Chapter Text
Today, lunch was her favorite; Spaghetti with sausage.
She waited eagerly in line, rocking back and forth on her feet. Her curious bi-colored eyes scanned every kid who already got a plate on their hands, a bit of envy settling on her chest.
It’s been a while since she last had sausage. Now that her moms took her to the ‘food-doctor’ like they called it, she’s been eating less and less fun food.
She didn’t mind much, since her moms food was delicious either way. But she did miss her dino nuggets.
Suddenly, her friend behind her shook her shoulders excitedly, taking her mind off the food for a moment. “We have class with Miss Netossa today, Cat! She said we have soccer! I looove soccer!”
Catra didn’t get much of Scorpia’s excitement, the sport was boring. She much rather run around in the playground and climb on the toys, feeling like Spiderman. But at least her friend was happy today, which is much different than yesterday when she scraped her elbow and wouldn’t stop crying until her moms picked her up.
“I don’t like soccer.” She crossed her arms and mumbled.
Her friend tilted her head, confused. “But you used to love soccer?”
“I don’t anymore. It’s boring.” She shrugged and took a few steps forward, the line finally moving.
“You’re only saying that ‘cause Octavia beat your ass!” She heard Lonnie yell behind her, followed by the one teacher present in the cafeteria, reprimanding her for saying the A-word.
She hissed, her tail fluffing up. She turned around quickly just to show Lonnie her tongue.
“Dumb face!” Lonnie shouted back.
“Lonnie!” the teacher reprimanded her again.
“You’re the dumbface!”
“Catra!”
-
Later that day, after eating, her and Lonnie were asked to attend the calming room. Mara, their teacher, made it clear that they wouldn’t go to Netossa’s class unless they made peace with each other.
“You two are friends-”
Lonnie sank further in the bean bag, and rolled her eyes. “I’m not friends with dumbfaces.”
Catra made a pftt noise “You’re friends with Kyle.”
Lonnie hissed “Shut up! I’m gonna-”
“Enough! You two, enough.” Mara replied firmly, but still gentle. “Let’s take a step back and breathe. Can you two do that for me? Breathe?”
The kids eyed each other, tension still present. Catra bit her tongue to not say anything else, she knew she was gonna have a long talk with her moms when she got home, the moment they hear she fought with Lonnie again.
Despite the urge to slap each other, they took deep breaths. It was easier for Catra, since her moms made her do breathing exercises when her feelings felt overwhelming. She sensed herself calming down, slowly. Mrs.Mara guided them the whole way.
“That’s nice, isn’t it?” The teacher took another deep breath in, “Just taking some deep, slow breaths.” another breath out.
They did that for another minute, then she congratulated them for it with a soft smile on her face. “How do we feel?”
Lonnie answered first, “Better, I guess.” she mumbled, looking down at her hands.
“And Catra?”
The kid had to fight back the urge to make a snarky remark. She settled on saying “I’m okay.”
Mara clasped her hands together, feeling accomplished. “That’s great guys! See how taking a step back can be so good? That’s what we need to do when we feel overwhelmed. Instead of fighting and saying bad words, you just-” she took an exaggerated deep breath in, and one out “-relax, nice and slow. Just like this. It can be challenging the first few times, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes!”
Catra shrugged, “I know that. I do it at home.”
Mara nodded attentively, “That’s really nice Catra. Now you just need to do it at school too.”
“Alright, are we all feeling better to go to Nett’s class?”
Catra didn’t wanna go, but she knew she didn’t have much choice. Besides, the school day was coming to an end anyways, the clock on the wall above the toys said 4:15 PM. Just another hour until she can sit on her couch and watch cartoons.
-
Catra watched from the bleachers the kids running back and forth after the ball. Her tail twitched in irritation, she just wanted to go home now. She was positive Kick Buttowski was airing at this time, and she was losing it.
The only thing interesting about watching the kids play was this one specific girl from another class. Today the teacher decided to mix up two classes from the 5th grade and the 6th grade. Though she didn’t quite understand why. There were enough annoying people in her class. She didn’t need more.
But right now, as she watched this blonde girl absolutely destroy Lonnie’s team, she didn’t have much to complain about.
She never stared at anyone this much. Other kids were loud and smelled bad. She had few friends, but only because she wanted to. Being Catra’s friend required being funny and cool. And very, very few kids here were funny and cool.
Though… that blonde seemed funny and cool.
The way she so quickly and effortlessly took the ball away from the other players, how she scored goal after goal after goal.
Catra sighed, dreamily. So cool.
This girl was gonna be Catra’s friend.
-
After the class, Catra waited for the right moment to talk to the blonde. She was new in school, so there were probably gonna be a whole lot of other kids talking her ear off.
They were on the patio now, waiting for their parents. A good portion of the kids had left by then, and Catra couldn’t be more happy when she found the blonde girl sitting all by herself, playing on her Nintendo DS.
“Hey!”
The girl looked up at Catra, a surprised look on her face. “Hi!”
