"Could you stop jiggling your leg?" the girl sitting next to Adora snapped.

Adora stilled her leg, taking a deep breath and holding it. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Why are you even here?" she continued, turning to Adora. She was shorter, even while sat down on these plastic chairs.

"Because it was my fault," Adora said, which was actually the truth. It had been her who'd thrown the dodgeball. At the time, she had felt red hot anger in every one of her muscles. Even when it had smacked the girl on the side of the head with a resounding 'thonk,' she had felt immense satisfaction. It was only when she had gone down like a sack of bricks that Adora's stomach had lurched.

Oh fuck, she'd thought. She had actually really hurt her.

Whilst Catra and Lonnie were slapping her on the back, she had been rushing over to her. Because, yes, she hated this girl – most people did.

Adora guessed it was all the 'student council this' and 'student council that' and 'did you know my mum is the principal?' It was always – 'the art and drama department needs more funding instead of the sports department.' It was always the way that she looked at Adora whenever she spoke in class – especially if she answered questions correctly.

But looking back on it now, she could barely remember saying more than a quick question to the girl at any time. A 'do we have homework today?' or 'could you put this in the back of the van?' when they were packing up for an away game.

Now here they were, alone outside the nurse's office. There was the distant rumble of chatter from the classrooms opposite them and most of Adora wished more than anything to join them. She wanted to change out of her sweaty leggings and oversized t-shirt and pretend like nothing had happened. Like she didn't care that she had all but knocked a girl out in dodgeball. Catra wouldn't. In fact, Catra would preen about it for the rest of the day.

But the rest of her – the smaller part – wanted to make sure that the girl was okay. It was a part of herself that she rarely indulged – because helping other people didn't get her to the top. It didn't make her good at football and it didn't make her top of the class. Just once, she wanted to indulge that part.

It was different without Catra and Lonnie behind her. She felt hidden. No one would find out about this – no one was here to witness it. No one would know that Adora was talking to the student council president who everyone despised – Glimmer.

"It was your fault? I thought you were aiming for me."

"It's dodgeball," Adora said. "You're meant to aim at each other."

"You don't have to throw the thing like you're trying to get a touchdown!"

A football joke? Really? That was low hanging fruit.

"So, what? I'm supposed to go easy on you because you're not on the football team?" Adora wasn't even look at her. She was looking straight ahead to keep her temper – even if her hands were gesturing beyond her control. She was trying to do a nice thing here – the decent thing.

Maybe this was why she shouldn't indulge the 'helping others' part of herself.

"No – but maybe go easy on the fat kid!"

Adora looked then, just in time to see Glimmer slumping back in her chair with her arms crossed firmly over her chest. She met Adora's eyes with a determined glare.

"You're not fat."

It hadn't even been an automatic response. Not a 'does my arse look big in this?' 'no, of course not,' knee-jerk reply. Adora had meant it.

Of course – she wasn't thin. But she wasn't fat, either Not with the negative connotations that everyone attached to it. Glimmer had curves – but they were graceful curves. Curves that made her look like a Rembrandt painting. She wasn't tall and hard and pinched like Adora.

Glimmer didn't hear the sincerity in Adora's voice. She rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Yeah, okay."

"I mean it. I wouldn't have said it otherwise." She was leaning on her knees, looking over her shoulder at Glimmer. The eye-roll had made her notice that her eyes were grey – but not really grey. More like violet. The colour Barbie eyes used to be. They were almost shocking against her olive skin and dark eyelashes.

Those eyes narrowed at Adora.

"So, your friend 'accidentally' tripped me up in the hall yesterday and 'accidentally' knocked my bag off my shoulder this morning and now you're sitting here paying me compliments?"

"That – that's not – Catra doesn't mean any harm."

"Doesn't she?"

"She just – she likes to get under people's skin. She steals my stuff all the time at home – hides it all over the house. When I'm studying, she'll knock shit off my desk just for a laugh."

"Then it seems like a lot of you like to get under people's skin," Glimmer muttered. She scuffed her sneaker on the floor and it squeaked. She must have been the only kid in gym not wearing converses.

