Chapter Text
They even had a stupid waterfall in the dorm. Adora felt like she was about to move into a castle. Even though she had been there a few times already, she still wandered around the campus and the corridors of Bright Moon College with amazement in her eyes since she arrived there this morning. It was huge and ancient and – she wouldn’t admit it to anybody – it made her feel like a princess in her castle.
The walls were made of old stone and the towers reached up high into the sky. The late September sun made some of the windows with colored glass glow in every shade of purple and blue. People were walking all over the campus, talking excitedly about their upcoming first semester at one of the best colleges in Etheria and trying to orientate themselves.
After a while Adora had made her way to her dorm. She didn’t know what she expected the rooms to look like, but probably not as beautiful as the college itself. However, she was wrong. The entrance hall was big enough to have a whole dance party in it and the walls were painted in a pretty light lavender. And then there was this dumb little waterfall thing in a corner of the room. Adora thought about taking a quick shower in it, after walking around the whole campus with her luggage, but came to the conclusion, that it probably wouldn’t be much appreciated.
How the hell did she get into such a college for rich kids? When Adora walked over to the elevator, there was already half a dozen students waiting with another dozens of bags and suitcases to get in there, so that she decided to take the stairs. It wouldn’t be such a big deal for her, looking at the few things she brought with her. Besides, maybe she could already impress someone by voluntarily carrying herself and her stuff to the fifth floor.
Nevertheless, she was completely out of breath when she reached her destination and did not even meet a single soul on her way. She hesitated for a moment, before opening the door to her dorm for the first time. This was going to be her new life, the life she had wanted for so long. But now that it was real, she had no idea if she was ready for it.
Lost in thought, she did not realize the pling coming from the elevator, as the doors opened and a person managed to get out with multiple bags and a suitcase nearly as tall as herself.
“Hello,“ Adora heard a voice behind her. She nearly jumped out of her skin and dropped her keys. The person behind her winced back, surprised by Adora’s reaction.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,“ she said.
„Oh, it’s okay,“ Adora responded.
When she recovered from her shock, she finally took a closer look at who was standing in front of her. It was a short girl – she was about 4’’11 – but for some reason Adora had a feeling she would not want to end up in a fight with her. Her hair was short and sparkled in a light shade of pink. For a moment Adora thought she spotted some glitter in it.
“You must be Adora, my roommate,” the girl said and reached out for a handshake.
“Yes, then you must be Glitter,” Adora replied.
“It’s Glimmer,” she corrected her with an offended tone.
“Right, Glimmer, sorry.”
“So… are you going to open that door or… “ Glimmer said after a while.
“Oh right,” Adora said and picked her keys up from the floor, before finally entering their dorm room.
The big room was flooded by sunlight, and one wall was painted in a similar color to the one in the entry hall. It kind of matched with Glimmers hair and suitcases, Adora thought. On each side of the room there was a bed with nearly enough room for two people to sleep in. On the left there was another door, probably the bathroom.
“So, which side do you want?“ Glimmer asked, pointing to the beds.
“I don’t really care. You can choose the one you prefer,“ Adora responded, still observing the room with fascination. After a moment of consideration, Glimmer walked over to the bed further away from the window, probably so that the sun wouldn't wake her up early in the morning. She threw all her stuff on the bed with a sigh and turned back to Adora with an excited impression on her face.
“So, Adora, welcome to Bright Moon College! You’re gonna love it here! What’s your major? Are you gonna join any team or club? Where did you come from? Oh, and do you like to party? Please tell me you’re not an early riser!“ she asked at once.
“Oh, um, that’s a lot of questions. Well, my major is health and physical education. I always played basketball, so I will join the basketball team actually. And I am in fact an early riser,“ Adora said.
Glimmer crossed her arms in front of her and raised one eyebrow. “Pfft, so you’re one of these guys?“ she asked.
“What guys?” Adora asked, mirroring her attitude.
“You know, the ones that wake up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym and always have some interesting facts to say about someone’s choice of breakfast,“ Glimmer said.
