"Adora, I'm cold."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to help with that," Adora responded to Catra with a big smile.

"Make it less cold."

Adora scoffed as they made their way through the school courtyard. It was pretty cold out and Adora could see Catra shivering despite her several layers of clothing. Adora was wearing the clothes she had worn over to Catra's the previous day and, as part of a last minute decision this morning, she was also wearing one of Catra's leather jackets.

Catra loved seeing Adora in her clothes. She nestled closer to Adora as they made their way to the front doors of the school.

As soon as they got into the building and felt the comforting wave of heat, Catra eased up and unzipped her winter coat.

"So…" Catra said eagerly, nudging Adora. "Do you wanna sit together at lunch? We can do that now."

"Wow, I didn't even think of that. That would be great!" Adora then remembered her friends and her enthusiasm dropped a little bit. "Well. I mean... there's Glimmer and Bow and everything. I don't wanna abandon them."

"Well Glimmer probably won't wanna sit with you or Bow anyway," Catra figured. "So you two can just hop over to my table. Easy."

"But what if Glimmer feels left out?" Adora asked in uncertainty.

"Well then she'll have to realize that she's the one who's removing herself from everyone else. Maybe it'll force her to get over everything quicker."

"I guess…" Adora said. "I do wanna sit with you. And you're sure your friends will be alright with it? And, like, Scorpia especially?"

"Yeah I was thinking about that," Catra said thoughtfully. She raised her hand to her mouth and began to bite at her nails, but Adora caught her and pulled her hand away gently. Catra smiled at the effort and continued. "I would normally say she'd be fine, but after yesterday...I don't even know."

Adora nodded. The pair made their way to the cafeteria and stopped.

"We'll just play it all by ear," Catra decided.

"I hate playing anything by ear," Adora said with a small pout.

Catra smiled, thinking about how cute Adora was. Her little pout and the way her arms were folded over one another, showing off her muscles.

"Don't worry about it," Catra said calmly. "It'll go smooth as a whistle."

"I think it's 'slick as a whistle,' " Adora said, amused.

"Let me have my broken metaphors!"

"That was a simile, actually," Adora said with a petulant smile.

Catra groaned. "Never talk to the smart kids." She patted Adora on the shoulder. "I'm gonna go get my meeting with Razz over with. I'll see you around?"

"I sure hope so," Adora replied, and the two parted ways.

Adora made her way further into the cafeteria and spotted Glimmer sitting in her usual spot. Adora was surprised to see that Bow was sitting with her. She headed over to the table immediately.

Glimmer watched her silently as she approached and Bow looked up at her with a desperate expression.

"Good morning, guys," Adora said as she pulled up a chair and sat down. She could immediately feel the tension at the table.

"Adora!" Bow celebrated. "It's nice to see you. I was just telling Glimmer how much we miss talking to her."

Adora looked over at Glimmer, who averted her gaze almost immediately. "We really do," Adora said honestly. "It feels so weird not being able to talk to you about things."

Glimmer cleared her throat. "Well apparently there were a lot of things that you didn't talk to me about. Either of you."

Adora and Bow remained quiet and Glimmer sighed. She put Adora's backpack up on the table and slid it over to Adora.

"I just wanted to drop off your backpack. Hope you enjoyed your night, Adora," she said passive-aggressively as she stood up from the table and stormed off.

Adora put her head down as Glimmer walked past her and then slowly pulled her backpack over to herself.

Bow put a hand on her arm. "Hey, don't let it get to you too much. She just feels betrayed and she's lashing out."

"I know. But knowing that doesn't make it feel any better."

"Yeah you're right," Bow said, choking up a little.

Adora saw the boy bite at his lip and rub what she assumed were tears from his eye. She immediately scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug that he immediately accepted.

"We haven't fought in such a long time," Bow said weakly. "And not like this. It just feels so...wrong."

"I know," Adora said, squeezing her friend a little tighter.

They stayed like that for a while before Bow chuckled a little to himself.

"What's so funny?" Adora asked, easing up on the hug.

"You smell like Catra."

Adora smiled. "Yeah I guess I do."

The two friends made plans to hang out sometime soon and catch up on everything.


Later that day, Adora was at her locker putting things away in between classes, when she heard footsteps rapidly approaching her from behind. She was planning on ignoring the sound until she heard her name.

She turned around and saw an out of breath Frosta standing doubled over in front of her.

"Frosta? Are you okay?" Adora asked hastily as she looked at the disheveled looking girl.

"I need another favor," she blurted out quickly and moved around Adora, positioning herself behind her. "Stand in front of me."

