Dancer's Body

Chapter 1

Olivia knocked the practiced rhythm into the green door. When the vice president poked her head out, she whispered, "She's going to be pissed" as they went through their secret handshake.

"You're late," Ava said. She was perched, looking perfect, at the long wooden table.

"I know," Olivia said. She stumbled over closed-toed shoes to her seat in the fourth row. "I was ... it was the interview with the dance company—"

"Oh! How'd it go? Did you—"

One of the sisters in the back row was instantly shushed by Ava. "We follow Robert's Rules here, in case you forgot." Ava shifted in her black robe and turned her attention back to Olivia. "One more time this term, and you'll have to go in front of the disciplinary board."

Olivia just nodded and pulled at her black skirt so that it barely stretched over her knee. The last thing she needed was a reprimand from Ava or her minion, member-at-large, about not following "formal" dress code.

"Okay, now, ladies," Ava resumed. She stroked her president's gavel softly. "We need to finish up details for spring recruitment. Does the social chair have her report?" The "social," Justine, stood up and began droning on about ice cream picks and dress codes.

"We have dairy-free options, but I'm not sure if we should get vegan, too?" Justine asked.

"Good question," Ava said. "Can we have a vote?"

"Did you get it?" Hannah whispered to Olivia. She looked at her kindly. Olivia had really lucked out with Hannah, as both a sorority sister and roommate. She gave her a nod and smiled.

Hannah squeezed her knee and smiled back, her gap-toothed grin a welcome comfort. "I knew you would," she said quietly.

Ava cleared her throat and glared at Olivia and Hannah. "Now, ladies, we really need to reach quota this spring. That's thirty new members." The room groaned. "I know, I know. It's a lot for a spring recruitment. But we have a lot of graduating seniors and making quota will keep National off our back. Plus it will give us a head start for fall recruitment."

One of the seniors raised her hand in the front row. "I have some trepidation about partnering with the TUKs for this," she said. "As we all know, and I'm not trying to talk badly about them, they're not the most desirable fraternity on campus ..."

"I get what you're saying," Ava interrupted, "but at this point, it's them or nobody. The other houses have already partnered up with the other sororities. And it's important for the recruits that they see the camaraderie between the sororities and fraternities." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Hannah linked arms with Olivia as they walked back to their dorm. "I can't believe we have to do this spring rush thing," Olivia complained.

"Yeah, but it might be fun!" Hannah said, the eternal optimist.

"With the internship starting, and having to understudy for Mia—even though I'll never dance the lead, this term is shaping up to be insane."

Hannah briefly rested her blonde head on Mia's shoulder. "You always stretch yourself too thin," she said. "So, tell me more about the internship interview. I'm so proud of you! But isn't the process supposed to be hell?"

"I think I lucked out," Olivia said. "They seemed more interested in how well we knew our way around Microsoft Office than our dance history. Which, you know, I expected, but seriously there were almost no questions about dance. Thank God for those summers spent making minimum wage with work-study in the admissions office."