For the next few weeks, Adora kept it cool. She just went with the flow.
5:00 wake up.
5:15 morning inspection.
5:30 PT.
6:30 breakfast.
8:00 morning classes.
12:00 lunch.
13:00 afternoon classes.
17:30 dinner
18:30 drill team practice.
19:30 free time and/or unarmed duel practice with Catra.
20:45 evening inspection.
21:00 lights out.
And so the days went on, Adora trying not to think too hard about or force anything. She decided that although this arrangement was far from perfect, it was much better than the fall semester had been, with the constant fear of angering Catra and getting into fights that would lead to Hordak having to punish her in some way. On the contrary, Adora felt she had struck a very precarious balance.
FaceTime nights on Friday's with Bow and Glimmer distracted her from all things GWMA.
Weekends spent at home with a domestic Commandant Hordak and the ever-growing belly of a pregnant Octavia refreshed her for the week ahead.
The occasional texts and calls from Micah reminded her that there was life outside of her small military school bubble.
She helped Entrapta with her equipment manager duties after drill practices, and Entrapta in turn became Adora's private science and math tutor.
She spent meals with Scorpia and exchanged waves when they passed each other between classes.
Catra, for her part, treated Adora fairly at inspections and was becoming a brilliant duel partner. The about-face was almost surreal. She was still the same old cadet captain, just with about half the amount of her usual snark.
On this track, spring break arrived before Adora could even blink. The Friday afternoon before break, classes were released early; the teachers realized they weren't going to make any new information stick in the cadet's minds, distracted as they were. The weather had taken a turn for the better and Adora was soaking up the sun in the quad when she saw Catra emerging from the gym. Something about the warm sun on her back gave her an unfamiliar surge of confidence, and she called the cadet captain over.
Catra froze, eyes darting around the quad for the source of the shout. When she saw Adora, it was as though she was quickly calculating how to escape. It was still like this, was it?
Adora rose and jogged over to Catra, who still stood frozen on the sidewalk, watching Adora suspiciously.
"Hey, Catra! I was hoping to run into you."
Catra rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged on the left corner of her mouth. "What do you want, Collins?"
"I wondered if you had any plans for break."
"You know, I don't. I told you my whole life story, remember?" This was the first time that either of them had brought it up.
"Well... " continued Adora, looking down at her feet awkwardly, still probably expecting one of those old outbursts. "I thought I would invite you over for dinner again. I'll be home all week, so it could be any time."
"I'd rather not," Catra replied flatly, anchoring her hands on her hips.
"Why? Free food. And you could get off campus."
"Once again, thanks but no thanks."
"Okay but seriously, why? You have to give me a valid excuse."
And then Adora gave a staredown like she'd never given a staredown before. Catra scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Trust me, families don't want me in their homes. I've got plenty of experience with that."
"My mom would love to cook an extra plate. And it might be good for the commandant to see us hanging out and being friends."
"We're not friends," snapped Catra, and Adora could tell she was losing her.
Without thinking, Adora blurted out: "If you come, I'll try and convince my stepdad to give you your unarmed solo back."
Catra surveyed Adora incredulously. "Seriously?"
Adora swallowed a lump in her throat. She didn't want to give up all the work they'd done together, but if this was going to help Catra in the long run, so be it. "Of course."
Adora watched the cadet captain's face closely, but she masked it well. Finally...
"Okay. Fine."
Adora beamed at Catra, but underneath her stomach lurched. What had she just agreed to?
"We'll pick you up tomorrow at 5:00!" And without giving Catra or herself a chance to backpedal, Adora turned and fled the quad, smiling to herself.
"For the record," said Catra, raising her voice at Adora's retreating back. "This is not because I like you!"
Adora could not keep still that whole next day. Even Hordak said, "had too much coffee today, cadet?" after the third time she got up to do a lap around the house.
"Something like that," said Adora. The thought of Catra coming over was certainly affecting her like a drug; it made her nervous and excited all at once. She didn't know where one emotion ended and the other began; they both made her stomach churn.
Adora was ready to hop in the car with her mom by 4:30, even though it only took 5 minutes to drive to campus. She sat on the bench by the front door, suited up in a jacket and boots and kept lifting her phone screen upright to check the time.
Finally it was 4:50 and time to go. When Octavia pulled up in her old beat up van at the designated meeting spot, Catra was nowhere to be seen and Adora's heart raced up into her throat. Had the cadet captain bailed?
