A/N: Slightly sci-fi during this chapter, but not a sci-fi story. Also this is my first Scrubs fiction, so it's going to be utterly horrible until I get use to writing the characters. I tried hard. That's a lie. I tried moderately hard some of the time while writing this. Review? 3
Chapter 01: The Dream
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Dreaming had always been something Perry Cox looked forward to. He would spend a busy day bustling throughout the hospital, yelling at his coworkers and sometimes even his more stubborn patients. Sleep was a chance to rest, and dreaming was better than any TV show.
But that night was different for Perry Cox.
Nothing had changed in his routine. He got home at around nine that evening, had a drink, took a shower, ate a quick TV dinner with a couple of beers while watching Deadliest Catch on the television, then brushed his teeth and stretched out in his bed. He was asleep in a matter of seconds. No, his routine was by far normal, but his dream wasn't.
"Dr. Cox?" Asked a surprised voice. Dr. Cox was standing in what looked like a high school hallway, surrounded on both sides by bend up green lockers. He swung around to face JD, who looked equally surprised. "Dr. Cox, what are you doing in my dream?" JD demanded, balling his hands into fists at his side.
"Your dream? Listen, Sharon, this is my dream, so I can ask you the same question."
"Oh my god!" JD practically squealed. "We're sharing a dream! That's so, so, SO cool!"
"My god, Carol, calm down. Are you on your period or something? Jesus. And Newbie, where the hell are we?"
JD smiled slightly and cocked his head to the side a little, as if thinking. Then he answered: "We're in Sumac Point High school. This is where I went as a kid. I already looked around and found my ninth grade me in his- er, my global class. Dude, it's so cool, cuz' no one can see me!" As he finished his explanation a loud bell sounded and the hallway began filling up with students, opening and slamming their lockers shut and chatting loudly with their friends.
"Ninth grade you? Jesus, why am I dreaming about ninth grade Nancy?" Cox wondered aloud.
"I wonder why I'm dreaming about ninth grade me, too. Ninth grade was a hard year for me," JD sighed and stared off into space for a minute, the way he always did. Then he snapped back and pointed at a thin boy standing in front of his locker. He was wearing a black and red sweatshirt that read "Sumac Point!" across the chest and gray jeans. His black hair hung slightly in front of his eyes. "That's me."
Perry stared at ninth grade JD. The boy was reaching into his locker and pulling out a purple textbook. The guy standing next to him elbowed him hard in the ribs, smirked, and headed down the hall. "Didn't stand up for yourself, did you Carrie?"
"I guess not," JD grumbled. "That guy was Abbot Chrysler. He hated me," he rubbed his shoulder. "I never did anything to him, you know. He just hated me for no reason."
Ninth grade JD turned down the hall and started up the stairs to his next class. JD started following him then stopped and turned to Dr. Cox. "What do we do? Do we follow him- er, me?"
"Well, Susan, this is just a dream, so does it really matter what we do?"
JD shrugged. "I don't know if this is just a dream. I mean, how come were both having a dream about Sumac Point? I hated this place! I would certainly never dream about it. And doesn't this seem to real to be a dream? Maybe we're like, I dunno, ghosts?" He did jazz hands and made a "whoooo" ghost noise. Cox rolled his eyes.
"Since you seem to know this place to well, Carrie, I'll follow you."
"Well, before we start stalking me there's a place I want to check out," the bell rang again and by that time all the students had disappeared into classrooms. "You coming?" He asked as he started down the hallway. Dr. Cox sighed and trailed behind him, keeping a large distance between himself and Newbie.
"That's my math class," JD pointed at a door when he passed it. "I had that period… Hmm, I think two." Cox glanced in through the window on the door and saw students goofing around at their desks, flicking paper at each other. He groaned, disgusted.
"Where are you taking me, Newbie?" Cox demanded.
"Here," JD stepped in through an open door. The air in the room smelled thickly like paint and chalk, and Cox knew it was an art room. It was empty of students, only an elderly man sitting at the teachers desk grading projects.
"That's Mr. Boller, my favorite teacher. His class was the only one I had an A in for the first three marking periods," JD walked over to the man and then remembered that Mr. Boller couldn't see or hear him. He frowned and looked miserably at his favorite teacher.
"This is what you wanted to show me, Newbie?" Cox sighed in frustration.
"Well, there's more. I want to see my art project," JD chewed on his lip and walked through a door behind the teacher's desk, into a very small storage room. He began rummaging through the cupboards, then pulled out a large sheet of paper and held it up. Painted on it was a dragon, it's tail tightly curled around a box of treasure that was spilling over with rubies and diamonds. The scaled were a light bluish purple, accented in gold. One of its eyes was closed as if it was sleeping, but the other eye was open and alert, watching for thieves. It really was beautiful.
"This is what it looked like before Abbot ruined it," JD said, smiling sadly.
"He ruined it?" Dr. Cox asked, taking in the masterpiece. "Why?"
"Because he hated me," JD shrugged and returned it to the cupboard. "He poured paint all over it one class. He said it was an 'accident'."
"What an ass," Cox said so flatly that JD had to laugh.
"There's more to see," JD started out of the art room and Perry followed him, a little closer this time.