"Um…" Adora was entirely confused by what the girl wanted from her, but she did what she was asked. No matter how strange the request, Adora still felt that she owed Frosta a great deal for helping her in the fight with Lonnie.

"Good, good," Frosta said approvingly. "Now...roll up your sleeves."

Adora started to roll up one sleeve before narrowing her eyes. "What do my sleeves have to do w…"

Adora got her answer sooner than she had expected as a group of three younger kids, all looking to be freshman or maybe sophomores, approached Adora. The girl in front hardly paid attention to Adora and began to go around her to reach Frosta, who was positioned between Adora and the wall of lockers.

Adora had no idea what was happening, but she could see that this girl was angry and was shooting daggers at Frosta. Adora sidestepped and blocked the girl's path without a second thought.

The girl, who was much smaller than Adora, but definitely bigger than Frosta scowled up at her. "Leave us alone. We just want that little brat behind you."

Adora stayed where she was. "Not happening."

The girl frowned and her friends stepped up behind her. They were around the same size and were also eyeballing Frosta angrily.

Adora rolled up her sleeves at this point. More for intimidation than anything else. It seemed to have the desired effect as the kids saw the bulk of her arms and began to show obvious signs of doubt.

"Look," the girl in the front said. "Even if you protect her this time, we'll get to her when you're not around. We're not gonna beat her up or anything. Maybe just stuff her head in a toilet."

Adora felt Frosta step closer to her and she suddenly felt very protective of the young girl.

"How about this," Adora said firmly. "You never touch her. And if I hear that you did, I'll make sure you get worse than you gave her." Adora was surprised by her own words, but managed not to show any outward signs of indecision.

The girl wavered a little at this. She started to say something when one of her friends patted her on the shoulder. He spoke quietly, but Adora could hear what he was saying.

"I think that's the new kid who got in a fight at that football game last month. Did you see the other girl?"

The girl in the front frowned at this and then stomped her foot angrily. "Fine. Whatever," she said, visibly frustrated. "Protect your stupid friend or whatever. Screw you Frosta." She pointed at what she could see of the girl behind Adora and then turned away. "C'mon guys."

The group shuffled off and Adora waited until they were far enough away before she let out a sigh of relief and let down her guard.

"Adora! Thank you!" Came Frosta's voice from behind her and she turned around as Frosta gave her a big hug. "That was so cool! You were all like, 'Grrr don't mess with Frosta, she'll drop kick you into next week' and they were all like, 'Oh no you're right. That's scary. Wahhh!'" Frosta giggled loudly and finally let Adora free from the hug.

"Something like that," Adora said dismissively, pointing a hand at Frosta. "What exactly was that all about? Who were those kids?"

"Oh. Pshh. Just some random thugs."

Adora stared at Frosta disapprovingly until the girl buckled.

"Okay fine," Frosta said in a huff. "Her name is Holly. I used to do her homework and she'd pay me every week. I kind of have a network going. I make bank."

Honestly at this point, Adora wasn't even surprised that Frosta had set up an illegal homework ring and just listened intently as the girl continued.

"Anyway, one day Holly was all like, 'Hey I'm not paying you anymore, but you still gotta do my homework'. And, of course, I was like, 'Heck no'. And then she threatened me with physical force. And normally I would've laid her out right there, you know me. But then she showed up with those two goons. And so I kept doing her homework free of charge for a while. Which is totally unfair right?"

Adora opened her mouth to respond, but apparently it was a rhetorical question because Frosta kept on talking.

"And then last week I decided I'd had enough. So I purposefully failed, like, all of her homework assignments for that week. I even spelled her name wrong on one," Frosta said with a maniacal chuckle. "And then apparently she got her papers back this morning. So...you can imagine how that went. And luckily I have a big ol' tank of a friend!"

"Well I'm glad I could help," Adora said, looking down the hall and not seeing any sign of the kids who had gone after Frosta. "You're just getting in fights all the time, huh?"

Frosta shrugged and collected her things. "I've been told I have an abrasive personality."

Adora smirked at Frosta's observation. "Well I think it suits you."

Frosta looked up at Adora with a small amount of admiration in her eyes. "Thanks for that. And for helping me out back there. If they do end up getting me back, will you actually go beat them up?"

"I don't think my record can handle another fight," Adora admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "But I don't think they'll mess with you anymore. And if they do...well...come talk to me and we'll figure something out."

Frosta nodded cooly at Adora. "Okay well I gotta get to class. I'll see you later, bodyguard."

Adora scoffed and waved Frosta off before heading to her next class.