“No! … Maybe! But why do you make it sound like it’s a bad thing? What’s your major anyway?“ she asked a little huffy.
“I’m majoring in International Relations,“ she responded with a proud look on her face. “But,“ she added, “You haven’t answered all of my questions yet. Are you still gonna party? Because there will be this great party tonight at Sea Hawk’s House. I don’t know him yet, he’s a few semesters above, but his parties are known to be legendary. And there will be a lot of freshmen too. Perfect time to meet some people! Bow told me all about it.“
Adora noticed, that Glimmer put her fists up in front of her in excitement while talking.
“Uhm, I don’t know if partying is really my thing. And who’s Bow?“ she asked.
Just then they heard someone knocking at the door.
“Oh, this must be him!“ Glimmer said and rushed over to open the door.“Hey Bow!“ she welcomed him.
“Hey guys! How are you doing in your new dorm room?“ said the guy, who was now entering their room. He was wearing purple pants and a crop top with a heart imprint on it. That was some... interesting taste Adora thought.
“Good, I guess. We just arrived actually. This is Adora by the way,“ Glimmer introduced her.
“Hi,” she said and waved over to Bow.
“Nice to meet you Adora,” he said and made his way over to Glimmers bed. “Any help needed?“ he asked.
“Sure, always,” Glimmer responded, and Bow started to unpack one of her bags.
“Wow I love your room! It has way more sun in it and the color is prettier than ours. And my roommate seems a little… pitiful. I mean, he is probably a very nice guy, but after four times of thanking me for paying attention and talking to him I couldn’t really keep the conversation up. Poor boy. His name is Kyle. What kind of parents even name their kid Kyle?” he said, while putting some of Glimmer’s clothes in a drawer.
“Well, I guess Kyles parents?” Adora said, also starting to unpack her stuff now. “Good one, Adora,” Bow chuckled, “I hope you guys are getting along just fine!”
“I hope so too. Adora just told me about being an early riser, which could be slightly problematic,” Glimmer noted.
“Oh, you’re an early riser? Me too! Finally, I found someone like me! I tried to make Glimmer an early riser too, but it never worked. Let me guess, you're a sporty kind of person?” Bow said and Adora was sure she heard his voice cracking.
“Yeah, actually. I just told Glimmer I play basketball and my major is health and physical education. What’s yours?” she asked.
Bow scratched the back of his neck. “I’m majoring in history. It’s what my dads always prepared me for. They’re big fans of all this stuff, you know, history, art, art history. They even own a book shop,” he explained.
“That sounds cool. Before I decided to do volunteer work for a year after graduation I also thought about studying art history. It must be fun being a historián,” she said, awkwardly accenting the last part of the word.
“Sure, I guess,” he said.
“I am soo excited to show you guys around later. I mean there are also official campus tours, but I offer you a private one. I’ve already played on this campus since I was a little baby, so I think I know it quite well. And we could also make a quick stop at the kitchen and steal some snacks. What do you think?” Glimmer joined back in.
“That sounds great, Glimmer! Count me in,” Bow said.
“Wait you've known the campus since you were a baby? How come?” Adora asked curiously.
“Well maybe because my mum might be the principal,” she said with a smirk.
“Oh, wow, what? The principal? Do I have to be scared or super well-behaved or something?” she asked.
“No, please don’t. She won’t be coming over to this place. She wouldn’t let me do anything if she did. I don’t want her to ruin my college life,” Glimmer responded.
“Well, if it’s that bad, I understand, I guess. Actually, I can’t really imagine having a close family member around me all the time. There is nobody left in my family. At least nobody I know about,” Adora said.
Bow stopped abruptly. “I am so sorry to hear that Adora,” he said.
“No, no, it’s okay. I never really got to know my parents. I grew up in foster care and… it wasn’t that bad all the time,” she said with a nostalgic smile on her face.
“But you guys seem close. Since when have you known each other?” she asked then.
