Day 8: Date Night Wednesday

Robb

Robb was standing on the train station while the cold autumn wind tugged at his coat.

He put his collar up and checked his watch.

Talisa and he had decided to meet up just before school so no one would find out.

The train pulled into the station and the doors open with something that sounded like a sigh.

He spotted Talisa in the crowd of people who left the train and quickly walked up to her.

There were tears in her eyes when she saw him and she immediately wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest,

"I'm sorry" she said softly when she looked at him again.

"Don't be sorry" he said and he wiped away her tears.

He pressed a gentle kiss on her lips and smiled at her.

"I've missed you" he said.

She gave him a sad smile and she tugged a lock of hair behind her ear.

Talisa took hold of his hand and put it on her stomach.

"So it's really true?" he asked eventually.

She nodded.

"You must hate me" she said shaking her head.

"Why?" he asked surprised.

He didn't think he was even capable of something like that.

"I've ruined your life" she answered "and my own for that matter"

He pressed a kiss on her cheek and looked deep into her eyes.

"It will be fine, I promise" he told her "We'll find a way to make this work"

"But how?" she asked.

Robb ran a hand through his brown curls.

"We'll have to find a way" he said again.

A tear rolled down Talisa's cheek.

"My parents kicked me out" she said "and it's only a matter of time before I have to drop out of college too, how do you plan to fix that?"

He shook his head.

"I don't know" Robb said softly in a voice which was barely louder than a whisper "but at least we have each other"

"At least we have each other" she repeated but it sounded less hopeful.

"You could stay at my house until we find a place of our own" he said.

Talisa laughed bitterly.

"Your mother would like that" she said in a sarcastic voice.

"Or I could use my college fund and we could get a place of our own right away"

Talisa shook her head.

"And after that? Would you go work at a fast-food restaurant for the rest of your life?" she asked him "that's not an option"

He entwined his fingers with hers and to him they seemed to be the only two people at the train station.

"I'll go talk to my mom then" Robb said "I can't think of anything else"

"Me neither" she said softly "but I'm not happy about it"

He rested his forehead against hers while the crowd of people at the train station bumped into them.

"I have to go" Talisa said "I have class in half an hour"

Even though she said that neither of them made an attempt to move.

"I'll miss you" he said.

"I'll miss you too"

Sansa

Sansa was wearing a short pink dress Margaery had picked out for her and she had put her auburn hair up.

It had been cold earlier that day but the sky had cleared and now she had chosen to wear a light denim jacket on top of her dress.

Casterly Rock was huge and a lot more modern than Winterfell.

The only original feature of the mansion was the large iron gate with the family crest on it.

There was a little intercom next to the gate and Sansa pressed the button nervously.

She heard a faint buzz and it wasn't long before she heard Cersei say: "Come in"

The gates opened and Sansa approached the mansion.

"There you are, little dove!" Cersei said who was standing in the doorway and she kissed her on both cheeks.

Sansa couldn't help but notice that Cersei's breath smelled faintly of alcohol.

The blonde girl was wearing an emerald green dress, which fitted her slim figure perfectly, to match her eyes and her two large diamonds earrings shimmered every time she moved.

"Joffrey has been looking forward to meeting you" Cersei said and she seemed to be in a better mood than usual, maybe the alcohol wasn't so bad afterall.

"I've been really looking forward to this day too" Sansa said and she could feel the butterflies in her stomach.

"Well, come on, what are we waiting for?" Cersei asked laughing and she entered the house.

Casterly Rock looked like a piece of art to Sansa.

The hallway was decorated with large mirrors and windows surrounded by red velvet curtains.

The marble floor had been scrubbed so much Sansa could see her own reflection and from the ceiling hung a large crystal chandelier.

Cersei opened the door to the kitchen for Sansa with the golden doorknob and she entered a modern kitchen which looked barely used.

"Joffrey is in the garden" Cersei said when Sansa followed her into the kitchen.

Margaery was sitting on a tall stool next to the cooking island and she was flipping through a fashion magazine.

"Hello, dear" she said when she noticed Sansa and she gave her a dazzling smile.

Sansa nodded politely and let Cersei guide her through the back door and into the garden.

The garden was in reality an incredibly large field which was situated next to a forest similar to the one in Winterfell expect for the type of trees.

Casterly Rock was near the beach and Sansa could hear the waves crashing into the rocks in the distance.

