Playdates and Princesses

"Oh no! The monster's catching up to me!" Dolores ran away from the approaching figure. She tripped on a twig and fell, rolling on the grass.

"I got you now, roar!" cried the chaser.

"I'll save you Dolores!" Mariano, who was only six, stepped between them. He spread his arms out to make a wall. "Don't touch her, monster!"

Dolores looked up to her savior, astonished by both his bravery and his stupidity. "But she'll take you instead!"

"Yep!" The little monster giggled and slapped Mariano's arm. "Tagged ya! Now you're the monster!"

"Aww…" Mariano got up. "Fine, you won Luisa… for now"

Luisa giggled and ran. Mariano roared gave chase, leaving Dolores on the ground.

A little ways away, Isabela and Daniela watched. Isabela because she was supposed to stay with her sister, Daniela because she's the 'responsible twelve- year- old' at the party.

"You'd think Mariano would tag Dolores; she was like… right there." Daniela commented on their game.

"Yeah, and on the ground too." Isa added. "So dirty" She muttered, subconsciously wiping her skirt.

"Is that why you're not playing with them?" Daniela asked, "You don't like dirt?"

"It stains. Hard to clean. I have to look as perfect as a princess." Isabela did a hair flip.

"As a princess?" Daniela repeated, hand on hip.

"Why not?" Isa copied the pose and sarcasm.

"Cuz we don't have princesses in the Encanto"

"Tia Pepa's a princess." Isabela said a matter-of-factly.

"Right, your aunt. The weathergirl." Daniela rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. She has powers, she's pretty; she's a princess." Isabela argued.

Daniela thought about it for a moment and decided not to fight about this. "Eh, can't argue with that." She nonchalantly turned to watch the kids.

Isa smiled triumphantly and did another hairflip.

Isabela soon became bored of watching the other kids. She looked toward Daniela for a source of conversation. Isa noticed she came with a bag today, it was brown and embroidered with blue, green, and orange. It looked like it was full enough to burst "Ooh, what's in your bag?"

"Oh this?" Daniela asked, showing her full, round bag. "I'm so glad you asked."

Isabela watched curiously as Daniela pulled out… "a fishbowl?"

"Yep. This was Mr. Goldie's fishbowl. Until your uncle killed him!" Daniela exclaimed.

"Wh-what happened?" Isa choked out.

"For my tenth birthday, my parents wanted me to get a vision from Bruno. It's tradition apparently and one they didn't want to break. So they made me go to spooky Bruno. He did a bunch of spooky Bruno stuff; the knocking, the salt, then tried to take me up to his tower in a sandstorm. When I refused, he told me Mr. Goldie would die. I ran out of there as fast as I could. But the next morning, it happened. Mr. Goldie was dead."

Isa gulped. Tio Bruno was weird and creepy, but she didn't think he was that mean.

Daniela held her fishbowl up, "Now I carry this around every day, to remind everyone that Bruno is dangerous."

Isa gave a shaky nod and looked back to the field. Was Tio Bruno that dangerous? She wondered, watching her friends and little sister play on the grass. Would he kill a goldfish just cuz Daniela wouldn't go in the tower? What's in the tower anyway? Why does everyone who gets a vision have to go there? Daniela didn't go. Could he do visions anywhere?

"Well, I hope you won't be that creepy when you get your gift tomorrow." Daniela voiced, bringing Isabela back to reality. "-a nice gift, like Julieta's."

"Oh, Yeah… I hope so too."

Being the first of the new generation, Isa didn't know if she'd even get a gift, but she wanted one really bad. She wanted to get a gift and help the community, like her mom and Tia Pepa. She wanted Abuela to be proud of her.

And she did not want to be creepy like Bruno.