"Hey baby girl, what's up?"

"Hi dad." Adora had immediately called Micah after leaving the commandant's office. She just really needed her real dad right now, not unsympathetic Hordak. "I hope this is a good time."

"It's always a good time to hear your voice."

"I really miss you, dad," said Adora, and to her embarrassment, she felt tears sting her eyes without her permission. "I really miss my old life. I miss Bow and Glimmer."

"I bet," said Micah. She could hear people talking in the background.

"Are you sure this is a good time?" Adora asked again.

"Of course! Let me move to a quieter room." She heard shuffling and a door closing, then the background voices cut out. " I'm sorry you're not having a good time. "

"What's weird is that sometimes I do have a good time. But there's this girl here who hates me for literally no reason and goes out of her way to make my life a living hell. I just got in trouble from Hordak because of her."

"Hordak lectured you? Well I guess he is your principal, huh?"

"No, he gave me a punishment. I have to basically be the errand girl for their drill team. They throw guns around for show. It's like football but for military school."

"Just think, it could have been worse - he could have made you shave your head!"

Adora didn't tell him that hair cutting was one of the reasons she was in trouble.

"Is there something you can do about this girl you don't like?"

"It's not even that I don't like her, it's that she hates me! We could maybe be friends if she wasn't so angry all the time. Anyway, I'm sorry I'm ranting to you. I just wanted to catch up."

"No worries, baby girl. Again, I'm sorry that this has been hard for you. But I believe in you, I really think you'll come out of this stronger and happier than ever."

"You say that about everything, even when I failed ballet when I was five."

"I will always believe in you."

"Thanks, dad. I love you."

"Love you too, baby girl."

Adora was to report to the drill team practices starting Monday. Scorpia, who had already forgiven her for cutting Stone's hair and stealing the pins from her uniform, gave Adora a preliminary tour of the locker rooms where the equipment was held. She was also shown where all the cleaning supplies were and how to use them. It was incredible to Adora how much went into cleaning and polishing everything. The cleaning procedures were way more complicated than Adora thought was absolutely necessary.

"It's super important to have everything in tip-top shape," said Scorpia, nudging a crooked uniform back into place. "Part of our score in competitions comes from appearance."

"Who would have thought military types were so vain," said Adora, reading the label on a bottle of polish. It had a 5-step process for shining metal.

"It's more of the meticulous standards that us 'military types' have. They want to make sure we all look exactly the same, not a hair out place!"

"Right," said Adora, her eye catching on Stone's locker. The sight of the cadet captain's drill uniform caused the same visceral fight-or-flight reaction in Adora as when meeting her face-to-face.

"We really appreciate that you're here," said Scopia kindly, giving Adora a smile. It was unnecessary to remind Scorpia that she was only here because of her prank on Stone but Adora was grateful for the sergeant's sweet words now more than ever.

Adora was expected to be at every drill team practice. This was really going to eat into her free time in the evenings, of which she already had little. If she had sorely missed the Best Friend Squad before, she didn't know what she would feel when she'd only be able to talk to them on the weekends.

Adora found that she didn't have a whole lot to do during practice except watch the proceedings. It was boring during the long stretches where Huntara Crimson taught the team a step (or choreography or whatever it was called) but when they began running it and stringing the moves together, Adora found (to her immense surprise) that it was fascinating to watch. When the team really got it and were all in sync it was like watching a dance, just without any music. The marching steps and slams of the rifle made beats of their own. Huntara's commands punctuated the flow, leading the team flawlessly.

Adora's actual work began after practice was over. When the team was dismissed, they each passed by Adora and gave their rifles and other gear to her. Some muttered thanks to her, others threw their equipment at her without looking. Scorpia would give her a huge smile and say, "Gosh, Adora, I'm so happy you're here! What would we do without you?" This was the complete opposite of Stone, who roughly shoved her rifle into Adora's arms, making her stumble back, then threw the rest of her gear at Adora's feet with a "maggot" for good measure.