Joffrey was standing in the middle of the field and he was shooting a target with his crossbow.

"Don't be shy" Cersei said and she linked arms with her.

They walked up to Joffrey who cursed loudly when he missed his target again.

He was wearing a deep red shirt which fitted his body tightly.

"Say hi" Cersei whispered into Sansa's ear.

"H-hello" she said nervously.

Joffrey hadn't heard them approaching him and clumsily released the arrow when she startled him.

"You made me miss" he said angrily and he threw his crossbow onto the ground.

Cersei shot him a meaningful look but made an effort to put on a smile again.

"Joffrey, this is Sansa" she said "the girl I told you about"

Sansa waved awkwardly and she was afraid to breath out.

She had already made the worst first impression possible.

Now he probably thought she was stupid and ugly.

"Sansa? The Stark girl?" Joffrey asked Cersei while he ignored Sansa's existence.

"Yes" she said with another meaningful look "you agreed to go on a date with her, remember?"

Joffrey looked at Sansa for a brief moment and she tried to give him her most beautiful smile.

"I'm busy" he said and he picked up his crossbow again.

"Joffrey, you promised!" Cersei said struggling to stay calm "besides Sansa came all the way from Winterfell for you and look how beautiful she looks today"

Joffrey gave her another look and he shrugged eventually.

"Fine" he said and he dropped his crossbow again.

"Wonderful" Cersei said smiling "I'll leave you two to it then"

Before she left she looked at Joffrey one more time.

"Be nice to Sansa" she said and she went back to the mansion.

Sansa knew that she and Joffrey had gotten off on the wrong foot but that didn't have to mean anything.

She had had a crush on him for years know.

He was their class president and one of the most popular boys in their school which was why she had never had the courage to talk to him before.

He would smile at her sometimes though but now she wondered if he had ever actually noticed her.

It didn't really matter because they were going to go on a date now and it was going to be wonderful.

He would hold her hand and tell her how beautiful she was while they strolled down the beach together and then he would look into her blue eyes and she would stroke his golden curls and then they'd share their first kiss together.

She had imagined that moment a million times before and it had to be perfect.

She wasn't going to let anyone spoil it for her.

"Would you like to go to the beach?" he asked her.

"Y-yeah sure!" she said a little bit too excited.

Come on, Sansa, calm down she thought.

She didn't want to come across as desperate.

He took her hand and they walked to the beach together which was just west from Casterly Rock.

"It must be nice living so close to the beach" she said smiling.

Joffrey shrugged.

"I guess" he said "I wouldn't want to live anywhere else"

"Do you know how to surf?" she asked him.

Sansa and her family had gone on a few beach vacations before and Jon, Theon, Robb and Arya would always try to be the first one to catch a wave while Sansa and Jeyne were just trying to catch a tan.

Usually this would result in her mother chasing everyone with sunscreen until they finally gave in but it was always a lot of fun.

"Do I look like an idiot to you?" he asked her suddenly.

The aggressive question startled Sansa.

"What do you mean?" she asked surprised.

"I am a heir to LannisCorp and you think I'm just going to waste time with surfing?" he asked her.

Sansa didn't know what she should say to that.

She was pretty sure Jaime knew how to surf and she was also pretty sure that he was the real heir to LannisCorp.

"I'm sorry, I guess that was stupid of me" she said softly.

"It was"

The sound of the waves crushing onto the shore filled the awkward silence that had fallen between them.

This wasn't going like she had planned at all.

She had always dreamed of having the perfect life and in her imagination that had contained being popular and dating Joffrey but she was starting to doubt that.

All she could really think about was how lonely she felt without her best friend at her side.

"To be honest when Cersei asked me to go out with you, I didn't really want to" Joffrey said and Sansa could feel her heart sink "but I have to admit that you're very beautiful"

Sansa smiled shyly at Joffrey but she wasn't convinced yet.

"Than-" Sansa started but Joffrey pressed his lips onto hers all of the sudden.

Sansa was so startled she didn't even move until Joffrey pulled away.

"Sorry, I just had to do that" he said with a cheeky smile "you looked so perfect"

A blush spread across Sansa's face and she didn't know what to say.

"I hope you can forgive me" he said with that same smile.

"Of course" Sansa finally managed to say but all she could think of was how their kiss had felt and it had been nothing like she imagined.

Sansa was getting everything she ever wished for but she didn't like it one bit.

