a/n: Set in the Modern World of NWHS, alternate.
Index:
NWHS = North Winter High School
NW(H) = North Winter (High)
SSHS = South Summer High School
SS(H) = South Summer (High)

Ages are as listed:

Robb - 17
Jon - 17
Sansa - 15
Arya - 14
Bran - 10
Rickon - 8
-
Gendry - 17
-
Joffrey - 15
-
-

********Game/of/Thrones********
*

North Winter High School
vs.
South Summer High School

Chapter 2: —
Mission Echo: Enemy Combatant Taken To Base

When Arya went back to Winterfell Manor, Gendry somehow came with her. She didn't know how it happened, they'd just been talking about her plan, and different things like family, almost as if they had known each other for years instead of that morning—it usually took Arya months, even years to warm up to people—but Gendry seemed to be different, despite who his father was.

"Holy shit!" Gendry exclaimed when they stepped through the front door of Winterfell Manor. "You must be rich."

"It's a family owned property," Arya explained. "It went to my father after his dad died and my Uncle Brandon. But how could you be shocked by this? Doesn't your dad own big property? Married to a Lannister and all?"

Gendry shrugged. "I guess, but this place just seems different. Still, your old man must be loaded to keep this place up and running."

"He has his own advertising company, you might have heard of it? Winter Is Coming, Conglomerate; it's the Stark Clan's motto. So I guess you could say that, but he started that business himself, right from a one bedroom apartment as he was finishing high school. He's a self-made man, and used none of the Stark money to build it." She said proudly.

"Sound like a cool dude," he muttered as Arya lead him to the living room.

"I'm going to change out of this barf-uniform, wait here a minute, would you?"

"Sure," and he flopped on the couch like he owned the place and turned on the television mounted on the wall.

Arya cocked an eyebrow but said nothing as she went upstairs to her bedroom. She stripped from the SS school uniform with a relief that was akin to it being made from wriggling maggot. She go out her cell phone and dialled Jon's number as she fished through her drawers for something to wear in nothing but her panties.

"Arya?" he picked up on the first ring, it must've been first-break.

"Yeah, it's me." She said and put the phone on speaker and set it on her dresser as clipped on her bra.

"You okay? Are you done already?"

"Yep."

"Any trouble?"

"Erm..."

"Arya?"

Arya groaned and rolled her eyes as his tone. "I might of had a little run in with the blond douche bag within the first ten minutes of entering the school."

She slipped on a pair of blue skinny jean's as she pictured the expression on his face. "Did he hurt you? Did you get caught? He didn't recognize you, did he?"

"No, I'm not hurt. No one in authority caught me. And if he did recognize me, we'd be having a completely different conversation right now, Jon." She knew it was better to just answer his questions instead of being sarcastic.

"Fine, I believe you. But I guess that means this whole plan was an epic fail, when Robb and I get back, we're going to have to come up with something new because there's no way you're going back there after running in with Joffrey."

"Actually, I did find something and I've already worked out a plan of attack—with just a few kinks that can easily worked out." That was the easy part to tell him, but what about the second-half?

"That's awesome, Arya! I wish we could skip out for the rest of the day but have a class presentation to do after lunch, besides, one absent Stark around here is bad enough. If two more go missing, they'll know something disastrous is up. But we'll come straight home after the end-bell."

"Okay." She paused. "I also have a surprise for when you guys get back." There, the second part.

"Agh! I just got a chill when you said that, Arya. We're not going to like this, are we?"

"Maybe," she hedged. "But it's going to happen anyway, there's no turning back."

"Hah. Fine, well be there by four. Love you, little sister. Bye."

"You too. See ya," Arya flipped her phone shut and slipped on a long-sleeved Bitten TV-series shirt. Sansa would be hanging out at her best-friend, Jeyne Poole's house until curfew. Bran and Rickon had their club practices until six o'clock where Jon and Robb picked them up, leaving Arya to order some pizza.

