For my sister. It was her birthday Wednesday, so I wanted to write her something special.

Adora jumped out of her loft bed and got dressed quickly, today was the day of volleyball tryouts and she needs to get on that team. It was her first day in Etheria and at Bright Moon High, she wanted to make a good impression.

Tryouts were before school started and she needs that spot on the team. She got her mom to drive her to school so she could make the tryouts. Adora rushed into the gym, tripping over a pair of Doc Martens, she spilt onto the floor.

"Ooh, you might just want to watch where you're going," A short brunette girl snarked from her position on the floor. The girl's hair was short and puffy, her eyes were heterochromatic (meaning they were two different colours), and she was twirling a pencil between her fingers.

Adora picked herself off the floor. "Maybe you shouldn't have been there?" She retorted, seething.

"Interesting," The girl chuckled. "You've got some bite to you."

Instead of replying, like she wanted to, Adora walked away. She really couldn't afford to miss the tryouts.

Tryouts were easy for Adora, who spent a lot of time exercising and training, it wasn't as if she had anything else to do. The girls on the volleyball team were nice, they welcomed Adora with open arms, well, not Mariana, she seemed cold. Emmeline was bouncy and excitable, she had long hair that was dyed purple and seemed to have a mind of its own, she immediately accepted Adora as one of the team. Passiflora, a senior with a flowery personality, quickly hugged Adora and welcomed her. Gianna, or Glimmer, as she liked to be called, immediately wormed her way into Adora's personal-space bubble and didn't leave. Glimmer quickly announced that Adora was her best friend now and that Bo, her other friend, could suck it.

The school's mascot, the Pegasus, was on the front of the jersey. Their team name was The Princess' and the other girls took the name seriously. Mariana acted like the team captain, though Passiflora was the actual Captain.

After tryouts and a bit of team bonding, Adora had to go to classes.

The girl from that morning was in her lunch group. "Hey, um... I'm Cass." She scratched at her neck.

"I'm Adora," She told the shorter girl. "Do you want to sit with me?"

Cass scoffed, "no, I just wanted to introduce myself."

"Ok?"

Cass walked off. Her jeans swayed side to side.

The other Princess joined her at the table. "Were you just talking to Cass Hordak?" Mariana asked, coldly.

"Um, maybe? She just came over and introduced herself," Adora told her new teammates. "I don't really know her."

"Good." A small girl said, moving to sit next to Passiflora. Adora had never seen her before, and so just looked at her quizzically.

"That's Frankie Frost, she's the principal's daughter and a genius," Emmeline told Adora quietly. "She's super smart, one of the only people who can understand my equations."

Adora responded with a small, "Oh." Before asking Frankie, "What's your problem with Cass?"

Frankie glared at Adora as if saying, 'You pathetic mortal are unable to hear my true voice.'

Glimmer sighed. "Cass Hordak is the reason we didn't make it to finals last year," The pink-haired girl told Adora. "She was the last person to join our team to make the 8 we needed to qualify, but she quit right before the last game of the season and we were forced to forfeit." The whole team looked down at their food, the conversation brought down their exhilarated mood.

"Sorry," Adora said. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"It's ok!" Emmeline said, standing up to go throw out her wrappers. The girl's hair was in braids, but it still seemed to wriggle around, like it wasn't used to being confined in such a way.

That night Adora couldn't help but think about Cass, did she quit the team for petty reasons or was there something more going on?

It had been a couple of weeks of training before the Princess' had their first game. It was a home game and so they got dressed after school and went straight to the gym to prepare. Mariana led them through some exercises, her long teal hair pulled up into a braided crown that Adora couldn't help but admire.

"Did you do your hair?" She asked. "It's awesome."

"My boyfriend did it," Mariana answered before calling out for everyone to do some lunges, making sure Adora had no room for questions.

The opposing team, the Scoville Scorpions, arrived about fifteen minutes before the game was to start.

Adora started to feel nervous, what if she messed this up for everybody, what if her serve was off and cost the whole team points? They were given a five-minute break before the official warmups, so Adora grabbed her water bottle to fill it up.

She walked out into the halls and took the first right, remembering a water fountain being there. The halls were lined with kid's schoolwork, a bunch of drawings of pets and a couple of writings about the person's family. Adora found the water fountain and filled up her bottle, focusing on the task at hand. Walking back to the gym would have taken seconds, but she was distracted by a shock of colour on one of the walls, different from the construction paper she had gotten used to.

Adora walked over to the mural, taking in all the colours swirling around, red, white, purple, blue, pink, and a colour she didn't recognise, but it shone like pure light.

