Chapter Text
It was Catra and Adora's first day at Bright Moon high, and they had never been so nervous. Last year they had been given a chance to study here and get out of the hellhole that was their old school. Catra got it because of her incredible math abilities and Adora because she was an extremely talented soccer player. But the main reason they were so glad to be here was because they could start anew, not give anyone reasons to bully them, like in the other school.
"Ready?" asked Adora as they stopped in front of the school.
Catra held her friend's hand, heart thundering, and said "I was born ready, dummy."
Together, they walked through the halls. Certain that their lives would change forever.
It was the first day of the second week now and, incredibly, both girls had settled just fine. To be honest, some kids shot Catra suspicious looks and whispered behind her back. Catra couldn't blame them, apparently she was the only person that wore dark colors in this damn place. Well, her and the big girl in her math class.
Turns out, Adora and Catra only had two classes together: Physics and Arts. At first they were worried about being on their own - truthfully, Adora didn't want to be on her own and Catra was worried about Adora being alone. But they even made new friends!
Catra met Rogelio, a big muscly guy that seemed very out of place between the other colorful people, so she sat behind him. She learned that he couldn't speak, only listen so she volunteered to be his seatmate in English class. The next day she met Kyle, Rogelio's best friend and Scorpia, the same big girl in her math class. She didn't know them pretty well, but she really liked them. She felt like they all fit together.
Adora met Bow and Glimmer, who shared all classes with her except for one. She had unknowingly sat between them and had to pass note after note so they could communicate. Afterwards she thought it was easier to just try to talk to them and be friendly, and it worked. Bow and Glimmer presented Adora to the rest of their friend group who were noticeably the popular kids of the school. Adora felt different with them, accepted. She didn't feel safe like she did with Catra, but she liked that they didn't know everything about her. She could finally try to make friends without being judged first.
They sat together for lunch until today. Adora was making her way to Catra at one of the cafeteria's round tables when Glimmer popped out of nowhere in front of her.
"Adora! C'mon, I talked with the group and they all agreed it's time for you to sit with us!"
"M-me?" Adora asked.
"Duh! Yeah, c'mon." She grabbed Adora's bicep and dragged the girl towards the other side of the cafeteria. Adora looked at Catra, smiling awkwardly as if saying sorry. Catra felt sad because she would eat lunch on her own but glad that people were treating Adora right.
Suddenly, someone appeared in front of her, pulling her out of her misery.
"Hey Catra." Greeted Scorpia "Can we sit here with you? If we're not bothering, that is."
"Sure." Catra responded, biting into her pizza "Who's this?"
"Oh!" Scorpia finally took her eyes away from Catra and looked at the tiny girl by her side "This is Entrapta, she's in our Physics and Chemistry class."
"Hello!" said Entrapta, her voice way too loud. When she moved, her purple pigtails lashed around "You're the new girl right? I heard you're a criminal, is it true?"
"I'm a what?!"
"Oh, don't bother." Said Scorpia "People here think that if you're not from around the neighborhood, you're a 'bad influence'. It's silly."
"Yeah, it is." Catra answered, looking at Adora's table "Tell me, what do you think about those ones over there?"
Scorpia and Entrapta looked at the same spot, quickly answering "Meh, don't like them." Said Scorpia "They made fun of me at soccer tryouts."
"I don't have an exact opinion on them," Entrapta said while cutting her pizza into tiny squares with a plastic knife "but they used to talk to me until I bothered them too much and then started to ignore me."
This is the kind of people Adora wants to hang out with?!
"Interesting..."
Adora was spending more and more time with the other kids and Catra couldn't not feel left out. Everytime she tried to get Adora to hang out with her she would turn it down, saying she already had planned to hang out with Crop Top and Glitter.
By the second month, Catra was fuming. Adora was completely ignoring her to spend time with them. Even though Catra would hang out with her own friends too, she missed Adora, but it looked like Adora didn't miss her.
One night, Adora came to her house before Catra went to bed. She had climbed a tree to the window of Catra’s room, like she always did when they had sleepovers, and Catra let her in. Her anger towards her friend disappeared the moment she saw Adora entering her room.
She looks so pretty.
She and Adora hung out on Catra's bed until late hours, talking about nothing and everything. Weirdly, Adora didn't mention her new friends, even when Catra mentioned hers. The only thing she said is that she would make fun of them.
