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justanisabelakinnie · 2 years

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Camilo's Transformation~Part II

Part I here

Also known as Camilo's Revenge.

I had a lot of fun writing this, and it was inspired by a dream I had last night, so don't hate me, hate my dream, lol.

Anyway, enjoy!

“Mirabel?” Isabela peeked into Mirabel’s now expanded and much more personalized bedroom.

“Hmm?” Mirabel looked up from her needlework.

“Any idea what’s up with Camilo?” Isabela asked. It’s been months at this point, and Camilo was still slipping into the “Carlos” persona every once in a while. During this time, he refused to answer to a name that wasn’t “Carlos” or short for Carlos, such as “Carl”. Only Mirabel and Dolores refused to call him such a stupid name. Bruno was the only one who seemed to enjoy this Transformation of his, and every now and then would join his sobrino by pretending to be “Hernando” or “Jorge”. It was all too much for the family to handle, and not even Alma could to anything about it. Eventually, they just rolled their eyes whenever it happened and let the freak show duo be.

Mirabel shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t even know anymore. It’s like he’s a totally different person. He refuses to talk to me, he refuses to get makeup tutorials from Dolores, he refuses to pet Antonio’s animals or play princesses with him…its like…I dunno. I just miss my friend.”

“Me too, hermanita, me too.” Isabela hugged Mirabel and kissed her on the forehead.

The worst part about Camilo being “Carlos”(for Camilo at least) is that the kids didn’t care. They weren’t intimidated by the town babysitter’s faux-edgy persona and consistently roped him into their adventures. If the kids wanted him to transform into somebody for their amusement, he had no choice but to comply. If they wanted him to be a pirate, he was a pirate. If there was a baby that needed coddling and the parents were busy, well then, that was Camilo’s job. It was exhausting. He liked kids, but they weren’t even willing to call him Carlos! For a bunch that ought to have such a big imagination, they refused to play along with his make-believe and see him as anything else other than Camilo, no matter what color his ruana was. Granted, at least he wasn’t overworked like he was before Casita fell and got rebuilt, but still.

Maybe the parents thought that if he spent more time around kids who didn’t entertain his nonsense behavior, they could wring the Carlos out of him.

Like that was ever going to happen.

Fortunately, Carlos came in handy one day.

Mirabel walked the busy streets, searching for her best friend Emiliana. Where could she be? Knowing her, she was probably asleep on a bench somewhere, Mirabel wouldn’t doubt it as a possibility. Practically everyone knew of Emiliana’s rather unfortunate sleeping condition. The poor girl had narcolepsy during the day and insomnia during the night. Worse yet, it appeared to be genetic, perhaps even hereditary as her father had the same condition, so Julieta’s food couldn’t cure her.

Mirabel came across a bench in the town square, as townspeople buzzed around it, acting as though nothing unusual was happening. Because it wasn't at this point. And sure enough, a young Black girl wearing a pink dress with pillow-shaped embroidery adorning it was there, lying down on the bench as she slept peacefully.

Mirabel stood there, waiting for the girl to wake up. Emiliana was her best friend along with Camilo, after all. She would wait as long as she had to, if she had to.

Fortunately, she wasn’t forced to wait for long. Emiliana’s beautiful brown eyes fluttered open as she yawned and stretched her arms. Mirabel rushed towards her to help her up.

“I’m sorry, Mira,” Emiliana giggled groggily. “It happened again.” She bonked herself on the head playfully. "What's the matter with me?"

“It’s okay,” Mirabel assured her, taking the seat next to her on the bench and hugging her friend before adjusting Emiliana's glasses for her. “You always manage to pick the best sleeping spots, I don’t know how you do it. Umm…” she picked something out of Emiliana’s hair.

“Oh, thanks,” Emiliana smiled lazily at her friend.

“You’re welcome,” Mirabel said. “So, umm, any idea what happened with Camilo?”

“How would I know?” Emiliana shrugged.

“Well, because he’s your boyfriend. And lately he’s been acting up.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it. He hasn’t been doing it with me, though. He’s always so normal and sweet around me! I really am lucky.”

“You are!” Mirabel agreed, almost squealing but maintaining her composure. She cleared her throat. But then again, who wouldn’t be happy that their two best friends—whom she loved more than anything else in the whole world—were dating each other? “Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

“I’ll see,” Emiliana considered, shrugging. “So, is that the only reason you came to see me? To talk about my boyfriend?” Eyebrow arched, she waited for a response.

