Adora sat in Glimmer's car on the way to school Tuesday morning. She was fiddling with her hands anxiously as the silent car ride continued. She looked over at Glimmer, who was focused on the road, her face blank.
"Glimmer can we talk now?" Adora asked quietly.
"There's nothing to talk about," Glimmer responded curtly, maintaining her focus on the road.
"Um...there kinda is though," Adora disagreed. "This is...the worst. And I can keep apologizing, but I just wanna know what'll get you to talk to me and Bow again."
Glimmer stayed quiet for a while. Her face didn't show Adora any hint of emotion. After a while she cleared her throat. "Don't pin this on me, Adora," she said coldly. "I wasn't the one who started all this."
"But…" Adora started weakly. "How are we supposed to work this out if you won't cooperate?"
Glimmer shook her head in disbelief and Adora watched her grip tighten around the steering wheel.
"Maybe we won't work it out," Glimmer said under her breath, just loud enough for Adora to hear.
Adora opened her mouth to protest, but she didn't want to turn this into an argument and risk making things worse. Instead she slumped back down into her seat.
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
Adora sat in her world history class, a little distracted, Glimmer still occupying her mind.
However, she wasn't distracted enough to miss the words 'group project' from the teacher. Adora instantly bristled at the phrase. If there was one thing she hated the most about school it was group projects. She hated meeting new people and she always ended up doing all the work for the rest of the group.
Adora listened intently to what the teacher was telling them. They were all going to be partnered up and would be creating a project that pointed out the various aspects of a chosen country. Adora thought history was interesting and she normally would have enjoyed this project if it weren't for the fact that she'd wind up with some random student as a partner.
Adora scanned the room out of the corner of her eye. She hadn't even spoken to any of these people before. Well. Except for one.
Lonnie was seated in the back corner of the classroom. Adora couldn't see her from where she sat, but she knew the girl was back there.
Lonnie hadn't interacted with her at all since the football game. Adora had offered her a ride one time when she was walking in the cold, but other than that they had managed to stay clear of one another.
Adora was relieved that Lonnie didn't seem to be interested in messing with her anymore, but she felt more conflicted about it all than anything. After Catra had told her about Lonnie's parents, Adora hadn't been able to shake a feeling of pity for the girl.
Adora had known plenty of kids who had been hardened by tough conditions and took it out on others. And seeing Lonnie in that perspective made Adora feel generally uncomfortable.
She had no plans to try and reach out or anything, but she at least tried not to make any assumptions about the girl.
Adora returned her attention to the teacher and waited for the inevitable. And sure enough, within minutes they were calling out pairs of names.
Adora waited anxiously as the teacher rattled off more names, eyeing her classmates. And then eventually she heard her name. And immediately wished she hadn't.
"Adora and Lonnie."
"How?" Adora thought to herself, shocked by the sheer chance of this even happening. Adora could almost feel Lonnie's eyes burning into the back of her head and she fought the urge to turn around. "Of course this would happen. I wish Catra was here."
Adora continued to fret, right up until the teacher finished calling names and told them to get with their partner and figure out which country they wanted to report on.
Adora remained in her seat for a few moments as all of the people surrounding her began to move around and greet their partners. Then she took a deep breath and slowly turned around.
Lonnie was still sitting in the back corner, staring at Adora. She looked away when they made eye contact and Adora felt a wave of anxiety. She thought about asking the teacher to reassign her with a new partner, but she didn't want to start a scene.
So she reluctantly made her way over to where Lonnie sat. When she approached, Lonnie looked up at her.
"This isn't gonna work," she said bluntly. Then she stood up and walked over to the teacher. Adora followed slowly and listened as Lonnie explained in no uncertain terms that her and Adora couldn't work together.
The teacher looked at Lonnie and then over at Adora. "Well I'm sure you two can manage to get along for a few class periods. You don't have to do much, just work together."
Lonnie grunted and turned away from the desk, darting back to her desk. Adora wavered briefly before following and approaching the girl once again as she sat in her desk, fuming.
"Look, I'm not a big fan of this either. Trust me," Adora told Lonnie. "But all we have to do is a quick project. We'll each do separate things and we don't even have to talk much."
Lonnie shut her eyes for a period of time. Adora had started to wonder if Lonnie had even heard what she said when the girl opened her eyes again and nodded. "Yeah I guess we can just do something easy."
"Cool," Adora said awkwardly as she looked around her. She pulled up a desk and placed it as far from Lonnie as she could without being unable to communicate with her.
