Chapter 28: Naughty

During the time the adults discussed the riddle, the children studied in the library.

After Miguel had calmed Mirabel down, he had tried his best to cheer her up.

"I probably said this before, but fighting with your family is normal," he had told her. "Abel and Rosa pick on me, Manny and Benny drive me crazy, and I never cried!"

Sweat formed on his forehead when Mirabel stared at him skeptically.

"Okay, maybe I did cry a bit, but we still love each other!"

"That's good for you," the sad girl had sighed, sadly. "But I didn't have a normal childhood. My sisters and I used to get along; now all we ever do is fight. And all I did was help my family make movies. There was nothing else about my life that was normal except school."

"Well, is this new lifestyle of yours any more normal than your old one?" He questioned her, firmly.

"I don't get into any fights with anyone anymore," Mirabel had said confidently. "No sisters, no fake friends, and no school bullies."

"But you don't even go to school!"

"Mail call!" Bubo announced as he walked into his boss's room. "I thought I'd find you here, Stephanie. Here is your schoolwork." He gave the girl a big yellow envelope.

"Gracias Bubo," the girl smiled.

Miguel looked confused. How was his friend receiving schoolwork despite never being in school for almost two years? He followed Stephanie into the library as she talked about her current situation.

That was when he had learned that Mirabel had been keeping up with school through mail.

Every day, the school teacher would mail Mirabel schoolwork and homework in a packet. Bubo would collect the mail packet and give it to Mirabel. The tween girl would read her lessons. If an assignment requires a book, she'd take one out from the bookshelf. After reading, she'd do her homework, put them back in the packet, and mail it back to her teacher.

"So as you can see Miguel, I have been attending school," the girl had boasted.

"Not in person, though," the boy frowned.

"Well, either way, Imelda and Bruno were determined to make sure I don't fall behind."

The boy froze and clamped his forehead. "Oh no, I had left my homework back at home!" It's not like he could go back and get them, he and his uncle were forced to quarantine.

"No probelma," the girl said kindly. "I will let you copy my assignments."

"It's going to take a long time," the boy groaned, observing a medium-sized pile of his peer's papers.

"Lucky for us, we have a mimeograph, and I know how to use it."

"You know how to use a mimeograph?" The boy was surprised that someone at his age knew how to work with a complicated system. He always had to have his dad help him use it because he couldn't understand how to operate it.

The children were sitting by the table, working on an assignment for literature, in which they had to read a book and write a one-page reaction paper.

"Jack and Jill"

"went up the hill"

"to fetch a pail of water"

"So they say,"

"their subsequent fall was inevitable"

"They never stood a chance, they were written that way"

"Innocent victims of their story!" Mirabel sang. "Qué tragedia!"

"Not as sad as my book!" Miguel responded before singing his part.

"Like Romeo and Juliet"

"'Twas written in the stars before they even met"

"That love and fate and a touch of stupidity"

"Would rob them of their hope of living happily!"

"The endings are often a little bit gory!" Mirabel chorused.

Shaken to their core, the two tweens lifted their heads from their books and stared off into the distance.

"I wonder why they didn't just change their story?" Mirabel sang.

"Yeah, why did the authors not give them happy endings?" Miguel agreed.

"Does this mean my life doesn't have a happily ever after?"

"I don't know about you, but I don't think mine does," the boy said sourly.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I wanna be a musician but my family doesn't approve. 'A Rivera is a shoemaker through and through,' they say. And my parents and abuelita tried to set me up with Lacianega Boulevardez!" He scrunched his face at the last part, feeling his stomach turn. "Yuck!"

Mirabel nodded, half distracted with her sad thoughts. "I am sorry to hear that, Miguel. But at least your uncle supports your passion for music."

"Sí, it was only because of Tío Héctor that I was able to have my guitar so I can play whenever I want."

"Wait, what was the second part you said?" Mirabel felt a sense of dread upon hearing it and hoped that she misheard it.

"I almost got betrothed," the boy repeated. "I overheard my parents and Abuelita discussing what girl I should marry when I become a man. They were considering LaCienega Boulvedarz!" He looked like he wanted to barf. "I got so scared that I beseeched them to not do it. 'Oh but Miguel,' they said, 'she's a sweet girl-always obedient, always polite, always getting good grades in school!'"

Mirabel snorted. "She's anything but that!" She laughed.

"That's what I told them, too!" Miguel replied. "Unless Rosa is with me, I can't bear to go to school without LaCienega bothering me, but Rosa is unable to rescue me nowadays. She's always doing a lot of homework during nighttime and I don't know why. I don't remember getting that same amount of homework from the teacher.

He and Mirabel both agreed to talk to their teacher about Rosa.

"Anyway, when Abuelita insisted that I should marry LaCienega, I had enough! I told them, 'I WILL run away if you don't pick someone else!'"

"And what did they say?"

