Chapter 27

Jon Snow Stark POV

I want to call my dad today and ask him about transferring to Dany's school. I've thought a lot about it, and it's definitely something I want to do. It would be best for us, and I feel like there isn't anything really keeping me here.

I'm nervous to talk to my dad about it, I feel like he won't be supportive and he won't want me to make such a big change. However, the sooner I discuss it with him, the easier the process will be.

"Jon?" I hear when I give my dad a call. "I didn't expect to hear from you today, how are you?"

"I'm good," I say. "Dad, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," I say. I take a deep breath. "I've just been thinking, maybe I should consider transferring to Dany's school." There's a pause. I blurted it out quickly because I was so nervous to say it.

"Why would you want to do that?" My dad finally asks me. "Is there something happening at your school that you want to get away from?"

"No," I say. "We just talked about getting a place together after this semester, but the commute would be really difficult. Even if we got a place at the halfway point between her school and my school."

"Doesn't she live with Jaime and Cersei Lannister?"

"She does," I say. "But Cersei's been a lot to deal with lately, she doesn't really like living there ad much as she thought she would."

There's a pause, and then my dad sighs. "I don't know, Jon," he says. "I want to support you in what you want to do, but I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I just don't want you to do something you regret," he says. "I would hate for something to happen with Dany and have you wish you stayed at your school."

"I really don't think that will happen, dad," I say. "I— I love Dany. I want to take a step to be more serious with her, we've been dating for almost two years. I know you don't really like her, and I still don't understand why. But I love her and want to try to be more serious with her."

My dad sighs. "I don't dislike Dany," he says. "It's just a little complicated, one day we'll sit down and talk about it. I promise. It has to do with some stuff before you were born, but that isn't your fault and I shouldn't have shut down your relationship with Dany because of it."

"I just wish I wasn't so nervous to ask you about this," I say. "I've thought a lot about it, this isn't something I just came up with out of nowhere."

"I totally get that," my dad says. "And we can definitely look into it. Just promise me you won't rush into anything."

"I promise."

"Okay. I have to go, but thank you for telling me this. We can talk more about it later, bye Jon."

"Bye, dad." I hang up the phone and Pyp walks into the room a few minutes later.

"Hey," he says. "I heard you on the phone as I was coming in, am I interrupting?"

"No, you're fine," I say. "We were finishing up our conversation."

"How did it go? Did you talk to him about transferring?"

"I brought up the idea," I say. "He's unsure about it, which I expected. He doesn't want me to make a rash decision that I'll regret."

Pyp sits on his bed. "I feel like that makes sense," he says. "I understand that, but I still hope it all works out."

"Thanks, me too."

I wish he would tell me what this is all about, but I don't really have time to dwell on that. I really do want to move in with Dany, and I feel like transferring to her school is the best way to make that happen. She can still be near her friends, and we can move our relationship forward. This feels right to me.

Sansa Stark POV

Myrcella and I had cheer practice today, even though it's Saturday. We have to learn new routines for spring semester events.

"Do you want to get a slushy?" I ask her as we're leaving practice. "I was going to stop by Sonic for one."

"Sure," she says. There's a pause as we head to Sonic. "So are things any better with Joffrey?"

"Not really," I say. "He doesn't like that I'm not a virgin."

"But didn't you say that wasn't exactly consensual?"

"I told Joffrey that," I say. "He told me not to say that because I regret it, so maybe I overreacted about that situation."

"Sansa!" She says. "You know that's not true, come on."

"I just kind of want to forget about it," I say. It isn't something I like to talk about anyway."

My phone buzzes, and I see it's a text from Margaery. *Hey, what are you doing?*

*Not much, just got out of cheer. You?*

Ding. *Nothing, just wanted to see if you wanted to do something.*

*I'm with my friend Myrcella, she's Gendry's cousin. Is that okay?*

Ding. *Yeah, it's fine.*

"My friend Margaery wants to hang out with us," I say to Myrcella. "She's Gendry's ex, it's okay if that makes you uncomfortable."

"It doesn't," Myrcella says. "Of course she can hang out with us."

"I'm pretty sure Arya's at fencing," I say. "I'll tell Margaery to meet us at my place, I'm pretty sure Arya's at fencing so it should be fine." I pull out my phone to text her.

*We're heading back to my place right now if you want to meet us there.*

Ding. *Okay, see you soon.*

When I pull up to my place, Margaery is already parked there waiting. She's standing and leaning on her car. "Hey," I say. "You've met Myrcella, right?"

"Yeah," Margaery says. "I think we met once, in passing. It's good to see you again."

"You too," Myrcella says. "It's been a while." I can tell she's shy about seeing her and doesn't know how to react, I'm wondering if this was a bad idea.

