Chapter Text
"Does this look okay?"
"Sansa, it's school, not a fashion show. You look fine, and if you don't leave soon, you're going to be late."
"It's not just school, mother, it's my first day. What will they think of me?" Sansa twisted her hands together, ignoring the rolled eyes from Arya who was having breakfast.
"They'll think that you're an incredibly beautiful, not to mention intelligent, young woman - you have nothing to be frightened of." Her mother hugged her, warm and comforting, and Sansa allowed herself to relax somewhat. She would be okay. She could do this.
She couldn't do this.
"We're here." Her father said.
They had actually been there for five minutes, but Sansa still couldn't bring herself to step out of the car and enter Westeros High School, one of the most prestigious schools in the country.
"I don't understand why we couldn't just stay at Winterfell," Arya complained from the front seat, and Sansa heard her father sigh. "I miss my friends."
"Arya, I've told you countless times that this is important, not only for me, but for the family," Ned said patiently, "I'm sure you'll enjoy it here."
"It's just some job." Arya muttered, arms crossed. Sansa understood the importance of being appointed Chief Administrative Officer at Baratheon and co., and so did Arya, even if she pretended otherwise.
Eventually Arya climbed out of the car, albeit grudgingly, followed by a more nervous Sansa. She clutched her bag as she waved goodbye to her father, before heading in through the front doors. Arya had already disappeared.
Despite her fears about a new school, the inside was almost exactly the same, bustling with students and teachers, bells ringing and locker doors slamming. She stood by the doors, wondering if someone was meant to meet her. Maybe she was too early. Or maybe she was horribly late.
It appeared that her anxious hovering by the door had attracted someone's attention, and a blond boy in a snapback was walking towards her.
"Are you new here?" The boy said immediately, unabashedly looking her up and down. Sansa blushed, and couldn't help noticing that he was incredibly attractive. And familiar.
"I'm Joffrey," He continued, "Joffrey Baratheon. You might know me? My father owns the biggest banking company in the world," He flashed her a bright grin of obviously whitened teeth, "I'm on TV quite a lot."
"Oh! Um, yes. I mean, yes I'm new. We moved here because my father got a job at your father's company." Sansa said, smiling tentatively under his gaze. His eyes were rather beautiful.
"Yes, yes my father is very generous. He always finds time for those less fortunate then us."
Sansa frowned a little at that, but their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of her sister, accompanied by a girl and a boy. Joffrey cast them a fleeting glance, before leaving, without even a goodbye. Strange. He was always so polite on TV.
She looked up as the boy began to speak.
"You must be Sansa Stark. I'm Renly, the head boy," He shook her hand with a kind smile, "and this is Margaery, our lovely head girl." They shook hands. Margaery had brown hair, brown eyes and a pretty smile. In fact, everything about her was pretty. Sansa wished she looked like that.
"We found Arya wandering around the grounds and thought she looked a little lost," Renly continued cheerfully. If the look on Arya's face was anything to go by, she hadn't been lost at all, and was probably already plotting ways to "get lost" again. "Maybe a quick tour of the school would be useful."
"I'll take Sansa." Margaery said. She seemed nice. Sansa hoped they could be friends.
"Then I'll take Arya," Renly looked at his watch quickly, "Lessons begin in five minutes, so how about we take advantage of the quiet and take them around during first period. Meet back here at 9.30."
"And finally, this is the library. Here at Westeros, we have practically all the books you could want, for reading, research, whatever." Sansa's head was spinning a little from the whirlwind tour they had taken. The school was much larger than she had expected and Margaery seemed to know an impossible amount of facts about it.
"So that's it," Margaery said as the exited the library,"Do you like it so far?"
"I do. There's a lot to remember though." She fiddled with the strap on her bag for something to do with her hands.
"Oh don't worry, I'll be here to make sure you don't get lost and help you with anything."
"Like a friend?" Sansa hated herself instantly, wishing she hadn't blurted out something so embarrassing. God, she sounded like a loser. She glanced up, expecting Margaery to be laughing at her, but she wasn't. She was smiling, but not in a mocking way.
"Yes. A friend." Her voice was soft, like music, and Sansa felt happiness bubble up in her chest.
"Now," Margaery turned to face a cabinet holding trophies behind her to use as a mirror, "The real question, does my hair look better down or up?" Margaery started wrestling her thick hair out of it's ponytail.
Sansa blushed when she realised that she was staring, even more so when it appeared that Margaery had noticed. Thankfully, she didn't say anything.
"Hm, what do you think?" She asked once her hair was down, falling down past her shoulder blades.
"Oh, it looks lovely. You look lovely. Pretty. It suits you." She stopped talking. Really, how was she going to be Margaery's friend if she kept babbling? But Margaery was smiling again, a fond smile and a slight tilt of her head to the side.
