Game of Thrones: Healing the Broken
Chapter 1 of my new Game of Thrones story, the marathon resumes, enjoy.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.
Chapter 1
It was the start of another day at Royal Rivers Academy in Westeros. This school was located in the Riverlands and as such, being centrally located, while it meant a number of students had a longer commute than others, was quite a popular choice. One of those students right now was walking through the halls, keeping his head down as usual.
He was a young man of sixteen, with pale skin, green eyes and tousled sandy hair, his name was Jojen Reed. Like all students he was clad in his school uniform. While still having a uniform, Royal Rivers Academy did offer a good degree of freedom for the students regarding certain choices.
For example, the boy's uniform consisted of a pair of dark blue mid-thigh school shorts or trousers (depending on the boys choice); a lighter blue shirt; a grey Blazer; a blue and grey tie; grey socks that could be worn at any length between calf-high and ankle length (again depending on the boys choice) and finally a pair of smart dark blue shoes.
It was Jojen's choice to wear the trousers, partly because he felt he'd look stupid in the school shorts, and partly for a personal reason. One he kept hidden, one that caused him a great deal of fear and made him loathe the thought of showing indeed any more of himself than he absolutely had to.
Unfortunately, this made him a target for the school bullies and, sure enough, as he walking, looking for his friends, he was suddenly shoved into the wall. He staggered, almost falling, but before he could even turn, he found himself pushed up against said wall and pinned there.
He tensed when he saw his attacker. A tall haughty looking boy of nineteen, the school allowed some students to stay on an extra year for extra credit if they so chose. He had short blonde hair, green eyes and fair skin; he was also dressed in the boys uniform, wearing trousers, like Jojen did.
It was Joffrey Baratheon, son of President Robert Baratheon of Westeros and quite frankly, the worst bully the school had ever seen, since Ramsay Bolton.
"Well, look who it is, Jojen Reed." Joffrey remarked unpleasantly. "Where are you going, fag."
Jojen struggled against Joffrey's grip. "I'm not, you can't say..."
Joffrey shoved Jojen roughly against the wall. "I can say what I want loser, it's no secret you like checking out the other boys, especially those filthy degenerates that wear those stupid shorts..."
'I am not gay for fuck sake, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm not like that.' Jojen thought to himself, too scared to actually say it. 'I'm Asexual, that's all.'
Joffrey was right in his face, but then a new voice cut in.
"Leave him alone Joffrey."
They turned their heads to see the new arrival.
It was a boy of sixteen, with similar blonde hair and green eyes to Joffrey. Although normally fair skinned he had something of a tan, he also made the choice to wear shorts with his uniform and therefore his calf-high socks were visible. This caused Joffrey to look at him with disdain, despite the fact they were brothers, it was Tommen Baratheon.
"This doesn't concern you, cock-sucker." Joffrey spat.
It was ridiculous, the way Joffrey's mind worked; he thought only little kids and homosexuals looking to show off their legs wore the school shorts. Not that there was any connection, but Tommen was gay.
Tommen shook his head. "Look, just leave him alone, haven't you learned yet, just because our dad is who he is and mum is who she is, doesn't mean we're protected, we follow the rules like everyone else, or we're punished, like everyone else."
Joffrey glowered at that, but let Jojen go and stalked off, growling. Jojen let out a sigh of relief but then, it happened. A female voice then spoke and he felt a hand on his arm.
"Hey, are you alright?"
He only just heard Tommen approach and say. "Yeah, can't believe Joff-"
But that was all he heard, for at that moment he jumped back, hyperventilating, eyes wide. Both Tommen and the girl stepped back, shocked. The girl was seventeen also blonde, with green eyes, fair skin with a tan and had a slender build.
She wore the girls version of the uniform, a dark blue mid-thigh pleated school skirt or trousers based on girl's choice; a lighter blue blouse; a grey blazer; a blue and grey tie; grey socks, allowed to be any length between knee-high and ankle length, again based on choice and dark blue flats.
It was the middle Baratheon child, Joffrey and Tommen's sister, Myrcella Baratheon; a bright confident girl who enjoyed wearing a skirt with her uniform, she also wore her socks at ankle length. But to Jojen, none of this really registered.
It was all to do with his unfortunate, dark secret, the mere touch of a girl panicked him and made him react this way.
"What the, Jojen?" Tommen gasped.
Myrcella shook her head. "I was only..."
Actually seeing her now, Jojen tried to calm himself. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't, I didn't mean...Sorry."
Biting her lip, Myrcella nodded. "It, it's okay, are you alright?"
"I am now...thank you." He looked at Tommen. "Really, thanks."
Tommen managed a small smile. "It's cool, I'm fed up with Joffrey acting the way he does."
With that they parted ways and it was to Jojen's great relief that, a few minutes later, he found his friends. He paused to observe them, they were all from the same family and were of varying ages. Two of them were amongst those Joffrey unfairly judged and no doubt the ones he was referring to when he thought Jojen was looking for 'guys to check out'.
Both boys had auburn hair and blue eyes, as well as pale skin. The older of the two was Jojen's age, his hair was cut short and neat and he had a strong wiry build. They younger of the two was thirteen, his hair was wild and messy, somewhat longer, he wasn't quite tall yet, but he was at that age where the growth spurts would start kicking in, making him currently somewhat lanky.
Both wore the shorts version of the boys uniform, with Bran in calf-high socks, Rickon favoured ankle socks. Both boys were brothers, Bran and Rickon Stark respectively and with them were their sisters, Sansa and Arya.
Sansa was nineteen, with long shiny hair, the same auburn colour as the boys, the same blue eyes and pale skin too. She wore her uniform with a skirt and knee high socks. Finally there was Arya, seventeen and possessing only the pale skin her siblings had. She instead took after her father in appearance with brown hair she wore level with her shoulders, grey eyes and a long narrow face.
Unlike her girly sister, Arya was a tomboy and hated things like skirts and dresses and such. And so she wore trousers with her uniform, the only one of the four to do so.
He smiled as he approached them.
"Hey."
They all turned and greeted him.
"Jojen, good to see you." Bran remarked.
Jojen smiled, he and Bran had been good friends for a few years; a friendship which grew stronger when Bran started dating Jojen's older sister, Meera. They passed the time talking and chatting about anything in general, until it was time to head to class. Heading there right away, Jojen paused when he faced a new difficulty.
With the Stark girls, he could be alright, so long as they didn't take him by surprise. But other girls, he always had his problems. Now here he was, none of the rest of the class present, except for one person. A person that smiled warmly at him as he approached.
That person was a girl, around sixteen, of medium height with shoulder length red hair, brown eyes and pale skin, she had freckles decorating her cheeks and across her nose and was skinny. Like Sansa and Myrcella she chose a skirt for her uniform, with ankle socks.
"Hi there." She greeted.
He bit his lip, but replied. "Hi."
He couldn't put his finger on it, but she actually seemed familiar.
He felt lame, but he asked. "Have we, um...met?"
"Not really, not in an introductory way. We've seen each other though." She replied with a laugh. "I'm from the Neck as well."
Jojen's eyes widened at that. "Oh, so, we're practically neighbours."
The grin smiled and introduced herself. "Actually, we are neighbours. The name's Lily, Lily Fenn."
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.