a/n: some swears for you

The ages for the characters are as listed:
Robb - 19
Jon - 19
Sansa - 18
Arya - 16
Bran - 14
Rickon - 11
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Jaqen (female) - 16
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Gendry - 27
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North Snow Private High School for Girls;
A Change of Pace:

Chapter 11:
Calm Before the Storm:

Those two months without Krissi like a phantom hanging over her was like heaven on earth, if that was even possible. This was what it was suppose to feel like, Arya thought. To be free, to be herself and not hold back.

As soon as Gendry posted the sign-up sheet for soccer tryouts, she was the first one to sign up. She didn't have to worry about every single interaction with Gendry resulting in an attack from Krissi; no garbage in her bed, no notebooks in the bathroom sink, no chilli splattered all over her uniform.

She was happy, slept all night long, laughed.

Xx

Arya was the best player on the team, she had the instinct for it like no other player. She could recognize the muscle movements of the players, and know which way they were going to move. She could see their weakness by the way they kicked the ball, or ran. See openings that were only their for an instant, but she was fast.

She was the best attacker Gendry had ever seen, she was like a bulldozing ballerina. Here movements were smooth, they flowed seamless like water. She could see the game unfold before her. She was beautiful, the way she moved, her energy, her spirit, her confidence, her determination, her fierceness.

Gendry didn't even think twice about it. He made her team captain.

Like last year, he had to catch up with her because she was already heading back to the dorms.

"Arya!" He called, jogging after her.

She stopped and turned around to him, both curiosity and wariness in her grey eyes. Her tan skin still beading with sweat from practice. "Mr. Waters?"

"I feel like I'm always chasing after you," he remarked. She said nothing and just looked up at him with a cocked brow. "I'm promoting you to Team Captain." He told her promptly.

"W-what?" She asked in shock. "You are?"

Gendry nodded smiling. "Congratulations Arya—or should I say Captain Stark?"

"Arya." She told him mildly, but he caught the flash of pride through her eyes. "Are you sure that there isn't someone more qualified? I mean, there are older girls, ones who've been on the team longer. Maybe you should make one of them captain," she suggested.

But Gendry shook his head. "They may be older, but you're my best player, Arya. You're heart is in the game, I can see the passion when you play. I want you to be captain."

Arya pursed her lips in thought. "What exactly does that mean?" She finally asked.

Gendry couldn't stop the grin, he knew that he had her now. "You're basically my assistant coach as such. You'll help me come up with plays, get the team pumped, represent the Snow Flakes on the field. That sort of thing,"

Arya crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought I did that already?"

Gendry rolled his blue eyes. "Then you can take the official posistion," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "I'll even put the patch on your jersey for our next game; it's just a 'C' patch that goes here." He taped the left side of his broad chest, under his collar bone.

Arya felt the warmth of his hand and flushed. "Alright," she agreed softly.

His grin was huge, his white teeth flashing in dark stubble. "I though you would!"

"I'll see you tomorrow in history, Mr. Waters." She said, but only turned and continued on when he took his hand back from where it rested on her shoulder.

He watched her until she disappeared around the corner, a skip in her step. She was different these last two months. She seemed more free and energetic, less distracted. He thought long and hard about why, and almost after a week he realized that it was because he hadn't been seeing a certain someone around—Krissi. He had a suspicion about what was happening between those two last year, and he'd even asked Arya directly about it, but she said there was nothing going on, and he couldn't do anything unless the girl told him.

Xx

It was on this day, that Krissi came back to school. Her shoulder had healed, and so had her leg, but the doctors were making her wear a knee brace for another couple of weeks. The first thing that she went to do, was find Mr. Waters so that she could join the soccer team, though she wasn't supposed to play, that wasn't going to stop her. That little bitch Arya had been alone with him for two months, unchallenged. She had to fix that. And that was when she saw them, Mr. Waters and the cunt; his hand was on her shoulder, caressing it, and she gazed up at him as he gazed back, and them he smiles and patted his chest—right over his heart. It couldn't be! He was confessing his love for her. Arya had poisoned Mr. Waters while she had been away, tainting his beautiful soul and body with her toxins and evil. Mr. Waters, her love, was lost to Krissi now—but maybe, just maybe, if she could get rid of the Arya, get her out of Mr. Waters' life for good, then she could have him to herself again, like it was supposed to be.

