Chapter 34

Tyrion Lannister POV

It looks like I'll be able to room with Bronn and Jorah's friend, Oberyn before the semester starts. I'm really glad they hooked us up, I needed this. It makes me feel like I have a future beyond my family. I was feeling really hopeless, my future for a long time revolved around Shae.

I'm visiting Cersei and Jaime this weekend so I can meet up with Oberyn, and I'm hoping to move in with him next month in June. He has to like me first. I really want this meeting to go well, I hope Cersei doesn't try to ruin it for me by saying some shit or acting like a bitch like she usually does.

Jaime picks me up from the bus station again, and Cersei is on the couch with a beer like she was last time when I walk into the apartment.

"Hey, sis," I say to Cersei when I walk in. She just looks over and glares at me. "Happy to see me?"

She gives me a fake smile and raises her beer to me. "As always," she says sarcastically.

"When are the guys coming over?" I ask Jaime as I sit on the couch next to Cersei. She immediately scooches away from me so she doesn't have to be close to me.

"I think they said in a couple hours," Jaime says while making a snack in the kitchen. "Do you want anything?"

"I'm okay," I say. "Thank you though."

…

Bronn, Jorah and Oberyn get here eventually. They brought some drinks and some games for us to play.

"Hey, I'm Oberyn," Oberyn says, walking up to me. "I'm glad we can finally meet."

"Me too," I say, shaking his hand. "I really hope we can be roommates this fall."

"As long you don't prove yourself to be crazy tonight, that sounds like a plan," Oberyn says. "Thanks again, Jaime. I really needed a roommate for this semester."

"No problem," Jaime says.

Later on in the night, Oberyn and I are sitting outside the apartment and smoking a couple of joints. He's honestly really cool, I think living with him will be fun.

"Why don't you move in with your siblings?" Oberyn asks me while we're sitting outside.

"A close friend of ours is already moving in with them this summer," I say. "She's Cersei's best friend. Plus, Cersei and I really don't get along so I don't think that would go well."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, she hates me."

"Why?" He asks. I pause.

"Just, normal childhood rivalry," I say. "You know how it goes." I feel like it's too soon to dump all of our past family drama onto him.

"I was supposed to move into an apartment with my ex girlfriend," I say after a long pause. "But we broke up."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was it a bad breakup?"

"Kind of, yeah," I say. "She cheated on me, with my dad."

Oberyn's eyes widen. "Woah, what?" He asks in shock. "No way."

I just nod. "Yeah," I say. "I walked in on it happening."

"That's all kinds of fucked up," Oberyn says. "I would never talk to my dad again."

"I'm thinking about it."

"I can see why you don't want to move in with your siblings. I wouldn't want to be around my family after something like that happened."

I hope that living with Oberyn will be a positive thing for me. It'll be a good thing to not be so dependent on my family. I'll always be in Jaime's life, but I want to distance myself from Cersei and my dad as long as I can.

Samwell Tarly POV

Gilly's court hearing is today, she was able to get one sooner than we thought. I won't be able to go with her, it'll just be her and her dad. I'll be waiting at her place when it's over so she can tell me how it went. I'm terrified they won't grant her emancipation, or they won't be able to if they find out she's pregnant.

I texted Jon and told him the hearing was happening today, and he wished me luck. It feels like I've been waiting in my car for eternity when Gilly and her dad finally pull up. They get out of the car and Gilly immediately walks over to me.

"I got it," she says, her eyes tearing up. "I'm free, Sam." I give her a big hug.

"Congratulations," I say, letting out the biggest sigh of relief. "I can't tell you how happy that makes me. How were you able to do it?"

"I proved that I receive a regular paycheck and that I would have a place to go after this school year. I can move out whenever we find a place we can live."

"I'll take care of that," I say. "Don't worry about a thing with that. You've done enough."

"I put your address down as a place I could live," she says. "I had to put something down. If I need to change it I can make it Ygritte's address temporarily. I'm sorry, I should've told you."

"It's okay," I say. "We won, you did it. Everything else will fall into place." There's a long pause.

"They didn't find out, did they?" I whisper. She just shakes her head.

"No," she says. "I just have to keep it secret for a few more weeks."

"Are you going to be okay here until then?" I ask her. The thought of her staying with her dad any longer terrifies me.

"I'll probably stay with Ygritte for a little bit," she says. "But yeah, I'll be fine. I can do what I want now." She smiles, and I feel like we won. I was terrified that this wouldn't work, and I can't believe it did.

