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She was going to miss the train. The horrible thought was clear in Catra’s mind as she tore down the staircase. She clutched the ticket in one hand and her battered suitcase in the other, and almost tumbled down the last few rain-soaked steps in her haste. The doors of the train were beeping, warning of their closure. In a moment, it would be moving, far away from Catra.
She ran across the platform just as the doors closed. Defeated, she collapsed onto her suitcase, panting as the rain fell around her. Then a loud alarm sound cut through the air. ‘Please do not obstruct the doors’. Catra looked up to see what the problem was and her mouth hung open. The doors in front of her were being held open by a beautiful stranger.
The stranger was about her age, twenty-ish, with muscular arms that strained against the door, long sunlight-coloured hair, and stormy grey eyes. Catra struggled to put these elements together into a complete person; right now, she was just seeing a blonde goddess saving her life. ‘Get on the goddamn train, I can’t hold it much longer,’ the stranger grunted. Catra grabbed her suitcase and ducked in. The stranger let go and the doors shut. The train pulled away.
‘Thank you,’ Catra said quietly. She leant against the wall, trying to catch her breath, and caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. God, she was a mess - her long, unruly hair was matted, wind-blown, and sticking up in every direction. Her clothes were dishevelled, and her face was smudged with dirt.
‘Is your seat in this carriage?’ the stranger asked, sitting down in her own seat.
Catra scrutinised her ticket, but found that the ink had run in the rain. ‘I have no clue,’ she admitted. ‘I’ll just stay here, and if some train guy comes and tells me to move, I will.’ She sat down on her suitcase, which creaked worryingly; it was old, and not made for supporting the weight of a human.
‘Hey, you can sit next to me,’ the stranger offered. ‘As far as I know, nobody’s sitting here.’
‘Yeah, it was my girlfriend’s seat,’ a man on the other side of the empty seat said sadly. He was tall, and had his head buried in a hoodie and a book. ‘But she dumped me.’
‘Great!’ Catra exclaimed, flopping down on the seat. ‘I mean, not great that your girlfriend dumped you. Sorry about that. But I’m glad to have the seat.’ She hugged her knees to her chest, the heels of her Doc Martens scuffing the seat, and turned to the stranger. ‘I’m Catra, by the way. Thanks again. For, uh, saving me.’
‘No problem. I’m Adora.’ Adora smiled at her, and the smile made her even more beautiful. ‘So, where do you get off?’
‘What, that keen to get rid of me?’ Catra teased. ‘You’re stuck with me for a while, I’m afraid. I don’t get off until Bright Moon City, and it’s a three hour journey.’
‘What a coincidence! I get off there too. I’m off to start the second term of my first year at Bright Moon University. You?’
Catra sighed. ‘Nothing so grand. Just trying to get out of my crappy little town.’
‘I’m sure it’s not that bad…’
‘Oh, please. The neighbourhood I live in is such a shithole that it’s called the Fright Zone. It’s in an area called the Valley of the Lost, in a desert called the Crimson Waste. It is that bad. If I can help it, I never want to see it again, or anybody in it.’
‘Don’t you have family you’ll miss? Friends?’ Adora asked.
‘Only family is my fucked-up, alcoholic asshole of a mother,’ Catra said bitterly, wondering why she was revealing so much to a girl she’d met only two minutes ago. ‘And as for friends, I had two, but they saved up money and left at the start of this year. Took me a little longer to save up, since my mother spends any cash she can find, on drowning in a bottle.’
‘Oh. I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I’m just glad you opened the door for me, because I would have had to wait months saving up for another train ticket,’ Catra replied. She peered into the window and wiped the sweat and grime from her face, and wondered what she could do about her hair. ‘Why do I always pack my hairbrush at the bottom of the suitcase?’
‘You can borrow mine,’ Adora offered, rummaging in her rucksack.’
‘Oh no, it’s okay-’
‘I insist.’ The blonde stranger handed her a shiny, gold backed Tangle Teezer. There was a cheap, sky-blue jewel stuck onto the back, and the initials A.G. drawn on in swirly Sharpie. ‘Come on, your hair really is a mess.’
