Chapter Text
Author's Note 0: (Which I recommend actually reading for the story to make sense)
This chapter has been changed to change the classmates at the school.
This has been done in consultation with readers (one in particular, thanks) who pointed out continuity errors.
Therefore this way will make more sense. If you have already read chapter 3; still read at least the end again before chapter 4.
Changed parts are in BOLD
Thanks for your patience with this inconvenience, I hope this will launch the story forward now!
bobbiejelly
Hello, Seattle
Addison Montgomery meets Meredith Grey when they are both only 9 years old. OR: In which Addison introduces herself to Meredith, who pulls her into a hug, "Addison, it's so good to see you! It's been way too long". Addison hugs her back to whisper into her ear "I've missed you, Meredith,". MerAdd. Meddison. Boarding School Childhood Roommates to Teenage Romance AU. Rated T, now.
Chapter 3.2: In Which School Begins - NEW
The following morning, the girls wake up to the sound of their alarm at 7:30.
They quickly get dressed in their band-new school uniforms.
For Meredith, this means a pantsuit with a white shirt, blue blazer, and tie.
For Addison, this means a skirt and tights with a white shirt, blue blazer, and tie.
"Your tie is on backward" Addison giggles as she tugs gently on Meredith's tie.
"SERIOUSLY?!" Meredith sighs, wishing she could tie the tie as well as Addison can.
Addison's deft fingers have already weaved her own tie into a perfect square knot.
Meanwhile, Meredith can hardly follow the instructions from her school manual in order.
"Here, let me," Addison says with a small brush of Meredith's shoulder.
"MKay" But just because you're better" Meredith agrees as Addison undoes the tie.
Addison tightens it into a knot the same way she has her own as Meredith raises her eyebrows.
"How did you get so good at that?" Meredith asks of Addison.
"This is not my first rodeo with ties and blazers" Addison explains.
"We would always have to wear them to charity galas, Archer and I" she explains.
"Wow!" says Meredith. "We never went to these - or at least I haven't. My mom did with Richard"
"So did you stay with your dad then," Addison says gently, sensing discomfort.
"Yeah," Meredith says softly. "My parents didn't get along well. Richard Webber is more, my dad"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Addison says to her with a look that would be comically serious,
Meredith matched her serious gaze. Comically serious for two nine-year-olds at least.
"There, all done," Addison says to Meredith as she tugs Meredith's tie again lightly as a joke.
"Thanks!" Meredith says, stepping in front of the mirror.
They brush their teeth and pack their school bags before heading out to the cafeteria again.
For the second day in a row, Meredith and Addison sit next to each other for a meal.
They are pressed together rather close, whispering to each other in anticipation.
They are reading from the class manual that is in front of their agendas.
This is their first day of classes and the first time that they will be with other students.
They have the same timetable - Math, Science, Geography - Lunch - French then English
All of their subjects repeat the same way most days, and they have gym class after last period.
After gym, they have a brief snack break before heading into a workshop - music, art, drama, etc.
And finally after all that there is dinner and they are free to go to their rooms or hang out.
Or the students are allowed to just do homework together or alone or find some fun.
In the evenings sometimes there are extra optional activities or extra sports practices,
Or other events hosted by the school or sponsored by a local business or charity.
But on nights where there is nothing special going on there is still lots to explore.
There are a few common areas around the campus other than the library, they note.
They want to check all of those out as they get to know the school more.
They are making stars and x's on the places they want to explore first,
As they finish up their cereal and toast, drinking their juice before the warning bell rings.
They clear their trays and head off to their first class.
Their dorm monitor for their year, Mrs. Miranda Bailey, helps them find their room, R401.
There are approximately 10 students in their class, and they are sitting at tables together.
The small class sizes are one of the many "perks" that their parents had picked the school for.
Meredith and Addison find their seats in the room and are slightly disappointed.
They've been assigned to the same table at least, but not the ones that are adjoined.
Seeing as they are the first to arrive in the classroom, they read out the name cards by them.
Reading left to right, their table seats:
Meg Porter, Pete Wilder, Violet Turner, Cooper Friedman, Charlotte King,
Dell Parker, Naomi Bennett, Addison Montgomery, Sam Bennett, Meredith Grey
The seats are in a big oval shape though, meaning Meg Porter is next to Meredith Grey, as well.
Reluctantly, Meredith and Addison take their seats one apart from each other and smile up.
They unpack their books as they lean slightly over the table, whispering that at least,
They had not gotten lost because Miranda Bailey was known to be the best dorm minder there.
The teacher approaches the two girls who have arrived early as they get settled.
Their class has two teachers who work together with their grade.
The first one introduces herself as Dr. Campbell, a Ph.D. in Education.
She says that her colleague will join them in the afternoon to teach the later periods.
When Addison asks who their other teacher will be, Meredith looks shocked at the name.
"Dr. Marie-Cerone was one of my mother's best friends growing up" Meredith whispers.
"But I haven't seen her in like, years," she says exaggeratedly. "Wow, cool," says Addison.
"I wonder what all our classmates are gonna be like," says Meredith with a giggle.
"I hope they're all NICE," says Addison with an emphasis.
"Yeah you're right about THAT," says Meredith back.
"I hope that I'm right!" says Addison to Meredith.
"We're gonna stay best of friends though, right Addison? Forever and ever!"
"We're going to stay best of friends forever and ever, I promise Meredith," Addison says.
They reach under the table to hold hands and give each other a friendly squeeze.
This signifies a promise between them, an 'unbreakable bond'.
They had no idea what the journey would be like as it lies ahead.
But just for that moment, Meredith and Addison felt that no matter who they met next,
That absolutely no one, nothing, nothing at all could ever come between them.