“Of course not!” Mirabel denied. “I always have time for my best friend! So anyway, how’s life been?”

“Pretty good,” Emiliana lied. She looked at her feet in avoidance of Mirabel’s poignant gaze.

“Pretty good, huh?” Mirabel parroted, absolutely not buying it.

“Yup.” Emiliana forced herself to look back and Mirabel, who returned her look with an air of skepticism. “Okay,” she finally admitted. “Maybe not the best. My sisters still don’t talk to me and my mom doesn’t do anything about it. She says that because they’re triplets, they’re supposed to be closer to each other than they are to me. Granted, sometimes they do still talk to me, but…” she sighed. “It’s like they don’t have time to be my older sisters anymore. I wish Dolores was my sister. Well, not really, because…you know. But…you know what I mean.”

Mirabel couldn’t believe her friend was being treated like this. Though they weren’t related, she was just as much Mirabel’s best friend as Camilo was. So being excluded from her birth sisters just because she wasn’t a triplet was absolute garbage.

“I know what you mean,” she said after a long pause. “And I know how you feel, too. Isabela and I are closer than ever before, but it hasn’t always been that way. It was partly my fault anyway for only seeing her as perfect, but all I’m saying is that I understand.”

Emiliana nodded.

“You still have your father though, right?”

Emiliana nodded. “I do, and I am so grateful. I love my father a lot, but I just wish I could be close to my sisters…! And that they didn’t constantly make fun of me while my mom did nothing about it.”

Mirabel wrapped her best friend in a hug. “I understand,” she soothed. She knew she was being repetitive, but what more could she say? It was no wonder Mirabel and Emiliana were best friends. They both went through similar struggles in their families.

The hug went on for a while, Emiliana shedding tears lightly, until they heard a snicker above them.

“Oh no,” Mirabel groaned in Emiliana’s ear.

“Please no,” Emiliana gripped Mirabel’s back tighter. “I am not ready to deal with him today.”

But it was too bad for her, because Andre was ready to deal with them.

“Are you done with your little sob fest yet?” Andre sneered, clapping slowly to emphasize his sarcasm. “Wonderful. You chicas really put on a good performance there. You deserve an award for it, really.”

“Go away, Martinez,” Emiliana glared, regretfully breaking the hug with Mirabel. “And quit bullying me, I’m not afraid of you.”

“Hey Mirabel,” Andre ignored Emiliana. “Can you give me a minute with your amiga mejor, ¿por favor? You can play around with your gift in the meantime. Oh wait!” He laughed at Mirabel’s dejected and offended expression, before grabbing Emiliana by the arm, yanking her up out of the seat on the bench, and wrapped an arm around her as they walked a tiny distance from Mirabel.

“Why would you say that to her? Take it back!”

“Whatever, ojos mocosos,” Andre mocked, and Emiliana rolled her eyes, shoving the mean boy off of her.

“Don’t call me that!” Emiliana seethed, but Andre only laughed. He is so annoying, Emiliana thought.

“But it’s exactly what you are! Maybe if you slept when you were supposed to sleep, you wouldn’t look so disgusting!” He eyed her up at down, before shaking his head in mock shame. “I don’t know what he sees in you.”

“Don’t you dare bring up my boyfriend!” Emiliana defended, getting all up in Andre’s face and poking him in the chest with her fingernail. “Or else.”

“Or else what?” Andre rolled his eyes. “You know, that’s actually what I came to talk to you about. Now that I think about it, he doesn’t see anything in you after all! I just thought that as your closest friend—“

“You are NOT my closest friend!” Emiliana growled. “Mirabel is.”

“I should tell you that your novio’s got some wandering eyes.”

“Liar. Camilo would never cheat on me!”

“Are you sure about that?” Andre chuckled, examining his nails. “Because from what I know, it’s a different story. You’re not ready to hear this, mujercita, but…Camilo showed up at my house last night.”

“…He did not!!!”

“He did! And let’s just say we had a lot of…" He wiggled his eyebrows for flirtatious effect. "...fun…together. Mmm-hmmm.”

Andre grinned at Emiliana, before he received a damaging blow to his face.

Andre staggered back, clutching his face for dear life. He could’ve sworn that a tooth was broken, even though he lost all of his baby teeth years ago.

“Are you lying about getting with my boyfriend? To my face?" Emiliana roared, the clench of her fist tightening. "And you expected me to believe that lie?!”

Andre coughed up something red before answering, “I just…thought you deserved to know.”

“Save it.” Emiliana turned her back to him. “You’re a disgusting and disgraceful human being. Come on, Mira, let’s go—wait, Mira? Where are you?”

