It was Wednesday morning during free period when Adora, Catra, and Lonnie were called to the office over the intercom.
Adora instantly knew that it was for their mandatory counseling session and she got up from the lunch table begrudgingly. From the seat beside her, Glimmer watched her get up.
"Hey good luck!" Glimmer said supportively.
"Thanks, Glimmer," Adora said distractedly.
Glimmer handed Adora her beanie that she had left on the table. "You'll tell me and Bow how it went at lunch right?"
"Yeah I'll let you know all the progress we've made on my violent tendencies," Adora said sarcastically.
Glimmer chuckled and waved goodbye to Adora as she waved back and walked off towards the main office. She wasn't feeling particularly worried about the counseling.
Catra and her had talked about it when they were hanging out the other day and Catra had assured her that it wouldn't be too bad. Adora definitely agreed. She figured the worst of it all was behind her.
She did, however, notice more stares as she walked along the halls. According to Glimmer, the fight between the three girls on Friday night had been the gossip of the whole school. And now, Adora could feel people eyeing her suspiciously.
She'd see people talking to each other and instantly wondered if it was about her. She didn't like the attention. She also didn't like that she was now known as the new kid who got in a fight the second they got to the school.
Regardless, there was little she could do about this. The only thing she could do now is forget it happened and move on. That's what Catra had told her at least.
She walked into the office and the friendly man at the desk greeted her and motioned her towards the waiting area, where she saw Catra waiting in a chair. She was biting at her fingertips absentmindedly and her head was buried in her phone.
As Adora walked over, Catra looked up and smiled at Adora, patting the chair next to her. Adora plopped down in the seat.
"How're you doing?" Catra asked as she settled in.
"Pretty good. But it's weird that everyone else knows about the fight and stuff. I feel like they're judging me."
Catra scoffed. "Nah. If anything, those suckers are scared of you."
Adora frowned. "Well I don't like the thought of that either."
"What? No that's super cool! Nobody will ever mess with you again!" Catra exclaimed.
Adora smiled helplessly at the girl. "We have very different mindsets."
"Granted," Catra admitted with a half nod.
Catra and Adora were then interrupted by somebody approaching. They both looked to see a hobbled over old woman with a cane and wiry glasses with huge lenses. Her hair was pure silver and she made her way slowly over to the pair of them.
"Ah, good morning girls. It is nice to see you," she crooned in what sounded like some kind of thick accent that neither of the girls could quite place. "My name is Madame Razz. And you are?"
She extended a hand as invitation and Catra grabbed it and shook it gently. "Catra," she told the woman.
Adora greeted the woman with a smile. "Adora. Nice to meet you," she said as she shook her hand.
"Well I'm glad you are both here. And where is the other? Lonnie?" She asked as she looked around the office for the missing girl.
Catra and Adora looked at each other in question and realized they didn't know. "Probably skipped," Catra said plainly.
Madame Razz sighed. "Well I hope she comes by sometime. I would like to speak to you each individually today. Who wants to go first?"
"You should get it over with," Catra said to Adora as she elbowed her lightly.
"Alright," Adora agreed tenuously and rose from her seat.
"Right this way," the old counselor said as she turned and walked back down the hallway, Adora following behind her. As they walked, they passed Mrs. Hope's office. Mrs. Hope looked up from some paperwork and locked eyes with Adora as she walked by. The tired looking principal smiled firmly and nodded. Adora waved back quickly and kept walking.
At the end of the hallway was a small room that Madame Razz ushered her into. There was a small desk with a very old computer in the corner, but the main feature was two old armchairs that sat facing each other with a small end table in between.
Madame Razz closed the door behind them. "Take a seat, Catra," she said as she walked over to one of the armchairs and settled in.
"Uh. I'm Adora actually," Adora stated timidly and sat down opposite the woman.
"See I knew that, I was just testing you," Madame Razz said with a hearty laugh.
Adora smiled awkwardly and looked around the office.
"Now, Mrs. Hope told me that you girls got into one heck of a scuffle the other night," Madame Razz said as she took off her huge glasses to clean them.
"Yeah we did," Adora said remorsefully. "And I promise it won't happen again Mrs. Razz."
