CHAPTER FIVE:

OCTOBER FEVER!

0

Catra knocks three times— tap, tap, tap—on Glimmer's door and lets herself in.

"Hey." Glimmer's sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, laptop in her lap. It looks like she's working on some homework but knowing Glimmer she's probably just shopping. "How was detention with the coach from hell and the blonde from your past?"

Catra closes the door to buy time and privacy. "Huntara just locked us in a room and said be free and, Adora and I have made up in a sense."

Glimmer gasps. "That's great! Now there won't be any tension at my yacht party."

"Yes, I made up with my old best friend to make you comfortable at your party."

"Thank you." Glimmer pretends like there are tears in her eyes. "But seriously, you seem off...anything you want to talk about?"

Catra nods. "I need a favor, actually."

"Oh?"

"I want you to tell me everything you know about She Ra and her role in the war against the alliance and the Lost Ones."

"Oh." Catra watches Glimmer's face carefully, she's gotten pretty good at reading people over the years—being lied to so many times has helped her pick apart every detail—it also helps that she's committed Glimmer's face to memory. Call it a second agenda, call it a tactic she's picked up, but while Catra has cherished the time she and Glimmer have spent together it was also enlightening. She thought she knew her well enough but suddenly there's a shadow cloaking Glimmer's face. It's unfamiliar.

Catra doesn't trust it.

"Yeah, you know about She Ra right?" Catra stalks around the room, trailing her claw along the dresser without looking away from Glimmer's face. But there's no change, her heart doesn't even falter in its tempo. Catra finds it very unsettling. "Adora."

Glimmer smiles. A feeble attempt at something that should comfort her. Catra forces her hand not to clench into a telling fist. "Adora, yeah, of course you know...you've been friends since forever. Shouldn't you be asking her about this?"

"I have but she doesn't know much."

"Maybe she's not telling you everything. Maybe she has to keep some things secret?"

Catra almost chokes down a laugh but decides to let it loose to dissolve some of the tension. She makes it one of those squeaky little cackles, almost a giggle, a sound she makes when she's feeling playful. "Adora couldn't lie to me even if she tried." It does the trick. Glimmer's expression weakens, that passive mask melts into something familiar.

"Yeah, she sucks at lying." Glimmer says after a moment, "I don't know everything about the war, it's not like I was there but...She Ra, the one at the time, was fighting with the alliance to take out the...Lost Ones." Her mouth twitches when she says the word—it's foreign to her.

"What were they fighting for?"

Glimmer is quiet again. She stares at Catra with unyielding eyes. "Probably Etheria."

"...the magic."

"You know?" Glimmer frowns.

"No, Adora mentioned it to me when we were in middle school right before she left for training. She said there's magic all around us, I just didn't think it was worth fighting over. The rest of the world goes on fine without it." Catra opens the door. She has a feeling this is all she's going to get out of this conversation. "Maybe I'll go check out a library and do some reading."

Glimmer cracks a smile. "You read?"

"Occasionally." Catra says. "Goodnight, Sparkles."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

1

It was not easy getting to sleep after her conversation with Glimmer last week. The twist of Glimmer's lips on the word— Lost Ones —keeps her awake long after the sun has risen, it even haunts her in class when it creeps into her daydreams. It drives her. Catra spends her lunch period with a half eaten sandwich hanging from her mouth as she searches the library for anything on a forgotten war. She comes up empty, in fact, the books on Etherian history are conveniently checked out. She doesn't have the emotional endurance to ask Adora for help least she risks another deep conversation she's not in the mood for so Catra focuses on lowering the heat. For now, she'll let it go and pretend like nothing has changed.

A big part of this scheme comes into play on the third week of October when the unexpected happens—Catra Moore wakes up on time, and on a Monday morning nonetheless. It takes a lot out of her (she has to splash three palm fills of water in her face to achieve it) but it's worth seeing Glimmer almost fall flat on her face when she comes down the stairs late per usual.