Mission Alert: Stranger Danger (Who Just Happened To Be A Boy)!

She was half-way down the staircase when the fact that she had an older boy, a virtual stranger, lounging in her living room in her very unoccupied house; the stop was so sudden that if she hadn't been gripping the handrail, the momentum would have carried her the rest of the way down the stairs in a tumbling pile of hurt. What the hell had she been thinking? She barely knew this guy and just left him downstairs, what if he was a budding thief and had already stolen the silver and good china? Gods, how could she explain that?

Get a Grip Stark! She screamed at herself. You do know him though, don't you. You learned more about him in the last hour than you probably know about Sansa after fourteen years living with her. You know he's seventeen-years-old. You know about his family; the origins of his birth, the death of his mother, how he came to live with his father, and who his step-family is. You know that everyone at SSH calls him the Bull. His favourite colour is green. He hates cats and loves dogs. He prefers shop class to math, gym to English, art to science—though he's a top student in all of them. Gendry was no more a stranger than Jon was, or Robb. He just happened to be a boy that wasn't related to you, caught you trespassing in his school, and discovered that you were a girl disguised as a boy and the first time he saw you was in that uniform that should be considered a crime.

Arya let out a breath. He was no stranger. She continued down the stairs and stopped in the living room entry, staring at the back of his dark-haired head as he sat on the couch with his arm laid across the back. It was the middle of the day, so there was nothing on but day-time talk shoes and soap operas, but he found YTV and was currently watching a re-run of Avatar: The Last Air Bender.

"It's rude to stare, you know."

Arya was able to stop herself from jumping, but not the gasp. He chuckled and twisted around on the couch, looking her up and down with those blue eyes.

"That's more like it," he murmured and turned back to the TV.

"More like what?" she wondered, coming around and sitting on the couch next to him.

"Just talking to myself," he said, shooting her a glance.

She leaned back and could feel the length of his bare arm at the back of her head. "I called my brother, they'll be back around four. We can go over the plan with them then."

"You're brothers?" He questioned. "You mean—"

She looked at him and scoffed with laughter, "Don't tell me you thought that I just decided to do this by myself!"

"Of course not!" He protested, looking indignant. "But brothers? How many we talking here?"

"Four—" his expression was priceless "—technically. Two older and two younger."

He seemed to relax a notch at that. "I can handle two," he muttered.

"Maybe," she smirked.

He cocked a dark brow as he looked at her next to him. "Just maybe? Just how much older are these guys?!"

"Same age as you. But I've never seen you fight, so I'd just be ball parking it. It could go either way."

"I don't see how you can find this so funny, Arya." He said with a sour expression that made her chuckle. "What did you tell them about me being here."

"Erm," she cleared her throat a bit awkwardly. "I told them it was a surprise. If I explained that it was you, they would have been here by now, that's part of the reason I didn't tell them."

"And the other part?"

"Their reactions are going to be priceless, of course! Bringing an enemy into the plan, their gonna blow a gasket." She grinned.

"Glad I could provide you with such great entertainment." He deadpanned. "NWH and SSH have been at each other's throats even back when our father's attended, hell, their dads even. The hatred between Wolf and Lion was built into the foundation of these schools, it's almost bred into the students—of course scum like Joffrey don't help matters."

"You don't seem to hate NWH," Arya pointed out. "You hate that your school as much as we Direwolves—more even."

"Yeah, well, that place has given me nothing by grief since the start of my life." He said darkly and her expression started to soften. "What about your parents?" he asked suddenly, the darkness that had been clouding his blue eyes vanishing as suddenly as it had appeared.

"What? Oh, my dad's at a conference with a client of Pyke and my mother's visiting her sister."

"Really," he murmured. "So you bring a boy you barely even know back to your empty house with no big brothers or parents to protect you?"

She crossed her arms and narrowed her grey eyes. "What is it that you're implying, Gendry?"

"Nothing," but there was a sly look in his eyes. "I'm just saying, what if I'm not the nice guy I claim to be?"

