Chapter Ten:
I followed Isabela and Luisa to Luisa's room. I don't really remember being in it before. I really hadn't been allowed into any of the magical rooms, although, now that I have my own room, maybe that rule had lifted, or maybe it had been a part of the changes that had taken place after I fell ill, after everyone learned that my whole life so far had been a lie.
Soon we were inside the room, sitting down in a peaceful looking meadow, Isabela quickly covered the grass around us with beautiful wild flowers, "So what are we doing here anyways?" I asked plopping down.
"Well," Isabela said, "Since you feel like doing Never Have I Ever with amnesia might be a bad idea, and Dolores and Luisa have reminded us both that we are forbidden from playing Truth or Dare. We need to come up with another game."
"We can always play Two Truths and a Lie," Luisa pointed out, "Think about it Isabela, Mirabel's memories are all from before Antonio's gift ceremony. We can so beat her this time."
"Am I good at Two Truths and a Lie?" I asked.
"Good?" Isabela asked with a snicker, "We haven't been able to pull one over you yet. You even beat out Dolores last week during girls' night."
"Since when was Two Truths and a Lie a competitive game?"
"Since you and Isabela started to play it," Luisa admitted, "The rules are simple, The person that its tells two truths and a lie and we use cards… I'll need to get them out… they are numbered, one through three. Anyway you hold up whichever number you think is the lie. Whoever gets it right earns a point, if no one gets it right then the person who's it gets a point. Whoever has the most points by the time everyone has a chance to be it wins."
"And that person has always been you," Isabela pointed out, "Even Dolores can't figure out which one of yours was a lie and you always guess right with us."
I just rolled my eyes, "Okay, but need I remind you that I still have amnesia," I pointed out, "What if I tell you two lies, or three truths?"
"That's what's going to make it so much harder," Isabela exclaimed, "It doesn't matter if they're all truths or two lies, what matters is that for you they are two truths and a lie."
By now we had all plopped down unceremoniously onto beanbags in a rough circle in the middle of the floor where Luisa handed me three cards, numbered one through three, and Isabela pulled a chalkboard over and wrote our names across the top.
"I think, since this is Mirabel's first time playing this way, I should go first," Isabela announced, clapping her hands together as she plopped down on her bean bag, "So she gets the gist of what's going on."
"You're only saying that because you've already came up with your statements," Luisa pointed out.
Isabela shrugged, "Okay so you're mostly right," she admitted, "So I don't actually like my hair short, I can't stand wearing my dresses, and only wear them when Abuela insist that my pants won't be appropriate, and believe it or not, Mariano was the one who suggested that we end our relationship, not the other way around."
I frowned, it had to be the hair, I mean, she use to wear it long, but now it's super short, and it's been five years, so I don't know how long she's had it short, but the pants had to be the truth, because she was wearing pants as we speak, but… I wasn't sure about Mariano dumping Isabela.
"Cards?" Isabela asked, arching an eyebrow at me, "What one is it?"
"The first one?" I asked, questioningly.
"The third, everyone knows that you dumped Mariano, that wasn't even a tricky one," Luisa stated.
"I didn't know that!" I snapped, "Amnesia, remember?" I demanded as something caught the corner of her eye, Isabela was adding a point to the board, a point under her name.
"I actually don't mind dressing up every once in a while," Isabela insisted, "I just don't like wearing dresses on a daily basis."
"I might have been able to guess that, if I had a way of knowing when you cut your hair," I protested, honestly, this game was obviously rigged against me, how was I supposed to know that?
"Wait," Luisa said slowly, "I thought you dumped Mariano, that's what everyone thinks."
"I didn't dump Mariano, and he didn't dump me, we had our very first genuine conversation and discovered that we really had nothing in common but Abuelas that thought that this match was made in heaven. We both agreed that we would do better as friends and not romantic partners," Isabela said, "And Mariano really was the one that suggested that we ended the relationship."
"It's been five years," Luisa exclaimed, "How in the world am I only finding out this now."
Isabela shrugged, "I've been saving it for two truths and a lie," she admitted, "besides, it doesn't really matter how we broke up, all that matters is that we did break up."
"I should hope so," I muttered, "If you hadn't broke up, it would be really weird that he was married to Dolores and already had two kids with her."
"Yes, thank goodness she's the one birthing his five children," Isabela insisted with a sigh, "I still don't understand why people will want to go through nine miserable months and then several hours of unbearable pain to bring children into this world at the risk of their own lives when there are several children in need of loving families all over the world."
I looked at Luisa in confusion, what in the world was she talking about?
"I don't get her point of view either," she confessed, "and Abuela has made herself clear that she's a little disappointed in it, but Mama and Papa both say that if Isabela doesn't want to give birth to children she doesn't have to."
