The first thought on Adora's mind when she woke up was Catra. The second thing on her mind was cereal.
"Not to be all judgy," Lonnie raised an eyebrow as Adora slammed her bowl on the counter, "But that is like the angriest bowl of cereal I have ever seen you make. Everything ok?"
"Everything's just peachy," Adora glared down the box of Captain Crunch as she spilled its contents into the bowl.
Lonnie nodded as Adora stuffed the box back into the pantry and nearly broke the utensil drawer as she slammed it open.
"Is this about Catra?"
"Why would you think its about Catra?" Adora pointed her spoon accusingly at Lonnie. She couldn't help but notice the guilt in the latter girl's tone when she spoke. Adora turned around only for a moment to grab the milk before directing her gaze at Lonnie once more. Simultaneously as she poured the milk she found herself aiming her spoon at Lonnie once again, her weapon in a battle for truth. "Do you know where she is? Did you do something to her? Or say something again?"
"Adora. The milk."
Adora looked down to see she had in fact filled the bowl to its brim and the excess milk was in fact spilling over. Cursing, albeit under her breath, Adora set aside her interrogation in search of some paper towels.
"Look." Lonnie was taking pity on her roommate. "Maybe Catra and I had a little...confrontation. Last I saw her she was with Scorpia. Why don't you try asking her."
Adora pretended to ignore Lonnie as she took her now soggy bowl of cereal into her room to contemplate whether she should actually try contacting Catra again. Who knows, Adora thought, maybe Catra just accidentally read my message. Maybe she forgot to respond. There were plenty of reasonable explanations after all.
Throwing on her jacket and fixing her hair into her signature ponytail, Adora hopped in the car in hopes of getting to school early. She'd be lying to herself though if she didn't say she was disappointed to see Scorpia's car already gone when she drove past.
Once at school, Adora made a bee-line to her locker in hopes that she would find her friend there waiting. Instead, she found two.
"Bow, Glimmer...hows it going?" Adora said, not hiding her disappointment very well.
"Uh, nice to see you too," Bow joked, throwing in an elbow nudge for good measure. "Something on your mind?"
Adora scanned the hallway one more time before deciding: "No, not really."
"Well," Glimmer said in a sing-song voice, "Bow and I were wondering if you wanted to hang out later today."
"Like, in public?" Adora teased.
After a couple rounds of 'oh shut ups' the three came to a decision that they would meet up after school at the shake shop not too far from Brightmoon. Something about being immersed in the culture.
Eventually Bow and Glimmer decided they needed to start heading to the science buildings which were across campus in an unreasonably secluded area. Adora bid them farewell and almost began to make her way to her own first period when she spotted Catra coming her way.
Adora had thought over how she would first approach her. With concern? Anger? Confusion? All viable options until Adora saw the massive bruise on Catra's face.
"What the hell happened to you?" The words slipped out of Adora's mouth.
"Lonnie's ego," Catra shrugged, hardly glancing at the girl as she settled by her own locker. "Don't worry though, I got in some good hits too."
Adora rolled her eyes but was still concerned. This wasn't the first fight Catra was in. She had seen Catra fight off a big brute back in the Horde with nothing but a chopstick once so it's not like she doubted her friends capabilities. What irked Adora was how quiet Catra was. It wasn't like her.
There was silence as Catra sorted through her things for a moment, Adora watching and waiting to see who would break the tension first. When no one seemed to budge, Adora decided it would have to be her responsibility.
"So you didn't come home last night."
"Do I need to run everything by you or something?"
Adora was taken aback by Catra's tone. "Well, no but it would've been nice to know. Shadow Weaver was pestering me all night and I was worried too."
"As if Shadow Weaver cares," Catra mumbled, then, seeing the look of concern on Adora's face, continued more softly, "I was at Scorpia's. Alright? She offered me a ride after the fight and I fell asleep on her couch."
Adora nodded, certain there was more to the story but not wanting to press her. "Well I'm glad she was able to help. What does her place look like anyways? I'm envisioning rainbows, like, everywhere. And one of those hang in there posters with the kitten in the tree."
Catra snickered at that. "Try that but with some punk sprinkled in between. Some band merch here and there, a sick electric keyboard- oh and the cat in the poster has gauges."
The two girls shared a laugh and for a moment they forgot about their issues with one another. But the mood wasn't destined to last.
"So, you up for some pre-game tacos like usual?" Catra asked. "The trucks are having a special today, buy one get two free for triple the price."