Adora took her seat and waited for Lonnie to say something. After a while it became clear that Adora would have to guide things, so she begrudgingly spoke up. "So...do you have a certain country you wanna cover?"
Lonnie shook her head almost immediately.
"Okay...nice," Adora said slowly. "How about, like, Egypt or something?"
Lonnie replied with a shrug.
"Is...is that a yes? Or…" Adora was starting to see the futility of this partnership and started to consider just ignoring Lonnie and doing the whole project herself.
"I mean, sure," Lonnie said despondently.
"Okay," Adora squirmed uneasily in her chair. "Egypt…any ideas?"
"Nope."
"Thought not," Adora said with a slow nod. "Okay. I'm just gonna start doing some research. You can...do that too."
Lonnie didn't respond and Adora honestly didn't care. At this point it was easier just to ignore her and work alone.
Adora started compiling the information they would need on her school-issued laptop. Occasionally she would glance over at Lonnie. She had her laptop open and was passively looking over her screen. Adora couldn't tell if she was actually helping out or if she was just doing her own thing.
They worked like that for a while. The groups around them were talking and planning and occasionally laughing, but Adora and Lonnie sat without speaking.
Just when Adora had created a PowerPoint and was committed to starting it on her own, she heard Lonnie speak.
"Hey…"
Adora looked up quickly and was surprised to see that the girl was actually making eye contact with her and not looking away. Looking into her eyes reminded Adora of the fight and she receded a little bit. "Yeah?"
"Why did you ask me to get in your car a while back?" Lonnie asked this and then looked back at her desk, scratching at her throat.
"Oh," Adora responded, caught a little off guard. "Well it was really cold. I thought maybe you'd...want a ride."
Lonnie looked uncomfortable for a brief moment before she wordlessly went back to typing on her laptop.
Adora was confused and slowly went back to her work. She had barely started on the PowerPoint again when Lonnie swiveled her computer around.
"I made a PowerPoint. Figured we could put the research in these slides."
"Huh," Adora said as she reached over and scrolled down through the slides. She had created one for each major topic and had already formatted them. "Yeah that's... that's pretty good actually. Yeah. I'll share the stuff I found with you and you can share that PowerPoint with me."
"Sounds good," Lonnie said, turning her computer back around.
From that point on, the two managed to get a lot more done as they worked together. They were able to avoid talking for the rest of the class, but by the end they had a good start to their presentation.
"Hi, Adora," Kyle greeted her as she sat down at Catra's table, which still felt new and strange to her. Catra wasn't there yet and it was just her and Kyle.
"Hey, Kyle," Adora said as she took her seat.
"How's your day been?"
"Not awful. Not great either."
"Oh I'm sorry. What happened?" Kyle asked.
Adora weighed whether she should tell Kyle about working with Lonnie or not. She knew that Kyle had known Lonnie and she wasn't sure how close they were. But she liked Kyle. He was sweet and had been nothing but nice to her and Bow since they had started sitting with them.
"Well I got partnered with Lonnie in my History class. So that's...a little charged."
"Oh," Kyle said with a frown. "Yeah that sucks. Sorry you have to deal with that."
"Yeah," Adora said slowly. "You know her don't you?"
"Yeah. She was definitely closer to the others than to me, but we all hung out together sometimes. Trust me, though, I know she can be a jerk. And what she did to you was way too far. We haven't talked since."
"Hmm. Why, uh… why do you think she's so...so…"
"Aggressively hateful?"
"Yeah, that."
Kyle sighed and tilted his head back. "I don't know. I mean, I can guess. She hates her parents. She hates school. She gets in a lot of dumb fights. You put all that together and I imagine you don't have much to be happy about."
Adora winced. "Probably not."
"But…" Kyle said in an elevated tone, clearly trying to change the subject. "I just wanna know, and tell me if I'm asking too much, but are you and Catra...like...official?"
Adora immediately felt the heat rush to her face. "Uh…we're…"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you all flustered," Kyle said apologetically.
"No, no it's fine," Adora said, starting to cool down. "I'm just so unused to the whole...me and Catra thing. Especially if it's public knowledge now. Did she tell you?"
Kyle laughed. "Catra telling me about her personal life? No way. But it's pretty painfully obvious. I mean, at lunch yesterday she gave you her pudding. She's never done that before. That's dedication."
Adora smiled. "Yeah she's...she's really great. But no, we're not, like, technically official yet."
"Yet?" Kyle asked excitedly.