"Let me go find her," said Adora, unbuckling herself and sliding out of the front seat.
Boldly, Adora marched into the grass and past a tree, where something caught her eye - a pair of intimidating black boots. It turned out that Catra was sitting behind the tree with her back against the trunk, not a care in the world. Adora stopped short when the cadet captain caught sight of her; there was no change to Catra's expression. She shouldn't have been, but Adora couldn't help but be surprised at seeing Catra out of uniform. Her hair was wild and free, as voluminous and frizzy as it had been the night Adora snuck into her quarters to prank her. After all this time, you could barely tell Adora had taken scissors to the mane at all. On top of that, instead of the usual tan or navy regimentals, Catra had donned black leggings and a stylishly ripped maroon top layered under a black leather jacket. Adora had to force her eyes not to linger on the shape of Catra's legs, so exposed as they suddenly were to her.
"Are you hiding from me?" said Adora scathingly, but she felt relieved to find the cadet captain hadn't bailed after all.
"What? No," said Catra, ignoring the hand that Adora extended and climbing to her feet of her own accord. "Just preparing myself for when you didn't come."
"I did come, I'm right here," said Adora.
"Well you'll have to excuse me, maggot, 'cuz I've learned to never trust a promise."
"You can trust mine," said Adora, tugging on Catra's sleeve playfully. "C'mon, my mom is waiting."
Catra hesitated, letting Adora go ahead. Adora bounced over to the van and pulled open the sliding door to the back seat, gesturing for Catra to enter first. Another moment of hesitation, as though Catra contemplated fleeing the scene, but after a moment Catra seemed to overcome any doubt and climbed into the van, Adora right behind her.
"Hello!" said Octavia, trying her hardest to be 'cool, friendly mom.' Adora was glad that she hadn't told her mom about all the abuse she'd suffered at the hands of Catra in the fall semester, otherwise this introduction would have been a whole lot chillier.
"Hello… Mrs... Commandant." Adora bit back a chuckle at the stilted greeting.
"You can call me Octavia." Adora had slid the back door shut and they were on their way back home.
"Right..." said Catra, sounding as if that was never going to be the case.
"Mom, this is Catra Stone," said Adora.
"Hi, Catra."
"I'm Coll- uh, Adora's cadet captain in building three."
This was the first time that Catra had used her first name and it made Adora's breath catch. Why was this all so surreal but awesome all at once?
Adora chanced a glance over at the cadet captain but the only thing she could see was Catra's massive amounts of hair. The sheer density and mass of it all couldn't possibly be tamed into that braid she usually wore, could it?
To Adora's embarrassment, Hordak was lurking by the front door when they arrived back.
"Hello, Captain Stone," said Hordak when he saw her. Catra immediately snapped to attention, fingertips at her temple. You can take the girl out of military school, but you can't take the military school out of the girl. Some things were just too ingrained.
"Don't be so formal," said Octavia, swatting Hordak on the shoulder with the back of her hand. "We are not at George Washington Academy today, it is spring break."
"You're right, I'm sorry. How are you, Catra?" he amended, eyes softening as he looked between Catra and Adora. He obviously was glad to see the two of them being amicable.
"I'm fine, thank you, Sir," said Catra stiffly, easing back down into a more casual stance.
"Dinner will be ready by six," said Octavia, lumbering down the hall toward the kitchen.
"You two go on upstairs and I'll call you down."
"We'll just follow our noses," said Adora. She tugged on Catra's sleeve again, saying, "c'mon, let's go."
Adora led Catra up the stairs and into the second bedroom on the right, closing the door behind them.
"Not gonna lie, this is kinda weird, Collins" said Catra, perching at the very edge of Adora's bed. It was as though she was afraid if she took up too much of a purchase everything would burst into flames from her touch alone.
"But not torturous, I hope," said Adora, rolling out her desk chair and popping a squat across from the cadet captain. Catra shook her head slowly, taking in the room from the messy closet to the cluttered desk. Her eyes came to rest on Mark II of the Best Friend Squad mini-figurines on the bedside table.
"You have more," said Catra, unable to look away.
"Yeah," said Adora, careful to keep her tone light. "After I lost the first set my friend Bow made more as my Christmas gift. That's Bow." She pointed to the only male-presenting figure in the set with its crop-top, heart-shaped boots, and archery set in-hand.