“We went to middle and high school together. I think we met in sixth grade, when Bow sneaked into the room before the physics class started and accidentally destroyed the setup for an experiment we wanted to do in class. I had to help him remove the mess,” Glimmer explained.
“Oh, so I was the one causing chaos? Remember, you were the one, that got herself into fights with the older students all the time. I had to drag you out of them,” Bow defended himself.
“But they deserved it!” she insisted.
Adora chuckled. “Well, sounds like you guys had a fun time at school. My high school time was okay, pretty boring most of the time,” she said and paused for a moment, “But I remember some good things too, mostly from the time I lived in the Fright Zone”
Glimmer and Bow gave each other a skeptical look. “You lived in the Fright Zone?” Bow asked.
“Well, at least until I was 15 or something. I went to Horde High School until I…”
“Horde High?!” Bow and Glimmer screamed in unison. Adora winced at their reaction.
“Only until I got a scholarship at a private school. You know because I was the best in my basketball team and had overall good grades. On this side of the country”, she said with a self-defending tone.
“Phew, why didn’t you just say so?”, Bow asked.
“I was trying to! You didn’t let me finish,” Adora explained.
“Bow, she’s from the Horde!” Glimmer whispered, still very hearable for Adora.
“But she already left it a few years ago! Isn’t that what matters?” Bow responded.
“Okay, what’s the whole Horde thing about anyway? Seriously, what’s with you Bright Moon people? I know it’s not the best, but you really seem to hate the Horde,” Adora said, crossing her arms in front of her.
“There has been this rivalry between the Bright Moon and Horde schools for years now. Especially the Horde College,” Bow started to explain.
“It’s not just some rivalry. They’re at literal war,” Glimmer said.
“Literal war?” Adora asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Yes. In every possible way. Like on every sports team or other competition we have. We don’t like these people and they don’t like us. It’s always been like that,” she responded.
Bow chuckled nervously. “Well, maybe it’s not that bad. I mean, that doesn’t…”,
“Yes, it is!” Glimmer interrupted him, “Even the professors do not like each other. There is weird business going on. I don’t know what exactly, but there are rumors about the Horde doing weird research and experiments. Illegal stuff. No wonder why so many professors have switched to Bright Moon or other colleges,”
“Wait, what?” Adora asked with a surprised look on her face.
“Glimmer, do you really believe that? They’re still just rumors. And do you think this is the best time to start that conversation? We don’t want to scare Adora right away!” Bow mumbled over to Glimmer.
“What? I know there is something up. You forgot my mum is literally the principal and I’m here all the time. I hear them talking. My mum just never talks to me about all this stuff,” she said, and it seemed like it really bothered her.
“Well, that sounds pretty messed up. But we can’t know for sure what’s going on there. Either way I’m happy to be at Bright Moon College now. I just love this place,” Adora said, unsure of what to think about this rivalry and experiment thing. She had a feeling this wasn’t their first time discussing this. Illegal business? Seriously?
“Yeah, right?” Bow jumped in, obviously glad to change the topic, “It’s just so magical! We even have some people here that are somehow related to royal families. They call themselves the princess alliance. Did you know that Adora? I bet the Horde doesn’t have princesses!”
“Wow, that’s crazy. I knew Bright Moon College was kind of noble, but I had no idea we also have princesses here,” Adora said.
“Actually, I am kind of a princess myself,” Glimmer admitted.
“You are what?” she asked surprisedly. Glimmer grinned.
“Yeah, it’s true. My mum has some royal blood running in her veins,” she said.
“Oh, wow, my roommate is a princess. That’s… normal here I guess?” Adora said, trying to process that information.
“Don’t make a big thing out of it. I don’t feel very royal. I’m just an ordinary college girl here… cut the ordinary out though,” Glimmer said.
“I’m like the only one who’s not a princess here”, Bow said with a slightly upset voice.
“Don’t worry. I am also not a bit royal,” Adora replied.
She was thinking for a moment. “Wait, if you’re a princess, doesn’t that make your mum a queen?” she asked then.