A good hour would then be spent cleaning and polishing all twelve sets of equipment in the dark and silent locker room. Adora even took to singing to herself, making up songs to pass the time. Many of them featured a mean, dastardly cadet captain.

She would then stumble back to building three just in time for inspection, ready to fall into bed and do it all over the next day.

A couple of times Entrapta came to sit with Adora at practice. They would talk and giggle and Entrapta would make notes about the goings-on. Sometimes she would bring a little robot she'd made and let Adora drive it around the outskirts of the gym floor. Other times, she would be kind enough to stay and help Adora finish the cleaning so she could get out early. Military life was all about teamwork after all.

Without warning, the fall drill competition crept up on them all. They were to all hop on the GWMA bus and drive three hours south to display all of their hard work in front of a panel of judges.

The weekend before the competition, Adora was at home eating dinner with Octavia and Hordak. Octavia seemed surprised to hear how positively Adora talked of the drill team and her role in it. A smug, knowing look was traded with Hordak, who winked at his wife.

"What?" said Adora, catching this exchange.

"I was on my drill team back in school," said Hordak, a hint of wistfulness in his voice.

"Oh really?" said Adora, shoveling a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. She had been talking so much she'd forgotten to eat.

"I was. I know that is hard to believe."

"No, not at all," said Adora around her mouthful. She swallowed painfully. "I could totally see you nerding out about throwing fake guns around."

"Adora," scolded Octavia, passed her the green beans.

"It was a great honor in my family," continued Hordak. "I remember my father was so proud when I got onto the team."

"I'm sure he was," said Octavia, shooting Adora a glare, who made a face back.

"Maybe I should try out," said Adora nonchalantly.

Hordak made a noncommittal grunt, spearing a green bean with his fork.

"If you want, sweetie," said Octavia. "Do you think she could get on the team, Hordak?"

"Perhaps," said Hordak, not looking up.

That was all she needed to hear; he didn't think she had what it took to get on the team.

Scorpia sat next to Adora on the bus ride to the fall drill competition.

"Don't you usually sit with Catra?" Adora asked, staring at the back of the cadet captain's braided head. That one piece of bang was still sticking straight up.

"I do, yeah, but sometimes she likes to be alone on competition days. She likes to get in the zone, ya know?" said Scorpia, chuckling. "Silly Catra."

Adora suspected that Stone had shooed the sergeant away. The loyalty that Scorpia had for Stone was astounding. Adora thought Scorpia deserved a much more stable person to call her best friend but of course Adora couldn't say anything about it. All she could do was gently encourage more time spent with herself, Adora, instead. Stone didn't seem to mind being alone all the time, brooding.

In fact, Stone had seemed less and less interested in torturing Adora as the weeks went on. Maybe she was finally content with her victory at cadet court and seeing Adora as the lowly equipment manager was enough to quell whatever secret vendetta she had against Adora. Whatever it was, it was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing not to be verbally harassed all the time; she could actually enjoy her time at GWMA. It was a curse because the less Stone interacted with Adora, the more Adora was intrigued by her. Could she somehow win the cadet captain over as a friend?

But there was something more pressing on Adora's mind, and that was the drill team try-outs in early January. After this competition she would only have a few weeks to decide how serious she was about it. What would Stone say if she found out that Adora wanted to be on the drill team? The thought made her stomach twist into knots.

On the way into the competition, Adora caught Stone's eye. She thought the cadet captain looked tired, drained, devoid of all emotion. She didn't even bother sending a glare or her usual sneer to Adora, just blankly looked away and moved on.

Minutes later, Adora approached Scorpia, who was adjusting a pin on her lapel.

"Is there something up with Stone?" she asked, trying not to sound as concerned as she felt. Why was she concerned? They weren't even friends.

"I don't think so," said Scorpia, puzzled. "Why? Did she say something to you? Should I go to her? Why wouldn't she talk to me about it?"

"I'm not saying there's something wrong," said Adora, rushing to assuage the sergeant's sudden panic. "She just seems oddly distant. She hasn't come over and insulted me at all today, just doesn't seem like her."

"Do you want her to insult you?"

