Glasses

"Isa, are you okay?" Mirabel asked as she glanced at her oldest sister, who had her textbook up really close to her face.

"Yeah, I just can't understand why they have to make the print so small," Isabela insisted, squinting at the page, "or so close together."

Mirabel frowned, grabbing the book from her and looking at the page, "It's a normal textbook page, just like what you had when you were my age," she pointed out, "In fact," she flipped to the front of the book where each student that had used the book had wrote their name, "I'm the third Madrigal to use this book, starting with Dolores. Too bad this wasn't your book, because then it would have gone to all three of us," Mirabel said, pointing out Dolores's name at the top of the book, and then Lusia's signature two spaces lower.

Isabela squinted, leaning closer to the book before nodding, "Yeah, that's pretty cool," she said, "But hey, you'd rather have Dolores's old textbook, then mine, Luisa and Dolores were both top of their classes, and I… well I wasn't the worst, but I wasn't the best."

Mirabel nodded, flipping back to the page they were on, "Okay," she said, handing it back, "Come on Isabela, give me another one."

Isabela once more squinted at the book, "Um, what's a Stamon… no wait stoman, stemon?"

"Do you mean Stamen?" Mirabel suggested gently.

"Um, yeah, that's it, science really wasn't my strong point," Isabela insisted with a soft shrug.

"Are you sure that's the problem?" Mirabel asked softly, "Because if I didn't know better, I'd say that you probably need glasses."

"No I don't!" Isabela snapped back, "Honestly Mirabel, you don't know everything, so stop acting like you do."

"I know what it's like to have bad eyesight," Mirabel insisted, removing her glasses, "You see, if I don't have my glasses on, I have to squint and hold the book up close to my face, and I still have a hard time telling the letters apart," she explained, demonstrating, "That's exactly what you are doing."

"I don't need glasses," Isabela insisted.

"I think you should at least get your eyes checked," Mirabel countered, wiping her glasses on her blouse before placing them back on her face.

"I don't need glasses," Isabela repeated herself.

Mirabel gave her a look, "I'm pretty sure that you do," she insisted, "And the way you're arguing, I'm going to guess that you know that you need glasses as well, reach begs the question, why won't you get glasses?"

"Well, I use to tease you for needing glasses…" Isabela pointed out.

"Me teasing you would be like the pot calling the kettle black. That's a lousy excuse."

"I… I… I just started making friends that aren't just shallow girls that only cared about hair and make up and the fact that I'm Isabela Madrigal, I don't want to lose them."

"Why do you think that you'll lose them?"

"The only people that I know with glasses are you and Papa, and neither of you are very popular," Isabela insisted.

"That's what you think," Mirabel insisted, "I got invited to five different parties and asked on two dates today alone. Everyone wants to be my friend. My popularity has nothing to do with my glasses, and has everything to do with the fact that Abuela made me her heir. They're all fakes, all they want is the right to brag that they're friends with the future Candle Holder."

"Oh," Isabela said slowly, "I didn't know that."

Mirabel shrugged, "I'm fine, I have a couple of really good friends that have been my friends since I was five. At least I know that they aren't my friends because of the fact that I'm a Madrigal. Now, do you have any other silly excuses as to why you don't want to get glasses, and if you start it off with Abuela says, I will slap you."

Isabela chuckled, despite publicly denouncing her perfect image., she still struggled sometimes with trying new things, things that Abuela had forbidden her to do before because of her image. Mirabel usually was the one to catch on when that was the case and encourage her to do it anyways, "I just guess that… I got used to hiding the fact that my eyesight was bad because I needed to be perfect and hide all my imperfections from everybody."

"You aren't perfect," Mirabel insisted, "I mean come on Isa, your hair is green."

Isa pulled out a strand of hair, holding it up to her face, squinting at it before nodding, "Okay, so I might need glasses, but I can't get them right now," she insisted, "I promised you that I'll help you study for your test."

"You aren't being very helpful right now," Mirabel pointed out, flipping several pages before finding a new chapter, "Why don't we go to the optometrist and see if he has an appointment."

"But I promised you that I'd help you study," Isabela protested.

Mirabel gave her a knowing look, "You aren't actually helping me any," she admitted, "I'll do some math while you get your eyes checked."

"I don't know…" Isabela said slowly.

"I'll come with you," Mirabel insisted, "Come on!" she called out, grabbing her older sister by the arm and dragging her to the door. Casita helping Mirabel to push Isabela out the door.

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself," Isabela insisted, "I mean, what if Dr. Diaz doesn't have an appointment for today, huh have you thought about that."

"He'll have one for later this week if he doesn't right now," Mirabel insisted.

Dr. Diaz looked up from his desk when the bell rang as someone entered his practice, and smiled as a protesting Isabela was dragged in by Mirabel. He blinked at the sight, Casita's fall had only been a couple of weeks ago, and he, and everyone else, was unaccustomed to see Isabela sporting her new, colorful look.

"What can I do you for?" he asked cheerfully, "Something wrong with your glasses Mirabel?"

Mirabel shook her head quickly, "No, but Isabela's having a hard time reading," she said, pointing to her sister, "Can you fit her in today?"

