A/N: Here's the second chapter! I forgot to say that there will be chapters with more than one pov (even thought it'll mostly be only Gendry's and Arya's), I hope it doesn't displease you, but it's the only way to explore this story completely. I don't intend on keeping all the songs that appear in the film, but I'll surely sneak a few of them as little references. Please, remember that English is not my first language and there could be some typos. Second A/N at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!
ARYA.
Her dad was very right when he said that Arya wasn't a person who one could befriend easily. He also said the truth when he stated that she had too little patience and was a tad too aggressive whenever she felt like she was being threatened or made fun of. Arya had never agreed with her father's words, telling him that if she wanted, she could have great levels of self-control. But Friday had come and she had to admit – to herself, never to his dad, that'd obviously be a big blow for her pride – that maybe, just maybe, he was right.
That Monday had been her first day in the University, and she hadn't started precisely making friends. When she entered her class in order to have the first period, she saw how a group of girls were chatting naturally outside classroom, but when they spotted her they started whispering and stealing glances her way. At first she tried to let it go, however, one of them approached her – another redhead; Arya wondered how could there be so many redheads in that University-, followed by all the others.
"Hi!" Arya didn't greet her back, pretending she hadn't heard her over her headphones, but then that redheaded girl pulled them from her ears. "I said hi, are you deaf or something?" Arya glared at her, but she chose to ignore it and smirk. "My name is Melisandre. You must be Arya Stark, right?" the dark haired girl sighed.
"How come everyone here knows who I am, when I don't know anybody?" she complained while she placed her textbooks and notebook over the table. Melisandre smiled nonchalantly before lowering her gaze to Arya's table and brushing it with her fingers.
"I just heard people talking about Sansa Stark's little sister, who was going to join the University this year. Didn't expect you to be a tomboy, thought…" Arya glared at her once again. "Not that I don't like that, at least you don't seem to be a toady, unlike your nasty sister…"
It only took between two and three seconds for Arya to slap her in the face. All the other girls surrounding them winced noisily, approaching Melisandre and asking her if she was okay while glancing fearfully at Arya. She packed her things again, grabbed her backpack and made her way towards the door, deciding that the first period wasn't interesting enough to stay. Before getting out, she turned her head and said menacingly:
"I'm the only one who can insult my sister, bitch."
Obviously, the next day she was sent to the principal's office, where Robert Baratheon – long time friend of his father – had tried to scold her for what she did, but failed miserably, for he couldn't even stop laughing and saying how little she had changed with the years. When she got out of there and marched directly to her class, she noticed how everyone looked at her strangely.
And that's why she had to agree slightly with his father's words about her a-little-too-fierce personality; she hadn't even made a single friend yet. She was thinking about this while walking through the corridors that morning. She reached her locker and grabbed the books she needed, as well as a packet of Kleenex.
"Oh shit, I forgot the tissues." she heard someone curse at the other side of her locker's door.
Arya closed it and looked at the boy who owned the locker next to hers. He was holding a big – but already almost finished – sandwich and his hands where stained in processed cheese and oil. She took one of her Kleenex and handed it to him, earning a surprised grin from the boy. He finished the last piece of sandwich and whipped his hands eagerly.
"Thanks! OH FU-…" he cussed when he realized who she was. Arya raised one of her eyebrows, pissed by his reaction and expecting him to run away or something. The boy just pointed at her before saying anything. "You're the chick who bitch-slapped Melisandre Asshai, right?" she nodded, half glaring at him. "Woah, that's awesome!"
She certainly wasn't expecting that kind of response.
"Is it?" she asked, partly confused, partly amused.
"'Course! Well done." Arya couldn't believe what she was hearing. "She totally had it coming. I've been only one week here and she has already given me a nickname."
"Which nickname?"
"Hot Pie. She said it must be the only thing I eat, given my weight." He rolled his eyes. "Hot pies are surely a hundred times more delicious than any of those low calorie protein bars she feeds on." She chuckled and surprised herself not feeling awkward when they felt silent while they walked together towards their class.
"By the way, I'm Arya Stark" she said for the first time after arriving to the campus. Arya opened the door and they came in.
"You can just call me Hot Pie, seeing that I won't feel ashamed for my love for food." She smiled and sat comfortably in one of the desks, proud of herself for having finally made a friend.
It was already Saturday night, concretely 8:00 PM. She took her guitar and the music sheets – everyone who auditioned had to sing the same song; this year it was Stronger by Kelly Clarkson - and headed to the University's theatre, the place where the auditions were going to be held.
