The Unkindness of Strangers and the Kindness of an Angel

Chapter 1 of my new Game of Thrones story, modern AU with a Bran/Meera pairing as the main pairing; enjoy.

A few notes, some of the characters will have their ages altered, yet some may still seem too old for school, the reason they are there is they flunked a couple of years or so and have to repeat them, just thought I'd clear that up, make things easier to explain :)

Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.

Chapter 1

Seventeen year old Bran Stark sighed as he looked out of the window. It was Monday morning, looking out his window he could see a light frost on the ground; it was the middle of winter. While there would still be low temperatures he knew there wouldn't be any frost at school. Living in the north, at Winterfell meant his family always got the worst weather during winter. But the family didn't mind, they endured it well; living in their ancestral home. When they were younger the snow that always fell, even in summer sometimes was the perfect playground. Nowadays things were slightly different, they were more grown up now after all. Bran still smiled however at the happy memories; revelling in them and the simple joy they could bring. It wasn't easy, he felt, being the fourth child; his parents were Eddard Stark, a government senator and Catelyn Stark who had been born into the Tully family who were senators for the Riverlands, the central region of Westeros. He remember during his childhood how he would always play with his siblings; his older brother Robb, his two older sisters, Sansa and Arya and his younger brother Rickon. But times change after all, Robb was now twenty-two and Sansa twenty, they had both graduated high school and were at college. This year at school, providing she didn't follow her friend's example and flunk several classes, his sister Arya, who was now eighteen, would be graduating. That would leave him and twelve year old Rickon the only ones still in school.

Bran moved reluctantly away from the window and over to where his school uniform was laid out. As it was winter the boys uniform consisted of a black button-up long-sleeve shirt; a snow white vest; snow white tie; a dark green suit jacket; night blue coat; black woollen gloves; black trousers and black shoes. As he pulled the clothes on, he glanced up and caught sight of his reflection in the TV screen. Apart from Arya and their cousin Jon; all the current generation of the Stark family had inherited their mother's auburn hair and blue eyes. Arya and Jon inherited the Stark family traits, long face, brown hair, grey eyes. Jon was the son of Eddard's sister Lyanna, who had concieved him after a one night stand with Rhaegar Targaryen; son of the former president. Lyanna was now abroad due to her work, Rhaegar lived with his wife in the family estate, although he still called and spoke to Jon on occasion. Jon was also away at college, he was the same age as Robb. There was one thing that set Bran apart from his siblings; his appauling eyesight which required him to wear glasses, such as his current pair which were rectangular and black with blueish edges. Shaking his head Bran finished getting dressed, adjusted his glasses and sighed. He was actually reluctant to go to school.

Anyone hearing that would be surprised as Bran had a reputation in school, for being something of a nerd, his academic skill was unusually high; he was also still an unapologetic lover of anime and such. No, he had a different reason, a personal reason for not wanting to go to school.

'But if I don't go, I'll just be prolonging the inevitable, I can't avoid it indefinitely' He thought sadly.

So, with a heavy sigh he left his room and headed downstairs. Downstairs he found his siblings already eating breakfast. Rickon had just started his first year at Bran's school and as such, wore the same style of uniform as Bran. Arya was also present but wasn't wearing her full uniform. The girls uniform consisted of a black long-sleeve blouse; a deep/dark green blazer; white tie; a black short (just above the knees) skirt; wool tights; black leather shoes and black leather gloves. Arya however wasn't wearing the skirt, tights or shoes. Instead she was wearing a pair of thick trousers and boots, she also had a leather jacket on. The family all understood why however and knew Arya would change into her full uniform at school. The reason for her current attire was simple, once they lef the house, Bran and Rickon got into Catelyn's car, she would drop them off on her way to work. Arya however would be taking her motorbike; as she always did.

Bran was surprised their parents let Arya ride it; it had once belonged to Jon, but he couldn't take it with him when he went to college. Around the time Arya qualified for a driving license she had found the motorbike and, with the help of one of her friends, a young man named Gendry, the bike had been fixed up, Arya had somehow convinced her parents to let her use and now she rode it to school. From the back seat of their mother's car, Bran and Rickon watched as Arya waved to them, got on the motorbike, pulled on her helmet and started it up before driving away. Catelyn soon drove away and they were on their way to school. When they arrived they found Arya's motorbike parked; she had already arrived. The two boys said goodbye to their mother, got out of the car and headed into school while Catelyn drove to work. Rickon hurried off to join his friends while Bran hung around awkwardly, looking around at the school. That was one of his issues, school wasn't much fun if you were socially awkward like he was. In fact, not counting his siblings, he could count the number of friends he had on one hand, one finger even if he only counted friends actually at school. His only school friend was Jojen Reed, son of Howland Reed, a close friend to Eddard Stark. The only other person he was friends with was Jojen's older sister Meera, but she was the same age as Robb and so, had already graduated school.

Jojen however wasn't here yet so he looked around; worriedly. His other main concern about school, had started a few years ago and recently got worse. He wasn't sure how, he was certain he hadn't offended anyone, but he seemed to become a prime target at school for the bullies, led by Joffrey Baratheon, a boy Sansa once dated, he should have graduated already but had flunked several times, meaning he had to repeat a few years, most of his crew was like that too. Looking around nervous he spotted the jocks, many of whom were part of Joffrey's crowd, Joffrey himself was mercifully absent. Luckily they were too far away to notice him, gathered with them were a few of the cheerleaders; they were probably talking about the next game. He recognized one of the cheerleaders right away, it was Myrcella Baratheon, Joffrey's younger sister, yet she couldn't be more different if she tried, much like her younger brother Tommen, Bran couldn't believe two nice people like them could be related to Joffrey. It was then he spotted Arya, now in her full uniform; she was sititng under the tree in the centre of the courtyard. Her friends were with her, Gendry, a young man of twenty who had also flunked a few times; a boy in Arya's year called Hot Pie and another boy, the same age as Arya and Hot Pie, called Lommy, but he had flunked last year so he was in some of Bran's classes.

It was then he spotted her; a girl a year younger than he was, with long black hair and hazel eyes, she also had really long legs and medium sized breasts and was tall for her age with pale skin. He knew her well, her name was Guinevere Frey, although those closest to her called her Gwen. She was the granddaughter of Walder Frey, a very old but still very prominent politician, he had outlived seven wives and had married his eighth; Gwen was a granddaughter through his sixth wife. She lived in a house with her parents, and a few cousins and half siblings, one of many such houses on the large Frey estate; all of them well built and comfortable to live in. Bran knew her well from childhood; when he was really young his mother used to take him to the Riverlands, specifically to Riverrun where her family lived, for visits. As the Frey Estate wasn't too far away he soon met Gwen and they played together as children. Back then he remember a very sweet girl who loved baking, she also turned to be an intellectual equal for Bran who had been smart even as a child. Yet here, in high school, she had changed, whatever friendship they had was apparently gone, they were no more than classmates now apparently.

Despite all his attempts; he quickly found out she wouldn't talk to him anymore and he had tried a few times. He sighed sadly as he thought about it, he wanted to remain friends with her at least, if they couldn't be more, He couldn't deny he had a crush on her; a strong one. He thought once she had felt the same, after all they had been childhood sweethearts, she had promised him they would always be together. He remembered that somewhere in the attic at home, was a box that had photos of their play marriage back when they were kids, but he wasn't even sure she even remembered that. Everything had turned for the worst this year, when the bullying got worse, and she started dating one of the boys in the football team. One of Joffrey's crew who insisted in mocking him. She could barely look at Bran now, would pass by him like he was no one, and he just wondered sometimes 'where did their friendship go'?

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.