The Brightmoon Institution (Catradora Boarding School AU)

The Crimson Waste

Catra dragged Double Trouble out, the pair of them walking in front while Bow, Glimmer and Adora tried to discreetly whisper to one another.

"Where's Lonnie?"

"Did they have a fight?"

"Why'd she bring DT? I barely knew they were friends."

"They seemed close enough in Textiles, they call her 'kitten'."

"Wait, hold up. Catra's in your Textiles class, and you're only telling us now?"

"It's not that big of a deal, calm down."

Angella interrupted their conversation, pulling a pair of sunglasses out and stopping before the reached the public grounds.

"I'm just warning all of you, but I think the paps might be onto us."

Glimmer groaned.

"Why must they annoy us every single time we go out?"

"I know, they might not, but I think someone followed me on the way here. Just..be prepared, and wear these. Everyone keep your heads down and answer nothing, especially you two."

She looked at DT and Adora.

"Why us?"

Glimmer answered for her.

"You're fresh meat. They'll literally bash you with questions, answer nothing. Don't even make eye contact."

Adora nodded dutifully, she definitely didn't want Shadow Weaver picking up that she was going out to dinner on a school night. Hopefully she won't even realize, Weaver despises the media and all forms of it. She claims they twisted her into some sort of villain when she lost her job.

They got into a black SUV parked on the side of the strip, and instantly Glimmer handed each of them each a freshly packaged pair of all black sunglasses.

"Don't take them off until Mom does, she'll know when."

Adora looked out of the tinted windows, the scent of fresh leather filling the air.

"Which restaurant are we going to?"

"The Crimson Waste."

Adora had never heard of it, but Adora hadn't heard of a lot of things. She'd come to discover that quite quickly.

"You'll love it Adora, the head chef is Huntara. She's won like five million awards."

Adora nodded, hoping the place was as good as Glimmer described it to be. But she'd probably be impressed, it wasn't like she had anything to compare it to.

"Catra, Glimmer, you're besties remember."

"Got it." Catra and Glimmer answered in tune, they didn't seem the slightest fazed or baffled at this. A uniform structure, a cemented routine.

"Do you guys deal with this every time you go out?"

Adora's eyes darted between the pair of them, and Catra answered her.

"Not every time, most times it's only with Mom or Dad. Sometimes they catch us during the holidays, but the boarding school does a good job of letting us have privacy."

Adora couldn't imagine it, not being able to just dress homeless and leave the house.

"They pay the bills and somehow keep us relevant though, so it's not all bad."

Adora leaned back into her seat, watching them pull up in front of a crowded, lit up restaurant.

THE CRIMSON WASTE