Project Equality

Soulmates

Lisa

"Do you think they even remember we're here?" Jenna whispered to me. I looked up from my sketchbook at May, Viktor, and Lynn, laughing and talking on the other side of the room. He was so charismatic, he always stole the room. I guess I didn't care too much, because I knew that May loved him differently, but for Jenna, that probably killed. Third wheeling best friends is more intense than third wheeling a couple, but when you're the best friend third wheeling a couple, that's when things get awful.

"Nope," I replied simply, going back to my sketches. "How's this for the August newsletter?"

"Too much back to school, not enough summer. August is still summer," she said, though she'd hardly looked at it.

"Well, gee, Jen, you're the one who always focuses August on back to school. Do you want some suns with sunglasses and cheesy grins on it or something?" When I realized she was actually considering it, I shook my head. "No, not doing that, sorry Jen."

"Alright, alright. You ready for the Fourth?"

"Yes," I sighed, closing up the sketchbook. "It's not like we're doing anything special this year."

"Sure we are! We're going to Sidney, Andrea, and Viktor's neighborhood for fireworks! Don't you think it'll be fun?"

I shrugged. "It's just different. Don't you ever miss our big parties and watching the fireworks from the guest house balcony? Or even the beach house balcony?"

"We have a different vacation this year," she reminded me. "Besides, we're not going anywhere until Hazel gets back from London."

"Yeah, I know. New York. But that's just for college visits. Don't know if you've noticed, but that's not exactly what we used to do."

"Well, next year we'll do something new and exciting. This year, we've got to stay focused."

I was proud of Club for everything it was becoming, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the same. I missed what we used to do, what was just unrealistic with so many of us. We were leaving behind a great thing, a legacy even, but it was exhausting sometimes. Newsletters had to be perfect, we needed new flyers every week (luckily I only use recycled paper, or we'd be single-handedly killing all the forests), and events had special news. When I wasn't working on school or actual work - I worked for a local photographer as her "assistant", which is code for coffee fetcher - Club consumed all my time, and not in the relaxing way that it used to. It was suddenly hard work.

Ely had come to notice it as well, I was pretty sure, because she had a mental breakdown just one week previous, sobbing because she was so stressed. I knew we were doing something good, here, and we were inspiring so many new Clubs to rise up, but it still was difficult sometimes.

I looked over at May, who was laughing at something Viktor had said. If anything good was coming out of all of this, it was definitely that May was happier than she'd ever been before. I think it was part living with Marcos, part no longer being in charge of Club, and part her mother's murder finally being solved. I loved her smile, her laugh, more than anything, and it was good to see more of it. Viktor certainly had a way of making her happy, too, and I appreciated him for that.

She must have noticed me staring, because she walked over and kissed me. "Why do you not join us?"

"Because you're the ones in his quadrants. We're okay just chilling over here, right Jen?" I elbowed her and gave her a pointed stare, and she nodded obediently. "See? It's all good. You two haven't seen him in forever. We're just here to be near you guys. Go hang out with your moirail, babe. We'll talk later."