That their friendship would surpass it all, and that they would be extraordinary together.
Years later, when Meredith felt the slipping away of Addison's hand from her own as she left,
Meredith and Addison would flashback to this moment they shared back then. They were nine.
They were headed off to their first class of boarding school after a hard day's night together.
They were about to meet the students and staff who would change and shape both their lives.
And they would never forget how that squeeze of the hand had felt so right back then.
And how wrong it was feeling now, how Addison squeezed Meredith's hand one last time.
And that that was the last time the two girls spoke to each other before leaving for Med School
And that that was the last time Meredith and Addison ever thought that they'd be together again.
"This is…" Sam lifts up a stray drawing of a bra that Meredith had doodled in her notebook.
"Humiliating on so many levels" Meredith snatches the drawing right out of the boy's hand.
"You have to go" Meredith tries to shoo him away but he doesn't budge from her.
"Why don't you just come back down here and we can just pick up where you left off"
Sam smirks at her, motioning for her to keep doodling the picture of a bra on the floor with him.
"No, seriously. You have to go. YOU are late, which isn't what you wanna be,
On your first day of school. SO-" Meredith tries to shoo him off again as Addison watched.
"So, you actually live here" the same male student with dark skin and a bald head interrupts.
"No," Meredith says first. "Oh." He replies with a bit of a confused expression.
"Yes, kind of." Meredith tries to explain she just moved here like, two days ago.
"It's nice. A little dusty" Sam doesn't know what to say either. "Odd, but it's nice."
"So how do you kind of live here?" Sam asks her in question.
"I moved two days ago from Boston" Meredith answers him with a wave.
"It was my mother's idea to start boarding school," she says.
"Oh, I'm sorry" Sam says to her sympathetically.
"For what?" Meredith asks him, looking back at Addison again before looking back at him.
"You said 'was',"Sam says to her like he's concerned.
"Oh, my mother is not dead" Meredith emphasizes that point a lot.
"You know, we don't have to do the thing - " Meredith starts before he interrupts.
"Oh, we can do anything we want," Sam says to her with a grin.
"No- the thing, exchange the details, pretend we care," Meredith says to him.
"Look, I'm going to go to the washroom and getting some water. And when I get back down here,
You won't BE HERE. So, um, goodbye, umm…" Meredith realizes she doesn't know his name.
"Sam," he says his name clearly.
"Right, Meredith" Meredith introduces herself next"
Sam extends his hand in between them, causing them to separate their hands,
So that Meredith can give this Sam boy a handshake.
"Meredith" Sam repeats.
"Mmmhmm" Meredith says to him nonchalantly.
"Nice meeting you!" Sam says as she starts to walk away.
"Bye Sam" Meredith starts to skip off to fill both hers and Addison's water bottles.
And Sam smiles at her as Meredith walks on by.
And Addison smiles up at Meredith as she leaves the room then.
And then Sam finally turns his head over to Addison and introduces himself to her.
"My name is Sam," he says as if she hasn't heard that part already.
"Addison," Addison says to him back, while also taking Meredith's drawing away from him.
Addison hides the drawing Meredith made of a bra inside of her shirt pocket.
And then Sam introduces her to another boy who just walked into the room he already knows.
"This is my best friend, his name is Peter, but he goes by Pete," Sam says finally to Addison.
And just after Addison says "nice to meet you I'm Addison" and they shake hands too.
As they start to chatter between them, Pete and Sam and Addison.
They start to see the rest of the students from their class start to file in and take their spots.
Meg Porter is a blown-haired girl who sits down next to Meredith's seat and smiles at Addie.
All the other students from the nameplates in their new class all shuffle by to sit down, too.
By the time that they each have their books and their pencils out the school bell finally rings.
Addison looks worriedly at the door, waiting in earnest for Meredith Grey to return again.
"Take your seats, class", Dr. Campbell, the teacher, says to them all before she knows it.
"Welcome to the game, people. It's time to begin"
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***** END OF CHAPTER 3
THANK YOU FOR READING, PLEASE LEAVE A NOTE IT WILL MAKE MY DAY ! :D
Author's Note 2:
As you may have noticed, this work has now taken a much more crossover turn with "Private Practice" characters than was originally implied in the original "Chapter 3."
This is due to the fact that it would be illogical for Derek to have grown up with Addison and Meredith at boarding school, to marry Addison and then to not tell Meredith, and for him to subsequently date Meredith without telling her about Addison after they had all lived together.
THEREFORE, the plot has now changed to (chronologically) Addison and Meredith grew up in boarding school. Eventually, they may get together as a couple or may remain best friends (TBD.) Somewhere along the way before Medical School, Addison and Meredith have a falling out leading them to not talk to each other for years through their residency.
Meredith goes to Dartmouth College. Addison goes to Columbia in NYC. They don't really stay in touch.
Addison and Derek meet each other at Columbia University. They get married until eventually, Derek starts neglecting Addison and Addison cheats on him with Mark. As in Canon, they date behind Derek's back after he walks away for a few months until Addison falls pregnant with Mark's baby, aborts it and never tells him about it. And then she finally leaves him, deciding she doesn't want Mark.
Meanwhile, Meredith meets Derek on her first day of Seattle Grace and dates him without knowing he is still married to Addison. Eventually, Addison shows up in Seattle, but unbeknownst to Derek they were already friends in boarding school and they want to get to know each other again.
And after that - what will happen with Derek and Meredith? With Derek and Addison? With Addison and Meredith? TUNE IN TO FIND OUT!
And let me know in the comments what you think of these changes.
New chapter 4 to come soon... HOPEFULLY!
bobbiejelly