Day 24 Part 2: A Dance with Dragons
Jaime
Jaime was standing near the table with all the drinks on it but unfortunately alcohol didn't have the same effect on him as it had on his siblings.
No matter how much he drank he could never seem to escape his thoughts.
He had only come to Prom because he had been nominated for King and he didn't really know what he was still doing here.
Jaime didn't feel like talking to his teammates or to his sister and he had realized that without those two he didn't have much left.
He finished his drink and he wanted to go to the exit until Brienne walked up to him and blocked his way.
The girl wasn't wearing a dress of course but she had dressed up more than usual and he even noticed a hint of eyeliner around her blue eyes.
"Are you leaving already?" she asked him surprised.
"Yeah, I'm going to call it a night" he said and he tried to walk past Brienne but she blocked his way once more.
He let out a sigh and he gave the big girl a nastier look than she deserved.
She hardly seemed to notice it though.
"I'm sorry that you weren't crowned Prom King" Brienne said and a blush appeared on her face "I voted for you"
He hadn't expected anyone to vote for him and he hadn't tried to make people vote for him either but it was nice to hear that some people actually had, even if it was just Brienne.
"Thanks" he said and he managed to smile at her "so are you having a good time?"
He had wanted to ask her why she had come to Prom since he was almost certain that she didn't have a date but he saw no sense in making Brienne feel like shit just because he did.
"I guess" she said smiling shyly "the guys from the team asked me to come, it's not like a date but it's nice"
It was good to see that Brienne was fitting in with the team and he knew that this would improve the way they played together.
"Good for you" he said not unkindly "well unless you need me for anything, I'll be on my way"
"Well I just... I wanted to ask you to come stand with the rest of the team" she said "you don't have to of course, but I think they would appreciate it"
Jaime ran his left hand through his hair and he noticed that it was becoming less and less awkward for him to use it.
"No, you guys can go have fun without me" he said.
He had to admit that lately he didn't really feel like he was part of the team anymore.
He had helped prepare the tryouts and chose who made the team and who didn't, but since the regular practices had started he felt more and more useless every time.
"Please?" she asked him.
Jaime felt bad for turning Brienne down again since all she really wanted to do was make him feel needed and to help him have a good time but he just wasn't looking for charity of any kind.
"I just really don't feel like it" he said shaking his head "It's not like you guys need me or anything"
Brienne's eyes widened for a second and her facial expression grew more annoyed.
"So that's what this is about" she said while she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"What do you mean?" he asked her fearing her answer.
"You can no longer be the Star Quarterback so now you don't want to be with the team at all" Brienne said.
Jaime let out an annoyed sigh.
"It's not..." he started until Brienne cut him off.
"Look me in the eye and tell me it's not like that!" she told him while she gave him that stubborn look of hers.
He looked into her blue eyes for a while until he finally gave in.
"Fine" he said "I'll come but you can't force me to like it!"
Brienne laughed at that and they were just about to walk to the rest of the Football team when he noticed Cersei approaching them.
Cersei
Cersei was sitting on the ground in the hallway which lead to the gym.
She could still hear the booming music but at least no one would bother her here.
Tears were streaming down her face but she was done pretending that she was tougher than she was.
The only thing she could think about was that she had just lost everything.
How could she run a company like LannisCorp if she couldn't even convince a bunch of stupid high school students to vote for her?
Cersei didn't even want to think about her father's reaction when he would find out about the coronation of Renly and Loras.
In one year he had lost both his perfect Prom Queen daughter and his football star son.
The only bright side was that at least Margaery Tyrell hadn't been crowned Prom Queen either and Cersei was almost certain that the wicked, little bitch knew nothing of her brother's plans to steal her title.
The doors to the hallway opened and Cersei wanted to quickly get back on her feet and make herself look presentable again but when she saw it was just Margaery she decided to stay exactly where she was.
Margaery slowly walked up to Cersei while she looked around the empty hallway.
"I'm disappointed in you, you know that?" Margaery asked her and the feigned sweetness had disappeared from her voice.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Cersei asked the Tyrell girl.
She wasn't looking forward to playing head games with Margaery again, too be honest she wasn't looking forward to do anything anymore expect for wallowing in self-pity for a little while longer.
"I'm talking about your attitude!" Margaery said visibly annoyed "one lost battle and you're sitting here crying like a little, sorry for the word, bitch"
"Call me a little bitch again and I'm going to make you actually sorry" Cersei said and strangely enough Margaery laughed.
"That's my girl" she said and she sat down next to Cersei on the ground.