Catra relented and began to rake the brush through her thick, unruly brown hair. ‘Nice brush.’
‘I think so too,’ Adora agreed. ‘My best friend and roommate, Glimmer, gave it to me for my birthday.’
‘That’s cool. How is university? What are you studying?’
‘It’s great! I’m doing History. Everyone’s so nice, and I have great accommodation with Glimmer and her boyfriend Bow,’ Adora told her. ‘I mean, kinda awkward sharing with a couple, but it’s fine. We’re all best friends.’
‘History, huh? Sounds too smart for me,’ Catra grinned wryly. ‘I could teach classes in being a failure, though.’
‘Aww, don’t say that,’ Adora objected. ‘And History isn’t hard, it’s amazing. I mean, it’s all amazing. Bow’s studying Engineering, and Glimmer’s doing Politics. Don’t be surprised if you see Glimmer Moon as President in a few years!’
‘Your friends sound smart too. Maybe you’ll bring them to whatever stripper bar I end up working at.’
Adora frowned. ‘As a stripper or a waitress?’
‘Well, that depends what you like,’ Catra laughed, blushing a little.
‘So you’re not going to go to University? You’re just gonna…find a job?’
‘Yeah…?’ Catra could not see any flaws in her plan.
‘And then what? Do you have somewhere to live?’
‘I’ll find somewhere.’
‘Did you think this through?’
‘Not really, no,’ Catra admitted. ‘But it’ll be fine.’ She changed the subject quickly before the blonde could explode from concern. ‘Um, what’s your family like?’
Adora sighed. ‘I don’t remember my parents. They died in an accident when I was six. I was raised by my Aunt, Hope. She’s lovely, but…very strict. I haven’t got any siblings, but I do have a horse.’
‘A horse?’ Catra echoed, not sure she’d heard right. Was this blonde stranger so rich that she had an actual horse?
‘Yeah, his name’s Swift Wind,’ Adora said. ‘My father was a horse breeder, and Hope inherited his horses along with his daughter. She sold most of them, but apparently I was unwilling to part with the colt, Swiftie. Every time a prospective buyer came, I would kick and scream and throw stones, and make Swiftie angry so nobody wanted to buy him. In the end Hope gave up and so we have a pet horse.’
‘Wow.’ Catra blinked her heterochromic eyes, taking in the strange story. ‘Do you ride?’
‘Of course. All the time. I wish I could take him to Bright Moon with me, but our flat’s already cramped with three!’ She laughed. ‘Do you do sport?’
‘Yeah, football.’
Adora gasped. ‘Me too! I’m captain of Bright Moon University Football Team, actually.’
‘Good for you.’ It came out a little bitterly, for it seemed that Adora had everything Catra didn’t - friends, family, money, education, a pet horse…a future. Sure, her parents were dead, and that was sad, but at least she’d been raised by a nice relative. Catra secretly wished Shadow Weaver had gone through with the frequent threats to put her up for adoption.
‘Oh, look!’ Adora cried. ‘We’ve arrived at Salineas.’ Indeed they had. The train pulled up at the first major station of the journey. Salineas was the richest city in the country, where the kind of people who owned yachts, ten-bedroom houses, and diamond necklaces. Bright Moon was different, Catra hoped. It was rich, but also rich with opportunities, and different sorts of people, from millionaires to scrappy runaways like her. ‘I have a friend who lives in Salineas.’
‘Of course you do,’ Catra sighed. ‘How many yachts does your friend have?’
‘She had three, but her boyfriend accidentally set fire to them,’ Adora said.
This story sounded familiar. Catra narrowed her eyes. ‘Hang on a minute. You’re friends with Mermista Waverley? Heir to the Waverley fortune?’
‘Yeah. My father used to sell horses to the Waverleys. They’re sort of family friends.’
‘Sorry, I’m asking again. You’re friends with Mermista Waverley?’
‘Not really,’ Adora backtracked, sensing Catra’s intimidation, and also that Catra hated feeling intimidated. ‘We’re just…acquaintances.’