“Aww, so your best friend fled!” Andre taunted with a snicker. “I guess she doesn’t really care about you after all!” He gasped. "Or maybe super speed is her real gift!" Laughter again.

But he realized pretty quickly that Mirabel had left for the exact opposite reason.

From a distance, Mirabel could spot where Emiliana was being bullied and picked on by Andre. She yanked her cousin’s ruana, pointing in their direction.

“Is that him?” Camilo demanded.

“Yes.” Mirabel said decisively.

“Good.”

Emiliana looked to where Mirabel was standing, only this time, she had her cousin with her.

Uh oh. Andre felt himself sweating rapidly as he realized this was very bad news for him.

Some of the townspeople noticed what was happening too, and needless to say, they had a lot of opinions on it.

“Is that Camilo Madrigal?” Little Alejandra piped up, yanking on her Mami’s dress. “I love him! He’s so nice and he’s my best friend!”

“He doesn’t look so nice right now though, primita,” Lilli said, standing beside her prima and Tía as they looked on in confusion.

“What’s up with that outfit of his?” Sra. Pezmuerto judged, eyeing his differently colored ruana. “And why is he holding a rock?”

Camilo, seething with rage, glared at the boy who was bullying his girlfriend with the heat of a thousand suns.

“Hey you!” He yelled. “Who do you think you are?!”

But he didn’t give the boy time to answer as his arm stretched back.

"DON'T MESS WITH MY GIRLFRIEND!!!"

And with that final threat, he hurled the rock at the other boy with all his might, it hitting Andre square in the mouth.

As Andre cried out in pain and Sra. Pezmuerto led her daughter and niece away, Mirabel and Camilo made a beeline towards Emiliana.

Camilo wrapped his girlfriend in a hug. “Mi amor! Are you all right?”

Emiliana just giggled. “I’m fine!”

“Oh that’s a relief.” He gave his girlfriend a sweet peck on the lips. Behind him Emiliana saw Mirabel grinning from ear to ear but trying and failing to hide it. “I’m so sorry about what that bribón did to you. But don’t worry. I’m sure after this he won’t bully you anymore. Also I’m sorry if I caught you off guard.”

Emiliana only laughed. "It's okay. I'm happy you stepped in. Really."

"Yeah, I told mi primo what was going on," Mirabel informed, placing a hand on Emiliana's shoulder. "You really think I'd let my best friend get harassed by that idiota?"

"Of course not," Emiliana hugged her amiga mejor. "You're always there for me!"

"That's right I am!" Mirabel hugged back.

"Come on, Bella Durmiente," Camilo said. "You can come over to me and Mirabel's house if you want!"

"Of course I want to!" Emiliana eagerly replied, and they walked off, ignoring Andre as they left him writhing and moaning on the ground beneath them.

~*~

"I don't know why your sobrino hates me, Sra. Madrigal!" Andre cried like a baby as Emiliana and Camilo eyed each other suspiciously. "All I did was try to befriend his girlfriend! But he got mad at me and lashed out with unprovoked physical violence because he's possessive, toxic, and controlling!"

"Oh, and now he's making me out to be an abusive boyfriend!" Camilo yelled, pointing at Andre angrily. "I'm telling you, Mama, don't heal him!"

"I thought she was your tia--"

"Shut up."

"Why is he even here?" Mirabel asked.

"He's here because your cousin doesn't know how to control his impulses," Julieta said, giving Camilo a look.

"But he deserved it, Mama!" Camilo explained.

"Then explain why Sra. Pezmuerto doesn't want you around Alejandra anymore."

"I would never hurt a kid!"

"I'm fourteen years old, so technically I am a kid!" Andre idiotically reasoned.

"If you don't stop talking, I will make you bleed again," Camilo threatened. "Do you understand me?"

"Camilo, that is enough!" Julieta ordered. "This is why you are no longer allowed to pretend to be Carlos! This character of yours has proven to be a bad influence!"

"A bad influence on who?" Camilo asked. But Julieta was right. Pepa and Felix had taken away Camilo's burgundy ruana and forced him back into his normal yellow one. They also didn't allow him to wear his hair covering one eye and also banned him from wearing makeup. All because he defended his girlfriend from a boy who was bullying her and lying about him cheating on her. As if he would ever be romantically or sexually involved with Andre of all people. Yuck.

"Mami, do you know what he did?" Mirabel asked. "He mocked Emiliana and her sleep disorder, and also made fun of me for not having a gift!"