“Well, technically yes, if you say it like that. But she’s only a principal here. I think that status is high enough,” Glimmer said.
“But don’t I have to call her queen or majesty or something like that?” Adora asked.
“Please don’t,” Glimmer said.
“… Your Highness?” she suggested. “Just call her Angella,” Glimmer responded.
“But…”, “Adora! Stop it with the names. You are not going to call her Your Highness or something,” Glimmer explained.
“Okay, noted,” Adora gave up and turned back to the bag she was unpacking.
They spent some more time in their dorm, chatting about college and arranging their room before they decided to go outside and walk around the campus for a while. Glimmer had in fact a lot of interesting things to say about every corner of the college and Adora really appreciated the little stop for snacks at the kitchen. She had a feeling that this could be a great new period of her life.
***
After the 14th story of a college party that escalated because of someone committing arson, Catra was sure she would go completely insane if she really had to share her dorm with this chatty roommate for a whole semester.
“And then he was like but where is the adventure? And dropped the match. Ha, you should’ve seen it! Bill really hated him from then on,” the roommate in question said, acting out the whole situation. Scorpia really had way too much energy for her, Catra thought. She sighed and took the pillow off her face, where she placed it a minute ago to escape the conversation.
“Who was Bill again?” she asked.
“Sea Hawk’s roommate. But luckily, he’s not there today. Otherwise, he would probably really hate him by the end of the night,” Scorpia explained.
“Why? And doesn’t he already hate him?” Catra questioned.
“Oh, yep, you got a point there. And of course, for the party he’s throwing tonight! It’s gonna be so much fun! I really want you to meet everyone,” she said.
“What? I didn’t agree to that!” Catra answered.
“Oh, but you have to! What else do you want to do on your first night as a real college student? Huh? Just sit in your room like you do… most of the day?”
Catra rolled over to the side facing the wall. Scorpia was kind of right. She was in fact refusing to go out and interact with people the whole day. Maybe going to college wasn’t the best idea in the end. Catra still had mixed feelings about getting into Bright Moon college, especially when she thought about how she got in there.
Suddenly she felt the mattress moving from Scorpia sitting down on the edge of it. “Hey, wildcat…”
“Stop calling me that! And when did I allow you to sit on my bed?” Catra hissed back.
“Woah, sorry. Personal space needed, yup, understand that. Sorry you just remind me of this small kitten my aunt had when I was little. She would sit in the corner of the room all the time and take her claws out if anyone came near her… Just like you, kind of. Ehem, anyway, just wanted to say, I know you seem to hate this whole college thing, but maybe it’s not as bad as you think. And I want to be a good roommate, you know, being a sophomore and already knowing a lot of stuff here. Come on, you can’t let me go there alone! Whaddaya say?” Scorpia said with a hopeful smile on her lips.
Catra took a deep breath. This Scorpia girl really seemed to be persistent. For some reason she was convinced that going to this stupid party would just fix Catras mood. But then, was she really going to feel better if she just stayed inside the whole time?
“Fine. I’ll think about it,” she finally yielded.
“Ah, yes! Super pal duo is on their way!” Scorpia said.
“We’re not a super pal duo. And I didn’t completely agree yet,” Catra responded.
“Oh, but you will. I know you will. You just can’t let a friend down! Ah, come here!” she said and before Catra could move she found herself in a bear hug with Scorpia. “Just so you know, I’m a hugger,” she added.
“What? Argh! Don’t make me regret this. Let me go!” Catra shouted, trying to free herself. Scorpia released her abruptly.
“Oh, nope, we do not want regrets here,” she said.
Catra growled and got up from her bed. “Just let me take a shower before we go”, she said and made her way over to the bathroom.
She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. When she looked up into the room Catra chuckled. Even the bathroom looked super fancy. There was a large gold-framed mirror above a marble sink on the left and on the right side she had the choice between a bathtub and a more modern looking shower. She took her clothes off and choose the shower.
When the hot water dripped down on her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Taking a shower always felt like her only chance to have some peace and quiet.
