Project Equality

Vacation (7 of 7)

Elysia

"Good morning." Lauren's eyes fluttered open on the morning of the last Monday of our vacation.

"Hi," I whispered. "Last week in paradise."

"Yeah. Sort of ready for it to be over, though."

"Really?"

"I mean, we're here to relax, yeah? But we've done that. We've got to go home and get shit done so that the new era of Club is ready, right?"

I thought on that for a moment, realizing that I'd nearly forgotten what was ahead of us. We would be starting Club over, new elections for leaders and all, and I didn't know what to expect. May seemed to believe that I was next in line to be Club president, and it kind of terrified me. Sure, it was everything I wanted in my life, but this felt like the first official step, and I didn't know what to do.

Anyways, I had such a passion for music and theatre, so how was I to just leave that behind in my high school days? The future was fast approaching, and despite our temporary escape, we couldn't avoid it forever.

"Right," I sighed. "I just wish we could stay here forever."

"You're the one who wanted the presidential responsibilities," she reminded me.

"You like music and acting," I said.

"Yes."

"In college, are you going to continue with it?"

"Hmm . . . I don't know. I guess I might do some extracurricular things, but for the most part, I'm going into history. Why? Are you?"

"I don't know. It's not super presidential to be an actress, is it?" I asked.

"Reagan," she countered. "And the people loved him - mostly."

"Fair enough. The future is coming, Lau."

"Embrace it, Ely. The nine of us, we're all destined for greatness."

"You sound certain about that," I noted.

"I am. We're about to turn the world upside down, just you wait and see." She pulled out the next in our stack of schedules to see what we were in for the day. "Well, let's get down to morning yoga with the group. Wouldn't want to upset Jenna."

I laughed and stood up, quickly changing into more comfortable clothes before following her outside to the rest of the group.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Standing in tree pose for what felt like an eternity, I peeked one eye open to see Jen and Lisa standing perfectly still whilst the rest of us wobbled and swayed. Considering they were such wrecks, it was impressive how centered and spiritually in tune they were. I closed my eyes again, trying to steady myself, but it was like every breeze was pushing me over. Not that the wind wasn't lovely in the hot July air, but it wasn't very helpful.

"We will now transition, slowly, into warrior three. Don't worry if it's difficult at first. If you can't hold it, just go down into warrior one," Jenna said, taking her bent leg and extending it backwards, her arms flush against her body, back flat and parallel to the ground. It was a graceful image, but despite all my dance experience, I couldn't balance for the life of me.

"What is with all this balancing?" Lauren whispered to me.

"I think it's symbolic," I replied, glancing to make sure Jen hadn't heard us.

"May, you're turning your hips out," Lisa said. "It's why you're shaking. Here."

I set down my foot to look. Lisa was holding her girlfriend's waist and hand, helping her to form the perfect warrior three position.