Glimmer does a double take when she finds Catra eating cereal at the kitchen table. She rubs her eyes. "Am I still dreaming?"

"Let me see...Nope. You're still wearing that school girl uniform. It's probably not a dream, it's a nightmare, Sparkles." Catra looks at the time and finishes the milk from her bowl. She tosses her dirty dish in the sink and rushes to gather her bag for class. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

Glimmer looks at her parents with desperate eyes. "What is happening?"

Micah grins. "Indoor track officially starts today."

"Already?" Glimmer's eyes go wide.

"Yeah. Time flies when you're having fun." Micah says with glee.

"You mean time flies when you're holding a stopwatch while I do all the running and heavy lifting?" Catra huffs.

"Specifics." Micah shrugs.

Catra sticks her tongue out at him.

"I'm sorry." Glimmer shakes her head. "I'm still trying to get over the fact that Catra is actually trying to get to school on time."

Angela mutters into her cup of tea. "If I knew this was all it took for her to show up to class on time I would've moved up the start date for the season. Unfortunately, there is no force strong enough to make her take off that atrocious leather jacket."

Catra chooses to ignore the dig at her jacket (for now), and throws a banana in Glimmer's unsuspecting face. "Hurry up."

Glimmer glowers at her. "I don't even know who you are right now, you must be some evil doppelganger set out to ruin my life. My instincts are telling me to ride with mom today."

"Don't worry," Catra smirks from the door frame "you and she can sing along to Opera music when she takes you home after school."

Glimmer looks mortified. " What ? You're not driving me home today?"

"Unless you want to wait until 5." Catra says.

"This is so unfair!" Glimmer actually stomps her foot. Catra thought this shit only happened in movies and dumb TV shows. "I've already had to take the bus when Catra was in detention."

"Oh! I know what you can do."

"What?"

"Get your license." Catra deadpans.

"You know I only turn 16 in two months!" Glimmer is fuming but she snatches the banana and chases after Catra, bickering all the way.

Micah shakes his head. "Those two argue so much."

"They do."

"You're smiling? I'm sorry, I thought arguing was a bad thing."

"Micah," she grabs his hand and squeezes "they sound like sisters ."

2

Adora chains her bike up at the front of the school just as the first wave of busses arrive at their designated drop off location at the front entrance of BMA. She shoulders her book bag and heads to the cafeteria where her friends are likely hanging out as they await the first bell for class. There's a good half hour before class begins but she needs all the time she can get. Catra has unsurprisingly gone back to ignoring her, or at least—she's minimizing the amount of contact she has with her. It puts a dent in her plans because 1) she thought they were making progress in mending their friendship and 2) Catra is the key.

After the Crystal Cave, Adora told Razz what happened. Razz promised to look into it and maybe send some friends to stabilize the heart. In the meantime, now that she knows what it feels like to use She Ra's power, Adora has tried to reenact it, and so far each trial has ended in failure. Using the sword only seems to make it worse.

"Hey Bow." She taps his shoulder when he doesn't respond right away. "Hello?"

Bow startles. "Oh hey, sorry I didn't see you."

"I can see that. What's going on?"

"It's been a weird morning overall," Bow confesses. "Sea Hawk is in the headmistress's office because he accidently set Mermista's bookbag on fire when he was trying to do this magic trick or something. Mermista said she was freaked out by it but Glimmer swears she saw her blushing."

Adora pouts. "Man, I always miss the good stuff. What else happened?"

"Well, the stray cat that hangs around the turf field has gone from Mark to Marcy. She had kittens! Perfuma put them in a box with some blankets and milk right before she drove back home so...she's not coming back to class for a while." Bow grins sheepishly when he notices her crestfallen face. "What? We named one after you!"

Adora snorts. "Gee thanks."

Bow nods over to the other side of the cafeteria. "Oh, and Catra showed up super early."

Adora follows his gaze. Catra's on the cafeteria floor stretching her hamstrings, Glimmer is sitting at the table adjacent shaking her head with a pained expression as she watches on. "What is happening?" Adora whispers.

