a force of nature

chapter 1-growing up

    "lets close up and get her down to the ICU, make sure to monitor her and update me if there are any changes." meredith had just scrubbed out of a 5 hour EEA on an optic nerve tumor, it was pretty much routine procedure for her considering that she was a general surgeon, neurosurgeon, fetal surgeon, and an ophthalmic surgeon all at once. she was like a ballerina in the O.R, everyone admired her technique and stamina as she foraged through the human body with a scalpel.

   growing up meredith had no one. she was the one who raised herself to become the extraordinary surgeon she was today. her only goal in life was to become better than everyone else, especially her mother, the Great Ellis Grey. during her childhood, ellis was never present and her dad was non existent. she was often abandoned in the O.R gallery with a book or at home to study, learning was her best friend. as she excelled her way through elementary school, middle school, and highschool she used the opportunities given through living with a surgeon to her best advantage. she would constantly study and study, sometimes through the night until she had to get dressed and go to school. all of the extra time she put into her school work guided her to graduating highschool at the age of 12. she had gotten into multiple ivy leagues and chose to attend harvard, even though she thought it was for snobs. being the youngest out of her class, she didn't really socialize with anyone, so meredith spent her days enclosed in her dorm with a plethora of books. this advantage of not having friends put meredith at the top of her class, graduating with Magna Cum Laude and as valedictorian. two years after college it was time for medical school, she decided she needed a change in pace, having no friends was detrimental to her mental health, she felt like she was drowning in her own mind filled with knowledge ranging from how to tie a simple shoe lace to a possible treatment for glioblastoma tumors. taking this thought into consideration, meredith instantly applied for medical school at the University of Oxford. she knew it was risky, especially because she was going to be a med student in a whole other country she knew nothing about, but she was ready for it, she needed change.

    partaking in medical school in the UK was definitely hard at first, everyone was surprised at meredith for her range in knowledge at the age of 16, but was often looked down upon considering she was just a teenager. while enrolled in med school, meredith found her best friend, cristina yang. cristina was like no other friend meredith had, it was like they were spiritually connected, despite their age gap of 3 years. like meredith, cristina had also graduated college early at the age of 18. they often spent their nights in the apartment they shared studying and getting drunk off of the tequila they bought using cristina's ID. ellis didn't care much about meredith moving to the UK, she even paid off her tuition and half of the rent for the apartment. with the help of cristina, tequila, the infusion of cash from ellis, and her mastermind brain, meredith became an official doctor at 19.

    meredith and cristina were both matched at St. Thomas hospital, London's largest teaching hospital, for their internships and residencies. intern year was a fever dream for meredith, she only focused on getting through it rather than making the most of it. in the final year of being a resident, meredith had a hard time picking her specialty. everything intrigued her from the brain to the uterus, she couldn't just pick one. her indecisiveness and cristinas kind words of "you're such an over-acheiver" led meredith to give in and do four separate residencies so she could gain skill in every specialty she showed interest in. the chief and staff were very supportive of meredith's decision and guided her through all four residencies. being a surgeon specialized in general, neuro,  fetal, and ophthalmics also made meredith better than her mother, which was everything she wanted in life.  

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2/26/21

this was my first ever time writing a wattpad story so leave some words in the comments on how you like it so far. make sure to vote and i will see you when i update again:)

- H.L.