Fight and Flight
It was an early Autumn morning when Adora had ran up to Catra in between classes. The way that she rubbed her upper left arm, her fingers tracing the geometric shaped heart tattoo she had on there, let Catra know that Adora was nervous about something, and in mirroring her anxiousness she let her tail swing back and forth – now worried about the news that Adora was going to bring her.
"Shadow Weaver e-mailed me last night," Adora sighed, "She wants to oversee our next tutoring session."
Catra's ears sprang up, "What?! How come?"
"Don't be mad, but I may or may have not told-Headmaster-Hordak-about-what-shadow-weaver-was-doing-with-your-grades." She said in one breath.
Catra groaned, shoving her face into her hands. Of course Adora had tried to play hero, what else could she expect?
Adora continued, "It was enough to warrant an inspection of her teaching or something along those lines. Obviously I submitted an anonymous report, but it's reasonable for her to assume it was me because – let's face it – you don't really talk to anyone in class."
Catra groaned again, slapping her forehead over and over again.
"I'm really sorry Catra, I thought it would help! But maybe it will, we can buy ourselves some time if we just have a realistic enough tutoring session after school today."
Catra took a deep breath, resurfacing herself before she said something to Adora that she would regret later. This plan was doomed to fail from the start and she'd felt stupid for not seeing that coming and for not assuming earlier on that Adora would go out of her way to do the 'right thing' even when Catra asked her not to.
But it wasn't Adora's fault that Shadow Weaver was a bitch. Catra reminded herself of that. This whole thing started because of her.
But she wouldn't be able to compartmentalize her rage for much longer, so she told Adora to set up a session with Shadow Weaver and to let her know the details afterward.
Adora could feel burning tension between Catra's words, despite how hard she tried to conceal her anger. She felt awful for what she had done, when her intentions were in the right place. She just hoped that the session would go well so Catra wouldn't stay upset for much longer.
In order to clear her head Adora called up her best friend, Glimmer, and her boyfriend Bow. Adora was lucky that Glimmer had chosen such a friendly guy to start going out with, as her past experiences as a third wheel were less than pleasant. Glimmer had always been a good friend to her though, ever since they were little she knew she'd never abandon her or leave her out – even if she had a boyfriend, and soon enough the trio ended up becoming really close.
Bow had also been a student athlete, he was on the school's archery team and was arguably their best shot. Adora and Glimmer frequented his matches and were usually the most animated spectators there, cheering loudly every time Bow would score – which was a lot.
So naturally, Glimmer and Bow arrived at the scene immediately, eager to console a panicking Adora.
"What's wrong, Adora?" Glimmer asked.
She explained the entire situation to them, the false tutoring sessions, her report to the Headmaster and Catra's reaction, all while forgetting to take a breath between her sentences. Her friends grimaced, understanding that her situation had become incredibly complicated.
"That's a tough spot to be in," Bow said, "I just can't believe Shadow Weaver's getting away with all of this!"
"I know right!" Adora sighed, "I just really wanted to help Catra."
Glimmer rested her hand on her friend's shoulder, "You did the right thing, Adora. Besides, it's not like it's going to affect you whether Catra passes or not."
Adora pushed her hand away, "How could you say that?"
"What Glimmer means," Bow intervened, shooting a dirty look at his girlfriend, "Is that you're putting too much pressure on yourself when in reality, you barely even know Catra."
"That doesn't matter. I only met you this year too, Bow. And it's not just about Catra either. If Shadow Weaver isn't stopped now she can continue to do this to other students, and I'm not going to sit by and let it happen just because it doesn't affect me."
Bow and Glimmer went silent, embarrassed by the fact that Adora had called them out on their selfishness, but they couldn't comprehend why Adora cared so much about one particular student that she had only just met.
"I know what to do," Adora continued, "I'll see you guys later."
Catra stood outside of the Calculus lecture hall, anxiously awaiting her tutor. This whole plan was so stupid. Adora was no actress, which made faking a tutoring session nearly impossible. She had no idea of what kind of question to ask her either, or how she'd be able to maintain herself instead of panicking with Shadow Weaver staring over her shoulder the entire time.