"That's the cafeteria," JD pointed towards large glass doors as he passed it. "I'm actually in lunch this period. Was in lunch." He pointed towards his ninth grade self, who was sitting in the corner alone drawing in his notebook. Dr. Cox chuckled.
"Didn't have any friend, Lucy?" JD flushed a little.
"N-no! Just none in my lunch period."
Dr. Cox studies the younger JD a little more, then commented: "You're not eating. You're drawing."
"I know, I had an…" JD bit his tongue and said nothing and Perry raised his brow.
"What was that, Nancy?"
"Nothing. I forgot what I was going to say," JD said, then continued down the hall. "That's the principal's office, and over there is the guidance office." A blond woman walked out of the guidance office, and JD smiled at her, something she did not see. "That's Carol, our guidance counselor."
"You were on first name basis with your guidance counselor?" Dr. Cox snorted. "You really were something, Mary Jane."
"I guess," JD grumbled. The bell chimed and he perked a little. "I should be in gym now!" He seemed more cheerful at that news, as he rushed back in the other direction towards the gym. Dr. Cox rolled his eyes and followed him towards the Sumac Point gymnasium.
In the gym ninth grade JD was smiling for the first time that day and sitting next to a blond girl with pale skin and glasses. She wasn't wearing any makeup and her hair was pulled up in a tight pony tail. Her purple jacket read "The North Face" over the left breast. "That's Jayna," JD smiled towards his old friend.
Cox and JD sat two risers above where ninth grade JD and Jayna at.
"You didn't play in gym?" Cox questioned, noticing that while most other students had changed out and were sitting against the wall waiting for instructions from the gym teacher, young JD and Jayna remained on the bleachers, chatting.
JD shook his head. "Didn't play the whole ninth grade year. 'S why I failed, I think."
"Cinderella failed ninth grade, big surprise there. Why isn't your little pony tail girlfriend playing in gym?"
"Her arm is broken, if I remember correctly."
"And was your arm broken?"
"No, I just didn't play."
"Why not, Daisy? Too much work for you?"
JD tensed a little. "It's not that. I just didn't, okay?" They were quiet for a minute, listening to the conversation between the two kids in front of them.
"And so, they, like, threw babies up in the air and shot them and shit!" Jayna was saying. Young JD giggled. "JD, it's not funny! I like kids!"
"Your right, Jayna, it's just horrible. But in all seriousness, why the hell are we talking about the Holocaust anyway? I'm not learning that in global yet."
"Because it's important," Jayna scoffed. "So this weekend Kyle Vaughn kept calling me."
"Oh? And what did Captain Failure have to say?"
"Inappropriate stuff," Jayna giggled. "I hate him so much, you know. I still curse Stephanie for giving him my phone number."
"I just curse Stephanie in general," young JD said bitterly. "Stuck up rich bitch."
"She's not that bad if you get to know her, I guess. She's… overbearing."
"Yeah she is," agreed young JD.
"How's your arm?" Jayna asked, and ninth grade JD glanced at his sleeve.
"Fine," he said, then smiled. "So what else did you do this weekend besides getting sexually harassed by Kyle?"
"I had to help my mom clean the basement." Jayna made a face. "Oh my god, this morning I was so cold when I woke up! My mom had, like, all the windows in the fricken house open!"
"Why? It's like, forty degrees."
"I don't know why! She's a dumb shit!" They both laughed at that. "So what did you do this weekend, Dorian?"
"I went on a field trip."
"To where?"
"The land of depression," ninth grade JD said sarcastically. "I did absolutely nothing interesting to speak of."
"Sounds exciting," Jayna said, and then covered her mouth, laughing. She had wire braces covering her white teeth.
"It was magical; I think I saw Jesus riding a unicorn while I was there."
Dr. Cox stopped listening to the two teenager's conversation and asked JD: "Was she your girlfriend?"
"Of course not! We were just good friends, jeeze! Everyone always accused us of being a couple, but we never were! Dayum."
"Don't get your panties twisted, Ramona. Now is there anything else you need to show me, because I would like to wake up soon. My idea of a good dream isn't a tour of your past, and something tells me that I'll be waking up from this horrific nightmare soon."
"Umm, well. Nope, I guess not." JD looked glumly at his former self.
"Oh, Newbie, I have a question," Cox glanced down at Jayna and then back up to JD.
"What?" JD asked carefully.
"Why did Jayna ask you what's wrong with your arm?"
JD opened his mouth to say "I don't remember" (which was a lie, he did,) but suddenly we wasn't in his gym anymore, and Cox was nowhere in sight.
JD woke with a start in his bed, eyes darting around. He didn't know what he was looking for- Jayna, Dr. Cox, or his ninth grade self. Maybe he was even looking for Abbot. But he didn't find what he was looking for.
The sun filtered in through this dusty bedroom window and he squinted as it shone into his eyes. What an odd dream, he thought. I wonder if it was real. It felt real as hell. I wonder if that really was Dr. Cox sharing a dream with me… He groaned and rolled out of bed to shower and get ready for another day at Sacred Heart.
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Thanks for reading! Sorry if it's horrible and makes you want to gouge your eyes out.