"What do you think?" A voice asked her.

Adora swivelled her head so fast her neck cracked. Cass was leaning against the wall behind her, gazing at the mural, looking a strange combination of bored and proud. "What?"

"What do you think of my mural?"

"You painted this?" Adora asked, incredulously.

Cass rolled her eyes as she pushed off the wall to stand next to Adora, "Yeah. It was just a small painting I did for my art class, but the Principal asked me to paint it in the hall." She gave a small smile, looking at the piece, "I guess he liked it."

"It's absolutely incredible."

"Thanks."

They stood there for a moment before Passiflora came jogging down the hall, "Ador-, oh." Her voice turned cold at the sight of Cass, "Sorry to interrupt, but the game is about to start."

(They won if you were wondering.)

It seemed to Adora that Cass was trying to bump into her, especially around the Princess'.

During lunch Cass made a point to wave at Adora and, so as not to be impolite, Adora always waved back. Every game, Cass came up to congratulate Adora, and only Adora. Most practices the short-haired brunette was sitting on the bleachers, sketching, or reading. Adora did not interact with her, but the way Cass looked at her during water breaks made it clear that the girl was there for her.

Adora tried to stay away from Cass, but it was nearly impossible. They ended up interacting more than Adora ever wanted too and she couldn't help but talk to the other girl, to try and get to know her.

All the weeks of teasing and bantering came to a head right before the finals.

Cass was paired with Adora Primele for an art project. Adora was the girl she had been crushing on since day one. Though Adora was a jock and hung out with the Princess' she didn't seem like one of them. Adora seemed strong, but more subtly, she was fast but not as fast as Cass, and Adora was courageous. Cass couldn't help her crush, not that she would ever admit it to anyone but herself, it just appeared.

She realized that it was a crush when Adora complimented her mural. Cass' name was written in the corner, but no one ever complimented her on it. People only knew her as, 'the girl who caused the Princess' to lose last year,' and that's not who Cass wanted to be.

The art project was meant to be a collaborative effort between you and your partner. The prompt for it was 'Space.' Cass had already started thinking of concepts and ideas, she didn't want it to be a spaceship or planets, she wanted something unique.

"Hey, Cass." Adora sat down next to her, "So, the art project?"

"Yep," Cass responded, trying not to blush.

Adora sighed, "Do you want to do it at your house or mine?"

"I don't care." God, her face was probably bright red. "Whatever is fine with me."

They agreed on Adora's house, after volleyball practice, which Cass now had a reason to watch. She sat on the bleachers, in her usual spot. This time, instead of sketching Adora, she drew some of her concepts for the project. Cass pulled out her coloured pencils and sketched a girl, tall and muscular, with flowing hair and a cape. She then outlined it and filled it in with blues, purples, and blacks, mimicking the swirl of space.

Eventually, Adora had finished, and she ran up to Cass, "I'll just be a minute, I've got to change."

Cass nodded, keeping her mouth shut so as not to say anything rash.

She met Adora at the front of the school building. "Ready to go?" the blonde asked.

Cass nodded, "Sure."

Adora's mom owned a grey minivan, with a pink, purple, and orange swirl decal across the side. "His name is Swift Wind," Adora's mom explained. "Adora named him when she was little."

Cass sent a small smirk over towards Adora who was blushing, like the adorable sunshine-child she is.

Arriving at Adora's home, Cass was quickly led to Adora's room, which featured a loft bed and a staff mounted on the wall. "What's that for?" Cass pointed to the staff.

"Oh." Adora smiled, "That's my first staff. I've been doing martial arts since I was a kid," she explained.

Cass laughed, "Me too. We should spar sometime soon."

"That sounds cool," Adora said.

They set up on the floor, Cass started by asking Adora if she had any ideas. However, Adora did not, so Cass showed her the sketch she had drawn at the gym.

"Woah," Adora gasped. "That's so pretty. We should do that, or something like that."

Cass blushed, her whole face feeling like it was sunburnt, "Ok." The brunette pulled a tall canvas out of her art bag, "Sorry if it has cat hair on it. My cat, Melog, likes to get into my art things."

"You have a cat?"

"Don't sound so surprised, most people have cats." Cass pulled out some pencils and paint, "We probably won't get this done today, but, since it's due next Tuesday and it's Friday today, we should try to finish it now."

Adora looked confused at the subject change, "Wait, let's go back to the cat thing?"

"So what part of my sketch are we changing?"