‘Sure, princess.’ They were quiet for a while. The train stopped at a few insignificant towns. Nice, dull places, Catra thought, for nice, dull people. Erelandia, Alwyn, Elberon. She wondered whether it was good to be nice and dull, rather than strange and bitter. Perhaps it was. But if there was one thing Catra would hate to be, it was unnoticeable, expected, dull.
The air-conditioning in their carriage began to groan like a trapped animal, then cut out suddenly. It was a hot day, and murmurs of annoyance rippled through the carriage before a message came through the speaker: ‘This is your engineer speaking. We are aware that the air-conditioning in Carriage 4 has stopped working, and we apologise for the inconvenience. When the train stops at the next major station, Plumeria, we will fix the malfunction. Thank you for understanding.’
Adora sighed and pulled off her hoodie. She was wearing only a vest underneath, which bunched up as she pulled the hoodie over her head, revealing her abs. Catra tried not to stare, but they were very nice abs indeed. Then her eyes found something else nice. A Bright Moon University Lanyard, studded with so many badges. History, one read. Another, First Year Student. There were many more: Bright Moon Football Team, Horse Club, Social Action Club, and a hand-made, rather messy one which said Best Friends Squad.
But the one that caught her eye was the familiar orange-to-pink ombré of the lesbian flag. She smirked and leant back in her seat, rather coveting the badge. So Adora was gay. That opened up a world of opportunity. Catra tucked the knowledge safely in her mind. Adora was flipping through a leaflet called Extracurricular Activities at Bright Moon University: Spring Term 2022. So Catra turned to the man on the other side of her. Time to have some fun. ‘Hi.’
He looked up from his book. ‘Hello, gorgeous. What’s your name?’
Thinking of Pretty Woman, the movie she and Scorpia had always watched together (and wondered if it was worth becoming hookers) before the latter had gone off to university, she replied, ‘What do you want it to be, honey?’
‘Honey sounds perfect,’ the man said, stroking his thick moustache. ‘I’m Charlie Hawk. My friends called me Sea Hawk. You can call me baby.’
‘Okay, babe.’ Catra always enjoyed flirting with guys, just for fun. Scorpia would do it too, then the pair of them would laugh like idiots afterwards before spending the night together. ‘You know, Sea Hawk is such a handsome name, but it’s not handsome enough for you.’
Sea Hawk blushed. ‘Why, thank you, Honey.’
‘It sounds familiar, though,’ she continued, trying hard to place it while still keeping up the charm. ‘Are you a rockstar? An actor?’
‘No,’ Adora butted in. ‘He’s an arsonist. Mermista Waverley’s boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend, apparently, from what you said earlier.’
‘Ex and future,’ Sea Hawk corrected, his pride bruised. ‘How- oh! Adora! Mermista’s friend!’
‘What did you do this time, burn another yacht?’
He shook his head vigorously. ‘No! It was a sailboat. And it was an accident.’
‘Yeah, like the other three were accidents,’ Adora sighed. ‘What does Mermista see in you? Look, if you want her take you back, stop flirting with every hot girl on the train.’
Adora had called her hot. Colour rose in Catra’s cheeks.
‘You think she’ll take me back?’ Sea Hawk’s eyes sparkled with hope.
‘Well, she took you back after you burnt the Dragon’s Daughter. And the Dragon’s Daughter II. And III. Why should this be different?’
‘You’re right. Thank you, O friends-of-the-beautiful-Mermista!’ he cried. ‘I shall return to Mermista and beg for her forgiveness and then she will love me again.’
‘Sorry, this really isn’t my problem, but…’ Catra interrupted, fed up with the two of them talking across her. ‘…isn’t Mermista in Salineas? And didn’t we already pass Salineas?’
‘Oh, shit,’ Sea Hawk muttered. ‘Never mind! At Plumeria, I shall alight from this train, and get a new ticket back to Salineas! Then I shall find Mermista and she will love me again for all time!’ He sprung to his feet, his hands flourishing wildly.