Oh man, Adora forgot she even had a game tonight. "Ok first off, that is not a deal and second off...what if we changed things up?"
"Changed things up?" Catra asked hesitantly. "Like what?"
"Like, I don't know, maybe...going to a milkshake place uptown with a group of friends." Adora sped through the last phrase so fast Catra almost didn't catch it. At this though, Catra crossed her arms and stared at Adora in suspicion.
"I wasn't aware we even had other friends."
"Well you see, I met these people at the meeting and they're really cool and I want you to meet them and I thought-"
Adora kept rambling but Catra wasn't really listening anymore. The meeting. She's talking about that stupid scholarship again?
Catra focused back on Adora who for some reason was now talking about a sword and some weird competition and someone called glitter. "Uh yeah," Catra cut her off, "I think I'll pass."
Adora stopped in surprise. "You'll...pass?"
"Yeah," Catra said coldly. "You can take the car or whatever. Scorpia lent me her bike so I'm set. I think I'll just hang with her until the game starts."
"But we always hang out before games," Adora said, not bothering to hide the hurt in her voice. "It's like our thing."
"You said you wanted to change things up." Catra shut her locker a little harder than she needed to. "I should go to class. The bell's gonna ring soon."
Adora wasn't about to let Catra get away that easy. As the latter girl spun around to head to math class, Adora grabbed her arm in an effort to buy more time.
"I thought you didn't even like hanging out with Scorpia. What's really going on Catra?"
Catra ripped her arm out of Adora's grasp. "I'm allowed to hang out with other people Adora. Just like you are." Catra walked away a bit faster this time.
"But I'll see you at the game, right?" Adora called after her.
But either Catra didn't hear the question or she wasn't interested in answering.
•••••
School was out and that meant one thing: there was only five hours until the football game. Cheerleaders were getting their makeup done, die hard fans and general sports enthusiasts were getting their face paint and signs ready. Parents of the athletes were gearing up for another round of 'hey haven't seen you since last Friday' and 'no you can't have a slushee we just bought you a hotdog from the snack bar and you're gonna eat it.' Most importantly of all though, the football team was preparing with their usual good luck traditions. Every member except one.
"I didn't even realize there were this many milkshake flavors." Adora was getting lost in the multi-paged menu in her hands. Just what exact kind of flavor is a McNuggetini?
"I'll take one fruit-loopicious-taste-the-rainbow," Glimmer said to the cashier, "and he'll have a cookie-dough-classic. What do you want Adora?"
"Uh," Adora panicked, "Vanilla?"
"What?!"
"It's alright Bow," Glimmer reassured her shocked friend, "Everyone's entitled to a favorite flavor, even if they're wrong." After placing the order, Glimmer led the group over to a secluded booth in the corner in which they could properly judge Adora's poor taste.
"So are you ready for the big game Adora?" Bow asked.
"Well it's not really that big," She shrugged. "It's just against some random school a couple cities out. We beat them last season."
"Yeah but you do realize that your sports are gonna be a big deal now right?" Bow explained. "With the scholarship, your game record is going to be a serious deciding factor in your application."
Glimmer elbowed him as if to say 'don't freak her out' but his words had already taken effect. Adora hadn't even really thought about it that way before. Of course her sports were a huge part of why she was even considered for the scholarship. If she were to drop the ball (both metaphorically and literally) then it could seriously screw up her chances.
"Hey, don't sweat it," Glimmer placed a hand on Adora's. "You'll do fine. You're like crazy good aren't you? Come on, what're some good luck things you usually do before a game?"
The milkshakes were ready and someone came by to place the three on the table. On top of each shake was a mountain of whipped cream and a cherry. Adora scrunched up her face as she set the cherry aside. She always thought they tasted too artificial and would usually offer hers to Catra who would kill a man for a single jar of those things.
"I don't know," Adora stirred her shake with the straw so the whipped cream would mix into the ice cream. "I guess I usually go out to eat with Catra."
"Oh my god, please don't tell me you didn't do your thing because we asked you to hang out," Bow gasped. He actually looked genuinely distressed.
"No! No, I asked her if she wanted to come but she had...other plans." Adora's shoulders dropped, her thoughts drifting to the last couple confrontations she'd had with her friend.
Glimmer was starting to pick up on what was happening here. "So this Catra girl, how long have you known her?"
"Since forever I guess." Adora rested her head in her hand, staring at her milkshake intently. It was melting a little and there was a little bit on the side that was spilling over ever so slightly. "Her and I live in the same foster home."