Renly

Renly was standing in front of Dragonstone which was the name of Stannis' old mansion.

His older brother had never liked the mansion and because he was Stannis he made sure that everyone knew just how much he hated it.

This had made Renly feel guilty at first since Robert had given Storm's End, the mansion they grew up at, to him instead of his older brother Stannis when he moved to King's Landing.

He knocked on the door while using the brass knocker which was shaped like a dragon's mouth and Selyse opened the door not long after that.

Someone knocked into him when the door opened and he didn't have to wonder who it could be.

"Hey, beautiful" he said while he hugged his niece.

"Uncle Renly!" Shireen squealed and she let go of him.

Shireen hadn't always been lucky unfortunately and when she was just a baby she had suffered from greyscale which resulted into half her left cheek and most of her neck being covered in grey and black skin.

Renly thought she was pretty nevertheless even if it was just because of her radiant personality and her beautiful blue eyes.

Shireen was wearing a school uniform and Renly remembered that Stannis decided to enrol her in a private High School so she didn't have to suffer through her father being her principal on top of her facial scars.

This was unusually considerate of Stannis but Renly had to admit that if his brother even had a weak spot it would probably be for Shireen.

"How is school?" he asked the girl.

"So much fun" she said smiling and she jumped up and down a bit "I've made all kinds of new friends!"

"That's great!" Renly said "any boys you like?"

Shireen giggled and immediately started blushing.

"Shireen, don't you have any homework which you still have to finish?" Selyse, who was obviously tired of waiting, asked her daughter.

"No, I've done everything" Shireen said softly.

"Are you sure?" Selyse asked "I want you to go check"

"Fine" Shireen sighed and she ran up the stairs.

Selyse looked him up and down a few times and gave him one of her smiles which didn't look friendly or warm.

"You look good" Selyse said eventually.

"Thank you, Selyse, you too" Renly lied.

Selyse wasn't exactly attractive and she had a larger moustache than most boys in his art class but he had to admit that the new laser hair removal was starting to pay off.

"Let's go to the living room" Selyse said "Stannis is waiting for you"

Renly never liked visiting his older brother because somehow Stannis always managed to make him feel like he had done something wrong.

He followed Selyse into the living room.

There was a small sitting area with two couches and a large bookcase but most of the space was occupied by a large table with a map of Westeros on it.

Melisandre was sitting on the table and she looked at him as if he had just disturbed a private conversation.

"Good to see you, Renly" she said again and the red gemstone in her necklace seemed to glow "we were just talking about you"

Stannis didn't look up from the piece of paper he was reading and he made a vague gesture with his hand telling Renly to sit down.

Renly sat down in the chair but he already didn't like where this was going.

"What's going on?" he asked Stannis but Melisandre answered his question instead.

"The school is in trouble" the red woman said "if we don't raise money soon, the school will have to close at the end of this year"

Renly couldn't believe what she was trying to tell him.

"How could this happen?" he asked his older brother "the wealthiest children in all of Westeros go to your school, Stannis, don't tell me their parents aren't willing to pay for their kid's education!"

Melisandre got up from the table and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"Stannis is doing the best he can under the current circumstances" she said and her eyes seemed to flicker like a flame "you'd better show some respect!"

Renly got up from his chair too and even though Melisandre was tall he was obviously taller.

"Can't my brother talk to me himself?" Renly asked narrowing his blue eyes.

"Stannis is a very busy man and he doesn't have time to concern himself with nonbeliev-..." Melisandre said almost shouting but Stannis interrupted her.

"We can't count on people like Tywin Lannister or Mace Tyrell to help us out" Stannis said looking at Renly for the first time that evening.

"You don't know that" Renly said "I happen to know two of Mace Tyrell's children and I'm sure that he would be more than willing to lend you the money to keep the school open"

Stannis clenched his jaw and gave Renly that same stubborn look he always had when he was about to go through with something stupid.

"I'm not lending money from anyone" Stannis said "I've seen how much trouble that has caused Robert and I won't follow into his footsteps"

"Fine" Renly said before storming out of the room "but know that if the school has to close the blame is all on you"

Jon

"You should come over"

Jon smiled at the text from Ygritte and quickly replied:

"I just left, missing me already?"

He closed the front door behind him and put his leather jacket on the coat rack.

His phone buzzed again.

