𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 | 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲. 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘦

"𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲"

𝘆/𝗻'𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘃
𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦....

Early afternoon the next day, Camilo and I were messing around in the theatre part of his room. He was shapeshifting into multiple different musical theatre characters and singing their parts while I was doing whatever part went with his.

"Talk less." I told him, his smile faltering as he stayed in character. "What?" he mumbled. I continued. "Smile more. Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for."

Hamilton. One of my favorite musicals ever. And I had discovered that Camilo also liked it after he heard me singing it and joined in. Now here we were, being nerdy theatre kids.

"You can't be serious....." "You wanna get ahead?" "Yes." "Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead."

"Uh ya, yow yo yow yow, what time is-"

Camilo was cut off by his door opening to reveal Bruno standing there. "Knock knock, knock knock knock, knock on wood." he said, hitting the door with each word.

"I heard you guys singing when I was walking in the hallway. Hamilton?" Bruno walked into the room and stepped onto the stage. Camilo nodded. "Yes, Tío Bruno. Do you know it?" Bruno grinned. "Of course I know Hamilton!"

"So you're a theatre nerd too? Cool." Camilo nodded in understanding.

"We should totally learn the choreography of a song and perform it." I suggested. "What song?" Camilo pondered.

"We could do The Schuyler Sisters!"

As soon as those words came out of Bruno's mouth, I slapped my palm on my forehead. "Díos mío, Bruno...." I muttered. "What?!" he said defensively. "It's perfect! There are three of us and-"

"And we would have to wear dresses." I pointed out. His face dropped and he grumbled a 'never mind', causing Camilo and I to laugh.

"I've got a better idea." Camilo spoke up. "Why don't we make up our own song?"

My eyebrows rose up in both shock and interest. "That sounds....fun...." I muttered, tapping my finger against my chin. "What would we write it about?"

"Umm...." That one stumped Camilo.

Bruno jumped up and raised his hand like a little kid answering a math problem. "I know!" He turned to face me. "How about you play as a girl and I'm your dad. Camilo is your cousin but you have amnesia and can't remember that he's your cousin and you two-"

I waved my hands frantically, cutting him off. "I know where you were going with that and no. It was an interesting plot for your telenovela....but no."

Bruno sighed and shrugged. "Worth a shot...." We stood silently for a moment before I spoke again. "But....we can use some parts of that."

From there, I created a plan for our song, which was supposed to be a musical theatre song with singing, choreography, and story. I would play as a young girl who is shy but has an amazing singing voice, Bruno would be my dad; overprotective but kind and funny. And Camilo was a young man who wasn't sure where he was going in life but had big dreams, and he would be in love with my character.

The next few hours were spent with Bruno coming up with music on the piano that Casita had brought in from somewhere in Camilo's room. Camilo would create choreography and acting to go on during the song, moving around the stage to demonstrate. And I would stand by the piano in the back with Bruno, writing lyrics over the music he created.

Wiping some sweat off of my brow, I looked down at my paper where I had written our song lyrics. Was it always this hot in here?

I ignored how warm it felt in the room and read over the completed song lyrics. It would be about four and a half minutes long. Bruno had a sheet of music written out and had given it to Augustín, who had agreed to play for us when we performed for the family.

Now, Camilo was teaching us his plans for the choreography. He did very well at this, Bruno and I had almost nothing to change about it. We all had done well.

"We are quite the trio." I pointed out. The three of us shared a three way high five, standing in a circle. "This is what happens when theatre kids get together." Bruno added. We all laughed.

The plan was to have the song split into parts. First was a solo of Bruno; he would be singing about me as I wasn't home. Then was a duet between Camilo and I as we realized our love and I warned him about an overprotective father. Next was my part alone, where I would try and convince Bruno that Camilo was perfect for me. Then was a duet between Bruno and Camilo as they meet and argue. Camilo's solo part directly after was his emotional attempt to win over Bruno. And finally, the three of us would finish out the song together, Bruno being supportive of Camilo and I's relationship.

By the time we had finished our practice, I was sweaty and breathing heavily. Weird.

"Are you alright, mi vida?" Camilo asked, looking over me with a look of concern in his hazel eyes. I waved it off. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." I forced a grin.

Camilo, Bruno, Augustín, and I went behind the curtains as the rest of the family sat down in the audience. I still couldn't believe this was all in Camilo's room, but hey, this is the La Casa Madrigal.

"Are you ready?" I asked Augustín. He had been practicing the music for about an hour while we practiced choreography and singing along with it. He smiled widely and patted my shoulder. "You know it."

"What about you?" I turned to Camilo with a small smile. He smirked. "Ready to win you over with my flair." I blushed deeply as he placed a kiss on the top of my hand.

"Save that for the end." Bruno joked, pushing Camilo's shoulder. Embarrassed, Camilo shape shifted between a bunch of people before returning to his own pink-cheeked appearance. "Are you ready, kiddo?" Bruno asked me. Placing an arm around each of them, I nodded. "We're gonna blow them all away."

"Nice reference." Camilo and Bruno said simultaneously, causing us all to break out into chuckles.

And only a few moments later, we were on the stage, performing the song we had created ourselves and learned in only a day. Luisa's donkeys and Bruno's rats all danced in the ensemble as we sang our song, progressing through each scene, verse, and part perfectly. We really were naturals at this.

As we all finished the song with our joyful group moment, the three of us held hands as we stood in front of our audience (the family, more of Bruno's rats, and Antonio's animal friends), I stood between Camilo and Bruno as we bowed, huge grins spread across all of our faces.

But I was still strangely hot and sweaty, especially by the end. A frown began to replace my happy expression as I felt myself growing dizzy. Letting go of Camilo and Bruno's hands I wiped some sweat off of my forehead, nearly gasping when I felt how warm it was.

Before I could say a word, I had collapsed to the ground on the stage, laying on the floor and listening to the fading sounds of applause as my eyes fell shut.