Chapter 32

Arya Stark POV

Sansa's been pretty distant from me lately. I hope she hasn't decided that we can't be friends anymore. I'm about to start high school, so she might be embarassed that I'll be at the same school as her soon. It might jeopardize her popularity.

We just finished dinner, and Sansa stayed downstairs with mom and dad to start her homework in the living room. I'm convinced she's trying to ignore me. Literally 2 hours after dinner she comes into our room.

"Arya?" She says when she comes in. "Can we go into the closet and talk?"

"Oh, now you want to talk?" I ask, getting up. "Lucky me."

We go into the closet and sit in our typical corner cross-legged with our knees touching.

"I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you much lately," she says to me. "I'm sure mom and dad told you what's going on."

"They really didn't," I say. "Is something going on?"

"Mom and dad are making me go to a center for teens with eating disorders," Sansa says. "Dany caught me purging and told Jon to tell mom and dad, so they're sending me away."

"What?" I'm so shocked. I knew Sansa was struggling, but I never would've seen this coming. "So you'll be staying there? Not just going during the day?"

"Yeah, apparently they'll have a space available by the time the school year ends."

"What if you get better by then?"

"They told me I didn't have a choice," she says. "Trust me, I thought about any way I can get out of this. The only way is by running away, and they'll make it worse for me if I do that."

"What does this mean for your modeling camp that mom signed you up for?"

"I won't be able to go," she says. "It was supposed to start in early June, so it looks like that isn't happening."

"I'm sorry, Sansa," I say to her. "And I'm sorry I told mom that you hadn't eatent that day that we went on a walk. I'm sure that didn't help."

"It wasn't that," she says to me. "You had good intentions. Dany is the one I'm mad at."

"Why?"

"I didn't want her to see me throwing up. She basically barged into the bathroom, and I begged her not to tell Jon but she didn't care about my privacy enough to respect that."

"Maybe she was just trying to help," I say. "I've heard that throwing up on purpose can't be good for you."

"I don't throw up after everything I eat," she says. "Only when I feel like I've eaten too much. She overreacted, and she knew Jon and my parents would overreact if they knew."

"I'm sorry," I say. "It really sucks."

Sansa just shrugs. "Whatever," she says. "I just need to get through the six weeks that I have to be at that stupid place, then I can try to lose any weight I gain and get back to normal."

I don't know what to think. I know that what Sansa is doing isn't good, but I also don't think it was right of Daenerys to tell Jon what happened when Sansa told her not to. If Sansa doesn't do it all the time, how bad can it be? I wish she wasn't going away, I don't know how I'm going to go through the first part of summer without her around. We've never been apart for that long before.

Samwell Tarly POV

I recently helped Gilly draft a petition to be emancipated, we're going to present it to her father today to see if he'll sign off on it. Once he does, we can take it to court and they'll decide if they're willing to grant her emancipation. I don't know what we're going to do if any of these steps don't work out. I guess I'll try to convince him to let me marry her.

We drive up to her house with the petition, I can tell she's really nervous. "Are you ready?" I ask her.

"As I'll ever be," she says. She takes a deep breath. "Thank you for doing this with me, I don't think I could've done it alone."

"Of course," I say, kissing her cheek. "Come on, let's go."

We walk into the house and her dad is sitting in the living room with one of Gilly's sisters and nieces.

"Dad?" She asks him. "Can I talk to you?"

"What is it?" He asks.

"I need to talk to you about something," she says. She sits down on the couch across from him. "I want to be emancipated."

"What does that mean?" He asks.

"I want to be legally declared an adult," she says. "So I don't have to live with you next year."

Her dad looks over at me. "Is he making you do this?" He asks her, referring to me.

"Not at all," her voice is getting shaky. "I just think it would be easier, there's enough people living here and I can take care of myself."

"Where would you go?" He asks.

"With me," I say. "We'd find our own place together."

"I don't know," he says. "Do I just need to sign whatever's in your hand?"

"Yeah," she says, handing him the paper. "We drafted this petition, and you need to sign it before I can take it to a judge."

