Author's Note: This is my very first fan fiction ever, and I am terrified.
Here is some rowing lingo to explain the story's title and this chapter's title.
way enough: the command in rowing to stop doing whatever you are doing
catch: the beginning of the rowing stroke where the oar blade is set in the water.
If you want to learn more about crew/rowing, just check Wikipedia.
Hey, I just met you,
Gendry woke with a start and groaned when he realized what day it was.
And this is crazy,
He wiped the sleep from his eyes and fingered the slight stubble on his cheeks. He would have to shave before he went to bed that night.
But here's my number, so call me, may-
He slapped the snooze button on top of his old clock radio, effectively stopping the infuriating yet catchy Call Me Maybe.
"Gendry! You can't be late on the first day back from Thanksgiving break. Up, up, up!" a warm voice from outside of his door.
"I'm up!"
"Alright, I'm leaving for work. I love you!"
"I love you too,"
Gendry rolled off his bed and on to the floor with a thud. It was 6:30 am, and he felt like a beached whale. Getting up from the ground, he kicked grubby workout clothes and old CD's to clear a pathway to his dresser. He quickly pulled on a gray t-shirt, worn jeans, and a pair of old sneakers. He made his way to his desk, picking up his back pack and shoving a few sharpened pencils and notebooks into it, having packed most of his school supplies the night before.
Slinging the back pack on his shoulder and throwing his lucky leather jacket over the other, he left the room and stepped into the main room of the two bedroom one bathroom apartment he shared with his mother.
Gendry knew that to others his apartment came off as shabby, but to him it was home. The main room was painted an off white, with a small kitchenette in one corner, a table pushed up against a wall, and a green loveseat turned towards a small TV. The wall with the window was full of framed pictures of Gendry and his mother.
He sat at the small table where he and his mother always had dinner. It was pushed up against the only window in the apartment, so the setting sun could stream through while they ate. His mom had left him some buttered toast and eggs and a bagged lunch. Shoveling the food down and grabbing the lunch, Gendry left the apartment, making sure to lock both the dead bolt and handle lock.
He walked over to the '90s era Volvo that sat in their apartment's single designated parking spot.
Gendry always felt guilty when he was driving the only car that his mother had. When she had given him the keys on his 17th birthday and told him the car was solely his, he flat out refused.
"Mom, how will you get to work?"
"I can walk to the bus stop to get to work, it's just a few blocks away. Besides, It's your senior year of highschool, you should have a car of your own. y. It's fine, Gendry."
Gendry knew that the bus stop was more then a few blocks away, but decided against continuing the argument with his stubborn mother.
He unlocked the car, threw his school stuff into the back seat, and got into the drivers seat. After a few trys, Gendry started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
BANG BANG BANG
"Arya Lyanna Stark, if you don't get out of your room this instant, I swear to god I will-"
Nan stopped her tirade abruptly when the door in front of her swung open to reveal a blank faced Arya Stark, dressed in her usual jeans and sweatshirt. Running a hand through her choppy new haircut, she grabbed her backpack and brushed passed Nan and made her way to an empty kitchen. Her siblings were all still sleeping, since Harrenhall's school day started half an hour earlier then King's Landing's.
A feeling of dread rose from a pit inside of Arya's stomach the moment Nan had started banging on the door. This wasn't right, none of it was right. She should be in bed, sleeping, not leaving her house to go to her first day at Harrenhal Secondary School.
Nan had set out a well balanced breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, milk, and turkey bacon. Arya nibbled at the bacon and chugged the glass of milk, making sure to burp, earning a disapproving frown from Nan.
"Your father will be driving you to school today," Nan told Arya.
Arya felt like a ball had been dropped inside of her. Since the incident her father had been too disappointed in her to have s more then superficial conversation with her. Now she would have to endure a twenty minute car ride with him.
"Why?"
Nan smirked, as if she knew exactly what Arya was thinking.
"Your father thought it would be nice to drive you on your very first day at a new school. This is a one time thing, after that I will be driving you to and from school. He is waiting out front for you."
Arya ignored the smirk, deciding that it was time to face her fears. Exiting into the large garage that housed the Stark family's impressive fleet of cars, Arya found her father in silver Prius that he had driven for the past seven years. Neither Stark acknowledged the other when Arya entered the car. The ride to her new school was a painfully silent one. When they were a block away from the school, Ned pulled over into a side street and turned off the car, turning to Arya.
"Now, Arya, I know that this has been hard for you, but... You must know that there are consequences to your actions." He looked to Arya to see how she was responding. She stared at some dried bird poop on the windshield.
"And who knows, maybe you will grow to like it here. Yoren says he has a spot for you on the crew team, which you should be extremely thankful for. You don't even have to do crew if you want. You could join the drama club, like your sister. All that matters is you get good grades and stay out of trouble. That way you can get into a college, get a good job, get married, and start a family."
Arya knew her father was trying his best to comfort her, but she was beyond comforting. She had been forced to leave her team at King's Landing Day School three months into the school year when a fight between her and Joffery Baratheon had turned into a temporary restraining order and expulsion. Her parents had tried to fight for her, but Cersi Lannister had an iron grip around Principal Pycelle, and Ned couldn't risk loosing his career in Robert Baratheon's multi million dollar company. In the end, Arya was forced from the school and her friends. She had two options; move in with her crazy Aunt Lysa in Michigan, or go to public school. The choice hadn't been a hard one, but it was a choice Arya felt she should have never been forced to make.