"Thank you." She said, and that was the second time in minutes that Sansa had felt that rush of happiness. They were friends. Sansa hoped they could be good friends.
The first lesson of her day was chemistry. Sansa took her place at the back of the classroom, wishing Margaery was just one year younger so she'd have someone she knew with her. As the rest of the class filed in she took the opportunity to see who she was going to be spending the next two years around.
There was Joffrey, sitting at the front and surrounded by a rowdy group of boys and a few fawning girls. Sansa almost wanted to be over there with them, but then she remembered Joffrey's last comment to her, and thought maybe he wasn't as nice as he seemed.
A boy with curly hair and bright eyes caught her attention. He too, was surrounded by group of girls, and a few boys, but was paying much less attention to them. In fact, he didn't seem to be paying attention to anybody, his head resting on his hand as he gazed into space.
She was just wondering who the girl with the almost floor length white blonde hair was, when the teacher entered the classroom. She took out her books and a pen, sitting up a little straighter. She always payed attention in class, and in such a competitive school, it was important to keep up.
The rest of the day dragged on much the same; lessons, introductions to students who's names she tried to remember, and the lunch break, which she spent alone. She had hoped that maybe Margaery would join her, but then again, she was in the year above and probably had a much cooler group of friends. Why would she hang out with Sansa? She was probably just trying to make Sansa feel better when she said they could be friends. Oh well, she thought, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her chest. There were plenty of other students.
The end of the day came as a welcome relief. She was waiting outside the school for Arya when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Margaery.
"Hi! I'm so sorry I missed you at lunch but I had to finish some work and then do something for the head and it was all a bit chaotic really, but I really hope I didn't leave you on your own."
She sounded so genuinely worried, that Sansa couldn't bring herself to tell her that she had been alone.
"No, no, it was fine! I sat with a few people from my chemistry class and, um, yeah. Don't worry about me!"
Margaery didn't seem convinced, but at that moment Renly approached, followed by the boy with the curly hair she had seen earlier.
"Hi, Margaery." Renly said, and kissed her chastely on the lips. Oh. They were together. Sansa looked at the other boy, seeing if he felt like an awkward third wheel as well, but he didn't catch her gaze. His expression was stormy, however, and his jaw set as he looked determinedly away from the two.
"Sansa, this is Loras. My brother," Sansa looked up as Margaery spoke, "Loras, this is Sansa. She's in your year."
Loras threw her a quick smile. The atmosphere seemed tense - perhaps there had been a family argument.
Renly rocked on his heels, before saying,
"Well, Loras and I were just heading back to my place to do some studying," He gestured vaguely behind him, "See you tomorrow." They walked away, and as Sansa watched, she saw him lean in and say something quietly to Loras, who nodded somewhat meekly and shoved his hands into his pockets.
Margaery sighed.
"My sweet brother. So moody," She looked back at Sansa with a bright smile. "But enough about him. Tell me about your day."
Sansa opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by an earsplitting motorcycle screech. She turned, stunned, to see a guy the size of house remove a helmet. As she watched, the girl with the blonde hair from her chemistry class walked up to him. Sansa's eyes widened as they kissed, a little too passionately for a high school (Sansa felt her cheeks heating up and watched as other students looked away), before both getting back on the bike and driving loudly away.
Margaery giggled behind her.
"What the hell was that." Sansa said, laughing a little.
"That, was Dany Targaryen and her absolutely terrifying boyfriend, Drogo." Sansa raised an eyebrow at the name and Margaery snorted. "Bikers."
"So what's up with Dany Targaryen?" She asked, intrigued.
Margaery's smile widened, as if this was a particularly juicy secret she was about to share.
"Well, at last year's prom, Dany arrived her normal self; and by normal self I mean the quiet, library girl with the braids and glasses. No one's really sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure her creepy ass brother was involved. Anyway, she leaves with this massive biker guy who no one knows, and spends the summer doing god knows what. Next thing we know, she's a pyromaniac, owns about ten lizards, some of which are apparently illegal in this country, hangs around with this guy Drogo, who has allegedly killed people, and wears nothing but leather. Crazy, huh?"
There was a pause. And then Sansa was laughing; proper, full body laughing, and soon Margaery joined in, until both of them were doubled over and gasping for air. They only started laughing more when Arya arrived, giving both of them strange looks. Thankfully she didn't ask.
Once their laughter had subsided and Sansa had regained the ability to breathe, they said a giddy goodbye to each other, promising to meet up the next morning. Sansa practically skipped to the car, hardly believing that she had been so scared that morning.
"New friend?" Her dad asked as she sat down.
"What do you think?"
She realised she was still grinning.