Meant to Be

Prologue

There once lived a beautiful girl named Mirabel Ramirez. She lived in Butterfly Bay, New Mexico, with her parents, Rosa and Esteban, and her older sister, Guadalupe, who preferred to go by "Lupe". Rosa was a stay-at-home mother while Esteban was a doctor at the local hospital.

Mirabel enjoyed painting and drawing while Lupe loved to dance ballet. Sometimes Lupe would model for Mirabel.

When Mirabel had graduated from middle school in 2009, she had her paintings displayed in the Butterfly Bay Art Gallery. At this time, the headmasters from two prestigious art schools were vacationing in Butterfly Bay, and they'd seen Mirabel's magnificent work. Principal Hawkins of Vega Arts High School and Dean West of the college, Pablo Picasso Academy, were both so impressed with Mirabel's work that they wanted her to be a student at both their schools. Yes, that's right, Mirabel would be a high school student taking college art classes. Mirabel liked the idea, but both these schools were located in Vega City, Nevada—and they weren't boarding schools. There was no place in Vega City for Esteban to work. Luckily, his father, Pedro, lived in Vega City and offered to take Mirabel in, so he filed to be her legal guardian, and she moved in with him. Fortunately, she still kept in touch with her friends and family, visiting often, calling, and writing to them.

Mirabel enjoyed going to Vega Arts and Pablo Picasso, but the students were a little jealous of her artistic ability and that her parents let her move in with her grandfather, so she didn't have the best time. However, she did have some friends, but they weren't very loyal to her, especially because of her imperfections. But while her school life was far from perfect, she was happy with her home life, bonding with her grandfather.

Mirabel graduated from both high school and college when she was only 17. She started working part time for a graphic design company, designing invitations, greeting cards, and postcards. When Mirabel was 18, Pedro passed away from a heart attack, leaving his apartment to Mirabel, who lived alone afterwards now that she was legally an adult with a good job. A year later, she was maid of honor in Lupe's wedding.

Now Mirabel was 20 years old, and she had a boyfriend who was still in college. She'd been working very hard at Vega City Graphic Designers, and she'd made a lot of money. But Mirabel wasn't too happy with her life now—her high school friends weren't very loyal to her because they were jealous that she lived on her own and finished school while they still lived with their parents and went to college. As if that wasn't bad enough, it seemed like her boyfriend, to whom she was engaged, didn't love her. Mirabel loved her grandfather, but she wondered if it was right of her to leave her family to live in Vega City. She also wondered if she should've moved back in with her parents when Pedro passed away.