"Yet," Adora said with a grin. It was weird to be so open about this with someone who was almost a complete stranger, but to be honest, she was so excited about all of it that she felt like she was going to burst and telling anybody was a great way to get it out of her system.
Kyle smiled at her answer. "Well I'm happy for both of you."
"What are we happy for?" Bow asked, walking up and taking a seat by Adora.
Kyle just grinned and Adora looked around nervously.
"Oh no. I know that look," Bow said with a pout. "You're talking about some juicy drama without your boy, Bow. I'm both offended and curious. Fill me in."
Adora sighed and checked to make sure Catra still wasn't out of the lunch line before turning to Bow. "We were talking about, y'know, me and...Catra."
Bow lit up and scooted forward in his seat. "Well now I'm even more upset I wasn't invited. Any new developments?"
"No, no, nothing like that," Adora replied, waving her hand. "Oh. Well. I mean she did kind of...we're going to the Fall Formal together."
Kyle and Bow gasped in unison and Adora tried to shield her face.
"I knew it," Kyle muttered to himself.
"That's everything," Bow said excitedly. "You know what? What are you doing after school today?"
"Not anything after theater practice. Why?"
"Well we gotta get you ready! That dance is next week! We have to get you something to wear!"
"Oh wow," Adora said, a little overwhelmed. "I didn't even think of that."
"Exactly. I'll be your guru. And Kyle, you can come too if you want," Bow offered.
"I would, but Rogelio and I have these Tuesday dates where we go and get gelato and I don't wanna skip it."
"Okay. Well that's heartachingly adorable," Bow said, smiling. He turned his attention back to Adora. "Does that work?"
"I mean, yeah," Adora said. "I guess. I don't have, like, a ton of money though."
"Well you can ask Angella and if all else fails I would be honored to get clothes for you."
"Well thanks, Bow, but I wouldn't let you do that." Adora smiled as she actually began to get excited. She hated clothes shopping with a passion, but the idea of picking out something with Catra in mind was thrilling. She was thinking of what she would like when a troubling thought popped into her head. "Should we...well...maybe not…" she muttered cryptically, causing Bow to cock his head.
"What?"
"Well... should we try inviting Glimmer?"
Bow looked hurt as the suggestion hit him. "She would love it. If she's ready."
Adora scanned the lunch room and saw that Glimmer was sitting over where she had the other day and was talking to Scorpia again.
"I don't know if she is. She was still upset this morning. But she would love it…"
Bow stood up from his seat. "I'm gonna go ask."
"Really?" Adora asked. "Right now?"
"I mean, now or never. You wanna come with me?"
Adora weighed her options briefly before making up her mind. "I don't want to. But I'm not gonna let you do it alone."
"Thanks," Bow said gratefully and he instantly seemed more at ease.
"Well I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but good luck," Kyle said supportively.
Adora and Bow thanked him and then made their way over to where Glimmer sat.
Glimmer was talking to Scorpia when she spotted the pair making their way over and her expression soured.
Scorpia tracked her gaze to where Adora and Bow were and looked back at Glimmer, her mouth forming an 'o'.
"Oh boy," she said worriedly. "Should I leave? Or...hide?"
"No, you're fine," Glimmer said distractedly as Bow and Adora reached the table. Bow was in front and Adora stood a little bit behind him.
"Hey, Glimmer," Bow said quietly. "We were wondering...uh...if you wanted to go to the mall after school. With us."
Glimmer looked at both of them. "I…" She paused. She realized that she actually did want to go to the mall with them. She missed hanging out with them. Then again, another part of her stubbornly reminded her that she was supposed to be mad at them. "...I don't know...maybe...what are you going for?"
"Well, y'know…" Bow said casually. "Just the usual. Snacks. Maybe a nice dress. More snacks."
Glimmer perked up at this, but tried not to show her excitement. "Dress shopping? That's fun…"
Bow and Adora looked on expectantly. Scorpia was trying to stay separated from everything and was sipping at her milk slowly.
Glimmer was surprised by how badly she wanted to just go to the mall with them and forget everything. To just pretend nothing had happened and have her friends back. But she couldn't. That was too easy. They had lied to her. They had both been in some secret relationship with Catra of all people. That didn't just go away with a trip to the mall.
"Why don't you get Catra to go with you?" Glimmer blurted out suddenly.
Scorpia choked a little on her milk and began to cough.
Adora stepped forward at this. "Glimmer. We're not asking her, we're asking you."
"Well maybe you shouldn't have," Glimmer said and pushed back from the table. She stood up and began to walk off.
Adora sighed and began to follow her. Bow hesitated briefly and then followed after Adora.