"I miss you... and your tongue"

He chuckled softly and ran a hand through his hair.

Jon climbed the stairs while he texted her a cheeky reply

"Ouch!"

Jon looked up from his phone and noticed that the sound had come from his father and Catelyn's bedroom.

He knocked on the door hesitantly before opening it.

"Is everything alright?" he asked Cat who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

The woman was sucking on the finger which she had just accidently pricked with her needle.

She had put her hair up in a messy bun and there were large bags underneath her eyes.

She was holding a pair of jeans and she had been patching up the knees.

"Yes, I'm fine" she said distracted by her work "I just have to finish this before... uh... before I leave for King's Landing"

She brushed a strand of auburn hair out of her eyes and continued sewing.

"This is the third pair of jeans he has ripped" Cat said softly "It's useless to keep on buying new ones if he is just going to tear them again"

Jon knew that Bran loved climbing and it wasn't unusual for his little brother to come home sweaty and covered in mud.

His clothes suffered heavily from this.

"After this I still have to do the laundry" She said sounding tired "and I promised Bran I would help him with his science project, and Stannis called because Arya has been skipping classes again, and the DJ for Sansa's party suddenly wants to be paid beforehand and.. and.. Rickon hasn't been sleeping at all lately and.. and I just can't do this without him!"

Suddenly Catelyn broke down into tears and she was sobbing and shaking heavily.

Jon didn't know what to do.

He wanted nothing more than to leave the room right then but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Cat had never been kind to him but she had raised him nevertheless.

He sat down next to her on the bed and he hesitantly put an arm around her shoulder.

She made a few weak attempts to push him away but it wasn't long before she was crying into his shoulder instead.

The sobbing grew less frequently and eventually she stopped crying at all.

"Arya hates me, you know?" Cat sad when she had finally calmed down.

"She doesn't hate you" Jon said and he removed his arm from her shoulder now she had stopped crying.

"Oh she does" Cat said bitterly "and why shouldn't she? She thinks I don't love her because I'm leaving for King's Landing after Sansa's party"

Jon shook his head.

"Deep down she knows that it's necessary" he said "you just need to give her some time to deal with it"

Catelyn snorted and she looked at him with narrowed blue eyes.

"I don't need your pity" she said while she wiped away her tears with her sleeve "and I don't need you to tell me how to deal with my children either, I've been dealing with them from the day they were born, Jon Snow"

She said his last name with as much disgust as she could possible manage.

"Arya is my sister and I..." Jon started but Catelyn slapped him across the face before he could finish his sentence.

"Arya is my daughter and you don't even belong here!"she shouted while tears streamed down her face again "It should have been you! It should be you who she hates and not me! You don't belong here, you bastard!"

Jon jumped up from the bed, left the room and slammed the door behind him.

He knew that Catelyn was under a lot of stress now she and Ned had been apart for a few weeks and he knew she didn't want to leave for King's Landing but he wasn't going to take the blame for any of those things.

He touched his red cheek and flinched a little.

She hadn't hit him too hard though and the redness would probably fade within an hour but the slap had reminded him of the time she hit him because he had accidently called her "mother".

He knew he wasn't a real Stark.

His siblings reminded him of that every day without realising it but he wasn't going to be Cat's doormat either.

He made a promise that he finally was going to stand up for himself.

His brothers at the AV club and Ygritte had given him the courage to do so and maybe Dany had helped a little bit too.

"Oi, are you ignoring me, Jon Snow?"

He smiled at the text.

He would never be Jon Stark but for once in his life it didn't suck to be Jon Snow either and there was nothing Catelyn Stark could do about that.

Arya

Arya was wandering through the convenience store while loud music blasted through her headphones.

She decided to go out for a little while after she had heard her mother fight with Jon and this store was the first thing that came to mind.

The convenience store wasn't near Winterfell but Gendry had told her that he sometimes bought cigarettes from there.

They supposedly didn't ask for your ID because it was such a small store that they couldn't afford to lose money like that.

An older woman gave her a disapproving look when she passed her in the candy aisle.

Arya flicked her long fringe and kept walking.

She was used to people reacting to her clothing and hair like that and she didn't mind.

She was wearing tight, black jeans, an oversized band shirt and a pair of combat boats and she had just reapplied the red streak in her fringe.

Her hair was very short apart from her fringe and it was as dark as ink just like Jon's hair.

