That's Why I Hate You [Camilo Madrigal x OC]

ONE : Not-So-New-"Girl"

*** <--- indicates time skips

     "Very big day today everyone, wake up!" Pepa came running down the stairs of the casita. With Félix along side her, they managed to wake everyone up in a small amount of time.

     Everyone walked out of their doors drowsly, annoyed at the two for waking them up at such an early hour.

     One person in particular, was very tired, he was the last to wake up, and the last to go to bed the night before.

     "Camilo, what did we tell you about staying up late?" His father, Felix, whispered to his son while his wife was away, talking to Abuela about the day ahead.

     "I know. But what if it turns out like last time? I'm just scared I guess." Camilo walked away, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes before his father could say any more to him.

     Everyone sat down at the table. As the food was passed around, everyone seemed happy. Everything was fine. Although, there was another person missing.

     "Hey, where's Mirabel?" Luisa asked. She turned her head to Dolores as to indicate that she needed help.

     Dolores perked up one ear, and spoke softly. "She's going to get something..." she started. Before anyone could brush it off, she spoke again. "And now some kids are asking about the family. Like, powers and all that..." she paused again, this time longer than before. "They're asking about hers, she's not telling."

     "Thank you Dolores for that-" Abuela got cut off.

     "A girl came up and shooed the kids away. She's apologizing for whatever the kids were doing." Another pause. "The girl is new... her name is Maria, and she's fifteen... she moved here a few months ago..."

     "Okay, thank you Dolores, but we don't need to know some poor girl's backstory." Abuela spoke firmly, and continued speaking to Juilieta.

     Camilo looked at Dolores with interest. A fifteen-year-old girl... that's new in town? Maybe he could take advantage of that. Have some fun.

***

Maria POV:

     Why did you think this was a good idea... I thought to myself as I walked around the small cottage I was able to afford. You were able to get here, and for what? Remember how much you disliked this place?

     Today was one of those days, the ones where I had to muster up all of my courage to go outside, and not be spotted out for looking weird, or seeing people stare at me, or feeling like someone is watching me, or feeling sick, or seeing someone that I used to be friends with, or seeing something that scares me, or... well, you get it. Point is, I don't want to go outside right now, especially because today was one of those ceremony things. Another Madrigal would get some weird power, just to "help out" when the most likely thing to happen is just showing off, and not actually helping anyone.

     I changed into something simple. Unnoticeable, boring, bland, there was no way that someone would point me out for wearing something so simple. It was just a white cropped T-shirt and a yellow skirt.

     I grabbed the bag left on the coat-hanger, and opened the door. A slight breeze hit my face. Wow... Pepa must be in a good mood right now.. but I spoke too soon, because almost immediately after, the sky darkened, and the light breeze turned into harsh wind. It calmed quickly, but it was probably going to be all over the place because of the ceremony. Perfectionists I thought, and continued down the road.

     There were people everywhere. Pushing and shoving some out of the way to get to the markets, I saw this group of kids surrounding a woman. I didn't know what they were talking about, but then the lady turned around, and a familiar face met mine. Mirabel? She was singing to the kids, pointing out her family on a painting someone had made.

     I couldn't help but feel bad. I actually kind of liked that family. They were good people. One kid pointed out that Mirabel hadn't told them what her power was. She brushed it off by telling them over and over again what her family could do. I acted before I thought. I ran over and shooed the kids away.

     "Hey, leave her alone. Go, go! Don't you have someone else to bother?" I brushed them off, and apologized.

     "Oh, it's okay! Don't sweat it. What's your name?" She seemed so... sweet.

     "I'm Maria, I just moved here a few days ago." I told her, almost anxiously. Would she recognize me? Impossible.

     "Wait..." Mirabel examined me closely. A bead of sweat formed. Maybe it was because the temperature went up, maybe because I was nervous. "How old are you? Because I can't tell."

     "Oh... I'm, fifteen. How old are you?" Mirabel gasped excitedly at my response.

     "I'm also fifteen! We could be friends! Hey, my cousin has his gift ceremony later tonight, you should totally go!" She took both of my hands excitedly and looked at me, her eyes overflowing with joy.

     "Well, I... um... i don't like crowds and-" I got cut off.

     "That doesn't matter, we can find you a spot where there aren't many people."

     "Okay..." I really didn't want to go, what of someone in the family recognized me? Why are you so worried about that? Those are your old friends!

     Maribel let out a high-pitched squeal and jumped up and down. Clearly she didn't know many people outside of the the family, so  it was nice to her to have someone to talk to.

     "But, I don't know what to wear. Is it like, a formal thing? Do I need to dress really fancy?" I really was curious. I don't know if the ceremony dress code had changed any since Mirabel's whole tragic ceremony.

     "Yeah, it is pretty formal. Wait." Sha gasped. "CAN I HELP YOU PICK OUT SOMETHING TO WEAR???"

     Man, she really is excited... I thought to myself. I mean... I guess it's worth a shot... being friends again seems like a nice idea... "Sure, why not..." and just like I thought, Mirabel let out another squeal. Jumping around, my hands still in hers.

     "Okay, well, we can go shopping whenever you like. I have some ideas already!" And with that, she was gone. Skipping her way back to the Casita. I felt kinda fuzzy and warm. It's nice to have her as a friend.

1094 words
TYSM FOR READING I LOVE YOU SMMMM💙💙💙

Btw, I'm making up the story as I go, so it's prolly gonna take me awhile to update it, especially when school is starting up pretty soon. Point out any spelling mistakes that I make please, it would really help out! OKAY BYE ILYSM!!!!(sick dance moves Camilo)

- The gender goblin