"Track season. I've never seen her so focused."

Adora asks, "what time is practice?"

"I think after school, and it's more of a tryout kind of thing. Mermista is going to be there too, she claims she's doing some project for class or something and she needs to observe people but I think it's just a way for her to get out of swim practice so she can check up on Sea Hawk in detention." They step into the crossfire. "Glimmer...you doing okay?"

"Me? I'm fine. She's the lunatic."

Catra's ear twitches in Glimmer's direction but she doesn't say a word.

Adora sits crossed legged on the floor next to Catra while Bow tries to calm Glimmer down. "Hey," she nods awkwardly, stumbling on her words when Catra looks up, "why are you on the floor?"

"I know I get on you a lot for being an idiot but I thought even you'd know what stretching is."

Adora knocks her foot into Catra's, grinning. "You're such an asshole."

"You make it too easy." Catra says, "I'm going to be sitting in class pretending to pay attention all day so I need to stretch my legs. I don't want them to be tight at practice. Remember when we went for a jog in the park that one time? I told you to stretch—"

"I did!"

"—all you did was jump up and down like you were some dumb boxer getting ready for a match. We barely got past the block before you pulled a hammy."

Adora shudders. "I still get flashbacks."

"It was like 20 degrees out. I told you to stretch but you didn't listen."

"So anyway," she's over talking about the most embarrassing moments in her childhood "track is starting today. That's exciting."

Catra shrugs. "I guess."

"You guess?" Glimmer looks betrayed. "Guys, she was eating cereal this morning. Track has changed her."

"And you say I'm dramatic."

Glimmer glares at her sister. "You better be back to normal for Saturday."

Adora frowns. "What's on Saturday?"

"No way." Catra grins. "You didn't invite her? This day keeps getting better."

Adora thinks Catra meant to whisper the last part but knowing her it was intentional. Truce or not, there's still a lot they need to talk about—if only Catra would talk to her seriously for just a minute.

Glimmer rolls her eyes. "I did invite her. I sent you an invitation in the mail but it got sent back to me."

"Razz doesn't trust mailboxes."

Catra's interest is piqued. "Then what does she use?"

"Owls."

"I also sent you a text. Last week." Glimmer mentions.

Adora was busy trying not to get buried alive in the Crystal Cave. "...must've slipped my mind?"

Glimmer claps her hands drawing attention to them (more attention than Catra doing her warm up in the cafeteria). "Okay listen up. My yacht party is going to be amazing and I will not have the two of you ruin it by being yourselves—"

"Glimmer!"

"It's true!" Glimmer points at Adora, and then at Catra, glaring. "No owls and none of...whatever this is."

"Relax Sparkles," Catra's face softens which is not fair at all because she has barely given Adora the time of day let alone a look like that "your party is going to be awesome."

Glimmer lowers her guard. "Thank you."

"Whatever. It's not like I—"

"Should we get to class?" Adora's mouth moves without her permission. They give her weird looks. She scratches her neck and gives a weak argument. "Don't want to be late."

Catra checks the time and shrugs. "She's not wrong."

It makes Adora laugh harder than she has in a while.

3

"Ladies!" Micah commands the track with a presence so powerful Catra almost doesn't recognize him. "Welcome to the first day of tryouts for BMA's indoor track season, we're going to do things a little bit differently this year. Usually we have you all do the work out together but this year we're going to let you pick which event group you would like to join and then your group will have a specialized workout. Until then, you can all do your warmup as a group—"

"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm late." Adora, of all people, runs out to join the huddle. She steps in near the back to hide herself but Catra sees her ponytail bobbing over the crowd.

"We were just getting started." Micah says. "Go ahead and start your warmup, the seniors will lead you. Good luck ladies." He joins the other coaches out on the grass to have a meeting of their own.

Adora jogs up beside her. "Hey—"

"What are you doing here?" Catra keeps her voice lowered, they're already getting looks from the girls jogging ahead of them. She's not sure but she wouldn't be surprised if some of them were in the gym during their little incident . "Following me?"