"Madame Razz," she replied with a chuckle and gazed at Adora warmly. "And honestly, I believe you. You seem like a good girl. And a nice person."
"Thank you," Adora said curtly, taken aback at the complements. She had expected more of a disciplinary lecture.
Madame Razz nodded slowly and placed her glasses back on her face, blinking quickly as her eyes adjusted. "So why did you do it?" She asked out of the blue.
"Uh…well," Adora sighed. "She…Lonnie that is, looked like she was going to hurt someone and I wanted to protect them."
Madame Razz nodded. "And Lonnie. What do you think of her? And be honest, I won't tell on you if you say you loathe the girl."
Adora thought on this for a moment. "Well honestly, I don't like her at all. She's been mean to me since I moved here. And I never did anything to give her a reason to."
"Interesting," Madame Razz replied thoughtfully. "Well then why do you think she does these things?"
"I have no idea," Adora answered. "Catra says she's just been mean for a long time."
"And why do you think that is?"
"Some people are just…mean I guess," Adora responded, not sure of the point that Madame Razz was trying to make.
"Are they really?" Madame Razz mused. "That's news to me."
Adora didn't know what to say so she just waited for Madame Razz to continue.
"Can I tell you a story, Adora?" The old woman asked respectfully.
Adora nodded and Madame Razz adjusted herself in her armchair and looked out the window. "I grew up in a town that was much rougher around the edges than Etheria is. It wasn't terrible, just more...difficult than here. I had a friend when I was your age. We were very close. And she was also bullied. Very viciously, at that. She gritted her teeth and bore it for quite some time. But one day when we were walking together after school…she snapped. Her bully had followed us as we walked and he was pestering her and nagging at her as he usually did. I'm not sure what he said or what finally tipped her over the edge, but she was on him in a second. At some point she knocked him over and when he fell he hit his head on a fire hydrant. He started to convulse and then went still and all we could do was look on in horror. We called for help and before long he was shipped off to the hospital. We thought that he was dead. That we had watched a boy die. And my friend thought she had done it…" Madame Razz paused to take a sip of tea from a mug on the desk beside her before continuing.
"We soon got word, however, that he was in stable condition. My friend's parents forced her to go to the hospital and apologize and I went with her. When we got there, we realized that there was nobody there with him. There were no flowers on his bedside table. No cards. His parents hadn't brought him any toys or books. It was just us. He wasn't much in the mood for talking. But we did notice when we were in there that he had many cuts and bruises. Not from the fight. But from something else. Who knows what else. My friend was horribly shaken up by the whole event. It changed her forever. Not necessarily in a good way or a bad way, but definitely in some way."
Madame Razz came to a stop and rubbed her brow gently. "I don't think there are mean people, Adora. I think there are people who have been hurt and who make bad choices. And I am not saying that it is our job to fix these people. But I think that understanding them is an important step in figuring out how people work."
A calm silence fell over the room. Adora tried to process all of what Madame Razz had told her. "So…are you saying I should forgive Lonnie?" Adora asked, confused.
Madame Razz shook her head. "I am not saying you should do anything. You should do what you think is right. I am just an old woman telling you some things that I have picked up over time." She chuckled lightly.
Adora nodded, deep in thought. She wasn't sure what was right. She definitely didn't want to forgive Lonnie. She didn't think she could.
"But," Adora pondered, "I never did really try to understand why Lonnie did what she did."
Adora frowned. "Thank you for your advice, but what's the point in understanding someone's point of view if it won't change anything? She'll still hate me and I'll still avoid her."
Madame Razz shrugged. "I'm not sure, dearie. I can't pretend to know how it will turn out. But the option is yours."
"Okay," Adora replied thoughtfully as she considered her counselor's words.
For the next ten minutes or so, Madame Razz continued to talk to Adora about the event that had occurred and how she should go about avoiding conflict in the future. Adora tried to keep an open mind as best she could. Madame Razz seemed very smart and she gave good advice.
After a while, Madame Razz looked at a watch that rested on her arm and sighed deeply. "Now we're out of time. These sessions go much too fast. But I very much look forward to seeing you tomorrow. It was very nice to meet you, Adora," she said with a creased grin.