Catra was headed to lunch, and already worrying about interacting with Scorpia, when she heard a familiar voice behind her yell, 'Think fast!'"

She whipped around and instantly saw a small object whizzing towards her. She instinctively batted at it and slapped it out of the air and onto the ground.

Bow stood in front of her with obvious discontent. "Well...you were supposed to catch it."

Catra bent down and picked up what looked like a small candy wrapped in plastic. It was still covered but it had cracked into a couple pieces.

"What is it?" Catra asked the boy, wondering if him throwing things at her was going to be a normal thing now.

"It's a little lemon sour," Bow said proudly. "A certain someone told me you were a fan of lemon."

Adora smiled and thought of Adora.

Bow noticed and grinned in response. "Whatcha thinking about? Or rather...who?"

"Oh shut up," Catra responded playfully. She unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth. "Thanks for the candy. It was great minus the whole chucking it at me."

"Hey I'm just trying to spice up your life!" Bow exclaimed. "I imagine you're heading to lunch too?"

"Yup," Catra said as Bow fell in line next to her and they started to make their way to the cafeteria.

Catra grew more and more nervous as she was reminded of having to interact with Scorpia. "It's just Scorpia," she told herself. "It's not like she's a different person now."

Bow began to tell her about a book he was reading and Catra honestly tried to listen, but ended up not paying any attention. Bow didn't notice, but he did trail off when they entered the wide open cafeteria area.

The sudden silence from the boy managed to catch Catra's attention and she studied him curiously as he scanned the lunchroom. Catra instantly knew why.

"You're looking for Glimmer."

Bow looked back at her sheepishly. "Maybe."

Catra nodded. "You don't have to stand with me if you don't want. I know you probably don't want her to see you with me."

Bow frowned. He looked horribly conflicted and Catra could see how much the whole situation was tearing him up.

"No...I wanna stay with you. I am scared that she'll get even more upset if she sees us together but…" Bow bit the inside of his cheek and looked around the cafeteria again.

"It's okay, Bow," Catra said assuringly, feeling bad for her new friend. "I get it. I'm not hungry anyway so I'm gonna go sit. I'll see you around." She broke off from the line and headed towards her table.

"I...okay, see you," Bow called after her forlornly.

Catra had been trying to make his choice easier, but she felt like he was just more upset now. She sighed and sucked on what remained of her candy as she saw that the table was empty.

She instantly felt the knot in her stomach loosen slightly and she went and took her usual spot. She nervously sat and watched the lunch line inch along slowly, hoping Adora would get there before Scorpia did.

This hope was quickly dashed as Catra saw Scorpia head out of the kitchen and walk out into the cafeteria. Catra groaned and took a few deep breaths. "Be normal, Catra. It's just Scorpia. Just the same old Scorpia. Who apparently just has a huge crush on you, that's all."

As Scorpia neared the table, Catra turned and pretended she hadn't seen her coming. "Oh hey, Scorpia," she said a little too quickly. "How are you?"

"Uh…" Scorpia said slowly as she inched towards her own seat and sat down. "I'm alright. Doing better than yesterday."

"That's good." Catra looked around the cafeteria a bit.

Scorpia began to eat and neither of them talked for about a minute straight. Which was very unusual for them.

"You're not hungry today?" Scorpia asked eventually.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah I'm just not feeling the whole food thing right now." Catra paused, trying to think of something that her and Scorpia would normally talk about when things weren't so weird. "So...it's pretty cold out, huh?"

Catra heard Scorpia exhale beside her. "Yeah it's cold."

Both girls knew that their dynamic had shifted. It was painfully obvious as much as neither of them wanted to admit it.

Scorpia blamed herself and wished for the hundredth time that she had never told Catra how she felt. She couldn't help but feel like she had ruined her closest friendship.

To make matters worse, Scorpia had to watch as Catra continued to check the lunch line nervously. Probably waiting for Adora to come and distract her from the shipwreck that was their friendship right now.

"Hey, I'm gonna go sit on my own today, I think," Scorpia said.

"What?" Catra drew her attention away from the line. "But we always sit here. I...I mean I was wondering if maybe, possibly Adora could sit here too, but…"

Scorpia started to stand up. "That sounds fine. But I just…it feels weird sitting around and pretending things aren't weird."

"Things aren't weird!" Catra protested.

Scorpia gave Catra a pressing look and watched as Catra slowly began to soften as she nodded solemnly.

"Okay, maybe things are a little different, but we just have to adapt."

"I want to," Scorpia said with a nod, picking up her tray. "But I'm just not ready yet. I'll see you after school, I'm sure."