‘Until you burn another ship,’ Adora muttered. ‘Oh, sit down before you hit somebody.’
The strange conversation with Sea Hawk had broken the small barrier which had sprung up between Catra and Adora. So what if they had very different lives? Catra thought, her heart swelling with dangerous, exhilarating hope. Bright Moon was a city of dreams and opportunities. ‘So,’ she said boldly, ‘you think I’m hot?’
Adora blushed, embarrassment in her eyes. ‘I didn’t- no…I mean, yeah, you’re…alright.’ She took a deep breath. ‘What I meant to say is, you’re pretty. Very pretty.’
‘Do you do this all the time?’
‘What?’ Adora seemed confused.
Catra realised the blonde hadn’t followed her wild train of thought, and explained, ‘Hold train doors open for random strangers then chat them up on the journey. Is that, like, a hobby for you?’
‘I’m not chatting you up!’ Adora said it too loudly, and a few well-meaning old ladies tutted and sighed.
‘Sure, princess,’ Catra repeated, grinning.
The train stopped at Plumeria, and Sea Hawk stood up. ‘Goodbye, fair maidens, and thank you!’ He leapt off the train dramatically, and landed too hard, falling onto his hands and knees.
Catra and Adora exchanged a glance and burst out laughing. ‘He’s so weird,’ the blonde muttered.
‘So are you,’ Catra replied. ‘But in a good way.’
‘Uh…thanks?’ Adora waved to Sea Hawk as he scraped himself off the platform. ‘Plumeria’s gorgeous, too. My second cousin Perfuma lives there.’
Catra wasn’t surprised. Everybody knew somebody who knew somebody who lived in Plumeria. For Catra, it was her local bartender’s long lost sweetheart. Plumeria was a massive, sprawling collection of villages which came together and called themselves a city. Beautiful countryside wove through it, and one could almost forget they were in the 21st century when they wandered through the quaint, pretty streets.
Eventually, the air-conditioning was fixed, cool air flooded into the carriage, and the train resumed its journey. Catra turned in her seat and watched out of the window as the hills and fields gave way the Whispering Woods. ‘When I was little, the older kids would tell ghost stories about these woods. They scared the crap out of me. But it’s actually kinda pretty.’
‘My grandmother, we call her Razz, lives in these woods,’ Adora remarked. ‘Maybe she’s the ghost your friends talked about. She’s ancient, kinda crazy, but super sweet. Look, I can see her house over there!’
Catra groaned as she spotted the fairytale cottage buried in the foliage. ‘Okay, is there anywhere in Etheria where you don’t know somebody?’
‘Um…’ The blonde stared at the train map, thinking about it. ‘Yeah. Dryl, next station. The tech-y hub. Never been, don’t know anyone who has.’
‘Ha!’ Catra couldn’t resist the triumph. ‘One of my best friends lives there! Entrapta. She’s a fucking genius. Joined Hordak Industries a year ago, and now she’s Deputy of the whole joint. Apparently, Hordak himself took a liking to her. Really liked her.’
‘Sweet. Do you have a boyfriend?’ Adora asked.
Catra started in surprise, then realise that she really hadn’t made it obvious that she was gay. She’d been flirting with Sea Hawk, and it wasn’t like she had a massive lesbian flag badge on her non-existent university lanyard. ‘Uh…no. Do you?’
‘I don’t like boys,’ Adora answered with a small smile.
‘Yeah, I know that.’
‘How?’
Catra tapped the badge with an overlong fingernail. ‘It’s not like you’re hiding it.’
‘Oh. Fair enough.’
‘So? Do you have anyone in your life?’
‘What? No,’ Adora sighed. ‘I had a girlfriend, but we broke up a few months ago.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. My girlfriend Scorpia broke up with me after she moved out of town looking for work. I mean, it was nothing personal. Long distance relationships are impossible.’
It seemed that she’d lost Adora at “girlfriend”. ‘Sorry, you’re a lesbian too?’
‘Guilty as charged. Aww, come on, princess, don’t give me that look. It’s not like I was hiding it.’
‘Oh, you weren’t? Then why were you flirting with Sea Hawk?’