"Well, at first, they were silent. Then they said they will pick someone else and I decided to go along with the flow on whoever else they might pick as long as it isn't her."

"That's it?"

"Well, duh."

"Miguel! You should have a little more to say than that! How could you blackmail them from LaCienega?"

"Well, what else was I supposed to say?" Miguel asked, annoyed. "I had to say something!"

"You could have said things a bit more gently than that!"

"They wouldn't listen if I was nice about it! Do you remember what it was like to have adults plan out your future without asking for your input?"

"I do," the girl sighed. She recalled a few times in the past, begging her grandmother to let her play the leading role of a princess for a movie. But her grandmother had declined her request and said she's better off being a rose. Then, there was the time in which she wanted to be an Amazon warrior but got stuck playing a tiger. Why couldn't she be a princess like Isabella? Or an Amazon warrior like Luisa?

"We're told we have to do what we're told, but surely," Mirabel resumed singing. Maybe she could never be a princess or a warrior in a movie. But she can help her secret crush.

"Sí," Miguel mumbled.

"Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty!" Mirabel chorused.

"Just because you find that life's not fair, it"

"Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it"

"If you always take it on the chin and wear it"

"Nothing will change!" Mirabel sang.

"But I am only a pre-teen! What can I do?" Miguel bemoaned.

"Even if you're little, you can do a lot, you"

"Mustn't let a little thing like 'little' stop you"

"If you sit around and let them get on top, you"

"Might as well be saying you think that it's okay"

"And that's not right!"

She stood up from her chair and spun around, her green drop-waist dress twirling a bit. Then she did a few toe taps here and there, like one of those tap dancers she saw in the movies.

"And if it's not right,"

You have to put it right!" Mirabel chorused, striking a standing pose. "So, you wanna be a musician but your family says no. How are you gonna fix that?"

"Well…," the boy pondered. "Tío Héctor did promise to teach me because my mamá couldn't find a music teacher. But his ex-girlfriend kept stealing him away from me and my primos! By the time he broke up with her, he stopped playing music and began throwing knives. It's like he forgot about it or something! Then he taught me how to throw knives, which was fun, but I missed playing music. Maybe if he and I go back to playing our guitars, my family will see how great a musician I am and be supportive!"

"All you need is practice," Mirabel agreed.

"But what do I do about LaCienega, then?"

"Well, maybe you should tell your family who you would like to marry."

"Sí, but I can't think about any girl I like!"

"It doesn't have to be anyone specific yet," Mirabel said, patiently. "Just think of what qualities you want in a girlfriend."

"Okay, someone who is kind, has a sense of humor, likes to play in the mud, doesn't giggle too much, loves music, doesn't try to kiss me all the time, doesn't smell like rotten eggs, has a pleasant voice, and wears glasses."

"Glasses? That's oddly specific."

"They'd look like two white moons sparkling in the sky," Miguel said so poetically. He was fixated by his friend's shiny teal glasses.

Mirabel blushed and wondered if he was talking about her. Nah, it can't be. It's not like she's the only one who wears glasses.

Miguel blushed and quickly cleared his throat. "Um, anyway, changing my life sounds too overwhelming!"

"Nonsense, Miguel!" The girl said, pulling him up from his chair. "You can do it."

"I can?"

Mirabel resumed singing.

"In the slip of a bolt, there's a tiny revolt"

"The seed of a war in the creak of a floorboard"

"A storm can begin with the flap of a wing"

"The tiniest mite packs the mightiest sting"

"Every day starts with the tick of a clock"

"All escapes start with the click of a lock"

"If you're stuck in your story and want to get out"

"You don't have to cry, you don't have to shout"

"'Cause if you're little, you can do a lot, you"

"Mustn't let a little thing like "little" stop you"

"If you sit around and let them get on top, you"

Won't change a thing!"

She and the boy spun around the library and they swirled together. Perhaps unconsciously, they held their clasped hands to one side so that they were in the shape of a heart.

"Just because you find that life's not fair, it"

Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it"

"If you always take it on the chin and wear it"

You might as well be saying you think that it's OK

And that's not right!" Mirabel sang.

"And if it's not right," Miguel added. He spun around and struck a pose, trying to look confident.

"You have to put it right"

"But nobody else is gonna put it right for me"

"Nobody but me is gonna change my story!"

"Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty!" Mirabel finished the last verse.

The two finished spinning around together and fell, laughing.

"Kids!" a familiar adult female voice hissed.

The young preteens looked up to see the shoemaker and the gangster walking toward them.

"The library is for studying; not singing!" Imelda quietly chastised them.

"Sorry Imelda!" they whispered loudly.

"So, are you two doing homework?" Imelda asked, gently.

"Homework? Ha!" Héctor laughed.

"Oye, what is that supposed to mean?" Miguel scowled. He and Mirabel went back to their table.