We walk into the house and Arya is laying on the couch, reading. "Arya," I say, trying to not act too surprised. "I thought you had fencing today."

"I did," Arya says. "I got home an hour ago." She sees Margaery and then turns back to her book. There's a long silence and then we head up to my room.

"Sorry," I say quietly when we walk into my room. "I thought she was still at fencing practice."

"It's okay," Margaery says as she and Myrcella sit on my bed. "So how are things with your boyfriend?"

"They're going well," I say. I can tell Myrcella knows I'm not telling the full truth about that, but I really don't want to hear any judgement from Margaery. "Have you met Joffrey?"

"Yeah, once," Margaery says. "He was really bratty, but that was a while ago. I'm sure he's gotten better."

"He hasn't," Myrcella says quietly. There's an awkward pause. "I'm dating Podrick Payne, you knew him right?"

"Oh, yeah," Margaery says. "He's a legend. Is he as good in bed as everyone says?"

"I guess," Myrcella says. "He was my first, and we've only slept together one time."

I'm surprised she's being so open with Margaery, she barely knows her.

"I'm glad it's going well with him," Margaery says. "Despite his reputation, he is a really nice guy from what I've seen."

I'm glad they're getting along, I was worried about that. Margaery is being nicer than I expected, which I guess is good. It just makes me wonder if she's hiding something or has something planned, she's always been that way.

Arya Stark POV

I'm sitting on the couch, still reading when Margaery comes back downstairs to get some water. I'm terrified of her, but I need to not let her see that.

"Hi Arya," she says when she walks out of the kitchen with her water. "How are you?" She's smiling, which is even scarier. If she was just a bitch to me at least I'd know what her motive was.

"I'm okay," I say, not looking up from my book. "How are you?"

"I'm good, just really busy with cosmetology school." She keeps standing there, taking a sip of her water.

"Arya," she says. I look at her. "I want you to know I don't hate you."

I just nod. "Okay," I say. "I appreciate that."

"I hope you realize soon that you're a victim, and you deserve better."

I pause, I'm getting upset. "A victim of what? What are you talking about?"

"Come on," Margaery says. "You can't really believe he actually likes you, right?"

"He does," I say. "He told me so many times how much he likes me. We've been close friends for a while."

"Look," Margaery says. "I know you're young, so I'm going to explain something to you. Older guys don't ever genuinely want someone your age because you have a great personality, just trust me on that." I just stare at her, what do I say to that?

"I was your age once, so I know you don't believe that," she continues. "You'll see at some point, I'm just trying to help you."

"Okay," I say. "I understand, but you don't know what our relationship is like."

She gives me a sympathetic smile. "No," she says. "But I know what he's like."

She walks upstairs, and I actually find myself getting emotional. I'm not sure why, I don't want to let her get to me. I walk out to the backyard and sit in the grass. I give Gendry a call, I just want to hear his voice.

"Hello?" He says when he answers.

"Hey," I say. "It's me."

"Hey Arry, what's up? Are you okay? You sound a little upset."

"I'm okay," I say. "Margaery's here, she's hanging out with Sansa."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he says. "Is it awkward?"

"She came downstairs after Myrcella and Sansa went upstairs," I say. "She told me she doesn't hate me and that I'm a victim."

"What?"

"She said you don't really like me, and that eventually I'll see that. I didn't think it would hurt that much to hear that, but she was really convincing and she sounded so sure of it."

"Arya," he says. "None of that is true. I do like you, I like you so much. I migh even…" he stops suddenly.

"Might even what?"

"I might even love you," he suddenly blurts out. I really didn't expect that.

"Gendry," I say. "That's so sweet of you to say, it means a lot." There's a long pause, I can tell he's waiting for me to say it back.

"I wanted you to hear it," he says. "I want you to trust me."

"I do trust you," I say. "But I'm not sure I'm ready to say that yet. I want to make sure if I say it that I have no doubt that it's true. I hope you understand, I still really want to be with you."

I can tell from his silence that he's disappointed. "I understand," he finally says. "But I definitely was hoping you would say it back." He chuckles, which makes me thinks it's okay.

"I'm sorry Gendry," I say. "I just want to be honest with you, and I hope we can still be together."

"It's okay," he says. "Of course we can, I just wanted to tell you."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later," I say. "Bye."

"Bye."

I'm glad I have him, but I'm definitely not ready to say I'm in love. I want to keep seeing where it goes with him without rushing things. I'm glad he reassured me about Margaery, I definitely needed to hear that. I wish she wasn't so catty and bitchy, I feel like she is trying to make me feel insecure about Gendry, which really sucks. At least I know how he really feels.