Chapter 8

Sansa Stark POV

I'm getting ready for the Lannister party, and then I'm riding with Jon and Dany. Podrick and Gendry are also coming over to ride with us. I'm nervous to see Ramsay, but I'm making sure I look extra good so he knows he has no affect on me anymore. That may not be true, but I need to make sure he believes it.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" I ask Arya while I'm getting ready. "I don't think they'd mind."

"Yeah, I'm sure," she says. "This is the first time I'll be seeing Gendry since we broke up, I don't want to make things too awkward for him."

"You know you can always stay up here when he and Podrick get here," I say. "You don't have to see him."

"I want to," she says. "I want him to know there doesn't need to be any tension between us."

"That's a lot of makeup," Arya says after a long pause. "You don't usually wear that much."

"I want to discourage myself from crying when I see Ramsay," I say. "I can't let him know he still gets to me."

Arya doesn't respond, and we eventually go downstairs to wait for the guys. Gendry and Podrick knock on the door while we're all waiting in the living room, and Jon opens it.

"Hey guys," he says. "You guys ready to go?"

"Yeah," Gendry says. He glances over and sees Arya. "Hey Ary, are you coming out with us tonight?"

"No," she says. "I don't think it would be that fun for me." I mean it kinda makes sense, last time she was at a Lannister party was when Jon caught her and Gendry together.

There's a pause, I can tell there's tension between them and they're trying to act like there's not. "Okay, let's go then," Jon says, breaking the silence. "Bye Arya."

Arya waves goodbye and we get into the car. We get to the party, and I think Dany can tell I'm nervous. "Are you okay?" She asks me as we walk inside.

"Yeah, I guess," I say. "I thought I'd be fine seeing Ramsay, but now I'm just scared."

"It'll be okay," Dany says. "Just come find me if he tries to talk to you."

I nod and go to get a drink. Sure enough, Ramsay comes up to me while I'm pouring myself one. My heart is pounding, I can't let him see how scared I am. I want to run away and get Dany, but I feel like I also need to face him.

"Hey girl," he says. "I haven't seen you in a while, how's it going?"

"I'm great," I say. "I went to modeling camp, and I'm hoping to move forward with that."

"Modeling?" He asks. "Aren't you a little chunky for that?"

That really hurts, but I fight back tears. I know that's what he wants, and I can't give him that win.

"Don't you have to go be an asshole somewhere else?" I ask him.

"Hey," he says. "No need to get testy, I actually wanted to know if you wanted to hang with me tonight. We had some good times, and I miss those."

God, I want to punch him. "No thanks," I say. "I'm here to hang out with my friends and catch up with people I haven't seen in a while."

"Well you know," he says, moving closer to me. "We could catch up in another way."

He's so gross. I try to move past him, but he's blocking my path. Luckily I look past him and see Dany, and she notices me too. I didn't want to have her handle this, but it seems like my only option.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

I see Ramsay trying to talk to Sansa, and I immediately walk away from Cersei and go to her. "Sansa," I say, walking up to her. "Come hang out with me, Cersei and Marge. They want to know all about your modeling stuff."

I drag her away from Ramsay. "Are you okay?" She asks me. "You know that you could've come and got me."

"He was kinda blocking my path," Sansa says. "Plus, I felt like I should try to handle it on my own. I knew he would try to talk to me when he saw me, so I figured I should rip the Band-Aid off."

"He isn't worth it," I say. "You shouldn't have to deal with that."

Sansa stops walking and lowers her voice. "He called me fat," she says. "I mentioned my modeling stuff and he said I was too chunky for that."

I take a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Sansa," I say. "I wish this wasn't something you still had to deal with, I told Jaime not to invite him."

She shrugs. "It is what it is." We walk over to Cersei, Margaery, and Missandei is also there.

"Hi Sansa," Missandei says. "It's been a while since I've seen you, how are you?"

"I'm okay, about to start my senior year thankfully," she says. "How about you? Are you still with Grey Worm?"

"Yeah, we live together," Missandei replies. "He's here too, off with the guys somewhere."

I'm glad they're still together, they always seemed super in love with each other. Her and I used to be so close, I miss hanging out with her.

"Where's Jon?" Margaery asks me.

"Probably off with Gendry and Pod," I say. "Catching up with some of the guys they haven't seen in a while, I presume."

"Oh right," Margaery says. "I forgot Gendry was going to be here."

"I hear things didn't really end well between you guys," Missandei says. "What happened?"

"He broke up with me," Margaery says. "But the worst part is he started dating Jon's little sister right after."

"Not you, I presume," Missandei says to Sansa. She shakes her head and Missandei's eyes widen. "So he got with the younger one?" Margaery nods.

"She's 15," Sansa says. "I know Gendry's older, but he really cared about her."

"Cared?" Missandei asks. "Like past tense?"

"Yeah," Sansa says. "Arya broke up with him since they're at such different places in life now."

"Wow, that's insane," Missandei says. "I really missed a lot, then."

"Arya isn't here right?" Margaery asks Sansa.

Sansa shakes her head. "No," she says. "She thought it would be too weird."

They continue gossiping, and I start tuning them out. I'm less and less interested in that the longer I'm out of high school. I thought my friends who've also graduated would feel the same way, but they seem like they haven't outgrown it yet. Margaery is the worst. I like her, but sometimes I get tired of her attitude. I feel like I'm outgrowing all my high school friends, honestly.