"Yeah." Catra watched as her friend walked off and sat at an empty table across the room.

Catra reclined in her chair and rubbed her temples slowly. She shot a look over to Adora's usual table and saw Bow sitting there alone. He was probably waiting for Glimmer. Catra wondered if Glimmer would actually sit with him or not.

Catra chuckled mirthlessly at how simply choosing where to sit and eat lunch was such a big deal.

Glimmer was the next to exit the kitchen and Catra perked up. Watching intently to see what the girl would do.

Glimmer shot a glance over to her usual table and saw that Bow was sitting there. She hesitated and there was a very brief moment where Catra thought she would go and sit with him, but then Glimmer scanned the rest of the room.

There weren't any empty tables at this point and Catra watched as she glanced around, undecidedly. And then she seemed to make up her mind as she walked briskly over to a table where only one other person was sitting. Scorpia.

Catra watched, confused, as Glimmer set her tray down on the table, sitting across from Scorpia.

Catra stood up a little in her seat and watched from across the room. Now they were talking. About something.

She narrowed her eyes and gripped the side of her chair tightly. "What is Glimmer thinking!? Is this some kind of a revenge plan?"

Catra wondered if she should go over and scare Glimmer off. But then again, she didn't wanna start anything with the girl and risk worsening the whole situation.

Catra was so focused on trying to read their lips that she hardly noticed when Adora tapped her on the shoulder. Catra looked up, surprised, as Adora sat down in the seat next to her. The seat Scorpia usually took.

Bow was with her and he sat down next to Adora. He looked pretty upset.

Adora patted him on the back and turned to Catra. She nodded in the direction where Scorpia and Glimmer were sitting. "So...things have changed a bit, huh?"

"Yeah they really have," Catra said as she scooted nearer to Adora.


"Hey."

Scorpia looked up from her tray as she heard the greeting and saw Glimmer standing across the table, tray in hand. Scorpia blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"Hi," Scorpia said, a little confused, as the girl pulled a seat out and sat down. Glimmer huffed and ripped open the top of her milk carton, taking a big swig.

"Long time, no see," Glimmer said without actually looking at Scorpia.

"Wow. Yeah you can say that again," Scorpia said. "It's been since...well, y'know…"

"Yeah," Glimmer said, leaning back in her chair. "I didn't mean to stop hanging out with you by the way. I just couldn't be around Catra and you couldn't not be around her."

"I completely understand," Scorpia said. "It was a confusing time. But...luckily you found Bow and seemed to hit it off with him."

Glimmer scowled. "Yeah. Thank goodness for Bow," she said sarcastically, shooting a look over at Catra's table. She saw Bow, Adora, and Catra all looking over at her already and they instantly looked away when she made eye contact with them.

Scorpia tracked Glimmer's gaze to the table and then looked back at the girl questioningly. "Glimmer it's cool seeing you and I am always thankful for a lunch buddy, but...why are you...here?"

Glimmer looked at Scorpia and seemed to weigh something in her head before she spoke. "Well my friends," she used her fingers to make air quotes as she said the word, "are too busy being obsessed with Catra to care about me. It's like middle school all over again."

Scorpia's face twisted up in confusion and she looked back over at the table where Catra sat. Once again, all three members of the table quickly looked away as they met each other's gaze from across the room.

"Bow too, huh? See, I knew about Adora, but I had no idea Bow and Catra even knew each other."

Glimmer laughed bluntly. "Yeah neither did I." She took an angry bite out of her pizza. "So that's why I'm here. Plus I thought it would be poetic or something if we ended up sitting together. What I wanna know is why you're over here."

Scorpia looked suddenly guilty. "I'm... it's kind of a... related matter."

Glimmer cocked her head slightly. "Are you and Catra fighting? Or...hmm...is it that she's hanging out with those two now?"

"No it's not...I mean...kind of... it's a personal matter," Scorpia said quickly.

"Well I haven't seen you in a while, but I remember that look," Glimmer said as she observed the girl. "You're embarrassed about something. And I think I know exactly what it is." Glimmer smiled proudly.

Scorpia looked up. She had not expected to talk to Glimmer today and it was proving to be an incredibly strange experience. She was still so similar, but so many things had changed. "I mean, you probably don't know, but I don't wanna talk about it."

Glimmer accepted the challenge and leaned towards Scorpia. "One guess. And if I get it right, you have to tell me I'm right."

Scorpia scratched the side of her head nervously. "Oh, I don't know. That seems really...high stakes."

