Worthless :A Encanto (Stranger Things AU)

2- The third wheel

I hate being a Madrigal. It's the worst. I have to stand aside as my Fastastic siblings get all the glory.

There's Pepa. Mama's golden child. With her perfect powers, her perfect hair, her perfect marks, her perfect friends, her perfect boyfriend, her perfect life...

There's Bruno. Mama's star. Good at sports, good looking, good with girls... Good at everything.

And there's me. Mama's disgrace. My sibling's shadow. The ugly flower in a field of roses. Useless. Friendless. Worthless.

When Pepa and Bruno arrived home, Mama started prasing them. She even brought them to get ice cream. But, again, she forgot about me. As usual. It's ok. Guess I don't deserve ice cream.

I bit my lip until blood came out of it. I do that when I'm stressed. I told myself to think about the good things that happened today:

I scored an A- in my algebra test. Not as good as Pepa's A+, but still good for me. I'd done my best. I'd studied very hard. Of course, Mama hit me anyways.

Shoot. Tears were rolling down my cheeks again. I cry a lot lately, and I struggle wth mental health. Of course, no one minds or wants to know, so I suffer in silence.

I'm fine. 

I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up the charade.

I'm totally fine.

I obliged myself to smile when I heard someone knocking at the door.

"Good afternoon. If you're here to speak with the Fantastic Twins, you should wait. They aren't here at the moment" 

My tone was monotone, my smile wide. I do hoped my tears weren't noticiable. But, then again. who would have cared?

"Um, actually, I was here to talk to you, Julieta"

I was shocked. No one used to remember my name. Or know I existed. 

I looked at the person speaking. It was a boy of my age. He had brown staight hair, glasses, a bandage in his left arm and a beautiful smile.

"Oh, you know I exist?" I corrected myself "Excuse me. I mean, how may I help you?"

"I'm Agustín. I'm in your algebra class"

Of course. I felt deflated.

"So you're here to laugh at me for my marks" My voice broke. I couldn't help it.

"What? No! Of course not. That would be horrible! I was actually gonna ask you if you could help me understand something... If you don't mind"

He was asking me for help? Me, the stupid Julieta? My sister's shadow?

"I think you're mistaken. My sister is the smart one... " I started to close the door.

"I don't care about your sister being smart" He held the door open "Besides, she already has way too much attention."

My face lit. Someone who didn't like my sister? He was probably mad. But, I liked it.

"So, what do you need help with?"

That's how I met Agustín. We quickly became friends. We started hanging out more and more often. Soon, appart from study dates, we hanged out in the park, the library, during recess.

Now, the reason I had the strength to get out of bed each morning was seeing him.

I didn't cry so often. My grades went up, surprisingly. I stopped wearing dark clothes and started caring for my health.

He was so funny and kind. He never made me feel inferior to my siblings. Everyday, he reminded me how awesome I was.

Uncounsciously, I fell in love. And that scared me to death.

One afternoon, we were sitting at the park, holding hands, and I felt as if I couldn't hide it any longer.

"I need to tell you something..." My cheeks burnt "But I'm afraid of ruining everything"

"What?" He held my hands and stared at my eyes "Julieta, you can tell me everything. I promise I'd never get mad at you for it"

"Well..." I took a deep breath "I had a boyfriend before"

He looked surprised but didn't say a thing. I couldn't bear to look at his face. I faced the ground.

"He was called Marco. I liked him because he was the first that noticed me, not my siblings. But it didn't last long. One day, a prety girl stole his heart. She was called Samah. He turned very rude. He started hitting me and yelling. One day, he dumped me. And I was so, so sad. I cried for weeks. The only good thing in my life was gone. And I'm scared I'll loose you to another, or you'll realize that I'm just a shadow..."

Silence fell. Everything was said. I started sobbing. Why had I said that? I'd ruined everything. Again. I was just a third wheel in the family. Why did I thought I would find love. I probably did't deserve it.

Suddenly, I felt a warm hug.

"Shh, it's ok. You can let it out. I'm here. And I won't ever, ever leave you" He stroked my curly hair "I love you. You're perfect just  the way you are"

I raised my head.

"I love you, too"

We kissed. For a moment, everything was perfect. I wasn't a third wheel any longer. 

But it all seemed too nice.

I felt as if this wouldn't last for long.