"So I'm a little stressed, so what?" That was Nita's response when her father told her she needed to find some way to relax, that she was as tense as a strung wire. He wasn't the first, the second, or even the third person to tell her this, and that was what bothered her. Even Kit was worrying, even though he knew better than to say so. Nita was the "together" one, that was how she worked. But lately, with her classes getting rougher, tough wizardries popping up left and right, having to live with and put up with Dairine, and still being bullied at school, she just felt overwhelmed. Then there was Kit. Being around Kit was wonderful; he was the perfect wizarding partner, a great person, and the best friend anyone could ask for. No biggie, right? Kit was amazing. Needless to say, she was hopelessly in love with him. Look, more stress! And the solution was…

"Yoga!? WHAT?!" Nita asked, shocked.

"Come on, Neets," her father pleaded, "I'm trying to help you here. Just try it out. If you don't like it, you can quit."

"Think about it, Nita," Dair said between potato chips, "even if you don't de-stress, at least you'll be able to bend into a pretzel…" as her father left the room, she added in a hiss, "and you'll be flexible for your buddy Kit!"

"Dair!" she tried to look menacing, but it turned out sad and tired. "Look, don't bug me about Kit, runt. Just go annoy Roshaun or curl your hair or something, okay?"

"Oh, touchy!" Dairi snorted. "But honestly, Neets take the class. It'll calm Daddy down, and maybe it'll help you too."

Dairine hardly ever showed real concern for her, and it was sort of touching. "Awright, I'll try it out."

So that's how Nita ended up here, at the community center. She checked her flier for the room number. "Three twenty-two." She murmured.

"That's over here, love," a woman's voice called from a few feet down the hall. She wore her hair in a high, slightly messy bun, and had on blue sweats and a baggy white tee-shirt. Still, something about her seemed elegant. "You're the last one I'm waiting for. Come on in." Nita frowned slightly and followed the woman into the room.

"Welcome to Beginners' Yoga. I'm Nathalie, your instructor. I also hope I'll be your friend. Everyone sit down on your mats and we'll stretch and introduce ourselves." Uncertainly, Nita rolled out her sticky blue mat on the floor next to a girl with black hair, clothes, and lipstick, who was sitting rather calmly in a shiny hot-pink mat. "Let's start with you, with the black hair and the pink mat."

The girl looked up, calm, cool and somewhat expressionless. "I'm Lahbrah Calmann. I'm 15 years old, and I like swimming, reading, and hanging out with my Girl Scout troop." She paused and looked at the tiny blonde girl across the room, who was gawking, apparently shocked that Lahbrah was a Girl Scout. Lahbrah looked at her levelly, and said in a cold voice, "Don't judge people by their appearances."

Nathalie smiled at her. "Thanks Lahbrah. Next, you, on her right."

Nita grimaced. "I'm Juanita, but please just call me Nita. I like reading and hanging out with my best friend Kit."

Lahbrah suddenly grinned and looked right at her. "And you like him, don't you?" she teased, as if they were old friends.

Nita smiled back. Friends were a good thing. "Yeah, kinda." The blonde winked at her.

"Kit Rodriguez?" She asked. Nita nodded. "He was in my grade before he got skipped up. You've got good tastes." She grinned and licked her lips.

One by one all seven of the other kids in the room introduced themselves. The blonde was Katie, and she liked ballet and sushi. The other kids were James, Danyelle, Rita, Ed, and Ellemere. They were all pretty interesting, even though Rita and Danyelle seemed a bit stuck-up.

Nathalie sat down on her own mat. "Let's start with the basics. This," she said, twisting her legs into pretzel position, then sliding her feet so that they rested on her thighs, "is a lotus pose. Go on, give it a try," she encouraged.

And try they did. It was a lot harder than it looked. Eventually, everyone had wedged their feet in a semblance of the lotus pose. "Is this it?" James asked excitedly, before falling over. "I mean, WAS that it?"

Nathalie smiled. "Yes, that was it. However, yoga is about balance. Falling over won't help you." She gently helped him back into the position he had fallen out of. "Now let's talk about breathing. Now, I would assume you all are breathing right now. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a class. The question is, are you breathing correctly?"

Nita was confused. How could anyone breathe wrong? Nathalie continued, "To breathe correctly, you have to breathe in through your nose, so that when the air comes through the back of your throat, you sound kind of like Darth Vader, a little like a pig snort only softer and with less throat vibration."

The rest of the class went on in a similar matter, and when Nita left, she felt better than she could remember feeling for a long time. After three months of weekly yoga and encouragement from Lahbrah, Katie, and Nathalie, almost nothing seemed stressful and life was just plain easier. Even her wizardries were stronger. But there was still one problem…

"Nita, are you okay? C'mon, you're spacing again."