After a while she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She tried to wipe the steamed-up mirror and it revealed a blurry picture of herself. Water was dripping from her thick brown hair onto her shoulders and two unlike eyes were staring at her. One amber and one blue. She never minded them when she was younger, but the kids at school always made fun of her because of them. Even her foster mother made some comments about them once.
After another few minutes, Catra came out of the bathroom and Scorpia took her place in there. Catra had not fully unpacked her stuff by now, so she just went with the first party-suitable outfit she could grab. It turned out to be a pair of black, ripped jeans and a dark red top. She didn’t do much with her hair, as always, other than blow-drying it a little.
Catra heard the bathroom door unlock and Scorpia stepped out of it.
“Oh, man, now we can start this with a more positive attitude, don’t you…” she stopped abruptly when she looked over to Catra.
“What?” she asked annoyed.
“Aw, red just really is your color! Super pal duo is gonna look awesome tonight!” Scorpia said.
“Whatever. Can we just hurry and get this over with?” Catra said, turning away slightly embarrassed.
“Yeah, yeah, sure. I am super-fast.” Scorpia said and went over to her side of the room to get ready.
15 minutes later they stepped out of their dorm. “Can’t we just use the elevator, like every other normal person?” Catra asked.
“It’s only the fourth floor! We could use the exercise. Trust me, one semester of walking the stairs up and down every day and you’re gonna be super fit,” Scorpia replied.
“I believe so,” Catra mumbled.
When they started to make their way downstairs, Catra heard voices echoing in the hallway from about one or two floors above.
“I think you look just fine. Don’t you agree?” an enthusiastic voice asked someone.
“Sure. I mean, she’s wearing my clothes,” another person with a girly sounding voice responded. Then she heard a pling and the voices were swallowed by the closing doors of the elevator.
Suddenly Catra had a weird feeling but couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was. Something felt kind of familiar, however she had no idea where that came from. Maybe she would find out soon.
***
“Glimmer, are you done in there already?” Bow knocked on the bathroom door.
“Practically finished!” Adora heard her answer from behind the door. Bow sighed.
“So, what are you gonna wear to the party, Adora?” he asked then.
“Oh, I don’t know. I was just gonna go like this,” she said, looking down at herself. She was wearing some gray pants and a red jacket, which was almost her everyday choice.
Bow raised one eyebrow. “You can’t go like this to your first college party,” he said. He had also changed into a more put together outfit by now, wearing a white button-down shirt, that was also cropped for some reason.
“You think so?” she asked.
Just then the bathroom door opened, and Glimmer came out in a cute top and a purple skirt. “Soo, what do you guys think?”
“I really like it! Worth the 20 minutes of waiting,” Bow said, “We kind of have a fashion problem here. Tell Adora she can’t go to the party like this!”
“What? You can’t go like this Adora!” Glimmer said.
“Why not? Are even the parties here that noble?” Adora asked.
“No, I mean, it’s just a party. Don’t you have something more… pretty to wear?” Glimmer asked, starting to open a drawer, and going through Adora’s clothes.
“Not really. There was just no need for it,” she responded, standing there awkwardly while Glimmer was throwing every item of clothing she considered useless onto her bed one by one.
Then she suddenly stopped and said, “Oh, I have an idea. You’re just going to wear some of my clothes,” and rushed over to her closet. Bow came over to her bed and automatically started folding the clothes and putting them back into the drawer.
“So… is there anything else I have to think of before I’ll go to this party? Who is going to be there? What am I supposed to talk about witht them?” Adora asked after a while.
“I don’t know, it's probably gonna be a lot of people. Just have some small talk with them. Ask about their majors or something. Oh, and don’t drink too much alcohol,” Glimmer explained.
“Oh, people are going to drink there?” Adora asked.
“Of course, I mean, it’s a college party. You sound like you’ve never been to a party before!” Bow said.
Adora chuckled nervously. “Yeah, right. No, I’ve totally been to parties before. I just love… parties,” she tried to talk herself out of it.