She isn't wrong.
"We should hang out tomorrow." Suggested Catra "We haven't hung out for ages! We could watch Avatar again, what do you think?"
"As much as I want to, I already agreed to help mom with something after school. Sorry Catra." Adora said, not looking into Catra's eyes.
"S'okay. We can do it another day then."
"Yeah. Cool." Adora smiled at her, and Catra smiled back.
When they were too tired to keep their eyes open, Adora laid with her under the covers, her face mere inches from Catra's, making the brunette's heart burst in flames. When she closed her eyes, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being stared at, though she didn't complain.
When she woke up, Adora was gone and the window was open. She didn't even wait for breakfast...
The next day, Scorpia texted her saying that she and Entrapta were going out to the mall to meet with a friend, inviting Catra and her sister Lonnie to go with them. Catra agreed, since she had nothing better to do.
Her friends picked them up and headed to the mall. In the way Entrapta was talking non stop about the friend that they would meet up with and how cool they were. Catra didn't even listen, she was too busy thinking about her conversation with Adora from last night.
When the four of them entered the mall, Catra had a bad feeling. She couldn't explain why, but it was there. Shrugging it off, she walked with the girls towards the food court.
Stepping into the escalator, she looked at the opposite side of the room and her stomach dropped.
Adora was in the other escalator, many bags in her arms and Crop Top and Glitter in tow. She was laughing and gesticulating in a way that Catra never saw her do.
She ditched me. For this. For them.
'Helping my mom' my ass.
"Hey, you okay there? Catra?"
Catra pried her eyes away from Adora, who didn't even notice her "Yeah. Everything's fine."
That evening, she met Hordak and the rest of the gang, and her life was never the same.
Next week, on monday, Adora’s first class was Arts, Catra’s favorite class. Usually, Catra sat by her side during the lecture but, when Catra arrived just as the bell rang, she crossed the room to sit beside a girl with pigtails, completely ignoring Adora. She didn’t even say hi.
During the class, Adora tried to call Catra’s attention in all ways possible - she coughed loudly, she feigned a sneeze, dropped her pencil case - but to no avail, Catra didn’t even look.
The bell rang again, signaling that the class was over. Adora got up from her seat and went towards Catra.
“Hey Catra.” she greeted, but was met with silence. In fact the brunette didn’t look at her even when they were face to face, simply getting up and walking with the chatty pigtails girl. Adora’s heart broke in half. What did she do…?
Hordak had liked Catra from the beginning and she quickly became friends with everyone of the group. They were the coolest, and they all liked her! She had been captivated by them not only because of their style, but because they were all outcasts. Everyone in their school believed they were bad guys, criminals, troublemakers and every other bad cliché. So, instead of fighting against it, they just gave people more reasons to believe in those rumors. It was so liberating! Catra loved the idea of not caring about what other people said, of being herself unapologetically.
Truth be told, Catra hated having to be nice to people, especially people she didn’t like. Shadow had always yelled at her for being an impolite, reckless and useless child, so Catra forced herself to try and be as polite as possible, even when others were mean to her. But now that she was in the group, people were starting to be wary of her, to fear her. She didn’t have to pretend to be nice, she could just say ‘fuck off’ and they would vanish.
It was nice, being free. She had never felt like that.
So, after a week of the mall ‘incident’, Catra had successfully avoided Adora and was spending all her time with her new friends. Adora would just watch from a distance, probably too worried about letting her precious friends down to come talk to Catra.
That same week, Catra got her first piercings. Her left ear had five of them now. Lonnie had worried that Shadow might yell at her for it. But that didn’t happen, she had given up on Catra a long time ago.
Catra became used to a new routine of hanging out with her friends, doing things she had never dared to before. They would go to the city’s forest to drink and tell stupid jokes, go to the mall and spend the whole day cheating at games in the arcade, and, of course, terrorizing the other kids at school. Though she had been dubious about messing around at school, because she didn’t want to lose the scholarship, her years living under Shadow’s strict rules made her a wonderful liar and an even better strategist. No one ever caught Catra in the act.
It was winter break now, and Catra and Lonnie were getting ready to spend The New Year’s at Entrapta’s with their friends. When she finished putting her eyeliner on, she picked up her phone to scroll through Instagram and immediately saw Adora’s new post.