Glimmer matched out of the cafeteria and made her way down a hallway. She had no idea where she was going, but she had to get away from them. And she was not happy when she heard Adora call her name from behind her.
Glimmer stopped in the middle of the empty hallway and pivoted, facing down her pursuers. "Stop following me."
"No," Adora said sternly. "You can't keep avoiding us." She gestured to Bow who caught up behind her. "We're supposed to be the best friend squad. We can't let something like this break us up."
"Wow. Yeah easy for you to say." She narrowed her eyes and aimed a pointed finger at the two of them. "You lied to me. For like a whole month! Literally my best friends were hanging out with my worst enemy behind my back!"
"She isn't your worst enemy," Adora reasoned. "She said she hasn't been, like, actually mad for a long time."
Glimmer scoffed. "Well duh. That was all her fault too! I honestly don't know what you two could possibly see in her!? Especially you!" She pointed at Adora. "She's manipulative and spiteful and she'll turn on you in a second! And she…"
"Don't you dare say another word about her," Adora interrupted Glimmer, and suddenly her entire presence had shifted. She spoke with a contained anger in her voice and her fists were clenched at her side. Glimmer saw a hard expression on her face and a dangerous flare in her eyes and immediately knew that she had crossed a line. She hadn't ever seen Adora mad. It was scary.
Glimmer found herself unable to continue as Adora gritted her teeth and spoke. "You don't know her. Not anymore. Even if she ever was any of those things, she isn't now."
Glimmer opened her mouth to disagree, but Adora cut her off.
"Glimmer when I first came here I was so scared. All of the time. And if it weren't for you and Bow and Catra, I still would be. She helped me feel important when it was really easy to not feel important. She was there for me when I needed her. She didn't care that I was a weird, awkward, foster kid who wore the same hole-filled hoodie to school everyday because it made me feel more comfortable."
Glimmer frowned and her anger wavered as she listened to Adora. Adora didn't look angry anymore either, but she carried on firmly.
"Catra has helped me so much. And she never cared that I was friends with you. In fact, she urged me to tell you about us as soon as we started meeting up."
Glimmer's brow creased in confusion. "She did?"
"Yeah. And you know why I didn't? I couldn't do it because I was too scared. Scared that I'd tell you and I'd lose you. That my best friend and the person who had dedicated so much time and energy to making me feel truly at home would leave me. And that scared me more than anything. And it still does." Adora stopped briefly to wipe tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry I lied, Glimmer. We both are. We just want another chance…" Adora choked up on this last word and stopped speaking.
Glimmer looked on and suddenly felt like she was in way over her head. Her mind was a raging whirlwind of anger, betrayal, sadness, love, and jealousy. She wanted to lash out at Adora as badly as she wanted to hug her. It was too much to handle.
Glimmer walked away, leaving her two friends behind.
They didn't follow her this time.
When Catra got to her table, she saw that only Kyle and Rogelio were sitting there.
"Hey where are Adora and Bow?" She asked before she even sat down.
Kyle looked over his shoulder at Scorpia's table and then scanned the rest of the cafeteria. "I...I don't know, actually. They went off to talk to Glimmer and I don't know where they are now."
"Oh boy," Catra said tiredly. "Hey I'm gonna go talk to Scorpia. You two guard my lunch. If I come back and my cookie is gone I'm throwing hands."
Catra made her way to where Scorpia now sat alone and pulled a chair up, straddling it backwards. "Hey. Pretty lonely over here."
Scorpia looked up from her lunch, surprised to see Catra. "Oh hey. Y'know, it's not that bad. Glimmer's here usually." She looked down the hall where the trio had disappeared and then turned back. "You know, talking to her reminds me of when we all used to be friends. That was fun, huh?"
"Yeah it wasn't too bad," Catra agreed.
"Are you over here to figure out where Adora went?" Scorpia asked.
"Kind of. And also to check in on you. Make sure Glimmer isn't brainwashing you or anything."
"Oh no." Scorpia shook her head, her white hair flopping around above her. "She's been good company."
Catra furrowed her brow. "Scorpia...just come and sit with us. What are you still doing over here?"
"I...Catra, I can't," Scorpia said uneasily.
"Sure you can!" Catra exclaimed.
"No, I really can't," Scorpia reaffirmed. "Being around you...is...harder right now. And that's not your fault, but it doesn't change the fact that I just...can't."
Catra looked down at her sullen friend, wishing that Scorpia had never fallen for her. "Well what about in Culinary after lunch? Are we still gonna be partners? It's banana bread today."