When she arrived there was absolutely no one there. She looked around, looked for her sister or Ros or anyone but the place was completely empty. After ten minutes of searching everywhere, Arya just shrugged her shoulders and made her way to Valar Morghulis.
It was her first day at work and she was thirty minutes early. She felt unusually anxious; she could even see how her hands were shaking. Arya had played and sang for other people before, she even uploaded some of her covers to Youtube, but she had never sung, like, professionally for an audience. She approached the bar and sat on one of the stools.
"Nervous, right?" Jaqen appeared from nowhere, which almost made her jump from her seat.
"Uh huh, not at all." She tried to act cool but Jaqen's smirk told her that she was failing miserably.
Surprisingly, the pub was pretty full, unlike the day she had come to sign the contract. That made her feel even more uneasy. At that moment, the doors opened and she saw her sister coming in, followed by some other girls, Ros being one of them. When Sansa saw her, she almost started running towards her.
"Where were you this morning? We waited, like, half an hour for you but you didn't even show up!" she seemed almost angry.
"What? When I went to the auditions there was no-…" Arya frowned. "Wait, did you just say morning? … Shit." Sansa sighed and crossed her arms.
"You went there at 9 PM, didn't you?" she untangled one of her arms and massaged the bridge of her nose before she continued talking. "Well we still need one member more and let me tell you, if we end up having no other choice but to accept Melisandre, it will be your fault!" Arya chuckled at the mention of that name, pitying them for a second. Jaqen mimicked for her to look at the watch, warning her that she should start getting ready. Arya nodded at him.
"Well, Sansa, that's not my problem." She said as she grabbed her guitar's case and stood up. "You asked me for a favor and I tried to help but it seems the odds didn't want me to audition. What a pity…" she heard someone chuckling behind her sister. It was a tall, hazel eyed brunette who she still did not know, so she paid no attention to her and ran across the pub towards the stage.
Arya would have sworn that from the stage, the pub looked at least three times larger than it actually was. She could feel her heart pumping fiercely inside her chest as she placed a stool right in the middle of the platform. She also dragged the microphone until it was in front of her seat and adjusted it to her height before opening the case and taking her guitar, her grip on it being very stronger than usual. Then she stood right in front of the mic.
"Hello everyone." Arya felt goosebumps running all over her back when almost every single person in the pub turned around to face the stage. "My name's Arya Stark and I'm the new performer." She felt a bit encouraged when the audience started clapping and whistling at her. "The first song I'll play is a mix of two different tracks, I hope you enjoy it."
Arya had been all the week thinking about what happened that Monday and how people had reacted to it, and it made her feel pretty furious. That's why she had chosen a song that would fit a little bit with her feelings. She scanned the crowd with her eyes until she found a specific redhead; luckily enough, Melisandre was there to hear what Arya had to say about her attempt to make her feel like shit. The little dark haired girl drank a little sip of water and cleared her throat –without looking away from Melisandre; she felt how her own blood started boiling with rage and shot her a challenging glare - before starting.
You shout it out
But I can't hear a word you say
I'm talking loud not saying much
I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet
You shoot me down, but I get up
This time, baby, I'll be
Bulletproof
This time, baby, I'll be
Bulletproof
I'm bulletproof nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away
Ricochet, you take your aim
Fire away, fire away
You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
I won't let you turn around
And tell me now I'm much too proud
To walk away from something when it's dead
Do, do, do your dirty words
Come out to play when you are hurt
There's certain things that should be left unsaid
Cut me down
But it's you who has further to fall
Ghost town, haunted love
Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones
I'm talking loud not saying much
You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium
I am titanium
Arya took a deep breath, feeling how all the muscles in her body relaxed. She had sung all the song while looking at the redhead, who had now disappeared inside the crowd. Everyone clapped, whistled or screamed, and Arya couldn't help feeling proud for it; she had spent quite a few of sleep hours writing and engaging the mix, making an acoustic guitar version for it, and in that moment she felt it had been worth it. Arya sung a few songs more – the original version of each, she had decided that she would only sing one mix every week - until eleven o'clock before leaving the stage. At the moment she stepped out of the scenery, her sister and her friends surrounded her, seemingly very excited.
"Arya, good news!" Sansa cried out while clapping her hands. "Margaery liked your performance so much that she says we can make and exception and let you in!" Arya cringed slightly. One of her sister's friends came out of the lot to stand right in front of her. It was the brunette Arya had spotted before performing.