She was squished between Crop Top and Glitter on her couch. She was wearing a pink beanie with fucking pom poms and the ugliest sweater Catra had ever seen. She had her hair in two braids tied by pink scrunchies and… Is that glitter eye shadow?!
The caption read: New Year’s with the Best Friends Squad!! So excited to spend next year with you guys!!!
Catra was gonna throw up.
She looked exactly like the type of people who bullied them in middle school. Did she really change herself for them?
Before Catra could drown more in her jealousy and anger, Lonnie came to her room to say that Scorpia had arrived.
In Scorpia’s car, Catra picked up her phone again and opened Instagram. She clicked on Adora’s profile and hit unfollow.
In their first week back to school, things went downhill. For real now.
Everytime their eyes locked, the air filled with anger and confusion. Adora, clueless as ever, still didn’t know why Catra was avoiding her. Even during the classes they shared Catra refused to look at her, let alone talk to her.
On friday, Catra was walking home after hanging out with Scorpia and Entrapta, and she found Adora walking towards her. She was wearing a pink sweater that Catra had never seen in her closet. Maybe it’s Glitter’s…
“Catra!” Adora called, crossing the street to meet the brunette.
“Hey Adora.” Catra greeted without her usual excitement.
“What’s going on with you, Catra?” Adora asked, now face to face with Catra. She had her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed. It’d be cute if Catra wasn’t so mad at her.
“Me?” Catra asked, her anger rising by the second “You wanna know what’s wrong with me?”
“Yeah! You’ve been avoiding me these last few days and I wanna know why.”
“Well, maybe it’s because there is something very wrong with you.” Catra said, stepping closer to Adora, who took a step back.
“What did I do wrong? You’re the one who’s all… different.”
“Oh, I’m different?! Adora, look at you.” she motioned at Adora’s clothes with her hand “You look exactly like the type of people who bullied us. You’re even starting to talk like them.”
“Oh please!” Adora scoffed, raising her eyebrows at Catra “Just because I changed my style doesn’t mean I’m a totally different person. I think you’re just being bitchy.”
“The Adora I knew wouldn’t have lied to me just to go out with her shiny new friends.” as Catra said that, Adora widened her eyes “Yeah, I know you did that. And I bet it was more than once.” Catra stopped, taking a deep breath “Why did you do it? Why did you have to lie to me?”
Adora was silent, looking at Catra with a nervous gaze “They don’t like you. My friends.”
Catra let out a laugh “Oh, so you ditched me, your only friend of more than 10 years, because Crop Top and Glitter don’t think I’m cool enough?”
“It’s Glimmer and Bow, and it’s not just them!” Adora uncrossed her arms, gesticulating wildly at Catra “No one likes you, Catra. Look at the people you hang out with!” Catra scoffed at that “Look at you! You got this- this goth clothes and... piercings! You say I’ve changed but you changed for worse.”
“You know what Adora, eat shit!” Catra was pointing her finger on Adora’s chest “If you actually took your time to know my friends, you’d see that they’re good peop-”
“You didn’t take time to meet my frien-”
“SHUT UP!” she yelled and Adora shivered in surprise “Just shut up!” she took another deep breath, preparing herself to say everything she’s been bottling up “ You fucking threw me aside just because you met a couple of dumb rich kids that can make you popular - don’t deny that you know it’s true! You lied to me just to please them. What happened to you?!” her eyes were filled with tears, but she wouldn’t dare to shed a single one “You’d rather be a part of the ‘cool kids’ shit than be my friend?! Adora I used to be your ONLY friend! I fought for you! Fuck, when people were calling you names, when they were throwing shit at you, when you started to transition, I was there for you!” a couple tears rolled down Adora’s cheeks “I was always by your side. Even when your mom-”
“Don’t you dare use this against me!” Adora was the one yelling now. She took a step closer to Catra, shoving her shoulder “You’re putting me as the bad guy when you’ve changed just as much as I did. The difference is that I’m not pretending to be a fucking punk bitch like you. Your friends are literal criminals Catra!” Catra just rolled her eyes, she was fed up “You’re unrecognizable.”
“You’re just changing the subject because you know all I said is true.”