Catra grinned impishly. ‘Because it’s fun.’
‘You’re impossible,’ Adora muttered. ‘I met you only two hours ago and I already know you’re impossible. How do you do it?’
‘Years of practice.’ Catra slumped in her chair and put her Docs up on the seat opposite, much to the dismay of the old ladies. The train stopped at Dryl, and she pointed out the towering Hordak Industries. Then the train pulled away, and she examined the train map. ‘That was the last big stop before Bright Moon City. Only Thaymor and some empty countryside between us and the city of dreams.’
‘City of History lectures and football practice and sharing a flat with a couple, more like,’ Adora laughed.
‘If that’s your dream. Is it?’
Adora exhaled, surprised by the deep question, asked in such a causal manner. ‘I think so. I love History, and my friends. I love Bright Moon. I mean, I know things are bound to change eventually, because they always do, but…now? I’m happy.’
‘It must be nice,’ Catra sighed. ‘Being happy.’
‘Aren’t you?’ Adora’s blue-grey eyes were filled with genuine concern, something Catra hadn’t felt in a long time. She didn’t know quite how to react, or how to answer.
‘I’m not sad. I’m…’ She struggled for the right word. ‘Sort of excited, I guess. For the future. But I don’t have great expectations. Things never really work out for people like me.’
‘Sure they do. I told you, things are bound to change eventually, and that applies to bad things too,’ Adora told her. ‘But if you act like everything’s terrible, it will be. You gotta be hopeful.’
That was easy for somebody with friends, family, education, and money to say. ‘Well, they never said Bright Moon was the city of hopes, but I guess that goes hand in hand with dreams.’ Daringly, she squeezed Adora’s hand, then quickly let go. ‘Thanks.’
‘What’s your dream, Catra?’ Adora asked softly.
She should have known the conversation would come to this. ‘I just want to make a life for myself in Bright Moon City. I want what all folks do - food, a roof over their head, a purpose in life, somebody who loves them, and some spare cash.’
‘I wasn’t asking about other folks. What’s your dream?’ she repeated.
Catra sighed. ‘Growing up, my dream was always to leave my shit neighbourhood behind and come to Bright Moon City. Now I’m only one train stop away from achieving that dream…I’m realising I never thought much beyond that. But does it matter? Whatever happens, happens. I’ll get a job, find somewhere to call my own, and some friends, maybe even a girlfriend. I’ll be okay. My mother named me Catra, and that’s the best thing she ever did for me. It reminds me that cats always land on their feet, and so do I.’
‘I know. But even cats get stuck up trees sometimes.’
Catra didn’t answer.
They were only ten minutes away from Bright Moon City. Adora was already recognising the suburban outskirts of the city, pointing out places she knew. Catra smiled and nodded in all the right places, but she was painfully aware that in ten minutes time she would leave the train and get swallowed up by the vast city of dreams, and never see Adora again. She wished the time they still had would go by slowly, and clung to each moment as a drowning sailor clings to driftwood, but the time flew by and the train slowed down. ‘This station is Bright Moon City.’
The two girls stepped off the train, each tugging their suitcases. Catra laughed sadly when she looked at the two cases - hers, battered, hardened old leather beside Adora’s shiny, brand new white and gold one. ‘So I guess this is where we part, princess. You’ll catch a bus to your flat with your best friends, I’ll…go find the nearest stripper bar.’
‘You didn’t really mean that, did you?’ Adora gasped, alarmed.
‘Nah, I don’t do stripping,’ Catra assured her. ‘But I will probably be in a bar. Whether that’s as an employee or as a customer, we’ll see. Hopefully I won’t end up the same way as my local bartender does - losing himself in a bottle and sobbing about his long lost sweetheart who ran away to Plumeria.’
Adora gulped, hating to leave her new friend alone in this city. ‘Walk with me to the bus station. Please.’ Catra obliged. The next bus to Adora’s neighbourhood was in one minute. One minute to say goodbye. Catra almost wished the bus was here already, so that they didn’t have to drag out the painful farewell. It was strange, how one could grow so attached to a person they’d only know a few hours.