Adora takes too long to respond.

"Seriously?" Catra snaps.

"No. No! I'm not...not exactly." Adora smiles, sheepish. "I just thought it would be cool to join a club, plus it's great exercise for my She Ra training I do on the side."

"Whatever. Just stay out of my way." Catra jogs to the front and doesn't look back. Truce or not, she has come too far to be outshined by Adora. She didn't care when Adora beat her at bike racing when they were 13...they went all the way around the block and back, encouraged by the cheers of their friends who lived with them at Weaver's place. Catra remembers losing by a hair, feeling cheated by the cheap bike Weaver copped off the street for her compared to Adora's fancy speeder. It was the longest ride home, having to swallow her pride and listen to everyone praise the golden child all the way back.

Catra has been running her entire life. There's no way Adora's going to beat her at this.

After four laps around the track the seniors lead them in the basic stretches and drills. When everyone is warmed up the five coaches join them on the track standing 6 feet apart and in the middle of it all is Micah.

"The event groups are as follows; throwers, sprinters, and jumpers. If you're a thrower join coach Chris, sprinters with coach Manti, and jumpers you're with me." Micah walks to the start line with coach Manti while the other coaches break off into the grass.

Catra is the first to step up to the line. Adora's the second. "Seriously?" Catra keeps it short because she isn't going to waste her energy arguing with Adora.

"I like jumping." Adora does a stupid bounce on the tip of her toes.

Catra grunts, "it's not that kind of jumping you moron."

"I thought this was the jump group," some girl asks "why is the sprint coach here? No offense."

Micah smiles. "All the best jumpers are sprinters."

Coach Monti frowns. "If you expected to avoid running by choosing this event group then I suggest you leave the track right now. And don't think about joining the throwers because they sprint just like the rest of us. This is not an after school club, this is Track and Field."

Micah pulls out his stop watch. "Jumpers! On the line. Today we're doing repeat 300's."

"What are 300's?" Adora whispers.

Catra sighs. "The entire track is 400 meters, and it's cut into four even sections—100 meters exactly. So a 300 is like running ¾ of the track."

"How ma—"

Catra covers Adora's mouth. She whispers, "never ask how many reps we're doing or they'll add on more."

"Runners on your mark..." Micah begins.

Catra gets into position.

"Get set..."

Her foot toes the line.

"Go!"

Catra drives off the ball of her foot like she's been trained to, it helps drive her forward and with each stride she powers her movements with her arms. She lets her arms lead the motion of her legs—driving them forward. Ripping at the track. It's impossible to concentrate on every technique Micah has taught her—now is the time to rely on muscle memory. She clears her head and focuses on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth.

Months of training helps her to ensure that every time her foot strikes the ground, it pulls her body forward. Soon Catra is ripping down the track with the wind in her hair. It's reminiscent of her adolescence, but she's not in the park and this time she's not running away from anything—she's running towards something. And by the time she reaches the 200 meter mark Catra breaks from the pack and is leading the group.

When her arms get tired she pushes her hips up to maintain her posture. She's nearing the end when Adora passes her halfway to the finish line. Adora sprints at full speed until she gets to the finish.

"43!" Micah shouts Adora's time.

Catra crosses the line after her. "47!"

Not too long after, the rest of the girls slowly trickle in. Micah shouts the remaining times, and once everyone is finished he tells them to walk for 100 meters and get back on the line for the next set.

When she looks over she sees Adora hunched over, gripping her knees, heaving. "Pretty...good...right?"

Catra keeps her arms above her head to get oxygen to her lungs faster. She looks down at Adora and takes in her flushed cheeks and wind riddled ponytail.

"You're an idiot."

Adora manages to come in first during the initial two races, but as the rests in between get shorter she starts to break down. Catra makes sure she paces herself with every rep, not going all out, when the other girls start slowing down Catra steadies herself and leads the group. Adora may have beaten her the first two reps but by the time practice is over Catra comes out on top for the last six.