Adora didn't know what to say to that. She shrugged and pushed the stray hairs away from her face, tightening her ponytail. 'Maybe if you weren't so opinionated about everything', she wanted to say. Or 'maybe if you weren't so annoying people would leave you alone.'

But Glimmer's gaze had softened. Only slightly, but her voice dropped too.

"I didn't know you lived with her."

"Huh? Oh – yeah, I'm – I'm adopted. We both are. Put with the same foster mother because we were so inseparable. I mean – the home was ready to separate us, but Beatrix said it was fine."

"I'm – sorry."

It was mainly that awkward apology that everyone gave her when they found out. The sorry that Adora couldn't understand and was starting to hate. Maybe there was a slither of sincerity in it, but she doubted it.

"I never got that," she said – and wondered why she was only saying it now. Maybe it was just the sorry that broke the camel's back. Maybe she knew that Glimmer wasn't about to tell anyone. "That's just the way it is. I'm adopted. If I wanted people to be sorry about it, I wouldn't tell them about it."

"Because you hate being the centre of attention, right?" The sarcasm was back, dripping in full force.

"I wouldn't make a big deal of never knowing my parents just for attention," Adora spat. "Shit – who do you think I am?"

"Practically perfect in every way. Adored by the whole school for being able to run fast and kick a ball."

"Right, yeah – I'm just a dumb jock." Adora's face was burning – it always did when she got mad. "Oh, wait, no – I'm a straight A student."

"So am I!"

"Well good for you!"

"You too!"

"I don't even know why I-" Adora stood. She let her fists clench and unclench a few times, like she was wringing out her anger through a sponge. "I don't even know why I even bothered. I hope I gave you a concussion."

"Oh, screw you, Adora."

"Right back at you!"

The door to the nurse's office opened then. She blinked between the two of them. Maybe she had heard the screaming match, maybe she was just ready now. Adora didn't know and she couldn't find it in herself to care. She opened her mouth to explain, closed it, then simply pointed a finger at Glimmer and charged back down the corridor.

That had hurt. That had hurt more than she had thought it would.

She didn't care about her parents. She never had – but to say she was trying to get attention for it? Glimmer was the one who had brought it up.

Maybe she did deserve to have Catra trip her up – if she was going to start being spiteful for no reason like that. Or if she was going to decide things about people without even knowing anything about them. If she was going to hate Adora for being good at things. Of course, she was good at things. She worked hard to be good at things. She didn't have free time – she had practice, practice, practice.

Adora slowed to a halt in the middle of the corridor. She could still see that eye-roll in her mind's eye. Purple eyes. A small, sarcastic, disbelieving smile. That was Glimmer's smile. She didn't think she'd ever seen a genuine smile from her.

What would it look like?

What would it be like to be friends with someone who had that glimmer of sincerity in their 'sorry?'

No one she knew gave genuine apologies. Catra didn't apologise for shit and even when she did, it was muttered with rolled eyes and a 'I can't believe you're seriously upset,' tone. Lonnie was sarcastic – everyone on the team was sarcastic when they apologised. Or just uncaring. An automatic response.

And Glimmer thought that she was like them. That when she said, 'you're not fat,' she hadn't even meant it. Like she was just an empty, performative shell.

She gritted her teeth, the anger coursing through her now.

Her hand flew out, punching a locker.

And she regretted it two seconds later, when a burst of pain blossomed across her knuckles. She hadn't even made a dent and it hadn't even made the anger waver.

"Who was that for?"

She whipped her head around to the sound of the voice and suppressed a groan. Of course – who else but Glimmer's best friend? The only other member of the student council who acted like they had a responsibility. Bow, she thought his name was. He was leaning against the lockers down the corridor, a ratty jacket slung over his gym kit.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, since you tried your best to dent Glimmer's skull, I figured you'd have the decency to punch her to her face," he said. He shook his head, though he was smiling slightly. "Doing it behind her back like this…she'll be mad when she finds out."

Adora frowned. The adrenaline was fading now.

"Are you teasing me?"

"I tease everyone. It's why I'm so lovable."

"I'm not sure the school agrees with that last bit."