Arya was looking through the candy aisle and she smiled when she saw a few lemon cakes.

She remembered getting into a fight with Sansa because she had accused her of eating the last lemon cake until Rickon walked into the kitchen and they noticed that there was yellow glazing all over his little face.

She decided to buy the cakes for Sansa since it was her birthday tomorrow and she continued walking through the aisle.

She noticed a boy with red hair and white streaks in it looking at her and he gave her a smile when she passed him.

Arya smiled back at him and subconsciously moved her hips in an seductive rhythm while she walked to the register at the end of the aisle.

She handed the lemon cakes to the woman behind the register and searched her pockets for money.

"Will that be all?" the woman asked with a kind smile.

"Uh can I also have some cigarettes?" Arya asked while she pretended that she was still searching for money.

It was easier for Arya to lie to the woman if she couldn't see her face and she definitely wasn't old enough to buy cigarettes yet.

The woman stayed quiet for a little while but eventually she seemed to have decided to sell Arya the cigarettes anyway.

She was just about to hand her a pack when she noticed something.

"Hey, what are you doing over there?!" she shouted at the boy with the red hair who was stuffing food into his pockets.

The boy shot her a distressed look and Arya made a quick decision to help him.

She "accidently" knocked over the small greeting card stand, which someone had placed next to the cash register, and the cards scattered all across the aisle and even on top of the cashier.

"Seven hells" the woman cursed while she looked at the mess Arya had made.

"I'm so sorry, miss" Arya said "here, I'll clean it up!"

Arya starting picking up the greeting cards and handed every single one of them back to the cashier who was growing more impatient and annoyed every second.

This way the woman however didn't notice that the boy had already fled the store with his loot.

"It's fine, really!" the woman shouted at Arya how had covered the complete cash register in greeting cards "I'll clean it up!"

"No, I insist on doing it myself!" Arya said who actually quiet liked to mess with the distressed woman.

"Go!" the woman shouted who apparently couldn't stand Arya ruining her organized shop any longer.

"As you wish" Arya said shrugging "thanks for the cigarettes by the way!"

She held up the pack of cigarettes which she had snatched from the pile of greeting cards and fled the shop without paying for them.

She kept running to make sure that if someone was following her he wouldn't catch her and she was still laughing when she went into an alleyway to catch her breath.

Arya opened the pack of cigarettes and put one in-between her lips.

She searched her pockets for a lighter until someone suddenly held one in front of her.

Arya noticed that it was the boy from the store and she allowed him to light her cigarette.

"A man owes his thanks" the boy said with a cheeky smile.

She noticed that he was a few years older than she and also that he was quiet handsome.

Arya shrugged.

"It's nothing" she said casually and she offered him a cigarette.

He took one from her and lit it.

"A girl is modest" he said looking her up and down.

"My name is Arya" she said "what's yours?"

"A man has the honour to be called Jaqen H'ghar" he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

Arya nodded and leaned against the brick wall in the alleyway which was covered in graffiti.

"You're from Lorath, right?" she asked recognizing his speech.

"A girl is clever" Jaqen said and he confirmed her assumption.

She couldn't help but smile and she shook her head softly.

"Arya" she said "call me Arya"

The Lorathi boy seemed to think for a while before he rephrased his last sentence.

"Arya is clever" he said and she started laughing out loud.

"Not many people would agree with you on that" she said with a cheeky smile.

She noticed that Jaqen had moved a little closer and she could see how muscular he was through his tight t-shirt.

"Does Arya care about many people?" he asked.

"Hells no" she said with that same cheeky smile.

Suddenly she heard a faint buzzing noise and Jaqen retrieved his phone from his pocket.

"A man's friends call upon him" he said after reading the text "Will he see Arya again?"

"Perhaps" she said shrugging but she gave him a wink to show him that she would like that too.

"Jaqen, let's go!" a voice said and they both turned around.

It was another boy and Arya thought she remembered him talking to the Hound after school one day but she wasn't sure.

"A man must leave" the Lorathi boy said with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Bye" Arya said with a sad smile.

Jaqen walked to the other boy and they left her alone again.

"What did you get?" she could still hear the boy ask "man, we're all starving back at the Hollow Hill. I wonder what Sandor managed to get"

Sandor?

Could Hollow Hill be the squatting house she had seen him enter a few days ago?

Arya had a feeling that she was going to see both Sandor and Jaqen again very soon.