Scorpia started to say something and then pursed her lips together, exhaling slowly. "I don't know."
"Okay," Catra said, nodding slowly. "That's fantastic." She knew it was unfair of her to be mad at Scorpia for all of this, but she couldn't help it.
"Catra," Scorpia whined. "I'm sorry, but I just don't think I can."
"Yeah, that's fine," Catra said bluntly, rubbing at her nose. "Where'd those three run off to?"
Scorpia sighed. "They went down that hall."
Catra looked to where she was pointing and nodded. "Thanks."
She headed off down the hall and it didn't take her long to find Bow and Adora. They were sitting on a bench, huddled next to each other. When she neared them they looked up and she could see they had been crying. Her heart nearly broke when she saw Adora's face.
"Okay, scoot over," Catra said as she wedged her arms between them and split them up. They shuffled sideways and she jammed herself in between them.
Then she wrapped an arm around each of them and they scooted back closer to her. They didn't speak and they didn't really need to. Catra could tell what had happened.
She rested her cheek on the top of Adora's slumped head and squeezed her closer. They stayed like that until Adora and Bow felt good enough to go back to lunch.
"Adora...slow…down...please...dying…" Catra managed to croak out in between heavy breaths. She was trying to keep up with Adora's bicep curls and Adora was going way faster than usual.
"You don't have to match my pace," Adora said with steady breathing as she maintained her current speed.
"I...feel...weak...if I don't," Catra groaned as she struggled to lift the dumbbell in her hand.
Adora glanced over at her workout partner and saw that she was really having a tough time. She was drenched in sweat and her arms were shaking as she tried to raise them.
"Okay, lets slow down," Adora said as she lessened her speed significantly, allowing Catra to take a breather.
"Phew. Thanks," Catra said in relief. "You're really pushing it hard today."
"Yeah. Working out is good for me when I'm upset. I just work my body so hard that I can only focus on how sore and tired I am. It clears the mind."
Catra side-eyed her workout partner. "You sound insane. But, like, a good insane. Cute insane."
Adora smiled at this. She should've known Catra would be able to make her feel better. She was thankful they had this time together at the end of the day. "How'd your cooking class go?"
Catra huffed. "Not good. I had to make banana bread alone. Have you ever made banana bread alone?"
"I don't think I've ever cooked much of anything," Adora answered honestly.
"Well it's hard! Mine came out all lumpy!" Catra exclaimed. "And on that note, I have leftovers if you want some after class."
"Yeah I'll try some of your lumpy bread."
Catra snickered and glanced across the room at Scorpia. She was deadlifting and couldn't see Catra staring.
Adora noticed, however, and looked at her, concerned. "Catra. You wanna talk about it?"
"Huh? No. I mean, I don't know. I just don't understand her at all. One day I think I have her all figured out and then the next thing I know she drops a huge bomb on me and then tells me she can't be around me?" Catra found herself increasing the tempo of her curls as she vented and wondered if Adora had a point.
"Well, devil's advocate here. It's gotta be a tough situation she's going through. And I'm sure that me being around you a lot doesn't help at all."
"I get that," Catra groaned. "But I just think there's better ways of handling it. And I wish she had just not fallen for me in the first place."
"Well I can't blame her for that. Maybe you should stop looking so good," Adora said passively. She shot a look to Catra and smirked as she saw that her comment had the desired effect on Catra.
"Adora, how am I supposed to focus on my weightlifting when you say stuff like that?" Catra asked, a little frazzled.
"You don't," Adora said proudly.
"Hey, do you wanna come over after school?" Catra asked eagerly.
"I would love to," Adora answered and Catra immediately got excited. "But…Bow and I are doing a thing.
"What are you doing?" Catra asked, curious now.
"We're just running a little errand."
"Well that doesn't sound shifty at all. Could I tag along?"
"Um...maybe not this time. It's kind of a... surprise sort of thing."
"Oh," Catra said thoughtfully, her dumbbells now hanging at her side as she gave up on the lifting. "Well now I'm just extremely curious."
"I figured you would be. But it won't be a surprise for long."
"It's...for me?"
Adora shrugged, clearly over exaggerating. "Maaaybe."
"Oh I love that," Catra said excitedly, rubbing her hands together. "Well I hope it's not too long."
"It won't be. And I'm sure you'll love it."
"Can I guess what it is?"
"We're not doing that," Adora said with a smile.
