Work Text:
Sunday, 7:10 AM
No one would shut up about the party at Whent's mansion. It was the big event for the students of Harrenhal High School. Every year the Whent siblings organized the biggest party Westeros has ever seen to celebrate the end of the school year. People's lives are changed in those parties.
Lyanna's life has changed for sure. Rhaegar Targaryen kissed her and everyone saw it. Or at least it felt like it. She was just talking to him, not even sure if it was the Rhaegar Targaryen, quarterback of the rival King's Landing High School football team, just chilling and then suddenly he kissed her and it was super awkward. The music stopped and everyone went silent. Not only because Rhaegar wasn't supposed to be there, but also because they both have significant others to care about.
Oh yeah, Lyanna should definitely text to Robert to see if someone has already told him what happened. But the hangover was too strong. Fortunately, her mother was a saint who had experienced multiple hangovers in her teenage years and took care of her naïve daughter.
"At least, you arrived home. I don't know where Bran and Ned went."
"God bless Lord Howland Reed of the Greywater Watch.", Lyanna moaned in pain, trying not to think, because it seemed that thinking made her headaches worst.
"It wasn't Howie who did drive you home this time; it was Myra. She probably also drive him home, poor thing."
Before her mom could finish her sentence, Lyanna quickly left her bed and ran to her bathroom to puke.
Sunday, 8:27 AM
The home phone rang and Lyarra answered. It was Cassana Baratheon who called to inform that Ned was sleeping at the house's guest room and that he was involved in a fight and she had to treat his wounds. She didn't call sooner because only in the morning, Robert had confessed to his mother that his best friend's parents must be really worried about his disappearance.
Lyarra was relieved.
"Oh thank the Old and the New you called me, Cass. Thank you for handling the situation. I hope Ned didn't bother you."
"Nonsense. Rob gets involved in fights all the time, I'm used to it. Ned can stay at the house as much as he wants."
"At least, call me when he wants to return. The least I can do is drive him home. And tell him I love him."
Sunday, 15 PM
It was the middle of the afternoon when Brandon arrived at home. Lyanna was almost fully recovered, but she needed to sleep. Still, she got up to see if Brandon was okay.
"Where have you been, young man?", Lyarra started her interrogation as Brandon chugged at a gallon of orange juice down his throat.
"At Ryswell's.", he answered after cleaning his mouth with his coat sleeve.
"You spend the last 24 hours at Ryswell's?
"Yeah.", Brandon was now looking for corn flakes, ignoring his mom. Lyarra continued:
"Lya told me about the party at Whent's."
"Oh for fuc- She also-"
"She also went to the party, I know. I don't mind you kids enjoy your lives. You're young. But at least tell me where you're going, so if anything happens, I'm there for you."
Brandon finally found his corn flakes. He filled his bowl and then he remembered that he just drank orange juice and then drinking milk wasn't a good idea. But he was hungry and he had eaten worst stuff, so he opened the fridge to look for the milk. Then answered with a repeated phrase:
"I know, mom.", he couldn't find the milk.
"Because I get worried. Can you at least explain where you and Ned went last night?"
There was no milk. The bottle was empty. Rough words came out of his mouth:
"I don't know where that cunt is."
"Language!", Lyarra call him out immediately, "Can you tell me what happened?"
"I don't know!", Brandon threw the empty cardboard bottle to the other side of the kitchen with anger.
"Do you want to be grounded? Because that's how you get grounded!", but to Lyarra's frustration he already left the kitchen. She picked the bottle and noticed Lyanna eavesdropped the conversation.
"Lya, go to bed.", Lyarra said calmly.
"I'm hungry.", said Lyanna.
Lyarra put the empty milk bottle on the trash can and started to make toast with some tea. They both ate quietly on the kitchen table until Lyanna finally admitted:
"Brandon and Ned got into a fight at Whent's."
"With whom?"
"With each other."
Sunday, 8:30 PM
Elia felt empty. She stayed, lied in bed, holding her iPhone for what it seemed hours. Oberyn didn't even call her for dinner. He knew she needed space. She knew Oberyn wasn't even going to tell her; it was Ellaria Sand who simply texted her with a picture as evidence. Elia didn't reply. She did nothing. She just started rebooting her thoughts, replaying memories in her brain, trying to figure out what when wrong.
She remembered the many times Ashara warned her ("I don't know, El, he's spending too much time with his buddies. What was the last time the two of you went on a date? Alone." and "I think he's ignoring you on purpose, El." and "You've been dating for four years, El, and you haven't advanced your relationship a bit. You're stuck. You guys didn't have sex!") and how Elia would answer ("I'm not one of those psycho girlfriends who control their boyfriend's lives, Ash. He needs his space." and "Give him a rest, Ash! He's too busy with school, football practice, his family problems..." and "We do things slowly, Ash. I'm not a slut like you.").
