Have we met before?

A dream

Adora couldn't believe Catra was standing in front of her, it felt like a dream. She looked so different with piercings in her ears and nose, the slit in her eyebrow, but there was no question it was her wild haired childhood best friend. Adora started to come back down to reality she opened her mouth to speak but before she could get it out, Catra had leapt onto her and tackled her to the floor.
"Adora!" Catra cried, wrapping herself around Adora's muscular figure and nuzzling her face into the crook of Adora's neck. Adora was shocked but within an instant was squeezing Catra back in the strongest hug she could muster without hurting the smaller girl. Everyone snapped around at the commotion, staring at the girls on the floor in an embrace but the two didn't even notice.
"Catra.." Adora felt breathless as she spoke, taking in the scent of her friend for the first time in years, she smelt like a forest. 'I can't believe you're here..'
"What in the world?!" Ms.Razz shouted, snapping the girls back to reality, they both turned bright red in embarrassment jumping apart. Still on the floor they looked up at Ms.Razz who stared back with a confused expression.
"S-Sorry Ms.Razz.." Adora mumbled, looking down a bit shamefully. Catra glanced at Adora and felt the urge to wrap herself around the blonde but kept the impulse to herself this time. Ms.Razz cackled a little after a moment, making the girls relax a little.
"You two must be very close to be that excited to see each other." The girls nodded, slowly getting to their feet causing them to notice that the whole class was staring. "Don't worry dearies, just keep your excitement down and get some work done." They quietly nodded again and as Razz stumbled off to work at her desk the class turned their attention back to what they were working on.
Catra's attention was instantly back on Adora, staring at her with predator-like intensity. Adora and Catra quickly sat down at the table side by side, eyes still wide but a little more back in touch with reality.
"Sorry for tackling you.. I don't know why I did it- it was just.. my first instinct." Catra grinned crookedly, showing off her signature extra long canine tooth. Adora smiled back, eyes filled with nothing but warmth and emotion.
"It's ok, if I was a functioning person I would've probably done the same." Adora giggled, Catra was still staring at her like a predator and Adora squirmed a little under her gaze. They went silent just staring at each other again, neither one was sure how to act. This didn't feel real. 'If I'm dreaming I don't want to find out.' The thought flashed through Adora's mind.
"What're you doing here?" Catra finally croaked out, and Adora's mind seemed to reel trying to remember how to speak again.
"I'm in a new foster home here in town. What are you doing here?" Catra was a little taken aback by her answer, confused by Adora still being in the foster system. 'How could no one have wanted her? She's the good one.' She wondered, but kept the thought to herself not wanting to push Adora too much.
"I got adopted, I've been living here almost 7 years now." A bit of relief seemed to wash over Adora's face. 'She's been safe all this time..'
"I'm so happy for you." Adora reached out a hand and placed it onto Catra's knee, the shorter girl blushed a little at the touch but cleared her throat in an attempt to keep her composure. "What's your family like? Do you like being here? What've you been doing?" All the questions came out of Adora in a rush, all the questions she had been waiting for years to ask she could finally hear the answers.
Catra chuckled a little at Adora's excitement and questions. "I have an amazing family, my mom's name is Miranda she works at a bank for a bunch of rich people, my dad is Diego he's great but he travels for work a lot, and I have the cutest cat named Fang." Adora's eyes lit up in recognition and Catra felt the need to ask if she had kept the stuffed version of Fang from when they were younger but kept it in. "I.. like it here. It's not bad, I don't like the school but the town is great. I've just been here going through school, have a part time job, just your average teen." Catra smiled crookedly, gently placing her clawed hand over Adora's calloused one squeezing gently. "Where have you been? Is the home you're in good?" Catra's eyes went from warm to a fierce protective look in a moment, Adora melted a little when she saw such ferocity in her eyes.
"I'm ok, Angella, my foster mom is so nice and caring. My foster sister, Glimmer and I are already really close." Catra realized in a flash who Adora was living with, and felt a bit of hot guilt wash over her as she realized she had been kind of a jerk to Glimmer before. 'I hope she doesn't know.. I don't want Adora to be disappointed in me.' "I've just been in and out of homes the last few years, things have been ok. I'm safe." She added the last part and Catra's tense frame relaxed a little, knowing she was safe felt so good.
"Do you want to come over to my house after school today?" The question was out of her mouth before she could contain herself, and she blushed in a bit of embarrassment but Adora couldn't have looked happier.
"I would love to, I just have to check with Angella." Catra nodded slowly, the two seemed to realize they were still holding hands against Catra's knee and quickly let go. "Sorry." Adora mumbled a bit embarrassed but Catra waved away the apology.
"I tackled you to the ground, you have nothing to be sorry for." The two laughed feeling much more at ease, the small bit of awkwardness fading as if they hadn't been separated for so long.
