This Is The Road To Ruin (She-Ra High school AU)

Turn a page, I'm a book half unread

(TW: swearing, marijuana use, car crash)

Adora pulled her long blonde hair back into its usual ponytail. She glanced at herself in the mirror of her dorm. Perfect. She gave herself finger guns for good measure. Walking past a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, an image of the Bright Moon mascot taped to it caught her eye. "Hey princess. You lookin' at me?" She spun and kicked the bag, her foot making solid contact with the "Princess." 

"Hey, dumb jock! Hurry up!" Lonnie's voice called from the hallway outside.

"Coming!" Adora yelled back. She ran to catch up to the group. Waiting for the early morning football practice to start was Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. They had been her best friends since they'd started going to the Horde Academy as babies. Well, them and... "Where's Catra?" She asked. 

"She wasn't in your bed again?" Lonnie teased. Rogelio had caught the two sharing a bed one night and none of them would let her forget it. "She's probably on the roof smoking again. She can't keep coming to practice high."

"Well, we can start without her, right?" Kyle said.

"Oh, wow, Kyle sharing his opinion?" Adora laughed. Rogelio grunted and put his arm around his boyfriend. He was a man of few words. 

"Okay, cadets!" Adora snapped to attention. Their instructor launched into his speech that he did before every practice. She quickly zoned out, thinking instead about Catra, how she would get cut from the team if she didn't show up... "Ok, what are you gonna do?" The instructor asked them. 

"Kick some Princess ass!" the team yelled before running out onto the field to scrimmage with their simulated opponents. Once Adora got on the field, all her worries went away. She was in the zone. Nothing but her, the ball, and...

"Ahh!" Adora screamed as a robot body-checked her. She fell, dangerously close to the edge of the elevated field. The concrete 6 feet below was gonna hurt. Suddenly, a hand closed around her wrist, saving her. 

"Hey, Adora." Catra purred, perched on top of the soccer goal.

"Catra." Adora groaned. "Why are you sitting on the goal?" 

"Why not?"

"Ugh. Let me see your eyes." Adora pulled the other girl down from the goal and stared into her eyes. One was blue and the other was yellow. Adora had stared into those eyes a lot. More importantly, they were rimmed with red and the pupils were dilated. "Ugh, Catra! You can't keep coming to practice like this!" 

"Well... looks like I just did." At least she was sober enough to be snarky. A whistle blew. Catra jumped.

"Practice is over!" the coach yelled. "Go to class!" They made their way off of the field, teasing and playfully shoving each other. 

They arrived in the locker room. "-but with the mouse-" Adora laughed as they walked in. 

"It was one time!" Catra squealed. "Let it-" 

"Adora." A voice interrupted them. 

"Yes, Shadow Weaver." Adora straightened. She felt Catra shrink down next to her. 

"Walk with me." 

"Yes, Ma'am." She ran after her. Shadow Weaver was the dean. She was basically a mother figure to Adora and Catra.

"Due to your success in school, and on the field..." Adora gasped. Could this be what she'd been waiting for? "Congratulations, Force Captain." Shadow Weaver pressed a badge into her hand. Force Captain was like the Horde equivalent of a prefect. Adora gleefully pinned the badge onto her jacket. 

That night after dinner, Adora met Catra in their usual spot on the roof. Catra was leaning over the edge looking out at the Fright Zone (which was what everyone called the campus.) "Hey." Adora came up behind her. A quick glance showed that Catra was, for once, sober. 

"Oh, hi." The shorter girl looked at her, noticing the way her blonde hair caught the colors of the setting sun. Her blue eyes sparkled in the evening light. God she was pretty, thought Catra. Something on Adora's jacket caught her eye. "Holy shit, you're a FORCE CAPTAIN now? That's what Shadow Whore was talking to you about?"

"Shadow Wh- whatever. Yeah. I guess I am." She laughed. 

"This is amazing!" Catra squealed, wrapping her arms around the taller girl's body in a hug. "Soooo, this means you can pretty much do whatever you want?"

"Catra... What are you thinking?"

"Well you can use the school's cars, right?"

"Only for official stuff. It's not for joyriding-"

"Awwww please?" Catra threw her arms around Adora's neck and looked at her pleadingly.

"I'm really-" Adora blushed. She couldn't say no to Catra. "Okay, fine. Just for a little bit."

"FUCK YES! I love you Adora!" Catra ran off. 

"Hey, at least wait for me!" Adora followed her. 

Ten minutes later, they were in a car, speeding down the highway towards the Whispering Woods. "Catra, are you insane? We can't go in there!" Adora tried to pull the steering wheel away. 

"Hey! I'm driving!" Catra squealed, fighting her for control of the car. They spun out of control and rolled into a ditch, the car smashing against a tree. For better or worse, they were in the Whispering Woods.

Catra opened her eyes. She'd been flung about 5 feet from the car. Adora was nowhere to be seen. She must have wandered off into the woods. "Fuck." Catra whispered. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." What could she do? Her best friend was lost in a forest where people were known to never return from. And it was her fault. The car was destroyed. She'd have to go back to the Fright Zone on foot. Okay. This was fine. She would get back home, tell Shadow Weaver what happened, and they would find Adora and bring her back. It would be fine. Except for what Shadow Weaver would do when she found out that it was Catra's fault... Adora was the favorite. So Catra could put the blame on her. And Shadow Weaver wouldn't do anything to hurt her, because everyone loved her. Okay. Everything would be fine. It's fine. Catra turned and started to walk back to the fright zone.

a/n: hey guys! did u like the first chapter? the next one will be from Glimmer's perspective, then we'll start to get into the real story :) if you guys have any requests for something you'd like to see in the story, leave them in the comments and i'll see if i can write them in! i'm planning on putting in some Entrapdak, Seamista, and Scorptra so far but i'm open to suggestions! i want to follow the storyline of the show as much as possible but i'm not above changing some stuff for a ship ;) the chapter title is from the song Weightless by All Time Low btw!