Oh gods, how cruel she was with her best friend.
Finally, Elia moved her fingers and texted Ashara.
"Please, I need you. I'm sorry. We've been friends since kindergarten and I've been acting stupid."
It was her message. Elia sighed and slowly sat. She stretched her arms and, at long last, she left her bedroom to eat. She immediately received the notification of a new message. It was from Ashara and it read:
"LOL Im not mad at u. Can we meet up tonight Ive 2 tell u smth."
Sunday, 9 PM
After some sleep, Lyanna was fully recovered. Now with her health at almost full power, she now had to catch up to social media. The appearance of Kingsguard was explained: the King's Landing High School Facebook Group organized a raid to invade the party. On Twitter, Jeyne Farman explained why Cersei Lannister didn't make her presence on one of the most monumental events in our high school lives. The golden twins, as Cersei and Jaime are sometimes called, were on detention by their father. It was also reported that the police appeared at the Whent's mansion after Lyanna left, arresting some of the Frey cousins. Wild stuff.
Lyanna should laugh, but she couldn't. On Twitter, Instagram, even Facebook, there she was: kissing Rhaegar Targaryen. It wasn't the first time being bullied, so with age, she gained some resistance. But it still hurt a bit. Kissing a person wasn't a big deal. The problem is that the person she was kissing wasn't the person she was dating.
>LOL what a slut.
>I never trusted her. skank
>You know what they say: the quiet ones are sluttiest.
>Yo, someone call Elia!!!
>Romeo and Juliet Experiment. (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL) (GONE BITCH LASAGNA)
>What is she doing?
>Elia Martell's pussy is an uncooked raw chicken that's been left on the pavement for two weeks. Lyanna Stark's pussy is a Subway pastrami sandwich filled with Jared's special mayonnaise.
>>(ಠ_ಠ)
>You know what good for her. Robert is known to fuck around with other girls. She should also fuck with other dudes.
>ungrateful bitch
>Jewish men stealing our women.
>she needs the bible smh
Lyanna closed all the tabs. She was tired; too tired to confront Robert Baratheon. She hoped he didn't found out until Monday. She texted Howland.
"Were r u?"
"At home.", he answered.
Oh, so she could've texted him earlier.
"R u okay?"
"Yeah."
"Did anything happened 2 u last night?"
"Nah, it was boring."
Lyanna hesitated to send the next message.
"Do you know about what happened to me?"
"Yeah, you kissed Rhaegar Targaryen. There are worst things in this world. Don't worry."
Lyanna smiled. This was one of the many reasons why Howland Reed was her best friend. He would always make sure that you understood that your teenage problems were minuscule compared to most adult problems yet they felt worse.
Monday, 11:45 AM
It was the last week of Lyanna's sophomore year. She had above average grade on the first two years and her teachers were recommending she does a honours course. Robert was fully supportive.
"You totally can do it, Lya. You're super smart."
For what Lyanna could gather, Robert saw the picture of her and Rhaegar kissing, but he interpreted as Rhaegar assaulting her. It was kinda ambiguous if Lyanna was enjoying or not, so she couldn't blame Robert's pure naïvité. That's why their relationship wasn't affected at all. Lyanna wished the opposite. She wished it was ruined, spit it out, destroyed, ravished, unrecognizable. She never understood why he had such a boner (literally) for her. Robert always told to Ned: "When Lya and I marry, we can finally be brothers." Robert already had two brothers, why does he need a third one? If he liked Ned so much, why does he not marry him?
Lyanna met with Howland during lunch and Robert was eating with his buddies and their girlfriends as always. In a way, Lyanna was relieved that Robert never invited her to join them as they were too loud for her. She couldn't understand how Ned could handle them.
"Right to square one.", observed Howland.
"More like right to square negative eighty.", sighed Lyanna, "Whatcha doin'?", she asked as she noticed that Howland texting on his phone, an action rarely observed by a human.
"Texting someone."
"To whom?"
"A girl I met at the party."
"Oh! Did you two...?"
"Yeah.", Howland scratched his beard.
"Mm mm."
Wait!
Hold up!
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He should've said no.
"She asked if I wanted to visit her after school. Do you want to come along?"
"Yeah, sure. Is she nice?"
"Yeah, she's cool. Her favourite film is 'Tetsuo The Iron Man'."
"Bitches love Japanese body horror.", Lyanna joked but she was a part jealous, part suspicious. Lyanna and Howland were part of the school's cinema club for two weeks until they decided their colleagues' cinephilic tastes were too boring and PG-13 for their taste. One of the things they had in common was their weird fascination for weird movies, abandoned VHS tapes and unknown recordings, "I'll come with you."