"Great work today ladies! And make sure you get a good cool down in."

Adora is practically hanging off the fence. Catra only spares her a glance and breaks into a jog to get her cool down over with.

"Catra!" Mermista is waving her over from the other side of the track. Out of curiosity (not because her legs are sore) she goes over to where Mermista is hanging out with some muscular girl with a pixie cut—hair dyed white?

It works for her, Catra thinks.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Bow said you're on the swim team." She leans against the fence.

Mermista shrugs. "I am, but coach let me skip so I could—"

"You were amazing!" The white haired teen has a smile stretched across her face. She all but squeals. "Sorry to interrupt—"

"It's whatever." Mermista looks at her nails.

"But you looked so good out there!"

Catra's face heats up. She stammers, "oh. Thank you?"

"This is Scorpia and she's a...thrower? Is that what it's called?"

"Correct!" Scorpia grins. "We had a break in between sets and saw you killing it on the track."

Mermista nods. "Not bad for your first practice ever."

"Micah has been training me for most of the summer so I got in pretty good shape I guess. But uhm," Catra isn't good at this making friends thing, the kids in the orphanage are more like a forced family she grew to care about over time "I would love to check you guys out when you start throwing. Or in the weight room, I need to get my bench weight up and my squats too."

"What do you squat?"

"190 on a good day."

Mermista whistles. "Impressive. That's like our warmup at my practices."

Catra laughs at the quip. She decides that she likes Mermista. "Yeah well, Micah says jumpers need to have strong legs."

"What kind of jumps are you interested in?"

Catra stretches her quad so her legs don't get stiff while she's standing around. "Triple jump and long jump."

Scorpia pulls out her phone. "We basically live in the weight room. What's your number? Maybe the three of us can get a workout in some time."

Catra nods. "Yeah, that actually sounds good." She puts her number in Scorpia's phone.

"This isn't the first time I've seen you," Scorpia teases the loose strand on her hoodie and struggles to make eye contact "I think you're in my gym class? I was there during that epic game between you and She Ra."

Catra frowns. "Really? I didn't see you."

"Yeah, I've heard I'm not very noticeable." Catra obviously thinks that is a lie and wants to claw the face of the person who let this marshmallow believe it but Scorpia isn't done rambling. "I also saw you walk towards the cafeteria during 4th period and then turn around so I think we have lunch together? And I know you're probably too cool to hang out with us but if you ever wanted somewhere to sit at lunch we would love to have you. Right Mermista?"

"I guess," her tone is dry but her lip quirks up in a light smile.

"I'm usually just in the library hiding from all the noise but I'll think about it. And I should probably finish my cool down before the coaches make me do another rep or something. I'll see you guys around." Catra gets back to her cool down lap and falls behind a couple girls. There's low chatter behind her, usually she'd pay no mind to it but something they say makes her ear twitch subtly in their direction.

"...I'm serious, she's the girl who took on She Ra in the gym last week."

"I told you she was fast."

"Looks like it's a tie now."

"Not for long. Catra's gonna come back, just watch."

Catra speeds up until the whispers die down into a hush.

4

After practice is over Adora takes a lone walk of shame to her bike. She almost thinks she isn't going to make it but eventually she's able to get on the seat—it bites into her sore butt muscles and they screams for her to get off. She's wary of putting her foot on the pedal, isn't sure if her body can take it, when the car everyone's been talking about pulls up beside her. Catra leans out of the window and nods. "Do you need a ride?"

Adora looks at the sleek BMW and then to her beaten down bike that's grown rusty over the years. She always hated this bike, but Weaver insisted on giving her something new and flashy when all she's ever wanted was something more comfortable like the bike Catra had. "I don't think your car can hold my bike without messing up your seats." She gestures to the dried up mud caked to her bike tires.

"Then leave the bike and walk tomorrow."

Adora's face twists up. If she walks to school she'll be disheveled and sweaty by the time she gets to class (being a teenager sucks). "I can just bike, it's fine."