Jon Snow Stark POV

I can't believe I'm at a Lannister party again, I thought high school was over. Dany left to go be with the girls, but at least I have Gendry and Podrick to hang out with. Podrick starts talking to Jaime eventually, and when I find Dany she's with the girls and I don't want to bother her. I walk outside to the backyard and Gendry is out there smoking.

"Hey," he says when he sees me. "Do you want to smoke with me?"

"No," I say. "I really shouldn't smoke."

"Do you want to sit and talk?"

"Okay," I say, sitting on the deck next to him. "I don't see why not."

"So are we friends again?" Gendry asks.

I shrug. "I don't see why not," I say. "I can't say I'll ever fully trust you again, but I can tell you cared about Arya."

"I did," Gendry says. "I loved her, I still do."

"I can appreciate my parents for at least supervising your interactions together," I say. "And I can definitely have respect for you for mostly keeping your hands off her besides some making out."

There's a long pause. "Yeah," he says. "I'd never have wanted to hurt her."

"I still think she was too young for you and you should've stayed away, but I can't say you had creept intentions like I originally thought."

"I definitely didn't," he says. "I even tried to fight my feelings for her because I knew it would upset you and I didn't want either of you to think I was a creep, but she was the one pushing it."

"That doesn't change the fact that you're much older," I say. "You have to understand that."

"I know," he says. "But I can't help how in love with her I was and still am."

"I didn't know that," I say. "I tried to talk to her about the breakup to make sure she was okay, but she really didn't have much to say. I assumed she'd be more emotional about it."

He takes a drag of his cigarette. "I don't want to talk about Arya," he says. He sounds so sad. "I just miss her so much, Jon. I don't even want to think about her, even though that's virtually impossible."

"Okay," I say. "Sorry."

We don't talk much more while sitting out there. I didn't want to or expect to feel this way, but I almost feel bad for Gendry. I haven't seen him this broken up about a girl before, it honestly surprises me. I want him to be happy, I just wish he didn't have to be with my baby sister to achieve that.

Jaime Lannister POV

I'm sitting outside in the grass and smoking a joint when a car I don't recognize pulls up to the house. The driver rolls down the window, and I see it's Coach Tarth from high school. That's so random, I have no idea why she's here.

"Jaime?" She asks me.

"Coach Tarth?" I ask. "What are you doing here?"

"Theon texted me and asked me to pick him up," she says. "Apparently Ramsay's being a jerk."

"Yeah, what else is new?" I ask. "He told me you're in his summer class at the community college, that's pretty weird."

"Yeah, it was a little weird," she says. "I feel like I'm way older than you guys, but I'm only 25 so I guess it's only weird if I make it weird."

"I didn't realize you guys were actually friends."

"We're just texting a little," she says. "It's strictly platonic, I promise."

"Hey, I'm not judging."

There's a pause. "How's life post-graduation treating you?" She asks me.

"Not bad," I say. "I live with my sister in an apartment close to campus."

"Oh, Cersei right?"

"Yeah," I say. It seems like even she's annoyed at the mention of Cersei, even a teacher from high school knows her reputation. "It's nice to have freedom, and we get along pretty well."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

There's another long pause as I keep smoking. I thought it would be awkward to see a teacher when I'm out of high school, but I'm surprised at how east it is to talk to her. She really isn't that much older than us, so it makes sense that we could have a good conversation together.

"You can come in if you want," I say. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks, but that might be a little weird," she says. "I shouldn't be hanging out with anyone who used to go to Winterfell to begin with."

I don't think it's that big of a deal since she and Theon met in a class, but I guess I can see what she means.

"You won't tell anyone that there was a party here tonight or that I was smoking, right?" I ask her.

"No," she says, chuckling. "You're not in high school anymore, and I have no one to tell anyways."

I smile at her and Theon walks out and into the car. "Bye, Theon," I say. "Hope you had fun."

"Yeah, whatever," Theon says, getting into the car. "Bye."

I'm not sure what happened with Ramsay, but it must have been pretty bad. I walk inside after finishing my joint and walk up to where Cersei is with Dany, Margaery and Ramsay.

"Where were you?" Cersei asks.

"Just outside smoking," I say. "Nothing important." I don't mention that I saw Coach Tarth. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I should leave that detail out.

"Did Theon leave?" Ramsay asks. I nod. "God, he's so stupid. He was overreacting."

"What happened?" I ask.

"I made some joke he didn't like, and he took it way too far," Ramsay says. "It was about how he can't get any chicks in college."

"Maybe he realized that he doesn't have to deal with your bullshit now that we're out of high school," Dany says. "Did you think about that?"

"Shut up, princess," Ramsay says. "I don't need your commentary, you're not queen of Winterfell anymore."

"You shut up," she says. "Don't talk to me like that."

"Hey, hey," I say. "Everyone relax, no one's getting into a fight at this party."

Dany just walks away, probably to find Jon. This night took a turn I wasn't expecting, and it's making me remember why I don't see people from high school as much anymore. It wasn't all bad, but I definitely don't want to have a party like this again for a while.

I actually enjoyed talking to Coach Tarth, I'll have to see if Theon's hanging out with her anymore this summer. It's not weird or inappropriate now that we've graduated, at least I don't think so. I know Cersei wouldn't approve, but I don't really care.