"Your performance was sincere, it was full of real feelings, and that's something you don't see often." Arya shrugged, remembering Melisandre's blank face while she was singing the mix. "As the head of The Barden Bellas, I suggested to think about your performance as an audition, and we decided to let you join our a capella group. Tomorrow in the morning we will have the welcoming ceremony for the new members. See you at 9 AM in the gym!" Margaery smiled and waved goodbye at her, turning around and trotting off, followed by the rest of the group, including Sansa. The younger Stark had to admit that she didn't dislike Margaery at all, even thought she put way too much effort in looking sophisticated.
Arya turned around and almost shrieked when she saw Hot Pie's face just a few inches from hers. She jerked back and would have fallen to the floor if it wasn't for the student standing behind her, who she had bumped with. She apologized and returned to Hot Pie, who was holding a beer can.
"Hi! I saw you up there, it was mind blowing!" Arya laughed at his enthusiastic expression.
"Don't exaggerate or you will increase my ego, dumbass." She nudged him in the ribs, making him squeal. They both cackled afterwards.
"By the way, there's someone I want you to meet," suddenly another boy appeared from the crowd. Arya frowned and narrowed her eyes; she had seen him somewhere else but she couldn't remember where. "Arya, this is Gendry Waters. Gendry,… well, you already know."
They shook hands, but Arya still kept the same expression in her face. Seeing this, he chuckled, and that's when she remembered him; he was the boy that had laughed at her when she had fallen with her butt the day she arrived. Her brow furrowed even more.
"Don't tell me he's your friend…" she said to Hot Pie, who grinned while nodding. "I thought you disliked people who laughed at others." Arya looked again at the taller, much more muscular boy.
Why is this Gendry guy smirking?
… And why doesn't it annoy me?
Hot Pie took a few steps back. "Well I'll leave you two on your own, try not to kill each other, capisci?" he backed out towards the pub's bar. For a brief moment, Arya hated Hot Pie to no end.
"You chose those two songs because of what happened this Monday, right?" he inquired, pointing at her with the hand with which was holding a can of beer identical to Hot Pie's – the other was inside his jeans' pocket. Her eyes widened slightly, and he smirked again while nodding, letting her know she had just proved her theory right.
"Why does so many people know what happened? You aren't even a freshman…" she grumbled grinding her teeth.
"All sophomores have heard about it." He took a sip of beer. "Besides, being Hot Pie's roommate, well I guess I can say I have contacts."
Gendry showed her another crooked smile, and she kept wondering why she didn't feel even a bit annoyed. At that moment, Jaqen passed by her and patted her back, whispering "Well done" and giving her a can of beer. She smiled at him and nodded before facing Gendry again. Arya took a sip of her drink and stared blankly at him.
"I bet everyone thinks I'm a tomboy-ish bitch now." She mumbled, shrugging. The boy chuckled.
"At the contrary. It takes some guts to slap Melisandre Asshai, with her being the chick of the principal's stepson and all that crap."
Arya almost spat her beer all over him.
Robert certainly didn't seem pissed off by the fact that I slapped his stepson's girlfriend, she thought. As those words crossed her mind, her eyes wondered through the crowd, suddenly spotting the aforementioned redhead, who was talking to her obnoxiously toady friends. She seemed to spot Arya as well, for she ordered them to wait holding up a hand and started walking towards the young Stark.
"Oh shit." She mumbled, Gendry frowning at her words, ignoring what made her say them. "Shit, shit, shit."
Arya made her way through the crowd towards the emergency exit door as quickly as she could, flashing some glances backwards now and then – she could feel that girl's eyes on her, she could hear her calling her name, probably cursing her, but she didn't stop to face her this time -, after a minute she finally reached the exit. Arya pushed the doors vigorously and stepped outside before closing them again. That exit lead to a dark and deserted alley at the opposite side of the pub's entrance. She bent over, placing her hands on her knees and took a deep breath for the second time in the same evening.
"Okay, what are we doing here?" a voice echoed down the street. Surprised, Arya straightened her back again. "By the way, you can let me go now." It was Gendry. And she was holding his wrist.
GENDRY.
He had 'met' her inappropriately a few days ago, and appropriately just a few minutes before she had grabbed and taken him out of the pub to lead him into an empty alley. Okay, said like this it certainly doesn't sound quite right, but to him, she didn't really seem like a threat. The first time he had seen her, she looked like a child – well, a child dressed with a band t-shirt and ripped shorts - who was throwing a tantrum because someone had witnessed her being a little clumsy. But this time, she certainly didn't look like a child; she wore a three quarter sleeve garnet shirt and a pair of skinny black trousers. And even thought she looked much more mature, Gendry couldn't help but find the expression she had right then rather funny.