"Oh, the school doesn't have to. The student body is just jealous of my insanely lovable nature."

Adora wasn't sure whether to laugh or get angrier. She stood there, staring at him. He was smiling at her, but there was something else behind it. Like he was sussing her out. She had never understood this boy – this boy who played flute and whose shirts always looked like they had shrunk in the wash. This boy who wore heels and just finger-gunned at anyone who laughed. Like he didn't care. How could he not care? Appearances were everything.

"I'm guessing you snuck out of class to check on her?" she asked instead.

"That's what friends do, yes."

Was it? Catra just glanced across at Adora and murmured an 'oh, you're back,' whenever she had to go to the nurse.

"Well, your friend is a right tit," Adora said.

"I'm sure she'd say the same to you."

"I don't get it. I don't get what I've done to earn this unbridled hatred."

"Unbridled hatred?" Bow raised a heavy eyebrow. He was smiling like she amused him – like she was part of some joke to him. "It's not you – it's the whole team. None of you have any respect for us band kids."

"And you don't have any respect for us."

"So, the cycle continues." Bow sighed. He kicked off from the locker, sliding his hands into the pockets of his baseball jacket. "Why don't you think about it? Think about what you're doing whilst your mates make all those comments."

"I'm not doing anything."

The eyebrow just raised again. He didn't even say anything else as he headed down the corridor – passing her on his way to the nurse's office and leaving Adora staring after him.

What was any of that supposed to mean? What was with that smug look and sad shake of the head. Like she was a stupid child.

She was getting tired of people thinking that she was stupid and vain and childish. Like she was missing out on some big thing that she wasn't seeing. How was she meant to see it if no one was going to tell her what is was?

Just why had everyone chosen her to hate? She wasn't the one tripping people up in halls. She hated those kids, sure, but she wasn't about to act on it.

Or did she hate them? She didn't think she did – she didn't think she cared enough to hate them. They were just there – the weird student council. Because Glimmer had decided to cut her hair and die it a pinky-lavender and it only looked cool for a week or two before it was faded and grimy. Because she didn't fit in with everyone else. She didn't care what she did to her hair. Good on her for not having her mother murder her for doing it.

So, she didn't understand why it was her – the one who didn't have a problem with it – that was getting all the blame pegged onto her. She didn't understand any of it.

And she really couldn't bring herself to care.

Adora was bad at not caring. Ever since the fight outside the nurse's office and the cryptic conversation after, it had been playing on her mind. She wasn't doing anything.

She was just standing by whilst Catra did what she wanted.

But what was she supposed to do? She wasn't about to tell Catra to stop anything. She wasn't about to risk the wrath of Catra.

And did it really matter? Why was it up to her to solve Glimmer's problems.

It still bothered her, though. That was her friend and she chose to do that with her time. All her friends did, like some hideous mob mentality.

Was this the peer pressure that she had been warned about her entire life?

The thoughts had niggled in her mind so much that she had passed the post-practice burger run. How could she eat Wendy's when she was worrying about whether or not she was a good person? She had just shrugged and said that she needed to study.

"Study? What for?" Lonnie had wrinkled her nose.

"We've almost caught up to Adora's pre-reading in class, so she has to put the time in." Catra had rolled her eyes. "Go on – go study, golden girl."

She had just smiled gamely. She hated being called that by other people. That was something between her and her foster mother – being golden. Being perfect. It felt like Catra was looking into something private.

Then she had climbed into her car – her perfect PT Cruiser – and just drove. She wasn't going to study – not tonight. But she wasn't ready to head home – that would raise more questions. 'Why aren't you out with the team?' 'Why aren't you watching Catra?'

Catra could watch herself tonight, Adora decided. She was an adult as much as her.

She spotted a flicker of lavender in the distance and frowned. The streetlights flooded the pavement with white light, illuminating the figure like a spotlight, impossible to miss.

Adora couldn't believe it. She slowed as she approached the figure.

Seriously? She wanted to scream. Was the universe just against her? She hit a girl in a head with a dodgeball and suddenly she was driving down the same street as her. She saw enough of her in the corridors, flinching under her glares.

She carried on, past Glimmer.

