One Perfect Year at Stevenson High

Chapter 31

Adora was anxious.

She stole a glance at her phone, checking the time for the fifth time in as many minutes. Valkyries practice should have been over by now and, unless she decided to go somewhere else afterward, Catra would be home soon. Adora rolled her shoulders and shook out her hands as if she was psyching herself up to go on stage. She reminded herself that there was no point in worrying about it, and went back to cleaning her already tidy room for a distraction.

This wasn't her fault. She hadn't even wanted a solo in the first place. And when Vocal Rebellion almost unanimously chose "Stay" as their ballad number for Regionals, Adora assumed Netossa and Spinerella would take the parts.

It had actually been Netossa's idea to give the song to Catra.

"This is the perfect song for deploying our secret weapon," she'd explained after pitching the idea. "There's a lot of power in Rihanna's part of the song, some high parts too. It would give Catra the chance to use her range and surprise the judges the way she surprised us."

A murmur of agreement swept around the room. Adora knew better than anyone just what a good fit Catra would be for the song — she could already hear it in her mind. But when she tried to imagine who would share the stage with her, Adora's mind went blank. She was so deep in thought, mulling over the pros and cons of different pairings, when the sound of her own name drew her attention back to the present.

"Huh?" She sat up and looked around. Everyone was staring back at her.

"I was just saying that you should take the duet with Catra," Glimmer said. She was writing it down on the white board as if it had already been decided.

"What?" Adora squawked. "No, that's not— why would you..." She looked to her teammates, hoping to find some back-up—or at least someone else who wanted to volunteer for the chance to solo—but instead found a room full of people nodding back at her.

DT's lips curled into a wide grin. "Oh, this is perfect. Yes, a thousand times yes to this idea." At their side, Scorpia was trying to whisper something to them, but they held her back at arm's length.

"Come on," Adora scoffed. She could feel the heat building behind her cheeks. "You don't really believe she'd be cool with that."

"Why not?" DT asked, cocking their head to one side as if they were actually confused. "You two are besties, aren't you?"

Adora opened her mouth and paused. She wasn't sure how to answer that question anymore.

"And don't forget — there needs to be chemistry between singers in this routine," Glimmer added without turning away from the white board.

"Wha— what is— what's that supposed to mean??" Adora spluttered. She pressed her palms to her flaming cheeks, but it was no use — her friends snickered and gave her knowing looks, and Adora wanted to melt into the floor out of sheer humiliation.

"It means you two are comfortable with each other," Bow said gently as he draped his arm around Adora's shoulder. "We saw you two on stage — you were great together! That's the kind of thing we need if we want to win at Regionals."

"Do we need to vote on it?" Glimmer asked, looking out over her team with a smirk.

"They have my vote," Perfuma chirped brightly, to which Spinerella and Netossa boisterously agreed. Soon the whole room was casting their vote in favor of Adora and Catra's duet, and all Adora could do was sink into Bow's side and accept her fate.

Hours later, she still hadn't managed to shake her all-consuming sense of dread. She wondered how Catra took the news when Scorpia and DT told her. With her room as clean as it was going to get, Adora stole another glance at her phone only to discover that only a few minutes had passed since her last check-in.