Chapter Text
Adora was not a prideful person. In fact, she was pretty humble for someone others described as a "professional overachiever". She didn't brag or boast, and she always downplayed praise and compliments with courteous deflection.
But there were three steadfast exceptions to this rule: Adora was proud of her grades, which were objectively excellent across the board. She was proud to be a member of Stevenson High School's exclusive Valkyries Cheer Force. And, Adora was proud of her uncanny ability to curate the very best playlists in her entire friend group.
On the first day of junior year, Adora was enjoying her latest achievement—a back-to-school playlist perfectly balanced with smash hits from the summer's biggest stars, sleeper tracks from undiscovered indies, and carefully selected classics from the past four decades—as loudly as possible. She sang along unabashedly as her phone blasted one song after another from its tiny speakers, and bopped along to the beat like she was on stage. She could almost hear her imaginary fans screaming for more.
With a practiced technique, she pulled her dirty blonde hair into a sleek, Valkyries-regulated ponytail and twisted her bangs into her signature poof atop her head. Her uniform was cleaned and perfectly pressed after having spent the summer in her closet, waiting for September. As she belted out the lyrics to what had arguably been the song of the summer, she twirled in place just to watch the motion of her pleated skirt swirling in the mirror.
It feels so good to be back in my reds, she thought, admiring her strong silhouette. In some ways, her cheer uniform felt like a suit of armor—a respected symbol of strength in halls of SHS that left her and her teammates impervious to the petty cruelties of high school life. But it also felt a bit like a hug from an old friend; a familiar sense of belonging warmed her from the inside as she smoothed her hand over the crimson V emblazoned across her chest.
"You're singing the words wrong."
Adora let out a shriek. She whirled toward the source of the voice to find her best friend and fellow Valkyrie, Catra, lounging on the window sill with a smug grin on her face.
"Catra!" Adora snapped.
"Hey, Adora," her friend drawled.
"You scared the crap out of me!"
"Well, I tried to get your attention but you were too busy putting on a show to notice."
A flash of heat raced across Adora's face. She narrowed her eyes at her friend. "You did not."
Catra succeeded in keeping a straight face for nearly half a second before bursting into laughter. It was a high, squeaky laugh that almost didn't suit Catra's cold and moody public persona. But Adora knew her best friend better than that, and her laugh was high among her favorite things about her.
"You're right," Catra said, gracefully sliding off the window sill and planting her hands on her hips. "I've been watching your little performance for, like, three whole songs already. Super cute."
"Creep." Adora turned her back so Catra couldn't see her blush. Of course, turning meant she was now facing the mirror. In the reflection, Catra caught her eye, tapped her own cheeks and playfully stuck out her tongue. Now it was Adora's turn to laugh. "Did I really sing it wrong? What're the lyrics supposed to be?"
"She's saying 'got a long list of ex-lovers', not 'got a lotta Starbucks lovers'."
"Oooh... That make a lot more sense."
"Of course it does." Catra came to stand beside Adora and grinned at her in the mirror. She tipped her head to the side and rested her cheek on her best friend's shoulder. "Lookin' good, Captain."
A thrill erupted in Adora's stomach, but she brushed it aside. "Not necessarily! Nothing is final until Coach Weaver says so."
There was a good chance today was going to be a very big day for Adora. By the time it was over, she might be the brand new captain of the Valkyries. Ever since she and Catra made the team in their freshman year—the only freshmen to make the squad in over a decade—she had been working her ass off in the not-so-secret hope that she might earn the top spot once their former captain graduated.
"Oh, please," Catra said with a roll of her mismatched eyes. "Coach Weaver has been grooming you for this since she recruited you—"
"Us."
"You in first year. And don't give me that 'us' BS. You and I both know you're the one she wanted for the squad. I was just along for the ride."
Catra wasn't wrong about this, though Adora hated that after all these years she still felt like part of a package deal. The Valkyries were an elite cheer squad: auditions were by invitation only. Shadow Weaver, the long-standing and multi-award-winning coach of the SHS Cheer Force had sought Adora out early that first September. But, Adora and Catra had been on the same team for everything since they were old enough to be on teams. Adora agreed to audition, but only if Catra was given a shot too.
"Yeah, well, the joke was on Coach Weaver, wasn't it? She had no idea how good you'd turn out to be."
That was the thing about Catra: where Adora had to work hard for everything from her good grades to her skills as an athlete, Catra was naturally gifted at, well, almost everything. Unfortunately for her, applying herself wasn't one of those things. She had a tendency to fly under the radar until Adora forced her into it.
"Whatever," Catra said, folding her arms across her chest. "None of that matters now, and do you know why?"
"Why?" she asked with a knowing grin. Adora did know why, but she was going to play along.
"Because you're going to be cheer captain and then we're going to run the school!" Catra launched herself onto Adora's back, who responded with a shriek of laughter. "Operation: One Perfect Year at Stevenson High is a go!"
Giggling, Adora wrapped her arms around Catra's legs and spun in circles while her best friend cackled and squealed for her to stop. Only when they heard Catra's phone ping did Adora quit. The room, however, kept right on spinning.
"Ugh, I'm gonna hurl." Catra wobbled to the window where she had left her backpack slumped against the wall and fished out her phone. She swiped on a new text and skimmed it with a scowl. "Better hurry up, princess. Looks like we're walking to school."
"What?" Adora balked as she snatched the bag she had meticulously packed the night before off her bed. "I thought Lonnie was picking us up."
Catra shrugged her backpack straps onto her shoulders and gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror. "Apparently Scorpia and Rogelio wanted to hit the gym before class, so she drove them in early."
"And people say I'm an overachiever."
"Oh, you're definitely an overachiever," Catra said, holding her hand out for Adora, who took it with a smile. "Now come on, we've got a perfect year to start and I still want to pick up an iced coffee on the way."