Glimmer and Bow gave her a critical look.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been to a party before,” Bow said.
“I just said, I’ve been to parties before! Just not such big parties. It was more like… sitting at a table and eating cake with a few people on a birthday. And I went to a school dance before!” Adora tried to explain.
“What? A school dance? That doesn’t count!” Bow said in disbelief, before Glimmer held up a blouse and yelled, “Found it!”
“Are you sure this is gonna suit me? And aren’t you, you know, a bit shorter than me?” Adora asked, looking critically at the thin, azure blouse.
“It’s gonna be fine. I accidentally bought it one size too big. Come on just try it on!” she said.
A few minutes later Adora looked at herself in the mirror with the blouse on. It was surprisingly comfortable, but she still wasn’t so sure about how it looked on her. It wasn’t really her typical style or color, but she didn’t want to disappoint Glimmer by not taking her offer. After a moment she decided to step out of the bathroom.
“You ready, Adora?” Glimmer asked, a purse in her hand as she was ready to leave.
Adora took a deep breath before responding, “Yes, I think so.”
“Okay, then let’s go!” Bow said and opened the door.
“Wait,” Adora said after a few steps, stopping just when she crossed the threshold, “do you guys really think I look okay? I don’t want to make a bad impression on my first college party”
“I think you look just fine. Don’t you agree?”, Bow said and Adora followed them hesitantly into the hallway.
“Sure. I mean, she’s wearing my clothes,” Glimmer responded and walked over to the elevator.
Before Adora could protest and argue for taking the stairs, she already found herself standing in the elevator next to her friends on the way down.
***
Catra could hear the party before she could see it. There was a 2000’s dance playlist bawling mixed with chatter and laughter. When they turned around the street corner, they finally saw the origin of the noise.
The front yard was already filled with people playing drinking games or just chatting loudly and dragging on a cigarette from time to time. People were flocking in and out of the house. Catra and Scorpia stopped in front of it and both stared at the crowd for a moment.
After taking a deep breath, Catra turned to her roommate and asked, “So, are you ready for this?”
“Nope, absolutely not,” Scorpia admitted.
“But I thought you were, and I quote, a sophomore that already knows a lot of stuff here and want to show me around?” Catra teased her.
“Yeah, that’s still true. I know some things about being a college student. And I mean, I know Sea Hawk and some of his friends. He’s the only one who truly understands me and never judges. But I’m still, ya know, a little anxious with some people. And seems like there are even more people than I expected,” she said.
“Yeah, I kinda understand actually,” Catra responded, feeling a bit anxious herself.
“So…” she said after a while, “We still have the chance to just turn around and go home, if you want to.”
Scorpia looked down to her shoes. “I… I was kinda hoping to meet someone here…”
“Someone?” Catra asked, raising one eyebrow. “Yeah… but, anyway. She’s probably not even gonna notice me. She’s, ya know, from the princess alliance,” Scorpia explained.
“Princess alliance?” Catra asked, looking even more confused now.
“Well, yeah… gosh this is too much to explain. You know what? It doesn’t matter. We’re just gonna go in there and look super awesome! We don’t need no princesses. Amiright?” she said and gave Catra an encouraging pet on the back, that nearly knocked her over.
Catra sighed. “Fine, then let’s go,” she said and started walking towards the front door.
“Super pal duo is on their way!” she heard Scorpia muttering behind her as she followed her.
The smell of beer, weed and sweat surrounded them as they entered the house, making Catra wrinkle her nose. The room was filled with students who were sitting around tables, talking, and playing more drinking games, and the music was so loud, Catra wondered how they could understand each other. A free space in the living room was used as a dance floor.
Suddenly Catra saw someone in the middle of the dance floor waving over to them. The person started making their way through the crowd.
“Hey, Sea Hawk!” she heard Scorpia call them as she waved back.
“Hey, Scorpia! I’m so glad you guys made it to this secret party adventure!” a mustached man greeted them.
“Secret? Oh, did I miss something? This doesn’t seem very, ya know, secret to me,” Scorpia said.