"It was nice to meet you too," Adora said as she stood up to leave.
"Will you send your friend in here for me?" Madame Razz asked.
Adora nodded and waved goodbye before leaving the room and walking back down the hall. Catra was slouching back in the waiting room chair and immediately sat up when Adora walked in.
"Hey!" She said excitedly. "How'd it go?"
"It was…weird. But she's really nice and she gives off, like…old sage vibes," Adora said reverently.
"Huh," Catra responded. "Well we'll see about that." Catra stood up and began to walk back. "I'll see you in English?"
"Yeah I'll save you a seat," Adora said with a smile and the two girls parted ways.
Adora still had a little bit of time before class so she immediately made her way to Frosta's locker. She went to where her locker was, but she soon realized Frosta wasn't there. She didn't see her nearby and figured she was using her free period to study or something.
She began to walk off to the cafeteria again when she heard her name called from behind her. She turned around to see Perfuma hurrying up to meet her, the hems of her long, floral-printed shawl brushing the ground behind her.
Adora smiled at the sight of her friend. "Good morning, Perf…woah," Adora was interrupted by Perfuma lightly grabbing her face and looking it over intently.
Adora smirked at the strange encounter as the girl spotted the cut on her cheek and frowned deeply. "Well this is one heck of a greeting," Adora said, amused.
"Sorry," Perfuma said apologetically as she removed her hand from Adora's face. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt too bad. Are you feeling any better?" The girl asked concernedly.
Adora felt good knowing that her friend cared so much about her wellbeing. They had texted a bit last weekend and Perfuma had made sure that she was alright. She had also offered a bunch of herbal remedies to help speed up the healing process.
"I'm feeling good as new," Adora assured the girl and Perfuma seemed to relax a bit.
"That's good to hear," she responded. "And how are you doing spiritually? Extreme violence like that can really throw a person off."
"Honestly," Adora said with a tired sigh, "I still think of it. I'll just get random flashbacks to being hit or pushing Lonnie or just the anger I felt. And I'm getting along just fine, but I can't seem to forget about it either."
Perfuma put a delicate hand on Adora's shoulder. She smelled like flowers and her hand had at least one ring on each finger. "You will," Perfuma promised. "Eventually you'll be able to leave it all behind. Have you tried that meditation I told you about?"
Adora nodded. "I did! I think it could end up helping. It's hard to not think about anything, though."
"Definitely. And you have a very overactive mind. But if you keep trying it eventually you'll be able to get to a good state of zen. Promise." Perfuma replied confidently.
"I believe you. It felt good for the bit that I was able to kinda shut down. And then Glimmer knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to play with a snake she found in the backyard." Adora smiled wryly at the memory.
Perfuma laughed lightly at the story. "Well just keep at it and know it's fine if you get interrupted or miss a day. It's all about what's best for you."
"Yeah. Yeah I like that," Adora responded. "Thanks, Perfuma."
"Of course! Anything I can do to help. And as for Lonnie...I try to love others, but she really makes that difficult. If I wasn't a pacifist…" Perfuma shook her head and looked off distantly.
Adora chuckled. "Well don't abandon your morals just for Lonnie. She's not worth it. And after Friday, I never wanna be in a fight again either."
"Well that's good to hear," Perfuma said joyfully. "But really if you need anything just let me know," she said sincerely.
"I will. You're like the wisest person I know," Adora said honestly.
Perfuma beamed at this and gave Adora a small hug before starting to walk off. "I'll see you in art tomorrow! And good luck on that project in psychology class!" She drifted off slowly and Adora's face twisted into confusion.
"A psychology project?" Adora thought, confused. "I'm not even taking psychology." Adora thought about it for a bit before writing it off as a misunderstanding.
Scorpia had spent a lot of time worrying about Catra over the break. She wished she hadn't been down on the field and had instead been with Catra when she had needed her. The entire thing greatly confused Scorpia. Lonnie had always been a little angry, but Scorpia didn't think she'd ever try and beat anyone up.
Scorpia had visited Catra at her home last Saturday. She had wanted to head over Friday after her game, but Catra's dad had said it would be best to let her rest. Scorpia had barely slept that night. She texted Catra, who insisted that she was fine, but it was hard not to be able to comfort her in person.