"Oh alright," Catra said, feigning disappointment and kicking at a weight on the ground. "And you're gonna be alright? Like, with Glimmer and everything?"
Adora bit down on her lip as she heard the name and began to pump her weights even faster, her arms burning in protest. "I'll be fine."
"You...sure?" Catra asked, the doubt clearly audible in her voice.
"Yeah," Adora repeated. "I'm not sure that Glimmer will come around, but I'll be fine. I don't want it to keep hurting me."
"Yeah I don't either," Catra sympathized. She placed a hand on Adora's bicep, causing the girl to stop pumping. Adora brought her arms down with a ragged breath and turned to look at Catra.
Catra looked into Adora's eyes, trying to read her. "Look, I'm not sure what all happened today, but whatever happens I'll be here for you."
Adora's expression softened and she put her dumbbells down onto the ground. "I know. Thanks."
"Of course. Now give me a hug."
"But we're all sweaty," Adora whined.
"Oh, you baby," Catra said as she pulled Adora in and the two hugged.
Adora sighed, her arms wrapped around Catra. "Okay. Sweaty hugs are still good."
Glimmer was walking out of the school into the courtyard at the end of the day when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind.
"Hey! Glimmer!" A familiar voice called her name and Glimmer swiveled to see Scorpia catching up to her.
"Hey, Scorpia," Glimmer greeted her, a little curious as to why the girl was following her.
"Hey. I was just, y'know, making sure you're alright and all," Scorpia said caringly.
Glimmer was surprised that Scorpia even cared that much. "Uh. Yeah. I'm... alright, I guess."
"Okay, that's good news," Scorpia said with a nod. "Oh!" She seemed to suddenly remember something and reached back into her backpack and pulled out what looked like a bunch of wadded up napkins. She unfolded it gingerly and revealed what looked like a chocolate chip cookie. She held it out to Glimmer.
"Wh…?" Glimmer questioned as she was offered this strange gift.
"Oh. Yeah, well see, you didn't come back to lunch ever and I figured it'd be a shame to throw your cookie away so I saved it for you." Scorpia smiled at her innocently.
"Oh," Glimmer said, touched and more than a little surprised. "That's actually pretty cool of you." Glimmer took the cookie.
"It's probably a little melty cuz it's been a bit, but I took good care of it. Oh and I have banana bread too if you want. It came out really good!"
Glimmer looked at Scorpia thoughtfully, a strange look on her face.
Scorpia saw this and frowned a little. "If you don't want the bread that's fine. I was j…"
Scorpia was cut off as Glimmer quickly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Scorpia's torso, burying her face in Scorpia's jacket.
"Oh..oh wow," Scorpia said in surprise. She tentatively patted Glimmer's back. "Are you, uh, sure you're okay?"
Glimmer pulled back from the hug and looked suddenly very tired. "No, I'm not," she said with a sigh. She looked up at Scorpia with a weakness in her eyes. "Are you doing anything right now?"
"I...no I was just gonna walk my dog...but...she can wait," Scorpia said.
Glimmer smiled ever so slightly. "Well how about I just walk your dog with you? If that's okay?"
Scorpia smiled. "Yeah that sounds good. Honestly...I could use the company right now."
"Yeah me too."
"Bow, I feel like I'm drowning in fabric," Adora complained as Bow stacked another dress onto the already substantial pile she was holding in her arms.
"That's what we want," Bow assured her. "Besides that one would look so good on you."
"You think?" Adora asked as she eyeballed it. "It seems a little flashy."
"Hmmm," Bow pondered as he reexamined the dress. "Yeah maybe you're right." He took the dress off of the pile and hung it back up on the rack. "See you gotta tell me these things! Otherwise I'm gonna put you in everything!"
"I've been helping a little," Adora countered.
Bow smiled. "I think the one thing you contributed was when I asked whether you wanted a suit or a dress and you said 'a dress I think'."
"I'm just out of my element," Adora admitted. "I feel like a kid in a candy store who is chronically confused and also hates candy."
Bow examined Adora and nodded slowly. "Okay. Maybe I'm pushing you too far into the deep end." Bow took the pile of dresses from her arms and laid them down on a table beside them. "I'm used to dress shopping with my sisters which is...definitely a different experience. Here, let's walk and talk."
Adora followed Bow as he slowly led them through some aisles.
"Okay. So why do you want this dress?" Bow asked.
Adora shrugged. "I guess for the Formal."
"Is that it?" Bow asked. "You don't want anything else from it?"
"Well...I guess...I wanna look good. And I've never really owned a dress before."