“Oh, it’s only secret for Bill! I made everyone in this house swear to not tell Bill about this,” he explained.
“Oh, now I understand!” Scorpia said.
Catra had her doubts about that working out, looking at all the people in there. At least half of them were probably plus ones and the plus ones from the plus ones, she assumed.
“Uhm, by the way, this is Catra, my new roommate! New roommate, this is Sea Hawk,” Scorpia started to introduce them.
“Hi,” Catra said and waved quickly.
“Very pleased to meet you, Catra. I hope you will have an adventurous time at our beautiful Bright Moon College,” he welcomed her.
“Well, I hope so too,” Catra replied. The man in front of her looked kind of silly with his red scarf and the mustache, she thought. Then she noticed him looking at something behind them.
“Oh, is that my dearest Mermista arriving? Mermiistaaa!” he warbled.
Just then a bored looking woman in a turquoise dress joined their little group.
“Yeah, I’m here too. What did you expect?” she said with a monotone voice.
“You are just the prettiest princess I’ve ever seen!” Sea Hawk complimented her.
“Arrggh you are so embarrassing. Why did I come again?” she questioned.
“To have a fun time with your old and potential new friends!” a voice behind her responded. Then the person stepped forward to them. She had flowers in her long blonde hair and kind of looked like a hippie.
“Hi, I’m Perfuma,” she introduced herself when she noticed the unfamiliar face in the group.
“Catra,” she answered.
“Oh, what a sweet name,” Perfuma said and Catra decided, not to comment on that.
“Can I offer the ladies some drinks?” Sea Hawk asked politely.
“No, thanks,” Catra responded.
“I’d like one,” Perfuma said.
“Uhm, me too,” Scopia added.
“As you wish.”
After Sea Hawk went to get the drinks there was an awkward moment of silence.
“So, what do you wish to learn at Bright Moon College, Catra?” Perfuma tried to start a conversation.
“Uhm, my major is international relations, if that’s what you’re asking about,” she replied.
“Ah, that sounds interesting! My major is social work,” Perfuma said.
“Ah, that sounds… interesting as well, I guess?” Catra said.
“Well, I think it’s interesting! From… what I know about it,” Scorpia joined in.
“That’s nice to hear. What do you know about it?” she asked.
“Well, uhm, I’m in this social politics class, which I think is part of your main area of study too,” Scorpia explained.
“Oh, so that’s where I noticed your face from! What was your name again?” Perfuma asked.
“My name is Scorpia. Thanks for asking. I mean, that’s what people do, right? Haha. Now I already know your name, so I can’t ask for yours, which kinda ruined the conversation, ya know?” she started babbling.
Perfuma chuckled. “It’s okay. Conversations don’t always have to be what you expect them to be. Sometimes it’s the most unexpected conversation that you can learn from the most.”
In that Moment Catra was very thankful for Sea Hawk coming back with the drinks, because she was starting to feel the awkwardness of the situation. Sadly, he left again the minute he delivered the drinks, because of some arm-wrestling games that were about to start on the other side of the room.
“Ughhh he is soo annoying,” Mermista said.
“That’s not how you talk about your friends,” Perfuma reproved her.
“Whatever,” she responded.
“So… do you guys wanna join a game or something?” Perfuma asked after a while, pointing to the tables where people were busy playing drinking games.
“Yes, please,” Mermista said.
“Sounds good,” Catra agreed. She felt like she would go crazy if she wouldn’t find something to do other than stand around and listen to awkward conversations soon.
They walked over to the table and found some people to play a card game with.
“Okay, so this game is called ‘bullshit’. Your goal is to get rid of all your cards and not let the other players find out, when you are lying,” a red-haired girl explained.
“Oh, great, I’m the best player at this game,” Catra said. Which was already a lie. She only knew one person, who was better at this game. The person who taught her the game. But they did not need to know that.