"It'll be like when we used to guess each other's crushes back in the day," Glimmer said with a smile. "Give me one go. For old time's sake."

Scorpia pursed her lips and thought about it for a moment. "Alright. You can guess once, but then we aren't talking about it anymore. You have to...pinky promise."

Glimmer chuckled. "Man, this really is like middle school." She extended her pinky across the table and Scorpia accepted it. They hooked their pinkies and shook lightly.

Glimmer withdrew her hand and studied Scorpia. "Now I'm gonna guess based on what I've always hardcore theorized about. Using hints from back when I hung out with you and...her." Glimmer said this distastefully and Scorpia waited in a kind of nervous anticipation to see what she would say.

"I think," Glimmer continued, "that you...are jealous." She paused for effect and got an instant result from Scorpia's face.

"I…" Scorpia responded quickly. "Jealous? What would I even have to be jealous of?"

Glimmer grinned at Scorpia's defensiveness. "Adora." The one word caused more of a reaction than Glimmer had expected as Scorpia's face seemed to grow red.

"Why would I...Adora? I hardly know her…I mean she's in my weights class, that's all." Scorpia fumbled over her words. "I don't like this game. Why did I even agree to this?"

Glimmer was only becoming more enthused now that she knew she was on the right track. It was all coming together now and Glimmer was practically out of her chair as she leaned towards Scorpia. "You like Catra, don't you?" She asked with a confident smile.

"I...woah...uh...what…" Scorpia stuttered as she looked around her for an excuse to leave.

Glimmer pumped her fist into the air. "I knew it! I've been holding onto that for literal years! I thought so! You've had it bad for her for a long time, huh?"

"No." Scorpia denied quickly, shaking her head vigorously. "Catra and I are just best buds. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey we pinky promised that you'd tell me the truth if I guessed it. That's sacred." Glimmer stared at Scorpia expectantly.

Scorpia considered leaving the table suddenly, but ultimately decided against it. She sighed deeply and looked around her to make sure nobody was listening before lowering her voice and responding. "You can't tell anyone."

Glimmer laughed loudly and celebrated some more. "Oh man. I knew it!" She calmed down a bit and lowered her voice as well. "What are the chances of this? My foster sister moves into town and of aaalll the people she could possibly fall in love with, it's Catra. I mean...that's almost cosmically ironic."

Scorpia frowned as she heard Glimmer say this. She hadn't considered herself jealous before, but now that Glimmer had brought it up, she was starting to wonder how jealous she really was of Adora.

"And now look at us," Glimmer said quietly. "The side effects of a crazy coincidence. Both left behind by our best friends so they can be with each other."

"We weren't...left behind," Scorpia said, somewhat unconvinced.

"Oh yeah? What does this look like, then? They're over there, having a great time and loving each other. And they don't care that we're not with them."

"No," Scorpia objected, trying not to believe what Glimmer said. "Catra and I were just talking. We're still friends."

"I mean, sure. For now. But it'll get weird with Adora being there too. And then it'll be all awkward and then she'll probably abandon you like she abandoned me."

"I…" Scorpia trailed off as Glimmer's words hit her harder than she had thought. It had been awkward with Catra earlier. Maybe this was just the first step in Catra phasing her out and replacing her with Adora.

Glimmer was so caught up in her own anger that she just barely noticed the tears welling up in Scorpia's eyes.

"Oh…" Glimmer said suddenly as she realized that maybe she should've dialed it back a bit. She looked around her nervously. "Uh…"

Scorpia hid her face and propped her head up with her arms, facing down at the table.

Glimmer felt instantly guilty. Scorpia had always been right by Catra's side. And clearly she had felt a lot more for her than she had ever let on. Glimmer considered for the first time that when she had dated Catra, it had probably been really hard for Scorpia.

Glimmer wondered if maybe this whole situation was hitting Scorpia even worse than herself. Losing a friend and someone she loved at the same time. Glimmer frowned as she realized she was probably just making Scorpia feel worse.

Glimmer shook her head as she realized how unexpected this whole situation was and made up her mind as she got up from her seat and went and sat down next to Scorpia.

Scorpia tilted her head upwards and regarded Glimmer. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know," Glimmer said honestly as she tentatively patted Scorpia on the shoulder. "I, uh, didn't mean to get so...negative. I mean, maybe everything will work out, y'know?"

Scorpia sniffled and looked up at her. "Do you really think that or are you just saying it?"