"First of all I'm not you're girl and don't ever call me that again" Cersei said "and second, you're going to ruin your dress"
Margaery shrugged and she smiled a genuine smile at Cersei as if they were friends.
"I have others" she said.
"I like the fabric though" Cersei said while she looked at the green dress "There's not much of it but still"
Margaery laughed again.
"Look who's talking, Lady Split!" the Tyrell girl said pointing at the split in Cersei's red dress.
"Well I thought it was fit for a Queen" Cersei said softly and she was afraid that she was going to cry again.
The memory was still too fresh and it stung like all Seven Hells.
"I thought the same about my dress" Margaery said.
They were quiet for a little while until Cersei broke the silence.
"Well aren't we a couple of fucking losers" Cersei said "I might as well dye my hair red and call myself a Stark"
Margaery laughed and Cersei even allowed herself a few chuckles.
"We'll get our revenge, don't worry about it" the brunette said.
"We?" Cersei asked her.
Margaery looked at her with her brown eyes and she smiled again.
"Yes, we" she said "we're going to take this school back and rule it like we were supposed to but this time without fighting each other"
Cersei smiled a little.
"That might actually work if we play our cards right" she said.
"It will work, I promise" Margaery said "we're friends this time after all"
Cersei rolled her eyes at Margaery's use of the word friends.
She would never describe them as friends but Cersei had never had one either except for Jaime and Melara when she was little.
Cersei got back on her feet and Margaery followed her.
After a quick makeup check in her pocket mirror the two walked back into the gym while linking arms.
The music seemed to be even louder than before and the party even wilder.
She looked around the room and she spotted Jaime talking to that big girl he was always hanging out with.
"Can you give me a second?" Cersei asked the Tyrell girl.
"Sure, there's something I have to do too" Margaery said and Cersei could see her looking at Sansa Stark who was surprisingly talking to her dwarf brother.
It was an amusing sight to say the least.
Cersei said goodbye to Margaery and she walked up to her brother.
There had been something that she had wanted to do for a very long time now and she had finally build up the courage to do so.
She had planned to do it after they were crowned King and Queen but since that had all fallen to pieces she couldn't think of a better time than right there and right then.
Jaime looked up from his conversation and he gave her a confused look.
She opened her purse and retrieved a red marker.
Cersei wrote her name in big, curly letters on Jaime's cast and pressed a kiss on his stubbly cheek.
"If there's anything you need my help with, you just need to ask me" she whispered in his ear "I'm sorry for not being supportive but I'm here now and I want you to know that"
She looked into his emerald eyes which looked so much like hers and she wondered if he would have kissed her if there hadn't been so many people around.
"Thank you" he just said and she smiled at him.
Cersei looked the girl he was talking to up and down and she was glad that the poor creature had spared herself the humiliation of showing up in a dress and that she had chosen for dark jeans and a dark blue top with some glitter on it instead.
She still didn't look pretty but it wasn't as horrible as she usually dressed.
"Congratulations on making the team" Cersei told the girl.
"T-thank you" the girl said while she looked more than a little bit confused.
"Well, I'll leave you two kids to it then" she said looking from the girl to her brother "I'll see you tonight, Jaime"
That said she left them behind and started looking for Margaery.
Sansa
Sansa was chatting with her little, group of friends while Tyrion was standing next to her and getting drunk.
At some point she had stopped counting his drinks but she did take it as a small personal offend that he seemed to think that the alcohol was much more interesting than she was.
Theon was standing behind Jeyne and he had wrapped his arms around her while he whispered things into her ear that made her giggle and blush every time.
Sansa was not going to comment on this, even though it was starting to be a little bit annoying, because she wanted her friend to have the night of her life but it didn't matter how hard she tried to ignore it she still felt so alone.
Is it too much to ask to have at least one fun party? she thought while the memories of her birthday and Lysa's wedding still haunted her.
Her brother Robb wasn't much help either while he and Talisa kept sneaking off to get some alone time.
They hadn't really gotten much of that since her mother was always on the lookout now Talisa lived in Winterfell.
Suddenly she noticed Margaery Tyrell coming their way and she wondered what the girl could possibly want.
"Hello, guys" she said smiling while everyone stared at her.
They didn't greet her quit as cold as they had greeted Tyrion but it wasn't far from it.
"Can I talk to you for a minute, Sansa?" the girl asked her with a kind smile.
"Whatever you have to say to her, you can say in front of us" Jeyne said and she didn't make much of an effort to hide her disdain.
"It's okay, Jeyne" Sansa said but this didn't seem to completely put her friend at ease yet.
Jeyne narrowed her eyes and watched Sansa and Margaery walk over to a quieter spot.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Sansa asked the girl.