"Okay, see, that's what I'm talking about!" Bow said encouragingly. "You want this for you! You wanna look good for your dance! That's a great reason!"
"Yeah I guess so," Adora agreed hesitantly.
"And I imagine you might wanna impress a certain someone?" Bow elbowed her lightly.
Adora smiled awkwardly and looked away. "I mean...yeah."
"Awww," Bow crooned contentedly. "So that's something to consider too! Just start looking for something that does that for you. That makes you feel confident and like yourself and that would help you woo your girl."
Adora nodded and began to pay closer attention to the dresses they were walking by. Viewing them in this new mindset did help a bit. Adora had always seen nice clothes as an extravagance, but now, thanks to Bow, she was trying to see them as something nice she could actually get for herself.
"You could color match!" Bow suggested. "What color is Catra's suit?"
Adora chuckled to herself. Catra had never actually pointed it out to her, but Adora had definitely noticed the well kept suit that had its own section in Catra's closet and was folded delicately. She must really like that suit.
"It's a deep red. Like a cranberry. It's her favorite color."
"That's adorable. And also we could definitely find something that matches that if you want."
Adora nodded and continued her looking around. She was glad Bow had offered to help her do this. Otherwise she wasn't sure what she would have worn to the dance. She had honestly planned on just wearing her school clothes.
Adora was trying to find any spots of red among all the dresses and spotted some a few rows over. She led Bow over towards it and took it off the rack to examine it.
It was much simpler than a lot of the things she had been looking at. The entire dress was in two shades of red, both resembling what Adora could recall about Catra's suit. It had a simple sash around the waist and there weren't any frills or lace or anything too showy. The arms were exposed and it looked like the back of the dress showed some of her back, but not too much that she would feel uncomfortable.
Bow watched her carefully as she fingered the fabric and turned it around. "Your eyes are definitely doing a thing. You're thinking some thoughts."
"Yeah," Adora said thoughtfully as she tried to picture herself in it. She didn't have much of a point of reference, but it looked nice just as a dress. "I like the color. And it's much more…" Adora struggled to find the word she was looking for.
"You?" Bow suggested.
"Yes. Much more me."
"Well I think it's gorgeous," Bow said, teeming with excitement. "Let's go try it on!"
Adora agreed and Bow grabbed a couple more sizes before they made their way to the fitting rooms. The mall wasn't too busy since it was a Tuesday, so they didn't have to wait and Bow waited patiently outside as Adora got into a room and began to try them on.
The first couple she tried on were a little too small and Adora was starting to worry that there wouldn't be one that would fit her, but on her third try she managed to find a keeper.
She actually gasped lightly when she looked at herself in the mirror. It was beautiful. And more than that, it made her feel more confident. She didn't often think she was pretty, but in this dress she couldn't help but acknowledge that she looked pretty good.
Her examination was interrupted by a single, quiet knock on the door followed by Bow's voice. "Are any of those good? I can go grab more for you if you want."
"Well," Adora shifted slightly and viewed herself in the mirror again. "I...I think I really like this one."
"Oh good!" Came Bow's voice from the other side of the door.
"But you should tell me if it looks dumb or not," Adora said as she unlatched the door and pushed it open slightly.
Bow peered in and his face morphed into a huge grin the second he saw her. "Girl. That's definitely your dress. It looks absolutely incredible on you."
Adora was embarrassed by the flattery, but it was what she needed to hear and she suddenly felt better about getting it for herself.
"Then I think I want it," Adora said assuredly.
"Yeessss!" Bow celebrated. "I'm so proud of you! And Catra's gonna go nuts."
Adora smiled at this and admired herself in the mirror some more before eventually changing back and getting the dress.
Adora got back home before it was too late and greeted Angella, who was reading a book on the sofa.
"It's good to see you, Adora. How was school?"
"It was how it usually is," Adora answered honestly, not wanting to talk about Glimmer.
Angella could tell that she was holding something back, but chose not to push her any further on it. "And how was your time with Bow? I see you have a bag?"
Adora smiled and pulled the large bag around in front of her. "Well I meant to tell you about this. So...next week there's this big, uh, dance or whatever."
"The Fall Formal?" Angella questioned.
"Yeah that," Adora answered. She walked over and sat on the couch, dragging the bag along beside her. "And I wasn't planning on going, but... y'know...Catra kinda asked me if I wanted to go and...so…I got a dress!" Adora hoisted up the bag.
"Unzip it, let me see," Angella said excitedly, sitting up and putting her book down. Adora unzipped the bag and showed Angella the dress. "Oh, Adora. You'll look so good in that. It's beautiful."