“You know what?” Adora stepped back, throwing her arms at the sky. “Maybe it’s better if we’re not friends anymore. This way I’ll only have supportive friends that actually like me, and I won’t have to deal with your bullshit!”
Catra froze, feeling her insides start to boil and her heart shatter into a million pieces. “Then go! Go be friends with the fucking Care Bears I don’t care anymore! I just want you to know that when they find out that you’re an annoying, stuck up, fake bitch I won’t be there.” Catra shouldered Adora with force, walking purposefully towards her house. When she was near the front porch, she turned around raising her middle fingers. “I hope you have a great fucking life, Adora!”
She got inside and immediately started to cry. She went up the stairs and walked straight to the bathroom, ignoring Lonnie’s weirded out look and locking the door. She clutched the round sink with a strong grip, knuckles turning white, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was a wreck.
Catra rarely cried. At least, not his much. Her face was red, her eyes and lips were puffy, her cheeks were damp and her chin quivered uncontrollably. She hated seeing herself like that, destroyed by a stupid girl who didn’t care about her. A girl that had left her behind and replaced her with glittery people.
A girl that she had loved so much for years.
Disgusted with herself and still ugly-crying, Catra reached the cabinet and grabbed Shadow’s scissors. If the old hag cut her own hair, then Catra could cut hers too. Though her eyes were blurry, Catra grabbed her unruly hair with force, slicing more than half of each strand. Tufts of dark brown fell to the floor, forming a pile. Catra’s hair was huge, it hid her face completely in between curls, but now it was almost all on the bathroom floor.
When she cut the last long strand of hair, she gazed at the mirror and gasped “Holy Fuck.” she cursed. She covered her mouth, eyes still locked to her reflexion.
She had stopped crying now, too stunned to do so. Her hair was short, very short. She glanced between the pile of hair on the floor and her reflection, still not believing it. She had cut wrong (obviously, as she had her eyes filled with tears), but she noticed the difference in herself. She could actually see her face right now. Her freckles, her big mismatched eyes, her piercings stood out too. And also, she felt lighter than ever.
She felt like she had killed past Catra. Good.
There was a knock on the door, startling the brunette who opened it.
Lonnie stared at her, then at the mess on the floor, silently. “Do you want me to fix this?” she pointed to her sister’s hair.
“Yes please.” Catra answered. They cleaned the floor and went to Catra’s room with Shadow’s scissors in hand. Turns out Lonnie is a really good hairdresser.
After she was finished fixing Catra’s hair, they went to the mirror and high fived. It was even shorter now, but was perfectly framed in a pixie cut.
That night, Lonnie slept in Catra’s bed, coaxing her sister to talk. Catra didn’t tell her everything, but enough for her to know how ugly the situation was. Lonnie didn’t say much as she didn’t like to get into other people’s issues, but she was glad that Catra had other friends now, and guaranteed that she wouldn’t be alone.
Catra was grateful, really. But she knew that it’d never be the same. There is a difference between being alone and being alone without Adora. They had been friends for so long, Catra forgot about life without the blonde in it. Sure, they both had other friends now, but there was always going to be a hole in her heart now. Left by someone who she had loved in any form of the word.
Catra didn't see Adora until thursday. The blonde skipped three days of school, making Catra feel divided with guilt and satisfaction. She knows it's messed up, but she hopes Adora felt just as bad as she did.
On thursday they saw each other in the hallways as Catra walked with Scorpia to english class and Adora was in her locker, talking with Glitter and Crop Top. When Catra walked by them she felt Adora's eyes on her, but she didn't dare to look at her, only when they were far enough and Adora was turned towards Glitter.
During lunch break, Catra was listening to Entrapta rant about her latest experiment for her chemistry class when she felt someone tapping her shoulder. She turned around to see Glitter looking down at her with her arms crossed.
"Catra." she practically barked Catra's name "We need to talk."
Catra raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, I have nothing to talk to you, Glitter. I don't even know you."
"It's Glimmer. And yes, as a matter of fact, we do."
Catra rolled her eyes. Fuck this shit.
"Alright then." Catra fully turned towards the sparkly girl, but continued seated beside her friends. "What do you want?"
"You need to apologize to Adora right now." Glimmer said, moving her arms to her hips, trying to sound demanding.