"Firstly, studying is never something I see you doing!" his uncle said. He counted his fingers as if he were making a list. "Secondly, you don't have your assignments with you!"

"I do my homework!" the boy argued. "I get As and Bs."

"Only because your parents tell you to do so," the uncle teased, ruffling his nephew's hair.

"I let Miguel copy my homework assignments so he wouldn't be behind," Mirabel said.

"You're doing your homework!?" the shoemaker asked surprisingly.

Mirabel nodded, smiling.

Héctor was still shocked until he felt a whack in the head by someone's stiletto shoe. "Ow!"

"Of course, idiota!" Imelda barked. "What, you think Juan and I would let her miss out on school? No! Thank goodness for mail!"

While Héctor nursed his head, the woman walked by and pulled out a ladder. She placed it next to the bookshelf.

"So, what brings you two here?" Miguel asked.

"Well, we're looking for the antidote for the love potion," the shoemaker answered.

"Wasn't Tia Frida going to make one?" Mirabel inquired.

"No," Imelda frowned. She was browsing through the books. "Frida gave us a ridiculous riddle and we have to solve it. Whatever the answer is, that is the antidote to saving the whole town from this plague."

"You need help?"

"No, not at all."

"Where's Tío Bruno?" Mirabel wondered.

"Don't ask," Héctor said, trying to be as discreet as possible. He was still embarrassed about catching his sister and best friend smooching. He strode over and stood by the ladder. "Imelda, do you need me to hold the ladder?"

"No, I don't need help at all," she said absentmindedly, looking at the last book on the shelf. "I am quite fine." Suddenly, she lost her balance and slipped backwards. "Whoa!"

The kids shrieked.

Quick as a lightning bolt, Héctor spread out his arms and caught the fallen woman in a bridal style.

Miguel and Mirabel sighed in relief, as their rapid heart rates slowed down.

A warm red tint spread across the shoemaker's cheeks and he noticed that the gangster's face looked rosy too. And that her arms were placed securely, around his neck. Flustered, he gently put the blushing woman down on her feet.

"Um, gracias," Imelda stuttered, regaining her composure. She smoothed down her dress and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Um, are you all right?" Héctor cleared his throat.

The ice woman had been so used to doing things by herself that it was hard for her to ask for help. "I'm fine."

"Por favor, be careful," the man said, concerned. He grasped her dainty hands into his and held them together. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Imelda couldn't help but think how warm his strong hands felt.

The two children shared a silent look. The girl silently giggled, thinking the scene looked cute. The boy frowned and rolled his eyes, finding the whole thing to be saccharine.

The adult couple looked at each other shyly and awkwardly, with faces still looking rosy. When they heard the twins calling them, they dropped their hands and quickly pulled away from each other.

"Sister, shoemaker!"

"Brothers, please do not shout in the library," Imelda said, annoyed. "The children are studying."

"Oh, Hi Miguel!" Felipe greeted cheerfully. "Hi Stephanie."

"Hi!" the kids greeted back.

Miguel thought of correcting the two weird twin boys but gave up. He had received a look from his friend's face that it was not with bringing up her real name.

"We finally found the answer to the riddle!" Oscar said, happily.

"It's in this book!" Felipe said, pulling out a thick book from behind.

"Oh good!" The shoemaker smiled, taking the book. He read the title of the King James Bible. "Of course, I wondered why the clue sounded so familiar!"

"Where was it?" Imelda inquired. She couldn't find it in its usual spot on one shelf and had thought of checking the other bookshelves before her fall.

"Bruno's room."

"Hermanos!" Imelda lightly scolded them. "You know you shouldn't go into his room without permission."

"He doesn't mind!" Oscar said.

"He's occupied with kissing Gloria, remember?" Felipe reminded her.

"Is that what they were doing?" Imelda scowled at Héctor who smiled sheepishly..

"Ah, que romántico!" Mirabel gushed.

"Ah, qué asco!" Miguel gagged.

"Okay, when I said Bruno was in one of his moods, that was a lie and I apologize for that," the man spoke nervously.

"Oh, they're in so much trouble!" The woman growled, taking her shoe off. "Those two are going to get it!" She attempted to leave but felt her arm being pulled by the shoemaker.

"Por favor, Imelda," he begged. "Go easy on them. Bruno has never had a girlfriend before and Gloria has never been in love before!"

"That's true," Miguel joined in. "Gloria didn't like any of her other suitors. Found them boring."

"And no woman has ever shown interest in Tío Bruno until now," Mirabel added. "They found him strange."

Imelda sighed. "Fine, for your sake, I won't separate them."

"Whew!" The shoemaker sighed in relief.

"But you go in and tell them we solved the riddle, shoemaker. And you better tell them they can't be doing um…,"

"Doing what?" Héctor wondered.

"Well, I can't say it, idiota," she hissed to him. "There are children present."

The man blushed while the twins snickered.