"Uh…" Glimmer thought about it. She glanced over at Catra's table once again, and somehow managed to make eye contact with all three of them again. They sure were interested in what was going on over here. That must mean that they cared to some degree. Bow and Adora at least had been constantly pestering her to try and get her to talk. So maybe there was a chance that Catra cared too. And that she wouldn't just let Scorpia slip away.

Glimmer looked back to Scorpia. "Yeah. I think there's actually a solid fifty-fifty chance things will stay alright between you two. You and Catra have always been super close. It'll be fine." Glimmer patted her on the shoulder again. "I pinky promise."

A smile slowly spread on Scorpia's face as she looked at Glimmer hopefully and extended her pinky.


"I don't like it," Catra said, tapping her foot anxiously as she sat in the auditorium seats, waiting for Double Trouble to show up so they could start theater practice.

Adora sighed, sitting in the chair next to Catra. "I don't know why you're still so hung up on this. Glimmer might be upset about everything, but she isn't trying to manipulate Scorpia or something."

"She could be," Catra disagreed. "They haven't even talked in years! There's no reason why Glimmer would just sit with her unless she was trying to get something out of it. Like to get to me or something."

"Glimmer wouldn't do that."

"Why are you still defending her when she won't even talk to you?" Catra asked, her brow creasing.

"Well she's still my friend. And I know her. She isn't scheming anything."

Catra groaned. She put her arm back around the seat that Adora sat in, almost wrapping her arm around her, but not actually touching her. "I trust you, Adora. I trust you entirely."

"Thank you," Adora said honestly as she watched Catra's eyes.

"But…" Catra started.

"Oh no, here it comes," Adora said with a smile.

Catra snickered. "Okay I'm not gonna do anything crazy. But I'm keeping an eye out!"

"Yeah maybe you can recruit Bow again and interrogate all her friends without her knowing," Adora said jokingly.

"Hey I feel bad enough about it on my own," Catra said.

"I'm just teasing ya," Adora explained. She was going to keep talking, but the doors to the auditorium opened and the girls turned around to see Double Trouble. They looked like they were in a bad mood.

The girls watched as their theater director stomped up towards the stage and met the girls in the first row of seats. They had a big uneasy look on their face and their posture was more slumped than usual. They cleared their throat as they turned to face the girls, sitting on the edge of the stage.

"So...we have a problem. More specifically...you have a problem," they said somberly.

"What's wrong?" Adora asked.

"Well it was...that little altercation last Friday night. With you two and those other kids."

"Yeah, what about it?" Catra asked impatiently.

Double Trouble tugged at their collar. "Well. You see, since Principal Hope assigned you two to theater, she's been checking in. She'll call me in some mornings and I'll tell her how you two are doing. See if you're staying out of trouble and all. And…well…" Double Trouble bit their lip and paused.

"Just tell us what happened," Catra insisted.

"I had to tell her about the little disagreement you had the other night," Double Trouble blurted out. "And it was...not pretty. She's not very happy that you two are still fighting with your classmates. And well...you see...she said...that she'd have to be splitting you two up. Taking one of you away from theater. Away from us. I'm sorry."

Catra and Adora looked on in shock.

"Wh...when?" Adora asked.

"Probably tomorrow," Double Trouble said softly. "I'm sorry."

Catra growled. "Shoot! I'm so sick of Principal Hope trying to control us!"

Adora frowned and put a hand on Catra's shoulder to calm her as she gritted her teeth.

Double Trouble began to laugh.

Catra looked up in surprise, shooting daggers at Double Trouble, who was still chuckling quietly.

"What are you laughing about?" Catra asked, annoyed.

Adora looked at Double Trouble's growing smile and realized what had happened before they said anything.

Double Trouble bounced up onto the balls of their feet, balancing on the ledge of the stage, and threw their arms out beside them. "Acting!"

Catra stared, absolutely dumbfounded, at their grinning face as it finally dawned on her what had happened.

"I'm actually gonna kill them," Catra said matter-of-factly as she began to stand up from her seat before Adora pulled her back down.

"Haha! Take notes, girls!" Double Trouble exclaimed ecstatically. "You were fully immersed!"

"Wh…" Catra started, out of breath. "That wasn't even acting! Literally all you did was lie to us!"

"Oh, honey," Double Trouble said suavely. "Some of the best acting comes out when you're hiding the truth."

"That was pretty screwed up," Adora admitted. "Was it all fake?"

"Oh, but of course. I would never rat out my precious theater babies."

"Yeah well your precious theater baby is really considering 'acting out' a fight scene right now," Catra said gruffly.

"Oh dear," Double Trouble said slowly, sitting back down on the stage. "I didn't mean to get you both so upset, truly. And I humbly apologize. I merely wanted to showcase a little bit of what you'll be doing today."