Kit.

She could act normal around him; after all, they were best friends and wizard partners. Things were usually just fine. They got their work done, and still goofed off too. They hung out all the time. Even so, some days…

"Neets, honestly." Kit sighed impatiently. "Earth to Nita!" She jumped. "Geeze, Neets, you really need to get with it. What if you do that in the middle of a spell?"

She punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Kit, I'm good. I was just thinking. You should try it some time."

"Oh, that was low!" he said and, without warning, he tackled her. They wrestled a bit, until Nita said laughingly, "Awright, awright, I give! You win!" Then she froze. He had her pinned, and his face was almost dangerously close to hers. He was looking right into her eyes, and something about that stare made her nervous. She blushed, then rolled over on top of him and said, "Or not!" They both burst out laughing, but somehow Kit looked disappointed.

"Okay, let's get back to work. We still have to convince that rock over there to move three feet to the left by Thursday." Nita said sighing.

"Neets, I dunno. Rocks are stubborn."

The two of them worked for a few hours, bickering amiably, until Kit suddenly sighed. "I gotta go, Neets. My Mama said I had to be home for dinner by six, and I'm already gonna be late. Anyway, don't you have yoga tonight?

"Oh yeah, you're right! I'll see you tomorrow, Kit!" she stood up, brushing grass off her sweats. Kit stood too, a bit quickly, and stumbled. Nita steadied him.

"Nita, c'mere." He reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingertips, then brought them over to her hair, removing a few chunks of grass. "You had grass in your hair."

She flushed scarlet, then managed to stutter out, "D-di-did you g-get it?" Internally she cursed. What is my problem? This is ridiculous!

"Yeah, I got it. See ya!" He gave her a funny look then turned and left. Sighing, Nita headed the opposite direction toward the community center.

"You always fold just before you're found out," she sang bitterly to herself. Why, WHY couldn't she just tell him how she felt? WHY? Absentmindedly, she wandered into the community center and sat down next to Lahbrah.

"Today we're going to focus on meditation only." Nathalie told them. "We don't usually do this, but I've had a few requests." As everyone sat down and began to stretch and warm up as usual, Nathalie called casually, "Nita, can I talk to you a sec?"

"What's up?" Nita asked.

"I've noticed you are rather advanced at meditating. Wonderful job." Nathalie grinned

Nita blushed. "Thank you."

"I also noticed that, although I cannot understand your mantra, it seems as if you are simply talking to the universe, and it bends to listen to you."

Nita grinned at that. That was exactly what she had been doing, talking to the universe in the Speech, and letting it calm her. She was careful not to describe anything, and focused on looking inside herself through the eyes of the world around her.

"However," Nathalie continued, "You don't seem to sit and listen very much. I was wondering if you would try asking a question instead of using a mantra, and listening for an answer."

Nita was taken aback. "Umm, sure. I'll give it a try." She headed back to her mat and sat in lotus pose, eyes closed. Now, what sort of question should I ask? She automatically thought of Kit, gently pulling grass from her hair. Okay, what do I do about Kit and me?

And she listened.

Suddenly, it was if all of her senses were a thousand times more acute. Every connection to the world seemed to multiply. She smelled spring outside, she felt the thick stickiness of her mat, she tasted the air, it was right there. She could sense everything around her for about ten feet. And she could hear Kit's thoughts more strongly than ever.

He was sitting on his bed and thinking hard. 'What is wrong with me? Stupid, stupid, STUPID!" he muttered.

Nita was confused. 'What?' she almost asked, but stopped herself. Nathalie had told her just to listen.

"It must have freaked her out when I was staring in her eyes like that! What was I thinking?" he then thought a word that, had his mama heard, would have gotten his mind washed out with soap. "Nita, what are you thinking? Why are you so spacey? What are you hiding from me?" He paused, then a small part of his mind cried out indignantly, "Why didn't you kiss her?" Nita felt his cheeks flush, and caught a flash of herself, blushing, with a piece of grass in her hair. "She's everything I want…URGH! I wish she knew what I was thinking. Damn, I wish she knew I love her." He flushed again, then got depressed. "What if she won't talk to me because she knows I like her and it freaks her out? What if that's why she's been so out of it? Maybe there's somebody else-"

Nita knew now was the time to speak. She'd listened enough, and learned quite a bit, too. "Kit...?" she asked him mentally.

"Uh, Neets?!" He sounded flustered. "U-umm, what's up?"

She smiled nervously. What was the best way to go about this? "I love you too, Christopher Rodriguez."

When Nita left yoga that day, she was ecstatic. Nathalie smiled after her, watching her walk out the door.

"Well young wizard," she whispered softly after her, "good luck in the real world."

And Nita walked out to see the love of her life.

C=