The two spent the rest of class talking in excited hushed voices, the rest of the world seemed to have faded into the background and they didn't come back to reality until the bell rang. The two got to their feet, Adora slipping her untouched sketchbook back into her bag as she slipped it over her shoulder.
"Can I walk you to class?" Catra asked anxiously, she didn't want to leave Adora's side. 'Not now. Not ever again.'
"Of course, but.. I don't want you to be late." Catra laughed a little as they headed out of the room, quickly cutting off her laughter as she realized Adora wasn't joking.
"No it's fine I'm usually late. No big deal." Catra shrugged, slipping her hands into her pockets. Adora gave her a small glare but didn't comment, unsure if she even had the right to scold Catra for being late.
As they got to Adora's class they lingered near the entrance, Catra leaning against the wall as they talked. Glimmer seemed to appear out of nowhere and came bounding up to Adora, face falling a bit when she locked eyes with Catra. Catra flinched, biting her lip in a silent plea for Glimmer to not say anything.
"Oh Glimmer hey this is-" Adora was quickly cut off by an angry Glimmer, who's pale eyes were burning holes into Catra now.
"Catra. I know. And you better leave her alone Catra or I swear-" Glimmer took a threatening step towards the wild haired girl, she stepped back quickly in an attempt but Adora was between them in a flash protectively moving herself in front of Catra.
"Woah Glimmer chill! She isn't doing anything to me, we're friends!" Glimmer's head seemed to snap back in shock, which caused Catra to grin smugly from her place behind Adora.
"What? How? Since when?" Glimmer demanded eyeing the blue and amber eyed girl with suspicion. The warning bell rang and Adora mumbled a small curse, hating that she'd be away from Catra again so soon.
"I'll explain later, I promise." Glimmer nodded slowly, she didn't seem fully convinced but she trusted Adora enough to stalk into the classroom without another word. Adora sighed in relief, turning around to narrow her eyes at Catra who promptly ducked her head in shame.
"You want to tell me what that was about now or later?" Adora questioned, Catra quickly shrugged trying not to meet the taller girl's eyes.
"Later." Adora nodded slowly and Catra glanced up with hopeful eyes. "Could I convince you to let me steal you away now instead of the end of school? Before Sparkles can.. poison you against me." Adora rolled her eyes trying to stay annoyed, but her eyes were soft and she smiled a warm affectionate grin.
"Glimmer is not going to poison me against you, and you can wait a few more hours, you waited 7 years didn't you?" Catra nodded slowly considering Adora's words.
"Yea I guess I did." Catra sighed dramatically as the warning bell rang an idea struck Catra. "Give me your phone." She demanded, the blonde crooked an eyebrow but didn't question and simply handed her the device. She clicked it on and began typing, handing it back with a wink. "There now you have my number." Adora laughed a little, giving Catra a gentle push on the shoulder as she turned to head into class. Glimmer was sitting at her desk, eyes like daggers staring at Adora as she came in feeling light as air. Adora sat as the final bell rang and turned to Glimmer with a gentle smil. Glimmer still had a sour look on her face but Adora tried her best to ignore it.
"Hey, how's your morning?" Adora tried to lighten the mood, Glimmer opened her mouth to respond but their teacher Mr.Wisp quickly cut her off as he began to lecture. Glimmer turned to write her notes and Adora started to do the same, when Glimmer suddenly slid a note over to her. Adora glanced at her, but Glimmer didn't even look up, simply taking her notes and grumbling angry words under her breath.
"Since when are you friends with Catra?? She's horrible!" Adora squinted at the note, her knee jerk reaction to protect Catra made her quick to anger but she quickly swallowed the emotion and wrote back.
"We were in the same foster homes when we were little, we grew up together. She is not horrible." Adora waited until Mr.Wisp had his back turned before dropping the folded paper back onto Glimmer's desk. The pink girl quickly snatched it up and read the reply, she seemed to soften a little and shot Adora an apologetic look. Adora relaxed a little when she saw her expression and returned a reassuring smile to help ease the tension.
Glimmer didn't write anything back and Adora was thankful for it, she had enough on her mind without Glimmer demanding so many answers. Adora tried to focus on the lesson but her mind was lost, filled with nothing but the image of Catra.
'She looks so.. different. But still her.' She still had those freckles, the wild brown hair, that signature crooked canine tooth, and her eyes still took Adora's breath away whenever she caught sight of them. She had never met anyone else with eyes like Catra, she doubted she ever would. 'Hearing her voice after all these years, I can't believe she's here.' Taking notes was a lost cause and Adora gave in to her need to zone out and doodle a small image of Catra's smiling face.
XxX
Glimmer and Adora mostly kept to themselves for the two classes they shared together, it wasn't too tense but they didn't have much time to talk silently deciding to wait to speak. As they left their bio class Glimmer linked her arm with Adora's, heading towards their lunch hour.