"Thanks. I hope so. I've never really done the whole dress thing before, but I'm excited."
"And you bought this with your own money?"
"Well it turns out that it was on sale," Adora answered proudly. "So I had just enough."
"Well that's good, sweetie, but I would prefer if you just came to me when you needed money. Maybe I should just set you up with a card or something…" Angella said, more to herself than to Adora.
"You really don't have to," Adora responded quickly. "I don't wanna feel like I'm...taking advantage or anything."
Angella tilted her head and put a hand on Adora's shoulder. "You could never take advantage of me. I'll look into just setting you up with a debit card or something. And I'll just put spending money into your account each month."
Adora frowned. "I...I guess. Maybe I should just get a job?"
"I don't know, Adora. I won't stop you, but I'd rather you focus on school and spending time with your friends and me and Glimmer."
"I'll think about it."
"Well whatever you decide, I'll end up supporting you either way. But anyway, I'm happy that you get to go to this dance. How are you and Catra doing?"
"We're doing good! We've become really close... friends and stuff."
Angella had been a parent long enough to know what that meant. She smiled lightly.
"Well that's good. If you ever need anything or wanna talk you can trust me with anything. Alright?"
Adora nodded. "I know."
"Good. Come here." Angella held out her arms and Adora scooted into the hug. Angella hugged Adora tightly. "I was gonna make hot dogs, but both of you were gone when I got back so if you're hungry I can cook those up."
"Glimmer was gone too?"
"Yeah she was with a friend," Angella answered.
Adora wondered who Glimmer would be hanging out with. Was there a friend of hers that Adora hadn't met? She shrugged it off for the time being.
Adora made some hot dogs and her and Angella talked a while longer about the dance and what they'd do to get her ready.
After a while, Adora excused herself and went upstairs to do some homework. She worked on school stuff and put a little more time into her and Lonnie's project. They had gotten a lot done, but Adora couldn't see them working together too well in the future.
She was just starting to feel good about her progress when she heard a quiet knock at her door.
"Come in!" Adora answered, certain it was Angella.
When the door slowly creaked open and Adora saw Glimmer standing in the doorframe, she nearly had to do a double check.
"Glimmer…" Adora said, not sure what to say.
Glimmer fidgeted in place a bit, shuffling a little in the doorway. She looked uncomfortable. "Hey."
It was one of the first things Glimmer had said to her in days that wasn't fueled by anger.
"Hey," Adora responded, staring questioningly at her foster sister, trying to figure out what was going on in her head.
"I, uh," Glimmer started nervously. "I just wanted to say...I...I don't...hate you." Glimmer frowned at her own words and tried to figure out what she wanted to tell Adora. "I'm still feeling hurt. And it's really hard to watch you two hanging out with Catra at lunch like you've already forgotten about me. And I'm mad all the time. Either mad or sad or...or jealous. But what I'm saying is...I could...maybe start to try to...forgive you. Both of you."
"Glimmer, I...we don't sit with Catra to get at you. It's just...without you we would be sitting alone at our old table and it'd be really lonely. But Glimmer we really do miss you! Bow was pretty optimistic at first but now he just cries all the time."
Glimmer looked genuinely upset at this and nodded. "Yeah that's Bow for you."
"And we'll keep saying we're sorry. Because we really are." Adora scooted to the side of her bed a little. "Do you wanna come talk about it."
Glimmer looked up at Adora and took a half a step forward before shaking her head and backing up. "Not tonight. I'm still...I just don't wanna say anything I'll regret. But soon. Me and you and Bow can talk. If you want."
"That is all I want. I miss you so much, Glimmer." Adora said softly. She desperately wished Glimmer would just come sit with her.
Glimmer nodded slowly. "Yeah. I miss you too," she said, her voice a whisper. "Goodnight. I'll, uh, see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight," Adora responded quietly as Glimmer gave her one last look and slipped back out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
Adora sat there on her bed for a while longer, processing everything. She felt a surge of relief as she finally realized that Glimmer was coming around. She grinned and punched at the air excitedly. And then she did what she always did now when she was excited and had nobody to share it with.
She called Catra.
A LOT of hugging and emotions in that one! But maybe things are looking up from here. We can see a little more of Lonnie and see what happens with these new friendships being made and changed. Very excited. And the dance. Don't even get me started on the dance. It's gonna be fun going forward! And hopefully less sad! Thanks for reading everyone and I really really hope you all stay safe and healthy and happy.