"And that one's Glimmer," she continued, pointing to the shortest of the trio, hands on hips in complete confidence and twinkling from a layer of purple glitter. "My best friends back at my old school. And then-"
"Yeah, that's you. Yadda, yadda," said Catra, bursting with impatience. "I get it."
She turned away from the mini-figurines, crossing her arms and glaring at the floor. Was Adora detecting a hint of… jealousy?
"Hey, all is well," said Adora, deliberately crossing to the bed and sitting down next to Catra, careful to keep a foot of space between them. "I've totally forgotten about everything that happened last semester."
"If you were smart you would run as far away from me as possible." When Adora didn't respond, Catra sighed. "I know that… I shouldn't have done that. Smashed your little action figures up. But you've probably noticed that lashing out in anger is something I've perfected."
It wasn't really an apology, but it was as close as Catra would probably come to one for now.
"What! You? Angry?" said Adora, nudging Catra with her elbow. "Never."
To her satisfaction, Catra exhaled a breathy little laugh. It wasn't a lot, but it was something. With Catra, every baby step felt like ten miles.
Adora spent the next twenty minutes comparing GWMA to Bright Moon Public, the same nervous energy from before producing this annoying, endless chatter. Catra was mostly silent, punctuating the blabber with random oh, god's and sound awful's. Adora was just glad they were getting along and that Catra didn't seem to be judging her old life too much.
Saved by the dinner bell, Octavia called them down ten minutes to six. They sat; Octavia across from Catra and Adora facing Hordak.
It was awkward. It was so awkward. Why was it so awkward?
Dinner at home was usually a joyous occasion filled with laughter and chit-chat. This was… not that. Adora saw Octavia eying Catra with her signature side-eye, a move she only reserved for anyone who crossed her family in a bad way. That's when she realized - Hordak must have filled Octavia in on Adora's history with Catra while they were upstairs. Dammit, Hordak.
"So, Catra," said Octavia evenly, eyes strategically on her plate. "You said you were Adora's commanding officer."
Catra must have sensed danger because she answered with an equally measured tone. "Yes, I'm the cadet captain in charge of her barracks."
"And you're on the drill team with her?"
Adora shot Octavia a warning glare, which she didn't see. Seriously?
"Actually, they're doing an unarmed duel together for the competition at the end of the year," chimed in Hordak.
Catra cleared her throat and made eye contact with Adora across the table. The look was clear; where's your end of the bargain? I came to dinner, you said you'd try to give me back my solo.
Adora shook her head imperceptibly, panicked.
"What does that mean, 'unarmed duel?'" asked Octavia.
"Originally it was supposed to be my solo," said Catra boldy, "but the commandant thought it would be better if we did it together."
"It's just a series of moves we do in sync," cut in Adora. "Marching and clapping and all kinds of stuff, just without rifles."
"So it's almost like a dance," said Octavia, moving the food in her mouth to the side so she could speak.
"It takes great synchronicity and partnership to pull off a duel like that," said Hordak, looking pointedly between Catra and Adora.
That was when she noticed Catra hadn't yet touched her plate of food.
"Go on," Adora urged, pointing with her fork. "I promise it's way better than mess hall food."
All eyes of the table on her, Catra tentatively scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes. When she'd closed her mouth around the white mound, her eyes went wide.
"Told you," said Adora, grinning.
Catra hurriedly swallowed and sputtered, "this is really good. Thank you, Octavia."
"You're welcome," said Octavia. She still wasn't completely won over, but the compliment on the dinner helped a smidge.
They ate quietly for a time, Adora unable to keep her eyes off of Catra. She still couldn't believe the cadet captain she'd had nightmares about was sitting at the dinner table with her family and that Adora was happy about it. Catra was becoming her friend. She'd done it, she'd melted the icy heart!
At least she thought so, until Catra nudged her foot under the table. Adora looked up in askance and Catra flicked her eyes to Hordak and back again.
"You promised," whispered Catra, effectively sinking Adora's heart. So maybe Catra was only here so she could get the solo back. Maybe she didn't want to be Adora's friend after all.
"You know, Sir, speaking of the unarmed exhibition..." said Adora lightly, holding Catra's gaze. Catra nodded, urging her on. "I was thinking, it's not really coming along as well as we'd hoped. We're having a hard time coming up with a move set. I know that Catra had already choreographed her solo, so it might be a good idea if she just went ahead and did it this year. Maybe we can try to do a duel next year."
