Amelie was glad to be Encanto.
She didn't care about the weird looks people gave her, being the only person with blonde hair in a completely brunette town—well apart from Pepa of course. Amelie was absolutely ecstatic to meet the Madrigal's, especially Camilo.
Her family warned her that Camilo was in a serious relationship with this girl—who they heard about from Mariano—and liked to refer to as 'the murderer's daughter' or 'Bitchon'. It was cruel, yes, but Amelie didn't want to disappoint them by actually becoming friends with Avon.
Amelie was known as the 'family disappointment', not quite as good as her older sisters, not as pretty as her many cousins—not as bold as her brothers or as nice as her aunts. She didn't have a gift, not even a single talent or anything she was good at. The only goal they had for her was to marry into the Madrigal family.
And so she set her sights on Camilo. Amelie researched millions of things about Encanto—the usages for donkey hair and more useless shit she thought would impress him. She tried to find interesting things about herself, like her name—the fact that she was Mariano's third cousin...anything, really.
Amelie was just glad for an excuse to get out of her own house. She tried to be polite to the Madrigal family, hoping they might—just might like her better than Avon. It seemed like a hopeless idea, honestly. Camilo was absolutely smitten with Avon—and Avon was too good to be true. She was gorgeous, perfect from head to toe in Amelie's eyes.
There was no way Amelie could even begin to compete with Avon.
Avon however, had no idea about any of this.
She watched Amelie closely, noticing every glance she sent to Camilo, every wide, fake smile shot at Alma, or the other Madrigals. Avon was determined to not feel a smidgen of jealousy, but it was difficult.
"Pass the avocado?" Amelie said hopefully, grinning with too many of her teeth. "Avocado is actually one of my town's specialties. We grow them there."
"That's lovely," Alma said, not even noticing how hard the blonde girl was trying to fit in. "Avocado's are a wonderful vegetable."
Camilo wondered why Abuela was discussing the quality of avocados while the rest of the family watched.
"It's great to have you here, Amelie," Pepa said, unbeknownst to the growing thundercloud in Avon's head. "So, you're Mariano's second cousin?"
"Third," Avon muttered under her breath.
"Third," Amelie said brightly. She looked at Mariano, who was stirring cream into his bowl. "Thanks for inviting me, Mariano."
"It's no problem, Amelie," Mariano said half-heartedly. He knew very well the real reason why Amelie had chosen to come to Encanto. The reason why she was doing any of this...to impress the family. "Have you chosen a dress yet?"
Amelie smoothed out the dress she was wearing. "Um..I didn't really bring much. I was thinking I could just wear this one." She glanced at Camilo. "It matches Cami's poncho—I mean, ruana." She caught herself, realizing her error.
"Whoopee for that," Avon said, a bit too loudly. She cleared her throat. "I mean, it's nice that you two can be...matching?"
Amelie fought to keep her smile straight. Speaking of straight and not straight—"Is it true that you have a gay uncle?" She asked Camilo.
"..." Camilo looked around helplessly.
Agustin mouthed a silent 'no' to Julieta.
Mirabel's shoulders shook from laughter.
Alma put down her fork in surprise.
Isabella had grown a cactus in her plate, and Luisa's eye was twitching—though not out of nerves.
"What does 'gay' mean?" Antonio asked, looking at Camilo. "I heard one of Tio Bruno's rats saying something about that."
"Yas queen," Bruno cheered, holding his rat up.
The rat squeaked.