But then she glanced in the wing mirror. And got a glimpse of red eyes and damp cheeks. She slowed again, so that she was almost crawling along the road. Yes – it was Glimmer – with her hair curled in a cloud around her head that was starting to fall flat. Glimmer with her arms tightly across her chest and her phone clasped tightly in her hand and the strap of her dress falling down her shoulder. A nice dress – with a glittery top and a chiffon skirt.

Adora hated herself for doing it, but she stopped the car. It was that same clench of 'I should do this,' from earlier. The same rarely indulged part of herself that wanted to do something good. Be the bigger person. That was what perfect girls did.

So, she rolled down the window, pushing back hair that had escaped from her tight ponytail back before she tried to smile heroically.

"You okay?"

Glimmer stopped. Just stopped in the middle of the path, wobbling slightly on heels. She wiped her eyes roughly with the heel of her palm and sniffed. She glared again – that same glare that she always gave Adora.

"I'm fine!"

Adora bit back the 'you don't look it' in her tongue.

"Can I offer you a lift?" she tried instead, because now that she had her head out the window, she could feel the drops of rain. Glimmer's skirt had tiny, dark spots on it – as if the stars had melted into the chiffon. "It must suck to walk in those heels."

"Shows that you've never worn heels." Glimmer said. But she still hadn't moved. She was swaying slightly, even standing still.

Adora bit her lip. She didn't want to leave a girl crying on the pavement. She wanted to be that hero in people's stories. The good person.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Glimmer started to nod, and then her face crumpled, and she shook her head. She was wiping her cheeks again.

"I'll take that lift," she said, her voice wobbly and weak.

Adora nodded and gestured to the passenger side. She didn't know what to say. She had no idea what to say to this girl in tears. This girl who hated her, who was in tears and getting in her car.

Glimmer slid into the passenger seat a moment later, her head down and her hands clutching her purse. Adora still didn't say anything, just eased the car back into motion.

It was a good minute before she thought to ask, "where am I taking you?"

Glimmer murmured an address and Adora's stomach dropped. They had been driving in the wrong direction. She tried to u-turn as discreetly as she could, hoping that Glimmer wouldn't notice. She wasn't good at u-turns.

But she didn't even look up. She had just been staring at her lap, her hands methodically coming up to wipe her face. Her shoulders were shaking. Bare shoulders, Adora realised – and wondered why that seemed significant to her.

She lived on the other side of town – because of course she did. That was all Adora wanted today – a long, awkward drive.

"So," she stretched the word out. "How – how's band?"

"Do you really want to know or are you just asking?"

"I'm asking because I didn't think you'd want to talk about why you're walking down a road sobbing your heart out and whilst looking like that."

"Like what?"

"Beautiful." Adora wasn't paying attention to what her mouth was saying. She was busy getting onto a roundabout and counting the exits. It was only when they were on a straight road again that her head caught up to her mouth. What did it matter? She asked herself. It was true – she had to imagine back the mascara and half of Glimmer's eyeliner wings, but she looked beautiful. Just because she was annoying, it didn't mean she didn't look nice.

"What, did Catra ask you to say that?" Glimmer's voice still sounded like it was breaking on every syllable and when Adora glanced across at her, she had that small, self-depreciating smile.

"No – no, I – what do you have against Catra, anyway?"

"What does she have against me?"

"Shit, Glimmer, because you're always preaching about one thing or another and you think we're all sacks of shit for not caring that the school play can't afford to buy a man-eating plant prop."

"Well, you are all sacks of shit for not caring about Audrey Jr," Glimmer said. But it wasn't a snap – it was a tease. The same teasing tone that Bow had used. Glimmer sniffed. "You – I didn't think you even knew my name."

"Oh, everyone knows your name." Adora said. She tried to say it lightly, like it wasn't a bad thing.

"Yours too. Yours for good reason." Glimmer wasn't looking at her, she was staring out the window. "Star quarterback, grade-A student, the school's golden girl."

She really wished people would stop saying that. It flicked her anger back on.

"Don't sound too jealous."

"I'm not jealous." Glimmer snapped. "I have good friends – and that's more important than being able to run well."

