Mila proved to be quite a model student in the sixth-grade class.
Every time the teacher asked a question, Mila was first to raise her hand. Senora Rivera occasionally asked if anyone besides Mila could answer a question or two. But when they couldn't answer the question, Mila raised her hand again. And she got every single question right.
Mila took lots of notes, paid close attention in every subject, and volunteered to answer the hardest math problems on the board. Of course, the teacher made sure she had a lift so she could reach the board.
Mila's teacher felt very proud to have such an intelligent little girl in her class.
As much as Mila liked school, she was very happy to run into her father's arms when the school day ended.
"How was your first day, Mija?" Bruno smiled.
"It was fantastico!" Mila smiled. "Senora Rivera said I was a model student. We got to make up sentences and short stories using words we learned in vocabulary class too."
"It sounds like you had a good day."
The other Madrigal children exited the school and met with their parents too. However, one of them was crying.
"Miraboo, what's the matter?" Augustine asked his youngest daughter.
Mirabel pointed at some of the other kindergarteners and told her father that they made fun of her today. They kept calling her Giftless Girl, Magicless Mirabel, and Mila's opposite.
Mila didn't need Dolores' super hearing to overhear Mirabel's distress. She ran right over to her cousin and gave her a big hug. Mirabel hugged her cousin and cried into her shoulder.
"Who messed with you, sis?" asked an angry nine-year-old Luisa. "Want me to pound 'em?"
"Luisa, what did we say about scaring the other kids?" Augustine scolded.
"Don't listen to them, Mirabel." Mila told her cousin. "You're not giftless."
"They said I'm the opposite of you." Mirabel said. "Does that mean I'm dumb?"
Mila didn't need a 500 IQ to hypothesize what the brats who called Mirabel the opposite of her meant. Thanks to her smarts, she could master just about any skill and had an answer for everything, and she was both intelligent and gorgeous.
"You are not dumb, Mirabel." Bruno said, picking up his youngest niece and kissing her cheek. "You are a very smart niña. Let's get you home."
But Mirabel didn't feel much better when she got home. She hid in the nursery, crying and feeling sorry for herself. Her classmates mistreated her because she was the only Madrigal kid with no gift, calling her not special, wondering if her lack of a magical gift was contagious. Some even wondered if Mila got Mirabel's gift by mistake along with whatever her gift was.
Two days went by. Mila was still doing well in school. But Mirabel was still being bullied. And the worst of them was named Rico Nuñez, who started the bullying in the first place. He never stopped pointing at Mirabel and calling her names, making the poor girl feel worse. And when Mirabel tried ignoring him, the boy resorted to physical stuff like knocking down her blocks during playtime or pushing her down in the sandbox.
One day, it was time recess, and Mila decided to go to the playground meant for the kindergartners since it was the right size for her, when she spotted Rico taking a toy from Mirabel.
"Rico, give it back!" Mirabel said.
"Come and get it Mira-Giftless." taunted Rico, holding the doll away.
That was when Mila decided she'd stood aside long enough. She concentrated hard and made Rico trip on his own shoes and fall on his face into the sandbox. Mila ran over and grabbed the doll from Rico and gave it back to Mirabel.
"Let that be a lesson in a thing called karma." Mila said.
Rico spit out some sand when he got up from the sandbox. And in a fit of anger, he kicked some sand onto Mila and pushed her down.
"This place is for normal kindergarteners only, weirdo!" said Rico.
"Oh, you think being smart is weird, huh?" said Mila. "Well, I don't need a 500 IQ to know that if you don't change your attitude, there's gonna be some serious consequences coming your way."
"What are you gonna do, tell your creepy dad?"
Mila glared.
"Don't talk about Papi that way."
"You're just like him. You're a weirdo, and your gift probably makes more problems than his."
That was the last straw for Mila. Somebody had to teach this little brat a little lesson in respect.
One night, while everyone was asleep, Mila snuck into her father's room and took his bucket. She had to shush the rats and bribe them with some cheese to make sure they didn't rat her out. Then, she dressed herself in black garments and went out into the night until she reached a house in the village.
Mila looked carefully into a window and saw Rico in his bed, fast asleep.
Time for a wakeup call. Mila thought to herself.
Mila concentrated. This was one of those times she secretly practiced using her gift outside of her room. She made Rico's bedroom door slowly open with a creak then closed it. Rico barely stirred.
Hmm...
Mila thought again, and she tried something else. Carefully, she used her telepathy to move Rico's blanket halfway off his body, making the boy shiver until he pulled it back up.
Bingo... Mila smirked.
She moved the blanket again, making Rico stir as he pulled it back up again. She pulled it off one more time, and this time Rico woke up.
"Stupid blanket." Rico whined, pulling the blanket back up one more time.
However, that was when the door creaked open again, making Rico look up.
"Mami?" Rico said quietly. No answer. "Mami...?"
The door creaked louder as it opened more. Rico started to hide behind his blanket as he began to get scared, when the blanket suddenly was pulled right off his bed!
Rico yelped. Then all of a sudden, his closet started to open, and his clothes started to fly around the room like a bunch of ghosts. Then the whole room went crazy!
The drawers opened in and out rapidly, the shutters on the window opened and closed really quickly, the bed started to vibrate like there was an earthquake, and all of Rico's toys started to float around the room as the bedside lamp turned on and off as though it was all possessed.
Mila then decided to add to the fun by putting Bruno's bucket over her mouth and talking in a deep voice into it, saying, "You must respect others or perish!"
Rico started to whimper and scream as all this stuff was going on in his bedroom. And that was when Mila decided to seal the deal with some paint and paintbrushes conveniently sitting in Rico's room. Red paint. And she made the lamp shine its light right on a blank bedroom wall as the paintbrush began to write a message in drippy red paint.
The message read:
Rico Nunez,
Leave mi nieta Mirabel alone or I shall haunt you for the rest of your life!
-Pedro Madrigal
"MAMI! GHOST!"
Rico got so scared he ran out of his house, screaming in terror.
Mila could hardly keep from laughing as she watched the success of her little plan. Now all she had to do was sneak back home. And she managed to sneak back into her father's room to leave the bucket, when her father suddenly woke up.
"Mila, what are you doing in here?" Bruno asked.
Mila froze.
"Um... I had a bad dream." Mila lied.
"Come here, mijita." Bruno said.
Mila climbed up into the bed, and Bruno placed her between himself and Alicia. And together, they slept.
But the next morning at school, everyone thought Rico had gone nuts.
"I'm telling you! Everything was floating, there were ghost clothes everywhere!" cried Rico. "It painted on my wall and tried to eat me!"
"Rico, how many times do I have to tell you?" said Rico's mother. "There is no such thing as ghosts."
"I don't know about that." Mila said. "Despite there being no scientific evidence for the existence of ghosts, there's also none for how the Madrigal Family's magic works, and yet..."
Rico's mother had to admit, Mila had a point.
"What did the ghosts do? Did they say anything?"
"I promise, I'll be good!" Rico said, looking at the sky. "Just please don't hurt me, ghost!"
"Hmm..." Mila thought, then she got mischievous. "BOO!"
"AAHH!"
And Rico ran into the school, screaming as Mila laughed at him. Maybe now Rico would think twice about messing with any of the Madrigal children.