Chapter Text
Jamie Lannister makes his way through the corridors with the confidence he always shows. He can feel stares of desire coming from the women and the mix of jealousy and admiration coming from the men. Some people would say he is cocky, but who could blame him? He is a Lannister, his dad owns half the stores in Casterly Rock, he is captain of the soccer team, and he has a hot girlfriend. It couldn't get any better.
Speaking of his hot girlfriend, he sees her walking alongside her friends. She hasn't been answering his texts during her whole holiday trip to King’s Landing. It had brought an uneasy feeling inside him, but he had decided to ignore it. Now she was here, as beautiful as ever, and everything was going to be fine. Or so he thinks, as he goes to greet her with a kiss, she moves her head and he ends up kissing her cheek instead.
“Oh, hi, Jamie. Sorry, I totally forgot to tell you, we are breaking up.” She doesn't even stop walking, just gives him her best version of an apologetic smile, and keeps on her way.
“What?! Wait! What are you talking about?” He feels as if he were on a hidden camera prank and at any minute, people would appear and laugh. He tries to ignore the weight of the stares from his friends and schoolmates. Nobody was even pretending not to listen.
“ What I just said. It's been nice, and you are really sweet, but I need to move on. We are going to college next year, after all.”
“What does college have to do with this?!” He is trying to keep his tone low, but it's failing; the confusion and anger are getting the best of him.
“Listen, Jaime. What we had was good, but it was only a high school romance. I need to move ahead. Did you really think that I was still going to date you while we were in college?” The look on his face gave him away. “Oh my god, you really believed that. I'm sorry, but don't worry. I will still be your date to the prom. It wouldn't look good for the king and queen to not go together.” The condescending tone in her voice was driving him insane, she was talking to him like she was doing him a favour. Throwing a bone to a street dog.
“No, we won’t,” he hardened his expression, not wanting to give her more of an ego stroke by showing he was hurt.
“Whatever, I was just trying to be nice,” Cersei says and walks past him.
He gives a sharp look to every spectator. All of them immediately pretend they had not just witnessed him being dumped.
“That was rough.” His friend’s voice makes him look away.
“Not now, Bronn.” he just wants to go home and pretend this day didn't happen.
“Yeah, Bronn, give him a break. He just got his heart broken,” Sandor says with a mocking tone.
“Who said I loved her? She was just my high school girlfriend, that's it,” the words of Cersei diminishing their relationship stuck in his mind. He starts to walk away from his friends, wanting to be alone.
“Come on, she is Cersei Lancaster. The hottest chick at school, every girl wants to be her, and every guy wants to bang her. She is like you, but with tits.” Sandor puts his arm around his shoulder while saying this, he immediately grabs it and pushes him away.
“She is just some chick. You take away all that makeup and the stuck-up attitude, and she is like any other girl.”
“Nah, dude. She is hot as fuck, and she is going to be prom queen. That's more than some random girl,” Bronn says.
He is getting more irritated by the minute. He wished they would drop the topic so he could go somewhere else to sulk by himself. But he doesn't want to keep stoking Cersei’s ego. He can't show how this affected him.
“Any girl with the right makeup and the right boyfriend could become prom queen; she is not that special.”
“Really, you believe that's all it takes?” Bronn gives him a mischievous smile.
“ I don't believe it, I know it,” Jaime says confidently.
“Okay, prove it. We pick a girl and you turn her prom queen.”
“That could be entertaining, I may pay to see it,” Sandor sounds excited.
“You wanna bet?” Jaime wants to prove to them that he is right, he wants to show Cersei that she is not who she thinks she is.
“Yeah, unless you are too hurt and want to go ask Cersei to take you back.” Sometimes, he wonders why he is even friends with Bronn.
“Just say the terms.”
“I pick the girl, and you have 6 weeks to turn her prom queen.” Bronn looks at him with an annoying smile on his face.
“Done,” he extends his hand to seal the deal with a handshake.
“Let's go shopping,” Sandor says, and they start to walk around the school.
As they see girls walking, they start to analyze them. Jamie keeps suggesting possible candidates, but Bronn shakes his head at all of them.
“We don't have all day. You have to choose one.” Jamie is starting to get irritated, more than he was before.
“Don't rush me, we need to find you a perfect one,” Bronn says and then looks behind him. “And I think we found her.”
Jaime follows his gaze and turns around.
“No”
“Yes”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“You want me to turn Brienne, “The beauty”, Tarth into prom queen? You have to give me a chance of winning this.”
“You said you could turn ANY girl into prom queen, are you chickening out?” Bronn says with a big smile on his face.
“I'm not.” The look on his face defiant, he has always been competitive. “But you have to be realistic. I mean, look at her. She doesn't have any tits, her teeth are crooked, and she is taller than both of us. The only good thing about her is her eyes.”
“He is right, are we even sure she is a woman?” Sandor chimes in.
“Again, you said ANY girl. And if we were you, I would start to work right now. You only have six weeks to turn The Beauty into prom queen.” Bronne says and walks away laughing.
“Good luck, bro,” Sandor gives him a pat on the back before walking away. Leaving Jaime alone and wondering what he fuck he got himself into.