Finally, the next day she was able to come over and see how she was doing. Catra was bed-ridden. Not out of choice, but because her dad had said that if she didn't rest and heal he'd ground her for a week. Other than that, he didn't seem too mad about the entire event. He was nervous about how it would affect her school, but he was glad that his daughter had helped someone who was in trouble.
Catra had seemed rather proud of herself as well. Other than that, however, she didn't want to talk about it. Scorpia had gotten the feeling that fighting one of her old friends had hurt her a lot more than she let on. Scorpia didn't push it though and made sure to keep the conversation off of the fight.
Scorpia had babied her for hours and they spent some quality time lying on her bed and chatting. Scorpia thought, as she often did, if it was a good time to ask Catra if she wanted to go to the Fall Formal with her, but decided against it. It just hadn't felt right yet.
Now Scorpia was waiting at Catra's locker, as she normally did before they went to lunch together. She was twiddling her thumbs and wondering how Catra's break had been. She hadn't gotten to talk to the girl in person since last Saturday and she wanted to make sure everything was okay. And that her nose had healed up alright.
Scorpia finally spotted her through the steady flow of students and smiled instinctively. She looked like she was laughing at something. Scorpia realized that Adora was walking with her and they seemed to be having a good time. Scorpia thought it was good that Catra was making a new friend. Even if it had come out of nowhere and even though Catra had been spending gym class with Adora the last few classes.
Scorpia felt a split second of jealousy, but nipped it in the bud soon after it arose. Catra was free to talk to whoever she wanted. Plus it was good for Catra to have more friends. Not a best friend and potential girlfriend like Scorpia, of course, but just a casual buddy.
Scorpia watched as the two parted ways and Catra walked over to her locker, an extra spring in her step. Scorpia waved as she approached and Catra smiled at the girl.
"Hey, Scorpia," Catra greeted her kindly and started to enter her combination into her locker.
"Hey, Cat," Scorpia responded quickly. "It's good to see you! How's your nose? Are you feeling okay? Oh and how was your counseling? Was it as lame as you thought? Have you seen Lonnie yet?"
Catra's eyes widened slightly at Scorpia's onslaught of questions. "It's like twenty questions over here," she said jokingly. "But yeah the old sniffer is fine. I feel good. Counseling was whack. She kept saying all this unrelated stuff and it all seems like a waste of time. I'll tell you about it at lunch. And no to the Lonnie thing. Haven't seen her all day. Lucky me."
"Yeah that is good," Scorpia said thoughtfully as she played with the zipper on her jacket and watched Catra rummage around in her locker. "Hey, Catra?"
"Yeah?" Came Catra's voice from inside of her locker.
Scorpia paused. "Uh...nevermind," she said quickly. She had wanted to ask if Catra was going to the dance. And then possibly steer the conversation towards asking her to go. But she decided now was a bad time. There were too many people around and the dance still wasn't for a while. She decided to wait a little longer. She still had time, after all.
"Your shoes look nice," Scorpia complimented the girl suddenly.
Catra looked down at her old combat boots and then at Scorpia with a strange grin. "If you say so. These things are falling apart."
"Well they look good on you," Scorpia said quickly and Catra smiled.
"Thanks. You trying to butter me up or something?" Catra asked jokingly.
"No of course not," Scorpia said with an awkward laugh. "Just a big fan of those shoes. On you."
Catra chuckled. "Okay, whatever. Let's go get some lunch, I'm starving."
The pair walked off to the lunch room together as they did everyday. Side by side.
"And then she gets to the pillar of the ocean god and she, like, speaks a certain phrase in this language that only she knows, you know cuz she's like otherworldly and stuff. And then the big gate opens like 'wooosh' and she hears a voice that tells her to enter and so basically…" Bow stopped for a moment to take a sip of his strawberry milk.
Glimmer and Adora sat across from him at the lunch table half listening to Bow go on and on about a book he had started reading. Adora found it kind of calming to listen to the boy excitedly drone on about the things he read. Glimmer mostly just tuned it out. She had learned long ago that Bow's book talks could last hours and did not want to get stuck in another one.