Catra laughed, not believing this was happening "I'm sorry? Look, Sparkles, why don't you go back to Lazy Town over there and never bother me again? I'm not in the mood to deal with you."
"No. I'm not getting out of here until you stop being a bitch and apologize to my friend."
Catra felt her anger rising. This is not going to turn out well.
"I don't know what you did, Catra, but you have to fix it." Glimmer stepped closer at the same time Catra got up.
"Exactly. You have no idea what happened, so fuck off and don't come near me again."
"Or what?" Glimmer asked, poking Catra's chest hard.
At that, Scorpia, who was thrice the size of both girls, stood up. Glimmer flinched, stepping back. Scorpia put a hand on Catra's left shoulder and the brunette felt herself relax.
"You heard her. Fuck off." Scorpia said. Catra had never seen her angry, let alone intimidating someone. She felt grateful to have Scorpia protecting her like this, even if Glimmer wasn't that big of a threat. She realized that Scorpia made her feel safe.
Glimmer took one last look at Catra, who showed her tongue and went back to her table, walking and buffing like a spoiled little kid.
She felt eyes on her, but she ignored the feeling and reached for Scorpia's wrist.
"Hey, uh..." Catra looked at Scorpia, who was blushing slightly "Thanks, for defending me."
Scorpia smiled, sitting down besides Catra "No problem, Wildcat."
Catra giggled at the new nickname and continued to listen to Entrapta, who had resumed her ranting.
Since Sparkle’s failed threat attempt, both groups were more hostile than ever towards each other, throwing ugly looks, calling each other names, throwing paper balls… And summer break was no different. The princesses thought that they would have peace outside from school, but Catra made sure they didn’t.
While Catra and Scorpia tried their best to mess with Adora, Glimmer and Bow, Hordak had also picked a fight with Glimmer because the girl ratted him and his brother out after she caught them spraying the school’s wall, so now the whole group was devoted to making their lives a living hell.
Perfuma was throwing a party at her house and, being the personification of the live laugh love motto, she invited everyone, including the so called ‘bad guys’. Catra arrived at midnight with Scorpia and Entrapta, immediately heading for the drinks table. Perfuma warned that this was a ‘friendly party, so no alcohol’. However, that was about to change.
Catra and Rogelio slowly approached the table with tiny flasks full of the strongest drinks they could find and spiked all of the colorful juices and punches on the table, with Scorpia and Lonnie covering them.
They didn’t have to wait too long, soon enough you could see all those preppy kids dancing and speaking erratically. There was a guy from Hordak’s class, Sebastian, who put a chair on fire and yelled ‘ADVENTURE!’ with a blue haired girl behind him saying ‘Hell no, Sea Hawk!’. But the best of the bests had to be Adora. Catra had been watching her, and the girl took one single cup of spiked punch and was drunk. She talked nonsense and kept falling and saying that she was ‘just peachy’. Dumbasses.
Lonnie signaled for them to leave after a while, so Catra went to the bathroom quickly and, to her surprise, Adora was already there. The blonde’s hair was almost all out of her ridiculous ponytail and her blue shirt was half untucked out of her pants.
“Cat-ra! You came to my birthdayyy!” she slurred, throwing her arms in the air “Happy Hanukkah!” then, she hugged Catra.
“Get off, idiot, your birthday’s in january.” Catra said, trying to push Adora away but failing miserably. Adora had always been much stronger.
“I miss you, Catra.” Adora said in the crook of Catra’s neck, making the brunette blush.
“Doesn’t look like it.” Catra said, feeling her heart drop.
“Why do you have to be like this, huh?” Adora asked, trying her best to speak normally “I juss want my Catra back.”
Catra shivered. My Catra.
“You were the one that pushed me away Adora. You’re happy enough with your new friends.”
“No, Catra. You don’t underssand.” Adora pulled back to look Catra in the eyes “I… You… I l-li… You and m…”
“...Yes?” Catra urged her to speak, too curious to be patient.
Adora continued to stare into Catra’s eyes and, when she was about to say something, she turned around to open the toilet and emptied her drink out of her stomach.
“Yikes.” murmured Catra. She thought about staying and helping Adora, maybe try to get her to say what she had been about to tell Catra, but she’s drunk. Whatever it was, she didn’t really mean it.
She walked down the hallway, stopping to tell Crop Top about the state Adora was in and left with her sister and her friends. That night, she didn’t sleep.