Adora hugged her tight, and after a shocked moment she returned the embrace. ‘Hey. It’s been amazing knowing you. Please take care of yourself. If you ever need anything, I live in 25 Swann Crescent, on the third floor. Remember that?’ Catra nodded.
‘Thanks, Adora. For everything. Remember to find me in some bar, okay?’
The bus arrives, but the two girls stayed together until the last moment, until the driver hooted to alert of his imminent departure. Adora jumped on the bus just as it was about to drive away. ‘Goodbye, Catra! Remember to follow your dreams.’
Once again, Catra was alone with her suitcase in the newly falling rain. It seemed everything had come full circle. There was already a disappointed hole where Adora had stood a few moments before. Despondently, she got a grip on her emotions and dragged herself to the nearest bar. ‘Hey. You got a job opening?’
~
Adora arrived at the flat she shared with Bow and Glimmer, full of the story of her exciting train journey. ‘This Catra girl sounds like a piece of work,’ Glimmer said suspiciously.
‘No, she’s really nice,’ Adora objected, immediately defensive. ‘Really nice.’
‘Have you fallen for her?’ Bow asked. ‘Come on, you can’t fall in love with someone you’ve only known for a few hours.’
‘I didn’t fall in love with her!’ the blonde insisted. ‘But I would have loved to know her better.’
~
Catra did land on her feet. After a little searching, she found a job as a waitress in a pub. She put all her savings into a crappy flatshare with a girl called Lonnie, who was about her age. And slowly, life got better. After a month, she had money to buy new clothes. After half a year, the two girls, plus Lonnie’s boyfriend Rogelio and their shy friend Kyle, who seemed to have a massive crush…though whether on Lonnie or Rogelio, it was unclear, moved to a better flat together. Anyway, the friends accepted Catra into their group, and things were looking up.
One day, Catra brought home a stray kitten. Lonnie shouted at her for about half an hour, then said, ‘You can keep it if I get to name it. Melog.’
‘Why Melog?’
‘I always named my dolls that when I was little,’ Lonnie admitted, embarrassed. ‘Don’t ask.’ Catra didn’t ask. They named the cat Melog and kept it.
So things were great. Catra got a haircut. She got a motorbike (shared with the others, of course). She even got back in touch with her old friends. Entrapta was indeed dating tech titan Hordak, and Scorpia was going into fashion design, while singing in restaurants by night for extra cash. They phoned often. But the one person Catra never spoke to was Adora.
She had been nervous to knock on the blonde girl’s door at first, and the longer she left it the harder it got. However, one April day, Lonnie announced that she was ‘quitting the day job and going to study design at Bright Moon University’. She was going to take the exams and try to get in for next year. Rogelio and Kyle were doing it too. They encouraged Catra to join them.
Catra didn’t know what to say. Where would she get the money? What would she study? And…how would she react to seeing Adora again after all these months? Lonnie had the answer to the first question, at least. ‘We’ll sell the place up and move in with my cousin. He has a flat close to the University, and he’s barely ever at home, he works abroad quite a lot.’
‘Fine,’ Catra agreed. ‘I’ll take the exams. I’ll study…’ What would she study? Law? Finance? She hugged Melog close and smiled. No. She would study veterinary medicine. Sure, she was a few years out of high school, but she’d always been a good science student. And with a name like Catra…surely she was guaranteed success in that field.
~
So she took the exams. All four of them got in, miraculously. Kyle and Rogelio were both studying law On the first day, Catra scanned the corridors for Adora, who would be in the second year now. She searched for the golden ponytail, the stormy eyes, the beautiful smile, which had grown achingly familiar in her memories. She asked around for Adora, and was eventually directed to a pretty girl with tanned skin, a dyed-pink bob, and shrewd brown eyes. ‘I’m Glimmer. You’re looking for my best friend?’
‘Hi, Sparkles. I’m Catra. Adora may have told you about me?’ What a dangerous hope, and yet…
‘It’s Glimmer. But yeah, she did. You’re the weirdo she met on the train a few months ago, aren’t you?’