"...and the sea god is all like, 'Ah yes I have seen someone of your kind here before.' And she's like, 'what?' and then guess what?" Bow questioned the table with eager anticipation.
"What, Bow?" Adora asked with an endearing smile.
"It was her mother! She had visited the temple like forever ago! She's one step closer to finding her mother and unlocking her true potential! Great stuff. Loving it." Bow smiled to himself and nodded slowly.
"Sounds like it's pretty cool," Adora said and Bow nodded in agreement.
"Sounds like you're a pretty big nerd! Ooohhhh!" Glimmer exclaimed jokingly and began to laugh.
Bow shook his head ruefully, a big grin etched on his face, regardless. He started to say something, but he was cut short by Mermista as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to Adora. She looked Adora over quickly.
"You look, like, pretty good for just being in a fight. That means you totally won," Mermista explained cooly.
Adora scoffed. "Yeah it doesn't feel like anybody won."
"Well if anyone did it was you. Or Catra. That girl doesn't have a scratch on her. But Lonnie though. Like, you guys really showed her. I saw a picture of her afterwards and she looked so ro…"
"You know," Adora interrupted, "I'd really rather not talk about it if that's okay."
"Oh." Mermista didn't normally show much emotion, but there was a clear look of regret in her face. "Sorry. I, like, didn't know it was a sore subject or whatever."
While Adora and Mermista were talking, Glimmer looked over to Bow and whispered, "Are we the cool table now?" Bow nodded rapidly in affirmation.
"It's fine," Adora said with a wave of her hand. "It's not your fault. I just don't like thinking about it more than I have to."
"Yeah that makes sense," Mermista said softly. "Just wanted to check and make sure you were alright. And, like, I'm also upset that this happened at, like, the one time I wasn't around."
Adora smiled. "Yeah well she's definitely scared of you."
"Heh. Yeah," Mermista said with a proud smirk. "Anyway," she leaned back in her chair, "how are you two doing?" She motioned towards Glimmer and Bow.
"I'm just living my best life," Bow said joyfully.
Glimmer laughed nervously. "Yeah I'm…heh. Yeah I'm really good too. It's…uh...not used to seeing you around here. Like at the table and all. Soooo…" Glimmer trailed off, a look of suppressed panic on her face.
Bow and Adora looked at her like she had gone crazy. Mermista just thought she was weird. "Well that's good to hear...I think," Mermista said slowly. "Anyway I'm gonna bounce. But I'm glad you're doing alright. If you ever get in another fight then, like, call me or something."
"Will do," Adora said with a grin as Mermista got up and left.
The table was quiet for a few seconds as Mermista walked away. Then Bow turned to Glimmer suddenly. "What the heck was that?" Bow asked. "You, like, turned into mindless jelly!"
Glimmer saw both of her friends staring at her questioningly and looked down, embarrassed. "Ugh don't remind me. She's just so cool and pretty and my mind blanked. I panicked!" Glimmer exclaimed as she began to stress eat a handful of grapes.
Adora burst into laughter and Bow smiled. "I forgot you had that whole thing with Mermista," Bow said as if recalling a memory fondly.
"This is getting good," Adora said enthusiastically, her laughter subsided and her interest piqued.
Glimmer's face reddened. "It was not a thing!"
Bow smiled. "I seem to recall something about a friendship bracelet?"
"Oh man," Glimmer whimpered quietly. "That was a long time ago. I have moved past that desperate stage of my life."
Bow chuckled and Adora propped her elbows up onto the table facing Glimmer. "No you gotta tell me about this now."
"It was so stupid," Glimmer said, ashamed. "I made a dumb friendship bracelet for Mermista in the 4th grade because I thought she was cute and I left it on her desk anonymously on Valentine's day. End of story."
"Awwww," Adora crooned. "Little Glimmer had a little crush."
"Oh shut up," Glimmer whined, trying to cover her face with her hands.
Bow laughed contentedly. "Yeah that was some premium Glimmer content right there. I had no idea she still had that effect on you!"
"I didn't either," Glimmer said with a sigh.