Xx

That night, Arya fell into bed with a smile on her face, but as usual, it never seemed to live long on her lips. There was a tentative but urgent knock on their room door; and when she looked over to Jaqen, her friend silently pointed to the door, engrossed in a book she'd gotten from the library. Arya groaned but got up and went to the door—to say she was surprised was right.

"Uma?" She said in shock.

Without being invited, the dark-haired girl came in and quickly closed the door, leaning back against it. She was pale, looked freaked out, scared and panicked.

"What the hell?" Jaqen was paying attention now, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she glared at the unwanted girl. "What do you want?"

"Arya!" She almost cried.

"What's wrong?" Arya felt dread twist her guts.

"It's Krissi, she's back!"

"What!"

"Oh, it was horrible! I was in my room, and she just barged in, suddenly there, and raging. I was so scared," there was tears brimming Uma's eyes. "She was ranting about Mr. Waters, and you—I could barely understand anything she was saying, she wasn't making any sense!"

"Alright, calm down!" Arya snapped, and Uma took a huge, wide-eyes deep breath. "Think, and tell me exactly what she was saying."

"Okay... She came to my room, I guess because I was her friend before she—"

"Went psycho?" Jaqen finished. "I thought she had a broken leg?"

"She does—did. I saw a brace on her leg, I guess she came back today." Uma said. "She was really angry, pacing, pulling at her hair, and ranting. Her expression was so scary! I've never seen her like that before, she almost looked... unhinged." She whispered the last word, almost like Krissi might be able to hear it; maybe that was why she was leaning against the door so hard, in case the other girl tried to barge in here like she had.

"What was she saying?" Arya repeated.

"She said that she went down to the soccer field to join the team again, when she saw you and Mr. Waters talking."

"Talking?" She gasped suddenly remembering. It was an innocent interaction, but to someone like Krissi, who was infatuated with Gendry, and wanted her gone, it would look like something different, and that was what Uma confirmed as she spoke.

"Yeah. She was ranting about how you poisoned him, and tricked him when she wasn't their to protect him from your spells, that you made him fall in love with you, and he was confessing his love to you, when it should have been her. And then she said that the only way she could get him back was if you were gone..."

"Oh my Gods! She's even crazier than I thought1" Jaqen exclaimed.

Arya was quiet, her lips pursed and her eyes squeezed shut as she put a hand over her eyes, pensive. She'd done it again, unintentionally. She had felt so free and happy in Krissi's absence that she had been careless. She forgot about coming up with a plan to stop the blonde's crusade to make her suffer, and forgot herself around Gendry. Krissi saw, and by what Uma was telling them, she wanted Arya 'gone' so that she could have Gendry to herself again—and though Krissi was completely delusional, 'gone' in her thoughts could only mean death—at least that was all Arya could think that it could mean, and it wasn't that far fetched by the way Uma had described her former friend.

What was Arya supposed to do? This was getting totally out of hand. How was it that only the three of them, and maybe Gendry, saw how unhinged Krissi was? Did they choose just not to see? Or was the wool so thick over their eyes? She needed to tell somebody, annd adult. But who would believe her, if no one was seeing how Krissi really was? She didn't want to die, killed by a crazy girl infatuated with a teacher. But if she didn't have proof that Krissi wanted to kill her... The three of them had their word, but they needed to find someone who would believe them, and then take action on the matter—and the only teacher that she could think of was Gendry.

Last year he had asked her and she had denied it—something she was regretting now. He suspected, but could never act on it if she never said a thing. And this was about him as well. Krissi was fixated on him, after all, he should know what he was in the middle of.

"Here's what we're going to do," Arya spoke finally, quietly. "Tomorrow, after school, we're going to tell Mr. Waters everything."

She wasn't going to be stupid anymore and think that she could solve this on her own.

-tbc-

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Thanks for Reading!

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