The years that followed were pretty much the same. They had created a routine of who was going to bother who on that certain day, sometimes Catra even managed to make the preppy kids shed some tears. She had become quite good at being bad.
The problem was that, even though messing with Adora and her friends brought satisfaction at the moment, she was filled with sadness afterwards. She felt happy with her new friends, but the hole in her heart still hurt like a fresh wound, and the fact that she saw the girl almost everyday only made it worse.
There were moments which Catra regretted ending her friendship with Adora as there were times where she was glad it had happened. It was either yearning or hatred, no in between.
One of the moments that filled her with anger was the time when Adora had a boyfriend. Fucking Christopher.
Chris was the captain of the swim team and was considered to be one of the hottest guys at school. Catra didn’t understand the hype he got, but then again, she is a raging lesbian, she will never understand the hype for any man - except maybe Harry Styles.
Adora was all giddy and silly around Chris while Catra puked in the background. He would stop by her locker and lean on it as if he was sooo cool. He even gave her flowers! Who the fuck does that in the middle of the hallway?!
Their affair lasted a total of six months, with them officially dating only for four (not that Catra was counting). Nobody knows exactly why he broke up with Adora the day after winter break, but all the rumors had one thing in common - they were all based on the fact that Adora didn’t want to have sex with him.
He had broken up with her during lunch break in the cafeteria. They talked quietly, but everyone knew they were breaking up by the way Adora was angrily gesticulating. When Chris walked out, Adora turned around with tears in her eyes. She walked to the other exit near Catra’s table, visibly humiliated.
Hordak was about to say something stupid but was interrupted by Catra kicking his shin on the other side of the table. Catra and Scorpia lowered their heads to focus on their food while Entrapta was already immersed on her tablet. None of them dared to look at Adora, they knew it would only make it worse.
However, Adora didn’t skip the next days of school like Catra had expected her to. In fact, she seemed pretty normal. Of course, everytime one of those ridiculous jock guys passed by she would shrink and try to hide herself, but apart from that, she seemed okay.
Catra didn’t even feel bad, to be honest. Fuck Chris, Adora deserves someone better anyw-
She cut her own train of thought. She isn’t supposed to think good things about Adora goddamit!
Sometime in December in their senior year, someone whose name was not important to Catra threw a party at their house, which was big enough to invite everyone from their grade. The party was good, Catra was having a great time with her friends who, incredibly, decided to take a break from antagonizing Adora’s group to actually have fun.
They were all sitting at a big couch in a very expensive looking living room. Kyle, Lonnie and Rogelio were all huddled together at one end, Hordak was in the middle with Entrapta settled between his legs (yikes) and Scorpia was at the other end. The end of the couch could only fit Scorpia so Catra sat on the armrest beside her.
Scorpia chatted with her throughout the night about a million different things that Catra was only pretending to pay attention to. She likes Scorpia and she wasn’t blind, she knew that the big girl had had a thing for her since they met. But now Catra was much closer to her, they were best friends even. And also, Catra was lonely.
Last week, Shadow had asked about Adora, to which Catra responded with ‘we’re not friends anymore’, so Shadow thought it was a brilliant idea to say:
“Ah, of course. It was about time anyway.” the old hag swayed her cup of wine while talking “Someone as useless and annoying as you could never keep a friendship with someone good, like Adora. You’ll never be good enough for good things, Catra. I hope you’re smart enough to settle with scraps.”
Sometimes, she wishes her caretaker would go back to slapping her face instead of talking to her like that, but as always, she never gets what she wants.
So yes, she was sad and lonely, but Scorpia soothed those feelings. It wasn’t the same as it was with Adora, it will never be, but at least she makes Catra feel safe. It’s more than she could ask for.
And it’s for this reason that Catra kisses Scorpia on the sofa of a complete stranger during a party, in front of everyone. And Scorpia kisses her back. Soon enough, everyone will talk about the new couple in Bright Moon High.
That same night, Catra wandered to the backyard to smoke one of Hordak’s cigarettes when she stumbled upon Adora, who was exceptionally drunk. Again.
She wore her hair in a braid that fell down her shoulder, which was looking good compared to last time. She was wearing jeans with a white sweater - well, once a white sweater, as it was covered in stains of a bunch of different spilled drinks.
