Encanto One-Shot AU Collection

(Evil! Popstar AU): One-Sided Competition

Camilo tuned his guitar, the strings slowly sounded better as he turned the pegs. Mirabel was nearby, concentrating as she painted the small blue butterflies onto her cheek. Usually, Dolores would do it for her, but her prima was busy helping Pepa with Antonio, so she was stuck doing it herself. Not that she minded.

Neither of the duo noticed Isabela going around putting up flowers. Of course, they didn't care. Frankly, Isabela wasn't exactly their friend. They could love her as a sister and prima, but they certainly didn't have to like her. They had better things to do, especially compared to her.

"Move, I need to put flowers over here," Isabela said to Camilo who ignored her. "Hello! I know you heard me."

Camilo rolled his eyes and snorted. "I heard you alright. Kind of hard to ignore that annoying voice of yours," Camilo strummed his guitar, ensuring it was in tune. "I'm just not going to let you ruin our stage with your dumb flowers."

Isabela's chest puffed out, his eyebrows furrowing in irritation. "They aren't. Dumb. Everyone loves them."

"I don't. Mirabel doesn't. And what about people with pollen allergies? Didn't know you were so insensitive," Camilo retorted, knowing he was riling Isabela up, but he didn't care.

Mirabel pushed past Isabela, sitting next to Camilo. She looked indifferent, not making any move to defend Isabela. "An excuse me would be-" Isabela was cut off by Mirabel's hand.

"You're excused," she said, looking among the people helping set up for the ceremony, seemingly looking for someone. She finally spotted who she was looking for and stood up with a big smile on her face. "Hola Abuela!"

Alma noticed her granddaughter and walked over, beaming as she cupped the girl's cheeks and kissed her. Camilo walked over and received the same treatment. Isabela watched as Alma seemed to just barely acknowledge her.

"How are my perfect musicians doing? Have you been practicing?" Alma asked the two.

"Yup! We were just about to put on a small show for the kids. They were asking earlier when we were in town," Mirabel said proudly and Alma nodded in approval.

"Good, good. Just be sure not to rile them up too much. The main show is Antonio's ceremony, ok?" Alma said. Only a moment later, there was a crash of thunder and a frustrated groan from Pepa.

"Pepa! You have a cloud!" Alama chided, and Pepa threw her hands up.

"I know, but I can't find Antonio, what do you want from me?" She argued back before storming off.

Alma let out a deep sigh before turning to Camilo and Mirabel. "Camilo, can you go calm your mother? And Mirabel so you think you could find Antonio?"

"Of course! Mamá loves it when I play for her, I know just how to calm her down," Camilo said with a smile as he went upstairs, his guitar in hand.

"And I know where Antonio is. Don't worry Abuela, he'll be ready. I promise," Mirabel said, holding her abuela's hands for a moment before jogging up the stairs to the nursery. Alma sighed once more, this time in relief. It seemed everything was going well so far, and Camilo and Mirabel were being a big help, which honestly eased her worries.

"Abuela?" Alma turned to see Isabela standing there, and Alma blinked, almost forgetting she was standing there to begin with.

"Oh, Isabela!" Alma smiled at her eldest grandchildren.

"Um...do you have anything else that needs to be done? I can decorate some more!" Isabela asked, making a few flowers appear.

Alma looked at the flowers before shaking her head. "No, no I don't think we need more flowers, we don't want to crowd the stage too much, or else the band can't play. But..." Alma looked around for a moment before spotting something. "Oh! You can help set up the tables for food, hm?"

Isabela's smile faltered, her features contorting to confusion before she sighed. "Of course!"

Isabela walked off towards the tables, where they were being dressed in tablecloths. Was that all she could do? No flowers were needed, no more decorations? Since when was that ever the case?

"Hey, Isabela!" Isabela turned around, beaming as a villager, Osvaldo, walked up to her, holding a basket of what looked like decorations and trinkets. For her, she assumed. She used to get them often, but now not as much...

"!Hola Señor!" Isabela said, moving gracefully towards him. Osavaldo dumped the basket into her arms. But the more she looked at it, she saw no flower candies or small decorative rocks like she used to get. There were many music-related things, along with butterfly candies and pinwheels that had chameleons on them. "What...?"

"You think you could give these out to the crowd before Camilo and Mirabel's show? It's a special basket I made just for today!" Osvaldo beamed and Isabela readjusted her grip before giving a wobbly smile.

"U-Uh...yeah! But...are there any...other baskets you need to give out?" Isabela asked, hopefully wishing that Osvaldo picked up on her implication.

"Hm...now that you mention it, I did make one for Antonio! Thanks for reminding me I need to go get that! But make sure to give those out! I'm sure Camilo and Mirabel will love them!" Osavaldo called before running outside back to his cart.

Isabela stood there, holding the basket of things for the show. Not even for her show, but..for Camilo and Mirabel. She scoffed as she carried the basket to a nearby ledge. She'd show them. She'd show everyone that she was the best Madrigal, and could very much be as entertaining as Camilo and Mirabel, if not more so.