Carmen

Chapter 2

When Carmen hears the lock she gets off of him and bangs on the doors, "let me out! Let me out!" she shouts "they aren't" Camilo says, pulling his knees close to his chest. Carmen turns to him "what are you talking about?" "You've never played 7 minutes of heaven?" he says fixing some of his curls "we can just kiss and be done with it" he says. "What? I'm not kissing you, we barely know each other" Carmen looks through the keyhole. "Then we're not getting out till the seven minutes are up" he says putting his arms behind his neck.

"If you do wanna know a little I guess... I'm Camilo-" "Camilo Madrigal, shapeshifter, your family is really powerful I know" she says. "Great we know each other now so lets get this over with" he says "still no" Carmen leads her back on the wood of the closet "you also don't know me" she taps on the wood. "Then who are you? Don't think I've seen you around here before" Camilo says. Carmen groans "yeah I know but I'm not surprised. I'm Carmen" she puts her hand out for him to shake which he does. "You sound funny" he says "is that how you pick up most girls?" she lets go of his hand.

His eyes expand "what's that supposed to mean?" he puts his hand on his hip changing his face into hers "Carmen?" He tries to copy her accent. Carmen kicks him in the nose causing him to turn back and grab it in pain "shit!" "Never do that again!" she shouts at him. His nose starts to bleed "either you kick really hard or-" he looks down and sees the shine of the metal. "Is that metal on your boot?" he backs up wiping the blood on his undershirt.

"Yes? You don't?" he looks at her like she's crazy "no I like being comfortable" he says. "And you could have broken my damn nose" he mumbles to himself, gaining an eye roll from her "can't your aunt just heal you with her food?" Carmen asks. "Yeah but my mama would kill you" he says as Carmen looks through the keyhole till a key pokes through and almost hits her in the eye.

The doors open to Rosa's purple dress as she gives a gasp "Camilo mi amor!" She grabs his arm and pulls him out of the closet. She cups his face and looks at his cherry red nose "what happened?" Carmen walks out of the closet after him as they begin to talk to each other. Carmen sighs walking out of his room and back out into the night.

The next day Carmen was at school and it was time for lunch, aka her time to go home when she feels a hand on her shoulder as she spins around only to see Rosa. "Hey you're the girl Camilo was with right? In the closet?" She asks as Carmen gives a nod. "Oh good, I just wanted to ask, since he told me last night, why did you kick him in the face?" she crosses her arms. Carmen takes a deep breath "he made fun of me" she replies "and I didn't appreciate it" Carmen narrows her eyes. "Well that's what he does" she explains "what did he do? Maybe I could talk to him about it" Rosa thought out loud.

Carmen nods "he well...he changed his face into mine and y'know, darkness, really small shapes, kinda protecting myself" Carmen says as Rosa nods. She laughs a bit "yeah that kinda makes sense, I'll tell him about that" she says. "I'm Rosa by the way, and you are?" she holds her hand out as Carmen shakes it "Carmen Galvain" she responds. "Congratulations on your engagement as well" Carmen says making Rosa giggle "we still have a few years till we're actually married, I'm not mad about it though" she looks to Camilo sitting on top of a table talking to some of their classmates. "I really like him" she sighs happily, moving a strand of hair out of her face.

Carmen tenses up "yeah...he seems like a very, sincere young man" Carmen nods making Rosa laugh. "You talk like my mother" she gives her a nudge in the shoulder "is that a bad thing?" Carmen asks, tilting her head a bit as Rosa's face softens "oh! No no no it isn't it's just, um-" she snaps her fingers thinking of what to say "your 15 right?" Rosa points at her. Carmen nods "yeah well, it's not really that common to hear a 15 year old talk like that" she says.

Carmen looks away "at least it's not my accent" she mumbles to herself "don't worry, I have one too" she says and Carmen could kinda hear it, but she didn't want to be rude like the other people who pointed hers out. "I was born here though so I don't know why people say I have it" she fixes her dress. "I have to go now..." Carmen turns and begins walking back to her house "well if you ever need someone to talk to!" Rosa waves her goodbye.