"Of course I can," Dr. Diaz said brightly, "come with me Isabela and I'll fix you right up."

Isabela shot Mirabel a glare before following him into the exam room.

Mirabel had just about finished filling out her study guide in the main room when Isabela stepped out of the room with a scowl on her face, "Thanks a lot Mirabel," she said, "Now I'm getting glasses."

Mirabel shrugged, "You aren't getting sympathy from me," she insisted, before gesturing to the stands of frames, "Pick something out."

Isabela moved towards the frames, looked them over before picking up a pair of round ones and placed them on her face, "What about these?" she asked as the door to the office chimed as someone stepped in, two people, actually.

Isabela quickly removed the glasses, her cheeks burning as her Luisa entered the room.

She didn't seem to notice the other two, as she headed straight to the desk, "I'm here to pick up my glasses," she said, nervously

"Wait," Isabela called out, stepping closer to them, unaware of the glasses in her hand, "Since when did you need glasses?"

"I've needed reading glasses since I was fourteen," Luisa explained, "But I haven't had time to actually read until now, so I needed to get new ones, I lost my old ones," she said with a shrug, "Probably needed new ones anyway," she admitted before turning to Mirabel, "Getting new glasses?"

Mirabel shook her head, "No, Isa is," she announced, pointing to their older sister, "I practically had to drag her here. She doesn't want glasses, but she needs them as badly as I do."

Luisa nodded, "Nothing wrong with that," she insisted as Dr. Diaz appeared with a new pair of glasses.

"Here you go," he said cheerfully, "Let's get these properly fitted," he offered as Luisa placed them on her face. Dr. Diaz fiddled with them slightly as he asked questions, making sure that they fit okay.

"That's great," Luisa said finally, "Great."

"Can you remind your mother that her glasses are ready, she hasn't picked them up yet?"

Mirabel nudged Isabela playfully, "See even Mama has glasses."

"Fine," Isabela snapped, placing the glasses in her hands back onto her face, "How do I look?" she asked.

"Like Mirabel," Luisa announced, "You can really tell you're sisters when you wear those. Pick a different pair, something that you like."

Isabela groaned, taking them off and putting them away before scanning the frames again. A different pair… most of the glasses were solid colors except for one that was a speckled green and black, kind of oblong shape, with a small part turning up in the corners of the eyes. She picked them up and tried them on, "What about these ones?" she asked, putting them on.

"You look weird with glasses on, but they look cool," Mirabel insisted, Luisa just gave her a thumbs up.

Julieta frowned as she placed the last finishing touches on cena, before rubbing her tired eyes, she had totally forgot about picking up her new glasses this afternoon. She'll swing by in the morning on her way to her food stand.

"Hey, Juli, have you seen our girls anywhere?" Agustin asked, sticking his head into the kitchen from the dining room, "They don't seem to be here."

Julieta frowned, shaking her head, "No I haven't," she admitted, grabbing the hot pot from the stove and carefully transferring the contents into a serving dish, "Why don't you ask Dolores, cena's almost ready anyway, we should go find them."

Agustin nodded, grabbing the now full serving dish and heading into the dining room, Julieta following after him to make sure he didn't trip and spill the boiling hot food all over him or anyone else.

Dolores paused, spoon mere inches from the table, "Luisa, Isabela, and Mirabel are just finishing up at Dr. Diaz, they're heading home. They're supposed to remind you to pick up your glasses sometime tomorrow."

"I didn't know that you needed glasses," Camilo announced with a snicker.

"There's nothing wrong with wearing glasses," a new voice said as Alma walked into the room, "Is cena almost ready?"

"We're just waiting for the girls to get home from Dr. Diaz, I think Luisa got new reading glasses today, she said she was going to, she can't find her old ones," Agustin explained.

"She probably lost them when Casita fell," Alma confessed, "I'm glad she could get them replaced, but why did she have to have her sisters with her?"

"Well, Luisa ran into Isa and Mira when she went to pick up her new glasses," Dolores explained, "Mira dragged Isa in because she noticed that she was having a hard time reading. They decided to wait while Dr. Diaz made the glasses, that's why they aren't home yet. Isa's a little subconscious about them though, so…" she turned to her younger brother, "If you tease Isa about her glasses, don't try to hide behind me."

Camilo shrugged, swiping an arepa from a plate on the table, "Okay whatever, I was just surprised to hear that Tia needed glasses that's all," he said, taking a bite with a satisfying hum.

"We're just seeing if reading glasses will help with the constant headaches I've been getting," Julieta insisted, "I just need them so that I don't strain my eyes while cooking or reading."

"Oh, okay," Camilo said stuffing the rest of the arepa into his mouth as Mirabel's voice called out a greeting from the door way.

Julieta smiled as Isabela glanced at her, a pair of black and green speckled glasses perched on her nose, "Well, what do you think Mama?" she asked nervously.

"I think they look wonderful," Julieta announced, "What do you think?"

"I think Isa got a little weird when she put her glasses on for the first time," Mirabel confessed.

"I didn't realize that your skirt had actual images on it, I thought it was just colorful scribbles!" Isabela exclaimed.

"She's one to talk," Bruno grumbled, "Miss the flowers have petals."