She had to admit that she didn't really want to hear what Margaery had to say.
She had betrayed her trust just as much as Cersei had and it still stung.
"I wanted to apologize" Margaery said and for the first time she seemed to be struggling to find the right words "I know that.. that I can't make up for what I have done, but for whatever it's worth I really didn't know what Cersei was planning to do on your birthday party"
Sansa didn't really know what to say to that.
She wanted to believe that Margaery hadn't known about the ambush but there was still a part of her that couldn't completely trust her.
"I thought we were friends" Sansa said eventually and she felt tears burning in her eyes "even if you didn't know what she was going to do, you knew that she was going to do something and you didn't exactly try to stop her"
Margaery looked shocked by Sansa's words and she guessed that a little of Alayne had slipped into her words while she had told Margaery how she truly felt.
She was glad that she had told her the truth though because she wasn't going to be pushed around anymore.
"I know" Margaery said softly "but even though I'd like to, there is nothing I can do to fix that now. I don't deserve your trust, and I know that, but if you'd let me I would like to do something for you to show you that I really want to be friends again someday"
"I can't promise anything" Sansa said.
She wasn't going to give Margaery false hope and she just couldn't imagine herself trusting the girl again.
"I understand" Margaery said nodding "still there is someone I'd like to introduce to you"
The girl quickly checked her phone and she looked at the entrance of the gym.
"He should be here any minute now" she said.
The doors opened and a boy with brown curls entered the gym while leaning slightly on a cane.
He looked very charming in his suite and she noticed that there was a golden rose sewn onto his jacket.
"Sansa, this is my older brother Willas" Margaery said with a huge smile on her face "Willas, this is the girl I told you about"
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sansa, Margaery has told me all about you" the boy said with a kind smile.
He wasn't as handsome as Loras, he wasn't as polishedly charming as his sister and he wasn't as muscular as his brother Garlan who was also in the football team but there was a certain kindness about him that Sansa hadn't seen in a human being in a long time.
"It's nice to meet you too, Willas" Sansa said and she could feel a blush spread across her face even though she was trying to prevent it "All though I have to admit that your sister didn't tell that much about you"
Sansa didn't forget to shoot Margaery a playful but accusing look after saying that.
"What do you mean?" Willas asked but he was looking at his sister instead of Sansa.
"Oh I might have arranged this without telling Sansa" Margaery said smiling and she couldn't have looked more pleased with herself.
Willas blushed while he looked at Sansa again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know about that" the boy said "if you'd rather have me leave, then that's fine. I'm not much of a dancer after all"
"No, not at all!" Sansa said maybe a second too quickly.
Willas smiled and she smiled back at him.
She knew that technically she was Tyrion's date but apart from the carriage he hadn't really made an effort to be there for her.
"Well I'll leave you two to it then" Margaery said smiling and she disappeared into the crowd again.
She pushed a strand of auburn hair behind her ear while she tried to think of something she could say to the boy.
"So what do you like to do for fun?" she asked him eventually.
"I like reading and music and hawking" he said shyly "and I write poetry sometimes but... I'm boring you aren't I?"
Sansa shook her head and she felt the need to explain her vague expression.
"Sorry, it's just... I'm just waiting for the catch, you know?" she said blushing "I feel like this is all going to be a dream or even worse a setup"
"Have people done that to you before?" he asked her concerned.
Yes, like your sister for example she thought but she didn't say it of course and she nodded instead.
"I know that I'm not exactly my brother" he said gesturing at the cane "but I'll do everything I can to keep you from harm, Sansa, at least for as long as you'd like me to"
"Thank you" she said and she couldn't do anything but trust him while she looked into his brown eyes.
A slow song started to play and Sansa unintentionally started to move to the rhythm.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked her.
"No, I mean.. yes but..." she said feeling more and more stupid by the minute.
"I think I might be able to manage this pace" Willas said and he added a wink.
Sansa heard herself giggle and she never thought she would do that again.
She linked arms with Willas and they walked to the dance floor.
They passed Tyrion on their way but he made a gesture with his hand telling her that she shouldn't mind him.
She wasn't going to anyway but at least it took away the guilt she couldn't help but feel.
Tyrion
Tyrion was watching Sansa disappear into the crowd accompanied by Willas Tyrell.
He didn't know why he had asked her to be his date to the Prom anyway, maybe he was the wicked, little imp everyone had accused him of being and he had wanted to shame her, maybe he had just wanted to see what she would do if he put her kindness to the test or maybe it had been the undeniable fact that he was lonely and Sansa Stark was a lovely companion to behold.