"That's not true!" Andre protested.

"You told my girlfriend that I slept with you!" Camilo barked, clearly enraged.

Julieta looked from her daughter to her nephew to the random boy sitting in the chair, before turning to Emiliana. "Is this true?"

Emiliana only nodded shyly. "Yes, it is true."

Julieta just looked at her for a little longer, then sighed. Turning back to Andre, she made a final decision. "I will heal you," she said. "But only if you promise to never harass my daughter or my nephew's girlfriend ever again."

"But--"

"Do you promise? Otherwise you can walk right out the door with that bloody lip of yours."

Andre paused, looking at the three scowling teens, before sighing reluctantly. "I...promise." he murmured.

"All right," she shoved an arepa in his mouth. "Eat up."

Andre swallowed the arepa, and instantly his lips stopped bleeding and his teeth were all aligned. "Hooray, I'm cured!" Andre cheered. "Thank you, Julieta!"

"That's Sra. Madrigal to you, young man."

Emiliana couldn't help but giggle at this. When she had first met the Madrigal family, she had addressed Julieta in the exact same way that she demanded to be addressed by Andre. Only difference is, her response and been for her to call the older woman Julieta. And that made her happy.

"Thank you, Sra. Madrigal."

"Now apologize to Mirabel and Emiliana."

Andre didn't need to be told twice. With a huff, he turned to the two girls. "Mirabel, I'm sorry you didn't get a gift--I mean I'm sorry I made fun of you for not getting a gift. There is nothing wrong with not having a gift. And Emiliana, I'm sorry I called you 'ojos mocosos', I'm sorry I told you that Camilo sees nothing in you, and I'm sorry I told you that Camilo was cheating on you with me. Please forgive me."

"Well, I accept your apology, but it's going to take me a long while to forgive you," Mirabel stated bluntly.

"Me too," Emiliana chimed in.

Andre nodded. "I guess I'd...better leave."

"You'd better," Camilo agreed snidely. "Thanks to you, I'm not allowed to be Carlos anymore! Are you happy with yourself?"

Andre just rolled his eyes at Camilo, but Emiliana could tell that he felt fear, and walked out the door, never once looking back.

~*~

"Hey, Camilo!" Isabela peeked into Camilo's room, the young boy looking sadder than ever. "Wanna go get some coffee?"

Camilo didn't respond. His head was down at the table as he stared at the metronome as it ticked methodically. He didn't even play the piano anymore, and yet for some reason he still had it.

"Cami, are you okay," Isabela walked delicately over to Camilo, and crouched beside him. "Did you and Emiliana break up?"

"Never!" Camilo gasped in offense, shaking his head. "I love her!" He went back to his emotionless expression as he continued to watch the metronome, almost as if he didn't say anything in the first place.

Isabela paused. Well, this was awkward. "Well, then what's the matter."

"I can't be Carlos..." he said, voice quivering as he was on the verge of tears. "All because I threw a rock at this one jerk."

It was true. Not only that, but Bruno had stopped being Hernando and Jorge. At least when Camilo was around. No matter how many times Camilo told his uncle he had nothing to do with this, Bruno still felt like he had maybe been a bad influence on Camilo by encouraging him. Maybe he thought that Camilo would throw Jorge's spackle at someone.

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm impressed by you," Isabela answered honestly.

Camilo looked up. "You are?"

"Yes!" Isabela chirped. "That boy totally deserved it. He, what, tried to make your girlfriend think you were a cheater? You're the best boyfriend Emiliana could possibly have! That Andres or whatever his name is can absolutely get lost."

Camilo giggled. "I can't believe you said 'get lost'."

"What, like it's weird for me to say it?" Isabela laughed along, nudging Camilo in the side with her elbow. Seeing Camilo writhe, she got an idea. Wiggling her fingers, she let the tips trail up and down his waist, as he continued to squirm.

"Stop it," he exhaled, but Isabela didn't stop it. Her fingers moved to his stomach, then to his back, then to his shoulders and neck, and the next thing Camilo knew, he was on the floor, wriggling like a worm as he laughed hysterically, Isabela also laughing as she tickled her primito to death.

Isabela stopped once there were tears in Camilo's eyes and he began coughing. "Feeling better?" she said.

"Better," Camilo said, tucking in his shirt. "But no more raspberries. The belly button is uber sensitive territory."

"Got it," Isabela giggled. "Come on, let's go to the cafe."

She helped Camilo up and they linked arms as they left his room, before leaving Casita.