Author's Note: I know High School AU's are probably cheesy and overdone, but I started this crack fic at 2 in the morning one night and I'll be damned if I don't finish what I started. So enjoy the sheer silliness.

The moment Mrs. Stark told them it was going to be a partnered assignment, Brienne's heart sunk like a stone. Her work was always best when she did the project solo. Everyone else just shot down her ideas.

Luckily, there was one saving grace; the partners would be chosen by popsicle stick, rather than milling around the room claiming your best friend before somebody else did. Brienne bit her lip. Last time that had happened, she'd looked hopefully over at her friend Renly (he was the only person in class who ever talked to her). But he'd already paired up with Loras, leaving Brienne to stare dolefully around the room until similarly partnerless Cleos had ambled over to her desk.

Partner projects were politics, and Brienne was not a politically savvy girl.

She listened intently for her name to be called. Mrs. Stark was calling out, "Renly, will be partnered with-" come on, come on- "Stannis." The boys pulled faces at each other from across the room. Brienne felt deeply disappointed, but at least he hadn't been paired with some pretty girl. She felt selfish just for thinking that, but the feeling was there all the same.

"…and Brienne." She looked up, blushing. I must have zoned out. Looking around for a sign of who her partner was, Brienne was temporarily confused until she heard giggling coming from the back corner. She turned.

There was the trio of golden-haired kids, sitting turned towards one another, and all pointing at her with manicured hands. In the center, the boy was looking at her with a smirk on his face, saying something to his sister, who glared at Brienne intently.

No way. There was no way she had gotten paired with Jaime Lannister.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Jaime mouthed at her, and shrugged.

Brienne turned around, silently fuming. Out of all the people she could have gotten, of course it would be the popular kid, the one who never said a word to her directly but made biting comments when he knew she could hear. Sure he was handsome, and all the girls had crushes on him, but Brienne was not fooled by his charming demeanor.

When Mrs. Stark had finished, and was passing out papers for the assignment, Brienne looked up at her. Maybe her pleading look was written all over her face, because Mrs. Stark smiled apologetically. "I know I gave you a difficult partner," she whispered. "But you're the only one I can trust to get him to actually do any work."

Well, that might be true, at least.

Everyone stood up, then, and went to find seats next to their partners. Brienne sat next to Jaime in his sister's empty seat, and stared at her hands for a moment, conscious of their size. She was determined not to let anything he said get under her skin.

Jaime turned toward her with a dramatic stretch and a sigh. "So. We got some species of fish. I don't know how to pronounce it."

Brienne snatched his paper, though her own sat on her desk. "What?" She looked. There was the name of the fish. And there was its name in Valyrian. They had to do their final science project…on a fish?

"That's lame," she muttered, lamely.

"Got any ideas?" Jaime asked, blinking with an innocent smile.

It was going to be a long project.

—-

That night at dinner, Brienne's father, Selwyn, had prepared some sort of fish, and she vaguely wondered if it was the same kind that she had to do her project on. When they sat down, he asked her about her day, as always.

"Turns out our science final is with partners," she said, pushing peas around unhappily. "I got Jaime Lannister."

Selwyn looked like he was trying to hide a smile. "That boy you said everyone thinks is cute?" He pointed his fork at her. "I don't know, maybe he's not as bad as you think."

Brienne frowned. "Dad. No. I mean, I guess he's cute. Maybe." The maybe was stressed with a glare. "But either way, he's still a jerk." She hesitated. "He calls me names, and stuff."

At that, her father looked concerned. "What kind of names? You know, I work for his father's company, I could say something if he's really bothering y-"

"No!" Brienne said quickly. "I can deal with him myself, it's not that big of a deal. I just didn't want to have to do my final with him, is all." She felt bad for making her father worry. Sometimes he was a bit distant from her, with his girlfriends and his work. And she hadn't exactly been the model child for him. Sometimes she felt like he wanted a normal daughter, who didn't wear boy's clothes, or cut her hair. Sometimes she felt like they had nothing in common. But in the end, she knew he cared about her. And that was comforting.

Selwyn reached out instinctively and gave her hair a short stroke before withdrawing his hand. "Well, if he gets too unruly," he suggested, "you take charge and make him do all the dirty work."

Brienne managed a smile. "Sounds like a plan," she said.