"I have good friends too."

"Yeah? Then why are you driving home alone?"

"They all wanted to go on a burger run. I wasn't hungry." Adora took her frustration out on the indicator.

"You're always eating like there's no tomorrow."

"Well. Not tonight." Adora gritted her teeth. She didn't want to have an argument with a girl who had been in tears two minutes earlier.

The silence returned. Nice and awkward, Adora thought. She did have good friends – friends that she could always call when she needed them. Not that she would – if there was a problem, she'd deal with it herself. But she knew Lonnie would come running if she asked.

She was sure.

"So, why were you out on the streets by yourself at this time of night?" she asked – because she felt like it was her turn to get under Glimmer's skin. Because if she had such great friends, why was she left to walk home alone in tears?

Because it wasn't even really that late. It wasn't even ten o'clock.

She heard Glimmer's shaky breath in. Almost felt her preparing her answer.

"There was a party – I wanted to leave early," she said.

"Because there was alcohol? They were peer-pressuring you to drink?" It was an unnecessary dig, but Adora felt entitled to it after all the unnecessary digs last week.

"Of course there was alcohol – and I do drink, so you can shut up." Glimmer took another breath. Like it was an effort. "No, it was Bow. There was a guy that he's head over heels for there and he was finally starting to pay attention to him – but he was giving me a lift home. I didn't want to get in the way. I just – said that I'd walk home."

"Bow – Bow's gay?" That was the detail that Adora's brain had zoomed in on. It probably made her seem like a dick, but that had been what made her breath catch. It was what had made her glance up from squinting at road signs and over at Glimmer.

She was watching Adora with a strange expression on her face, her arms still folded over each other like she was protecting herself. Like Adora was going to jump her right then and there.

"You didn't know?" she asked.

"No." Adora said, honestly. She didn't know. She didn't know that she wasn't the only one. She didn't know that anyone had come out at their high school. She didn't know that anyone could – that anyone had the balls to do it.

Because she had known for a while. Of course she had figured it out. And of course she wasn't about to tell anyone. She didn't think 'gay' fitted in with her foster mother's idea of the perfect daughter. Much too different. Much too many emotions to deal with.

She had to continue – to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

"So – is that why – you were…?" She couldn't even focus on making a full sentence.

"Crying?"

"Mm," she didn't want it to seem like a big deal. But it seemed like a big deal – girls like Glimmer didn't seem to cry. Glimmer was tough and angry and the fact that she had a fondness for purple and dresses and nail polish didn't mean she didn't have a bite on her.

"It wasn't – I don't like him, or anything like that-" Glimmer said. "It was – it's stupid. I was just scared and all of a sudden I started crying. Childish, I know."

"It's not," Adora said. That had been the only knee-jerk response she had given her. She didn't know if it was childish. She didn't cry because she was scared – Adora cried because she was stressed. She had nothing to be scared about. She couldn't imagine having anything to be scared about. "Scared?"

"It's dark and it's cold and-"

"You want to go home?"

Glimmer paused. "Was that a theatre reference?"

Adora bit her lip so that the smile threatening to flicker onto her face couldn't escape. She hadn't really meant to say it – it had been something that she'd swallow down when she was with Catra. That wasn't Adora – it wasn't the team's image of her.

But again, she felt safe saying it now. Glimmer was hardly going to share this story with everyone. Bow, maybe, but that was it. And he didn't think either of them would care that she'd seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Instead, she turned again. Half-blindly, because she didn't want this car ride to end before she had some answers.

"I cut you off."

Another pause. Longer this time, and Adora could feel eyes searching her face.

"Yeah – it's dark and it's late and my phone's almost dead. I was scared using maps was going to kill it even more, but I wasn't sure of the way and – well, I was heading in the wrong direction anyway, so it's a good thing you came along when you did."

"My pleasure."

"I'm not – you're still insufferable, you just have good timing." Glimmer said and Adora laughed. Actually laughed – a short, loud bark that seemed completely out of place. "I freaked myself out – thinking about rapists and murderers and this one horror story I read about streetlamps."

"Oh, the grinning man?"

