The Red Swan // Catradora

chapter 3: the first rift

Upon hearing Catra's voice, Adora turned around immediately and greeted her back. "Hey Catra," she replied, followed by a large engulfing of water from her bottle, taking a quarter of it down in one go. 

"Thirsty huh?" Catra replied as she came to join her and sat down, giving herself access to her own bag which she began to dig through to find her own sustenance. 

"Yeah, this class is tiring, especially with Coach Weaver, she really takes it out of us," Adora replied, ending the sentence with a joking laugh before reaching back into her bag to take out a white cloth, tilting her head back to wipe the sweat from her face and neck. 

"They seem intense, but you look like you handle it," Catra responded after fishing out her own water and taking small but continuous sips of it. Blatantly complimenting the girl as her eyes ran her up and down, admiring the glisten brought about by Adora's hard work during the first hour. 

Adora smiled in return and shook her head modestly, "If handling it means hardly surviving then yes." She said letting a breathy chuckle out before returning the compliment. "You're pretty good, where did you get training from?" She tilted her head in questioning, partially due to curiosity and also because she wanted to prevent awkward conversation. 

"Well I-," Catra began to reply to her inquisition when interrupted by Weaver projecting an update on their break time. 

"Five more minutes then you're back up in the centre for variations!"

The two girls both looked in the Coach's direction before returning to look at each other, Adora nodding at Catra to encourage her to continue what she was saying. 

"I was actually trained at Fright Zone, so it's interesting how I've ended up here as they specialise in everything but ballet. However, I had a good teacher and I was really passionate, so I guess that's all that matters right." Catra explained, shrugging and wiping beads of sweat from her forehead, letting the wet residue settle on her hand. 

"I've heard of them yeah, I think we've competed against them for some jazz number a while back, they danced to some song by Britney Spears I think it was?" Adora craned her neck to look slightly above the girl, trying to remember the same of the song. 

"Radar?" Catra suggested, eyes widening in a sudden epiphany.

"Yes! Radar! That was it. We tied with 96 points so both of our groups came first." Adora confirmed with a smile spreading across her face as she connected the dots. 

"I was in that dance." Catra commented with a smirk on her face, causing Adora's jaw to drop in a 'no way' kind of manner, "And yeah, you guys were good too, I guess..." Catra joked, rolling her eyes which received a soft nudge from Adora. "Hey, we've beaten you guys every other time." 

"True, and that's gonna keep happening because you've got me now." She continued, her ego surrounding her skills considerably boosted. Adora upon observing Catra throughout their conversation took notice of the reflecting sweat that was coating her neck and shoulders. Laughing off the current topic to transition into a new one, she asked, "Do you have a towel to wipe your sweat with? Variations are hard, we're gonna be soaked by the end." 

Catra shook her head, "I didn't use one in my old school, I probably should start bringing one though, your classes here seem much more hardcore than the ones I'm accustomed to." 

Adora while listening to Catra's reply began to shuffle through her bag again, looking in different compartments for what she was searching for. Finding another clean cloth in her bag, a similar white one, she offered it to Catra, "Here take my spare one, you shouldn't have to spend your first class drowning in your own sweat." She insisted, holding the fabric out to her.