Author's Note:

Hi everyone and welcome to Camilo's Story. We are starting at his gift ceremony when he was 5 years old. I am not going to go over the actual gift ceremony and after this chapter I am going to jump ahead a bit. I hope that you enjoy it and this chapter is going to shorter than what I usually write but that is because I am mainly focusing on the build up to the gift ceremony rather than the actual ceremony itself.


Chapter 1:

(Camilo POV)

I made my way up to the nursery. Everyone was so busy getting everything ready for my party and I just wanted to relax for a minute before hand. I opened the door and saw that Mirabel was inside. This was it, someone who wasn't busy. I knew that I can get her to play with me at least. However, as I looked over at Mirabel as she frowned looking at her hands, "Hey what's up?" I asked sliding to hop on her bed. She let out a quick laugh as the bed bumped up but her frown quickly gave back.

I shoved her arm, "Come on what is up?" She looked up at me, "You are going to leave me." I shook my head, "Are you kidding me? I am just getting my gift we are still going to be in the same house." I said with a smile but I knew it was a small comfort at best. We had both realized what happens when a Madrigal gets their gift after Luisa recieved hers. We used to play with her all the time and she would even get Dolores and Isabella to play with us too, but now we are lucky if we see her outside of breakfast and dinner.

I looked at Mirabel, "Besides you are going to get your gift soon too and then we both are going to be Amazing Madrigals." She smirked slightly and I knew that I was making progress, "I think that you are going to have the awesomest gift of all." She turned to face me, "What? No you are." I scoffed, "Please my gift isn't going to be as awesome as yours is." I jumped up on her bed standing up, "We are going to be a part of the Amazing Madrigals." She laughed and stood up to the, "Amazingest Madrigals of all." I then grabbed onto her and jumped back causing us to both fall onto the bed and laugh. She turned to face me, "Promise me, that even after you get your gift you won't forget about me. That we will still be able to play tag and stuff. I will get mine soon and then maybe we can help each other." She held up her pinky finger and I wrapped mine around hers, "Promise." We laughed a little bit before I smirked.

I quickly hit her arm, "Tag, you're it." I said running to the other side of the room. We both went back and forth being it jumping from the furniture to the ground from bed to bed, climbing up on the dresser, just trying to avoid being tagged by the other person. We were both laughing and I tagged Mirabel when we heard a knock on the door. She was about to climb up on the wardrobe and I was leaning across the desk to tag her. We both jumped to the ground and watched as Dolores made here way inside.

We stood up as Dolores made her way inside, "Hermano you should head downstairs. It's almost time for your moment. Mirabel, you can come with me if you want. We are all going to stand together downstairs." Mirabel nodded her head and turned to face me wrapping me in a big hug. She squeezed me tightly and I gave her a tight squeeze back. She whispered in my ear, "Good luck. I know your gift is going to be amazing." I smiled as I let her go she went to walk to Dolores but turned around and ran towards me taping my arm, "Tag you're it." She ran out of the room before I could even try to tag her back. She was leaving the game in my hands trying to make sure that I kept my promise. Dolores was laughing as she watched her leave the room before she turned back to me, "You ready?"

I put on my best smile. There was no need for anyone to know how terrified I was, "Me. Please." Her gaze was piercing as she looked at me, "You are nervous." "Wh-What..." I said not sure how she was able to tell. She went on to tell me about my heartbeat, my breath and the stutter giving me away. I took a deep breath before frowning at her, "I don't like that you can hear all of that." She shrugged, "I'm not the biggest fan of it either, but it comes in handy. So why are you nervous?" She asked as I sat on my bed. I didn't get what she meant about not liking her gift. It was amazing. All of my family's gifts were amazing and everyone in town loved my family.

Everyone except one, "What if I don't get a good one and people hate me too?" I had spent my entire life trying to make everyone happy and make sure that everyone liked me, would my gift ruin that? "Too? Who are you talking about?" Dolores asked me. I looked down at my hands. I knew that she was close with him but I didn't really know him and from what everyone kept telling me I didn't want to get to know him better, "Tío Bruno." She sighed, "Tío Bruno doesn't have a bad gift, none of us do. Some are just easier for everyone to understand than others."

She sat down next to me and gave me a small smile before telling me how everyone in town thought that her gift was the dud and how sometimes she wanted to get rid of it. NO ONE IN OUR FAMILY HAD EVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE. Did that mean that other people in the family didn't like their gifts? Dolores was telling me about the good things that her gift brought her and it calmed me down a bit, but I was worried now. I mean Luisa completely changed once she received her gift. She was a constant presence in my life and someone who I always knew I could turn to. Now she was being called in a million different directions today and I was left in the dust. She was telling me about the good things about her gift and even told me that she loved hearing my first laugh and stuff, "Seriously?" I asked. "I am being serious, they were some of my favorite sounds ever, like this..." Before I knew it she was tickling me as I was falling back on the bed laughing, "St-St-Stop Dolores." She did and I was still smiling. She looked at me, "Mirabel was right, your gift will be amazing." How did she know about that, "Wait hod did you... Dolores." She just spoke outloud, "Casita make sure he isn't late." She left the room and I was going to call out to quit eavesdropping but I had a feeling that she couldn't control it even if she wanted to.

I stayed back in the nursery for a little while longer. I don't know why but this was no longer my room but it was given its title the nursery within the last few weeks and it was something that I had to leave behind. I wanted to be able to help the community. I wanted to do my part to help the family. I also wanted everyone to like me. I didn't know why I wanted that so badly but it was all I wanted... to be liked.

Casita rolled a clock passed me letting me know that it was time for me to go down stairs and receive my gift. I took a deep breath and made my way downstairs. The entire town was there for me... cheering for me. This was my moment and I knew that I was going to make it count and help them however they needed... I never quite knew what that promise met.