"Welcome! Welcome!" Robert Baratheon's voice boomed over the microphone. Everyone filed in and took their seats. We sat in a grand hall, the art work here was beautiful. The floor was solid hardwood, but not the new type you see in most houses, old thick wood that you could see had been recently polished. The walls were covered in thick cloth banners, all printed with the symbols of great houses. The Lion for the Lannisters, the three headed dragon for the Targaryens, and even the Wolf for my family the Starks. I bowed my head as I thought about my family. I still held so much hatred towards them for doing this to me, but I also missed them. The thought that i would not be seeing home for a very long time made my stomach turn.
I glanced around at my fellow students, they all looked around at the huge hall as well, talking amongst themselves about how wonderful it was. I vaguely heard Robert Baratheon starting to speak, silencing the murmurs in the small crowd.
"Welcome Ladies!" He started, this actually received a few cheers which made me roll my eyes. "Thank you for coming to Dragons Garden! We are sure you will receive nothing but the highest education here. We pride ourselves on being one of the best schools for ladies and all of our staff members work hard to give you the best education. Not only in normal studies, but also in what it takes to become the best Lady you can be!"
He paused and scanned his eyes over the women in front of him. I have heard rumours of Robert, and most of them were not nice. People usually described him had a bit of a drunk who likes his women. Maybe he was scanning us in hopes of finding his next wife?
I smiled to myself for my naughty thoughts and tuned back into his speech. "We will teach you many things here, how to walk, dance and literally talk like a Lady. Now, I know most of you here are actually here to learn, but for the select few that did not choose to be here, we hope you will respect our school rules and not disrupt any fellow students." As he took a deep breath, one of the students stood up. I recognised her as the girl with pink hair.
She spoke loud and clear, her voice surprisingly higher than I had imagined. "Disrupt them how?" She asked. She had a very distinct look, bright pink hair but blacker than black eye make up. Her face held a few piercings and her arms were covered in a couple of tattoos. I liked her look, but I was sure this wasn't approved off here.
Robert glanced away from the piece of paper he was reading, obviously not expected to be interrupted. He squinted at the girl, "Excuse me?"
"What type of thing counts as 'disruption?'" she asked, "Is this what you meant?" I don't know why she did it, and I really didn't want to know her reasonings, but she turned around, pulled down her trousers and flashed everyone her sparkling white bum cheeks. The students and staff all burst out in shock and outroar, i swear some of the prissy perfect woman was near fainting at the sight of seeing another girls ass. I just found it funny. "Does that count?" She asked once her trousers where back around her waist.
Robert stared at her for a moment, probably carefully thinking what to say next. But he didn't get a chance to speak, the girl suddenly burst out in an angry rage, cursing them all and telling them exactly what she thought of their school. Once she was done she sat back down, crossed her arms and sunk into her chair. No one really knew how to continue after that, so Robert just dismissed us and said that dinner was being served at 6pm sharp.
As we were all being led to find our new rooms, I secretly hoped i would be in a room with Pink haired girl. If i was going to plan an escape with anyone, my best chance would be to have her as my ally and help me get out of here.
"Arya Stark!" The lady announced outside a room numbered 686. I peered inside and stared at the room that I would be living in for the foreseeable future. There were two beds, both sporting plain white bed sheets. The bed did look comfortable which was a plus side. The room had plain cream walls, which looked newly painted, the floor also had plain cream carpet. Plain, it was very plain.
"Myrcella Lannister!" She shouted next. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it was the pink haired girl, but no. Of course not. Lannisters where famous for their golden locks, not pink. Myrcella squeezed through the group of girls. She was a very beautiful girl, golden hair trickling down her back like a waterfall, her eyes were green and looked so inviting and friendly that for a moment I forgot I was annoyed at her for not being the girl I wanted as a roommate. She definitely would not help me plan any escapes.
"Hello! My name is Myrcella, you can call me Cella for short if you want. Isn't this place amazing? It's so beautiful and grand, i just love the decor…." She continued on, rambling nonsense for what felt like a lifetime. I just stared at her, hoping, praying she would stop talking soon.
She didn't. In the end, I thought I'd try and tune her out and start unpacking my things. As I went through my clothes I noticed something that was a little out of the ordinary. Pulling it out of my bag revealed a long sweeping light green dress. It was slightly glittery, like it had a sheen over it, the neckline was cut low, perhaps a little too low for the dress code at this school. Even i couldn't deny how beautiful it was. Stuck to the tag inside was a note, i pulled it off and read it.
You can thank me later, Sansa.
Myrcella noticed the dress and rushed to me. "Oh, wow. That is absolutely stunning. Where did you get it? I must have one made for myself when i get home!"
I shrugged. "I don't know, it was a gift." I said, giving it one last glance before hiding it away in my closet. There was no way in hell that i was going to wear that. Not because I didn't like it, how could I not like it? It's just it isn't me. I wouldn't feel myself, wearing that would make me feel like i'm lying, not only to myself but to everyone who would see me wearing it. No, I decided there and then that nothing, no matter how important, would ever convince me to wear that dress.
Myrcella came up behind me and pulled the dress back out of the wardrobe. "They must like you very much to give you a gift this grand!"
I gave a small smile and carried on unpacking my things. For the next couple of hours, after all the packing was done, I had no choice but to sit there and listen to this girl go on and on about how excited she was to be here. Couldn't she tell that i would rather be anywhere else in the world than sitting in this bedroom with her.
I tuned out and my thoughts travelled to Gendry. I didn't see him in the hall where his father welcomed everyone. I wonder what he was doing right now… Was he also thinking of me?
Shut up Arya,of course he wasn't. Why do I even care? The last thing on my mind should be men, it should be learning how to escape this awful fucking school!
I stood up and opened the window. Well, they must be on a tight budget because you couldn't get a foot through that thing it was so small. Looking down the hallway i noticed it had cameras on each end. "What are you doing?" Myrcella asked, standing behind me.
Looking for a way to freedom, I thought. But i didn't answer her. I looked at her, she stood there in her pretty pink knee length dress, and a thought came to my head. "Why are you here, aren't your family like one of the most important people in the world?"
She laughed. "I highly doubt that." her voice was so sweet and soft, "But mother is very busy. Since father died she has to do a lot of work herself, so thought it was only fair that we be sent to this school to get a chance at the best education we can get." She paused and grabbed a photo frame she had placed near her bedside table. She passed it to me, showing me all smiling faces, of her mother and father, her two brothers and herself. They all looked so happy. I suddenly felt bad for her. I have judged her too harshly, just because she enjoyed being a Lady didn't mean she was a bad person. Clearly she had been through heartbreak and pain with the death of her father. I gave her a small nudge.
"Well, I'm happy for you Cella, I'm glad at least one of us will enjoy our time here." She looked at me with a worried expression.
"Don't you want to be here?"
I sighed and shook my head, "I couldn't think of a worse place to be." I answered truthfully. She gave me a sad look and placed the photo frame back on her bedside table. I walked over to the world's smallest window and peered outside. The grounds were a beautiful sight, but they were encased in the city around them. The cities buildings surrounded Dragons Garden like a prison, trapping me and everyone inside.