Catra’s heart soared. ‘That’s me. I wanted to say hi.’
‘She’s at a football tournament, all day. But come over to our flat tonight, you can meet her.’ Glimmer sighed. ‘You’re just as bad as I imagined.’
‘You must have a pretty dark imagination, Sparkles,’ Catra teased. ‘Most people say I’m much worse than they thought.’
~
Adora had a surprise waiting on her sofa. The girl had a new haircut and clothes, but the same bold-but-shy grin and beautiful heterochromic eyes. ‘Hey, Adora.’
‘Catra!’
‘You never came and found me in the bar,’ she said, voice dripping with mock-hurt.
‘I asked around, but I couldn’t find you anywhere,’ Adora sighed, and hugged her tight. The easy, immediate friendship that had blossomed on the train returned with ease despite the months apart. ‘How...what made you decide to come after all this time?’
‘I joined Bright Moon University,’ Catra explained. ‘Veterinary medicine. Adopted a stray cat, found my calling…you know how it is.’
Adora was laughing, her hair like sunshine but her eyes brighter. ‘You’re impossible,’ she whispered, like she had on the train. ‘I felt so bad leaving you in the rain, so to hear that you made a life for yourself here, like you said your dream was…it’s amazing. And now I get to see you every day. Will you join the football team?’
‘You bet, Captain!’
‘Do you have somewhere to live?’
‘Me and my roommates just got a new flat.’
Adora nodded. ‘That’s great. But I was wondering if you wanted to live here.’
‘I’m sorry, what?’
‘Yeah, what do you mean?’ Glimmer demanded.
‘Calm down, babe,’ Bow sighed. ‘But seriously, Adora. You can’t just invite every girl you meet to live with us.’
‘Catra isn’t every girl,’ Adora said defiantly. ‘And Glim, I didn’t think twice about letting Bow move in when you asked. How is this any different?’
‘Because we don’t know her,’ Bow replied, at the same time as Glimmer cried,
‘Because Bow is my boyfriend! And Catra isn’t your girlfriend.’
No, Adora thought. But she could be. ‘Please, Glimmer?’
The pink-haired girl stepped closer to Catra, as if examining her. ‘Hm. What will you bring with you?’
‘A semi-feral cat, an open mind, and twenty-two years of emotional baggage,’ Catra answered with a grin.
‘Oh, alright,’ Glimmer groaned. ‘You’re here on a trial period. Two weeks. If I don’t like you, out.’
‘It’s a deal.’
~
Two weeks passed and became three weeks. The four of them studied and laughed and hung out. Catra told stories about her friends, and Adora reported that Mermista and Sea Hawk were back together and happy. Everybody was happy, even Catra herself.
The flat had two bedrooms. One belonged to Glimmer and Bow, the other was Adora’s. Catra slept on the sofa with Melog. Then one night, she found herself in Adora’s bedroom, whispering until she fell asleep on the blonde’s bed. Soon she was there every night, sometimes staying, sometimes returning to the sofa. Eventually it was accepted that the bedroom was hers, too, and the two girls shared. On a warm spring night, they kissed for the first time.
Catra often wondered what her life would be if Adora hadn’t held the door open for her. It would be very different, that was for sure. This was her dream, she realised. To be among friends, people who understood her. For in the end, most people wanted the same things - food, a roof over their head, a purpose in life, somebody who loves them, and some spare cash. Catra was lucky enough to have all of those things (well, perhaps she didn’t know her purpose in life yet, but there was a lot of time for that).
Cats did always land on their feet. But sometimes they got stuck up trees, and they needed friends to climb up and help them down again. Catra was surrounded by such friends - Scorpia and Entrapta, always willing to talk for hours on the phone, despite the miles between them; Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio, the unlikely trio who had supported her when she was lost; kind, smart Bow, and even, begrudgingly, Glimmer, fierce and fiercely protective. And of course, her amazing girlfriend Adora.
Bright Moon was a city of dreams. And if you were lucky enough, and determined enough, they sometimes came true.