Deciding she had enough of the conversation, she tore her eyes away from the bird poop and met her father's eyes.
"That's not me dad. You know I want to travel, not settle down and become a house wife and a baby machine," she started gathering her stuff and opening the passenger side's door.
"Arya, let me drive you the rest of the-"
"It's fine, the school is only a block away."
She slammed the door close, and she felt the dread she had earlier that morning return.
This school is huge. Arya thought to herself when she finally made it to the front entrance of the school after abandoning her father in the car.
Harrenhal Secondary School was a public school that taught students from 7th to 12th grade, and had a staggering student population of 3,939 pupils, a little under ten times that of King's Landing Day School. The campus consisted of the school building, a main parking lot and two secondary parking lots, six tennis courts, an eight lane track, a football field, three practice fields, and four baseball fields. The school building itself was a seemingly endless two-story building of light brown brick with black trim.
Her first class hadn't been as terrible as she she imagined a public school classroom to be like. The class was World Religions, taught by an eccentric and kind woman in her early 60's named Dr. Osgood. The classroom was decorated with pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses, quotes speaking about acceptance, gifts from various former student, and exotic items Dr. Osgood had acquired from years of traveling. After being introduced to the class, Arya learned that the class had just started the unit on Islam, so she didn't have much catching up to do.
The hallways were filled with the din of thousands of teenagers gossiping, laughing, and yelling to their friends across locker bays. Though Arya didn't want to admit it, she liked being surrounded by so many people. She could slip into a crowd without being noticed by anyone, as swift as a deer and as quick as a snake. She was a shadow, she was nobody.
At least, she was nobody until some unknown assailant had tripped her. Lacking her usual grace and composure, Arya almost took a nose dive before catching herself, but no without bumping into another student, causing both students to drop the items in their hands.
Arya, leaning up against a row of lockers, quickly looked around to see if anybody had seen her almost fall. Nobody gave her nor her scattered items a second glance. That is, nobody except for a large boy with greasy black hair and tan skin. His angry face was turning an unflattering shade of magenta.
"You knocked my shit over!"
A few people turned to see what the source of the outburst was. When they realized it was just the fat boy yelling at a young girl, they simply rolled their eyes and continued on to their next class.
"Look, I didn't mean to, I-" stuttered Arya.
Ignoring her apologies, the boy grabbed Arya's arm, yanking him towards her.
"Let go of me!"
The boy wouldn't wouldn't relent. He started to yell at her, spittle flying from his mouth.
Arya, hating the feeling of being out of control, started to yell louder then the boy.
"I will beat the shit out of you if you don't let go of me. I've beaten others before, and I won't hesitate to do it again."
The boy laughed.
She could feel the rage bubbling inside of her, just like the day that she had punched Joffery Baratheon in the face, which had landed her in this miserable school. Her skin felt like a hot membrane barely containing her, and her vision became constricted, until all she could see were the boy's big pink lips.
Arya drew her fist back, putting all the force she could into the punch.
Maybe this will get me expelled from this miserable place.
Arya excepted her fist to make contact with the boy's flabby cheek, but instead it hit a hand that had come out of nowhere.
"Y'know, you really shouldn't hit people that are bigger then you."
Arya turned to see the source of the barrier between her and the fat boy's face. The hand belonged to a tall boy with a muscular build. Ink black curls fell into his shining blue eyes.
Turn"Hot Pie, just head on to class,"
"B-but, Gendry, she was about to p-p-punch me!" Arya looked back at the fat boy, who was apparently named Hot Pie, looking like he was about to soil himself.
The boy named Gendry gave Hot Pie an annoyed frown and bent down to pick up the contents of his back pack.
"Yeah, you cursed someone out and acted like you were going to eat their face, what did you think was going to happen?"
Hot Pie grabbed his things from Gendry with a huff and marched off down the hall. Arya noticed that the crowded hallways was starting to clear, signaling the nearing of the next class.
Arya, realizing that Gendry was still holding her fist, snatched her hand away and started reaching for her scattered papers.
"I wouldn't take Hot Pie too seriously. He is actually I really nice guy, and his lemon tarts are the best. Here, let me help you," The boy bent down again and picked up Arya's recently acquired World Religions textbook.
"Huh, World Religions… thats with Dr. Osgood, right? I heard she is a pretty good teacher," He smiled and handed the book to her. She scowled and snatched it away from him.
"You new here?"
"What does it matter?"
"Well, aren't we sassy. Do you always act hostile whenever someone trys to help you?"
"I didn't need your help, and I certainly don't need it now."
Gendry raised an eyebrow. "Really? You didn't need my help getting out of a fight against a guy with a good 6 inches and 100 plus pounds on you? If I hadn't stopped that fist of yours, you could have knocked his front teeth out. Are you trying to be expelled on your first day?"
When Arya didn't reply, Gendry extended a hand.
"I'm Gendry, by the way."
The hall ways were almost empty, save for the few stragglers risking being tardy to class.
"I'm gonna be late for class."
And with that, Arya darted past him and around a corner, leaving Gendry, alone, his hand stupidly hanging in the air when the bell rang.
Please review, so I'm not sitting here in terror about the poor quality of my writing.