“Cat-tra…” she hiccuped “Get out of here!” she waved her hand towards Catra turning her head so the brunette couldn’t see her face.
“What?” Catra asked, taking a step towards the drunk girl.
“I don’t wanna talk to yooou.” she slurred “You meeeaan!”
“I’m mean?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well understatement of the year.”
Adora snorted, her laugh even dorkier than normal. “Ah! Don’t make me laugh!”
“Adora,” Catra couldn’t deny she didn’t like to see Adora like this “why don’t you go back inside?”
“You don’t boss me, nuh-uh.” Adora said, getting up on wobbly legs and finally looking at Catra. Her face was red and her makeup a bit smushed. She had been crying.
“Why were you crying?” asked Catra, getting even closer.
“Nonya business!” Adora shooed Catra with her hand “You’re mean!”
“Adora, say someth-”
“You make me sad a lot.” Adora turned towards her, new tears spilling from her eyes “ You did this t-to me. So don’t p-pretend y-you’re good!”
Catra froze, trying to process everything Adora was saying.
“I’m happy we’re not friends, ya know?” the blonde continues “You really are a bitch.”
Catra felt like she had been slapped. She turned around and went back to the living room, nudging Scorpia on the shoulder. “I wanna go home, c’mon.” she said to her. Scorpia immediately got up and grabbed Catra’s hand, which was dwarfed by hers.
Later, she made out with her in Scorpia’s car. The whole time she pretended to see ocean eyes instead of brown ones.
Finally, it was prom. One last party to celebrate their last year in this hellhole. And Catra had everything prepared to make this night shine.
Their gang entered the gym like they were on a runway, pulling everyone’s attention towards them. But, honestly, Catra couldn’t blame them - they really were the hottest people in there.
Catra knew she was looking fantastic in that maroon suit, Scorpia had said so at least 15 times before they got there. And she also knew everybody would be talking about how good she and Scorpia looked as they walked through the dance floor. She could only hope Adora noticed that too.
She forced herself not to look for her former best friend and enjoy a couple dances with her kind of girlfriend and their friends. However, as they were dancing, her eyes gravitated to lock onto Adora’s across the dance floor. She could see that Adora was angry just by the blush on her cheeks and the curve of her eyebrows. She didn’t want Catra here, that much was obvious.
She has no idea what’s coming for her.
Glitter and Crop Top were beside her, also staring angrily at her and her friends. Catra spotted the rest of the Scooby Gang behind them, wearing clothes as colorful as ever. Her staring match was interrupted by Kyle poking her shoulder.
“What?” she growled, moving to dance with Lonnie as the song changed.
“The punch is spiked and no one noticed the balloons.” he said, holding back a smile “I think our mission will be a success.”
“Sure, Kim Possible. I’ll hold onto your word.” she smiled. I can’t wait for it.
They kept dancing for a long time, watching as their fellow classmates started to get drunk and stupid as they drank the punch the boys had spiked. She stole a glance upwards and had to squint to spot the big balloons. She and Scorpia had bought them black so no one would be able to see them on the high ceiling.
During the early hours of the morning, they had all snuck into the gym as the preparations for prom had already ended and there were no more teachers around. They filled the balloons with Entrapta’s mix and tied them with ropes on the top so they wouldn’t pop immediately, and secured them high up on the ceiling with the help of a huge ladder that Rogelio had for some reason. The plan had been started by Hordak after Glimmer had once again ratted him out to her mom, the principal, over another one of his pranks. Later on, Catra had perfected it with Lonnnie’s help and Entrapta had come up with the mixture to fill the balloons.
If everything went according to plan tonight, Adora and her sparkly friends would never forget prom night.
Adora had not once talked to Catra that night, but the brunette noticed that she kept circling her and Scorpia all night, only dancing when one of her friends dragged her to the dance floor. Catra watched her intently as her red, sleeveless dress swayed with her soft movements, her slightly muscled arms on display as she moved them clumsily to the beat of the disgusting pop songs that were playing. As she watched her dance with Sparkles, Catra couldn’t help but wish that was her-
Stop it! Adora hates you, and you hate her!
