After a few hours of talking to Camilo, Mirabel had finally convinced Camilo to talk to Isabela. To say he was a bundle of nerves would be an understatement. Cautiously, he knocked on the door.
"Isa?" when she didn't respond, he elaborated
"Isa? It's me, Camilo"
"Come in" Something about her voice felt cold.
He opened the door slowly. Her room had changed quite a bit. Instead of being an intricate flower garden, it was a greenhouse. The light that came through the glass made the place have a natural glow.
Camilo walked through the rows of plants until he finally found his cousin, sitting on her bed(it was at this moment that I realized: I ignored the fact that the madrigals had customized rooms, and that Camilo has to have something special about his room. Oops...)
"Why are you here?" Her tone sounded accusatory, as if his existence in her room was an insult.
"I-"Camilo couldn't speak. At this moment, his cousin was terrifying.
"Yeah" She prompted, her tone a bit softer now
"I'm sorry" he blurted out the words before he could chicken out
"I know" She slumped as if all the fight left her.
"If it helps, I'm sorry too. I overreacted. I just didn't want to go back to how it was, y'know?"
Camilo nodded
"That was what I thought I was stopping, to be honest. I spent so much time convincing myself I was helping everyone I didn't stop to think how I could be hurting people"
Isabela looked up
"I just... I wanted to show the town that I wasn't perfect. I wanted to be an imperfect role model for kids, instead of someone to be jealous of. I wanted to show them that I wasn't what they thought I was."
She glared at him
"And then you came in and probably made them think I was still the same stuck-up princess everyone knew, and..." She drifted off and slumped again
"I shouldn't have reacted that strongly. I'm sorry."
Camilo could see that she was crying. Slowly, gently, he reached an arm around her shoulders, sitting down on her bed.
"I get it. You'd been suppressing your feelings for so long, that the moment you could finally let everything be, you jumped at the chance. I'm sorry I ruined that for you"
They stayed in silence for a bit.
"I could talk to them, you know"
Isabela turned to face him, confused
"The villagers, I mean. I could tell them I was pretending to be you, if you want"
Isabela gave him a grateful smile
"It's fine, Cami. I'll deal with it,"
"Bit I can-"
"Cami, primo, It's fine,"
After making sure several times(It's fine Camilo) Camilo finally left her room.
And bumped into Abuela
Gulp