For his part, Hordak listened very patiently for Adora to finish up all of her excuses. Before answering, he took the time to bring his napkin to his mouth and swallow.
"The whole point of my transforming the solo to a duel was as a punishment for Captain Stone and yourself. I thought I had made that clear."
"Punishment? Again?" asked Octavia, looked between Hordak and Adora.
"One of the fundamentals of GWMA is teamwork," Hordak went on evenly. "There can be no division in a team. Divisiveness creates weakness and competition where there should be none. We cheer each other on at GWMA, we do not constantly pick fights on the quad."
"Adora's been picking fights on the quad?"
Hodak ignored his wife, fixing his gaze on Adora. "This is why you two are going to do a duel at the end of year competition, whether it works out or not. The goal was not to create the best unarmed exhibition in the world, but to learn to work with one another. Perhaps Captain Stone can perform a solo for her senior year instead."
"Yes, Sir." Well, that was shut down quickly. Adora returned to her food, relieved; she didn't want to quit being Catra's unarmed partner.
Catra, on the other hand, looked as though she had been slapped. She'd set down her silverware and was staring, unseeing, at the woodgrain in the table.
Suddenly, Catra rose, shaking the table as she went. "I just remembered that I have to go."
"Wait, what?" said Adora, watching the water in her goblet slosh dangerously close to the rim.
"There's a call I have to take." The cadet captain pushed in her chair and zipped up the leather jacket that she'd never taken off.
"You didn't tell me that," said Adora anxiously. "We could have scheduled another day for dinner."
"I forgot. Thanks for the food." And with that, she stalked out of the room. Before Adora could even properly react, they heard the front door slam shut.
"I'll be right back," Adora said to a stunned Octavia. Hordak, on the other hand, was unperturbed by the events. In seconds Adora was across the house and out the door after her.
"Catra! Catra, stop!" Adora ran to catch up with the cadet captain, who was walking as briskly as she could; she was running away. "What are you doing?"
"There was no fucking reason for me to be there if I wasn't getting my solo back," huffed Catra, out of breath from her quick escape.
"That's seriously the only reason you came?" asked Adora, stung. Catra was moving so fast that Adora almost had to jog to keep up with her. "Because there was something in it for you?"
"I don't even know why you thought that was a good idea," spat Catra. "No one wants me around, I'm a useless piece of shit. That makes itself clear over and over again."
"That is not true! You're the one who left," said Adora, feeling a stitch in her side coming on. What was morning PT good for if she still wasn't fit enough to chase after a moody cadet captain?
"I didn't need to be subjected to your perfect family life. You were just trying to rub it in my face."
"That's not true! I wanted to be a generous friend and share my family with you."
"We're not FRIENDS!" Catra finally stopped and whipped around to face Adora, who almost walked straight into her. "We never were friends and we never will be friends. We got partnered up for a duel and THAT'S IT. You're delusional if you'd think you'd want to be friends with me."
She turned on her heel, ready to flee again but Adora grabbed her upper arm roughly, that old flame of violent anger from the fall semester flaring up once again.
"HEY." It was enough to halt the cadet captain in her tracks. "I don't have a perfect life, okay? My parents are divorced. My mom remarried a man I don't really vibe with. This man got a job and made me leave everything I've ever known and move far away to join a military school."
This was the first time she had framed it this way, like she hadn't consented to this huge life change. Now that she thought about it, no one had really asked her how she felt. She hadn't even asked herself how she felt. She'd just decided that's how it was going to be and that was that.
The anger was coming out in torrents now. "I'm sorry that I wanted to show you what going home for the weekend was like. I'm sorry that I wanted you to know you were always welcome. And I'm sorry that you're just too mean-spirited and bitchy to appreciate that I was trying to be nice to you."
"It's no one's fault but mine, maggot" said Catra bitterly. "Self-sabotage is my forte. This is what I deserve. So just leave me alone."
Adora no longer had the strength to argue, so when Catra ripped her arm out of Adora's grip, she let her. The wind whipped Catra's crazy hair around her shoulders as she made her way back toward campus. For a moment, the sun seemed to catch a streak of wetness on Catra's cheek but Adora assumed she imagined it.
It wasn't until she got back to the house and Octavia descended on her with tissues that Adora realized that she had been crying too.