The Chameleon's Grin ll Camilo Madrigal

Chapter 6 : He Takes After Me

Camilo's pov:

The bus stopped at school and everyone got off.

Carmen weaved through the group of people to get to Mirabel, and I was going to follow her and invite her into my group, but then I remembered that she had told me it was hard for her to talk to a lot of people at once. She probably needed some time to cool off.

Mirabel also didn't seem to care for my group. I guess that's why Carmen ran off to her.

Seeing that my new bestie was gone, Cleo grabbed a hold of my arm. I struggled to get out of her grasp. "Please let go, I'm not in the mood right now." I asked her patiently.

She rolled her blue eyes, which were deeper than the ocean, yet belonged to the most shallow of a person.

"Of course you're in the mood. You always are in the mood for me."

I wanted to scream right then and there, but I only took a deep breath in, and glared hard at the ground.

Someone please save me. I thought desperately. It was times like these where I wanted to both laugh and cry hysterically.

Then I got an idea. They didn't come often, but when they did they were pretty effective.

I shifted my form into Carmen, who was a few inches shorter than Cleo, so I looked up at the girl. She quickly took her hands off of me.

She scowled. "Don't be like this!"

"Don't be like what?" I asked stupidly. Like what, don't be my own annoying self? Be exactly what version of me that you liked? Been there, done that. Now I can be the girl you hate most. That sounded good to me.

Cleo sighed, latching back onto my arm. She acted like she was in pain doing so. "I take it you don't like the new look?"

She shook her head.

Heh, good you little-

Someone pulled on my skirt, which also had a comical amount of pockets.

I turned around to see mi hermanito.

"Carmen," Antonio asked. "Do you know where Camilo is?"

Quickly yanking my arm away from Cleo, I kneeled down and turned back into myself. "What's up Ant?"

"Diana's really scared to go into school, and you always know how to make people laugh, so how can I make Diana feel better?"

I was touched that he thought of me like that. "Well, you actually have the perfect gift for this kind of stuff, you know that?"

He shook his head.

"No? Well you do. Animals are known to make people feel better, so that's what you should do. Have Punto brighten her mood, I know she likes him."'

The little boy thought it through. "Okay, gracias Camilo."

"Anytime amigo." I clapped his shoulder and he bolted off towards Diana.

"Who's Diana?" Cleo asked nosily.

"She's Carmen's little sister, her and Antonio are friends."

"You know," She snaked her arms right around my arm again. "I have a little sister that I'm sure would just love Antonio."

I recalled Antonio crying to me one night because Cleo's sister was bullying him for his favorite pair of shoes. He'd never worn those sandals since.

"Eh, he's more into brunettes, he takes after me-" I covered my own mouth. "Sorry, I-uh, don't know what got into me."