"change" - [c.madrigal]

eleven

For a count of five, none of us moved or made a sound. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own breathing, and my heart beating on my ears.

Then, I spoke into the darkness. "Uh, you guys there?"

"Yes," came Mirabel's muffled voice.

"I think I'm here," Camilo replied, sounding a little further away.

"Where are you two?" the boy added after a few more seconds.

"Over here," I said. "Walk towards my voice, both of you."

"Okay," Mirabel agreed. "Keep talking, Y/N."

I nodded, then realised they couldn't see me, so nodding was completely pointless. Good job, Y/N, I told myself.

"Okay," I said, "um... I love blue, and green, and pink, Mirabel and Cam- um, cameras! They're pretty cool. And- oh! There you guys are."

The two of them both ran into me, and I managed to steady them in the dark. Luckily, neither of them appeared to have noticed my slip-up.

"Mirabel," I instructed. "Get those glowing green things out; we'll use them as lights."

Mirabel quickly pulled out three pieces of green glass, and handed both Camilo and I one each. At least now we could see each other, and a little of our surroundings, too.

Camilo was the first to speak. "So... what do you do, now, exactly?"

Mirabel and I exchanged glances. "I'm not really sure," Mirabel said slowly. "I suppose we just..."

"Play a game to pass the time," I said automatically. I wasn't sure why, but I had a feeling we would get out of here somehow.

"But- were literally trapped in here, and no one knows we're down here!" Mirabel cried desperately, looking like she might burst into tears.

"Mira!" I said quickly, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "It's gonna be okay. I think... I can't be sure, but I think Dolores might be able to hear this far. If so..."

I glanced around, which seemed pretty pointless after I did it. Dolores couldn't see me.

"Dolores?" I called. "If you can hear me, Mirabel, Cami, and I are trapped inside Bruno's room. We really need your help. Get Antonio and some strong animals to get us out. Just don't tell any adults, okay?"

I glanced back at my friends. "There," I said.

Mirabel had a few tears on her cheeks, but she managed to smile at me. "That's a good idea," she told me. "Sometimes I forget that my family's gifts are actually gifts that they can use all the time. I think sometimes that I just block out the knowledge of them having gifts to make myself feel a bit better about not having one, too."

I gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's okay, Mira." I hugged her, and the girl hugged me back just as tightly.

"Okay!" Camilo interrupted. "Game time?"

I looked at him. "Sure. But you interrupted just because you don't want to be left out, didn't you? You want a hug too?"

Camilo's wrinkled his nose. "No, thank you."

"Fine," I sniffed, acting offended. I wasn't, obviously. As if I'd ever hug him.

"What game?" Mirabel asked.

I shrugged. "Don't care — Cami can choose."

Camilo looked at me. "Cami. You keep calling me that. What kind of nickname is 'Cami'?!"

I shrugged again. "Don't know. Just feel like calling you that. Now stop being so annoyingly cut- annoying, and just choose a dam game already."

Camilo eyed me, but he sat down on the ground and said, "Truth or dare?"

Mirabel sat down too. "I'm down," she said, and the two of them looked at me.

I groaned. "Sure."

I hated truth or dare, but I guessed I couldn't back out now. Truth or dare always seemed to end with me being either annoyed, embarrassed, or annoyingly embarrassed, so I tended to avoid it usually. Now, though, I didn't think I'd be able to.

I sat cross-legged beside Mirabel, the two of us girls sitting facing Camilo.

"You start, Cami," I said sarcastically.

He shot me a glare, but Mirabel sighed. "Come on you two, can you plan your stupid enemies to lovers romance later?"

I managed to choke on air, and Camilo looked like he would've spat out his juice if he'd had any to spit out.

"What?!" We both cried, coughing and spluttering.

Mirabel smiled self-satisfactorily. "Nothing..." she said sweetly, playing with her skirt.

I glared at her, but she was too pretty to stay mad at. On that note, So was Camilo. Sadly.

<3