"That's the one."

"Catra told me about it when I was twelve. There's a streetlight outside my window and I kept my blinds closed for weeks." Why was she saying that? It was supposed to be a secret. She hadn't even told Catra how much it had scared her.

"So you do have a weakness."

"I wouldn't call it a weakness," Adora frowned at the road, but for some reason she was smiling. "Just a – healthy awareness of urban legends."

Glimmer made a sound that could have been a laugh. A half-laugh, half-sob. But by the time Adora glanced at her, the smile had already gone. She was left with a feeling like whiplash. That was banter. They were having banter.

When had that happened?

"Like I said, it was just stupid. I was just scared," Glimmer said. She smoothed out her skirts. "I – was scared that this guy might take over Bow's life. That he didn't even care that I was walking home alone."

"Bow doesn't seem like that kind of guy."

"He's not. I said – I'm being stupid."

They were getting close now, Adora realised. And strangely, she felt a little sad at that. She didn't want to get to Glimmer's house. Of course she did – she didn't want to sit her with this girl.

But this girl hadn't made a jibe for the whole car ride. She had been honest. And Adora had been honest. If she was in a teen movie, she'd say it was a bonding moment.

She didn't want to have a bonding moment. She didn't want to think about the teen movie she may or may not be trapped in.

What kind of movie would that be anyway?

And what did that make Glimmer? The best friend? She had a best friend. She didn't need another one and she didn't want to imagine replacing her with anyone. The love interest?

She pushed the idea way as quickly and quietly as it had come to her. No. Just no. There wasn't exactly a list of reasons – it was just 'no.'

Not gay – that was a good one.

Glimmer was not gay. And Adora was in no rush to leave the closet. It was safe in the closet. Things didn't change in the closet.

She had been silent too long, she knew, and she was pulling into the road Glimmer lived on. Etheria Road. So, the car slowed to a halt.

"Well, I – I hope your fear is unfounded. I hope it – works out." She said.

"Do you really care, or are you just saying that?"

She turned then, frowning slightly, because this had been a bonding moment and they had gotten nowhere.

"I don't say things I don't mean." Adora said.

Glimmer stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were smudged with black like a raccoons and the curls had started to fall out of place, but she looked unreal for a moment. Ethereal came to Adora's head and she wasn't sure why. She was just a girl sat in her car. Just a girl in a party dress who had been crying.

But it seemed like she was looking at Adora – really looking at her, for the first time.

"Thanks." Glimmer's voice was quiet – breathless.

"And if-" Adora's hands clenched on the wheel. She cleared her throat, as if it would clear her mind. "If that grinning man gives you any trouble – you just – send him my way. I kick things good, apparently."

"Finally, a good use for it," Glimmer said. She was opening the door of the car, stepping tenderly out into the street.

Adora laughed again – the same too-brief, too-loud laugh. That should have made her angry. It should have made her defensive. But she was starting to understand the teasing. Maybe she was even starting to like it.

She threw her head back against the seat, trying to figure out the feeling going through her chest. It made her body feel light but her chest heavy, like her heart had been replaced with a stone. She was exhilarated and yet she was disappointed.

Adora stayed for a moment, making sure that Glimmer got into her house. Just as she knocked on the door, Adora realised. There was a sprinkle of purple glitter in the car, stuck to the seat.

Glitter from the dress.

She rolled down the window without thinking about it, leaning her elbow on the side so she could stick her head out, "Your stupid dress got glitter all over my seats!"

The door was already opening, and she knew Glimmer's mother had heard her. She was looking at her now, but Adora wanted to focus on Glimmer's face. She had turned to look at her, her mouth in a small 'o,' like there was something unexpected about this. Hell, it was all unexpected.

And the most unexpected was Glimmer blowing a kiss to her.

"Something to remember me by!"

It was the same sarcastic tone. Even the kiss was sarcastic, Adora could admit.

But that didn't dislodge the strange feeling in her chest from it. It didn't dislodge the fact that Glimmer had smiled. A smile that lit up those lavender eyes. A smile that made Adora half-believe she was in that teen movie.

And maybe that wasn't a bad thing.