Catra grunts, "get in the car Adora, you were just throwing up and I'm not going to be responsible for you passing out on the way home. If you're so worried about tomorrow then Glimmer and I will pick you up for class."

It sounds like a decent solution and she's dreading a bike ride home so she gives. Adora locks her bike back up and gets into the passenger seat. "Do you remember how to—"

"You live in a cottage in the woods. Of course I remember how to get there." Catra turns on the radio to drown out the silence and any chance for conversation. Adora is too tired to fight for the scraps leftover from their friendship, today has been long and unbearable and all she wants to do is go home and eat something greasy. She leans against the window, embraces the chill radiating from it, and takes in the passing blur of trees.

"Why did you show up today?" She doesn't notice the music has lowered dramatically until Catra speaks. "Why are you trying out for track? You've never cared about it before and you've done a shit ton of sports. And don't say you're passionate about it because you're obviously not.

"I bet you thought you could show up and impress everyone by beating me, like you've always done, but this isn't something you can win at."

Adora rubs her forehead in time with the throbbing. "That's not what this was about."

"Then fucking enlighten me." Catra snaps. "You can't just show up at my track like we're best friends. You don't know what I've had to deal with since you've been gone—"

"Because you won't tell me!"

"Because I don't trust you!" Catra shoots back.

"...yeah," Adora swallows back an insult of her own because Catra isn't the only one who's hurting "that much is clear."

Catra shakes her head. She speaks again but this time she's lacking the bite she previously used. "You just thought you could win everyone over but we have all trained over the summer, Adora. We sacrificed most of our mornings and nights for this because we love the sport and it really pisses me off that you—"

"I did it for you."

Catra's jaw drops but she catches it just as quickly as it had fallen. When she glances at her Adora turns her head—she doesn't want to see her face right now. "What are you talking about?"

"...I've never been able to use She Ra's power, not even with the sword, I asked Razz what she thought about it and she told me that maybe my power comes from emotions." Adora ducks her head. "All I remember is wanting to protect you and then suddenly...I made a connection."

Catra scoffs. "So you think I'm some kind of key and you only want me around so you can use your stupid powers."

"No," Adora frowns "I just…okay, yes, it does have something to do with that but I do care about you Catra. You know I do."

"Well maybe you should start acting like it because I'm starting to forget."

"Look I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry Erma is planning something with the heart and I'm sorry I have to focus on my responsibilities with She Ra before I can fix our friendship...there's just not enough time."

"You know what? I was wrong. You haven't changed at all, you're still making dumb excuses to justify the fact that all you do is focus on She Ra instead of living in the moment and being here for the people who need you." Catra should be falling apart but her voice is surprisingly calm. "I thought I understood you, after the cave I thought maybe it justified what you did but now...I can own up to making a mistake. A momentary lapse in judgment."

The car stops. Adora looks out the window and sees the cottage illuminated by the candles inside each window.

"Let me get one thing straight." Catra sets her with a hard look and soon Adora is frozen—fear crawls up her legs, it keeps creeping up until it makes itself at home. Maybe a permanent resident. "We are not friends. I will be respectful to you, and for Glimmer's sake I won't make a scene at her party or around our friends. I won't speak to you unless it has something to do with this secret that we've come across but make no mistake—when this is over, I'm done."

Catra unlocks the doors blindly. "Glimmer and I will be here to get you in the morning."

Adora fumbles at the door handle. She gets out, lingers by the open door, before she mutters "I told Razz what happened at the cave...she went down to investigate the status of the heart and said it's worse for wear so she might have to call in some friends to help her but it should be fixed soon enough."

Catra waits.

"And I told her about the carvings we saw on the cave wall but she said she didn't see them when she went."

"Goodnight Adora."

She closes the door at the obvious dismissal and gives a stiff nod. "Goodnight."

This time Catra doesn't wait to see if Adora makes it inside safely before she drives off. And when Adora looks in the bathroom mirror she's startled by the tears streaking her blotched face.