Adora had some really good ideas, such as having the woman holding a sword above her head and making her eyes planets. Cass tasked Adora with painting the canvas black, as she sketched out the woman in her sketchbook, making sure the proportions were perfect.

"What should we call it?" Adora thought aloud.

Cass shrugged, "I don't know. What do you want to call it?"

"How about..." She thought for a moment, then, "How about She-Ra?"

"What?"

"She, as in female. Ra, as in the Egyptian sun god," Adora explained, focussing on painting the canvas as Cass instructed.

Cass thought about it, "That makes sense. If you factor in Greek myths, Apollo, the sun god, had a twin sister, Artemis. We could have her be the sister, or female version, of Ra, the moon goddess."

"Or the space goddess," Adora chipped in.

They went back to doing their separate things until Adora reported that the canvas had been painted, they just needed to wait for it to dry. It was almost 6 pm, and Adora asked if Cass could stay over. Her mother agreed, as long as it was okay with Cass' dad.

Cass called her father. The phone rang. He answered, "Cassandra?"

"Father. May I stay the night at my friend's house? It would be to finish the school project, nothing else."

Hordak sighed, "I suppose so. But remember the rules, Cassandra."

The rules were simple, or so Hordak stated.

Rule #1: Sports that don't benefit your mind or school life are forbidden.

Rule #2: Anything that doesn't benefit your school life is forbidden.

Rule #3: Hordak and Bellatrix Weaver (Cass' Aunt) are the adults and should be treated as such. Cassandra is a child and should be treated as such.

Cass tried to follow the rules, but sometimes, like now, a little bending was necessary. "Yes Father," She responded, her tone agreeable.

Once the black paint had dried Cass sketched out the woman, with her flowing hair, and cape, and the sword held over her head.

Adora watched as Cass sketched, curled up around the canvas, moving the canvas instead of herself. Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as Cass concentrated.

"You look like a cat."

Cass whipped her head around, "What?"

"Kitty." Adora smiled as she teased her friend. The blonde couldn't remember when Cass became a friend, more recently she supposed. Cass was aloof and snarky, but also nice and playful. Adora couldn't help but wish to see her each day, in the halls, or at lunch.

"I'm not a cat." Cass' hair puffed up indignantly, "Don't call me that."

Adora giggled, "here, kitty, kitty, kitty."

"Don't you make me come over there Adora Primele," Cass glared. "I will murder you in your sleep."

Adora knew the other girl wouldn't hurt her, "Psst, psst, psst. Common kitty-cat."

Cass jumped up, moving the canvas away so it wouldn't get smashed, and pounced on Adora, all in about ten seconds. She shoved her hand over Adora's mouth to keep the blonde quiet. "Don't call me Kitty," Cass growled.

Adora quickly turned red in the face, Cass was sitting on her lap, with her hand right over Adora's mouth. Cass didn't seem unnerved by this, still glaring lasers out of her eyes. Adora tried to open her mouth, but Cass held it shut.

"Don't call me Kitty," Her voice was deep.

The blonde's eyes grew large, her face grew red, and her pulse was raised.

Cass's eyes seemed slitted, like a cat, and her hair seemed puffed up and fluffy. She seemingly realized that maybe holding her friend's mouth shut wasn't a particularly normal thing and pulled her hand away. "Sorry!" Cass apologized. "I'm so sorry. I got carried away."

Adora was still blushing, "Uhm..."

Cass started to move away from Adora, getting up off her lap, which was not what Adora wanted. "It's fine." She grabbed Cass' hand, stopping the other girl in her tracks, "You don't have to go."

"I wasn't going to leave," Cass said, her voice sounding flat.

"Ok," Adora said, standing up. "What's wrong?"

Cass turned back to the canvas and took out her paints, "Nothing, Adora. Let's finish the painting."

Things were awkward between them all night. Cass slept on the small couch in Adora's room, curling up with a blanket, like a cat.

Adora didn't sleep that night. Her mind was racing, replaying the situation from earlier, trying to figure out where she went wrong. Was it not responding to anything earlier than she did? Was it grabbing Cass' hand to stop her from moving? Could it have been her teasing that was the problem?

Nothing that Adora felt was normal.

The next day Cass left at around 10, she walked home and hid in her room. She pulled out her sketchpad and sat down. What happened yesterday was messed up. Nothing was okay and Cass wanted to curl up and cry.

She had sat on Adora's lap, touched the blonde's lips with her hand, and then freaked. Adora probably thought she was crazy. The taller girl would probably never want to see Cass again.