"The Horde?"
Adora nodded, not liking to say the name out loud. The drip on the side was making its way down the side of the glass, falling slowly towards the table top. "We've just always been friends. Before a game we usually go down to the taco trucks and order what I'm pretty sure are the worst nachos I've ever had but Catra loves them. And then we go to my game and she always sits in the very front row of the bleachers, not right in the middle but a little off to the side."
Adora was starting to smile a bit more now. She was still staring at the puddle now forming at the base of her milkshake but her mind was at the football field. Memories of herself as a kid dragging Catra along every Saturday to go watch her replayed in her mind. "I did little league growing up and Catra never missed a game. Every time I scored I could always look up and see her from the bleachers smiling and waving or doing some stupid thing in an attempt to embarrass me. She never understood how I could pick her out of the crowd when she says she blends in too easily but you don't overlook someone like her yknow?"
Glimmer and Bow shared a look.
"Look Adora," Bow grinned mischievously. "We're gonna be...straight up with you."
"Why'd you say it like that?" Adora questioned, looking up from her glass for the first time.
"No reason," Glimmer said, fighting back a laugh at her friend's stupid pun. "Now, I'm not an expert and I've definitely never been to med school but I'm gonna have to diagnose you with a serious case of lovesickness."
"Lovesi- woah, no I am not in love with Catra," Adora's face flushed red. "It's not-it's not like that at all."
"Uh-huh," Bow nodded all serious-like, "It's worse than we thought. Doctor Glimmer, I think we're gonna have to prescribe two doses of gay existential crisis and a bottle of denial."
"You two are dumb," Adora shook her head, wishing she could drown herself in her shake right now, "And wrong. Catra and I are just friends!"
"Sure," Glimmer drew out the 'r' in a teasing manner. "I'm betting right now, you end up falling for this girl and you owe me twenty bucks."
"No way."
"Fifteen?"
"Fine." Adora caved. "But! I won't be giving you anything because I do not have a crush on Catra." She took the first sip of her shake, as if to prove a point and only missed the straw a little bit as she did so.
•••••
Either I'm an idiot or...yeah no I'm an idiot. Catra stared at her phone, going through her contacts and growing more frustrated by the minute. Did she seriously not have Scorpia's number? The bell had rang like ten minutes ago and she didn't even know where the woman was.
"Hey Catra, nice shiner."
Not this again. Catra turned on her heels to see none other than Lonnie, arms crossed and ready to finish what she started yesterday. Catra was fine with that.
"Lonnie," Catra greeted coolly, "I'd give you a nasty look but it seems you've already got one."
"Funny," Lonnie said without an ounce of humor in her voice. She cracked her knuckles and made her way towards Catra.
"Getting right into it then," Catra mumbled. She was preparing herself for round two, the girls inches away from each other when someone ran right between them, knocking them both to the ground.
"No, no, no!" The girl yelled frantically. She seemed oblivious to Catra and Lonnie and was instead focused on the small drone quickly flying out of her view.
"This can still be salvaged!" The girl yelled, about to run after the drone when a large bird swooped down and took it out. The girl fell to her knees, wailing at the loss of her creation.
"Entrapta? Entrap- oh! Entrapta!" Scorpia came rounding the corner to find the strange scene of the three girls, all of whom were on the floor now. "What is happening? Did you find your drone?"
"She's gone!" Entrapta sobbed. "Life is cruel!"
"There, there," Scorpia placed a comforting hand on Entrapta's shoulder and then glanced over at Catra and Lonnie. "Why are you two on the ground?"
"Your crazy friend knocked us over," Lonnie spat. She turned to Catra. "This ain't over. You better watch your back."
Catra bit back her frustration as Lonnie got up and sauntered off to who knows where. Catra was nearly visibly shaking, knowing if she ran after Lonnie it would only mean more trouble.
"You alright there wildcat?" Scorpia asked, helping both Entrapta and Catra get to their feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Catra grumbled. She gestured to Entrapta, "What's her deal?"
"I'm Entrapta. Nice to meet you!" The girl grinned ear to ear, seeming to forget about her emotional meltdown just a few seconds ago. She held out a hand to shake with.
Catra kept her hands firmly in her pocket. "Right. Well, I've been looking for Scorpia. I was wondering if you wanted to, I don't know, hang out or something. I doesn't have to be anything crazy or-"
Scorpia's eyes widened and she placed both hands on Catra's shoulders, as if to be sure the girl was real and she wasn't imagining this conversation. "You...want to hang out...with me!" Scorpia squealed.