"Okay," I say. "I'm going to go meet Jon and tell him the news, if that's okay."

"Of course," she says. "We'll talk later." I give her a hug and kiss goodbye, and then get into my car.

I text Jon to let him know I'm coming over, which he's fine with. It's after school at this point, I missed school today to wait for and support Gilly. I lied to my dad about where I would be, I'll deal with him later if he finds out.

I get to Jon's house, and he's waiting outside again. We go to the backyard without saying anything, I think he assumes that no one should hear our conversation. Bran and Rickon are always trying to eavesdrop on us.

"How did it go?" Jon asks as we sit down in the backyard.

"She got it," I say, smiling. "She's finally free, it's over."

Jon smiles and gives me a hug. "Congrats, man," he says. "I'm so happy for you."

"I'm going to find a place for us to live soon, Gilly will alternate between staying with her dad and staying with Ygritte until then."

"And no one knows?" He asks, referring to Gilly's pregnancy. I just shake my head.

"How are things with you and Dany?" I ask him.

"They're going good," he says. "I'm going to help her move in with Cersei and Jaime after graduation. I'm nervous to start being long distance with her."

"It'll be fine," I say. "I just hope her living with Cersei and Jaime isn't too much of a bad influence on her."

"I worry about that too, but she already planned to do this before we even got together. It's her choice, and I trust her."

"Are you moving in with Robb after that?" I ask him.

"No, I'm staying home and then moving into the dorms," he says. "I figured I should get that experience."

"I'll miss you," I say.

"I'll talk to you every day," he says. "I promise. Maybe you and Gilly can move closer by after she graduates."

I hope we can. I'm really hopeful about the future, it seems like it's going in a really positive direction. Gilly is finally free, and we can start our life together. I feel nervous about the future, but in a good way. This is the first time in a while that I've felt like things will be okay.

Sansa Stark POV

Margaery and I are hanging out today. I really can't be around Dany right now, and I hope she doesn't come up in conversation. We're just going to some shops on a strip downtown, it'll be fun to walk around there.

"Are you excited to start modeling this summer?" Margaery asks me as we pull up to the strip. Oh right, I forgot to tell her that wasn't happening anymore.

"Oh, it turns out I won't be able to do that anymore," I say. "It won't work out with the trips we have planned as a family."

We get out of the car and start walking. All of these shops are really cool, I just hope Margaery doesn't want to get food later.

"I'm sorry the modeling thing isn't working out," Margaery says. "I know you were really excited to start it."

"Maybe next year," I respond. "I'm more excited to get my driver's license. I'm probably going to take the test in July or August."

We walk into a dress shop and Margaery starts looking around.

"How are things with Gendry?" I ask her. It's been a while since we really talked, and even longer since we hung out. I'm not sure she and Gendry are even still together.

"Pretty good," she says. "We have a dinner date planned after graduation to celebrate. I just wish he was also graduating."

"At least you'll still be in town, so you guys can see each other a lot. I know Jon is really nervous about being long distance with Dany."

"I'm betting they won't last the first semester," Margaery says. "I think Jon will want to explore more options."

"Maybe you're right," I say. "They try to seem like this perfect couple, but I'm sure it's not the same behind closed doors."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know, it's easy to be solid when you're not working or you're still in high school. I feel like the real world will hit them like a ton of bricks."

There's a pause as Margaery keeps looking around. "You should try this on," she says, pulling out a purple dress. "The color would look amazing with your hair."

"I'm good," I say. "I don't really want to buy anything."

"Why not?"

"I'm just not feeling it, maybe a necklace or something." I'm avoiding eye contact with her, I don't want her to sense that's something's up wirh me.

"Are you okay?" She asks. Shit.

"Yeah," I say. "Just a little tired."

We keep looking around a little bit, and Margaery keeps telling me about what's going on with her and Gendry.

"Tech is kind of consuming his life right now with all the spring shows happening," she says. "I wish I could see him more."

"Yeah, I'm sure it'll be even harder when you graduate."

"He's been spending more time with Loras and Renly," Margaery says. "At least that gives him an excuse to come over more."

Margaery and Gendry never made much sense to me. Gendry's hot, but he still doesn't seem like her type. I didn't expect them to last this long.

We go through a drive thru for a snack, and luckily Margaery doesn't pressure me to get anything. This outing wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, maybe my friendship with her can get better now that I'm not friends with Dany anymore.

A/N: I don't know much about the emancipation process, so I did my best with the little information I could gather. I hope it turned out okay, thanks for reading!