She sat down next to her, playing aimlessly with her backpack straps. She felt nervous, her heart was beating faster for some reason. Her hands were shaky.
“Uhm- uh. Hi.” She repeated back to her.
The blonde smiled. “Hi. What’s your name?”
The girl had a lisp and a missing front tooth, she noticed. Catra thought it was cute, in a way.
Her ear flicked, then she looked at the blonde’s eyes. She felt her face heat up.
Her eyes were so blue. Like her aunt’s pool.
“I’m, hm-” she swallowed dry, “I’m Catra. What’s yours?”
“I’m Adora, nice to meet you Catra- Ohh!” She gasped, “Your eyes are soo cool!”
Catra felt her face heat up and her ears lower for a moment, “Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yours are too. Y’know cause they’re blue or whatever.” she grumbled; it was weird, she doesn’t remember feeling this nervous before.
“Aw, thank you! Yours are cooler though.”
The little magicat decided to change topics, feeling way too much about being complimented.“You’re new here, right?”
She nodded and closed her Nintendo, “Yeah, I moved here from the Fourth Zone.”
The magicat eyes widened. “You mean the Frightzone?!”
Adora laughed, not offended by her reaction. In fact, she seemed amused. “Yes, the Frightzone. You’re like, the sixth person to react like that. Why is that?”
“‘Cause the Frightzone is freaking scary, are you kidding me? There’s like- like a bunch of stories about the caves there and how there’s werewolves in the forest and stuff.” She shrugged. All the kids were scared of that city. She didn’t really believe the werewolf tale, but caves scared her. And she knew deep in her heart some of those had to be haunted.
Adora raised a brow, “Werewolves, seriously?”
Catra sputters, embarrassed. “It’s not me who made that up! And- I don’t know. I never been there. But from what I heard it’s scary.”
Adora moves to put her Nintendo in her Mario-themed backpack, “It’s not as scary as everyone thinks. My mom used to say it’s dangerous to walk at night but that’s it.” she shrugs.
Catra’s eyes flicked to her backpack, “You like Mario?”
Adora stared at her, eyes sparkling in delight at finding another kid who knew who Mario was. She nodded excitedly in response, “Yeah! Mario is the best!”
Catra crossed her arms and looked the other way for a moment, avoiding eye contact “I mean, I wouldn’t say he’s the beeest…”
Adora frowned and hugged her backpack, cradling Mario to her chest “What do you mean he isn’t the best? He’s freakin’ amazing!”
The magicat looked back at her, brow raised. “He’s cool and all, but it’s not like he has powers on his own. He has to use power ups all the time!”
The blonde shook her head. Things were getting heated. “Nuh-uh! He does have powers. He can jump super high and it’s really strong! He breaks bricks with his head!”
The magicat made a tsk sound, she gestured to herself “I can also jump super high, he’s not special-” Her hands moved back to fidgeting with her backpack straps, mindlessly. “Sonic is better.”
Adora was flabbergasted. Couldn’t believe what Catra said. “All Sonic does is run!”
Catra gasped back in disbelief. Sonic was her favorite video game mascot of all time and she was not gonna let this blondie disrespect him in her presence. She spat back, “And all Mario does is go down pipes!”
“You take that back!”
They kept debating, Catra never backing down from defending Sonic and Adora doing the same for Mario. They both kept coming up with reasons why their mascots were better, bringing up in-games facts and even consoles.
It went on for a couple of minutes more until their guardians arrived. But the kids were so invested in their conversation that they didn’t pay them any mind at all. At least not until one of them yelled.
“Catra! Baby girl, it’s time to go home.” Her mom called her attention from outside the school gate, waving her hands.
Catra stopped herself mid sentence and looked over at her mom, deflating. “But mooom i'm talking to Adora right now!”
Cyra offered her daughter a sympathetic smile, “I’m happy you made a new friend honey, but we gotta go. Your mama is making dinner.” Her mom motioned at her to come.
She stared back at Adora who had now gotten up, and she seemed way less excited to go home than Catra. “I gotta go too. My granny's here” she sighed.
The blonde walked over to the gate, Catra following close behind. In an impulsive act, she moved to hold Adora’s hand. “Wait!”
The blonde stopped and looked back puzzled at the magicat, “What?”
“Can you ask your grandma to bring you over to my house? It’d be really fun. I can show you my Sonic Master system and my PS3!” She leaned closer to Adora’s ear, putting a hand to the side of her own mouth so no one could hear her, “I have Red Dead Redemption” she whispered animatedly.
Adora giggled and Catra moved a bit to stare at her face, a wide grin plastered on both their features.
“Yeah! I’d love that-” She gasped, an idea popping on head “we can have a sleep over!”
Catra nodded, her fur puffed up in excitement. “Yes! It’ll be so cool!”
“Adora! We gotta get home, let’s go dearie!” Adora’s grandma yelled, cutting their conversation abruptly.
The blonde deflated again, Catra dropped their hands.