“The person who starts the game lays down a two, the next one a three, and so on, counting upwards,” she continued, “And one after another lays down a card facing down, so that nobody can actually see, what it was. If you don’t have any suiting card, you must pretend like it is the right one and put it on the stack,”
“Oh man, that already sounds so complicated. I’m such a bad liar!” Scorpia complained.
“The fun part is the drinking anyway. If you think the person before you put down the wrong card, you can say ‘bullshit’ and they must reveal it. If it was actually wrong, they have to drink and add all the discarded cards to their pile. But if you suspected them wrongly, it’s your turn to drink and take the cards,” the girl explained.
“That doesn’t sound like a nice game,” Perfuma said.
“I think it’s cool. Let’s start,” Mermista said, and they started to hand out the cards.
Catra was in fact the best one at this game. They played a few rounds, and they were all won by either Catra or Mermista. Scorpia and Perfuma both did very poorly at the game. They were already drunk after the first round. It’s a bad thing to lie and it doesn’t work for my very honest and open personality Perfuma said and Scorpia agreed with every word she said. In the end Catra was the clear winner, which actually made her kind of proud of herself. Maybe this evening wasn’t that much of a disaster after all.
“Alright I think I’m gonna go look for Sea Hawk. It was a bit too peaceful for too long. Hope he’s not planning some arson in the background again,” Mermista said and got up from her seat.
“That’s a good idea,” Perfuma agreed and also stood up, only a bit tipsier. They all went over to the corner of the room, where a group of people had already gathered around the table. They shouted and cheered for the candidates in the game. After they moved another step forward Catra could finally see them.
Sea Hawk was visibly struggling to keep up with his opponent, who happened to be some girl with a long, blonde ponytail, that had her back turned to Catra. Something about this picture felt so strangely familiar that Catra inhaled sharply. She started to feel dizzy and blamed it on the alcohol.
“I think I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” she said to Scorpia and hurried out of the crowd.
***
If Adora won another round of arm-wrestling against this Sea Hawk guy she would be 5$ richer. And if he was going to keep playing like this, she was very optimistic about this. It was obvious that he was pretending and trying to show off, but there wasn’t much strength behind it. His face was as red as his scarf by now and to be honest, Adora could also feel her arm starting to weaken a little. But that didn’t stop her. She wouldn’t be able to rest if she didn’t win this thing. And it looked promising for her – she was already pushing his hand further and further down and was about to win – if there wasn’t that weird feeling on her back, like someone watching her. Adora felt like she was hearing whispers behind her. Whispers from a voice of her past, one she had almost suppressed by now. Almost.
Sea Hawk immediately took advantage of her distraction and pushed her hand a bit over, so that she was now on the weaker side. But that brought her back into the game and she used even more strength than before. Only one last boost of her energy and his hand touched the table. She was the winner. The students around them cheered and applauded for her and Adora got up from her seat with a proud look on her face.
“Oh my god, you did it!” Glimmer said and jumped up and down excitedly.
“I can’t believe you beat Sea Hawk!” Bow called out surprisedly and put his hands on his cheeks.
“Well, you know, I really needed this 5$. Haha. Which student doesn’t, right?” Adora said ironically. Then she suddenly remembered the weird moment in the middle of the fight and scratched the back of her neck, as if she could still feel someone’s gaze on her back.
“Hey, guys… I don’t feel so good. Do you know where the bathroom is?” she asked.
“Down the hallway on the left. Tell us if you need something,” Glimmer responded.
“Thank you, I’m fine, I guess,” she said and walked away.
When Adora arrived at the end of the hallway, she stood in front of the door they must have meant. With shaky hands she tried to open it, but it seemed to be locked.
“Oh, sorry, I...” she started saying, but in that moment the person in the bathroom unlocked it and the door swung open which caused Adora to stumble over the doorstep.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, …” she apologized again, before she froze. She could not believe her eyes, couldn't believe who was standing there in front of her. It… it couldn’t be her.
However, Adora looked into these eyes she’d known so well for so many years, one amber and one blue. It felt like ages until she was able to speak again.
“Catra?”
“Hey Adora.”