"Uh, yeah, Adora canceled and-"
"Yes! Of course!" Scorpia exclaimed. "We can all hang out! Oh but where to go? This needs to be perfect, hm. The mall? No, no too crowded. We could go to the- oh no that's closed on Friday. Maybe-"
Acting as Catra's knight in shining armor, Entrapta interrupted Scorpia's endless babbling to recommend some hangout that she knew about.
"Dryl? Never heard of it." Catra frowned.
"That's probably because it's on the other side of town. Scorpia can drive us, right?"
Other side of town? Catra thought. Her mind wandered for a moment. Them walking down the street and running into Adora. Adora surrounded by all those rich snobs from the high end of town and her acting like she's just like them. The two seeing each other from across the way and even though Catra's pissed she can't help but feel her heart beat a little bit faster, in that way that no one else but Adora can make it do. Adora will smile at her but Catra won't smile back because why couldn't Adora just forget about the scholarship when she seemed to forget about Catra so easily and-
"Um hello? Are you still registering what I'm saying?" Entrapta was waving her hand in front of Catra's face to get her attention.
"What?" Catra asked, shaking her head a little to get the scene out of her head.
"We were all going to head to Scorpia's car." Entrapta repeated herself.
"Right...right," Catra shoved past the others in the direction of the parking lot, trying to pretend that she didn't want to be somewhere else right then.
The three got in the car, Catra calling shot gun and Scorpia driving, and began towards Dryl. Apparently it was this abandoned little part of the high end that was made up of old railway systems and tunnels. Entrapta said there were all kinds of things there: a makeshift skate park, tons of graffiti murals, a couple vendors and trucks (who may or may not have licenses to sell food, Entrapta never thought to ask), and most importantly Entrapta's 'science lab' as she called it. Catra guessed it was probably more robots. Or drugs. Or robots on drugs. Any of the three.
"So where's Adora at? Don't you two usually hang out?" Scorpia asked.
"She has better things to do," Catra mumbled bitterly.
"Wait, Adora?" Entrapta looked up from her phone. "Tall, blonde, blue eyes, is kind of awkward?"
"That'd be her." Catra confirmed.
"Oh, I saw her yesterday at this scholarship meeting-"
"The scholarship?" Catra whipped around in her seat. "You were offered the scholarship?"
"Well, yes but I don't think I'm going to take it. I'd rather focus myself in my work more than anythi-"
"So you saw Adora? And was she...enjoying herself?" Catra almost didn't want to ask.
"Well at first not really but I think she really hit it off with Bow and Glimmer."
Bow and Glimmer. Are those her new friends now? Asking Entrapta everything she could about the two, Scorpia was starting to pick up on what was going on here.
"Wildcat, are you jealous of these two?" She teased.
"What?!" Catra yelled. "I'm offended, of course I'm not- don't look at me like that."
"No need to pout," Scorpia laughed. "You just seemed awfully worried about Adora."
"Yeah, well I'm not," Catra huffed. Her face was bright red and she seriously didn't want to talk about this.
Entrapta, who had been watching this confrontation peaked her head in between the two front seats. "How interesting, this could provide a very intriguing study on human intimacy. Could you tell me more Catra about these feelings you're experiencing?"
"Human intama-what?!" Catra squawked. "No! Ok, no, I don't have a crush on Adora."
"That's not what I asked but it's a very good answer."
"Are you taking notes?!"
The car was erupting in conversation as Catra denied every accusation thrown at her. Scorpia it would seem was determined to help set the two up and Entrapta was mostly just amazed by 'the intricacies of human emotion.'
"I hate both of you and I hope you know that," Catra slammed the car door shut, having finally arrived at their destination.
"Oh, you don't mean that!" Scorpia awed, "With our help, we'll help you get Adora in no time!"
"I doubt that." Catra said, not wanting to talk about it anymore.
"Well I'm confident. Once we're done Adora will see that-"
"Seriously." Catra said emptily. "Just drop it. Adora doesn't feel that way about me. We're just friends and that's always how it's gonna be...if we're even that anymore." Recognizing the somber mood she just put on things she motioned to a particularly heavily graffitied wall and said, "Come on, I need to vandalize something."
