Game of Thrones: Crossroads
Chapter 27 of my Game of Thrones story, enjoy.
Reviews
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)
Marina Ka-Fai: Yeah, well, he's aware of that; but like he said, he couldn't think of any other way.
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, yeah, he has.
Veridissima: Thanks, glad you enjoyed both chapters; Yes, Joffrey certainly is, glad you liked that, thought it would be interesting, add a little extra perspective to the situation. Yeah well, it's the only way he could think of; doesn't justify what he did and he knows that but it was all he could think of.
rubini25: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it and glad you liked how it was written; yeah, pretty much agree with what you say and your reasoning is sound :) Yeah, totally agree; well, we can only wait and see how things turn out from here.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.
Chapter 27
It was Monday again; Gendry entered school, equal parts elated and ashamed. While he had finally got his feelings for Arya out in the open and had finally convinced her to be his girlfriend, the method he had used was deplorable. Normally he would avoid such behaviour but in truth, although he guessed Arya wouldn't see it that way, it was the only one of his plans that he saw actually working.
'She has no idea how many times I nearly faltered.' He thought sadly. 'How I nearly gave up several times. Ugh, I know after this I definitely don't deserve her. The only way I can begin to make it up to her is by treating her as right as possible now.'
One part of him however knew that it wasn't just the blackmail, but the fact he got caught up in the guy's plans and used his love for Arya for a bet; that was something else he felt ashamed of. However he was forced to push those thoughts from his mind when he joined the others. He smiled, putting on a happy front, he spoke to them, then, through the random conversations, Ned Dayne turned to him.
"So Gendry; making any progress?" He asked causally. "Deadline's Thursday after all."
Gendry sighed; this wasn't what he wanted to talk about right now, but he knew that his friend wouldn't shut up until he answered. "I've done it, we're together now. But I'm telling you guys who it is, at least until Thursday."
Ned Dayne smirked at that while Gendry pondered how to reveal the truth to everyone, without it blowing up in his face.
Arya meanwhile was privately fuming; all the while pretending to be the same as ever as she sat with Sansa, Margaery and the other girls. She had no idea where the male members of the group where and frankly didn't care. She especially wasn't interested in where Aegon was, not after his actions on Friday. Right now however, the main reason for her rage, was Gendry.
She maintained her outward calm, but her temper flared as she thought of him. 'That, bastard; I can't believe he'd do something like that. I thought he was better than that. Now he's put everything I've worked so hard for at risk…If he ruins this I; ugh, Gods what the hell am I supposed to do about this?'
She tried to distract herself by listening to the girls, but the conversation was just a rehash of the old rumours, likely trying to see if anything new had been learned. It was then she was distracted by her phone vibrating. She carefully pulled it out and checked it; she bit her lip, a text from Gendry. Making sure no one was watching she opened it.
"See you at lunch, where?"
She scowled, she hadn't forgotten about that but still; for him to remind her made it harder to control her temper. She quickly sent back her reply.
"Mr. Baelish's class."
She put her phone away and continued to try and act normally; letting her anger fester.
Gendry's phone buzzed and he checked it, Arya had replied. He read her reply and noted how it seemed to reflect the short, sharp tone she would've said those words if they had spoken directly about it. He was hardly surprised; but he was determined to make this work; for Arya's sake, even if she hated him for it, at least getting her out of that toxic group would help her in the long run; that much he knew. He quickly put his phone away as he saw Edric leaning in to try and see who the text was from.
"Hey, c'mon bro." Edric complained as Gendry hid his phone.
Gendry shook his head. "Not a chance Edric, I don't spy on your phone, you shouldn't do it to me."
Edric shook his head but offered no further complaint. It was then Gendry heard some amused giggling coming from Myrcella. He looked over and had to stifle a laugh himself; totally oblivious to their surroundings, Rickon and Shireen were engaged in a rather deep kiss. Gendry couldn't help but admire the way they were able to act so openly and freely. Kissing without a thought to having an audience. Luckily however they weren't so far gone that they failed to heed warnings that a teacher was coming, not wanting them to be in trouble for excessive PDA. Soon the bell rang and they began heading for their first class. Gendry meanwhile felt better about one thing. Shireen was a lot happier than he had ever seen her, and it was all thanks to Rickon.
Finally, lunch time came and Gendry headed for Mr. Baelish's classroom. He and Arya had agreed, her reluctantly he admitted, to meet up in secret. He hoped that, if he did his best to treat her right and try to make up for the circumstance of how they got together, maybe she would at the very least, tell him what was going on. She had hinted at several times and he suspected strongly that she had an ulterior motive for abandoning them in favour of Sansa's crowd.
Gendry shook his head sadly. 'If she'd just share it with me, tell me what's going on, I couldn't help her. It can't be that bad, surely.'
He soon arrived and saw Arya was already here; she was leaning against the teacher's desk, tugging irritably at the hem of her skirt again. Gendry sighed; it seemed that joining that group had changed everything about Arya, including the way she dressed. But that was the last thing he was worried about just now. He stepped into the class, putting his bag and jacket down on the nearest desk and approached Arya. She stood from the desk and observed him with a blank expression. Gendry knew she wasn't happy, once again he berated himself for doing this but had to remind himself yet again that he couldn't think of another way, given the circumstance.
Gendry smiled gently as he stopped in front of her.
"Well, now what?" Arya asked; her anger seemed to be momentarily cooled, in fact she sounded, uncertain.
Gendry sighed and shook his head; before embracing and kissing her, she struggled briefly but then returned it. When they parted she scowled at him, breathless.
"You coulda warned me."
Gendry fought not to laugh. "I'm sorry Arry; I just couldn't resist."
Arya rolled her eyes. "Of course not; after all, you're the one who gets to make the decisions here. I'm stuck going along with them."
"Arya…" He began, trying to reason with, to explain to her.
But then she snapped. "Don't even think of making excuses; we both know the truth, we both know what you did!"
Gendry couldn't even reply, she was right after all.
"Now, because of that, here I am, your girlfriend!"
It was then they heard the outraged responses and they both let go of each other and turned to the door. Arya groaned as she realized they had been caught, by the worst possible people, not just Sansa's group, or Gendry's, but both of them.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.