Her dad looks it over. "Fine," he says. "I'll sign it tonight."

"Really?" She asks, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I don't care," he says. "If you want to leave so bad, then leave. You'll be crawling back to me within a month when this fizzles out." He gestures to me. I guess he assumes that we won't be together in a month. He's been saying that for a while, but I'm not going anywhere.

"I thought you'd put up more of a fight," she says. "I though you'd question me more or not be willing to hear my side of the story."

"I know this won't last," he says. "You'll grow out of this whole rebellion thing, if the judge will even grant you emancipation. I doubt you'll even get that far."

"Thank you, dad," she says. "I promise I'm not taking this lightly."

"Whatever," he says, waving us off. We head outside and back to my car.

"That was surprisingly easy," I say when we get into the car. Gilly immediately bursts into tears. "What's wrong? Should we drive somewhere?" She just nods, and I drive so that her father won't come out and see what's going on.

"I just," she says, sniffling. "I'm finally seeing a light at the end of this horrible tunnel."

"I'm glad I could help," I say. "I want you to get out of this as much as you do."

"I just never thought I'd get away from him," she says. "If he finds out I'm pregnant, this whole plan will fall apart. I'm terrified he'll find out."

"He won't," I say. "If he does, we'll figure out another way."

"I can't thank you enough, Sam," she says. "You saved my life."

I just smile and kiss her. I wish she had told me what was going on sooner, but I'm still glad I can help either way. I love her so much, and I'll do anything I can to save her and her unborn child. That child is mine in my mind, and I'm going to be a father to them. Gilly and the baby deserve that.

Jon Snow Stark POV

My phone rings, and it's Sam. That's weird, he usually doesn't call me unless there's a specific reason. I hope everything's okay.

"Hello?" I say, answering the phone. "Is everything okay, Sam?"

"Everything's great," he says. "Can I come over?"

"Sure," I say. "I'll meet you outside."

Sam pulls up to the house as I'm waiting outside. "Hey," I say to him as he gets out of the car. "Let's go to the backyard."

"Okay," Sam say. "Why?"

"Everyone's home," I say. "We'd have more privacy out there."

We go to the backyard and sit down in the grass. I pull out my lighter and a cigarette that I got from Gendry.

"Do you want one?" I ask. Sam just shakes his head.

"You're smoking now?" Sam asks as I light my cigarette.

"Yeah, secretly," I say. "My dad would freak if he saw it, but there's a lot going on right now."

"Is everything okay?" Sam asks me.

"I'll tell you after you tell me why you called me," I say. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's great," Sam says. "Gilly's dad signed off on her emancipation, all we have to do is get a court date and get a judge to grant it."

"That's great, Sam! I really hope it all works out. Does her dad know that she's pregnant?"

"No, and we can't have him or anyone else find out. If that happens, the whole plan falls apart."

"I definitely won't say anything," I say. "I haven't even told Dany."

"Thank you," Sam says. "So what's been going on with you that's been stressing you out so much?"

"Dany caught Sansa making herself throw up," I say. "She told me, so I told my parents. They're making her go to a treatment center once the school year ends."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Sam says. "I guess Sansa didn't take it well."

"That's an understatement. She won't be able to go to the modeling camp that my parents signed her up for, so I know she's really pissed about that. Plus, she blames me and Dany for all this. That really sucks, Dany was so worried about her. She just wanted to help."

"I know she did," Sam says. "Sansa has to understand that."

"It's different when you're so deep in those dangerous patterns. I get why she's upset, I just wish she wouldn't take it out on Dany. Taking it out on me is even okay, just not Dany."

"I'm really sorry man," Sam says. "Let me know if you need anything, I mean that."

"Thank you," I say. "I appreciate that, but we're taking care of it. You have enough on your plate."

I hate that we all just want to help those of us around us that are struggling, but it seems like what we do makes very little progress, no matter how hard we try.

A/N: Do you guys want me to write a part 3? I get if y'all are tired of this story, but I'm actually really excited to get into Arya's experience starting high school. Let me know!