Catra grumbled to herself.

"We're starting acting today?" Adora asked.

"Well...loosely. We'll start on the lines here soon. I mean, you do have to start sometime. And you already got a warm up with all the drama onstage last Friday." Double Trouble saw Adora frown at the memory and felt a little bad. "Look, I'll stay out of it. I may appear to be a jerk, but I'm really just a jerk who's ferociously loyal. Theater's like a little family. So on that note if you ever need help with anything just let me know."

Adora nodded and Catra rolled her eyes.

"Now if you two would join me on the stage?" They extended their hands and helped both girls up onto the platform. "Now have either of you ever acted before?"

"Nope," Adora replied immediately.

"I was in a commercial once for a school project," Catra said passively.

"Okay! So not a ton of experience, but we are aware of the concept at least. Do either of you have an inspiration? An actor from a movie? A favorite play? Something like that?"

"Oh! One time in my foster home we got to go see a Little Shop of Horrors musical."

"Ahah! Nice! What did you think?"

"I really liked it," Adora admitted. "The songs were stuck in my head for weeks."

"Perfect. And you, Catra?"

Catra was still trying to think of inspiration. "Um...I don't know. I like…Emma Watson...I guess?"

"Hmmm, okay," Double Trouble said curiously. "Why so?"

"Uh. She's pretty?"

Adora couldn't help but laugh and even Double Trouble cracked a smile.

"Okay well that's not exactly what I was going for, but it'll do. As long as her beauty inspires you to be a better actor."

"Probably will," Catra said with a nod.

"Alright then, channel that. For our first exercise we're going to be building chemistry between you two."

Both girls were suddenly much more interested and Double Trouble smiled widely. "The most compelling part of this play is the unexpected draw between your characters. You have to sell it. You have to know each other. Trust each other. So. We'll start with a basic."

Double Trouble walked over behind the stage curtains and pulled out an old, wooden chair, dragging it to center stage. "The trust fall! Tried and true."

"Easy," Catra said as she walked up to the chair. She stood by the front of the chair and eyed Adora expectantly.

"Oh shoot, I have to go first?"

"What do you not trust me?" Catra asked with a lopsided grin.

"Of course I do," Adora said defiantly as she marched up to the chair and got up onto it, facing away from Catra. "I just hope you're strong enough to catch me!"

Adora heard Catra gasp from behind her. "Hey, I'm at an average strength level! You've seen me lift in weights!"

"That's why I'm worried," Adora explained with a chuckle.

Double Trouble watched on, amused by their interactions.

"Okay I'm gonna fall back on the count of three, okay?" Adora asked tentatively and Catra agreed. Adora took a breath and steeled herself, reminding herself that it was Catra behind her. She would never let her fall. "One. Two. Three."

Adora fell straight backwards with her arms at her sides. There was a brief moment where her adrenaline spiked and she thought she would hit the ground, but then she felt Catra's arms around her and smiled in relief.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?" Catra asked, propping Adora back up onto her feet.

"Not bad at all," Adora said with a wide smile, invigorated by the fall. "Your turn."

Catra confidently stepped up onto the chair and it creaked loudly. She turned around and readied herself. "Okay well I have no doubt you'll be ab…"

Catra's words turned into a sharp yelp as a loud snap came from the chair below her and she suddenly felt the chair tip. She immediately lost her balance and tumbled off to the side. She was absolutely certain she was about to hit the ground and braced for impact, when she felt arms beneath her at the last moment.

Catra opened her eyes, her breath heavy and her heart beating loudly, to see Adora's concerned face. Adora had managed to catch Catra without letting her touch the ground at all. She was cradled in her arms as Adora supported her beneath her legs and under her back.

"Are you okay?" Adora asked.

"I…" Catra lost her ability to speak as she looked up at Adora from within her arms and felt an extremely strong urge to kiss her.

The moment was broken up almost immediately as Double Trouble ran up.

"Ah! Are you okay!? If we get any injuries onstage I think we're legally liable!"

Adora lowered Catra and let her feet touch the ground as she stood up. "Yeah I'm fine. Thanks to Adora. And no thanks to that crappy old chair." Catra shot a dirty look at the broken chair that was laying on its side, one leg snapped off.

"Well that's one way to do a trust fall," Adora said amusedly.

Catra shot Adora a grateful look and Adora felt pride well up in her.

"I suppose if this proves literally anything it's that you can trust one another!" Double Trouble reasoned.

"Yeah and that you need new chairs," Catra mumbled.

