"Study Sessions" - Catradora College AU

5

Back to the Old House

Catra and Adora had begun to spend more time with each other after they had cemented their friendship earlier in the month. They had finally been able to make use of their tutoring sessions for actual studying in the days leading up to their midterms. Once they had gotten those over with, the school's student body all collectively began to plan their November break plans.

Adora and Catra decided to hang out on their last day of school before break. They met up in Adora's dorm and sat on her bed, whispering sweet nothings to each other and caressing each other's faces – normal friend stuff.

"So what are your plans for the break?" Adora asked Catra.

She shrugged, "I'll probably just hang around here and get ahead on schoolwork."

"You're not going to visit your foster home?"

Catra bit her lip, "Yeah, we're not really that type of family..."

Catra had been in the foster system for a little over a decade, but she never once made an attempt to emotionally connect with any of her foster parents. However, even after was released from the system once she turned 18, her last family still offered her financial support. They were more of a bank account rather than a family, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

"Well, why don't you visit my family? They'd be happy to have you!" Adora suggested.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude.."

"Don't be ridiculous, my mom loves guests! Come on, it'll be fun."

"I don't see why not." Catra smiled, "Scorpia's been begging me to let her cat-sit Melog anyway."

Melog growled at the mention of Scorpia's name, but Catra ignored his disapproval.

"Then it's settled!" Adora exclaimed, "–So you should probably start packing."

---

As much as Catra was excited to be spending the break with Adora, she couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness at the thought of having her first family holiday with a family that wasn't even hers. As much as Adora tried to convince her that she would fit right in with her family, Catra had a hard time believing that to be true. No family had ever really wanted her for more than most using fostering her as an excuse to look like good people, what made Adora's family so different?

Still, she tried her best to ignore the feeling, rambling to Adora about how much she was looking forward to the week as they hauled their things into the subway-train. Throughout the ride Adora had given her some backstory as to what her family was like. She told Catra that she was raised by a single mother and her grandmother – who was a bit senile, but a sweet woman nonetheless. Her mother was a professional artist and set up a painting studio in the basement of their house, and her grandmother frequently baked pies and sold them at their local farmers market (and they became a crowd favorite among the people in the town).

The more Adora explained her home life to Catra, the more she felt envy consume her. But she wouldn't let herself resent Adora out of jealousy any longer, so she continued to dust it under the rug hoping she would forget about it over time.

They arrived at Adora's house later that evening, she lived in the countryside – but still not too far from the city where Adora and Catra went to school. Her house was small and had a cottage-like appearance. A river stream flowed across from it, leading up to a pond where a family of ducks swam together in a single-file line.