Whatever his reason had been, he had never expected her to fall head over heels in love with him, in fact he hadn't been expecting anything more than holding hands for a brief second and maybe a quick kiss on the cheek at the end of the night so when he had the opportunity to make her truly happy he had taken it.
He sighed and sat down at one of the tables which surrounded the dance floor.
Tyrion drank some of the punch Bronn and he had spiked while the fat AV boy wasn't looking and he watched the other students dance and have fun.
"Is this seat taken?" he heard someone ask.
He turned his head and looked into the grey/blue eyes of a pretty girl.
"Sure" he said shrugging.
Tyrion guessed that her table full of friends didn't have enough chairs and he didn't really need more than one anyway.
He almost laughed out loud when he imagined how pathetic he must look while sitting at a table by his own without even a few empty chairs to keep him company.
The girl however didn't move the chair but she sat down at his table instead.
She was a slender, beautiful, dark-haired girl and he had to admit that she had a certain air of innocence and shyness about her which he wasn't used to seeing after being exposed to women like Cersei and Margaery his entire life.
"Don't you like dancing?" she asked him in a soft, melodic voice.
"The Gods have not only blessed me with mismatching eyes but also with two left feet" Tyrion said "and besides girls aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on"
The girl laughed softly and she smiled at him.
"I'm sure you're not as bad as you'd like me to believe" she said.
"I'm probably even worse too be honest" Tyrion said and she laughed again.
Could it be that this girl had never heard of him and she actually believed that he was just joking?
"We now know why I'm not on the dance floor, but what's your excuse?" he asked her.
A blush spread across her face which made her look even more charming.
"I guess you could say that I'm suffering from the same condition" she said smiling shyly.
"You can't dance?" he asked her surprised.
"Not, at all" she said shaking her head and she laughed again.
A smile finally crept onto Tyrion's face while he looked at her.
"I don't believe it" he said.
"Well it's true!" the girl said "and besides I don't have a date, the only reason why I came to the Prom is because my friends wanted me to, but now I just feel like I'm in their way all the time"
"Why don't you have a date?" he asked the girl and he didn't realize how bold his question was.
He simply couldn't believe why such a lovely girl didn't have a date to Prom.
The girl shrugged.
"Nobody asked me" she said "and I'm too shy to ask someone myself"
He smiled again at her.
"Well, if you'd like, we could dance?" he asked her.
The girl's face lit up and she nodded.
"I would like that actually" she said "but don't say that I didn't warn you about my two left feet!"
They both laughed and they got up from their seats.
He walked over to the girl to take her delicate, soft hand into his.
"What's your name by the way?" he asked her.
"Tysha" she said "and yours?"
"Tyrion Lannister, and I would completely understand it if hearing my last name made you change your mind about this" he said.
The girl shook her head.
"Nice try, Tyrion, but you're going to dance with me!"
That said they walked onto the dance floor to make complete fools out of themselves but he didn't think he ever had so much fun before.
Margaery
Most of the students had already gone home but Margaery was sitting on a chair at one of the tables while she watched the other students who had stayed clean up their gym.
Renly was still talking to his brother and it seemed like that was going to take a while.
She let out a sigh and swirled her drink in her glass.
It had been a long night and even though she had sort of reconciled with Cersei, she just couldn't get over the fact that she had not been crowned Prom Queen.
"Hello there, sis" Loras said while he sat down at her table.
She decided to give him the cold shoulder so she didn't respond to him.
Margaery drank from her spiked punch while she kept her eyes fixed on her brother.
"Are you still mad at me?" he asked her.
Margaery still didn't respond and she crossed her arms in front of her chest while she looked away.
"I'm sorry, okay?" Loras said while he put his hand on her arm and he tried to look her in the eyes "What can I do to make it up to you?"
Margaery bit her lip.
"Come on, I'll do your laundry for a week" he said.
"Two months" she said.
"Two months?!" Loras said loudly and he was about to protest but when he saw the expression on her face he quickly shut up.
She looked into his eyes and she could no longer keep in her tears.
"Why did you do it?" Margaery asked him "you knew how much it meant to me"
"Because we had to get Stannis' attention somehow" Loras said "and besides I thought you knew that being Prom Queen doesn't have any value in real life"
"I do know that!" she said "it's just... it's just..."
Margaery didn't even know how to explain herself but Loras hugged her so she didn't have to.
"You just wanted to be the Queen" he said and she nodded.
She quickly wiped away her tears and composed herself again.
Margaery didn't mind letting go for a few seconds in front of Loras but she would have never done this in public.
"So are you two going to safe the school?" she asked him eventually when she felt like she had calmed down again.
