Stitches of Life

A Hard Day's Night

Chapter One: A Hard Day's Night

"Shit, shit, shit." I swore under my breath repeatedly as I hurried up two flights of stairs, taking the steps two at a time to try and save time. I was already late, late for my first day of my new job. As I came out of the stairwell and onto my floor I spotted a dirty blonde haired woman stepping out of the elevator, looking just as stressed as I was.

"You late too?" She guessed as soon as she saw me.

"Yep." I nodded as we both headed down the hallway, spotting a large group of people walking into an operating room. Neither of us said another word as we hurried to catch up with them. We slipped through the doors behind them, going unnoticed. Walking into the clean and stocked operating room, there was a clear sense of awe between all of us, this being our first time standing in an operating room knowing that we would each be operating here at some point in the near future, having finally finished medical school, now being surgical interns.

"Each of you comes here hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors." An older man that I recognized to be Dr. Richard Webber, our new boss, stood off to the side, looking over all of us with watchful and careful eyes. As if he were just waiting for one of us to make a mistake. "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."

As he said that everyone began to look around at the unfamiliar faces surrounding us. I glanced around, not paying much attention to anyone in particular, though I did note how there were a great deal less women in the room than there were men.

"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." Dr. Webber talk all of us, drilling his words into all of our heads. "This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That's up to you."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Okay. Martin, Robinson, Bond, Parkins." One of the residents called names from the doorway of the locker room as we all changed into our new scrubs, preparing to start our first shift as surgical interns.

"Only six women out of twenty." A woman next to me shook her head as she glanced around the locker room. I recognized her as the dirty blonde that had come in late with me. I vaguely recognized her from the mixer the hospital had thrown for the new interns, but I couldn't remember her name.

"Yeah. I hear one of them's a model." Another woman, this one with dark curly hair, commented. "Seriously, like that's going to help with the respect thing?"

"You're Cristina, right?" The blonde asked her.

"Which resident you assigned to?" The curly haired woman, Cristina, nodded. "I got Bailey."

"The Nazi?" The blonde raised a brow. "Yeah, me too."

"You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we'll be tortured together, right?" An awkward looking young man joined their conversation. I just sat back and listened as I finished tying my tennis shoes. "I'm George O'Malley, uh, we met at the mixer, you had a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals...Now you think I'm gay."

"Uh-huh." Cristina nodded before walking away.

"No, I'm not gay, it's, ah, it's just that, you know, you were, I mean, you were very, unforgettable." George insisted, smiling at the blonde woman.

"O'Malley, Yang, Grey, Stevens, Watley." The resident called my name off and I got up to my feet. I headed towards the door and glanced around at the others that were doing the same. There was Cristina, George, the dirty blonde, and a tall light blonde haired woman that I hadn't noticed before.