"Well, no," said Adora quickly, then paused. Was that true? Did she… miss Stone's insults?

"Here, I'll go talk to her-" said Scorpia, about to approach Stone.

Adora reached out to stop her. "No, no, no, please don't. It really isn't a big deal. I was just curious. Promise you won't say anything to her? Definitely don't mention me."

"Well… if you say so," said Scorpia, unsure.

"You're awesome," said Adora, patting Scorpia's arm as the team headed into the stands. GWMA wasn't scheduled to perform for a few hours and so were forced to watch a few of the other school's presentations.

Adora tried her best to file away her concerns about Stone, instead focusing as hard as she could on the presentations below.

"What's happening?" she asked, leaning over to Scorpia. This was nothing Adora had seen before. There was one cadet out on the floor by herself, stomping, clapping, and slapping her own thighs in a tight rhythm.

"This is an unarmed solo," explained Scorpia in a whisper. "Usually it's only seniors who do it, but other cadets will sometimes get permission from their commandants as well."

"That's so cool," said Adora, entranced by this one cadet. How much confidence you had to have to command attention center-stage. What a nerve-wracking thing, to represent your school and team all by yourself!

About half an hour before GWMA was scheduled to be on the floor, Huntara bid the team leave the stands and head down to the locker rooms to get dressed. Although Adora wasn't even performing, she felt the team's heightened anxiety as each cadet came to grab their newly polished belts and shoes from their equipment manager.

When Stone came by to grab her accessories, she didn't acknowledge Adora at all. This was really starting to freak Adora out. Adora watched Stone struggle to clip the belt around her waist. Adora knew there was one with a bent buckle that didn't fasten correctly. She thought about going over and offering to swap it out for a new one, but when she turned to grab one, she found all the polished belts had been taken. Adora set about feverishly polishing a new belt just as she heard the judges calling the GWMA team on deck for the Exhibition Phase.

By the time Adora had the belt shiny enough to be worn, the team was marching in sync onto the gym floor in front of dozens of spectators. She took the belt with her, watching Stone closely from the sidelines.

Hutara got the team in position and waited on standby for the judges' go-ahead. Stone had realized her badly-clipped belt was sagging on her waist and began frantically fiddling with it, trying to straighten it. Huntara watched with hawk eyes until in a moment of complete cringe, the belt effectively fell apart in Stone's hands.

Adora had been waiting for such a moment. Before either Stone or Huntara had a chance to react, Adora was there, pulling the broken belt from Stone's hands. Adora quickly shoved the pieces into her pockets and took the new belt from around her neck where it had been hanging. Without thinking or even asking for permission, Adora reached around Stone's torso, nose scraping the cadet captain's lapel, and secured the new belt around Stone's waist. Adora straightened it out, then pulled back and saluted Stone, whose face had dissolved into what could only be described as shock. Hiding a smile, Adora removed herself from the gym floor, passing Huntara who nodded tightly to her in thanks.

Proud of herself, Adora watched the team's exhibition in a haze, heart pounding. Stone still seemed a little out of it, and Adora had seen them do better, but overall she thought it was a solid performance.

The judges thought they could do better too; GWMA didn't even place in the top three.

As they were packing up the bus to leave, Huntara approached Adora. "I appreciate the hustle from you, Collins. Stone's mistake would have cost us more than the competition - we would have been a laughingstock with the other schools. I know it was a punishment that you became the equipment manager, but you are really impressing me. Keep it up."

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am!" called Adora, saluting, a huge grin on her face. It always felt great to be good at something, even being an errand girl.

Adora was buzzing on the drive back to campus, a sharp contrast to the rest of the sullen team. There had been something about the rush of the competition that got Adora excited. The teams who had placed in the top three had done so well that she couldn't believe it. She was really starting to get on Hordak's level, to nerd out about throwing around a plastic rifle. Maybe it was a skill that someone should aspire to have.

Adora stared at the back of Stone's head, delusions of grandeur flashing through her mind. She was going to try out for the drill team next semester whether Stone laughed in her face or not. Adora had big plans for herself and Stone would not mess them up.