Madrid Squad

Annual Costume Craze

It was that particular time of year again. Ruru exasperatedly sighed. The annual costume party in the kids's school.

A few years back, when the children were younger, it was much easier to get them to decide their costumes. Some sort of princess or anything sparkly and royalty for Noelle, an empowering hero for Amir, and Silas would tag along as a chubby little vegetable. Now, however, is different. The Madrid children have different preferences than those of other children their age.

Do their parents mind? Not a fuss! So, why is it so frustrating to get them into costumes without whining? Mama and Baba can't find the costumes of the characters of musicals in any department store.

"Honey, it's no big deal. Belle is really pretty and literate and empowering and very-" Ruru was cut off by his daughter's sassy voice.

"Basic. Belle is great, Baba! I know, but I wanna be some other French girl," she smiled like a dog. Ruru grunted knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"First, where did you learn that word?" Kylie chimed in.

"Ide-a," she coyly replied, shrugging her shoulders.

She was only eight years old but her vocabulary exceeds that of a teenager twice her age. Oh the joys of having smart children!

"Kikay, what is it with you and wanting to dress up like a street urchin?" the father huffed.

"Don't say that about her! Éponine Thénardier is much more than that!" she protested, her eyes burning and ready to debate.

"Noelle, Kikay," Ruru placed her upon his lap, "Why do you want to be that gamine so much?"

"Because Éponine is smart and clever and beautiful and brave and headstrong and take note, Baba, she didn't even get a proper education!"

"Nor did she have regular meals on a daily basis because like you said, Baba, she is a street urchin," Amir joined in, playing with the waist coat he got from Lolo Robin for his birthday.

"Ganging up on me, eh?" he laughed.

"Why Éponine?" Kylie asked.

"Because why not?" Noelle crossed her arms.

"Anak," Kylie chortled, "Your interest in musical theatre is amusing."

"Merci," she nodded, her close to perfect French accent earning another chortle from her mother.

"I don't care how good you sound speaking French, you are not dressing as a street rat," Ruru stood firm.

"Baba, she's basically a French Mulan!" she argued, possessing the same stubbornness of her mother.

"Then, why not be Mulan instead?" he put her down, facing her to himself.

"Because I like Éponine!"

"No."

"That's unfair! Kuya gets to be Enjolras with his best friend as Marius and I don't get to be Éponine?!" she was fuming with anger. Her eyes shone with glossy tears that refused to fall.

"Lovie, Enjolras actually looks decent," Kylie sighed.

"That's because pretty boy was educated and he was a bourgeois!"

"Hey! You say that like he was a bad guy, 'Kay. That's not right," Amir joined in.

"Who cares about your lonely soul?" she bit back, using one of Enjolras's lines from the musical.

"We strive towards a larger goal. Our little lives don't count at all!" Amir finished the song and grinned cheekily.

"Baba, please. It's no big deal. I can borrow one of Kuya's brown trousers and-and, uhm, I can wear a white blouse and a dirty brown coat. All we have to buy is the cap," she convinced him even more, shaking his hand in hers.