Adora came dashing in, interrupting Catra's thoughts. She leaned on the wall and panted, "Catra... Sorry... Didn't mean to keep you waiting..."
"Erm, it's fine. Are you okay?"
"Incredible," Adora caught her breath, "I just had the best idea – what if we had a fake fight during the session? Chances are, Shadow Weaver will call the entire thing off and we won't have to actually do any tutoring!"
Catra shrugged, "That's not a bad idea, but are you sure it'll work? I mean, can we even act it out?"
"I sure can," Adora huffed, "I'm not necessarily in the best mood right now. And you're always angry about something, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you either."
Catra rolled her eyes and laughed, she began to feel more at ease knowing that the two of them had a plan, one that seemed like it had a chance of actually working out.
Adora placed her hand over Catra's, "It's gonna work. I promise."
Catra's ears perked up. That was the first time Adora had touched her. Typically, Catra would flinch away from a sensation like this, but the feeling of her soft hand brought her a sense of comfort she hadn't felt in a long time.
Adora felt her face get hot, she had expected Catra to brush her aside, only for her to surprise her by leaving her hand right under hers.
The door in front of them opened and they immediately let go of each other. A few straggling students left the hall and Shadow Weaver came out to greet the two of them;
"Thank you girls for coming on such short notice. I've noticed a lot of improvement in Catra's work, you should be proud of yourself Adora."
Adora flashed her a fake smile whereas Catra scowled. Shadow Weaver led the two of them inside of the classroom, allowing them the seats in front of her desk as she took hers to oversee their session.
"The floor is yours," She told Adora.
Adora cleared her throat and opened up her laptop. She shot Catra a worried look, unsure of what to do next. Catra winked and mouthed, 'I've got this.'
"Oh Adora, I bet you love this don't you?" She spat, "Getting to show off how excellent of a tutor you are in front of Professor Shadow Weaver. This will look great on your application to Thaymor."
"Enough, Catra." Adora responded, playing along.
Their professor raised an eyebrow, "Girls, behave."
Suddenly, Catra felt her fury encapsulate her, and she was no longer sure of whether she was acting or not.
"I'm done with this! I think I can handle doing math on my own now. I don't need your help, Adora. I never have. All you've ever wanted was to be some sort of hero when you aren't one. You just butt in and cause problems, and I'm done."
Adora looked stunned at her words, confused as to whether or not Catra was playing her role spectacularly or if she actually had meant what she said. For Catra, she knew that these words were coming out naturally, and that these were the things she had been longing to tell Adora ever since the day she'd first met her. She just hoped that Adora wouldn't catch onto that.
"Catra you will not speak to Adora like that!" Shadow Weaver shouted, "I would like to say that I am shocked by your utter disrespect to her, but I expected nothing less from you. If you want to pass this class then I require you to continue tutoring with Adora until I see fit that you study on your own, understood?"
"Yes." Catra grunted.
"Excellent. I will see the both of you in class tomorrow morning, good day."
Adora and Catra got up from their seats and exited the room. Adora was beaming, her plan had worked out even better than she had expected, and she felt that she had cleared up the entire situation with Catra.
She smiled, "Wow, Catra you were incredible! I honestly thought it got kind of harsh, but don't worry I'm not going to get upset about it – I know you didn't mean it."
Catra turned away from Adora, crossing her arms.
"You didn't mean it, right?"
Catra ignored her once more.
"Are you serious, Catra? I completely went out of my way to help you get out of trouble with Professor Shadow Weaver today!"
"Because of a problem you started!" Catra snapped.
Adora paused, and it had all weighed in on her. This was her fault. And no matter how much she had tried to help Catra, it was all to no avail. The only person benefiting from all of this was her. She was the one who got to feel like a savior, when in reality she had most likely made Catra's ordeal much worse.
"Catra, I'm sorry." She finally muttered.
Catra glared at her, "No. I'm sorry. This is over. I don't care if I fail, I was already going to."
Adora watched as she walked off, trying to decide if she should go after her or not – but what was the use?
Catra didn't need her anyway.