"Well, I figured that if you tried anything dirty, I kick you were it hurts most, briefly incapacitating you and then get my father's gun." She said simply.

"And what if I said that I was girl disguising myself as a boy as well?"

"Then I'd tell you that pain is pain boy or girl, it doesn't matter."

"And I'd admit I don't stay a chance."

"Beside," she smirked. "We have six dogs on the property, you don't want to tangle with them."

"No, I do not." He agreed seriously. "Beside, I really am the nice boy I claim to be—unless provoked, then you get the Bull."

"Interesting, mess with me and you get a wolf."

The grinned at each other for a moment.

"So, if I'm staying till your brothers get back, what the hell are we supposed to do for four hours?" Gendry wondered, he could only take so much lounging, and besides, Avatar was over and Kat was on, and he hated cats, even cartoon ones.

Arya introduced that teen to the dogs and afterward wondered if he could ride a horse. Gendry didn't know how and Arya didn't want to risk him getting hurt, so they found entertainment in the den with the X-box and Call Of Duty two-player. The game could just suck you in and the next time you look at the clock hours have passed.

"YES!" Arya cheered, jumping to her feet, her arms raised above her head the controller still in hand as she crowed in triumph. "How many times is that now, Waters? Each of your deaths powers the ever mighty She-Wolf81735. You should be bowing down. I can't believe how much you suck at this game, you only killed me, like, five times."

He glared up at her. "Maybe I was going easy on you, didn't want to hurt your feelings."

Arya's arms dropped to her sides and she narrowed her eyes, taking a step to him where he sat in a green beanbag. "You better take that slander back, Bull." She said through gritted teeth, growling.

"But if I took it back, I'd be lying. I'm no liar." He smirked; they both knew that he really did suck, but she was getting ticked anyways.

He could see the instant she was going to move, and dove from the beanbag. She landed on it with a explosions of it's beads, and under it's cover, he crawled behind the couch, the game forgotten, the hunt was on. He grinned. Perched on the dead beanbag, her eyes darted around the room for her target. She needed to get her honour back after that slander, Gendry was going down.

How many times had she and her brothers played hide-and-seek down in this room? She knew this place like she knew her own room. Gendry was a big guy, and there was a limit to the places that he could hide himself away it. She'd go for the most obvious and work her way from there. Silent like water, she moved from the beanbag to the couch with barely a noise, the replay of Gendry's death on the TV disguising her movements. Placing her hands on the back of the couch, she peeked over. He was right their, crouched in a ball, making himself smaller so that he had stayed hidden. She tensed, ready to pounce, but he must have sensed her because he moved first. He popped up and tackled her over the back of the couch, pinning her to the cushions beneath him.

"Ha! Who's the winner now?" He crowed.

Arya grabbed him around the ribs and with a grunt of effort, he yelped in surprise as she threw him from the couch and to the floor, pinning him like only a wrestler could.

"Want to retract that statement yet?" She murmured in his ear.

He grunted as her foot put a little more pressure on his chin. "Jesus, woman!" he exclaimed. "Yes, I take it back. I suck, I really do, you killed me like a hundred times. The Mighty She-Wolf81735 reigns supreme."

Arya released her hold on him and grinned as they sat up. "Now you have to be my slave for a week," she said with a straight face.

"The hell I am!" he exclaimed.

"You want me to pin you again, show my dominance?"

Mission Alert: CODE RED—Comrades Return A.K.A Big Brothers

"What the fuck, Arya!?" Robb exclaimed. "S&M? Is that the surprise you were talking about? Well, colour me surprised."

"I'm not," Jon said with a straight face. "I always suspected—the way she always beats on us..." he wrapped his arms around his chest and gave a small shudder.

Robb and now Arya and Gendry looked at the him with open-mouths. The eldest Stark was aghast beyond words, even as Jon burst out in laughter.