"Anyway," Double Trouble continued, pretending not to hear Catra's comment. "Now we're going to do another activity to get you two more comfortable with each other."

"We're pretty comfortable already," Catra said with a shrug and Adora nodded in agreement.

"Well then this should be no problem. What we're gonna do is have one of you tell the other person something about yourself that is either a truth or a lie. And then they'll guess if it's true or not. You do that and I'm gonna go check on some of the lights that Entrapta has been tinkering with."

"Sounds good," Catra called after them as they hopped off the stage. "This should be pretty easy."

"Yeah and there's no way you'll fall and hurt yourself this time," Adora joked. "You wanna go first?"

"Sure." Catra thought for a moment. "Okay, here's one. One time I got kicked out of a petting zoo."

Adora laughed and replied immediately. "Yeah that's definitely true."

Catra smiled wryly. "Yeah you got that one. I jiggled a cow's udder and laughed about it and one of the workers caught me and made me leave. What buzzkills."

"Well how old were you?"

"I...I'm keeping that information to myself."

"Oh gosh," Adora said with a grin. "Okay I have one now. Once, when I was actually staying in another foster home, I broke an urn that had a dead person's ashes in it and then I hid the evidence in my closet."

"Ohhhhh," Catra said slowly, stroking her chin. "That's. Hmmm. It's specific. But maybe too specific." She looked Adora over for a few moments, but didn't get much from Adora's face. "Lie."

Adora laughed maniacally. "Truth!" She exclaimed victoriously.

"You did not."

"I did! A total accident of course. It was their grandfather and I hid his ashes in my closet. Stained the floor real bad. And of course they found out."

"Wow," Catra said nodding in approval. "I somehow respect you even more now."

Adora waved a hand dismissively. "Just take your turn."

Catra smiled and began to think up another one. She settled down into the stage, sitting cross-legged and Adora followed suit.

"Okay. When I was three I had a pet turtle named Bucklins and I slept with him every night."

"Nah. Fake. Bucklins is the fakest name."

"True," Catra said, savoring Adora's look of disbelief.

"Well that's adorable. Why Bucklins? What does that even mean?"

Catra shrugged. "Hey man, I just saw a turtle and named it. Your turn! I'm still down by one."

"It's not a competition," Adora said, amused.

"Oh that's what you think."

Adora rolled her eyes and thought for a couple moments.

"I hate blueberries."

"Oh that's a short one," Catra said thoughtfully. "Well your eye twitched a little when you said it so I'm gonna say it's a lie."

"Another truth," Adora said with a satisfied tone.

"You're cheating," Catra said quickly. "I know you so well. You're just a better actor."

Adora laughed. "I'll give you an easy one next time."

"I don't want your handouts. I'm going. You talk in your sleep."

"Wh…do I really?" Adora asked.

"Well you tell me. That's my statement."

Adora looked into Catra's eyes in an attempt to catch her lying.

"I'm a steel trap," Catra said slowly as she noticed Adora inspecting her.

"I think I'd know if I talked in my sleep. Lie."

"Shoot. Lucky guess," Catra said crossing her arms. "Now give me a hard one. I want to get at least one right."

"If you insist," Adora said, cracking her knuckles intimidatingly. She tapped on the stage rhythmically as she thought up a good one. After a few moments she smiled to herself. "Okay here we go."

Catra scooted up to her. Her eyes shone fierce with determination.

"Way back in that detention when we hardly knew each other and we had to write three positive things about each other. You remember?"

Catra nodded slowly.

"I wrote that you were funny. That you were surprisingly kind. And that you had a nice smile."

Catra looked surprised by the question and it took her a few moments to collect herself. "Oh. Wow that's a throwback. I...hmm…well I want it to be true. But you didn't like me back then. And...my smile? No way. Nope. That's gotta be a lie."

Adora sighed softly and shook her head. "You really are bad at this."

"I…" Catra wasn't even upset that she had guessed wrong again. "Did you mean it when you wrote it or were you just putting things down?"

"Oh I meant it," Adora said with a smile. "Tell me if I'm lying."

Catra searched Adora's gaze and saw nothing but tenderness and affection. Catra felt as comforted now as she did when Adora had caught her. Nobody had ever looked at her that way before. She cleared her throat.

"True?"

A smile crept across Adora's face. "You finally got one right."

Big feels. And Scorpia and Glimmer! An extremely fun grouping to write and I can't wait to do more with them. And I'll tell you what, angry Glimmer is fun to write, but if I have to make Bow cry one more time I'm gonna lose it. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy and I really hope you all stay safe and healthy! Bye!