"Well why don't you talk to her? Her locker is right next to mine! You could just stroll up and talk to me and then just kinda segway into a conversation with her," Adora explained, trying to encourage her friend.
Glimmer shook her head abruptly. "Nope. Not happening. You saw that disaster. Plus she's been out of my league since forever."
Adora thought back to a conversation she had with Mermista a while back. "You know, now that I think about it, one time we were talking and she called you cute. Like a little cotton candy," Adora patted the top of Glimmer's head gently.
Glimmer momentarily choked on her grapes and turned an unnatural shade of red. "I…I need to go for a walk." Glimmer got up slowly and waddled off away from the table.
Adora smiled widely as her friend walked away. "She's okay, right?"
Bow nodded. "Probably. But you are reawakening grade school fantasies in her little cotton candy head."
"I guess so. I just can't believe that was a thing," Adora said wondrously.
"It very much was. And speaking of things…" Bow said slowly and raised his eyebrows at Adora.
Adora rolled her eyes. "I guess I've deprived you of gossip for too long, huh?"
"Any amount of time would be too long," Bow said dramatically. "But really. How are things going with the possible love interest?"
Adora looked around them quickly to make sure nobody was listening before answering. "I don't know, Bow. It's weird. I can't tell if they wanna be friends or, like, more than that."
"Well are you keeping an eye out for the signs?" Bow asked curiously.
"Yeah. They did react I think when I touched them. And they are kind of awkward around me I guess. And they stare sometimes. But I don't know. I don't have a basis for this stuff!" Adora grasped her forehead. She had been grappling with these questions for a while now and it felt good to talk to Bow about it.
"Well all of that is kind of telling," Bow said slowly. "What do you two talk about? What do you do together?"
"We talk about a lot, I guess. Mostly just getting to know one another," Adora explained. "We hang out at school mostly. Oh but we did go skating and had a picnic."
"Skating and a picnic?" Bow clarified. "Yeah no that's a textbook date."
"It wasn't a…date. It was real casual and stuff," Adora said, considering Catra's motives for their hanging out that day.
"I mean you could be right," Bow admitted. "People are weird and this person specifically seems like they're causing you a lot of confusion."
Adora nodded, deep in thought, and Bow continued. "So the only logical thing to do is ask them," he said bluntly.
"What?" Adora asked loudly. "I can't just ask them? That'd be so embarrassing if they weren't into me and I thought they were. Everything would be so weird," she fretted.
"No trust me it'll be fine. With these things you just gotta cut to the chase and figure out for good. What's the worst that can happen?"
"They laugh in my face and say 'of course I'm not into you, you idiot' and then they never talk to me again and then I literally die of embarrassment."
"Wow," Bow said, taken aback. "Yeah okay well that is probably the worst case. But that won't happen. Especially if you guys are as close as it sounds!"
"Yeah maybe," Adora groaned and ran her fingers through her hair.
"The real question is how do you feel? Are you into them?"
"I...man I don't know. It's crazy. I feel things. Pretty strongly. And I haven't, like, felt that before. But also I just never saw myself dating anyone. And I've never…I don't know. It's just all so new. Plus I still don't know if they like me in that way."
"I get what you're saying," Bow said assuringly. "It's confusing. And new. And just generally difficult. But spend some time thinking about what you want. You'll figure it out."
Adora managed a smile. "I think you're right. You're pretty good at this stuff."
Bow shrugged. "I dabble."
"Could I maybe get one of those massages you do?" Adora asked guiltily.
Bow snorted in response and scooted his chair out from the table. "Yeah get those shoulders over here."
"Hey I was wondering," Scorpia asked Catra, who was sitting on one of the benches in the locker room. "Could I like, possibly maybe work out with you and Adora today? It's just been kinda lonely working out alone. But if not, that's cool."
Catra inhaled slightly, weighing her next words carefully. She could tell that Scorpia missed working out together. And Catra loved working out with Scorpia, she just really loved working out with Adora. She didn't want to just leave Scorpia on her own. But at the same time, Catra really liked having the time alone with Adora.
Catra grappled with her answer, but luckily didn't have to make up her mind as Adora walked in and greeted them.
"Hey Catra, hey Scorpia," she said as she sat down on a bench and began to open her locker.