5

When she gets home a weight is magically lifted off her shoulders when she sees Micah standing in the living room like a creep (she saw him peeking at her from the blinds while she parked the car). He has his arms behind his back but she's distracted by the smile that breaks across his face.

"This isn't creepy at all." Catra jokes, dumping her stuff to the floor before meeting him halfway. She startles when he reveals a well wrapped box that's about the same size of a shoe box. He's not very good at being secretive. "You got me new shoes?"

Micah shakes his head. "Spikes actually, for triple jump, we're going to be doing some drills in the sand next week so you're going to need them."

"You wrapped them? Seriously?"

"I couldn't help myself."

Catra takes the box and smiles. "Thank you."

"You did great today. All the coaches were impressed," he hesitates "I shouldn't be telling you this but when our seniors are gone the team will need new captains and right now you're a candidate."

Catra frowns. "How? It was my first day."

"We saw you check up on Adora after practice." Her stomach hurls—great, another thing she's gotten because Adora's involved. She wishes she could just have one thing to herself, something that doesn't revolve around her relationship with Adora. "It was very kind of you and we need a captain who cares about her team."

Catra plasters on a fake smile. "Thanks for telling me. I'll open this tomorrow though because I am exhausted." They say goodnight and Catra goes up to her room while Micah heads to Angela's office where the light peeks out from under the door.

Catra stops outside her room, her ears twitch backwards, she snorts "I can hear your heavy ass breathing."

Glimmer's door opens. "I don't breathe that heavy."

"Yeah you do." Catra puts the box under her arm and leans back into the frame of her door. "What's going on?"

Glimmer shrugs. "Nothing."

"You were just standing by your door waiting for me to get home like a creep for nothing? Sure." Catra frowns. "I'm really not in the mood for forcing answers out of you so can you either tell me why you've been acting crazy all day or leave me alone so I can get some sleep?"

Glimmer looks away. "I just…" she trails off.

"Spit it out!"

"I miss you!" Glimmer snaps. "There? Are you happy now?"

Catra doesn't get it. "How can you miss me when I live with you? I'm literally standing right here."

"You can miss someone even when they're right in front of you," Glimmer is amused for a moment but soon she's sliding down to the ground with a sad pout. Catra copies her because she's been on her feet all day and needs a break. "We used to sing off key to the radio on the ride home from class, and we used to hang out after school playing video games together, and we used to sleep in on purpose to give mom a hard time. But now you have practice and I barely even saw you today—and you woke up so early! It's like I don't even know you anymore."

Catra wishes she was better at this stuff. "I'm still me , I just have responsibilities now. But I'm not like—just because I have priorities doesn't mean you're not one."

"I know…change is just hard I guess."

Catra nods. "Not if we do it together...and we can still hang out on the weekends, and I might not be able to sleep in to piss off Angela but I can give you a new uniform that'll make her faint."

Glimmer laughs. "I know you're going to hate me when I say this but...I like the skirt. I do! It's cute."

"And to think I was proud of you once."

"Very funny." Glimmer bites her lip, hesitating. "I know you've had a long day so if you want to get some sleep—"

"It's fine."

"Yeah?"

Catra smirks. "Of course, I can't go to bed without telling you how Adora threw up chunks at practice after I beat her at a test of endurance."

Glimmer covers her mouth. "No way."

"Yeah." Catra snorts. "It was awesome."

"I'm sorry," Glimmer says in between laughs "I'm not making fun of her or anything but that's so funny. I didn't even know she was interested in track."

"There's a lot we don't know." Catra mutters a bit too dark.

Glimmer picks up on it and asks, "hey...you guys are still friends right? The truce still stands?"

Catra makes sure her smile doesn't falter when she says, "of course."

I had like 3 extra chapters of this story posted on AO3 but I guess I forgot to post them on this site as well so here it goes. Check my account on that site if you're a fan, I may have some stories over there that I haven't posted on this site. Most are She Ra stories but I have a new Owl House fic too.