Cass flipped through her sketchbook, running her fingers over the drawings of Adora and her wonderful, attractive, face. She ran her fingers over a full-colour sketch of the girl's face, remembering how her lips felt beneath Cass' hands. Soft and supple, warm and full, sweet and hypnotic.

Cass grabbed a pencil and began to sketch.

She needed to make things right.

The final volleyball game of the season rolled around and the Princess' were well prepared. Glimmer had taken to occasionally throwing volleyballs off the bleachers at her teammates, to, "Test your reflexes. I mean if you can't react, why are you here?"

Adora felt off. She got hit on the head by the volleyballs almost every time Glimmer aimed it at her. The blonde couldn't keep her mind off Cass.

Her mind was stuck on the brunette. On Cass' snarky attitude, on the way she curled up when asleep, and on the way her eyes looked when she was mad, all slitted and beautiful. Adora remembered the sparkle in Cass' eyes when they stood in the hall together. Maybe that was when she fell, deep into the pit of love.

A volleyball smacked into her head. "Hey!" She turned to Glimmer.

"You need to wake up, Adora." Glimmer tossed another ball, which Adora set perfectly into the air. "We have to win this game."

She sat on the sidelines, watching her teammates receive, set, and spike the white ball. Her eyes flitted to the crowd who were watching the game.

Volleyball was the big sport at Bright Moon High. Other schools had lacrosse or football, but Bright Moon had volleyball.

The crowd was cheering as Mariana spiked the ball, only to 'boo' when the ball was blocked by a member of the opposing team. Luckily, Emmeline volleyed it back to the opposite team.

Their Captain, Passiflora looked towards Adora and nodded, signalling the need for a switch.

Libero's are allowed to switch with any team member in the back row, at any point before a serve.

Passiflora called Adora in for Emmeline, who skipped off the court, her light purple hair was in twin braids that were pulled into a crown, similar to Mariana's at their first game. Emmeline's hair was so strange, with the little wisps sticking out, moving around, not even with the wind, but all on its own.

Adora wanted to feel like she could do this, but maybe... Maybe her serve would fall flat. She stood outside the court, holding the white volleyball in her hand, ready to serve. Adora looked over to the stands. There was Cass, holding up a large, colourful sign that said 'Go She-Ra!'

Adora exhaled, smiled, and served. Running back into the court quickly to help her teammates.

The Princess' won.

The winning hit was made by Glimmer, who spiked the ball perfectly, hitting the centre of the court dead-on.

Everybody ran towards Glimmer, hugging her and congratulating each other. They did the whole, 'good-game-good-game-good-game-good-game,' thing and then they were free to leave.

Adora noticed Cass still sitting on the stand, the sign laid out next to her. The blonde walked over, pulling on a red hoodie as she did so. "Hey, Cass," She called.

"Hi, Adora." Cass gave a small smile, "You did well."

The blonde in question blushed, "Thanks. I saw your sign." She gestured to the colourful piece of cardboard.

"Oh."

"It's awesome. I love it."

Cass looked at the sign, "Remember how we said that She-Ra would be a moon goddess?"

"Or a Space goddess," Adora reminded the short-haired girl, who just gave her a sharp look. (It was a 'you're the only one that thinks that.' look if you were wondering.)

"Yeah, ok. The point is-" Her voice got a bit quieter- "I think She-Ra should be the goddess of Protection."

Adora smiled, her hands shoved in her hoodie pocket. "Yeah, that sounds really cool. What gave you the idea?"

"She-Ra should be an icon for people who need protection." Cass picked up her sketchbook and showed Adora a drawing. It was of She-Ra, but she was doing something different. Instead of holding up a sword, she was curled around a tiny planet earth. "I think that, instead of hurting people, she should protect."

Adora, for lack of a better word, adored the look Cass gave the drawing.

"Ok. Let's do it."

They got an A+ if you were wondering, and Adora asked Cass out the day they handed in the painting. 

They had their first kiss a week after the assignment. 

The Princess' made their way to Nationals and won, which was incredibly awesome. 

Cass apologized to the rest of the Princess' for ditching the finals last year. Apparently, her father disagrees with sports.

The whole point of this story is to illustrate one point and one point only.

It might be painful to achieve, but happiness is always worth it.

Happy birthday baby. You're my only, and favourite, sister. i love you so much and cant wait to watch the rest of She-Ra so we can talk abt the gays together. Oh, and Teen Wolf, I wont spoil it any more than I already have so...

I love you. Have a wonderful birthday and I hope you have a wonderful sleepover, btw I'll be sleeping in your bed tonight. Just a FYI <3

Sammi <3