Chapter 24

Jon Snow Stark POV

On Sunday night, into Monday morning, I'm laying in bed and I really can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about what Sam said, and about Ygritte. I'm still really scared to pursue a relationship with her, but I'm starting to think Sam is right about how I'm missing out. I just never expected to click with a girl like this in high school.

I'm not going to get any sleep if I just lay here, so I go downstairs. I quietly open the back door to go sit on the patio, but I hesitate when I see that my dad is out there too. He has sleep issues, but he hasn't been coming out here as much at night.

I try to go back inside in hopes that he didn't hear me, but I hear him say, "You can't sleep either?" I shake my head. He pulls out a chair, and I walk over and sit down.

"What's on your mind?" He asks me. My dad and I have always been close, but I don't want to tell him what it really is. I've never been into dating, and I don't want him to make a big deal out of it. "It's just… school stuff," I say to him while avoiding eye contact.

"Uh huh," he says. I can tell he doesn't believe me. There's a really long pause. He continues, "You know, you don't have to tell me, but I actually know a thing or two about life."

I wrestle with whether or not I should say anything. I decide to say something, but I still need to be as vague as possible. "I like that I've been making more friends this year," I say. "But I'm worried that I'll get distracted from what's important."

"You're a good student, Jon. You deserve to have fun too."

"I just… don't want to make any mistakes." There's a pause. I know he knows what I mean: that I don't want to end up like him. I don't like to make my dad feel bad, but it's the truth.

"Jon," he says in a nicer tone than I expected. "You've got a good head on your shoulders. I know you want to be responsible, and that's great. But you already are. I've met most of those kids or their parents, they're good people. You shouldn't worry so much." My dad does work with the community a lot, so he has socialized with a lot of the parents in the neighborhood.

I think I know what he's getting at. I know he isn't telling me to go party, but he's always tried to instill good values into us kids while also making sure we don't take life too seriously. I guess I'm not so good at that second part. "I'm worried my judgement will be clouded because of her, I mean them." Fuck, I shouldn't have said that.

"You know right from wrong," he continues. "Try to enjoy your youth while you can. It won't always be this easy."

I smile at him and walk back up to my room. As I'm laying in bed, I still can't help my thoughts running wild. I love my dad, but I also resent him. If he had just kept it in his pants, they could all be a happy family without me getting in the way. I know I need to losen up, but one thing I'll never do is cheat on someone.

Sansa Stark POV

Arya and I haven't talked since our fight. I admire that Arya doesn't care what people think of her, but she doesn't seem to understand that not everyone is like that. Not everyone is confident and happy living in their own little world. I hate the things Cersei said, but standing up to someone like that isn't as easy as she thinks it is. She could have talked back to Cersei herself, but she chose not to. Daenerys has been really nice to let me hang out with them, and this is something that I just have to put up with right now to get in with their group.

…

Margaery wasn't in school today. I'm not sure why, she seemed fine when I saw her yesterday. When I get to the lunch table, only Daenerys is sitting there. It's so weird to see her without a ton of people, but I guess people also can be nervous to talk to her. I sit down and ask, "Where is everyone?"

"Margaery had some appointment," Daenerys says. "I'm not sure about the others, but Cersei said Jaime was taking her to lunch."

"Oh… okay," I'm not sure what to say beyond that, so I just start picking at my food.

There's a pause, then Daenerys asks me, "Do you want to get lunch somewhere? We have time. My treat."

I pause for a second, I can't believe she's actually asking me to hang out one-on-one. "Yeah, okay," I agree. Maybe this will help us bond more and I can get in with the group more.

…

We get to the drive thru of one of the best local burger places. They have some of the best burgers ever, but I only get a side of fries and a diet Coke. I don't want Daenerys to think I'm a fat pig.

We've already ordered, but we're waiting for the line of cars to move forward so we can drive up to the window. "Sansa," Daenerys says. "I'm really sorry about what happened with Loras. You didn't deserve that."

"Thank you," I say. "I'm moving on. I just wish he hadn't used me."

"I get that, but it can be really brutal here. He was just trying to survive. You'll understand more when you're older."

There's a pause. "So you and Cersei grew up together?" I ask her to try to break the silence. The line of cars starts to move and Daenerys drives up to the window.

She pays, and as she's taking the food, she responds to me by saying, "Yeah, we did." She hands me my food.

"I know she can be really scary sometimes," she continues. "But, she's my best friend, and I like to think I'm hers. Well, besides Jaime. Jaime always comes first, which I get. He's her built-in best friend. She'll do anything for her friends, and I appreciate that she doesn't care what anyone thinks."

"Does she like me?" I know it's a stupid thing to ask, I know she doesn't.

"She doesn't really like anyone except for me and Jaime," Daenerys says, chuckling. "But, I can tell you she doesn't hate you. She just isn't big on socializing with freshmen."

"Arya thought she hated both of us," I say.

"She doesn't. But I definitely let her have it when we left about what she said about your sister. That was absolutely uncool, and I wouldn't have blamed you if you went off on her." I didn't know Daenerys cared enough or even remembered that happened. It means a lot that she stood up for me.

We pull into school, and I realize I'll have to eat my fries in my next class. I hope no one thinks I'm gross for eating something greasy and fattening, but it's the first thing I've eaten today.

"Thank you for lunch," I say, getting out of the car. Daenerys surprises me by giving me a hug.

"Of course," she says. "We should do this again." Am I actually becoming friends with Daenerys Targaryen?