She gave Catra a weak smile, already moving towards the gate “Bye Catra!”
Catra walked right behind her “Bye Adora!” she walked over to her mom, waving goodbye even as she got into the car.
-
“So I heard you made a new friend, huh sweetheart?”
Catra was poking at her vegetables and daydreaming about playing video games with Adora when her mom spoke up. She had already showered when she got home, and the weight of the school day was starting to catch up to her. She yawned, sleepiness settling in her small body.
She rubbed her eyes and looked at her mom for a moment, “Yeah, she’s in sixth grade and her name is Adora. She’s fun.”
Her mom hummed in response. She reached over to brush Catra’s hair, noticing the way her daughter’s eyelids were heavy. ‘School been really tiring her out lately’ she thought.
Her other mama was taking a shower, she had gotten back home from a job emergency moments after Catra and her mom had gotten home.
“Listen honey, I know it’s been a long day for you, but we do need to talk about you and Lonnie.” Her mom stopped brushing her hair and pulled up Catra’s small school agenda from her lap. “Mara wrote that you two had another fight, it’s that right?”
The small magicat groaned and crossed her arms, leaning back against the chair. “She started it. She always does. She called me a dumbface!”
Her mom frowned and bit her lip for a moment, thinking of what to say. She didn’t understand. Last year, Lonnie and her were basically glued to the hip. She knows kids' friendships are always changing like the weather, but this was starting to be a bit extreme. “Baby, I don’t get it. You two were such good friends before. What happened?”
Catra looked away and felt her mom rub her arm. If she was being honest, she didn’t quite get it herself. One day, Lonnie just seemed to hate her guts. She didn’t understand it at all. Sometimes she wishes she could just shake Lonnie until she went back to normal.
Catra missed her a bit. But it’s not like she hasn’t gotten new friends too. She had Scorpia, Entrapta and her newer friend; Glimmer. Her face was full of glittery stickers all the time, like band-aids. And her mom sounded like that annoying Harry Potter movie.
“I don’t know mom. She’s just weird, maybe she’s jealous that I draw better than her.” she shrugged.
Her mom sighed. “I’ll have to talk to Lonnie’s parents if this keeps up.”
Catra perked up, suddenly remembering her deal with Adora at the mention of parents. She turned to look at her mom, eyes hopeful. She used that tone of voice she always does when she wants to ask something big out of her moms, “Mom, earlier today I was talking with Adora and y’know she’s my friend now and all and I wanted to know if maybe… we could have a sleep over?”
Her mom raised a brow. “You had a fight at school, now you’re asking me if your new friend can come over?”
Catra clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture, “Pleeeeeeease mommy please! Adora is literally so cool and I told her I'd show her my Master system and all and we’ll be so so quiet we won’t bother you and mama at all please, please!”
“I have to talk to your mom–”
Catra moved her hands to lightly grip at her mother’s shirt dramatically. “Pleaseee! My grades are all good- I've been getting straight 10’s recently pleaseeee mommy! C’mon!”
Her mom sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “If your mom says yes, I'll talk to Adora’s parents, okay?”
Catra nodded and peppered her mother’s face with kisses, whispering ‘thank you’ over and over again.
“Y’all better not make a mess.” Her mom grumbled moodly, but still loved the kisses.
Catra leaned back on her chair and shook her head, “We won’t!”
“Won’t what?”
Her other mother, Aya, had gotten back from the shower. She was in her pajamas already and was drying her short light-brown hair with a towel thrown caressly around her shoulders.
“Hey love, we were talking about Catra having a sleepover.”
Her mama raised a brow and pulled a chair on the dining table. She threw the towel on the back of the chair and sat down “A sleepover huh? Is it gonna be with the whole gang? Because I really don’t wanna eat up glitter again.” She joked, though shuddering at the memory of finding glitter at every corner of their house for a month. She loved that Glimmer girl. ⁹She was a cute kid, obedient and funny. But goddamn! What was her deal with glitter?
Catra brought her legs up to the chair. She rested her head on her knees and shook her head, “No, no, it was just gonna be me and Adora.”
“Who’s Adora?”
“My new friend! She’s really cool. She likes Mario and video games and she’s from the Fright Zone!”
Her mama tilted her head, puzzled. “The Fright Zone?”
“She means the Fourth Zone. All the kids call it the Fright Zone for some reason.” Her mom replied and shrugged.
Catra rolled her eyes, “Because it’s scary over there, duh. There’s a bunch of caves and- and y’know. Adora said they couldn’t leave their house at night because it was so dangerous.”
Aya raised a brow. “Caves? You mean the coal-” Suddenly it clicked for her, “Oh okay, I get it now. Because the coal mines are haunted. You kids are really creative.”
Catra hugged her knees and mumbled “We’re not creative it’s just true…”
Aya rubbed her neck “Well, I guess if you like that Adora girl that much… it wouldn’t hurt to set up something with her parents. As long as you guys don’t tear the house down.”
“We won’t!”
Cyra sighed, “I sure hope so.”