"Sorry, I did it out of instinct… Wait, why am I apologizing? It was you who laughed at me when I fell this Monday!" she had clearly felt the need to change the subject in an attempt of self-defense when her cheeks had started blushing.
"What?" he said in a more high-pitched voice. "You're never going to let it go, right?" he was trying to sound annoyed but he really wasn't at all, and somehow she seemed to know it. Arya laughed before leaning her back against the wall.
"I really don't feel like dealing with that bitch right now." She was referring to Melisandre. "Ain't gonna let her ruin my day."
"Are you sure you aren't just scared of her?" he said mockingly as he leaned his back against the wall, just a few inches away from her.
"Am not, stupid!" she declared before taking another sip of beer. Gendry chuckled – he found amusing how easy it was to see through her -, and after few seconds of silence Arya spoke again. "By the way, I don't like liars."
"What?" he looked truly confused.
"You said you were a sophomore, which you certainly aren't." an acknowledging little smile spread across his lips. "I mean, you look like… 23? 22?" he smirked and looked at the floor. "Gotcha."
"But that doesn't mean I lied." Arya frowned, looking puzzled for a moment. "I really am a sophomore. Older than the rest, but still."
"How come…?"
"I guess you could say I took a few years off."
She let it go, but didn't seem really satisfied with the explanation he had given her – which, obviously, wasn't true. Yes, Gendry thought she was really interesting and fun to annoy, but that didn't mean he was going to tell her all about his life just like that. Maybe someday in the future… he said to himself. Then, she felt a grip on his shirt's right sleeve and looked down at his side: it was Arya, and she was pointing at the end of the alley. A bunch of boys were walking down the street, some were pushing each other playfully, others just chatting calmly. That was until one of them saw Gendry and Arya and whispered at another's ear, earning his attention for them. He smirked vainly and approached them.
"Gendry." He said as a greeting.
"Joffrey." Gendry greeted back very seriously. He could see the blonde boy looking at Arya for a second before turning his attention to him again, still smirking.
"So you finally found yourself a chick?" he chuckled stealing glances at his friends, who mimicked his laugh.
"I have a name, douchebag." Joffrey looked at her again, realizing the irked expression on her face.
The blonde's friends let go a collective jeer in response to Arya's words. Gendry tried to suppress his satisfied smile, which was showing anyways. Joffrey shifted on his feet uncomfortably, his smirk now gone.
"Well, let us hear it then." His voice sounded much more aggressive the before.
"Arya Stark." She could see Joffrey's eyebrows rising in surprise before he stared at her from head to toe.
"You can't be serious." He said, bursting into laughter. She clenched her fists tightly and Gendry glared at him deadly. The blonde tried to pull himself together again and held up a hand in front of Arya.
"Joffrey Baratheon, nice to meet you." Every word he said sounded faker than the previous one, but she grabbed his hand anyways. He smirked again, this time even more vilely than before. "Maybe someday you'll have the pleasure to be used by me, just like your sister had." He tried to sound seductive or empowered, obviously failing. This time it was his friends' time to burst into laughter.
All of a sudden, Arya's hand shifted to intertwine his fingers with hers, earning shocked looks from everyone.
"Sorry Gendry, but it seems that she prefers m-…"
He shrieked in pain when she pressed her fingertips into his knuckles, bending his hand and making him kneel with both his knees in front of her. His not-so-amused-anymore friends winced in confusion. Gendry's jaw almost dropped to the floor.
"Sorry! I'm sorry! Please let me go!" Joffrey cried out, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
Arya glared at him before she untangled their hands and took a few steps back. Joffrey got up, touching carefully his hand, which was still in pain. He stared a few seconds at his reddened knuckles, then glared at Arya.
"My father will hear about this!" he cried out and turned around, walking away, followed by his bunch of friends.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall again and taking a bigger sip of beer. Gendry stared at her, completely unaware of the pleased smile he had on his lips. Arya twitched a little bit when she had swallowed the gulp of beer. Afterwards, she sighed.
"Why the hell has my sister such a bad reputation here?"
"How the hell did you do that?" he asked without even answering her question.
"My master Syrio Forel taught me two things: playing the guitar and… beating the crap out of assholes."
A/N 2: Okay, before anything else, I want to say that I apologize if there's any Melisandre fan between my readers. I don't have anything against her, I just needed someone to be Joffrey's girlfriend and thought that she could fit well, even if I had to "evilize" her a little. Also, I'll cut down most of the lyrics of the songs that will be featured in this fic, because I don't like them looking too long. Next chapter: aca-initiation ceremony and more gendrya chatting...