"What about you Luisa?" I asked, "Do you want to get married and have kids?"
Luisa's face burned bright red, "Yes, maybe one day, I don't know," she said awkwardly.
"Okay this is new," Isabela said with a wicked grin, "I didn't even knew that you could turn the exact same red as Lolo's headband. So what's his name."
"There's no one," Luisa insisted, glancing at them, "Honestly, there's absolutely positively no one at all. I mean, come on, who would give me a second glance after they see you two and Dolores."
"First off, Dolores is spoken for," I pointed out, "Second off, you are just as beautiful as Isabela. Third off, Isabela, I think we need to get Luisa all doll up for who ever made her turn bright red, don't you agree?"
"Oh of course," Isabela agreed, "You find something for her to wear, and I'll start working on her hair. It's so long I can do so many different things with it. Unlike my own hair," she said, "Oh, and don't tell Abuela that I don't like short hair, I made such a big deal about cutting it, I don't want her to know that I don't like it."
I nodded, honestly that makes sense, before I made my way over to Luisa's wardrobe. As I placed my hand on the door to open it Luisa called out, "Mira, wait, be care..." I turned my head towards her as I opened the door, and suddenly everything went black.
…Isabela's POV…
I stared at Mirabel and then turned to Luisa, "Why do you have it so that whoever opens your wardrobe gets knocked out by your dumb bells?" I asked, shaking my head at her.
Luisa shrugged, "Camilo thought it was great fun to hide in there and jump out at me, I stopped him."
"You also knocked our sister out, again," I pointed out, kneeling next to the still form of Mirabel, "Tio Bruno is going to curse us."
"That's not how is gift works, you know that that's not how his gift works," Luisa pointed out.
"Doesn't mean that he won't try to," I muttered, "Face it, when it comes to Mirabel, he will do whatever it takes to keep her safe."
Mirabel let out a groan as she finally sat up, rubbing the bump forming on her forehead, "What is up with you two and my head today," she demanded, "First Isabela knocked me out with a swinging vine and a… rock, and now Luisa knocked me out with a dumb bell?"
"To be fair, that was meant for Camilo, for someone who's technically an adult he is pretty childish."
Mirabel groaned, rubbing her head, "This has got to be a new record," she muttered, "why would you do that to Camilo?"
"Have you met our Primo?"
"I shared a room with him for five years, and was in the same class as him in school, so yes, yes I do… I take it he hasn't changed much in the past few years, has he?"
"Nope," Luisa said, popping the p.
"Come on," I insisted, helping Mirabel up, "Let's get Mirabel something to eat before Dolores tells Mama that we knocked her out again."
...Mirabel's POV…
I allowed my sisters to drag me down the stairs and into the kitchen where they just started to hand me things out of the pantry. Soon I had a large plate of seconds sitting in front of me, with a large glass of juice as well. I mean I know that Mama can heal you with a meal, but usually an arepa would work just as well.
I listened as my sisters talked about things as I slowly ate my plate of food. I would have just have an arepa, but Isabela threatened to tie me down and force feed me if I don't eat everything on my plate. It seems kind of ironic that she's so over protective of me, when all of my memories tell me that she can't stand me.
As I was finishing eating, Mama came walking in, "What happened?" she demanded.
"It was an accident, Mama, I swear," Luisa cried out.
"I got caught in the middle of Luisa's and Camilo's prank war," I announced, "Nothing serious, I think I set a new record though, two serious head injuries in, what, three hours?"
"That's not something you should be proud about," Mama insisted before turning to Luisa, "Seriously, a prank war with your primo?"
"To be fair, there's always a prank war going on around here," Luisa said with a shrug.
"Speaking of prank wars, would someone care to explain why the Reverend complained to me about there being cacti in his office this morning?"
I grinned, picturing my handiwork from the night before, "I told Isabela that I was redecorating, I didn't tell her what I was redecorating," I explained, smugly as I took a sip of juice.
"You filled the Reverend's office with Cacti?" Mama asked.
"I should have asked what you wanted to redecorate," Isa said with a groan.
Luisa looked at me in confusion, "You remember that?"
"Of course I do Lulu," I said, "Why shouldn't I, I did it last night?"
"I'm glad to hear that, Mirabel, I would hate to punish you for something you can't remember doing," Mama said, the look on her face telling me that I was in huge trouble.
"Wait," I said quickly, trying to back peddle swiftly, "Who are you?"
"Nope, you already confessed," Mama said, "No back peddling," she insisted.
"But Mama, he's prickly just like the cacti, I thought he'd like the company," I protested.
"Mira!"
"I am mi Mami's hija, and there is nothing you can do to change that," I insisted.