Suddenly, the music stopped and one kid walked up the stage, stopping at the microphone placed on the center. “Good evening, everyone.” they greeted, fumbling with a couple of cards in their hands “Even though I hate to interrupt the dance, it’s time to crown our Prom’s King and Queen!”
The crowd cheered but Catra paid no attention to it, turning her head to nod at Hordak, who nodded back. It’s time. From the corner of her eye she saw Kyle and Rogelio going back to the gym’s entrance, slipping away without anyone noticing.
While the student’s speech was still going, Catra walked quietly towards where Adora was standing, waiting for the right time. She wanted to mess with her one last time before they parted their ways for good.
“This year’s Prom King is…” the student onstage announced “Sebastian Hemmings!” the crowd cheered again as a big himbo walked forwards with a huge smile on his face. He put on the crown and made a dumb speech Catra didn’t bother to listen to and stepped back, waiting for the announcement of the Queen.
“The Queen is... Mermista Patel!” Catra heard the sparkly people screaming as the girl walked slowly to the stage. Mermista grabbed the bouquet and put her crown on. Then, she went to the microphone for her speech, but she only said “Thank you.” and walked away. Catra decided that, if the circumstances were different, she would’ve liked this girl.
The King and Queen descended the stairs to have their dance, him much more excited than her, and were soon followed by the rest of the students there. Catra, following her devious plan, walked over to Adora and tapped her shoulder.
“Wanna dance?” she asked as she held out her right hand, a smug grin growing on her face.
Adora scowled at her, but reached to grab Catra’s hand. Her intentions were to lead the dance, but Adora didn’t allow her to, forcefully holding Catra’s waist as the brunette rested her arms on her pale shoulders.
“You’ve been too quiet, Catra.” Adora said as they swayed to the music “Don’t think you can fool me, I know you.”
“Eh, I don’t think you do.” Catra said, still smirking as Adora made her spin then caught her again “You’re too busy trying to please those princesses to get to know me.”
Adora scowled more, scoffing at Catra’s words but didn’t deny anything. Then, she said something that surprised Catra:
“You look good tonight.”
Catra forced herself not to blush at that, but she couldn’t stop her heart from beating hard on her chest.
How could Adora say something like this, but then treat her like she was scum?
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Catra said as they circled each other, their hands joined in the middle. “But I have to say, the hair poof is still a downer.”
Adora rolled her eyes, bringing Catra closer as the song neared its end. Catra had to hurry up.
“You know,” she said, moving her hands to hold Adora at her hip and shoulder “I’m gonna miss messing with you after we go to college.” then, at the very end of the song, Catra dipped Adora, balancing her and intertwining their legs. “But I’m gonna make sure to leave with style.”
Adora went beet red, her eyes widening as she stared at Catra’s mismatched ones. She brought her hands up to Catra’s shoulders, gripping tightly and not letting go.
Catra straightened them up, stepping back and letting go of Adora. However, the blonde snatched her wrist, stopping her from leaving. “Catra…” she said, face still flustered and eyes wide. “Can we talk later?”
Catra’s whole body froze, her stomach churning with butterflies. Innocent hope filled her chest, Adora wanted to talk to her, maybe make amends.
But then, Catra remembered how she had been cast aside, replaced by new, prettier friends. How Adora lied to her, played her. After all these years, Catra still loved her. Hopelessly. She couldn’t let her heart be broken again.
“I’m afraid now it’s too late, princess.” Catra said, watching as Adora’s eyes got even wider “Goodbye, Adora. I hope you have a great life.”
She walked away and Adora let her go. She didn’t stop walking until she was far enough that Adora couldn’t spot her, and ran to the doors, stepping out of the gym to meet Scorpia and Entrapta. Right then, Kyle cut the ropes that were securing the balloons and they fell right onto their classmates in the center of the room. Entrapta’s mixture of glue and lots and lots of glitter slided across their hair and clothes, sticking everywhere. They heard Sparkle’s shrill scream and Mermista’s cursing as everyone moved their limbs uncontrollably to try to shake the glue away, but Catra’s eyes were fixated on Adora.
She looked down at her - now ruined - red dress, but when her face tilted up, Catra didn’t see anger, like she expected. Adora looked lost, eyes searching for something in the crowd.
Catra was done, she turned around and ran to the parking lot to get into Hordak’s car, Scorpia and Entrapta close behind.
She hopes she won’t regret everything.