The pair waved at Adora and Catra took this opportunity to change the subject. "So Adora how was lunch?"
"Uh, it was a normal lunch I guess," Adora replied. "What about you guys?"
"Oh lunch was really nice!" Scorpia exclaimed. "Me and Catra and Kyle and Rogelio played thirty questions."
"I thought it was twenty questions?" Adora asked.
"Oh well it was. But Catra said we should change it to thirty cuz she gets mad when she can't guess it," Scorpia explained, shooting an endearing smile at Catra.
"I don't get mad," Catra grumbled. "Just slightly agitated. Twenty is not enough for anyone!"
Adora chuckled and turned back to her locker. Scorpia returned her focus to Catra. "So whaddya say about the whole working out with you guys thing? Not to be pushy or anything," Scorpia looked at Catra with her puppy dog eyes.
"Oh," Catra said, looking away from Scorpia's gaze and pretending she had forgotten about the question. "Well…uh...let's see…"
"I think that sounds really nice," Adora said from across the room and both girls turned to look at her. Adora looked away nervously. "Sorry I didn't mean to listen in, but all of us working out together sounds good to me."
Scorpia beamed and turned a pleading gaze to Catra.
"Yeah for sure!" Catra said convincingly. "That's what I was gonna say, but I didn't know if, like, Adora would be okay with it. But yeah sounds super great!" Inwardly, Catra couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she wouldn't get her one on one time with Adora.
Scorpia squealed and wrapped her arms around Catra in a tight hug. "Yay! Workout squad!"
"Wow your biceps are huge!" Adora said as she looked over Scorpia's arms. "Do you lift outside of class?"
Scorpia smiled widely, very proud of herself. "I do! There's a gym by my house!"
"Oh yeah? I might have to check it out sometime. I've been looking for a good gym," Adora replied.
"It's pretty great! I know the owner so I could get you in as a guest whenever you want! And by the way, your arms are looking pretty dang good as well," Scorpia gestured to Adora's arm and Adora smiled, flattered.
"Well thank you! I'm nowhere near as strong as you, but I'm working on it slowly," Adora said as she squeezed her own bulky bicep.
"Well you could get there in no time for sure! I've seen you lift and you've got some serious stamina!" Scorpia complimented Adora.
Adora thanked Scorpia and continued to talk about weight lifting.
Catra, meanwhile, sat between the two and stared vacantly into oblivion. She had long ago zoned out as Scorpia and Adora began to talk continuously about lifting heavy things. "What monster have I created?" Catra lamented internally as she painfully watched the girls in front of her talk about protein shakes and other dumb stuff.
She was glad they were getting along, but it soon became clear that Scorpia and Adora had a lot more in common that Catra and Adora did.
"Haha lifting am I right?" Catra said sarcastically, and both girls stopped conversing and turned to look at her. "Look guys, I love to compare arms and stuff, trust me I do, but I'm really lacking in the work out department and honestly at this point I'd rather actually exercise than talk about it."
Adora and Scorpia looked back at each other.
"Later?" Adora asked Scorpia and the girl nodded in response.
"Definitely," she said with a smile and turned to her friend. "Sorry," she said abashedly. "I kinda forgot you were there."
Catra shook her head in disbelief. "You two are truly a force of evil. Put you two in a room together and you'll just start eating raw eggs and doing one armed push-ups or whatever."
Adora laughed. "That actually sounds kinda fun."
Scorpia laughed loudly and Catra frowned in response.
"I wonder if it's too late to drop this class?" Catra wondered to herself for nowhere near the first time as the self-proclaimed 'workout squad' began their first exercise for the day.
Adora and Scorpia are def hardcore gym nuts. You just know it. Okay one thing to point out if you were confused by it cuz it's been a while. When Perfuma referenced Adora's psychology project that was in reaction to Catra's probing her a couple chapters ago. That was part of her lie. Just wanted to remind everyone of that cuz, I don't know, memory is hard. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It feels like a much needed cool down after a lot of big stuff. But much bigger stuff is on the way! As always, thanks for reading and giving me freaking fantastic reviews that have really made me think and evolve the story. Love you all!