Agustin took a book with a picture of two pairs of glasses, mirabel's and another pair with lightning above it, and the book was called 'longing to shine' and handed it to isabela. "so im guessing the other glasses are for mirabels's boooyyyyfffrrrriiiiieeeeennnddd" isabela teased. "knock it off" mirabel grumbled with fake anger.
"Mirabel Madrigal had not always felt like a burden to her family.
When she was younger before the incident, she was the apple of all her family member's eyes.
Isabela would make her flower crowns all the time just to see her smile. Luisa would throw her up in the air as she giggled and asked to be thrown higher.
All of her family members would each make her happy and play with her using their gifts.
On the day of the incident, that wretched gift ceremony, when her door didn't appear she was disappointed but she didn't think anything would change.
She was still optimistic that nothing would change and everything would still be how it used to be.
How wrong she was.
She doesn't think her family realizes how they changed after.
It wasn't a drastic change either.
People started snapping at her more often and getting annoyed when she asked to play with them.
Isabela no longer wanted to grow flowers for her and instead told her that she wasting her time. Luisa still played with her when she asked but she could tell that she was doing it to humor her and no longer wanted to anymore.
But the most heartbreaking change of all was Abuela.
She loved her Abuela when she was younger. She would always gather Mirabel and Camilo at night in the nursery and tell them the history of their family and how special they were.
When she failed to get a gift, Abuela became cold. She no longer talked to Mirabel except to scold her when she was "getting in the way".
Mirabel frequently got in the way of her family since she failed to get a gift.
However, after being treated like this for ten years she was now accustomed to it.
So when Isabela told her she was getting in the way and Abuela scolded her and told her to stop trying to help, she was unperturbed.
It was now her younger primo Antonio's gift ceremony and the event was evoking twin flames of happiness and resentment in her. She was conflicted.
Of course, she wanted Antonio to get a gift. She adored him and she would never want him to face the treatment she was facing.
Alternatively, if Antonio did get his gift there was an ugly voice in her asking what was wrong with her? Was she not worthy of a gift as well?
She pushed those thoughts aside and coaxed Antonio from under the bed with a toy she made for him.
She would miss Antonio when he moved into his new room. She hoped that he wouldn't change his attitude to her when he became accustomed to his gift like Camilo had done.
As she headed down for the celebrations, she took a deep breath.
No matter what, I'm still a part of the Madrigals.
She looked around the party feeling more of an outsider than she has ever felt. Even the townspeople looked down on her for not having a gift.
It was a bit ironic.
She walked over to where the crowd was gathered as Abuela began speaking.
She was so lost in thought that she was surprised when she saw Antonio reaching out his hand for her.