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He spots her right away; she is taller than more than half of the school, so it was quite easy. Jamie doesn't know what to tell her; they share some classes but have never crossed a word. All he knows is that she is in the Math club, she is tall, and has not been blessed in the looks department. It doesn't even seem like she has many friends either. The only person he has seen her with is another dude from the Math club. He thinks his name is Podrick.
“Hey, Brienne,” Jaime says when he reaches her in the hallway. “ I was wondering if you-”
“No,” she doesn't even look at him. Just keeps walking. Always looking ahead. It was not what he expected. He rushes to walk next to her.
“You don't even know what I was going to say,” he remarks.
“It doesn't matter, I don't care,” she starts to walk faster and leaves him behind.
Okay, that didn't work out. Jaime knew she was weird, but she was still a girl. He is not used to girls acting this way. They usually would be thrilled that he was talking to them.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
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Brienne doesn't understand what just happened.
Jaime Lannister had tried to talk to her; he had never done that. He must have a mischievous reason. He has been dumped by Cersei Lancaster. Everyone at school knew it. It’s the only thing they can talk about.
He is probably looking for someone to make fun of to get out his frustration. But he had chosen the wrong person. She knows better than to fall for that, so she left him there without allowing him to say whatever he had in mind. Years of hurtful words from boys had taught her well.
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He doesn't understand what he did wrong; any other girl would have been more than happy to have him talk to them. Maybe his first mistake had been thinking of The Beauty as a girl. He keeps repeating the moment while lying in the couch in his home. Then his thoughts get interrupted by his brother.
“I would say that I'm sorry about what happened with Cersei, but I would be lying.”
“How do you know what happened?” Tyrion is not a senior, and he wasn’t there when everything went down.
“Everybody knows”
“Great, that’s great,” he already knew that, but the idea still bothered him. While he enjoys being popular, it definitely has its cons.
“You are better off without her. Now, tell me. Who is the next one?”
“A rebound? “
“There has to be someone.”
“Yeah, well, I have a project, but she rejected me.”
“ I already like her.”
“It was probably a misunderstanding.”
“Or maybe she doesn't like you. You know that's a possibility, right?
Jaime just looks at him, making Tyrion roll his eyes.
“Did you even think of trying to make an effort? Like finding out what she likes, trying to know her better? I know that’s a foreign concept to someone who can get the girl he likes by just smiling at them. But some girls are different.” “ Now, if you would excuse me, I have to go study. I can’t rely on getting a sports scholarship.”
Jaime makes an effort not to cringe at his words; he knows Tyrion resents him for the life he gets to live, without the stares, mean words, and dismissive attitude. Especially when they often come from his dad. The great businessman is ashamed and angry about having a dwarf son.
He puts these thoughts aside as he tries to think about how to woo The Beauty, when his father arrives. It's too late for him to go to his room; he knows what’s coming even before he opens his mouth.
“Why have you not received a letter from any university?” It was not a question but an accusation.”I may have to make a call.”
“These things take time. I'm sure they’re going to arrive next week. If they don’t, then I’ll call. It would not be a good look to have my dad call in my behalf.” Jamie had memorized what to say. But his father didn't seem appeased.
“One week, that's all,” is all he says before going to his studio.
Jaime feels relieved for a second before remembering the pail of letters hidden in his room. He still has one week to live. He may as well put his effort into winning this bet.
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He finds out that The Beauty works in a restaurant as a waiter. He probably should start to call her Brienne, in case it slips while talking to her. Though he is almost sure that she has heard him laughing at her when they would call her that. Another obstacle to winning this. But he is competitive and a Lanister. There's no way she won’t fall for him.
When he enters the restaurant and spots her, his confidence starts to falter.
Her short hair is slicked back, barely long enough to be put in a bun. The white shirt and black pants only accentuate her lack of curves.
What makes her look even uglier is the look on her face when she sees him at a table. Waiting to be served.
She tries to play it cool and goes back to her customer service face and continues to take the order of the customer in front of her.
When she finishes taking the order and makes his way to him, the look on her face could make any man run away. But Jamie only thinks that those are the bluest eyes he has ever seen.
“Welcome, my name is Brienne, and I will be taking care of you tonight.” The fake smile on her face looks almost scary.
“I bet you are.” Jaime gives her his best smile and winks at her. Her face reddens, and she looks ready to hit him with the menu, but instead she hands it to him.
“Here, the menu, sir.” Her smile tightens before she harshly whispers, “What are you doing here?”
“I heard a beautiful waiter is working here, so I came to check her out.”
“This is not a joke, this is my Job, Lannister. Please, leave.”
She looks exasperated and keeps looking around.
“I want to get to know you. Just give one date, and if you still don't like me after that, I would leave you alone.”
“No, I already know I don’t like you.”
“Ouch, you're breaking my heart,” he says, putting his hand on his chest. Right where his heart is.
Before Brienne can tell him to leave again, a woman appears next to her.
“Is everything okay?” Jaime notices the nametag with the title of Manager under it.
“Everything is great, I was just asking about the menu, and Brienne here has been more than helpful.” He gave her a charming smile.
“I'm glad to hear that. If you need anything, let me know.” With that, she goes away, not before giving Brienne a stern look.
“Jaime, please, I need this job.”
“Just one date, and I order something quick.”
“Okay, one date.”
He smiles at her, but she does not smile back.