"Stannis seems to be listening so we might actually be able to pull it off" Loras said "he won't rehire Renly though because it's Stannis and he has to stick to his dumb, little rules"
"Well Renly was dating a student" Margaery said with a cheeky smile.
"Oh are you on his side now?" Loras asked her while he pretended to be offended but they both knew that neither of them was being serious.
Margaery looked around the gym and she noticed some of the members of the AV club who were taking down the decorations.
"I'd miss this school if it had to close, you know" she said.
"Me too" Loras said "it might not be the best school and the cliques are killing, but it still feels a bit like home sometimes"
Margaery couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"Aren't you getting sappy!" she said and she playfully punched his arm.
Margaery's expression became more serious after that.
"I know what you mean though" she said "I feel the same way"
Loras put an arm around her shoulder while they watched Renly.
"Let's hope that everything will turn out all right" he said and he pressed a kiss on her cheek.
"I have a feeling it will" she said smiling.
Renly
Renly was sitting on the edge of the stage while he watched the last few students clean up the gym.
Loras had gone to his sister and he had left Renly behind so he could talk to Stannis.
Renly decided that he would have to apologize to Margaery as soon as possible.
He knew that she really wanted to be Prom Queen and he couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty about the fact that he was the reason why she hadn't succeeded in this.
Well he didn't know for sure if he was the reason because he didn't know who would have won if Loras hadn't asked the students to write their names on the voting ballots instead of checking one of the boxes next to the names of the nominated students.
Loras had searched the school records and discovered that a couple had been crowned Prom King and Queen like this one time before.
"You really showed me, didn't you?" Stannis asked Renly in his usual grim tone.
It was hard to see if he was joking or if he was serious even for Renly who had known him his entire life.
"I didn't mean it that way" Renly said "I just wanted you to listen to me for once"
Stannis made a noise that could have been a chuckle and he sat down next to Renly on the edge of the stage.
"Since you're Prom King now I guess that we'll be seeing a lot of you at school" Stannis said.
"I guess" Renly said shrugging "I like it here though, you've got a nice school"
Stannis made the noise again and it was starting to make Renly feel nervous.
"I've got a broke school" he said.
"The students will help you try to fix this" Renly told his brother "you only have to ask them"
"Yeah, yeah, you've made your point" Stannis said.
They remained silent for a while, while they thought things through.
It was going to be tough to safe the school but this time at least they would be working with and not against each other.
"So, you and the Tyrell boy, right?" Stannis asked him and Renly could almost feel the awkwardness form around them.
"Yes, Loras is great" he said while he watched his boyfriend trying to patch things up with his sister.
"Good for you" Stannis said and Renly guessed that that had been the nicest thing Stannis ever said to him.
"Thanks" Renly said while he wasn't really sure if that was the appropriate response to his brother's "compliment".
He was glad that his brother no longer suspected that he had secretly been dating Brienne, because he would never have taken advantage of the naïveté of someone like that and he didn't want anyone to think that he would have.
"You know, I would love to work here again someday" Renly said carefully.
He didn't know if he was pushing his luck here but he just had to try.
"I can't let you work here after dating a student" Stannis said "maybe after you've graduated from college, but not now"
Renly felt a small smile spread across his face.
He needed to stay positive and the fact that there was still a chance that he could work at the school again really did help.
Renly heard a buzzing sound and Stannis retrieved an ancient looking nokia from his pocket.
"Selyse wants me to come home" Stannis said when he read the text message after having struggled with the device for about half an hour.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to go home soon too" Renly said.
"You should come over for dinner sometime" Stannis said "and you can bring Loras"
Renly smiled at his brother.
"I will" he said and the thought of Selyse's face after meeting Loras was already amusing him "thanks"
They got up from the stage and Stannis left the gym after having been pulled into an awkward hug by Renly.
Loras waved at him and Renly walked up to the table where he and Margaery were sitting.
"So what did Stannis say?" Loras asked.
"Oh the usual" Renly answered smiling while he sat down next to his boyfriend and put his arm around his shoulder "by the way, we're invited to have dinner at his house"
Loras gave him a scared look.
"Please, tell me you politely turned his offer down" he said.
"Nope" Renly said laughing.
Margaery started laughing too.
"Never mind about the laundry" she said "that sounds like punishment enough"
They laughed again and this time Loras joined them.
"So do you guys wanna go to the after party at the Starks' house?" Loras asked them.
"Sure" Margaery said and they got up from their seats.
They left the gym and while Renly closed the door behind him he figured that in the end the school was really worth all the trouble they had gone through.