•••••
It was game time. Adora had said her goodbyes to Bow and Glimmer over an hour ago, who both insisted they'd stay to watch the game and congratulate her on the win afterwards. It was nice and all but Adora couldn't shake this bad feeling she had about tonight.
"Five minute call." Hordak poked his head in the locker room, eyes glued to his clipboard. "I don't want any of you to be late on the field."
Adora took in a deep breath. She sat down on one of the benches, her helmet in her lap. The reflection was staring back at her. The girl in the helmet didn't look worried, she looked confident as ever. But something, maybe one too many hairs out of place or the way her eyes just didn't quite match the expression, something threw the whole image off.
"You coming?"
Adora stood up, putting her helmet on and joining her teammates. Everything's fine. Nothing will go wrong. We'll win, just like any other old game.
It was weird. Adora had never really been anxious about a game before, at least not like this. As she exited the locker room and ran onto the field just like every other Friday, her eyes flickered over to the bleachers, first row a little off to the side. It was usually instinct but tonight it was deliberate. She needed that reassurance.
But Catra wasn't there.
•••••
Adora got home early that night. Despite the team insisting they go out for their usual team dinner post-game, Adora just wasn't feeling up for it. She would just head home instead.
They all insisted it wasn't her fault for the loss but she knew they were all lying through their teeth. Her head wasn't in the game and it screwed the whole team over. Was this all because of-
"Catra?" Adora stopped in her doorway, seeing Catra sitting at her desk as nonchalantly as ever.
"Sup," Catra popped the 'p.' She didn't even look up at Adora, just staring at her phone. Did she even care?
"Missed you at the game tonight." Adora crossed her arms.
"That was tonight?" Catra mumbled. "I guess the time got away from me."
Adora couldn't believe what she was hearing. She walked over to Catra and took the phone out of her hand.
"Hey! Give it back Adora," Catra snarled.
"Not until you start talking to me. You've been acting weird all day and you won't even tell me why."
"Are you joking?" Catra laughed. "What, do I need to spell it out for you?"
Adora bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to yell and scream but she wasn't about to make an idiot of herself.
Catra kept her glare trained on the blonde. Was Adora really that dense? That oblivious? Or does she really just not care.
"Ever since you've been offered that scholarship you've changed." Catra stood up and stared out the window, her hands in front of her balled into fists. "Hanging out in the high end of town, being all buddy-buddy with those snobby princesses, it's ridiculous. The Adora I knew would never act like that."
"What are you on about?" Adora shot back. "Nothing's changed except for the fact that I finally have a chance to make something of myself. Haven't we always talked about that kind of thing? About wanting to get away? This is the best chance I've ever had, I thought you could be happy about that. So what if I'm meeting new people? I asked you to come with me and you didn't want to."
"Yeah, because unlike you I haven't forgotten who I really am."
"Oh yeah? And who might that be?"
"A Horde kid, Adora!" Catra spun back around looking Adora dead in the eyes despite the tears forming in her own. " I haven't forgotten the way people have treated us all our lives. I haven't forgotten the looks they give us when they see us on the street. I haven't forgotten how every day we have to try ten times harder than the rest of them to get by because they've already decided we're not good enough before we've even gotten a chance. Don't you get it Adora?" Her voice cracked. "They're only friends with you because they think you're the exception. They've decided you're better than the rest of us, it is the only reason they've given you the time of day."
Catra stepped back now, sitting back down at her desk. Her hands rested in her lap and she studied them closer in a last ditch effort to stop the tears from falling down her face. "Well you're not better than the rest of us. If anything, you're worse."
Adora took in a shaky breath. "You don't mean that."
Catra shook her head. Of course she didn't mean that. She didn't want to have this conversation at all but she was pissed and it was late and she didn't have the energy to care.
"I'm sleeping on the couch tonight," Catra said. Her expression was unreadable, her voice numb to the world. "Don't follow me out."
Catra got up, not wanting to look up at Adora's face but not being able to resist the temptation. Adora's big blue eyes were staring into her's, sad and desperate, a thousand thoughts conflicting in her head as she debated on the right thing to do. She always had to do the right thing, didn't she? It's who she was and Catra loved it about her but right now she hated it. Adora's lips were trembling too. She was fighting back tears but she always was a little bit better at that than Catra and the latter knew she shouldn't expect to see any spill.
That glance over her shoulder felt like an eternity but in the next second she had turned away again and was in the hallway. She didn't bother to close the door on the way out and despite the ache in her heart, she got the least bit of satisfaction at hearing Adora have to walk over herself and slam it shut.