"Alright start talking, how do you know literally the meanest girl in school?" Glimmer questioned as they got into the line for lunch, Adora shrugged thinking to herself for a moment.
"We ended up in the same home when we were 3, I don't really want to talk about why but.. it wasn't a great home." Glimmer nodded quietly not pushing beyond what Adora was willing to share. "Catra was all I had, and we ended up being there for a really long time. Until we were 9 actually, it's the only home I've ever spent that long at." Adora said the last part bitterly, pausing for a moment before she shook her head as if to clear her mind of the memories. "One night a really bad thing happened and Catra.. Well Catra had enough, so she snuck out of the basement window and ran through the neighborhood begging anyone to help us. Our social workers got called and we got put in a group home for a couple weeks while things were sorted but then we got separated. We weren't really able to keep in contact so we've been apart until today." As Adora finished her story Glimmer felt a jab of guilt for acting like Catra was so awful.
"I'm sorry that happened, I'm glad Catra saved you both." Adora nodded quietly, lost in thought before shaking her head again. They grabbed their food silently and started to walk towards the table that Bow sat at, he looked extremely nervous as Catra and Scorpia were sitting beside him. Scorpia looked just as confused and nervous as Bow, but Catra's eyes seemed to be busy searching for something. When her eyes fell on Adora the smaller lithe girl seemed to relax. Glimmer sat down next to the anxious looking Bow, eying Scorpia and Catra with a bit of suspicion in her eyes still. The second Adora sat Catra moved to be by her side, leaving a confused Scorpia sitting by herself on an empty sided picnic bench.
"Hey Adora." Catra purred, ignoring the stares of Bow and Glimmer.
Bow looked between Catra and Adora, shock filling his dark eyes. "So.. Why is Catra here?" Bow asked glancing at Glimmer, who shrugged, then to Scorpia who gave the same shrugged answer.
"She's my friend." Adora said firmly, blazing eyes turning towards Bow who crooked his head to the side a bit. The anxious Adora he had met yesterday seemed to be replaced with a protective confident one over night. Catra grinned smugly which made Glimmer glare with an infuriated look.
"I can't control who your friends are, Adora, but Catra has done some pretty mean things. Bow and I don't necessarily.." Glimmer seemed to be searching for the right words to convey how she was feeling but not poke Adora into an overly protective state.
"Trust her, like her, want to be seen with her?" Bow tried to fill in and Glimmer gave a steaming glare that silenced him again. Catra ducked her head in a bit of shame, Adora opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off.
"Hey look who's the mean ones now!" Scorpia defended her friend quickly, Catra didn't fully explain why they had sat here today but she wasn't about to let anyone disrespect her best friend.
"Easy Scorpia." Catra purred, placing a hand on her shoulder in a calming gesture. Adora watched quietly, looking between her new friends and Catra. 'What could she have done to make everyone not like her this much?'
"Alright I admit I haven't always been the nicest-" Catra began to try to smooth things over but Glimmer cut her off with a snort of laughter.
"Nicest? You pick on everyone!" Adora gave her a pointed look causing Glimmer sighed in exasperation. "I'm sorry Adora I was trying to be nice and you can be friends with whoever, but you can't expect us to like the girl that has been a complete jerk to Bow and I since forever."  Adora slowly looked between Glimmer and Bow, who slowly nodded in agreement.
"Yea Adora, it's just hard to want to be around someone so negative and mean." Catra's eyes fell to the floor feeling hot shame run over her again, Scorpia opened her mouth to defend her friend but quickly shut it again when she realized she had no defense. What they said was true. Adora sat silent letting the words wash over her before slowly nodding.
"I understand." Catra looked up, nervous for what Adora would say next. "You guys don't have to get along right away, I understand it will take time." She turned to look into Catra's eyes, the tense girl seemed to relax as she saw the softness in Adora's blue eyes. "But I'm not going to lose her again, she's my friend, and I want everyone to try to get along." Adora turned back to Bow and Glimmer, who slowly nodded after a bit of thought.
"Ok I can live with that." Glimmer grumbled, crossing her arms stubbornly.
"Me too! Welcome to the best friend squad!" Bow's chipper attitude came back, Scorpia smiled tense shoulders falling as her and Bow greeted one another.
"That means everyone." Adora added lowly, eyes back on Catra who slowly dipped her head in agreement.
"I promise to behave." Adora seemed satisfied with the answer, and turned to her lunch finally beginning to hungrily dig in. Glimmer stared at Catra with daggers in her eyes, the two stayed quiet as Catra pretended not to notice the stare but she felt her pale eyes on her the whole time.

A/N: Alright I know uploaded today, and I was going to wait to post the next chapter but then I got a review asking for the next one and that's all the influence I need. After this I swear I'll have a more organized upload schedule.. maybe we'll see if I actually keep my word. Anyways hope you all enjoy!