstadter who had some interesting resarch on different types of child development that she thought might be helpful with her studies. She found Dr. Hofstadter's views a bit cold, yet somewhat familiar and relateable to the cold relationship she had with her own mother. She was an overacheiver by nature and wanted all the available arrows in her quiver to succeed, yet have fun during her last undergrad year.
She looked around the already spotless room that she had taken the liberty of cleaning before the arrival of her roommate. She looked over her desk to make sure everything was lined up correctly. Pens and pencils in a cup. Her laptop; open and prepared for work, along with a couple of notebooks lying on the left-hand side. The wall above displayed a poster of a brain; the kind you would see at a doctors' office with every section labeled and in color. From her previous years at Harvard she had the mindset to bring along a mini fridge for beverages and late-night snacking while studying. She thought about bringing a small microwave now that there will be more than one resident in the room but that would be something that they can discuss upon her arrival.
After taking one final look around Amy decided to head out to the store and grab a few things for the mini fridge to give her roommate time to become acclimated with her new surroundings. She locked the door and headed out to her car. The sun rays bounced off of her shiny brown hair, showing off her natural chestnut highlights. She had a little skip in her step as she went to gather some "roomie items" they can share, and hopefully bond over. She had been looking forward to this day for awhile. Hopefully it goes as well as she plans.
Bernadette Rostenkowski was beyond excited to be returning for her second year at Harvard. Having graduated valedictorian, of her private Catholic high school that she had attended since kindergarten, she had still been so nervous last year. Leaving all of her friends by moving to the other side of the country for her college education, but she had been proud of herself by going out into the world around her to "explore her horizons" as her lame guidance counselor had always said during her final year of high school.
One of her original reasons for moving across the country for college was to get some distance from her parents and siblings. Her father was a police officer who loved his work as a homicide detective and her mother was a part-time children's librarian and housewife. Both were people of few words. Her father's were usually consistent with whatever sporting event he was watching at that particular moment. Her mother was more passive aggressive with her actions instead of her words. She pushed Bernadette into beauty pageants so she could "earn scholarship money", but she knew the real reason. She was basically living the dream her mother always wanted, not her. It's not like she and her parents didn't get along, but with all her brothers and sisters it could feel pretty crowded at times things would get tense. She didnt need that stress by staying at home and going to school, especially being the oldest and getting pulled into the parental role.
Having an independent life at Harvard was everything Bernadette hoped it would be. Her roommate from freshman year unfortunately was not able to return so she was assigned a new roommate from the school Housing Lottery. All she knew of her new roommate was that she was a senior, also a California native from Glendale, which wasnt far from her own hometown of Yorba Linda and is also majoring in biology and chemistry. Although Bernadette has always been extremely intelligent, i she was excited by having a roommate that not only shares the same majors, but knows the best places (and if she's lucky, parties) to experience in town now that she's living in upperclassmen housing.
As she and her parents, who insisted on coming since she's going to be living in new housing this year, walked into the old yet elegant building of Eliot House. A beautiful white steeple with a clock was the architectural feature that immediately captured the eye of everyone who saw it. The interior was covered with shiny hardwood floors and matching chairs and tables with rows of tables for studying. The main common room was full of bright natural light. Beautiful area rugs decorated the surface of the floor. Of course a lot of them were the traditional Harvard Crimson. Everything was so beautiful and exactly as she imagined, even though she had looked up the information on her house once she found out exactly where she was going to be staying. There were other students moving in there belongings. About half of them were wearing Harvard apparel of sweatshirts, T-shirts, shorts or track pants. Bernadette grinned as she watched them haul their belongings up the stairs, consisting of TVs, video game systems (mostly the boys) and mini fridges. She was relieved to see people with microwave ovens. She had a weakness for microwave popcorn and that was something she used as a study snack quite often.
Bernadette wanted to make sure that she had some spending money since she remembered how frugal she had to be during her first year. She almost fainted when she went to the bookstore for the first time and saw the grand total for how much all of her books will cost. Luckily no dogs were around to howl at the high pitch screach that erupted from the tiny blonde when she heard the total. The bookstore will buy back books at the end of each semester but the amount they pay for them was laughable. This year she was smart and decided to look about the main common room of her new house to see if any fellow students weren ellimg their own copies of the textbooks. It works out for the students as they can make more money selling their books back and the books can be purchased almost new for about 40% less than what the bookstore was trying to squeeze out of them.
Getting a part-time job sounded suitable. She found a Cheesecake Factory that was hiring and wasn't too far from Eliot House. Waitressing came very easy to her because she had no problem talking to strangers and not putting up with handsy patrons. Her diminutive size and and high-octave voice was endearing to customers. Especially the older clientele that are losing their hearing. There were also a lot of stares from men, and women, of all ages appreciating her larger than average bosom for someone her size. She had her own car but nice places in the Ivy League area were basically within walking distance.
She could just imagine walking to work once the leaves start to turn to their Autumnal bursts of red, orange and yellow while the faint smell of charcoal burning, signaling for an upcoming get-together of some sort.
As she came back from her fantasy, Bernadette realized she'd been following her parents to her room on auto-pilot. As she stood in front of room number 314 she took a deep breath before opening the door. Everything was spotless and already arranged in their designated spot. Her own mother was very particular about things and where they needed to be so she hoped the other inhabitant of the room was simply trying to make a good first impression. She was happy to see that her roommate brought a mini fridge which will go greatly with a microwave she brought. Her parents looked around the room approvingly.
Three short quick knocks were heard coming from the room's open door. A girl with straight shiny brown hair and glasses gave a short nod and sincere smile. So this was the famous, yet elusive, roomate and this was her future for the next year, at least. The young woman walked over cautiously, alternately shifting her vision to her shoes and Bernadette's sky blue eyes.
"Hello," she said. "My name is Amy Farrah Fowler."
A/N - Thank you for reading! I know we're still in the character development section, but with this being AU I really want to set the stage for each character. I never thought my first Fanfic would center around everyone but I'm just going with it. I hope you liked it. Please review and thanks for reading.