The Real American Idol

Lily's realization

December 12th came, and nothing had changed. School was dismissed that day, and Lily came up to the twins.

"Hey, Variel, Dulce, what do you say you come over to my house and do some homework?" Lily asked cheerfully.

But Dulce and Variel were still livid with Lily for mistreating Mirabela last week.

"I don't know, Lily," Dulce sniffed.

"Yeah, we're not sure if we should," Variel agreed.

"It's okay, primas," Mirabela said, putting on her helmet. "You can go if you want to. I'm already done with my homework. I'll just tell the grownups where you are."

The twins were surprised that their cousin was actually okay with them hanging with the girl who hurt her feelings about her father...twice.

"Okay, we should leave Lily's before 5," Variel said.

"Okay, I'll see you later," Mirabela said before getting on her scooter and riding off to her house.

Later, when Mirabela got home, she told her father, aunt, and grandfather where the twins were. They weren't disappointed in the twins for going off with someone without telling them ahead of time, but they were surprised by one thing.

"You let your cousins go to Lily's house to do homework?" Sofia asked. "Aren't you still angry with Lily for last week?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean the twins are obligated to stay away from her," Mirabela said.

"Well, do you have homework to cover?" Pedro asked.

"No, I already did all mine at school," Mirabela replied. "Besides, the twins said they'd leave Lily's house before 5."

"Okay, well, I'm going to run an errand with Lito," Pedro said. "I think you deserve some time for yourself."

"Okay, Papi," Mirabela smiled.

Meanwhile, at Lily's house, she, Miley, and the twins were doing their homework, but Lily was still upset about Mirabela hanging so much with her father before they had that fight.

"Need some help with that biology homework, Dulce?" Variel asked.

But Lily angrily cleared her throat and glared. She wasn't happy with what she was hearing.

After a short, awkward silence, Dulce said, "Well, I am having a little trouble with the fifth question."

Lily cleared her throat louder, annoyed with the twins talking, to their disgust.

"Lily, we understand that this is your house, but is that really necessary?" Dulce frowned. "Since you invited us to come over, you should be thankful that Mirabela was nice enough to let us."

But hearing Mirabela's name really agitated Lily. "Mirabela? Why do you mention that name in my presence, let alone my house?" she snapped.

Dulce and Variel were disgusted that Lily was still angry with their cousin for spending time with her father, and it's barely even been a week since Lily and Mirabela spoke to each other.

"Because she made a very good point last month," Variel frowned. "Homework is called homework for a reason."

"I agree," Dulce sniffed, putting her stuff in her bag. "We'll see you at school tomorrow, Lily."

Lily was horrified that the twins were leaving. "Dulce, Variel, seriously?" she asked. "Are you still mad at me for what happened last week?"

"Well, you're still angry with Mirabela for spending a lot of time with her father," Variel snapped. "She may have had Lito and Papá as father figures, but she didn't know what it was like having her own real father."