The eldest Stark shook his shock off fast and went over to Arya and pulled his sister up, crushing her to his chest as he glared at Gendry still laying prone on the floor. "How can you be so casual about this, Jon? You saw what they were doing!"

"Oh, calm down, Robb!" Jon waved the whole issue aside calmly as Gendry climbed to his feet.

"ee ahsnt aut ee ood iq!" It's not what it looked like. Arya protested into her brother's chest, her voice coming out thoroughly muffled as she struggled to free herself, but his hold was firm.

"She right." Gendry agreed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He glanced from Robb to Jon, the latter of whom he gave a knowing but long suffering look.

Jon sighed and came over to his brother and helped his sister out of his arms, the girl gasping with relief.

Arya punched Robb and glared at him. "Were you trying to kill me or what, you idiot?! This is Gendry Waters, he stepped in before I could kick that little shit's teeth in, he's on our team now."

"It's good to see you again, Gendry." Jon said to the two Starks' surprise. They watched as the two teen shook hands.

"You too, Jon." Gendry replied.

"Wait, Jon. You know each other?" Arya asked in surprise.

"Yeah, we've met volunteering at the community center for hours at school." Jon said, falling back onto the couch behind him. "He's a good kid."

"But he's with those lion bastards!" Robb protested. "How can we trust him? He could be a plant that Joffrey implemented."

"Firstly, Joffrey's pompous idiot. And secondly, you know we can trust him because he kept Arya out of trouble, didn't he? Thirdly, I trust him. And fourthly, he has just as much hate for that bastard and that school." Jon ticked off on his fingers. "Need I go further?"

Robb glowered silently, being stubborn.

Arya looked over at Gendry. "Why didn't you tell me you knew Jon?"

"Well, you never told me your brothers' names, so I never made the connection." He pointed out.

Arya fought the urge to stick her tongue out childishly at him in reply, because he was right, after all. "Alright, now that we've all agreed that Gendry is an asset for this mission, let's discuss the plan that the two of us discussed while we waited for you two."

Mission Foxtrot: Plan Of Attack, Part 2

Robb took a seat on the couch next to Jon, still sulking, while Arya and Gendry moved the coffee table out of the way and put the two beanbags in their place; she took the leaking one to cause less damage to it—she was going to have to vacuum down here and sew the hole before her parents returned.

"So what could you have found within the first ten minutes that we could use to make those bastard suffer and ashamed?" Jon asked.

"You go down that main hall and there's this split, left and right, and on the wall, right there at the T-junction there's this mural painted on the wall." Arya explained in disgust, and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. "I took a few pics of with my phone. Here," she handed it over to Jon. "It's explain everything that needs to be said."

Jon leaned forward and took his sister's phone, as he selected her pics file, Robb leaned over so he could see the small screen as well. The most recent taken were always the first to appear, and both brothers quickly saw why their sister was disgusted.

"What the fuck is this?" Robb gasped in shock as he saw it. "Those sons-a-bitches!"

Jon's expression tightened in anger. "Those Lannisters have no morals at all, and their school is just the same—this is blaspheme against our school's animal, against the Stark Clan directly. They glorify themselves and say they're royal. They think we of the North families are the savages, but it is them who desecrate other old families' beliefs and houses. This is an insult, and has been standing for too long. Those bastards need to be taught a lesson in respect!" His anger was righteous as he jumped to his feet, his grey eyes dark.

Robb was nodding along, and though Arya could feel the fire of anger inside her brighten at her brother's words, she glanced over at Gendry next to her, worried that he might take offence—SS was his school and though not related, the Lannisters were still technically his family, but it wasn't Gendry sitting next to her anymore, it was the Bull. There was fire in the teen's eyes, blue fire, and it burned hot with his own anger and need for retaliation—that had never been his school and the Lannisters would never be his family; they treated him like trash, when they were the true garbage. She needn't have worried.

Jon dropped to his knees in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders, grey meeting grey. "What's the plan, little sister?" he asked quietly, his voice intense.

-tbc-

********Game/of/Thrones********

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