Chapter Text
“Hey Adora”. Said Catra, like she did every week day morning for the last 4 years. It was a Monday after a fairly uneventful weekend, and she was stood watching the students make their way to their form tutors when Adora walked past. I wonder if I’ll ever manage more than a hello, Catra thought to herself, feeling a little pathetic.
Catra told herself she didn’t get many opportunities to talk to Adora properly as they both taught different year groups, and different subjects. But in reality Catra was just nervous. There were plenty of opportunities, in the corridors before class started, the staff room or in the car park long after the student had gone home for the day. She was so nervous in fact that she almost made a conscious effort to avoid her. No one would ever guess though, she was very skilled at hiding her feelings and emotions. Something she was proud of but probably didn’t help her situation. Catra got on with other teachers, but there was something about Adora that made her brain go silly.
There were student made posters all around the school for the upcoming prom. Catra never liked prom, not from her experience at school. It was a bit too much pressure to find someone to go with, especially as things were a lot less liberal back then. She had made one single attempt to ask out the girl she liked but was rejected in front of her class mates. She would hide who she really was back then, but now wore it as a badge of honour, literally. She had a lesbian flag pin or patch for every outfit and always supported students that were in a similar position she was. Prom was never her problem though as she taught years 9s and the event was a year 11 thing. She had been asked to help a few years ago but politely refused, however this year was going to be different.
Adora taught P.E and sometimes subbed for other teachers but she was almost always out in the playing field or on one of the pitches with students playing one ball game or another. Typically, Catras usual teaching room was one that overlooked the playing fields and, on several occasions, had the embarrassment of being told by the students to stop looking out the window shortly after telling them the same thing. She always went bright red, although the students never really knew why.
Lunch time came and Catra stayed in her classroom as she normally did, noticing a new email on her laptop. Usually she wouldn’t bother when she was on lunch but something in the back of her head told her to look. “Shit” she said under her breath when she saw the subject title.
“Good afternoon Catra, as I’m sure you’re aware Prom is fast approaching. We’re short staffed this year so I’m afraid you’ll be helping us. You’ll be assisting with planning and also chaperoning on the day. You will receive updates in the next few days.
Regards,
Headmistress Hope”
“They’ve got to be kidding me”. The rest of the day passed with this new information playing on her mind, and no way out this time.
The sun brought another day, and another “Hey, Adora” to go with it. But this time Adora stopped and span round. “So, I saw you’re helping us with Prom this year?”. Looks like today's the day we have an actual conversation then! Catra thought to herself before realising she was like a deer caught in headlights.
“Ha! Err yeah, apparently!” She said not sure where to look. Why am I like this? I’m acting like a child! “Wait, us?” she said quickly. “You’re on the Prom team too?”
“Yeah! Always am, they need someone strong in case it gets rowdy” Adora joked while flexing her biceps. Catra couldn’t help but stare at the blonde woman's arm for a moment.
“I’ve never been to a Prom before so I don’t really know what to expect” Catra said trying to move the conversation on from Adoras muscles. “And I’d managed to avoid helping till now”.
“Yeah, Seahawk said you never come near it! Surely you went to your own when you were finishing school though? Adora asked curiously.
“Well, I always help out during exam season instead” Catra said, “But no, I didn’t go. Couldn’t find anyone to go with and my friends back then were a bit toxic, so I just left them to it.
“Damn! Well, I went with Seahawk” Adora laughed.
“Ah I thought you two might be a thing, I always see you hanging out together” Catra said trying to mask her disappointment.
“Ha! No chance! We grew up together, I’ve known him since nursery. We’re both, you know, ‘Friends of Mara’ so we said we’d go together if we couldn’t find a date.” Adora said.
“Oh that’s cute!” Catra said, trying to hide her excitement. “And I didn’t realise you were into girls.”
“Women” Adora corrected “we teach boys and girls, we date men and women, Well we don’t date men but you know what I mean” she said with a wink.
“Yeah you’re right there!” Catra said, starting to feel a pang of anxiety “Well I’ve got to get my business studies class ready, so I’ll see you around!”
Prom was 2 months away but it would soon come round. Catra found Adora even more distracting than usual on. She wasn’t sure if she was looking forward to it or not, she might not even get to spend that much time with Adora but the thought of it made the whole thing seem worth doing. During a class that focused on risk and reward she had a realisation. Over recent years Catra had helped a few students with coming out and embracing their sexuality and yet here she was, scared to talk to a woman she had a crush on. She knew she was strong and she knew she was brave, and it was about time she did something about this crush.
The next day came and brought yet another “Hey, Adora” but this time, as Adora walked past, Catra blurted something out.
“What was that?” Adora said.
“We should meet up” Catra repeated. This isn’t what I had in mind she thought. “You know, for prom stuff... I guess?” Trailing off.
“That’s what I thought you said” came Adora with a with a warm smile. “We usually have meetings here about it but we could meet up if you wanted?”
“No it’s ok, we’ll just do it in the meetings” Catra said going red and starting to get a bit flustered.
“Nah too late, you’ve said it now” Adora laughed while searching for something in her bag.
“Here, my contact card. I don’t know why they gave us these but hey, it’s finally come in useful!” She said handing it over. “Text me and we’ll sort something out”.
With another warm smile and a flash of a blonde ponytail Adora was gone, and Catra couldn’t believe she’d done it, sort of.