Chapter 52

Sansa Stark POV

We're getting ready to leave for camping, and Gendry & Podrick stayed over last night. I'm in my room packing while Arya is on her bed reading.

"I'm so jealous you get to go camping for spring break while I'm stuck here with the boys," she says. "I wish I could go."

"You wouldn't enjoy it," I respond. "They wouldn't be nice to you and we'd be doing stuff you shouldn't be around. Plus, I'm only allowed to go because Jon is going."

"Yeah, why did Daenerys invite him?"

"So that I could go. She knew mom and dad wouldn't let me go if Jon wasn't there to make sure I don't do anything crazy."

"As if you can't do anything with Jon there," Arya says under her breath.

"He'll beat my ass if I get drunk or do anything else," I reply. "You know how he is. 'Do as I say, not as I do'." That makes Arya chuckle. She gets up and walks out of our room, I'm assuming to go get a snack or something.

I'm nervous for camping because I don't know what Ramsay will try while we're there. That makes me glad Jon will be there, despite how protective he is.

Arya Stark POV

I walk into the kitchen to get a drink, and I see Gendry there packing up coolers with snacks and drinks for the drive. I'm starting to notice how cute he is, despite being much older than me. He looks really good in his tank top, I can tell he works out. I push those thoughts aside, I can't think about that too much.

"Hey," he says, acknowledging me. He's the only one of Jon's friends who's even somewhat friendly to me. "How's it going?"

"I'm good," I say. "Where are Jon and Podrick?"

"They took a last minute trip to Academy to get some stuff for the trip."

"And you didn't want to go with them?"

"Nah, I agreed to stay and help pack up snacks."

I just nod and walk over to the fridge. "Where's all the Gatorade?" I ask after opening it and not seeing any.

"Oh, sorry," he says, reaching into one of the coolers. "I must have packed them all, here you go." He hands me a blue one. That's my favorite flavor.

"Thanks," I say. I start to walk out of the kitchen, but I turn around before I can. "How's tech theatre?"

"Oh, it's going well. We had the show in January and we're getting ready for the big musical in May."

"Oh that sounds fun. Do you like doing tech?"

"I do. It's fun to work with my hands and forget about life for a while." That's so deep, I like the way he thinks.

Jon Snow Stark POV

Once we arrive to the campsite, Daenerys, Cerei, Jaime and Margaery are already there. We walk up and see them starting to set up their tents.

"Hey guys," Sansa says, greeting them as we walk up. "Is everyone here?"

"Hey," Margaery says, hugging her. "Ramsay and Theon are still on their way. I thought he would've texted you."

"He didn't," Sansa says, looking disappointed.

Gendry and I walk over to an empty section where we can set up our tent. There are supposed to be 3 tents that we'll split among us somehow. As we're starting to set up, Daenerys walks up to us.

"Do you need help?" She asks. I just nod. "So have you been camping before?"

"Yeah," I respond. "My family went a couple summers ago."

"Oh cool. I've been a couple times with the Lannisters."

I'm not sure why she's helping us, it seems like she doesn't really know what she's doing but it's a nice gesture.

…

Ramsay and Theon arrived eventually and we pretty much figured out the sleeping arrangements. One tent will have me, Podrick and Gendry; one will have Ramsay, Theon and Jaime; the other one will have the girls. I know Ramsay wanted to share a tent with Sansa, but I'd let that happen over my dead body. The thought of him even going near her makes me want to kill him.

We're setting up a campfire and grilling some hot dogs once the sun starts setting. We'll probably make some s'mores later. It's actually a little chilly out now that it's dark, Cersei and Jaime are sharing a blanked by the fire and so are Sansa and Ramsay. Cersei and Jaime have always been known to be weirdly close, it's kind of gross.

"When are we breaking out the drinks?" Ramsay asks.

"In a second," Theon replies. "Once we're done with the hot dogs." Podrick is helping Theon grill, Gendry has more experience with that. I know Jaime and Ramsay bought some drinks, and I brought some beer too. I don't think I can stop Sansa from drinking, but at least I'll be here if she does. When the hot dogs are finished up, Podrick hands some plates to Jaime after making his own. Jaime takes one and passes the rest to Cersei so the pattern can continue.

"So where's your brother?" Ramsay asks Jaime. "I figured you'd invite him."

"I did," Jaime responds. "He wanted to stay back and hang out with Shae."

"They're still together?" Daenerys asks.

"Yeah, they're getting serious," Jaime responds. "She's over all the time."

Theon and Podrick take a big plate of hot dogs, buns and condiments and set them aside.

"Okay, everyone come eat." Podrick says. "Beer is in the coolers."

Everyone gets up except Sansa and Cersei. I give Sansa a look, and she breaks eye contact with me quickly. She knows I'm trying to get her to eat. We make eye contact again and she slowly gets up. She comes back with half a hot dog, no bun or condiments. I guess it's something.

"What do you want Cersei?" Jaime asks.

"I'm good," Cersei says. "Just a beer." Daenerys looks at her and Jaime pauses before grabbing two out of the cooler. He comes back with two hot dogs anyway and gets back under the blanket with her. Jaime tries to get her to eat a hot dog, but it just makes her gag. He opens the beer and hands it to her. She takes a swig, but it doesn't seem like she likes it.

Daenerys comes back with her food and sits next to me. "So do you know what you want to do after you graduate?" She asks me.

"I'm really interested in archaeology, that's what Robb is studying," I respond. "What about you?"

"I got into the same college as Jaime and Cersei," she says. "But I'm deferring."

"Why?"

"My dad is moving back to town, so I'm going to help him get settled and focus on my volunteer and charity work." I didn't know she did volunteer work, I thought Daenerys Targaryen was much more shallow than that.

"Oh that's awesome," I say. "What kind of charity work do you do?"

"I mainly volunteer at homeless shelters and stuff like that. I like to help people and give back to the community that helped my dad so much." I think that's super awesome. She seems so much more complicated than I always pictured. I thought she was just a pretty face from a rich family, but she's actually doing something with her life. I admire that.