Monday, 15:15 PM
By foot, they went to Dorne, an old neighbourhood for the wealthy, known for being warm next to lovely beaches, and all their children definitely went to King's Landing High School. This Ashara Dayne lived in an older humble Gothic mansion. Howland sent a message, warning that he was outside and then the front door opened.
"Hi, Howl!", then Ashara turned to Lyanna, "Hi, Howl's friend.", she said with less enthusiasm.
Ashara showed to Northern teenagers the strangely comfy house. They went to Ashara's dad office and she showed her dad's film collection.
"Oh by the Old and the New, is that 'Surviving Edged Weapons'?"
He picked the VHS and they decided to watch it. Halfway through, Howland decided to go to the bathroom. It was a bit awkward between the two young women. Ashara didn't seem happy with the presence of Lyanna.
"I'm not his girlfriend, you know.", Lyanna tried to cut some of the awkwardness, but it seemed to make it even worse, so she returned to silence.
Howland was taking a while, so Ashara decided to see what he was doing. And she never returned. The film was almost ending and Lyanna was getting ready to leave the house without Howland until someone knocked on the front door.
"Ash, it's Elia. I know you're here.", pause, "You've got my Algebra textbook."
Lyanna almost had a heart attack. She really hoped it wasn't Elia as in Elia Martell, Rhaegar Targaryen's girlfriend. That would be a cruel punishment of Fate towards Lyanna. She waited a bit more for Ashara and Howland come out of the whatever hole they put themselves in. Elia knocked even harder, so, hesitating, Lyanna decided to open the door.
"Thank the Old and the New, the exam season is going to-"
Elia looked at Lyanna and Lyanna looked at Elia. They knew each other or, at least, they knew who each other was. Neither of them spoke for some moments until Elia broke the staring contest and asked:
"Do you know where Ashara is?"
"I think she's with Howland...somewhere in this house."
"Oh!", pause. She looked surprised, "He left a great impression on her, you know. She's not someone who falls in love that easily."
"Neither is Howland."
Another awkward pause.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure, is not my house, so..."
Elia sat on the couch, focused more on her iPhone than the TV. Lyanna was too afraid to sit on the same couch with her (technically) rival, so she sat on a wooden chair. The loud sound of static filled the room and Lyanna wouldn't dare make a noise that could bother Elia. Fortunately, Ashara and Howland arrived.
"El, what are you doing here?", Ashara asked a bit nervous. Lyanna wondered what the two of them were doing. Howland's clothes looked messier than usual.
"I'm looking for my Algebra book. I looked everywhere at my house."
"Okay... Hm...", Ashara turned to Howland, "You know where the kitchen is; and I'm looking for your book, El."
Suddenly, Lyanna was left alone with Elia again. Sound of static. Lyanna, annoyed by the noise, decided to turn the TV off. When she got up and the room was silent once again, and Elia Martell talked:
"Rhae... he falls in love very easily. Be careful around him."
Lyanna turned to see Elia's face. She was expecting anger, but no. She looked sympathetic. As if what happened was inevitable and Elia knew her destiny. Lyanna wanted to talk to her, but she didn't what to say, so she closed her mouth.
Howland returned to the room and, like the gentlemen he was, started to make small talk to Elia. Ashara found the Algebra book in her bag and Howland took the opportunity to tell his friend that he and Lyanna were leaving.
"We've homework to do, you know. Assignments."
"I know. They suck. Seeya soon, Howl."
Lyanna and Howland walked down the street silent. After much thought, Lyanna finally understood Elia's words.
"We're young right?", Lyanna broke the silence.
"You're 16, I'm 17. We're not even adults."
"So we can do stupid things still, right?", Lyanna was afraid her phrasing wasn't the best, but Howland knew his best friend for a long time.
"Like you do all the time?"
"Yeah.", Lyanna smiled.
Howland considered her question for some while, to the point Lyanna thought he forgot about it, but he answered her:
"I think we need to start to act like adults at this point."
Lyanna knew that the "we" actually meant "you".
Only when she arrived at her bedroom, Lyanna truely realized Elia's and Howland's words. Ashara Dayne and Howland were both, in their own ways, rational down-to-earth people, who acted like adults. Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna were the opposite. What they had was an escapade. Everything - the kiss, the bullying, the texts Lyanna refused to respond - a dalliance.
But sometimes Howland can be a mood-killer.
Yelling from downstairs. Bran and Ned were arguing. During the party, Catelyn Tully finally admitted to her high school sweetheart Brandon she was secretly in love with his younger brother Eddard Stark and that the sentiment was mutual. The drama was going to continue for a while and Lyanna need to get used to the yelling, which she was, - she was born into the Stark household, after all -, but it usually her who does the noise.
Lyanna sighed and turned on her phone. She read all the messages Rhaegar send and responded back.